Prior to the premiere of Giant Killing, I had never watched a sports anime in my life.  I couldn’t even remember the last time I had seriously sat down and watched a sport.  I used to watch basketball a lot.  I remember rooting for the Bulls, who were my home team mind you, and then after them the Lakers.  At some point, I simply lost interest in sports altogether.  I have certainly never watched a game of football.  So, not only does this series serve as a gateway to an entire genre of anime for me, but also an introduction to soccer and a reintroduction to sports in general.  I am far out of my element and easily the outsider in the viewer pool.

This is me at the start of this series.

I’ve always liked the story of David and Goliath, from which the term Giant Killing derives its name.  Really, it’s a concept we want to believe in.  We want to see the underdog, with every disadvantage, somehow come out on top against his opponent.  This is what originally drew me toward the series.  Tatsumi, arguably the main character of the series, used to be East Tokyo United’s star player.  However, he quit and went overseas, having a successful stint coaching an amateur team to compete on a professional level.  He comes back to ETU a shadow of its former self.  It has struggled with relegation for years, essentially running on life support.  His job?  Save the club.

You already know this can’t be easy, but the problem is far more delicate.  Everyone has their own opinion of ETU and its current place in the Japanese leagues.  The veteran players believe ETU needs to bide its time in the defensive position they’ve developed over the past few years.  The fans view Tatsumi with outright scorn, seeing him as a traitor for leaving the team in the first place.  Other teams look down on them as little more than a joke.  Then there’s the new blood, who really don’t know what to do.  Put on top of this Tatsumi’s penchant for flippancy in his manners and speech and you have a powder keg just waiting for a spark.

Keeping that in mind, Giant Killing does have an overarching plot of taking a ragtag team and overcoming impossible odds.  However, it serves as more of a goal for the series.  The real plot is developing the team, both as players and characters.  Naturally, all of them need to improve their skills on the field, especially the new additions.  However, they all have personal issues.  Tsubaki has a lack of self-confidence, Sera struggles with an inferiority complex, Kuro gets easily discouraged by failure, and so on.  As the series progresses, they all get a spot in the limelight to overcome their shortcomings.  It all threads together in a climactic match against a “giant” which spans the last third of the series.  This gives us a character driven series, as opposed to story driven.

Meet the Team

The series could simply develop ETU and call it a day, but it strives to build up the supporting cast as well.  In fact, some of the most memorable characters are only around for a single game of the series.  The Brazillian Trio from Nagoya has great chemistry and is largely entertaining both before and during the game.  The finale’s opposing team also has a lot of effort put into defining their players strengths and weaknesses throughout the arc.  Even the Ramen Guy, who is on screen for all of two minutes, has a surprising amount of character built put into him.  It does have some low points though, specifically the reporters.  I also wish the older fans had received more thorough and satisfying development.

The vocal work really backs up the characters in this series.  Nobody feels like they’re out of their element.  Seki Tomokazu plays an excellently flippant Tatsumi.  Tyotaro Okiayu nails the gruff and experienced center of the team, Murakoshi.  Perhaps my favorite actor, though, is Daisuke Ono voicing superstar Gino.  Even when he compliments someone, he maintains that condescending tone which says “Why yes, I am better than you.”  I could continue to praise it, but you get the idea.  Really the weak point of the voice acting comes up whenever a character tries to speak in English.  It’s a bit more authentic from the multicultural perspective of the game, but it comes off as forced in execution.

Where the characters and vocal work excel, the art and animation is a mixed bag.  The anime stays true to its source material, which is good for fans of the manga.  On the other hand, the somewhat minimalistic art style might turn off some viewers.  It struggles with perspective at times.  For example, the scene where Tatsumi and Dulfer shook hands looked ridiculous. I also recall come complaints for using CG animation to handle the crowds and some of the game play on occasion.  However, both the CG and drawn animation look fluid, so I have no complaints.  On the positive side, the series has some very powerful still frame shots to punctuate moments of the series.  They’re very stylized and for the most part, look beautiful.

You know he's doing well because this is a stillframe.

Here’s the bottom line.  If you like football, then why have you not watched this yet?  If you like sports or sports anime in general, you can’t really go wrong with this series.  Even if you have little interest in sports, if you like strong characters, you should definitely give it a shot.  Giant Killing does have a few weak points in every facet, like a somewhat formulaic approach to Tatsumi’s strategies, a few weak characters, wonky English, and some poorly executed graphics.  However, as a whole, the series shines beyond its difficulties, and remains a very entertaining ride from start to finish.  I definitely recommend it.

Final Score: 8/10

I didn’t expect the game to wrap up in this episode, but it certainly made for some exciting action.  I enjoyed how they set up this game as the end result for all the framing they set up throughout the series.  Every character got spotlighted for a while in individual games.  The game against Osaka serves to tie all these individual threads together.  No one player shined too brightly; instead, everyone had their moments with all the focus on themselves.  They’ve advanced from a motley crew of novice and experienced players to a real team determined to seize victory.

Yeah, this is my new wallpaper.

The transition from the first half to the second really showed what ETU could do when they finally put their heads in the right place.  Sugie managed to push the indomitable Kubota to the breaking point, removing him from the field.  Kuro didn’t let his disadvantage get into his way, and played such an aggressive game he provoked Hauer into committing a foul.  Dori did his traditionally solid job as the goalkeeper, and the other two defenders, whose names completely escape me now, did their bit to help the team out as well.

On the offensive side, Akasaki finally pulled off a shot without launching it fifty feet over the goal, stalling out Osaka’s momentum with Natsuki’s assistance.  Murakoshi did an excellent job playing the anchor at midfield, despite his more advanced age.  Gino and Tsubaki tag teamed the enemy captain as well, putting Osaka into a dangerous position.  Then we had Sugie fulfilling Tatsumi’s belief that anyone can score a goal, if presented with the right circumstances.  So that covers every player on the team.  Well, every player bar one.

Oh come on guys, show me a REAL war face!

Out of all the players on the team, I feel like Sera constantly pushes himself the hardest.  He keeps up his cheerful demeanor, but it hides his insecurity in his own skills.  Not only does he lack the skill and physical abilities of his teammates, he knows it.  Earlier in the series, his self-consciousness got him to believe Tatsumi would bench him for the rest of the season.  Nevertheless, thanks to Sakai’s help, he pulled through his bit of depression with the determination to keep his spot on the team.  He managed to hold his own, and it leads us to the game’s finale.

