Rifle Is Beautiful (ライフル・イズ・ビューティフル, Raifuru Izu Byūtifuru), also known as Chidori RSC, is a Japanese shooting sportfour-panelmanga series by Salmiakki. It was serialized online via Shueisha's Tonari no Young Jump website from April 2015 to July 2020, and was collected in six tankōbon volumes. An anime television series adaptation by studio 3Hz aired from October 2019 to January 2020.
Plot
Hikari Kokura, a passionate marksman, enrolls at Chidori High School, which has a target shooting club, but discovers the club was dissolved due to a lack of members. She restarts the club by finding three new members to join her, with the goal of making it into a national competition.
A member of the Chidori High School Shooting Club. She enrolled herself at Chidori High School solely because of its Rifle Shooting Club. Hikari has a carefree and cheerful spirit although she is capable of doing everything to reach her goals when she is motivated. She is constantly trying to improve her shooting skills to fulfil her dreams of entering the Olympics.
A member of the Chidori High School Rifle Shooting Club and the childhood friend of Hikari Kokura. She is a gentle and supportive friend who loves reading. She is also to be a good cook as Hikari uses her treats as motivation when she is feeling tired during shooting practice. She is described by Hikari as super level headed and totally dependable.
A member of the Chidori High School Rifle Shooting Club. She is a skilled rifle shooter. She is a graceful and popular girl who easily leads the club, even though Hikari Kokura was the one who re-founded it. She also is rather vain as she often relishes in her own beauty and skills.
Yukio Igarashi (五十嵐雪緒, Igarashi Yukio)
Voiced by: Anna Yamaki[3] (Japanese); Genevieve Simmons[4] (English)
A member of the Chidori High School Rifle Shooting Club. She is not expressive and is usually poker-faced. However, she does appear to be very charming when she does show emotions. It is said that watching her shoot is similar to watching precision machinery as her shots are always accurate and on point.
The president of the Asaka Academy Rifle Shooting Club and Erika's cousin. Erika contacted her to arrange a practice match to prepare for the High School Rifle Shooting Competition.
A first-year student at Asaka Academy and a member of the academy's Rifle Shooting Club. She shows commitment to practising and speaks well of others when observing them. She is polite and courteous.
Rifle Is Beautiful, written and illustrated by Salmiakki, began on Shueisha's Tonari no Young Jump website on April 9, 2015,[5] and it ended on July 2, 2020.[6] Shueisha has compiled and published its chapters into six individual tankōbon volumes from May 19, 2016,[7] to September 18, 2020.[8]
An anime adaptation was announced in the 46th issue of Weekly Young Jump magazine on October 18, 2018.[13] The series was animated by studio 3Hz and directed by Masanori Takahashi, with Tatsuya Takahashi handling series composition, and Ken Mukaigawara designing the characters.[14] It aired from October 13, 2019, to January 18, 2020, on Tokyo MX, SUN, KBS, and BS11. The series' opening theme song is "Let's go! Rifling 4!!!!" (Let's go!ライフリング４!!!!), while the series' ending theme song is "Yūyake Friends" (夕焼けフレンズ), both performed by Rifling 4 (a group consisting of Machico, Akane Kumada, Saki Minami, and Anna Yamaki).[15]Sentai Filmworks has licensed the anime in North America under the title Chidori RSC.[16] The series ran for 12 episodes.[17]
"What Are Beam Rifles?" Transliteration: "Howatto・Izu・Bīmu" (Japanese: ホワット・イズ・ビーム)
October 13, 2019 (2019-10-13)
At Chidori High School, Hikari is keen to join the Rifle Shooting Club, only she is unable to find it. Found by her friend since elementary school, Izumi, together they learn that it has been closed down. They find Erika as Izumi remembers that she saw her during the opening ceremony. With Yokio decided to join after discovering Hikari's application form and Erika being convinced to join the club, the disband of the Rifle Shooting Club is successfully prevented as they have successfully got four members. Their daily lives with the Rifle Shooting Club starts.
2
"Club Is Funny" Transliteration: "Bukatsu・Izu・Fanī" (Japanese: 部活・イズ・ファニー)
October 20, 2019 (2019-10-20)
The club holds a match between members in order to improve and test the members' shooting accuracy. After Erika explains the rules, the match is underway with the four members of the club carefully taking their time to ensure shooting accuracy. Hikari fails quite miserably and is worsened by the fact her final shot misses because of her sneeze. After the match, Hikari walks home with Izumi and discuss the training and school tests to prepare for. Hikari fails her midterm exams and stays up late revising with Izumi’s help to pass her makeup test.
3
"Our Competitors are Powerful" Transliteration: "Taisen Aite・Izu・Kyougou" (Japanese: 対戦相手・イズ・強豪)
October 27, 2019 (2019-10-27)
Erika arranged a mock competition with her cousin Akira who is the president of Asakura Academy Rifle Shooting Club to prepare for the National High School Rifle Shooting Competition Qualifiers. The girls from Chidori High School came to the academy on a Saturday to join the mock competition.
