Jun 24, 2021
I came to watch this anime after learning that it was done by the same guy who directed "Tatami Galaxy" and I really fucking liked that anime. The way it ended and the overall message behind it was wonderful. So, naturally I had high hopes for this one too as it was even above in rating than Tatami Galaxy, but I have to say that I am a little bit disappointed.
The anime started out great and I was really loving the 'hero' part as it reminded me of "The Magnificent Steiner" from Monster. It really does depict properly both sides of winning and losing. Everyone
...
has reasons to win, everyone faces repercussions on losing, it's true. Some lose their way after losing like Hoshino while others try working harder for the next time like Tsukimoto aka Smile. It was fine until here but from here on out it starts to get really unrealistic which was really off-putting to me. While everyone is working their ass off day in and day out, Hoshino is lazing around and even starts to smoke! I found this really weird that he just made up his mind to get back into the game and was able to recover just by working very hard. I get that he worked really hard, so much so that one of his knees gave out. This is my second major issue. A knee injury is not something that you can brush aside. No matter how much natural talent you may have, winning against a fucking olympic gold medalist is not an easy feat and if you have a knee injury it makes it exponentially difficult. But he ends up defeating Kazama. It was just for the sake of plot because he is a 'hero' and Kazama was in need of a 'hero' to help him. Then he beats Tsukimoto and goes on to play on an international level.
So...Hoshino used his knee which was already a little busted to play against an olympic gold medaist and Tsukimoto who was just as good as him to win and it didn't cause any problems later on?! You have got to be kidding me. If only the ending was a bit more realistic it could have been a 10/10 for me. Don't get me wrong I can get behind an unrealistic ending too but only in fantasy, not in a sports genre. Specially if it takes place in a setting such as this clearly depicting other people's hardwork, perseverance and aspirations.
My score break up is:
Story: 6/10
Art: 9/10
Sound: 9/10
Character: 6/10
Enjoyment: 7/10
Overall: 7.4/10 => 7/10 on MAL
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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