Sera has spent the entire second half running his heart out.  ETU’s massive offensive push has kept him in constant motion, and he’s finally starting to feel it.  Yet, he still refuses to give up, in stark contrast to Kubota who collapsed on the field.  More than anything, he wants to stick with the game until the very end.  At that end, he pulls off the last goal with a final, lucky header at great danger to himself.  The crowd goes wild.

I think that’s what will ultimately make Sera a great player, despite his disadvantages.  He might not have the physical qualities of his contemporaries, but he will push himself for the team.  Then, when he’s used every ounce  of energy he has, he somehow finds the little extra he needs.  I think he’s the kind of player who can make a game in the clutch situation.  Sakai criticized him for his stupidity at going for such a dangerous goal.  He might be right, because Sera himself doesn’t believe he’s particularly bright.  However, I think Sera really couldn’t imagine not going for the shot.  If he hadn’t, he wouldn’t have given his all, and he wouldn’t be satisfied with it.  So I say props to Sera.  You deserve it.

That'll do, Sera. That'll do.

Well my predictions for the rest of this series have officially gone out the window.  Of course, I don’t see this as a terrible thing, because it means Giant Killing has still kept me guessing about how exactly ETU will tackle the Osaka problem.  Last week, they had managed to shake the focus of Dulfer’s players.  Now the team continues to devolve into frustration toward their current situation.  Tatsumi and his team have managed to play a large quantity of the players for fools, and as expected, they are none too happy about it.

Good job Akasaki, you finally went the distance!

First, we have Hauer, who Kuro has been riling up for the entire game.  First, he made jabs at his hair style, which he not only understood despite the Japanese, but also a rather strange weak point for an International player.  Then Kuro started stealing plays from him.  He can’t manage to shine on the field if he can never get his feet on the ball.  Finally, Kuro seizes the last straw when he interferes with Osaka’s bid for a third goal.

Hauer never came off as the patient type, and now he’s simply not going to take it anymore.  He shoves his defender, and manages to score a yellow card instead.  I found it particularly amusing because, as Tatsumi says, Kuro is an excellent annoyance.  He’s like a fly who keeps buzzing around your head until eventually you do something stupid to make it stop, like hit yourself.  Hauer hit himself hard, and he had better keep his temper in check to avoid ejection from the game.

Me Hauer! Hauer SMASH!

Next up in the frustration parade is Hiiraga.  As they posited last episode, Tatsumi has orchestrated a strategy to wear down the defender.  This puts Dulfer in a very difficult position.  On the one hand, he could pull his player out of the game, or move him elsewhere on the field, in favor of a fresh player.  To do so, he would have to get over his pride and admit other teams could defeat his style of play.  Considering how much he has staked on “beautiful offense,” he would probably sooner die than concede so easily.  In addition, Hiiraga also acts as team captain.  Pulling him off the field could rattle the team even more as they struggle without his on-field guidance.

His other obvious option, then, is to continue allowing the defender to play.  Unfortunately, Hiiraga’s frustration can and does get the better of him.  Right as the episode closes, he deliberately grabs Tsubaki to prevent his charge on the goal.  I’m not entirely positive about football penalties, but there’s potential for a red card here.  In such a case, not only would Dulfer have a man down, but the midfield really would sit empty for the rest of the game.

You just got played for the fool, son.

Both of these are examples of frustration turned outward, but Kubota turns his frustration inward.  He doesn’t want to leave the game, and Dulfer doesn’t want to pull him out just yet, but he can’t leave an exhausted striker on the field.  Thus, the little introvert has to make the slow walk to the bench and simply observe the rest of the game.

I like Kubo’s attitude toward his situation.  He does have disappointment in himself for not lasting the entire game.  Rather than sit there and beat himself up over it, he resolves to build his stamina so he can eventually last for the entire game.  He has his inspiration, and perhaps nemesis, right there for added motivation.  He likens Tsubaki to a wind or a storm.  Kubo ultimately wants to become like him.  If he could manage to develop the stamina, if not the speed Tsubaki has, he too could become a force of nature in the Japanese league.  This is yet another time I wish the series would revisit a player or team in the future, but we have quickly run out of time for the season.  I guess I’ll just have to wait for the manga to advance.

Wow, Tsubaki just keeps going and going and...

ETU has managed to get their defensive line into the game, locking down the Osaka offense as best they possibly can.  The midfield has stepped up the game as well.  However, you must have all three links in the chain to pull off a good play.  Tatumi’s right, a striker is just another player, and any player can score a goal.  Even the goalie could potentially run the length of the field in a desperate attempt to win the game.  It’s their position near the goal which makes a difference.  Right now, ETU can’t make a play because Natsuki has broken the chain.  Of course, Osaka can just as easily break their own chain.

Inconceivable!

On his first charge into enemy territory, Natsu totally biffed a spectacular pass from the Prince.  You can tell his head really isn’t in the game.  He has focused himself on trying to act like a team player due to the little talk Tatsumi had with him, and it’s screwed up his whole sense of judgement.  Instead of pushing for the shot, he hesitates as he scans for a pass.

He just isn’t cut out for this kind of work.  As the kids say, they love watching Natsu when he plays because of his spontaneity.  Now with all this attempted thinking, he becomes boring and easily predictable on the field.  It only drives it further home when he sacrifices another ball as he tries to decide whether to pass or take the shot.  He had already reached the point of no return on the play, and his hesitation sacrificed a ball ETU had worked hard to get to the front lines.

This is perhaps the best look into a characters mind. Ever.

Dulfer’s assistant thinks they can smoothly sail to victory at this point, but Dulfer himself cautions him.  They have to stay focused on keeping their advantage.  If they don’t get keep their focus on the game, they can quickly lose the advantage, just like ETU lost it on Natsu’s bad plays.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem he can communicate his thoughts telepathically.  Right now, Kubo sits on the exact opposite side of the focus scale.  He has his head so far into playing that his vision of the field quickly diminishes.  He barely manages to get a pass away from his defender.

Shortly thereafter, he retrieves the ball and pushes on the goal again, only to get cut off by Tsubaki.  He didn’t even see it coming.  He pushed himself so far into things that he could no longer see the individual trees in the forest.  Kubo’s pretty much broken at this point as he falls flat on the field.  Dulfer’s four point offense has reached its end, and I imagine it’s all downhill from here for his forwards.

Defeat strangely tastes of grass.