4
"Our Advisor Is a Beginner" Transliteration: "Komon・Izu・Biginaa" (Japanese: 顧問・イズ・ビギナー)
November 3, 2019 (2019-11-03)
Hikari's classmates, Ako and Marina decided to visit the school's rifle shooting club with Hikari's accompany. They tried to use a beam rifle to shoot and watch the girls in training. They left while they are training, causing Erika and Yukio failing to recruit them into the club. Later, they search for a new club advisor as the advisor for the rifle shooting club is also the advisor for the school's chess club, which is getting too busy for the teacher to handle. Unexpectedly, Yūko, a teacher who has no clue about the rifle shooting club came in and became their club's advisor.
5
"Qualifiers are Exciting" Transliteration: "Yosen・Izu・Ekisaitingu" (Japanese: 予選・イズ・エキサイティング)
November 10, 2019 (2019-11-10)
The girls from Chidori High School Rifle Shooting Club prepare themselves to go into the National High School Rifle Shooting Competition Qualifiers. Hikari as the first batch shooter in the qualifier unexpectedly got a score that higher than usual and got a temporary second place.
6
"Our Target Is Nationals" Transliteration: "Taagetto・Izu・Zenkoku Taikai" (Japanese: ターゲット・イズ・全国大会)
November 17, 2019 (2019-11-17)
As the competition heats up, the race to the top five and the race to enter the National Competition intensifies. At the end of the competition, every member from Chikdori High School Rifle Shooting Club got themselves into the National High School Rifle Shooting Competition although Izumi failed to qualify for the individual rifle shooting competition.
7
"Studying Is Hard" Transliteration: "Sutadi・Izu・Haado" (Japanese: スタディ・イズ・ハード)
November 24, 2019 (2019-11-24)
After the competition, the girls from Chidori High School met with other girls from different schools and chat with them. They become determined to do well in the national competition. Back in school, Hikari's classmates are shocked when they heard that the news that she entered the National Competition. With Yukio and Hikari failing to pass their exams, Erika and Izumi help them to study for the make-up exam to enter into the national competition without worries.
7.5
"Nationals are Right Before Us" Transliteration: "Zenkoku Taikai・Izu・Mokuzen" (Japanese: 全国大会・イズ・目前)
December 1, 2019 (2019-12-01)
Recap episode for Episode 1 to 7.
8
"Our Battlefield Is Tsutsuga" Transliteration: "Batorufiirudo・Izu・Tsutsuga" (Japanese: バトルフィールド・イズ・つつが)
December 8, 2019 (2019-12-08)
As they start their journey to the location of the national competition, each of the girls who qualified is hyped up to go the national competition that is held in Hiroshima. Akira, Misa and Karen went into the room where the girls from Chidori High School are staying and had a brief conversation with them.
9
"Hozumi Is the Reigning Champ" Transliteration: "Oja・Izu・Hozumi" (Japanese: 王者・イズ・峰澄)
December 15, 2019 (2019-12-15)
In the national competition, every school representatives are hyped up to try and win the competition for their school, including the reigning champions, Hozumi High School. Yukio is the first person who takes the first round of shooting for Chidori High School and got a temporary first place for Chidori High School.
10
"Hime in Crisis" Transliteration: "Hime・Izu・Kuraishisu" (Japanese: 姫・イズ・クライシス)
December 22, 2019 (2019-12-22)
During the competition, after Yukio's round, Erika messed up her shots because of her failing to deal with nervousness. Although she did deal with nervousness, she still loses the school's first place to Hozumi and dropping to third place. It is up to Hikari to maintain the top 3 spots or getting even higher points to get to the first place, leaving Hikari with a lot of pressure to perform.
11
"Shooting Is Our Dream" Transliteration: "Shūtingu・Izu・Dorīmu" (Japanese: シューティング・イズ・ドリーム)
December 29, 2019 (2019-12-29)
During Hikari's round, she shoot unexpectedly well and unexpectedly consistent, shocking a lot of people who know Hikari, including her teammates. With Hikari getting a lot of points for her team, they got a second place, losing only to Hozumi High School, leaving Hikari a bit disappointed. Her shocking performance got the attention of the president of the Hozumi High School Rifle Shooting Club, Maho Kogomori. With the individual rifle shooting competition upcoming, the girls who qualified are preparing for the next competition.
12
"The Finals are Beginning" Transliteration: "Fainaru・Izu・Biginingu" (Japanese: ファイナル・イズ・ビギニング)
January 18, 2020 (2020-01-18)
The individual national rifle shooting competition starts. The girls from different school are hyped up and aiming to do well in the competition, including Hikari. With Hikari fails to even get into the second round, she becomes depressed and disappointed, even cried when Izumi was trying to get Hikari to watch the finals. Hikari came back to the rifle shooting club room more determined to do well in rifle shooting after a brief conversation with Maho.
Reception
Anime News Network had four editors review the first episode of the anime:[19] Theron Martin found the artistic qualities "nothing special" but gave praise to the main cast's comedic delivery and detailed information about laser-target rifles, calling it a "light-hearted diversion with enough humor to make it work." James Beckett found the plot, characters and production overall to be "blandly competent" and found little interest in the show's subject matter, saying it will probably cater only to an all-girl slice-of-life audience; Nick Creamer commended the "visual execution" of the humor delivered and the camaraderie amongst the main cast feeling believable, but gave note of the "stilted scene transitions, uneven jokes, and total predictability of structure and characterization" throughout the episode, saying it will only appeal to fans of the slice-of-life genre. The fourth reviewer, Rebecca Silverman, felt the plot was barebones and lacked urgency so that the girls' personalities can bounce off one another while using the rifles as more of a background setting.[19]
