Captain Tsubasa: Road to 2002

Captain Tsubasa: Road to 2002 tells the story of the fictional Japanese national football/soccer team and how they came to represent Japan in the 2002 World Cup held in Japan and Korea. It combines purely ridiculous (in a good way) football with classic anime action.

The series places a strong emphasis on the progression of a few select characters- from talented middle school students to playing for top European football clubs as adults; Tsubasa Oozora, the title character's journey being most prominent.

That said, there are asides about pretty much every minor character's origins as middle school footballers, or their struggles as they try to make a pro career and break in to the national team. There is also a love interest which is very much a secondary thing in the story and feels a little trite, though I'm sure anyone who's ever fangirl/fanboy/fanwhatevered over anything: a person in their lives, sporting heroes, a TV or anime character, etc., can relate to her passion.

If you ever played a sport competitively, you should enjoy this series. Even people who don't understand the appeal of the game or sports in general will get a feel for what it's all about (or otherwise further affirm that sports are the new opiate of the masses; I understand both sides of it). Football fans in particular will probably smirk at a few football clubs, players, and managers who are clearly send-ups of the real thing.

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Captain Tsubasa, Road to 2002 is not among the best anime in my list. Having said that, I still think it is good and worth watching. For starters do not make the assumption that you need to be interested in sports in order to enjoy this anime. The fact is that even if you don't have the least bit of interest in football/soccer, you should find this to be a fairly entertaining watch. However, bear in mind that there is only so many episodes that you will be able to watch consecutively. My personal limit was ~7 episodes after which I needed a break from the anime. But then I came back to it. I would recommend Captain Tsubasa road to 2002 to anyone searching for a light and relaxing anime to watch in their free time.

Story: 8/10 - The premise is based on the story of the captain of the Brazilian football team and while playing an important match, he remembers all the people that helped him to become who he was. The anime is basically a flashback into his past when he was a kid and it takes the viewers on a journey of his up's and down's as an aspiring professional football player. The matches are interesting to watch and generally the anime is quite entertaining.

Art: 7/10 - Not magnificent by a long shot, but I would not call it complete crap either. I think the art work was "adequate" but you have to remember that this anime is quite old and I dont think it had an exceptionally high budget either.

Sound: 7/10 - The sound elements did their job fairly well. The music was not particularly stunning but in a majority of the cases, it suited the thematic elements of the anime pretty well.

Character: 7/10 - The characters were generally well developed.

Enjoyment: 7/10 - As I mentioned earlier, I had a limit to how many episodes I could watch consecutively. This is of course true with any other anime unless if you are a robot who never feels sleepy or gets bored. However, I could not handle too many episodes of this at once. Even at the moment, I have not yet completed the whole series and come back to it often when I feel like relaxing. I recommend Captain tsubasa road to 2002 to anime lovers who want something to watch on a relaxing evening when they don't have much to do.

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