Finally, we have Osaka’s defense losing their focus for a third reason.  They took Tsubaki too lightly, probably because he’s a rookie, and he manages to rush straight into attack range.  Then they took Natsu too lightly because of his screwups.  Unfortunately for them, he managed to find his focus and completes the attack.  He misses, but he managed to accomplish an entirely different objective.

Osaka begins to panic.  ETU didn’t put up a very successful offense before, but now they have excellent position.  They have strikers past some of the defensive line, and Osaka fails to clear the ball to get the game back under control.  Who knows what will happen next?  Osaka’s goalie makes a call which mimics the same fatal mistake Sugie made against Kubo.  They take their eyes off the ball and presume ETU will try to return the ball to Natsu, who’s probably still in good position.  Tremendous mistake, as Akasaki pushes straight in for the shot.  He had a terrible track record for shooting in the past, but he took the initiative, and I think it’s finally his turn to shine.  He deserves the goal.

I'm coming for ya!

Alright, so the game still isn’t over yet.  ETU didn’t keep a tight ship for the first half, but neither did they suffer a tremendous shutout as happened to Osaka’s previous opponent.  Now they have a little time to get in each other’s faces and mentally work out their problems before advancing to the second half.  They can definitely play the game with the setup they have now, they just need to fix the mistakes in their playing styles.  Some players manage to make good progress in this episode, but one still sticks out like a sore thumb.

Yes, Natsuki, we're all looking at you.

The team retreats to the locker room understandably frustrated.  They have to go into the second half with the pressure on to score three goals, when they could barely start an assault in the first half.  Since Kuro’s job is to fill the hot blood quotient for the rest of the team, he gets up in Sugie’s face and starts yelling.  Fortunately, Dori steps in and reminds them of something.  One single mistake does not make a scored goal.  It’s a combination of failures across the board, with the final mistake resting on Dori for not stopping the ball.  It manages to calm the team down, but in this situation, they still have a rattled mindset.

On the other side of the equation, we have Osaka’s locker room.  They’re screwing around during halftime just as much as they did before the game.  All signs point to victory for them, and Dulfer is pleased.  Tatsumi wants to turn it around though.  There’s a lot of people in the stadium cheering for one team or the other.  Ignore those people, they’re what you’d call constants in the football equation.  Think about all the others watching the game, not just at the stadium, but at home too.  They may not cheer for one team or the other.  Instead, they want an entertaining game.  One team crushing the other might be impressive, but it’s also terribly boring.  ETU needs to put on a show.  As they turn the game around, not only will they have more fun, but the rest of the people watching the match can share in the fun with them.

Don't forget anyone in the audience, no matter how small.

Tatsumi leaves the team with autonomous orders to continue the plan, but with more fun.  I think he made the right move, because he can’t make one overarching order to the team.  Each member has his own problem to work through.  The hands off approach actually works too.  Kuro usually has his head pretty deeply into the game, but the dynamics of his matchup start to change.  He doesn’t just think he can beat Hauer, now he knows he can come out on top.  The goal he sacrificed won’t happen again.  Sugie as well manages to get his grip on the wonder boy.  He knows what the kid can do, and now Kubota has to suffer his undivided attention.  As the defense’s confidence increases, Gino’s passing skills come back to life, allowing the offense to finally take possession of the ball.

Osaka’s current place in the game has actually aided the change in ETU’s mindset.  Let’s take Kuro’s analogy comparing football to a fight.  If you come at someone with a lot of momentum and connect, you may very well land a one-hit knock out.  What happens if you miss?  All the momentum you put into the blow suddenly works against you.  Not only does it take time to slow yourself, but your opponent can also convert your excess force into a counter throw. Going into the second half, Osaka had extreme confidence in victory.  Now Kuro and Sugie are getting up into their heads.  Hauer gets increasingly frustrated with his defender, even fouling him to try to get back in control.  Not only can he not make a move, he might not even get another chance as long as Kuro sticks to him like glue.  Similarly, Sugie’s rough tactics against Kubota are going to rattle him as well.  It’s pretty tough to keep focused on the attack when you’re getting shoved on every possession.

These two are going to be best friends from now on.

At this point, I think I have a pretty clear picture of what the rest of the series has in store.  In the next episode, 23, Natsuki will work through his issue as a forward.  He’ll finally take a shot on the goal, scoring and boosting his confidence.  The game will be played to about the 30 minute mark.  Episode 24 will have ETU scoring a second goal quickly, and struggling to make a third.  They will ultimately fail, sending the game into overtime.  Both teams will reflect on what this means for the rest of the match.

Episode 25 will be a struggle for dominance in the first half of overtime.  By this point, the player’s tanks will be running on empty.  I’d expect Tatsumi to switch Natsuki for Sakai.  Finally, in episode 26, ETU will nail the winning shot at the last possible moment.  The match point will go to Sera with an assist from Sakai.  Those are my predictions, so let’s see how the game actually plays.

With plays like this, it will definitely be a fun game!

Last week, some guy named Hauer on the Osaka side of the game scored a point.  Honestly, Osaka scoring is something we should expect.  They’ve spent the last few episodes emphasizing the strength of their offensive play.  If they didn’t manage to score, and in short order, I know we’d all criticize this arc for its ridiculous game play.  Thus, Hauer scoring a goal is nothing out of the ordinary.  Instead, what I find odd is how everyone suddenly starts condemning ETU and claiming the game has already ended.

Hey, could you turn down the smug a little? Thanks.

Dulfer praises Hauer’s excellent goal and his timing, just 17 minutes into the game.  He then goes on to say ETU can only defend at this point, which means his Gunners are guaranteed victory if they keep up the assault.  Then we’ve got the reporter dude up in the peanut gallery with his armchair commentary.  He asserts that even if ETU can score a goal, they’ll still end the match in a tie.  They have no chance at all, they’ll simply follow a slow path to defeat.

I realize that at some point in a timed game you can reach a point of no return.  One team leads the other by such a large margin that even if they played well with all the remaining time, they simply can’t catch up.  However, last time I checked, which was literally in the last paragraph, Osaka scored a goal 17 minutes into the game.  I might be mistaken, but I’m pretty sure a game of football has a total of 90 minutes.  We’ve still got 73 minutes left!  Shoot, they still have some time in the locker room to go over strategies and revise the game plan.  They might have conceded a goal at this point, but you can’t write them off so easily.  Your overconfidence can eventually come back to bite you.

Well, I don't think this is going to help much either.

