A legendary dodgeball manga returns, with a Reiwa-era score

In the 1990s, "Honoo no Tokyuji Dodge Danpei" set a whole generation of CoroCoro Comic readers ablaze. Now its official sequel, "Honoo no Tokyujo Dodge Danko," has finally hit the screen as a TV anime on July 6, 2026. The heroine is Danko Ichigeki, daughter of the legendary player Danpei Ichigeki, firing off the fighting spirit she inherited from her father onto a Reiwa-era court. It is unabashed, high-energy sports-and-guts storytelling. But as a soundtrack fan, the first thing that caught my attention was not the finishing shots or the colorful cast of heroines—it was the sound that fills that court.

The music is handled by Fuminori Iwasaki and Ren Tsukagoshi. Iwasaki in particular is a veteran who built countless hot-blooded scores across 1990s robot and tokusatsu anime—"Metal Jack," "The Brave of Gold Goldran (Densetsu no Yusha Da-Garn)," "Change!! Getter Robo," "Bakuto Sengen Daigunder." Just listing the titles is enough to make many readers hear that sound again: roaring brass and a galloping rhythm section. In other words, "Dodge Danko" has recruited exactly the right composer for hot-blooded sports drama. It would be strange not to get excited.

Sports-anime scoring is built from brass and rhythm

So what is a sports-and-guts score actually made of? Break it down and the core is always the same two ingredients: roaring brass and a rhythm that pushes relentlessly forward. Trumpet and horn fanfares announce that a hot battle is about to begin, while sprinting drums and bass mirror the athletes' pounding hearts. Add tense strings that build the "charge" of a special move, plus ominous low tones for moments of crisis, and a single exchange of a ball swells into grand drama.

"Dodge Danko" depicts a simple sport—throw, dodge, catch—which makes the music's role all the larger. In the instant a ball howls across the screen, what actually sends a chill down the viewer's spine is often not the animation itself but a single jab of the score. The craft of "scoring things hot" that Iwasaki has accumulated over the years has been honed for precisely this kind of moment. Here is what to listen for:

  • The lift of a fanfare: the brass hit at a match's start or a comeback. Nail it, and the temperature of the whole show jumps.
  • A sprinting rhythm section: the propulsion behind every rally, where tempo and accents translate the players' speed into sound.
  • Themes for finishing moves: whether signature techniques like the "Dancing Sky Shot" are given memorable motifs of their own.

From 1991's "Danpei" to 2026's "Danko"

We shouldn't forget that this story has an "original sound" from 35 years ago. The TV anime of the previous work, "Honoo no Tokyuji Dodge Danpei," began airing in October 1991, with its score by Ryuichi Katsumata. Kids in front of their CRT TVs clenched their fists to Danpei's finishing shots along with that music. Time has passed, and Reiwa's "Danko" brings in Momoiro Clover Z's "Kaishin no Ichigeki" as its theme song and i☆Ris's "Welcome to Azatosa World" as its ending, while the underscore, too, is entrusted to a new composer's hands. The sound of "toukyu" being updated across generations is itself proof of the vitality of the sports-and-guts genre.

To ears that know the hot-blooded sound of the '90s it feels nostalgic; heard as Reiwa-era anime music it rings fresh. The "Dodge Danko" score looks set to offer that double pleasure. A soundtrack release has not yet been announced, but simply watching the broadcast while asking "what sound was placed on that one throw?" will sharpen your appreciation of the work. In the split second the ball takes flight, prick up your ears. Somewhere in there, Reiwa's brass is surely roaring.