Ranked #587

Giant Killing

Addicting, suspenseful, and fun, this is a story about what it takes for one dysfunctional soccer team with a poor record to regain its honor and make it in the national soccer league. This team is called ETU (East Tokyo United). The members of ETU start out with a lot of difficulty; they have poor communication, conflicting personalities, mixed low and high self-esteem, and an overreliance on one team member. But within every player, there is a talent that is waiting to be manifested. Their new coach, Tatsumi Takeshi, helps to bring out the ‘giant killing’ in all of them.

Story

Sports anime tend to have a few story elements in common, like a central main protagonist who is a young prodigy, stereotypical characters (there always has to be the cute, black-haired rival), and lots of filler episodes dedicated to showing their normal lives (dating, school bullies, etc). However, Giant Killing moves away from these and turns out to be something refreshing in its genre. It’s a short series that spends its time wisely to develop its characters while still focusing head-strong on the sport. There is no central main character, or a prodigy for that matter—everyone works hard to achieve and maintain their skills, and they receive an equal amount of attention.

Giant Killing takes a nice introspective approach to the characters while they’re playing soccer. They constantly think about their situation, worry about their performance, and try to concentrate. It is on the field where most of the character development takes place, as they learn to apply their mind and improve their skills.

Characters

ETU’s players are adults (20 – 33 years old), and they each have a unique combination of personality and skill. For example, Tsubaki (midfielder) is young, shy, and conscientious, and he is the fastest runner on the team. Gino (midfielder) is the narcissistic cool-guy known as the “prince,” though he’s wisely observant, and he makes very accurate ball passes. Natsuki (forward) is also narcissistic but in a loud, eccentric sort of way, and he shoots very beautiful goals. Murakoshi (midfelder) is looked up to as the leader, but he is way too controlling and lacks some energy due to being older. There is honestly never a boring moment with them, whether they’re just practicing, playing for real, or sitting on the bus to go home.

You might as well call coach Tatsumi a psychologist. He is good at studying and understanding the minds of his players. His specialty is to take advantage of their personalities in the games, purposely pairing them up with certain opponents and counting on them to make personality-driven decisions. Though the funny thing is, not a single player or outsider understands HIM. Tatsumi is rather blunt-spoken, informal, and unpredictable; he designs unusual practice activities, comes up with reckless-sounding game plans, and rarely ever expresses worry. Simply put, he’s an oddball, but deep down he’s a good strategist who can unite his players.

The players on the opposing teams are just as well-developed and are incredibly DIVERSE. They speak the language of their nationality, such as English, Portuguese, French, and Dutch, which is a refreshing change from having everyone only speak Japanese. A few obvious differences between these teams and ETU are their levels of organization, strategies, and behaviors. They have a lot more momentum going on because they have accumulated more recent wins, and everybody likes to have a big ego. But when they’re put under the fire by surprise, they face similar internal problems as ETU, such as their personalities getting in the way of each other.

As for the side characters, you just have a few people working along with Tatsumi, as well as a reporter, a cameraman, and fans. What is so awesome about the fans is that you see three generations of them: the old fans who are rekindling their passion for ETU, the younger loyal fans, and the adorable kids.

Character Designs/Animation

At first glance, the character designs are simple and boring. At second glance, they’re actually very detailed. The shape of the head, eyes, nose, chin, and hairstyle differ among all the characters, causing them to look very distinct from one another. The main turn-off is just that they don’t look all that pretty.

The soccer matches are animated very well. When viewing them from a distance, CGI is clearly used to make every single player on the field move at the same time. Watching them close-up, it’s impressive how they pass the ball and shoot goals; they really twist their bodies around in odd ways to make these kinds of moves, and at some pretty awesome camera angles.

Music

The soundtrack here is catchy and decent. The OP song “My Story ~Mada Minu Ashita e~” by THE CHERRY COKES is very upbeat, full of cheery shouting, and uses the bagpipe as a leading instrument. The ED song “Get tough!” by G.P.S sounds similar with the exception of it being dominantly rock. The rest of the music is repetitive but decent enough.