I’ll illustrate this by alluding to an entirely different game, Super Smash Bros.  About a year ago, two of my friends faced off in a tournament, playing Link and Lucario.  The one playing Link had a lot more experience in competitive play, and he managed to largely dominate the match.  About halfway through the game, he had managed to land Lucario twice.  Link had taken some damage, and Lucario might manage to land a parting kill.  By all practical measure, though, the audience had already decided the game.  When you only have three lives, a two life deficit is nearly impossible to recover.

Lucario kept right on fighting.  He played a slower and cleaner match while still keeping the pressure on his opponent.  In short order, he’d taken his consolation prize, but he didn’t stop.  He kept the fight going, eventually claiming another life while in critical state.  Finally, in the biggest upset of the entire tournament, he managed to get the last kill he needed to seize the match.  How did he win?  He knew by rights he would probably lose, yet he refused to give up the match.  Perseverance served him well, and the lesser skilled player took down the greater opponent.  Incidentally, you can actually watch this on Youtube.

Can't give up just because you're a little off today.

We return to the anime now, and I applaud ETU for keeping their spirits up after failing on defense.  A few of them kind of want to beat themselves up over it, but overall they are united in their purpose.  They want to continue the fight.  Gino, in particular, offers some encouragement.  The team balks at his strange pep talk, but I understand him.  They’ve conceded goals in the past  What of it?  They only have to get back out there and start attacking to make up the difference.

Then Kubota scores the second goal, and again, reporter guy and Dulfer think the match has ended with Osaka on top.  Still, ETU refuses to roll over and die.  Sera valiantly leads a charge straight for Osaka’s goal.  If only they had a little more time, they might have actually scored.  You can’t write them off yet.  They’ll have a little time to regroup with Tatsumi and get their thoughts in order.  Then they can move on to developing a plan for victory.  They can do it.  After all, they have the entire second half to score three kills.  I mean, goals…

Sera hasn't thrown the towel in yet, and neither should you!

I could foolishly attempt to analyze the play of this game, but as I’m not well versed in football, it’d ultimately be futile.  I instead direct you over to Emperor J’s coverage of the episode for a more thorough look at the tactics.  Instead, I’m going to focus on a single character aspect of the episode.  I imagine you’re wondering what on earth a sunken rice paddy has to do with a sports anime.  It turns out it’s time for another etymology lesson, this time revolving around Kubota.

Yeah, that's right. This vapid dude.

We can divide the name Kubota into two root characters.  The first one, Kubo, defines a sunken ground.  The second, Ta, refers to a rice paddy.  The Ta character appears in many Japanese surnames due to an edict in the Meiji era.  Every person had to provide a surname, and many chose it based on their surroundings.  Thus, the surname Kubota, meaning “sunken rice paddy,” is formed!

So why exactly is his name relevant at all to his character?  We’ll start with the first character because it’s the easiest to explain.  The adjective sunken refers to an object which has been submerged in water.  Water can distort or hide the things you put within it.  For example, a glacier looks like a small point of ice poking out of the water.  Easy to navigate around, right?  Unfortunately, water hides a sizable portion of submerged glacier.  If you only made a slight course adjustment, you might end up losing your boat!  Thus, Kubo refers to his hidden potential.  What you see on the surface only hides his true abilities.

This works very nicely with the second character, the rice paddy.  Rice, cooked on its own, generally comes out quite plain.  You can eat it as a dish, but it doesn’t really bring anything special to the meal.  It’s also incredibly common, and a staple of many meals in Asian countries.  There’s a reason many languages have the same or similar words for “rice” and “food.”  I learned that from Good Eats.

If you've watched this series at all, you know what's coming.

This requires me to go back and change my evaluation of Kubota, which I made in episode 18’s post.  At first, I thought he acted timidly.  Instead, he’s simply plain.  Plain, plainer, plainest.  So plain he might get easily confused for plain yogurt.  A blank sheet of paper has more going on than Kubota’s outward appearance.  I could go on, but I’m sure you get the idea.  However, only a fool would believe this is all rice has to offer.  Remember those hidden depths.

Rice has a great deal of versatility.  You can eat it perfectly fine as a plain dish, but you can also do so much more with it.  You can use boiled rice in many soup recipes, as well as combining it with different types of meat.  Adding sweeteners can make a dessert, rather than an appetizer or meal.  A countless variety of fried rice exists in Chinese cuisine.  The Iranians used it to develop pilaf, while centuries later the Italians made risotto.  Again, I could go on forever, but you get the idea.  Rice is one of the ultimate culinary multitaskers, able to work well with many dishes in many cooking styles.

Now put it all together.  On the surface, Kubota looks plain as can be.  You could easily mistake him for an amateur amateur-league player.  His appearance hides his incredible abilities.  In the direct sense, he has incredible control of the ball.  He can probably kick circles around anyone in the league if he really wanted.  In an indirect way, he plays exceptionally well with others.  His versatility allows him to link up with all three of his fellow forwards, even defying Hauer’s language barrier.  While they’ve only shown him working as a playmaker, he could probably score goals of his own as well.  Kubota’s name defines him perfectly, and Dulfer has managed to land himself quite a gem for the Osaka Gunners.

I hope class is in session, because you just got SCHOOLED!

I intended to write this post yesterday but I didn’t even managed to download the episode until last night.  Some friends of mine were hosting a Final Fantasy marathon and their FFV player backed out.  So, I learned the speedrun in a single night and then spent all day yesterday attempting it.  Anyway, I also intended to see a game actually start in this episode, but I didn’t get that either.  Instead, I got another episode of buildup to what I imagine will close out the rest of the series.  They simply don’t have enough time to work in another conflict in five episodes.  With all my personal commentary out of the way, let’s talk about the actual episode.

I also didn't expect this ridiculous perspective.

Rather than giving commentary on the player’s abilities, I’ll focus on how their personalities stack up against each other.  First, we have the core of each team’s offensive might, which pits midfielder Gino against forward Hauer.  They both play the pretty boy card pretty heavily, but Hauer acts like the silent type, more like Murakoshi, while Gino shoots his mouth a lot more.  I think it makes Gino more entertaining, so he gets the edge.  Then we have Kubota, who I may or may not refer to as Tsubaki-light for the rest of the series.  They have the same level of preference from their coaches because of their potential, despite their apparent difficulties.  Since Tsubaki has a better personality than a cinder block, I again give the edge to ETU.

However, Osaka does have some personality perks.  Katayama and Hatake have an exceptional repartee with each other, which is good for a pair of forwards.  ETU doesn’t really have anyone like them.  ETUs two forwards might actually have a negative level of communication, since Sera doesn’t like Natsuki very well.  Overall, I’d say the two teams tie on the personalities of their individual players.

