Hungry Heart: Wild Striker

As the younger brother of Japanese soccer star Seisuke Kanou, Kyousuke was always expected to grow as a soccer player at the same pace his brother did—an expectation that proved too difficult to meet. Having fallen behind, he now lives in the shadow of his brother's success.

Entering his freshman year at Jouyou Akanegaoka High School, Kyousuke vows never to play soccer again. However, Miki Tsujiwaki, the captain of the girls' soccer team, and Mori Kazuto, the manager of the boys' team, recognize Kyousuke's potential and want to see his return to the game for their own reasons.

With an opportunity to play soccer again, Kyousuke must either remain steadfast in his decision to abandon the sport he once loved, or allow himself to reignite that flame to become the best striker in the world.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kanou, Kyousuke Main

Toriumi, Kousuke Japanese

Tsujiwaki, Miki Main

Kato, Natsuki Japanese

Jefferson, Kouji Sakai Main

Takatsuka, Masaya Japanese

Rodrigo Main

Ishizuka, Katashi Japanese

Kanou, Seisuke Supporting

Koyasu, Takehito Japanese

Furuki, Ryosei Supporting

Yusa, Kouji Japanese

Kamata, Gouzo Supporting

Nomura, Kenji Japanese

Ichikawa, Hiroshi Supporting

Yoshino, Hiroyuki Japanese

Murakami, Kazuo Supporting

Matsuyama, Takashi Japanese

Kazuto, Mori Supporting

Hibino, Akari Japanese

Kosao, Shunichi Producer

Naruke, Yoshinori Producer

Saga, Satoshi Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Takahashi, Hideo Sound Director

Reviews

Apr 6, 2016

Riezabeth

Recommended

6.5 Story

Are you a younger brother of someone famous? Are you becoming a shadow of your siblings? Are you tired of being compared and seems to be always the second best? You might have the same scenario with Kyosuke.

An Orange Highschool, orange haired main protagonist and orange uniform, you’ll all get it in Wild Striker. The Hanamichi Sakuragi of Soccer? That would be Kyosuke Kano. This anime series focuses to the main protagonist, Kyosuke Kano, a teenage highschool student who at the beginning of the series, has just transferred into Jyoyo Orange High School. He is the younger brother of Seisuke, a ... famous A.C Milan soccer player who first taught him how to play and love the game soccer and whom he admired since childhood. But after Seisuke left Japan to sign with Italian powerhouse A.C Milan, people started comparing Kyosoke to his brother. They criticize his different playing style, saying that it’s too rough and unpolished. Living with his brother shadow, he’s love for the game slowly started to diminish and eventually lost most of it if not for two schoolmate who saw and was amaze of his wonderful strike.

You’ll learn how cooperation, loyalty and comradeship influence one’s decision. The choice between loyalty and ambition which was tested in several episodes can be seen.
The main characters evolve from being an individualist to a true sportsman. The story is a continuing strives to win. The motto “try and try until you succeed” and “don’t lose hope” is noticeable. It’s more of individual growth than of the team where they belong.

The story seems to have a lot of cuts. It looks like something is missing but you cannot point it out. It also seems to be fast-forward. It was unfit for only 52 episodes.

This is one of sports type anime that you wish there is a miracle win that will happen in difficult times. I don’t know if it’s being realistic or the writer just love tragedies. It’s quite disappointing! The writer is being hard to himself. What’s with winning at least once on their strongest rival? They are the protagonist team right?

7 Animation

The Wild Striker can happen in anyone’s school. The setting is typical and ordinary. One downfall of the show is the poor animation. If you don’t like old animes, it might not be to your likings. Except from the main characters Kyosuke, with distinct orange hair, Rodrigo with Brazilian features and Sakai with distinct European features all other characters are blurred in comparison. This other character can be interchange by a non frequent viewer of the show. The drawing is kind of suck. The coloring is not that good. The graphics are not that refined.

Don’t look at the characters and you’ll get excite. They use awesome effects especially in “losing parts”. The raining parts are epic. You’ll be carried away much more if you hear the background music. Losing seems to be one of the best parts if you’ll think about it.

10 Sound

I’ll give two thumbs up when it comes to sound. This is one of those anime that gives me a last song syndrome after watching it. Especially the first opening song "2nd Stage" by Kids Alive. They also have the right effects for the different moods that revolve around the story. Since it’s a sports type anime, the effects add to the adrenaline rush of viewers watching it. On the field sounds and player dialogues are good and do make tense moments even more exciting.

7 Characters

The story focuses more on individual characters than the team itself. It shows how a character might be anyone. They seem to be picking up from reality.
You’ll see how the main characters Kyosuke, from being a delinquent and devil may care attitude to a potential leader and responsible player. How Sakai from being “Mr. Popular and show off to become a dedicated and loyal friend although their still a hint of his being a lover boy. Rodrigo’s being an individualist to become a mid fielder who connect the team and use his brilliance not for his own benefit but of the team. It also shows that some people are born with talent and some don’t. It has the proper portrayal of characters according to their skills. The noticeable details about some traditions and behaviors of foreign players are also observed.

