Shoot! Goal to the Future

Shooto!!!!
The moment I laid my eyes upon this masterpiece of an anime, I knew that for the entire summer 2022 season I'd have a show to look forward to every week. The animation is OUSTANDING, truly makes you feel like you're watching a 2009 low budget romcom, the story drives me INSANE, I legit cannot watch an episode without regretting the fact that I even started watching anime in the first place. And of course, the music. The music is decent ngl it gets a pass.
Just watching the first 2 episodes I think I heard the stupid blonde kid scream "SHOOTO!" more times than my ... mother has called my by my name in all my years of living with her. The protagonist feels like that one kid in elementary school that went to football practice but never played with the kids at school so he thinks he's Ronaldo or something, I legit want to punch my screen every time I see his face.
Looking at their legs while they play football legit makes me question if anyone on the animation team has ever even watched people play the sport, everything is literally so bad it makes me want to cry.

Summing it all up, this anime is amazing!
You should definitely give it a watch!

Shooto! When I'm with you, I can play better, because I love the way we work together! Be my gay buddy in soccer so that I can date you on the playing field! Can I? Please Shooto? PRETTY PLEASE???

This is a prime masterpiece example of how to destroy the semblance of the original source material, and for one, Aoki Densetsu Shoot! was at least a decent 90s soccer/football show that exemplifies its existence of anime trying anything to thrive back in its heyday.

But Goal to the Future? More like Gay to the Heartstrings, because whoever was scriptwriting this original show most likely had a penchant ... for BL stories in sports, he/she succeeded for the most part. Giving us all the cringefest of a soap opera that mixes both human feelings and emotions, and sports altogether to create an experience that'll send your eyes and ears crying and bleeding onion tears to the point that you can't unsee it.

Forget about what the synopsis is trying to tell you, it's just a premise. The real one is infused in every nook and cranny of "I'm lovin' it" levels of insanity and disbelief of how a soccer show can go all-out gayness, overloaded with the fact that everything else was non-existent from the character development, worse than subpar animation, the generic OST...just about everything is plain abominable. Hooray for over-the-top BL-ness involving soccer balls to SHOOTO! Doorraayyaahhhhh!!!

You can betcha that Ao Ashi blows this out of the water, easily.

To be perfectly honest here. I'm not even sure what is going on here. It's as if they took the formula that is going on with Ao Ashi right now, and completely shat on it. Yes, I know it's an old series, but with a very good on going footie anime going on right now, it gets a fair comparison. It's a shame too,cause I really do think there is SOMETHING here. But, it keeps falling back and back, which really hurts it.

Story and characters: 5
Weirdly enough, a good part of the story is actually interesting. Taking a former famous team, and leading them back ... to the glory. It's like if Ten Hag finally took Man United from being laughed at, back to the feared demon that they once were. But the issue here with the execution of the idea, is they keep going back to previous events time, after time, but also, do further story developments, in the most stupid, and honestly creepy ways at times. Like it's no wonder the kid can't score like he used too, when he's got assholes all around him. God. Even if it gets annoying for the millionth time.'Oh he can't score.' It more likely gets said more than Torres, when his shooting was heavily criticized. If they fix these elements of it's story, and characters. It MIGHT be good. But sadly, I doubt it.

Art and sound: 5
It's pretty standered. Which isn't really a bad thing. I can't really complain at that. It also does well in certain scene, even if those scenes are just eye rolling. It gets the job done, but like the sound too, it isn't standing out at all, or looks stunning. Which isn't a discredit by any means. But there isn't a lot to say about it.

Simple answer: Stick to Ao Ashi.

This anime could be a 7 if the writing wasn't so bad:
-The blond guy says shoot at the end of every sentence and everyone just laughs at everything with a super annoying laugh.
-They all cry about their problems that seem to be solved just because a friend tells him to stop being sad like bruh what is happening here.
- Let's not talk about the super gay friendship, it's ok to be gay just don't force it like that you made it look like you were trying to prove a point instead of actually creating a gay character, looked super artificial.
- ENOUGH WITH THE ANNOYING LAUGHS ... PLS I CAN'T EMPHASIZE THIS ENOUGH, EVERYTIME THEY LAUGHED I WANTED TO STOP WATCHING ty.