On the other hand, Osaka’s personalities don’t really mesh well from the scene in the locker room.  They’ve worked fine together until now, but they’ve also never lost a game.  I think it’s a bomb waiting to explode.

I don't know you guys, I have never seen you in my life...

We can also take a look at the coach’s meeting right before the game begins.  Tatsumi happens to run into Dulfer and as Blanc points out, they want to size each other up before the match.  This confrontation is all about who gives more information to their opponent.

On the one side, we have Tatsumi.  He asks an incredibly off topic question with a passive attitude.  This tells Dulfer his opponent has confidence in his plan for today’s game.  It really doesn’t help though, because Tatsumi constantly makes alterations to his basic strategy to accommodate for a new opponent.  Knowing Tatsumi has confidence is about as useful as knowing it’s cloudy outside.  Yes, it provides information, but without some additional help, you still don’t know what will happen.  It might remain clear, or you might get rain, snow, hail, or perhaps even lemon drops and gum drops.  Oh what a rain that would be!

On the other side, we have Dulfer.  He comes off as a very proud man.  When he acts overly confident in front of Tatsumi, it gives his entire plan away.  He intends to play the same kind of game which has gotten him this far.  In this case, Tatsumi comes off with better and more reliable information, so he ultimately “wins” the meeting.

Psst... Am I getting enough screentime in this episode?

Everyone has geared up for this to be an interesting game.  We have the national team manager in the audience, not just to observe a great game, but also with the potential to recruit new blood.  The photographer guy has picked up on the intensity the two coaches display, and I’m sure he’s happy about getting a good payday from this game.  Even the team’s are pumped for the game.  Osaka has ridden a tidal wave of good success, but the ETU team has Tatsumi’s strategy and looks ready to win.  Everyone is ready to go.  Everyone except Natsuki, anyway.  He looks like he’d rather be in a haunted house than playing football today.  I can’t imagine Tatsumi allowing him to undo everything he has planned for up to this point.  Or, perhaps the plot might step in and take him off the field with an injury…

You got problems when even Tsubaki looks more composed.

I’ve never watched an actual game of soccer in my life.  I’ve spent most of this series looking at character interactions and development, rather than the tactics and strategy of the game.  There’s still a lot of characterization in episode 18, but I’m also going to give you my armchair predictions for next week’s match.  I have a feeling the match against Osaka will play in the same extended format as Nagoya.  It’d be good to get my thoughts down in writing before we go into another big game.

Alright, you've got our attention.

Well, it looks like I completely overlooked a reason for Tatsumi’s apprehension.  He was also worried about the team’s lack of unity when the ended a match in a draw.  I’m used to seeing a mix of feelings when a project reaches its end, so I noticed nothing particularly wrong.  I’m sure some players thought they did their best, and others obviously thought they could do more.  If they don’t both agree, though, they can get stuck in a different rut.

At least when you’re losing, you absolutely know you have to work to improve your game.  When you draw, no one really knows for sure.  Even if some want to improve, if they can’t agree to do so as a team, it won’t happen.  We see the result of this in the locker room.  Despite their differing opinions, they do all want to win.  Fortunately, they can and do unite on this front.  They lost the game, but they played far better in the second half, especially Sera.  I’m sure the experience will give him a big boost of confidence.

You know he's doing well because he got his own stillframe.

I think Kubo is Osaka’s weak link in the offensive line.  When they show him, he constantly looks like he’s afraid someone is going to kick his puppy or something.  Either he has a Master’s in obfuscating stupidity, or he really lacks confidence in his play.  I don’t believe the demanding teammates really help his mindset.  He has three good forwards who all want the ball, and he has to figure out whom to give it to.  His response?  “Uh…”

He probably does have a hard choice, but uncertainty in a player doesn’t strike me as a good thing.  A bit of harassment from the defense might keep him flustered and out of the game.  Three good forwards are still difficult to stop, but any advantage they can pick up will help a great deal.  It makes the game resemble the match against Nagoya, except the third member of the triumvirate is actually a forward this time.

One of these things is not like the others, one of these things just doesn't belong...

Obviously with a powerhouse opponent, ETU has no chance in hell of playing a game of turtle.  Even with their best defense going, past experience has shown their defense will eventually overload, and not even Dori’s great goaltending can stop them from scoring.  They can’t play a scoreless game, but Kuro and Sugie should play some good defense.  Kuro doesn’t have the psychological advantage rivalry can impart, but I know he still plays a solid game.  With Tsubaki floating for lost balls, at the very least Osaka won’t have a repeat 8-0 performance.  This is key.  If Osaka starts building any momentum, ETU will almost immediately lose.

Tatsumi’s team has to focus on pushing offense more in this match.  Four forwards means Osaka has a weaker presence either midfield or on their own side.  They rely on their offense to keep the ball away from their own goal.  Thus, I have a feeling they stack more midfielders, both to support the strikers and keep the ball out of the defensive zone.  If the defense can free the ball up and get it to Tsubaki, his speed should get him to midfield.  Tatsumi is finally going to move a second forward into the game.  Prince then has four choices for passes, as well as attacking himself.  Osaka will have to struggle to keep up so long as ETU can get past their first hurdle.  They have to play the match of their lives, but with Tatsumi so visibly confident, I think ETU will prevail.

Tatsumi is smiling. You might want to consider surrender.

I sprained my ankle one time.  If you’ve never done it before, I’ll tell you right now moving around is no fun at all.  You want to sit so you don’t have to deal with it, but then you want to get up because you don’t want to sit all day.  I can’t even imagine how restless Sera’s minor injury makes him.  Actually, I can, because we get a front row seat to his head for most of the episode.  By the end, it looks like he and everyone else is looking at the positive side of things for ETU.  Everyone except Tatsumi.

Dude, you're interrupting my mid-game brood.

Sakai tells Sera he is 31 years old.  This guy has about a decade of experience on his younger cohort, but he also has a decade’s less speed and stamina.  I think this clinches Tatsumi’s strategy for forwards right now.  Sera doesn’t have tremendous skill, but he can run forever and hold a solid front line on offense.  This can tide ETU over until the game reaches it’s later stages.

When the opponent has worn down, Tatsumi sends in Sakai to finish the game.  Even though he has lesser physical attributes, a fatigued defense counterbalances what he lacks.  Sera can slowly gain skill and confidence as a forward, while Sakai gets game-time in the best possible conditions.  Everyone wins.  Natsuki does throw a bit of a wrench into the works because he apparently scores so well, but I’m sure Tatsumi can work it to his advantage.