7.5 Overall

Not being into sports didn’t hinder me to like the show. It got a good humor that lightens the tension and its share of drama which usually involve career break decisions.
There might be drawbacks like the drawings are not that awesome and the story kind of suck in between but its still okay. It does have the certain “K” that makes me addicted. The losses that they encounter had been artfully done. It was actually one of the best parts of the show.

Don’t expect a good ending for the team. It’s more of individual growth. This is a story of friendship, comradeship, sportsmanship and loyalty. It shows the strong bond that form in the team. This is one of shounen type anime series that girls didn’t become an issue to major decision of the main protagonist. In short, they would not piss you off.You would like the slightly hinted romance between Miki and Kyosuke that is not so pronounce until the later part.

How I wish it was not a 52 episode series since I believe that it’s too short if it’s a sports type and competing in nationals.

If you always want a win in the main team, don’t watch it. You’ll get hurt. But if you appreciate epic losses, struggles, hard work and reality, go for it.

It seems to be an open ending. It only says what happen to the main man Kyosuke. Which lives a lot of question for viewers.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Nov 21, 2015

Tsuki_215

Recommended

Story 9

Heart: Wild Striker(HHWS) is a story about main character (MC) who wants to be a Professional football player and be like his brother who is already a Pro. The MC is constantly compared to his successful brother, which causes a lot of friction in MC's life.

The story line is one of the strong points of this anime. The story is inspirational and uplifting. What makes this anime standout from rest of the sports anime is its slice of life approach in telling the story. Also unlike other shounenish sports anime, where story is driven by the MC, this anime provides ample amount ... of space for supporting characters.

There are lot of obstacles that the MC and his team face on and of the field which engages the audience on emotional level and the victories are so much more memorable.

Art 6

Art is the weakest aspect of this anime. Sometimes art can be used to enhance story line and a lot things can be communicated to the audience without saying it. This anime does not rely on art to enhance the story line. Even though this anime is about football, art could have been used to improve the viewing experience. Many a times the anime relied on same scenes to show the passing and dribbling of the football over and over again. Considering the anime is made in 2000's I expected artwork to be much better.

Sound 7

I liked the background music that is used in this anime. Whenever the background music starts playing it was able to change the vibe that the anime gave. There have been times when the background music starts playing, my heartbeat would go up and body temperature rose just from the anticipation of what was going to happen in the next few scenes. I also liked the OP#1 "2nd Stage" by Kids Alive, i do listen to it from time to time just like the story it is pretty uplifting.

Character 8

The anime has done pretty good job of fleshing out the MC and how he evolves over time. Even the supporting character got ample screen time and even they evolved as the anime went on. One gripe i had with this anime was unlike the MC and his team the antagonist didn't get much character development. If the antagonist were given some character development the victories that MC and his team achieved would have been much more meaning full.

Enjoyment 9

The enjoyment that I derived was from the goals that the MC' team scored and ultimately from winning the matches. The matches between the teams were well done. The MC's team faced opposition teams that were evenly matched or teams who had good players who could win the matches or teams who were much better than MC's team. The goals that were scored or attempted were pretty enjoyable to watch. Some of the goals were scored from an awkward position or when the MC's team was in dire straits this also added to the enjoyment factor.

Overall 9

There are many things or combination of thing that can make a anime great. What makes HHWS great is its ability to use slice of life approach to tell a sports story and they are wildly successful in it. The story line is inspirational, memorable and highly re-watchable. I have already watched this anime 2 times and i am confident that i will be watching it again and again in the coming years.

I would recommend this everybody but especially to people who are facing personal or professional difficulty this anime will be a much needed respite and you will watch it again and again from time to time.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Feb 2, 2014

Instantferu

Recommended

Hungry Heart : Wild Striker is the best sports anime I have seen so far. Maybe the best anime I have seen too.

SPOILERS AHEAD

It's not the typical sports anime, however. It's the first time I have seen the main character's team lose so many times, and lose the last match of the series.

Hungry Heart has a very great cast of characters, including the main team, rivals, and supporting characters. Side stories are developed fine, so is the main character's background. I'm talking about Kyosuke Kanou.

Kanou is a very tempered striker, always in the shadow of his brother, a former player in the european league. The ... story focuses on his develop as a player and as a person, with some romance, and the discover of his past.

There's a little of romance, a lot of comedy, and a very motivational feeling. The ost is great, so are the openings and endings.

The animation is great so far, thus in some early chapters it's different from the later ones, as if it were done by other studio. This is the only reason the Art is valued in 9. After that, the matchs are animated greatly. The last chapter's match is amazing.


Hungry Heart really deserves 10 points overall. It's really fun and motivational.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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