Ginga e Kickoff – 03

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[Doremi-Oyatsu] Ginga e Kickoff!! - 03 (1280x720 x264 AAC) [2CA51A40].mkv_snapshot_10.01_[2012.05.01_21.51.16] [Doremi-Oyatsu] Ginga e Kickoff!! - 03 (1280x720 x264 AAC) [2CA51A40].mkv_snapshot_15.48_[2012.05.01_21.57.04] [Doremi-Oyatsu] Ginga e Kickoff!! - 03 (1280x720 x264 AAC) [2CA51A40].mkv_snapshot_18.51_[2012.05.01_22.00.06]

Up City!

The most exciting football match of the week was certainly the one that took place in Manchester, but even if Ginga e Kickoff can’t compete with the most hyped Premier League match in decades that doesn’t mean it let the side down.  In typical “Ginga” fashion it dispensed with a lot of setup and equivocation and jumped straight into the action, and it was good action at that.  The show is so charming that I’m even willing to forgive Erika-chan for being a fan of Christiano Ronaldo (even if that is asking an awful lot of forgiveness).

If the Hippocratic Oath of comedies is “First, make me laugh” then for sports shounen it’s “At least get the sports right”.  Youth soccer isn’t going to be everyone’s idea of the most exciting sport in the world, but if anime has taught us anything, it’s accuracy and heartfelt commitment that matter more than the sport itself. Ginga e Kickoff is idealized, of course, but it does a terrific job of showing the basics of soccer – and I like the fact that we get to see both kids and professionals playing, and get an idea of the difference.  With the kids, the first challenge has been to actually field a team, but fortunately in Shou-kun they have a tireless worker and dedicated organizer that’s more than willing to do all the persuading and leg work necessary.  With the carrot of a potential match against Tokyo Rosa he’s able to convince the Triplet Demons to put down their racquets and join him on the pitch, especially since the coach they hated is long gone.

For the other three members, Shou recruits the “U-3” – no, not toddler footballers but former Marauders Uchimura, Uematsu and Ukishima-kun – and then let’s the Triplets do the persuading.  The aim is a match against the Rosa youth squad – and eventually Rosa themselves – and to that end Shou recruits a middle-school team as a practice opponent.  The Triplets may be demons, but they know football – and they immediately see that the new team must adopt the tried and true strategy of smaller teams since time immemorial – constant passing and movement.  It’s worked for FC Barcelona (though their Champions League loss to Chelsea did reveal that their lack of size is a problem) and both the Nadeshiko and the Japanese Men’s team have always adopted it against bigger and stronger international foes.

It’s not a shock that the new club is able to ride this strategy to an easy win over the middle school team given the skills of the Triplets, but I was a little surprised to see them – newly dubbed the Dandelions, after Erika’s Osaka club – easily handle Rosa’s youth team, Cosmos, and even edge out the junior, team, Girasol.  That’s probably not realistic but it was fun, and it has the desired effect of drawing Rosas themselves into a match – and here the magic ends, as the women thump the kids 8-1 (though the Furuyas do manage one goal by slicking their hair back and confusing the opponent, and win on aggregate 13-12).  Alas for poor Shou, with the desired match with the professionals accomplished the Furuyas bail and 3U leaves to study for entrance exams, and even Erika-chan parts ways at the train station – and it’s up to Shou to start from scratch, this time by finding a real coach.  It looks like it’s finally time for the juice-drunk guy at the park to re-enter the fray.

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4 comments

  1. I
    Ishruns
    May 2, 2012 at 7:33 am
    Reply

    City must not win, teams who only steal other teams good players by offering them twice the salary must be defeated.

    BTW what's wrong with liking Ronaldo. I frankly am tired of hearing superlatives of Messi. Plus Ronaldo has become are far better team player in his time with Real, unlike his selfish ways at Man U(Who BTW only sold him so the Glazer family could pocket some cash).

    Back to anime and I too dropped AnK. Jormungand gives me the fix I need and is entertaining, unlike the for mentioned blasphemy to football.

    I've been watching the raws up till episode 4 and Ginga still doesn't disappoint. More people should watch this, but due to the initial premise, art and character ages its easy to think of this as a kiddie only show, when like SpaceBros it is meant for most ages.

    Maybe wahtever tiny percent of the universe watching AnK will switch to Ginga instead for a fun football anime.

  2. admin
    May 2, 2012 at 7:57 am
    Reply

    I dislike Ronaldo personally for his extreme ego, Olympic-class diving and total lack of interest in being a two-way player. But most especially, I despise Real Madrid and always have – it's Franco's team. I'll root for anyone against them, even Man U.

    I know City is basically getting ahead by throwing a ton of cash around – but it's not like Man U. isn't the dominant franchise in the EPL because they have even more money. I'm rooting for City because their fans are working-class even if the team isn't, and they've been suffering without a title for 44 years. United fans have been laughing and spitting on them for all that time. As a Cubs fan, I feel their pain. And frankly, I'm sick of Man U. And the funny thing is, Sir Alex brought a lot of this on himself with a totally negative approach on Monday – he played for the 0-0 tie and United deserved to lose. Now, City just needs to take the three points from Newcastle, a hugely difficult away match.

    I'm actually still watching AnK, just not blogging – but that creepy counselor is getting worse and worse, and the whole premise of Kakeru having Suguru pulling his strings is really starting to piss me off. Ginga is clearly the better show, and if people skip it because it's kiddie, that's their loss.

  3. J
    Justin
    May 9, 2012 at 6:10 am
    Reply

    Oh good. I'm not hallucinating when I think Ginga is better too. At the very least it seems a hell of a lot more fun then Area!

    But man, this show continues to get more and more unrealistic. After all, clearly they are trying to get kids to talk to drunken people and expect for the best. Except in real life, the opposite is most likely to happen 😀

  4. I
    Ishruns
    May 2, 2012 at 9:55 am
    Reply

    I rooting for Newcastle, they deserve to enter the CL after all the difficulties they've faced, especially as all their good players will leave for the clubs that do make the cut. Chelsea, Tottenham and Liverpool are said to already have bids for Demba Ba. They might not get another chance for a while to do get CL, even with Pardew in the dugout. Plus as an Arsenal fan I can't stand the team that have taken away four of our good players in the last 4 years.

    I had a shallow reason to watch AnK in the first place, so dropping it as I didn't need it anymore was easy. My SoB was in overdrive since that match with Tsujido and I couldn't take it. I might start again, when Jormungand ends but I doubt it.

    Good luck with AnK, for your sake I hope it improves.

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