Quit feeling so damn sorry for yourself!

Sakai, like any good player, wants more time on the field.  Sera stands in the way of getting it.  To his credit, though, the elder player doesn’t use his injury to his advantage.  He comes up after practice and berates Sera for loafing around eating potato chips.  Sakai then offers the kid some much needed words of encouragement.  He might act gruff, but he definitely cares about his fellow players.

Not only that, but Sakai wants to earn his time as a forward, not receive it from a technicality.  Again, Natsu poses a problem, and he acknowledges it, but it doesn’t mean they can’t put forth their all to beat him.  I think Sera is finally starting to calm down about his position on the team.  Rather than acting worried, he now gives an air of determination.  A little competition between the forwards can drive them all to do better.

There can only be ONE!!

Now instead of talking around the returning forward, let’s face him head on.  I’m not really convinced Natsu has the tremendous skill as a forward everyone says he does.  He comes on the field and immediately trips and falls.  His little self-congratulation gives up a goal, which leaves the team tied at the end.  Then when he gets the ball, he immediately takes a blind shot at the goal.  What is up with this guy, and why is he valuable on the field?

Sometimes, the most dangerous opponent is the unorthodox one.  A lot of the battle rests on predicting movements.  Even narrowing it down to a range is better than nothing.  An unorthodox player screws up your predictions.  He takes actions you don’t expect, even downright stupid ones.  You don’t prepare for what you don’t expect.  Natsu’s value is the unpredictability at the core of his character.  No one expected him to take the shot, let alone score.

Don't stop him now, he's on a roll!

Finally, Tatsumi starts the episode off in a good mood.  While the rest of the management discusses Sera’s injury, he’s a little more concerned with the trading cards he gets.  Then when he sends Natsu into the game, he makes a comical remark about his “normalcy.”  The game ends in a draw and the team is pretty happy about their performance.  Tatsumi is the only one wearing a frown.  Why?

Well, for his Giant Killing team to become a reality, they have to win games, not draw them.  It goes even beyond that.  Remember his impressive coaching of Eastham in England?  After the match, Gotou finds him lying on a bench in a surprisingly low mood.  He did an amazing job but he’s not satisfied because his team didn’t win.  No one likes to lose, but Tatsumi really doesn’t like it.  It’s time to start pushing the training regiment.

You want us to do WHAT!?

Well, we haven’t had a new character introduced for a while, so I suppose we’re due for it.  I imagine we won’t add anyone else to ETU after Natsu’s appearance, what with us being in the second half of the series.  This guy throws a spanner in the works, a really annoying spanner.  I wonder how the team can cope with his addition, especially Sera who just wants to keep his spot in the starting lineup.

Begging for forgiveness already, Natsu?

Natsu combines annoying traits from all the other players on the team.  He has Prince’s tendency to show off, as shown when he does his ridiculous aerial kick into the goal.  This also shows his need to prove himself continuously, as Tsubaki does.  The other players comment that Natsu’s mouth might be even bigger than Kuro’s.  He acts with the same overwhelming optimism Sera has, although in this case I think it’s possible Sera inherited the trait from him.  To top it all off, he has his own insensitivity to others, saying whatever he wants without any thought for their feelings.

Natsu reminds me of the really annoying guy at work.  You all know who I’m talking about, and if you don’t, well, I have bad news for you.  No one fully likes him, but you have to put up with him anyway because he can do his job so well.  He can definitely do his job, as they say he pulled ETU back up by its bootstraps when their foreigner didn’t work.  In this case, I can see Tatsumi going either way on using him.  On the one hand, Flags points out only a weirdo like Natsu could worm his way into the team.  On the other hand, Tatsumi has always tried to look at what’s inside the player, and wants his team working as a cohesive unit.

Okay... I have to admit... this was pretty cool.

Really, I think Tatsumi spends the episode playing with him.  He starts by saying he will call the police quite loudly to see how Natsu will react.  Then during practice, he looks directly at him just long enough that he tries a crazy play to show off.  Tatsumi knew from the coach that the guy was kind of an idiot, and sure enough, Natsu delivers on his description.  Only an idiot would play during rehab, or attempt an aerial kick so soon after the doctor cleared him for play.  The manager is gauging his reactions as he figures out what to do with the new guy, and I imagine he will continue messing with him into the next episode.

Emperor J notes how Sera’s current situation closely mimics Tsubaki’s in the first half of the season.  Both of them worried incessantly about their place on the team, especially in the presence of players they thought performed better.  J looks at both sides of the issue, but I think the solution hinges on Tatsumi’s appraisal of Natsu.  Tsubaki stayed on the field because his coach knew a new player needed experience.  Sera already played well, but now he has started performing poorly.  If Natsu can mesh well with the team, Sera may very well end up benched.  If he can’t, then it might be better to invest time in whipping a fading player back into shape.  It looks like the next episode deals with confidence, so I think we will have our answer soon.

That's right Sera! Flex those muscles! You're a BEAST!

Alright, the Summer 2010 anime season has started, and pretty much all the shows I’ve been keeping an eye on have had their 1st episodes air. I’ve already written on Amagami SS, which I found to be rather plain, but there are other shows I’ve been paying attention to that I’ve actually enjoyed a lot more.

I wonder if those pussy gloves will ever be explained or just be one of those in-jokes.

Ookami-san and the Seven Friends

A surprisingly entertaining first episode. I had passed it off as just another high school romantic comedy before this season started, but its amusing take on the Cinderella story both sets it apart from a regular romcom and leaves me wanting to see more of its “adaptations” of children’s stories. The protagonist and main love story is pretty typical, and that fight at the end reminded me too much of Shirou from Fate/stay Night – the obvious parallel with his protecting Saber from Berserker’s attack – but Ookami-san herself was very likable. Not many boxing girls in animu. And Satomi Arai as the narrator is great. Her distinct voice works well for the cynical and sarcastic narration that keeps breaking the 4th wall and is a pleasure to listen to overall (though there are others who don’t like her voice as much as I).

Way to be useless, Rei. Hopefully you'll make up for it in future episodes.

Highschool of the Dead

Zombies and fanservice! That was pretty much what I was expecting, and that was the 1st episode. Darker at some parts than I expected, but also kept a sense of humor. The two bffs who died about halfway into the episode was a great example of the show’s dark comedy.

