As Jerry Seinfeld almost said, “You gotta love sports anime”.

OP: “Fortress Defense” by 10-FEET

Four years? Man, that’s hard to believe. But it really has been that long since the first season of Ao Ashi ended. I absolutely did have to go back and re-familiarize myself with a lot of names here, but as for getting back into the swing of the story, that was pretty seamless. I love this series a lot, both in anime and manga form – it was my #6 series of 2022, and that was a pretty decent year. But the switch from Production I.G. to TMS Entertainment – and director change – was a concern. Not that TMS is a bad studio, but I.G. is at the top of the TV game. They animated the best-looking sports anime ever in Haikyuu!!.

If the premiere is anything to go on, we’re just fine. That was a really strong first episode – and it looked good, too. TMS has plenty of experience with sports anime (Yowamushi Pedal is one of theirs), so while I don’t expect S1 levels of sakuga I also don’t think the visuals will ever be a distraction. The director here is Yokoyama Kazuki, whose most prominent role was as the #2 guy on Blue Lock. That was disquieting, because I am not a fan of that show. But not because of the direction. And the fact is that in terms of writing Ao Ashi is head and shoulders above it – say Premier League vs. National League South. And it’s the only one of the two that’s a series for big-time soccer (football) fans.

I really do love the sport, and I love series about it. Manga has been good to soccer, anime not as much. But Ao Ashi is a gem through and through. It’s a classic, all-rounder sports seinen – a box-to-box midfielder of the highest order. Ashito is the star of course, but we start with a focus on Kuribayashi, the 16 year-old wunderkind who got a call-up to the big club in the J-League. After six appearances off the bench he’s recalled to the U-18 team, and told that it was Coach Fukuda who demanded it. When Kuribayashi asks way, Fukuda basically tells him he was getting ahead of himself – trying too hard to impress and losing his perspective on the pitch.

“Chill” is not the easiest instruction for a 16 year-old player to take to heart. But it’s not like Kuribayashi has any choice. And as we learned in the S1 finale, Ashito has just been promoted from the B Team – along with Kuroda, Togashi, And Eisaku. At that age level the step up in quality is impossible to prepare for, as the four boys are about to find out. Taira-san awaits them, as a generally calming figure. But Akutsu as well, who’s foul-tempered on his best day and in an especially bad mood because Kuribayashi is retuning to remind him of how far off the pace he still is.

Fukuda is a troll of a coach, as those with good memories will recall, and he’s not going to ease his bambi quartet into their new situation. He does at least place them with the reserves, and starts off with an Osim Passing Drill. This is named for Ivica Osim, the legendary Bosnian manager who led both the old Yugoslavian and Japanese national teams (the manager in Be Blues, another great soccer manga, was based on him). The idea of the Osim exercise is that you have to multitask – watching where the defender is, listening to the name being called out to pass to, and choosing where to go next.

There are endless variations on this theme, based on numbers and colors and all sorts of factors – including multiple balls in play. Fukuda starts easy, though two of the four newbies still struggle. Ashito and Kuroda fare pretty well, though even they start to strain when a second ball is added to the mix. Fukuda chooses this moment to slide the pair of them over to the regulars’ side, which both heaps pressure on Togashi and Eisaku and makes Ashi and Kuroda objects of attention. He then declares that even if their pass is intercepted they don’t have to go to the middle and play defense (the usual penalty), putting even more of a target on their backs.

The essential point of this narratively is that Ashito is a player whose strength is his mind and his vision. That’s why Fukuda changed his position. He sees the field and thinks quickly and instinctively, and unsurprisingly does well enough in this exercise to draw the attention of his sempai (including Kuribayashi). Kuroda isn’t on that level but a bulldog of a kid, smart and indefatigable. He’ll be OK – but Ashito is actually enjoying the hell out of this. And that’s why he has a chance to succeed at this level despite not being especially big or strong or blazing fast, or even having stellar technique.

It almost looked like it would be a clean sheet where Hana was concerned, but she did finally show up after the ED. Her recollections of a certain incident have clearly thrown Hana for a bit of a loop – indeed, one suspects she’s far more consumed with what happened then the other soccer-baka principal. It’s great to have Ao Ashi back – there’s just nothing like a classic sports anime. And the fact that they’re more rare than ever these days just makes a show like this that much more of a pleasure.

ED: “Triangle (トライアングル)” by Ai Higuchi (ヒグチアイ)