Tonbo!

Manga

Written by Ken Kawasaki and illustrated by Yū Furusawa, Tonbo! started in Golf Digest's golfing magazine Weekly Golf Digest on August 4, 2014.[5][6] Golf Digest has collected its chapters into individual volumes. The first two volumes were released on May 30, 2016.[7] As of February 28, 2026, 61 volumes have been released.[8]

Anime

In May 2023, an anime television series adaptation was announced.[9] It is animated by OLM (with CG provided by SMDE) and directed by Oh Jin-koo, with Mitsutaka Hirota writing series scripts, Akira Takeuchi designing the characters, Keita Hattori directing the 3DCG, and Nobuko Toda (composer) composing the music.[3] The series aired from April 6 to June 29, 2024, on TV Tokyo.[10][11][12] The opening theme song is "Habatake" (羽ばたけ), performed by Sacra e sole, and the ending theme song is "Let's Swing", performed by Tokyo Groove Jyoshi.[3]

After the airing of the final episode of the first season, a second season was announced. It aired from October 4, 2024, to January 4, 2025.[13][14] For the second season, the opening theme song is "Seven Pieces", performed by Sacra e sole, and the ending theme song is "Kachitaku Natchatta ne" (勝ちたくなっちゃったね), performed by Tokyo Groove Jyoshi.[14]

Remow licensed the series for streaming on its It's Anime YouTube channel.[15] The company also streamed the first season of the series on Amazon Prime Video with an English dub, releasing it simultaneously as it aired in Japan.[16] The second season was added to the platform as well.[17]

Episodes

Season 1

Season 2

Other media

In 2023, Miki City, known as the "City of Golf" due to its large number of golf courses, in collaboration with the manga, offered golf balls with Tonbo design printed on them as tax return gifts, to promote the sport in the city and to contribute to its financial reconstruction.[21]

Manga

By June 2023, the manga had over 1.55 million copies in circulation (including digital copies);[21] by November 2024, it had over 2.2 million copies in circulation (including digital copies).[22] The manga placed third in Rakuten Kobo's second E-book Award in the "Long Seller Comic" category in 2024.[23]

Anime

Anime News Network had four editors review the first episode of the anime:[24] Richard Eisenbeis wrote: "Do I think this series will be some kind of breakout hit? No, but I was entertained enough to come back for another episode next week." Rebecca Silverman felt it did "an excellent job of establishing its setting" and using the island's "casual golf culture" to display Igarashi's "presumptive past golf-related trauma", but was critical of Tonbo being portrayed more as a "non-character than a person" during her debut. She felt the series needed another episode for its plot and characters to get going, concluding that: "Don't go into this expecting Birdie Wing, but I think it might fit the bill if you're looking for a low-key sports series this spring." Nicholas Dupree was critical of the leads not being either "engaging or interesting" to entice viewers and felt the overall production had the "hallmarks of a long-running show with modest resources and modest-er vision", giving note of the "inconsistent, flat character art and a good amount of reused footage" throughout the runtime. He concluded that "nothing here is bad or doomed from the outset. This could be a slow starter that gets more engaging as we develop the characters or let the cast gel cohesively. If you're looking for a family-friendly sports show, this fits the bill just fine, even if it doesn't excel at anything." The fourth reviewer, James Beckett, criticized the "stale characters" and the overall visuals coming across like "three people animated it on a budget of loose change and broken dreams", saying "the end product is so stiff and lifeless that I felt like I may as well have just been looking at the manga anyway, except with more color and an annoying soundtrack that I didn't ask for."[24]

Fellow ANN editor Jairus Taylor reviewed the complete first season and gave it a D+ grade, criticizing the slow start to the overall plot, the "overly technical" and "more realistic approach" to displaying golf, the lack of a supporting cast and OLM's "acceptable, if largely unimpressive" production failing to elevate the golfing scenes, concluding that: "[T]here's no real reason I can think of to go out of the way to watch this one, and with how little it has to offer as a sports drama, you're probably better off watching an actual golf match instead." Taylor also said that in contrast, Birdie Wing compensated for golf not being exciting to watch by being "as flashy and over the top as possible with their presentation".[25] Taylor chose the first season as his pick for the Worst Anime of 2024, criticizing the overall pacing, one-note supporting characters, bland direction of its golfing scenes, and not being "worth the investment" to check out the second season, concluding that: "If there's one thing worse than being terrible, it's being boring, and while there are certainly other shows this year that had bigger problems, this one was by far the biggest slog."[26]

Taylor reviewed the first episode of the second season, criticizing the first half for its pacing and "overly technical explanations" but praised the second half for the introduction of Hinoki and the potential of "an actual ensemble" alongside Tonbo and Igarashi, concluding that "if you are someone who's kept up with the series and enjoyed everything about the first season, then this certainly seems like it'll be more of that, and you'll probably have a decent time."[27] Erica Friedman, also writing for ANN, reviewed the complete second season and gave it an overall B+ grade.[28] While critiquing about the "overblown and silly" display of golf and the "otaku-level details", she praised the plot's exploration into the mental game of the sport through its players' development and the improved animation from the previous season.[28]