Rei was very annoying, which is a shame, because her voice actor Marina Inoue is capable of so much more. I’m not expecting big things from the story, but if it can keep up the good action and the fittingly ridiculous comedy, this could be very good. Yukari Fukui is yet to be heard. That I’m very much looking forward to.

I've never seen School Rumble, but Shino reminds me a lot of one of the characters from that. I don't think I've ever seen someone so blatantly and unapologetically raunchy, though.

Seitokai Yakuindomo

Wow, this is dirty! Its style of dry humor isn’t unusual in anime, but I’ve never seen it taken so far. Almost everything out of Shino’s mouth is something related to sex in the raunchiest way possible. Like talking about the tightness of her lips. And it’s all at a breakneck pace, hitting us with jokes continually before we’re given a chance to recover. I like it, though not everyone seems to. I didn’t expect much out of this show, but the level of comedy in this first episode leaves me impressed. I’m definitely going to be watching more.

I do appreciate that Anime no Chikara is using fresh material. I had no idea what to expect from Maya, and I'm glad I didn't.

Occult Academy

It certainly doesn’t hurt that Maya is an Akiha lookalike. She was my favorite Tsukihime heroine, after all. After the disappointment of Sora no Woto and the mixed reactions that Senkou no Night Raid got, I wasn’t expecting much out of this 3rd Anime no Chikara project. Given the topic of the show, I was expecting something a bit dark and moody, but what I got instead was something that was pretty wacky and funny. A lot of physical/visual comedy was used to good effect, and I enjoyed seeing Maya’s various deformed reaction faces. Can’t say much about the story which I found to be a bit confusing, but I think it would be better if the show never got too serious. I’m not alone in being surprised and impressed by the silliness in this 1st episode.

Also, Kana Hanazawa playing the possessed girl was a blast to watch/listen to, especially after hearing her as Tenshi last season in Angel Beats!

Others

So I’ve been more or less impressed with the stuff I’ve seen so far. Perhaps my expectations were just too low going into this season – the only show out of these that I had been remotely looking forward to was Highschool of the Dead, and even then, I wasn’t expecting anything more than some mindless violence. But, 1 episode in, there are a bunch of shows that look promising this season.

• Nameless already made a post on the 1st episode of Mitsudomoe. I couldn’t make it past about 5-8 minutes. The art style just put me off. That first gag with the misinterpretation of “anything goes” was pretty funny, I’ll admit. And it has received some positive reactions from various other blogs. It’s just that I just feel dirty watching it.
• I also could only make it about 1/3 of the way into Shufuku no Campanella. The colors really were nice, but that was about it. Everything else was generic and way too sugary sweet.
• I haven’t gotten a chance to check out The Legend of the Legendary Heroes yet, but it’s on my list.

Victory changes everything.  We spent the last four weeks of the series focusing on the one key game to get ETU on track for success.  They have a little downtime until the next game, but instead of resting on their laurels, everyone is working harder than ever.  The win over Nagoya has renewed a sense of passion, both in the fans and the team’s staff.  It might not be as exciting as watching a game, but rest assured, just as much can happen off the pitch.

Things like Sera taking a shower! Wait... what?

Now of course, passion can act as a double-edged sword.  If you’re really excited about something and want to do it very well, you might start to over think your task.  Here there be madness.  It becomes so easy to psyche yourself out over the details.  Should I do it like this or like that?  It quickly evolves into the ultimate question, “What if I screw up?”  The easiest way to combat over thinking is to divert your attention.  Gone are the fun and easy training drills Tatsumi had planned for the prior games.  He has his team playing a full on scrimmage amongst themselves.  They might go into the game the next day a little tired, but you can battle past some physical discomfort.  It’s far more difficult to get your head back into the game.

Yuri takes this idea to an entirely different, and dangerous, level.  With such a small PR staff, she has to take on much of the workload herself.  Unfortunately, she pushes so fast and so hard that she collapses in the middle of the day.  As Tatsumi points out, you have to do everything in moderation.  It’s not good to take your ease because it will make you restless.  Also, putting your soul into your work will make the finished product better.  Expending too much energy, though, can doom you to failure.  I know, I have a workaholic for a grandfather.  His running full tilt for years slowly developed heart problems, ending in major surgery.  Yuri’s already on that path, and you can tell because she never realized when her contemporaries got off work until the medical staff forced her to rest.  I hope she takes everyone’s advice to heart.

Also, you watch out for those banana peels.

This episode invests a lot into the fans and how they have evolved with ETU’s victory.  Tsubaki in particular has managed to attract a lot of attention from the ladies, and Kuro is a regular man’s man.  Most striking is how the adult’s have started acting just like the kids!  They spend the entire day running all over town trying to recruit people for their fan squad.  It gets to the point that the kids criticize the adults for not acting their age!  I think this is a real testament to how passion can reinvigorate someone.  When you have a cause to rally around, age doesn’t matter.  A fifty year old man can have as much spirit as a ten year old kid.  Between the two, I think they can give the middle generation a run for their money in the cheering department.

From here, we can draw an interesting parallel with Tatsumi.  When he made his debut and won his first game, you can tell it filled him with excitement.  Many years have passed since then, and he has lost some of those accomplishments to time.  He has also built up this cool and flippant persona as a coach.  He says what he really thinks.  He reacts so little to everything around him that a simple smile can betray his overwhelming confidence in victory.  Can passion touch even him?  Look no further than the closing pan of the episode.  The amazing photographer got a perfect shot of him after the Nagoya game.  He looks like the happiest of all.  Yes, even Tatsumi can lower his guard, if only for a short time.

He's king of the fricken world, and don't you forget it!

This is the game that never ends.  Yes it goes on and on my friends!  Some people started playing it not knowing what it was, and they’ll continue playing it forever just because…  What’s that, it ends with this episode?  And they won?  Awesome!  Watching this game was like playing a bad round of 2Fort.  One team decides to turtle up so it takes forever for the game to end.  The turtling team wins, not through a fantastic offense, but because one or two players outmaneuvered the enemy team and scored all the captures.  Then everyone celebrates because the game finally ended.  This Team Fortress 2 metaphor continues, but I’ll help you keep up.

Yes, I know, shock and awe, the game actually ended.