Overall the animation and the plot are not bad, only the lines of every character are horrible.

It's boring...
It's long and old...
it's even embarrassing sometimes ...

Firstly, the animation and the chara designs seem old. All is static, the characters lack movement even when they play football, colors are bland. The faces of the characters, especially the eyes, are outdated, as if they had been drawn in the 90s. When I saw all this, I didn't want to watch the anime. But I decided to go through the facade and watch it...

The plot is boring, nothing new.The main character makes a little whim from the start: he doesn't want to play football anymore. However, he will soon forget his ideals and play football ... again. What annoys me is that the main character gets angry for a reason that is stupid and futile.In short, they make a big deal out for nothing. Watching the anime, you won't even want to support the main character's team as they are pathetic.It's not with this anime that you'll see complicated and almost lost matches nor clever techniques.. All you see is misunderstanding and embarrassment.


We can clearly see that the anime should have been published 20 years ago, today it's just weird
I absolutely do not recommend it. Go see Ao ashi instead if you want to see a beautiful football anime.
Dropped !
Bye !

Shoot! Goal to the Future is sequel to the 1993 series Aoki Densetsu Shoot! which was a fairly standard sports narrative that became defined by its major character death midway through the series. It was an interesting exploration of how a death of a renowned player affects not only his team but also his rivals on other teams denied their chances of ever getting a rematch. The story often took a turn deep into melodrama, but the emotional charge is what sets the series apart from all the dozens of no-names to champions sports narratives out there.

Shoot! the sequel takes that melodrama and throws out ... everything else. Characters will suddenly turn incredibly jaded and selfish after some miscommunication. Situations will bring up crazy ultimatums and resolve with lots of loud sobbing. My favorite setup happens midway through the show, where one of the main characters becomes insanely jealous of his best friend (though it's pretty obvious he wants to be more than that) becoming close to the soccer team's new member, to the point where he's openly spreading rumors about the new kid on the team and trying to sabotage his reputation on the school newspaper in order to get him to quit the team. It should be noted that he had no problem playing with him for several episodes before this.

This kind of writing is fantastic if you love soap operas, but it's hard to recommend it to anyone else. There's little else Shoot! really has to offer. The animation looks awful to the point where it can be difficult to find stills that look halfway decent. The nods to the original 1993 series are cute if you know where to look for them, but they can't carry a full 13 episodes. You'll know immediately from episode 1 if this is the kind of show you'll enjoy, and if you do, I promise it's a great ride.

I had high hopes for this anime. I loved the original Aoki Densetsu Shoot and I was hoping for similar vibes from this one. Long story short, this anime is visually ok, though it seems cheap and the football matches scenes are a far cry to the original's. Also, the core of the plot is classic (turning a losing team into a winning team) but in terms of pace, storyline and characters this anime completely sucks.

It's obvious that whoever created and produced this anime had not seen the original. Even the way they are trying to address friendship as the source of football joy ... is ridiculous. The original anime was centered around the love for football, friendship and even romantic love, all in a very natural way. It had a captivating magic that is touching even after 28 years. In the 2022 spin off, it's so forced and cheesy that it makes me want to stop watching anime and playing football.

Plus, why almost everyone in this anime behaves like a perv? I was looking forward to Toshi making his cameo and when he appeared it was competely cringe (the way he talked and behaved. It was almost he, a man in his 30s, was hitting on a highschool boy).

The only good thing I can find is the element of support by teammates that I person needs (even Messi had a hard time with the Argentine football team due to lack of support by the team and the public). Also, I can totally relate to that. I was a very good amateur football player until my early 20s. Mid-20s and I stopped playing so well, could not score, etc. My teammates were talking bad and it made me even more anxious and unable to score. It's very important to have teammates that are willing to support you during a bad period. I only started becoming better when I found people that would not start shouting at me for losing a shot. But this moral element is not enough to even save face for this anime.

