Tadamichi Aoba, or Dan Doh as his friends all call him, loves to play baseball.  One afternoon after breaking the principle's bonsai plant, the administrator extolls the virtues of golf to the young kid.  Dan Doh isn't that interested in the game until he learns that golf pros can make millions of dollars.  At that moment he decides to become the best golfer in Japan.  He wants the money so that he can locate his mother, who he's never seen.

Along with his two best friends Yuka, and Kohei, Dan Doh starts practicing even though his father is violently opposed to the boy playing golf.  Be a fortunate accident, Dan Doh and company bump into Shinjo.  He's was a very gifted golf player who had to quit the game after a car accident, and agrees to coach the trio.

Soon after starting lessons though, Dan Doh and his friends are teased by a bully.  In Dan Doh's anger, he agrees to enroll in the Kumamoto Junior Championships in order to prove that he has a talented coach.  There's only two weeks until the tournament though, so they trio practices as much as they can.

That all takes place in the first episode.  The nine other shows on the disc deal with the actual tournament itself.  The three friends are split into separate groups, and they all have different challenges to overcome, the least of which is the fact that they've promised their coach that they'll only use three clubs.  (A six iron, a sand wedge, and a putter.  This isn't a big problem though, because apparently a six iron makes the ball fly just as far as a driver.)  Though Kohei is playing with some nice people, Yuka ends up being sexually harassed by a team of bullies.  Dan Doh plays with some arrogant brothers, and even has to overcome the fact that someone is cheating to make sure that the young prodigy doesn't win.

This program is really different from other sports anime.  Most others spend a lot of time discussing the rules, strategy and problems associated with the sport, which in turn makes the show worth watching.  Dan Doh doesn't really do this.  The show really fails to make the game interesting.  The strategy and tactics that go into golf are glossed over.  They don't define a lot of terms, explain the use of the clubs, or even list a lot of the rules.  I don't play golf, and I was confused in parts, especially when someone switched a ball in Dan Doh's bag.  You can't switch ball brands in the middle of a game?

Also, Dan Doh isn't playing the game because he loves it, it's because he wants a lot of money.  Granted he has a good reason for this, but it does seem a little mercenary of him.  The show also wants to establish that he has a lot of talent, mainly by having people say "Wow, that kid sure has a lot of talent", but he ends up relying on luck most of the time.  The wind will blow his ball into the cup or across a ravine.  The first time you can let it go, but by the third time it gets a little hard to swallow.

Instead of making golf look like a fun game, the show makes it look like the sport of idiots.  Dan Doh not only holds his own, but does incredibly well after only a couple of weeks of practice.  So do his two friends!  This is the first time they have EVER played a real game (Dan Doh has admits at one point that he's never held a driver), they make some really dumb choices at various time, and they all get incredibly low scores.  (Yuka gets an 82 in both of her first two games.)  They make it look like any dolt can play well if they would only draw a smiley face on their balls.

Even though there are many flaws with this show, it's not all bad.  Dan Doh, though he's a flat two dimensional character, is likeable enough and they manage to eek out a little drama over the course of the show.  The program comes across as light entertainment and if you don't think about it too much it can be enjoyable.

Oh yeah, be sure to watch the end of the "next episode" bits.  At the very end of each episode they have a golf ball with a character's face on it and a voice over.  Some of these are so bizarre that they are humorous.
 

Audio:

Viewers have the choice of watching this show in the original Japanese or an English dub, both in stereo.  I alternated between tracks as I watched the show and both sounded good, though I preferred the original soundtrack slightly.  The English actors did a good job and their voices fit the characters well.  There weren't any obnoxious phoney accents either, something that I was glad to hear.  Both tracks were free from distortion and other audio defects.  There are also optional English subtitles, or sign only subs.

Video:

The full frame video also looked good.  The lines were tight and the colors were solid.  The image was a little jerky when it came to pans across static images, but not distractingly so.  Digital defects are very minimal with even aliasing being very minor.  Overall a good looking show.

Extras:

The only extras that are included in this set are clean opening and closings.

Final Thoughts:

This show has some major flaws, but for a program aimed at younger viewers it's not too bad.   Not nearly as interesting as other sports anime, Dan Doh doesn't have much charm or the engaging characters that the genre is noted for.  The story is a little stupid, and if you think about it there's a lot that doesn't make sense.  If you're willing to turn your brain off though, it can be fun to watch, especially for younger viewers.  The volume is a great deal too.  With 10 episodes for only $29.95 MSRP, it cost about 1/3 of the price of many series.  This would make a good rental.