Giant Killing 14

I would have liked to see the chairman younger....

Now that I’ve taken a few days to get over the awful match between Spain and Germany I am now finally fit to talk about Giant Killing. After the last few episodes being the game against Nagoya it was nice to slow down the pace and have some good discussions between characters. These kinds of moments are always my favourite when it comes to sports manga/anime. There is nothing like watching Hiruma throw a snipe in Eyeshield 21, however the scene between him and Mamori during the match against the Hakushu Dinosaurs is one of the best moments of the manga. The episode itself concentrates on Yuri and how different she is from other women her age working in offices. I thought that Fujisawa would have been a Tatsumi fan when she was young but it turns out that Yuri was the girl I was foreseeing. I really wish more sports anime/manga could leave a little room for romance; I’m looking at you Slam Dunk.

*Starts singing "Sayonara Memories"*

That match between Spain and Germany was without a doubt the worst match of the tournament. Not only didn’t it reach expectation as a spectacle, but it didn’t even meet expectation as an interesting match. Neither team played at their medium, let alone their best, and Spain has once again fluked past a team one nil. At this point I wonder if it’s a fluke or if teams just play really badly against Spain on purpose. I don’t think Spain should beat the Netherlands, they haven’t looked up to it and I don’t think they deserve it. I’m not a Holland fan but unless Fernando Torres is starting and looking good I will be rooting for the men in orange. If Germany goes on to destroy Uruguay in the way they should have destroyed Spain I am going to be really pissed. For those of you who don’t know, Liverpool has been my team from birth and while both Torres and Kuyt play for Liverpool; I prefer Torres. I think Kyokai will agree with me when I say that rooting for a team in a match will usually result in their loss.

Kuroda's fans...........

Uruguay put up a good fight against the Dutch; especially considering that their main striker had sacrificed himself for them to make it to the semis. I have a feeling that it would have been a very different game if Suarez had been on the field. I still think Ghana should have been in the semis but since they completely lucked out I suppose that this World Cup I will just have to settle with Germany taking third place. Well, and the satisfaction that France and Italy both finished bottom of their groups. Something made clear by this World Cup is that the old teams are out here, in four years’ time (hell, even in two years’ time when the Euro rolls around); England, Italy and France will have very different teams. The FIFA 2010 World Cup Final will be a final to remember, as it is a final between the two biggest underachievers in World Cup history. No matter who wins we will have a first time champion, which tells the tale of this cup perfectly; international football is in need of changes.

Gino's name has a weird spelling.

I like Yuri, she’s a hard worker and that is something generally appreciated in a person. However this episode showed that she is maybe too hard of a worker. Collapsing because of work and stress is no joke and anyone that has seen Bakemonogatari knows that stress can lead to catastrophic results. My favourite scene of the episode (and probably of the show so far) was Yuri and Tatsumi at the end. I really liked the story of falling sakura petals reminding her of Tatsumi’s first match for ETU, where he straight up pulled a Teddy Sheringham vs. Bayern Munich of getting subbed in very late to score twice and win the game(Okay so the second goal was technically Solskjaer but only by a flick). This scene gave me hope that we might actually see some romance in this anime. Certainly the way Yuri reacted to Tatsumi telling her to take care of herself seemed like her admiration could become something more.

The Chairman is so awesome.

The side-story of Gorou and Shige trying to get more people to join their cheer squad was funny. Seeing middle aged men acting like kids only to be told off by their wives is always funny. Speaking of men acting like kids, seeing all the guys who work at the office getting crazy when ETU scored was funny. The next episode looks as though there’s a player returning and gunning for a position on the line-up which could yet again lead to a void in the team play. A recommendation I would like to make to anyone who wants it is that you shouldn’t watch Shiki before watching this anime. I watched the first episode right before this and let’s just say they’re not anime that complement each other. This Sunday is the final of the biggest tournament in the world; which coincidentally falls on the same day that the next Giant Killing episode will come out so hopefully I’ll get the next post out a little closer to its release. Cheers.

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