Tsubaki clearly plays the maneuvering role on the turtle side, ETU.  He has made a long string of excellent plays, sometimes on accident and other times on purpose.  All of this has built up his confidence throughout the round, and now he’s finally entered The Zone.  I will tell you, being in the zone is an amazing feeling.  It’s like playing a Sniper and racking up a double-digit killstreak in the middle of a match.  From one or two shots you suddenly launch into popping the heads off everyone who dares move.  No one can get by you as you quickly consider every evasive strategy and compensate for it.  Your sixth sense even kicks in as you deftly turn around and gut the Spy who was so close to ending the rampage.

Tsubaki has become a beast of a player in the span of a few minutes.  He can now clearly see the entire field, hear the roar of the crowd, and even picks up the instructions coming from the coaches.  His unstoppable momentum makes Carlos literally look like he’s standing still on the field.  He can’t quite seal the play, but one of his allies has used his charge to get into place and finish the game.  Tsubaki easily clinched the MVP award for this game.  However, there’s one problem.  No matter what you do, you will eventually exit the zone.  You overlook something, or you let an opponent get into your head, and suddenly your streak has reached its end.  Tsubaki has done quite well for himself, but like last week, I wonder if he’ll fall again, and how hard he’ll take it.

Dude, are your ankles broken or something?

Now of course, a vital flaw exists in a stonewall defense.  A team with good offensive coordination can get over whatever barricades and traps you build.  You can block players, trick sentries, and play a game of cat and mouse good enough to leave anyone’s head spinning.  Since the defensive team has to rely on a very narrow offensive scope, getting through just once can potentially doom them.  In addition, scoring can throw off the defending team’s game, as happened several episodes ago.  Fuwa points out ETU can’t keep going forever by digging their heels into the ground.  I don’t imagine Tatsumi will continue turtling.  He simply used it because his players could actually carry out this strategy.  However, Fuwa somehow thinks he punch through their defense when they meet later in the season.  He will have quite a problem on his hands, and his name is Itagaki.

Itagaki has gone the opposite direction from Tsubaki.  The root problem here is he plays like he must validate his existence on the team.  He complains all the time about never having the ball.  I bet he even cries into his pillow at night because of those nasty Brazillians won’t play with him.  He completely overlooks that he refuses to pass the ball to them.  He never tries to sync up with them, so why should they bother including him?  Now, Kuro has dominated Itagaki and the Nagoya player only wants his revenge.  There’s something to be said about a Soldier who runs straight into the enemy base, firing rockets willy-nilly.  It’s distracting.  You still have to do it in concert with the rest of your team.  The suicide play not only fails, it leaves the door wide open for Tsubaki’s charge.  Given how they portray Itagaki, I’m not sure this is a personality flaw Fuwa can cure.  Sometimes all you can do is wait for a ragequit and hope a better player joins the team.

By the way, you're also kind of an ass.

With ETU finally scoring a win, everyone has become quite excited for the future.  The team owners finally have some faith in Tatsumi.  The journalist girl finally hits paydirt with a massive scoop on their first victory.  The photographer guy has plenty of amazing shots, and knows this team can continue supporting his job.  The old guard even wants to bring back the rest of their fellow fans.  We’ve reached the halfway point in Giant Killing, and now it looks like this show has finally gotten on the road.  I’m looking forward to the future as well.

For the last two weeks, ETU and Nagoya have been competing for supremacy on the field.  This week, they continued their struggle.  Next week, guess what?  Yeah, they will still be playing.  I have a criticism for Giant Killing now, and its all about the pacing.  Condensing all the losses apparently means they feel they can spread out this game over four episodes.  It generates a weird rubber band effect for the plot flow.  That’s a more general complaint about the series, though, so let’s talk about the episode.

Carlos, don't you understand it makes no sense to stand still on the field and talk!?

We finally learn a little more about Tatsumi’s amazing strategy to combat Nagoya.  Remember Carlos, the other guy in the Brazillian trio?  Yeah, I’m sure he rings a bell.  He has played defense for most of the game, but now he moves up field to close the offensive gap and get their attack’s rhythm going.  As soon as he said those words, I knew Tatsumi would attack the new gap in their defense.  Sure enough, they scrape by on breaking the assault and drive the ball straight up the field in a staggering counter attack.

At first glance, it looks like the writer just needed someone to throw a spanner into the gears and pulled up Carlos since he’s actually named.  After all, if he is supposed to be the best player on Nagoya’s team, where on earth has he spent the entire game?  I went back and checked the previous two weeks’ episodes.  Guess who stopped Tsubaki’s attack on the goal in episode 10?  Guess who stole the ball twice in episode 11?  That’s right, Carlos did it.  Carlos spearheads all the defensive plays we see Nagoya make.  This also leads into how Tatsumi’s gambit worked.  Pulling him out of defense means the rest of the team must pick up quite a bit of slack.  They aren’t up for the task, and ETU capitalizes on their moment of weakness.

What do you mean I blew my one chance to shine!?

Again, the series gives Tsubaki a massive turn in the limelight.  In the previous two episodes, he stopped three assaults on the goal.  The experience gave him a big boost of confidence, his major weakness.  Newly bolstered, he now plays better than ever.  He plays so well he even scores the first goal of the game.  I understand what Tsubaki’s role is.  He parallels Tatsumi when he used to play rather than manage.  His floater position means he has to act with his best instincts in every situation.  On the field, Tatsumi played using his intuition as well.

However, I feel like they have given him too much success too quickly.  I know he needed a jump-start to his confidence meter, but didn’t he already have it?  Now he gets to score the goal as well?  Part of me wishes Akasaki or Sera had scored instead.  On the other hand, this potentially sets him up for another failure sometime later on in the series.  Since Tsubaki and Tatsumi parallel each other, it could lead into an interesting highlight on the manager’s past.  Maybe the diamond of the former ETU didn’t play so brilliantly all the time.

Spine... crushed... internal... hemorrhaging...

Finally, we have the impressions of the people watching the game.  I love how the series cuts away to show how these fringe characters react to the current gameplay.  Their reaction to Tsubaki’s goal was priceless.  Everyone off the field just stood there with their mouths open, then suddenly went up in one massive cheer.  No one in the series expected Tsubaki to score, not Tatsumi, not even me.  They kind of play the viewer avatar during the games.

The more significant characters, the journalist and the photographer, give us a little insight into the manager’s game.  The former recognizes his confidence at the beginning of the game, and the latter points out his blatant display of confidence when ETU presses the attack.  They don’t do anything particularly effective in the series, but using them to give those subtle bits of information to the viewer is cool.  I can’t wait to see the reaction when ETU finally wins a game.

The old guys need a spinoff of their own too. Just saying.