Giant Killing 1-3
The Team.
“Giant Killing” is a term related to the FA Cup in English Football that explains when a professional team is defeated by an amateur one, an event that is very unlikely to happen. The FA Cup is a tournament where teams in the top six levels of the English football league system are eligible. There are fourteen rounds in the tournament, the lowest level teams have to fight it out for three rounds until the next level is admitted, and a new level is admitted until the Premier League teams join in the ninth round. Hopefully that gives you an idea of how hard it is to kill giants. They have to play up to eight rounds of teams that are better than they are just to lose to a team with corporate funding, but if they can beat that team, well my friends, that’s a Giant Killing.
Because one capital letter just isn't enough sometimes...
Genres: Sports, Drama, SeinenThemes: Underdog Story, Team PlayNumber of episodes: 26
Summary:
The show follows the escapades of the once strong East Tokyo University Football team and the former star player Tatsumi Takeshi. Tatsumi played for ETU when it was in its prime, though now it is a shell of its former self. Almost all the fans still loyal to ETU blame Tatsumi for their current state as he left the team, when they were winning, to go to Europe, at which point other good players left which led to the abysmal state they are in now.
Guy totally stole my number!
The first episode has the management of ETU going to England to find Tatsumi and convince him to become ETU’s new manager, a position that no one keeps very long. They find him in a small town who are cheering his very name while parading down the street carrying him. Turns out he spent three years managing this amateur club and took them to the FA Cup where they made it into the top 32 teams. Pretty impressive for an unranked team considering that there are twenty teams in the Premier League alone who probably take up twenty of those spots. They manage to convince him to return to the ETU and thus Tatsumi comes home to his former club.
MORE BOOZE!!
On his first day on the job he surprises the team and the Coach when he tells them to run thirty meter sprints continuously. Now I’m sure this would be fine if he hadn’t had these notes delivered to them from his bed half asleep. Needless to say by the time he shows up the team is tired and cranky. The fans are pretty cranky too and are not afraid to show their hatred of Tatsumi with banners and constant yelling. He certainly doesn’t help create faith in him for the players (or the fans) when he picks the youngest (and fastest) players for the new starting line-up, half of whom are rookies including another main character Tsubaki Daisuke. However he challenges the Coach take on the rookies with a team made up of the better, regular players. Something none of the experienced players have a doubt about winning considering Tatsumi has only seen them run, he has yet to see any other skills.
Sorry guys, I've got a hangover....
Let’s move forward with episode two where Tatsumi has now split the team between the rookies and the regulars and is ready to start the match between them. This is where we learn a little more about Murakoshi Shigeyuki (a.k.a. “Mr. ETU”). We learned last episode he was a rookie when Tatsumi left the team and has lead ETU as the captain ever since all the best players abandoned it. The game begins and Murakoshi is surprised at how passive the rookie team is being, especially considering how much faster they are. The game continues slowly and the regulars are getting annoyed with how safe the rookies are being with there passing, their possession is undisputed but they aren’t even trying to score. Then Murakoshi notices that his team is getting tired really fast trying to keep up with the rookies. Turns out Tatsumi put a ban on making one-touch plays so that they would keep the ball. Murakoshi tells his team mates to stop covering the rookies as closely since Tatsumi is trying to tire them out. Tatsumi immediately lifts his team’s ban on one-touch plays. The results take effect immediately, even though they are more experienced the regulars can’t keep up with the speed of the rookies and even with their sloppy passing they eventually puts one in the net. The game ends and the rookies have apparently put another one past the regulars. As they celebrate Murakoshi leaves the pitch completely crushed.
Less booze...
We get a little more insight on Murakoshi’s starting years at ETU, when he initially looked up to Tatsumi, even going to ETU because Tatsumi was there, and believed they could really be the best. In a press conference later Tatsumi answers questions very vaguely until they ask him about Murakoshi, at which point he clearly tells the reporters that Murakoshi will not be captain this season. Murakoshi is understandably annoyed after hearing this and calls Tatsumi out to talk. Tatsumi tells Murakoshi clearly that he doesn’t mean to make an enemy of him; he just believes that Murakoshi has been the leader of the team with bad managers and effectively became the manager, Tatsumi wants to bear that load instead of him and leave Murakoshi to be a player, like he should have always been.
Believe in me that believes in you!
Next we move on to episode three which has Tatsumi using his unconventional strategies in regular practice. The team is forced to go up north in the cold to practice because of lack of funds. Tatsumi tells the players that they can do whatever they want for practice. This leads to confusion amongst the players which is, of course, precisely what Tatsumi wants. He wants to see what they’ll do without supervision. Since Murakoshi is no longer captain, regular player Kuroda Kazuki decides to tell the team to do three-man passing for a warm up. Things immediately heat up however when the rookies start doing a more practical practice with two on three attacking plays. Kuroda gets especially angry at rookie Akasaki who is basically undermining his leadership. Murakoshi tells Kuroda to back off but Tatsumi decides to throw them from the frying pan to the fire when he takes all the balls away. Kuroda points out that they need balls to practice, so Tatsumi says he’ll give them one.
Kuroda's practicing his "Ball Explosion" eye attack, good thing it doesn't work...
Practice starts getting a little rough on the tackles between Kuroda and Akasaki until Luigi Yoshida (a.k.a. Gino, Prince) shows up late in a sports car wondering why they aren’t practicing in warm weather. After Tatsumi calls him Yoshida, Gino asks him to call him by one of the nicknames he has, to which Tatsumi says he’ll have to prove himself first. Gino takes the challenge and picks Akasaki and Tsubaki to go against Murakoshi and Kuroda’s defense. Gino passes very accurately back and forth for a bit until eventually getting tired of it and putting one in the net from outside the penalty area, top right no less. Fast forward to their first pre-season game against Tokyo Victory, the league champions for two years straight. The starting line-up consists of Murakoshi and Tsubaki but more surprising is Gino sporting the captain’s armband.