Overall

If you’re looking for an entertaining sports anime with diverse adult characters, national teams, various spoken foreign languages, and maybe a slightly eccentric coach, then look no further. Even if you’re not really into this genre or sport like I am, it can still be a great watch. The soccer matches are very detailed and tense, and the players develop wonderfully every time they play. The interactions among the characters are best part of the show; they're bursting with personality, and they make the games incredibly addicting to watch. This one shouldn’t be missed! read more

When I was younger, I used to watch an anime series called Kickers which revolved around football (or soccer for some). It was one of my very first encounters with anime and it definitely left an impression on me as a child, especially with its inspiring message and characters. Of course, as I grew up I started realizing that the world isn’t as perfect as Kickers depicted it—you wouldn’t always end up coming out on the winning side from conflicts and battles. I also learned that there’s no “I” in team and that a single person can’t stand victorious without some kind of help. Kickers was an anime series that took football and depicted it in an idealized form, but it’s not Kickers that I’m going to talk about, but rather a much more recent anime that also deals with football, but in a very different way.

Giant Killing is an anime series based on the ongoing football manga of the same name. Despite what its title may suggest, Giant Killing delivers a realistic depiction of a sports team and its struggle to compete in Japan’s top football league. In other words, no, it does not feature football players battling each other with samurai swords and magical abilities. As a matter of fact, I don’t recall any people dying throughout the entire running time of this anime either. All jokes aside, the title ‘Giant Killing’ refers to the act of an underdog team coming out victoriously from the hardest of matches and winning against all odds.

The story focuses on Japanese football team East Tokyo United (or ETU short) which is having difficulty competing in the country’s top football league and barely avoided relegation last season. There is little hope for the team and even its fans are slowly starting to abandon it, but all is not lost yet, for ETU has selected a new manager for the upcoming season and he is not to be taken lightly. Former East Tokyo United player, Takeshi Tatsumi is hired to coach ETU after previously leading the English amateur team FC Eastham to victory.

Takeshi Tatsumi is a highly puzzling and intriguing character and often works in unconventional ways when training his team and preparing them for upcoming matches. His eccentric ways and his mysteriously confident personality easily make him the most interesting and important character in the series, but he is not the anime’s main focus. As a matter of fact, there is no such thing as a protagonist in Giant Killing. Instead, the series concentrates on the ETU team as a whole and even though it does feature some minor character arcs from time to time, it always remains devoted to portraying the characters as a group rather than individuals with a predetermined level importance.

Unfortunately, Giant Killing also comes with a limited budget and therefore may prove to be unsatisfying for some when it comes to its portrayal of the football matches. Action and tension are present, of course, but Giant Killing falls short when it comes to delivering fast-paced football games. Some will be okay with that while others will irreversibly turn their heads and prematurely walk away from the series. However, those who do decide to stay will come to experience a football anime series that is very unique at its core and which will deliver some really impressive things that will ultimately make up for its shortcomings in the animation department.

Unlike the series’ animation, Giant Killing boasts a fairly good look in terms of art and style. Each of the characters present throughout the anime have their own specific appearance, which helps a lot when it comes to the viewer connecting with them and being able to identify them individually early on. Even though the anime tries to focus on each of the ETU players in equal amounts, some characters tend to stand out more than others.

In addition to Takeshi Tatsumi, who always remains a central character and is vital to the progression of the story, there are other notable characters such as the team captain and veteran Shigeyuki Murakoshi, who fans call ‘Mr. ETU’ for keeping the team together through the hardest of times, inexperienced but talented newcomer Daisuke Tsubaki and Italian midfield superstar Luigi Yoshida (or simply Gino), nicknamed ‘Prince’ for his impressive abilities on the field and his narcissistic tendencies. Of course, these are only but a few of the extensive amount of characters that Giant Killing manages to bring to the story. Apart from the football players, the series also goes on to develop side characters such as fans of the team, journalists, photographers and even opposing team players and managers.

Despite what some may believe, being able to enjoy Giant Killing does not depend on whether you’re a football enthusiast or not. Knowledge and understanding of the sport are not as crucial here when it comes to the anime’s watchability. The series does an excellent job at delivering an exciting look into the world of football, particularly that of team ETU, and the interesting characters help keep things exciting from start to finish. Sports anime may not appeal as much to some than they do to others, but it would be a shame to miss out on Giant Killing and what it has to offer simply because it’s often very different from the usual ride and viewers may find it a very rewarding experience. read more