Giant Killing

In the world of sports being the underdog can sometimes not be a bad thing. Because people do not expect that much of you, you can easily surprise them by putting in a very good performance. However this is not the case for many years for East Tokyo United football club. That is until the new young manager tatsumi takeshi begins his ETU managing career and they now look to regain their honor.

Giant killing is a sports anime. Sports anime have giants such as kuroko no basket, Haikyuu and diamond no ace. Even within the soccer sub genre giant killing is still rarely ... mentioned among fans. However I did find giant killing and started watching it due to my fondness of soccer in real life. However after finally finishing it I came to the conclusion that giant killing is an anime that I enjoyed, however it had some crippling flaws that really held it back in terms of giving it a score.

The story of giant killing at first glance looks pretty basic. However when analyzed further it can definitely be seen that it is different than the average sports anime. The main characters if ETU are all adults. They aren't in high school where the stakes are low these people are real adults who are trying to make a living playing the sport they love. And for the most part I really like this. It gives more weight to the story and characters.

However a major problem with the story is that they seem to skip over several details of an actual soccer match which makes the pacing very poor. For example some of the league matches are just completely skipped over and we are given a result than they move on to the next event. This make several matches seem more insignificant than they actually are and it causes boredom. I will have to applaud that the last few episodes of giant killing were really good and I wish the rest of the series was like that. The ending to the series while nice, ,made the series very incomplete.

The characters of giant killing weren't actually half bad. All of the team members have good chemistry and work well together. They also enter many realistic and believable situations as both a team and individual players. They also grow and develop throughout the course of the story. This was very fun and entertaining to watch.

In particular some very good characters in this series were Murakoshi, Macchan, and finally the eccentric and wacky manager Tatsumi Takeshi. Tatsumi was a great character because he was able bring out the best and believe in his players. He also used several unusual methods that are doubted my many but end up working in the long run.

The art of giant killing was very disappointing. The character designs were way too angular for my taste and they made use of really terrible cgi at some points in the series. There was also unsuitable lighting which distracted from some important moments in the actual anime. The voice acting of giant killing was not bad at all and the voice actors portrayed their rolls very well. I also enjoyed much of the music present in the anime.

One personal enjoyment I had with giant killing was that the fans were very realistic in relation with the type of team ETU is. Some of the characters who were fans were very interesting and the spirit really shined through. This was also relatable to me in real life as I'm a spirited supporter of a small struggling soccer team in my vicinity.

In conclusion giant killing despite the score I gave it and the obvious incongruencies as far as the narrative goes, this was not a bad series. You will definitely enjoy it by I thought it could have been better. Because of the improbable season 2 I will have to read the manga to experience more of the story. But seriously if you like soccer this will be worth watching despite its set backs.

A sports anime that's fairly unique for the medium of anime, but viewers who've seen American sports films will recognize the tropes early on. Still, decent production values and execution of the premise make this series worth a watch (even if it won't be killing any giants in the ratings department).

STORY

It says something about the anime industry when not centering on high school or high school students is enough to make your show unique. Giant Killing takes a road less travelled and follows the fictional professional club East Tokyo United, going for a more realistic approach devoid of ... any over-the-top sports superpowers. The name 'Giant Killing' comes from what manager Tatsumi calls his tactics for defeating large, powerful clubs with a small, weak one. And considering that East Tokyo United has no budget, a second-rate stadium, a tiny fan base, and a decade-long losing streak, they might just be the smallest and weakest club in Japan's top soccer league.

With the premise out of the way, let's get down to the craft of the story. A point in this show's favor is that it is willing to let ETU lose from time to time. Most stories featuring underdog teams have them lose the first few games, then turn things around and blast their way to the championship against the clearly evil powerhouse squad- ETU endures hot streaks and cold slumps in a believable manner. Another point is that there is no clearly "evil" squad or character that goes around kicking puppies and twisting their mustaches just to make sure the audience knows to root against them (aside from one slimy ex-ETU manager, but even he isn't too badly overblown). Finally, the tactics Tatsumi uses to win the critical soccer matches actually have a degree of foreshadowing to them so they don't seem like Deus Ex Machinas pulled out of thin air because the plot demands ETU win.

Unfortunately, these critical matches are also some of Giant Killing's weaker moments, as there were times a game could have been wrapped up in an episode or two less than what was used- so occasionally the plot can feel a bit padded. Also, given that the manga is still ongoing as of January 2016 and this show was released in 2010, it should be obvious that the anime doesn't cover its source material in its entirety. However, the ending was still solid, demonstrating that East Tokyo United has turned a corner is no longer the punching-bag club they once were. Frankly, I thought the anime ended at a very good point- before the matches got stale, but with the main challenge cleared so there's still a sense of closure. The story doesn't stray too terribly far from the archetype, but is unique and well executed enough to last its 26-episode run.

