Sayonara Watashi no Cramer Movie: First Touch

This movie is quite simply a triumph for football anime as a whole. Adapted from Arakawa's first ever manga - Sayonara Football - it acts as a prequel to the manga and also the TV series anime, Farewell My Dear Cramer. It tells the events of Nozomi Onda back in middle school as she tries her hardest to break into the boys' football team against all the odds.

I gave this series an easy 10 because it nails everything genuine about football as a sport and a way of life. Plenty of football anime struggles to stay grounded when telling their stories but with this movie, ... it understands the essence of football to its very core level and how that anybody can fall in love with football and play it. No superpowers, unrealistic movements or ridiculous situations. Just a girl that wants to play football and wants to do so really badly.

And speaking about Onda, her as a main character carries the show on her shoulders really well. She represents why billions of football fans love the sport so much. She lives and breathes football - and watching it in front of eyes makes her heart beat even faster as she wants to be out there playing football and not sitting on the bench. She has so much talent and most importantly- determination. She's a stubborn little gorilla but she does so in a way that never comes off as annoying but endearing. And that's why she is so admired and why I fell in love with her.


Story-wise, the whole battle of the sexes plotline has been done to death in all forms of media but this movie executes it really well by not having Onda magically destroy her more powerful and physically imposing male counterparts. I won't spoil what she does but she uses her brilliant brain and of course mazy feet to counter the physical aspect and it makes for a wonderful climax as she executes them.

A last note on the CG animation, people seem to have a hate boner for them as it was used a little bit in the movie but I think it was great CG and how it should be used in anime. Football is such a dynamic sport with balls moving from back to front in mere seconds - the use of CG manages to envelope me into the game like I was watching it in real life. There is plenty of traditional animation here as well which was done great too and it was such a fun ride.

All in all, a fantastic movie and was a fitting adaptation to the wonderful manga as it says Sayonara Football to Onda in middle school - off to experience beautiful football in its sequel anime and raise the level of girls football.

I'll write a quick review for the prequel film of the series 'Sayonara Watashi no Cramer'. Yes, if you are planning to watch the show you should watch this movie first. The show references the movie a handful of times and it's important to understanding Onda as a character.

Story: Fairly good story that's straightforward. It follows Nozomi Onda who loves football (soccer) but now finds herself being told by everyone that her frame is too small to be playing with boys. You follow her journey of frustration and struggles, being looked down upon simply by being a girl. The writing is good but not special, ... and doesn't get anything horrendously wrong. 7/10.

Art: It's better looking than the show especially in a few moments. The show utilizes some 'tricks' to not display as much footage of actual football being played however the film instead opts to use CGI for a decent amount of the duration of the match. Personally I think the CGI looks ok. There was no bad 2d animation from what I remember, it was noticeably consistent. Nothing groundbreaking but it looks good for the most part. 7/10.

Sound: There's some good insert songs and I enjoyed the score quite a lot. 7/10.

Character: It's very Onda focused and the film suffers a bit because of that. However I did enjoy seeing the relationship of Onda and her friend Sawa Echizen. Lacks the charm the characters in the show provide but still not horrible. 5/10.

Enjoyment: It felt like a film and not just episodes stitched together. I was confused at times in the show because I didn't really understand why Onda was the way she was. Thankfully the movie does provide context. I enjoyed how it was structured and there was a lot of actual football being played. Fun to watch. 7/10.

Side note about the romance tag: There's maybe 2 or 3 short scenes where romance is hinted/talked about but it's not a center of importance. Nothing comes of it and (so far) has been irrelevant to the show.

Ah yes that Eric Cantona kung-fu kick…

The story fell into the typical underdog plot, but it was done well. Onda had to fight against the stigma that girls are less physically strong than boys, a popular and controversial topic in many sports. I definitely rooted for Onda as her strong spirit and determination was shown throughout the movie. Of course, it wasn’t surprising to see her progression.

It’s notable that the direction in the movie and series were quite similar, especially in the beginning. The comedic moments were also in similar circumstances as in the series, where the characters tried to bribe their coaches. Despite ... this, I still enjoyed the light-hearted comedy.

A big improvement from the series was the animation of the soccer games. The final game was where the animators tried their best. There was a mixture of normal and CGI animation, which were clear to differentiate. The CGI of the faces and hand movements of the characters were weird and bad at times. Also, some special moves got skipped over. However, I still appreciated the animation because there were a lot of wide shots and the angles were great enough to create good thrills.

Overall, a pretty good storyline that made me understand the main character more. 7/10

This show is a must-watch for all the people who watched Sayonara because it enhances the importance of Onda’s character.

I came to this movie with low expectations after experiencing firsthand the poor animation the anime had, but I might say that even if you don’t like soccer, this movie is still very enjoyable and the animations are great with some good uses of CGI here and there.

Even if you haven’t or even plan to watch Sayonara’s anime, I highly recommended this movie because of its extreme social importance in giving light to feminine soccer problems in the nowadays world.

The pacing of the movie is really ... cliche, and it follows the rules of some of the latest productions of anime movies, having said that, I don’t think this is a downside; you don’t have to change what works, right?

Although there are some inconsistencies throughout the film and the use of plot armor in the final match, it doesn’t disqualify the work, and it shows that you don’t need a super deep twisted storyline and a bunch of foreshadowing to make a meaningful piece of art.

I’m really glad that Arakawa made this story. The end of the movie showing the Japanese women’s soccer players highlights how empathetic Arakawa really is.