Sorairo Utility OVA: HAM Squad

Happy Perfect Day (New Year) 2022! Hope everyone has their sights set on a better year, as difficult as it may be for some.

This was one of my hype shows of the Winter season. What I didn’t realize was it’s actually a one-shot OVA. My hope is this will eventually lead to a 12-13 episode show in the future. Read on to see if you are all on board with more of these golfing cuties.

The story follows Minami (blue hair) who one day was awestruck by a lovely girl’s golf swing and the sight of the ball flying high in the sky with great precision. Not sure if the girl she saw was Haruka (black hair) or someone else. Ultimately not important to the OVA. Point was from that day Minami wanted to become a great golfer too and she joined a group with Ayaka (gray hair) and the aforementioned Haruka.

While Ayaka and Haruka were solid to good respectively Minami struggled to even get a Par per hole. Having played the Mario Golf series I know a little bit about the terminology. In short Par is landing the ball in the hole in the minimum number of shots for that Hole. For example the first Hole they played was a Par 4, meaning to finish it in exactly 4 shots. Ayaka aimed for a Birdie, which was finishing the Hole in 3 shots (2 if it’s a 3 Par hole). Anyway to give Minami some power of friendship luck Haruka wrote “HAM” on the ball which of course stood were the first letters in their names.

Unfortunately Minami for some reason couldn’t swing straight ahead as most of her first shots “sliced” to the right. Swings after that didn’t fare any better. By the time she finished the hole she had a 4+, meaning 4 swings over Par, which for this Hole was 8 swings. Haruka got a Par and Ayaka a Bogey (1 over Par).

That’s how most of the game went for our heroine constantly failing to get a Par. Fortunately she never lost hope and did her best to stay determined with her buddies cheering her on. By the final 18th Hole, a 3 Par one, Minami had one chance to hit the ball on the Green. She’s laser focused but Ayaka and Haruka had her loosen up, Haruka saying to try imagining herself making the desired swing. It helped as we got a cool color effect that reminded me of Super Cub. Alas despite getting the ball on the Green she’s too nervous to score the Par in the end. What’s more important though was feeling the rush of finally getting a good swing.

We ended the episode with a cultured scene as Minami was more determined than ever to one day get that first step to greatness Par.

Hopefully this is indeed a pilot for a future anime because I would like to see more.

Until then there’s Birdie Wing later this year.