It truly is spring for sports anime fans.
After a lean couple of seasons, it’s looking like a banner spring for sports series – and we don’t get many of these these days, so I’m going to appreciate it while it lasts. In addition to Yowamushi Pedal continuing we have several new ones debuting – including updates to three of the biggest franchises in sports manga history (Captain Tsubasa, Major and Ashita no Joe). Of those three only Major 2nd is adapting new manga material of course, and given that it’s my favorite of the group anyway I’ll be most interested in that one. But all three are certainly on my radar.
In the world of soccer manga and anime, it basically works this way – there’s Captain Tsubasa and then there’s everything else. Since Takahashi Youichi’s manga debuted in 1981 it’s produced a swathe of sequels, TV anime adaptations and movies. It’s probably fair to say it helped soccer become more popular in Japan the same way Yowapeda has done with cycling. Its influence reaches around the world, even as far as Argentina – where legendary Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero took the nickname “-kun” (and eventually got a tattoo to that effect) as a tribute to the anime he loved as a child. It may not be everyone’s favorite soccer anime or manga, but it’s certainly the most influential by far.
Me, I like Captain Tsubasa – though where soccer anime are concerned my love is reserved for Ginga e Kickoff and Giant Killing. I don’t think the last couple of incarnations have been the franchise at its best, but based on the premiere I feel pretty good about this new one. David Production takes over, with veteran director Kato Toshiyuki at the helm. And he displays a sure and confident hand with the material in the first episode, which is snappy and entertaining from start to finish. One doesn’t get a sense that there’s going to be a lot of updating going on here – this show looks (literally and figuratively) like a pretty traditional take on the Captain Tsubasa mythology. And that strikes me as a pretty good decision.
For those who don’t know, Captain Tsubasa is the story of soccer whiz-kid Oozora Tsubasa (played by the eponymous boy-voicer Sanpei Yuuko). This series looks like a true reboot, as it starts from the very beginning – showing us the not-quite two year-old Tsubasa being saved from a truck by the soccer ball he’s holding (dramatic license, to be sure). Tsubasa-kun is the classic old-school sports manga hero – a boy who loves soccer above all else and dedicates his life to it, always with a smile on his face. The premiere picks up with him moving to Shizuoka as a 12 year-old on the cusp of entering Nankatsu Middle School. The two most important side characters we meet here are future good pal Ishizaki Ryou (Tamura Mutsumi, another of anime’s top cross-voicers) and cocky whiz-bang goalkeeper Wakabayashi Genzou (Suzumura Kenichi – sheeh!).
With all due respect to both Osomatsu-san and Captain Tsubasa, I don’t think this is a franchise that would fare well with a snarky, ironic or outrageous updating – it’s not that sort of series. If David gives us a solid, well-produced and directed faithful take on the Captain Tsubasa story, I’ll be more than satisfied. Just how far they go with it will be interesting to see – there’s plenty of material penned by Takahashi-sensei for literally hundreds of episodes, though most has already been adapted. I suspect this reboot wouldn’t have been produced unless it was going to run for quite a while at least, and I’d like to see that – a new generation of anime fans being exposed to one of the all-time legends is a good thing. Now – Touch reboot when?
justfun
April 3, 2018 at 4:35 amTouch reboot? Even adapting several other Adachi manga would be great. But it seems he’s not that popular in the west and his newer works are not even scanlated anymore.
Guardian Enzo
April 3, 2018 at 4:45 amWell, “Mix” certainly is. And it’s consistently selling 200K plus per volume in Japan, which is pretty darn good. I think a Mix anime is a given at some point, and given that Touch is (quite literally) the most popular anime ever, it seems odd that it’s never been rebooted when so many other contemporary (and even older) series have. A Touch reboot airing for a year, leading directly into a Mix anime would make great sense, given that Mix is a linear sequel.
justfun
April 3, 2018 at 10:13 amThat would be great! But after the outstanding show that Cross Game was, I wished they would have picked up one of the older Adachi manga like Rough or Katsu, or even done a complete H2 adaption. I suppose doing an adaption only makes sense businesswise when tied to a manga release.
Was Cross Game successful in this regard? I never saw BDs or a sountrack popping up…
And I was wrong with the scanlations, Mix was picked up again – great!
Guardian Enzo
April 3, 2018 at 4:35 pmI think the original ED single (deservedly) did pretty well in part as a result of the CG anime. Apart from that I don’t think it did anything much commercially but it did probably help the manga (which was timed to end concurrently with the anime).
I like a lot of Adachi’s old series but IMHO Cross Game is better than any of them (even Touch) and the adaptation was absolutely stupendous. I’l never wish for a single thing to have been different when it comes to that.
elianthos80
April 3, 2018 at 1:07 pmUhuh. At least two generations (including pro players, never mind soccer being the main national sport) grew up watching this on telly in Italy since the 80s :,D Some of the poetic licenses the show took are lifelong memes to many of us (Dragon Ball-length matches and field width? supersonic glowing soccer balls? THOSE TWINS’ HELL CATAPULT goal move? XDDD The kid-with-a-Damoclesian-heart-condition-who’s-actually-the-only-one-with-a-romantic-bone-in-his-body camp vs the Ooozora’s BFF talented but forever 2nd fiddle to the MC camp vs the rolled-up-sleeves-over-dem-tanned-biceps ‘ nemesis team captain bad kid(not) who’s actually just slaving to help feeding his family along with chasing his soccer dream and undergoing absurdly manly training montage sequences amidst a tsunami’ camp? The baby-groupie wars were real I tell ya ) .
That said… I do hope for new viewers and changed sensibilities they are shortening the numbers of episodes per match because boy even as not-as-genre-savvy kids back then those were exhausting to watch 😛 .
Ja
April 3, 2018 at 4:07 pmAs a Tsubasa veteran, I liked it along with the little changes updates they snuck in like the updated technology (smartphones) and Javelin guy. I’m a little let down by the music in certain scenes like the kick from the hill and the under bus shot (although I’m admittedly anchoring to the original series with its iconic music). Never the less, definitely looking forward to this!
HermanGre02
April 4, 2018 at 10:49 pmDespite coming from a region (latin america, where it has been retitled “supercampeones”) that has enjoyed this franchise for decades, I’m actually checking this new version out with a newcomer’s perspective on the series as a whole. I only have very fuzzy memories of watching Road to 2002 on midnight during the early 2000’s and being impressed by its opening and not much else; as well as a handful of episodes of the original show on tv a few years later. Overall this was an entertaining first episode and It got my attention enough to actively check it out every week. What I’m curious about is exactly how the football matches will fare out, considering the memetic reception (at least in spanish-speaking countries) of past series’ length field, over-the-top shots and absurdly long matches.