How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift? | First Impressions |ONEGAI MUSCLE!

As someone who has spent a year making the gym a big part of his life, I was excited to learn that there was a Web manga about weightlifting. One thing that I’ve always appreciated about manga and anime is how someone can really love something and find a way to bring it to a larger audience. With Haikyu, the mangaka loved Volleyball and really wanted to get other people into it, even though he was initially doing horror manga. How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift? or Danberu for short, seems to be a great example of this.

In preparation of the anime coming out, I decided to stop reading the manga and just enjoy this adaption. This is mainly because I was interested to see how some of the people behind NEW GAME! was going to bring the source material to life.

Danberu follows the main protag, Hibiki Sakura, a high school girl who just got slammed with the harsh reality that she has gained weight. To solve this problem, she decides to attend the world-class gym nearby. There, she runs into class president Akemi Souryuuin, learning that she has a muscle fetish… I know it’s weird, I hope I haven’t lost you yet. Hibiki was mainly overwhelmed by all the macho men of the gym only to be convinced to join after meeting a handsome trainer, Machio. Funny enough, every time he flexes his muscles, his clothes come off.

I know, the premise is pretty weird but it’s pretty entertaining. This series does a great job of highlighting many issues the new gym-goers have in a cool way. With Hibiki, she LOVES food and she has a very poor understanding of diets. Most of the first three episodes show how much she eats and the kcal value of those meals. On the third episode, she and the audience are educated on the bodybuilder diet and why you should have a cheat day.

As much as this series can be ecchi at times, I believe it’s target audience is anyone looking to get fit. Danberu does a great job of helping people over some hurdles like girls who are concerned that they will be too muscular. There’s honestly just a lot of information being thrown at you but because of how the series is structured, it’s never felt like an overwhelming amount. Especially when it has a tough job of educating a general audience on proper form.

I do recommend checking out JaxBlade, a personal fitness anime YouTuber, who has been reacting to the show weekly. There he corrects any misunderstandings of the information and squeals about how much he loves it! Also, great information regarding fitness in general.

Another great thing about Danberu is how well they have animated and kept true to the source material. There are some great and funny moments in the manga that only get better through the anime. I would say this has become a trend in 2019 with anime like Demon Slayer and Dr. Stone really knocking it out of the park with their adaptions. We as manga readers and anime watchers need more incentive to go both routes without feeling like the anime is just made to promote the manga.

I personally really enjoy watching Danberu weekly. I know some people have been scared away from it because the first PV is the girls working out and if you aren’t watching and only listening, you would think it’s hentai. Yup, I’ve been there. Just watch with headphones… AND THEN BLAST THE OP AT FULL BLAST!

If you want to get fit or just be a bit more healthy, then I recommend checking it out. They even give you a quick at-home workout to do at the end of the episode. If you just want to see cute girls working out, you know they got you covered. I’d love to hear your thoughts on Danberu and if you started working out because of it, I’d love to hear how that’s going! Let’s get macho together as Akemi would say!