What a menagerie of expressions.
Thoughts:
Something that I really like about this show is how it represents all of football as a sport. It showcases the Manager and staff, the players, and the fans. I hope they delve further into the fans soon since they have been showing them a lot for about ten second cuts. Also the four middle age Tatsumi fans that run the local stores are great fun. Another great thing is Tatsumi and how interesting it is to watch him do his thing. He’s obnoxious but he’s also great fun. His underdog victory strategy in episode two was great and even after he won it was just another day to him.
Something that isn’t so great is the art, some people don’t like the art style but that isn’t my problem with it, my problem with it are the little CG men that run around the pitch and make up the crowds, it’s awfully reminiscent of Fifa ’99 and not in the “Fifa ’99 was awesome!” way. There are some fugly moments in the general art as well though especially the Deen trademarked emo facial distortion the Tokyo Victory player has in the preview.
I can get past all of this though as this show has exactly what I loved about Eyeshield 21 in it, underdog themes and a conniving strategist. Oh, something else I should mention is the lack of the ETU President’s daughter. She was built as a main character in the first episode but hasn’t appeared more than twice since. I get that they were having practice but still. Her hair does freak me out a little though. Another Eyeshield 21 moment is the very fast but young Tsubaki, he is very Sena like, and it looks as though next episode he is going to cry, also very Sena like.
I really like both the OP and ED for this show, the OP gives a great football vibe while the ED gives a great sports manga vibe. I also like that the uniforms for ETU that look like A.C. Milan’s. The fact that Gino is a bratty half-Italian is also hilarious to me, love the popped collar. I’m enjoying Murakoshi as a character, he accepted that he is no longer captain, but he doesn’t have to like it, I’m guessing that he’ll earn that band back eventually though. Kuroda got on my nerves this episode, but that seems to be the point of his character. I imagine that Tatsumi has a few more skeletons waiting in the closet that we may see before the show is over, his move to Europe when he was playing, and his reasons to quit playing are nagging at me. Hopefully in the next couple of episodes the show will start its stride since it’s only thirteen episodes, and I’m expecting ETU to lose against Victory because of Tsubaki next episode.
All in all this is a very original take on football and sports anime in general, and it’s also the first time I have ever enjoyed a sports anime, even though I love sports manga. I’m looking forward to seeing what Tatsumi is going to cook up next. Recommended to fans of sports anime, manga or a good underdog story.
OP:「My Story」 ED:「Get Tough!」
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Although I'm not a fan of sports anime or DEEN, I haven't seen many shows featuring soccer. The OP was pretty decent! But, oh, the animation… it makes my eyes bleed… T_T (Hey, my brother's #7 on his soccer team, too :o)
I really need to add this to my watch list, but the art puts me off initially. After all the hype going around on the sphere though, it's growing on me and I may just jump onto the anime instead of settling for the manga.
Anyways, seems like this Tatsumi fellow will be a new major anime character that people will know and follow. He seems to have the personality to dominate (ala Hiruma) so I think he's like an anime version of Mourinho with a hint of Pep (being a former hero and all). Doesn't hurt that he looks like Holland from Eureka Seven lol
Needless to say, I can't call myself a sports anime fan without watching this :P
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I really wonder whats going to be the result for ep 4….. they will proabably win i guess.
This series so far is good, shame the animation is not brilliant, but im enjoying it =)
I can't imagine that he'll sell Gino on, or that Gino will want to leave simply because Gino is an amazing player. I have no idea why he has loyalty to ETU, I think that this will be a major part of Gino's character is why he still plays for ETU when he could easily be playing for a team like Tokyo Victory.
I'm really enjoying this so far. Especially down to the fact it focuses on what makes everyone tick, from the players to the the staff all the way down to the fans. I think it's important it focuses on that side of the game because quite simply football isn't a game which can be animated well.
Murakoshi's pretty awesome, he'll definitely regain the captaincy at some point as I can't see Tatsumi sticking with Gino for the long term. If I was to make a prediction it'd be that Gino will lead the team into a fairly strong start to the season and then Tatsumi will sell Gino on (or Gino will want to move to a bigger club) causing a whole load of confusion amongst the fans he's just starting to win over. By that time though, Tsuabki will have grown into the player to take the team forward and Murakoshi will be the veteran stalwart at the back that Tatsumi wants him to be. :D
The only reason that I'm not watching this anime because it mocks soccer. There is no such term as 'giant killing' (maybe it literally translates to it) because rarely a lower team will beat a bigger team, and when they do, it's because the bigger team sent out their second squad. There are league differences for a reason.
But he probably will be the next Mourinho… undoubtedly, otherwise they wouldn't make this an anime. CHELSEA is in the final against Portmouth. WOW Portsmouth actually made it to the finals like they did in the anime. Too bad in reality they suck. Chelsea will kick their arse.
… lol sorry I'm just a really passionate footie fan.
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Don't worry, there is no reason for you not to watch this anime (other than the art) because it doesn't mock football at all. There is such a term as "Giant Killing" in football, hence my lengthy definition at the top of the page. And yes it does happen rarely. Mind you, "Giant Killing" doesn't mean that they have to win the FA Cup, it just means that a lower team defeats a higher team, something that the FA Cup was created for. Also, in 1989 Sutton United beat Coventry which is the definition of a Giant Killer, as Sutton plays in the Isthmian League (A league that's two leagues lower than the second division).
Leeds did beat United in the third round of the FA Cup this year. That was a more recent example of giant killing since United put a decent team out…..
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