Shit! Cringe to the Future.

Shoot! Goal to the Future takes all the bad sports anime clichés and turns them up to 11 in the first four episodes. Most of these bad clichés can be offset by a good story, likeable characters and good animation. Shoot has some pretty decent animation for it's low production standards, but it's roster of characters are all so unlikeable that it's virtually impossible to look past the rest of the shows flaws.

None of the characters act like actual human beings who possess rational thought or common sense and the writers mistake teenagers with a passion for football with angry ... assholes shouting at each other every five seconds. It's either that or the irritating, hyperactive, strangely homoerotic enthusiasm the main rival Kokubo gives off towards his now rival and main protagonist Tsuji. There's nothing wrong with a good, well written borderline homoerotic rivalry between the main protagonist and his rival, in fact in sports anime(and most anime) it's par for the course, but here it comes off as creepy and wildly inappropriate.
Tsuji himself could've easily avoided all his problems by not being goaded by the shouting morons who are clearly not good enough at football to be criticising him, but there wouldn't be a story so he does get goaded and so his actions are completely different to his personality.

There maybe worse Football anime out there like Futsal Boys, but at least that show had a mostly likeable cast to offset some of it's terribleness. Cringey, annoying and worst of all boring, Shoot! Goal to the Future in comparison just spends it's time scoring own goals.

2/10 Bad.

It was expected to be better than that, especially with the new modern techniques. The animation during the matches is not good, also the story is not the best. However, there are few episodes which are very good, such as: 2, 9 and 13.
The best thing in it is that, the old charachters appear with the new generation, although two of them were just secondary.
There are also some OSTs which are very nice. I do not know if the others will enjoy it, but I did not stop watching it despite many weak points which I found, and also I am willing to see the ... two opposite/friend characters playing in one team.

Enjoyment
Overall the story will make one root for the characters and hope the team will win. One of the rare anime series, which I had no expectations. But ended up rooting and getting curious how the characters overcome their struggles.

Shoot! Goal to the Future! is one time watch for me. To me animes with slice of life are more rewatchable, such as K-ON!, Shin Chan, Classic Sailor Moon.

If there is a sequel or more of Shoot! Goal to the Future! I will definitely want to watch it!

Story
First episodes is getting to know more about the main character. Most of the time 1 or two episodes ... finishes a story and you will know more about the characters (main/side)
Sometimes one might get confused whether an episode has been skipped… but that was not the case. Once a story is finished, the next episode could start with different story focussing on another character.
I don’t think there were plot holes or things left unanswered. One could question whether the ending is satisfying based on the match result. Upon finishing there is no urge to have season 2 ASAP, but it would be nice to see continuation!

Art
The art style is average in general. Nothing special, but still unique that it won’t be confused with other soccer anime, such as Inazuma Eleven, Blue Lock etc.
The character designs are pretty safe, you got the smart look, the more aggressive, the common protagonist. The chance is high there will be at least one character that will be likeable and distinct enough with his own story!

Sound
I watched the series with Cantonese (Chinese) dub. The voice acting is decent. If you watched more anime with Cantodub… you will definitely link that voice to another anime character. Yet, after a while a new link is established with the help of the background music and art style.
The OST is average, but does its work as the BGM matches well with the atmosphere. The opening song is catchy and might be worth to keep listening from time to time. The fast paced and blood boiling (positive way) track that keeps one in high spirits!

Character

The three main characters (blue (ML), red, gray (glasses) were mostly fleshed out and had their story told.
You will also learn a bit more about the trainer and antagonist.
Other supporting characters has a few small bits and pieces to at least know what their here for.
In the future I will mostly remember the main trio… antagonist character design reminds me of Nagisa (Free!)

Similar series with elements containing character overcoming their hardships and making one cheer for the team.
Re-main, Free! (First 2 seasons only), Eyshield 21, Clean Freak! Aoyama-kun