PRODUCTION VALUES

The art is decent but nothing special. Animation quality is acceptable, with the use of CGI being fairly well done, restricted to large crowd shots and full field shots where there is a lot of motion and the lack of detail is less noticeable. The shots with traditional animation weren't particularly inspired, often just showing close-ups of individual players during the matches, or at most showing a small range of motion, with large scale plays always rendered in CG. The character designs, however, are certainly unique as they aren't stereotypical anime looks, and are varied enough that you never have trouble telling characters apart even with the large cast.

Sound in Giant Killing is definitely the high point of the show. Both the OP ('My Story'- The Cherry Coke$) and ED ('Get Tough!'- by G.P.S) are stellar, going for a British punk sound that immediately conjures up thoughts of both soccer and giving impossible odds the finger (which is to say they fit the theme of the show perfectly). Also, bagpipes. The soundtrack itself is fairly basic, with nothing that you probably haven't heard in a sports movie or show before. As this show hasn't been dubbed in English (and likely never will be due to sports anime/manga typically selling poorly in North America) you'll have to watch it in sub. I could certainly tell the voice actors apart and get sense of their characters, but not being a Japanese speaker there's a limit to how well I can say they did or didn't do there jobs. There's a smattering of English-language dialogue throughout (soccer is an international sport after all) and while I could tell it wasn't the first language of whoever was speaking, it was never ears-bleeding bad either. Lastly, I want to mention the sound effects, which rarely stand out to many in even the best anime. The effects used when the ball was being kicked gave a real sense of power and speed, like a pro soccer player really had struck the ball with all his might, greatly helping the immersion.

CHARACTERS

For if you like cocky, eccentric geniuses, manager Tatsumi is your man. Since ETU doesn't have the raw talent to dominate opponents he has to change tactics nearly every match to attack whatever weak points the opponent has, be it over-reliance on certain players, tactical inflexibility, or simply not taking his small club seriously. His oddball personality and unique way of doing things tend to drive most of the people around him nuts, however. The rest of the cast is solid as well, though there are limits to what you can do when you have to cover a lot of characters with little time. All the major cast members have distinct personalities, most of which undergo a degree of development. The substitute players and less important staff tend to be more one-note, but since they're on screen less it's forgivable. Overall, the characters are pretty good for a cast this large and for this genre of story.

OVERALL

Giant Killing may not kill any anime giants, but it is an entertaining ride for those looking for a good sports anime.

As an action sports anime, Giant Killing failed miserably. There's simply not enough animated action for it to be super enjoyable and entertaining. They barely show the ball. The animations is subpar and the pacing is all over the place. Its without question a poor adaptation. Many dialogues should've been cut and replaced with on the pitch action but knowing the studio its not surprising at all they're incapable of doing something creative. The only things DEEN did right were the art style and music. Very uplifting and energetic OST & OP.

Despite all that Giant Killing wasn't all bad. It succeeded in portraying what ... club football is all about. This is due to the writer's excellent understanding of the sport. From the fans, hooligans, players, staffs, to the managing board they're all just shown as passionate. How a team reacts to defeats, setbacks, bad dressing room is pretty believable. In football, struggling teams don't magically find their form back after winning a single game. There has to be consistency. Players psychological struggles, the hardship of being a competitive professional footballer... Giant Killing nailed it all. Many football anime rarely succedeed on these aspects. So from a football fan myself I think Giant Killing deserved a praise for trying a semi realistic approach on a football anime. Imagine if it had a better studio.

"Where's the fun in it if everything is going as planned?" - Takeshi Tatsumi
Giant killing follows the story of a professional soccer player turned manager going back to japan to revitalize a team no one thinks anything of. Wouldn't it be interesting if the underdogs won? Although, i must admit, the manga does a better job of sticking up to the name "giant killing", I still think the added atmosphere from the anime provides a unique enough experience that it's worth watching.
Animation is nothing special for it's time, some of the motion scenes are well animated so i assume the budget is being ... allocated into some sections, but of course you can't ignore The abhorrent cg sometimes on faraway shots.
The sound design is quite good at times, enhancing the experience and building tension or expectation, but occasionally the voices and sound mixing are not up to par.
Some moments have given me chills, made me smile or feel hyped up. At times I feel like the pacing is unecessarily slow, despite the presence of jarring cuts and timeskips. Sometimes i don't feel like i have a full picture of the sequence of events in the games, but that's likely because they never planned to adapt a second season and so the pacing wasn't exactly well thought out.
You get dragged along in the story, hoping for takumi to do great things, yet being dissapointed or impressed just like characters in the story, almost as if you're a spectator through real life events.
Although sometimes the dialogue is stiff, it has its moments. I ocasionally find myself invested in the story or the characters, feeling excited or distraught.
Certain parts of the show have us focus on different characters and their growth, as well as how Takumi becomes a catalyst for great things to come. You tend to wonder, what cool thing will happen next.
Unfortunately, the moment where the story really begins and it starts to get really really good is towards the end. However, for what it's worth I was really satisfied with the ending
I feel like with a lot better pacing, budget and execution this could have been something close to the one outs of soccer, but alas, no dice.
However, I still love the story of giant killing and as a manga reader, the music and the atmosphere makes me more hyped than the manga could.
Needs an execution that brings it justice, 8/10