Ao Ashi

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Aoashi

Japanese: アオアシ

Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: Unknown

Chapters: Unknown

Status: Publishing

Published: Jan 5, 2015 to ?

Genres: Award Winning, Sports

Theme: Team Sports

Demographic: Seinen

Serialization: Big Comic Spirits

Authors: Kobayashi, Yuugo (Story & Art), Ueno, Naohiko (Story)

Statistics

Score: 8.59¹ (scored by 13,353 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #100²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #565

Members: 32,424

Favorites: 1,812

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Wikipedia

8.59

Ranked #100Popularity #565Members 32,424

MangaBig Comic SpiritsKobayashi, Yuugo (Story & Art), Ueno, Naohiko (Story)

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Synopsis

Ashito Aoi, a third year middle school student from Ehime, meets Tatsuya Fukuda, a "J Youth League" coach. Even though he's still rough around the edges, Ashito has such amazing potential that he gets invited by coach Fukuda to participate in his team's try-outs in Tokyo. The story of the boy who will revolutionize football in Japan begins to unfold.

(Source: Ao Ashi Wiki)

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Background

Ao Ashi ranked fourth for the 10th Manga Taisho Award in 2017. The series won the 65th Shogakukan Manga Award in the General category in 2020, along with Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Tensai-tachi no Renai Zunousen.

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Characters

Aoi, Ashito

Main

Ichijou, Hana

Main

Fukuda, Tatsuya

Main

Akutsu, Nagisa

Supporting

Ootomo, Eisaku

Supporting

Togashi, Keiji

Supporting

Asari, Marchis Jun

Supporting

Aoi, Noriko

Supporting

Kuribayashi, Haruhisa

Supporting

Kaidou, Anri

Supporting

Reviews

Sep 27, 2024

wajaj00

Recommended

Preliminary (284/? eps)

(This review is as of chapter ~280, because I wanted to get some thoughts down about Espereon vs Seiran and I don't really see my opinions changing much once I've caught up.)

Ao Ashi is probably the ballsiest sports manga/anime out there. The twist (you know what I'm talking about) is iconic and the main turning point of the manga, but I've never seen anything like it. Such a monumental fuck-you as soon as the show begins to hit its stride is pretty much out of the question for most stories, but somehow Ao Ashi makes it so integral that it seems like it wouldn't exist ... without it.

I'd like to preface that I am a sucker for sports shows. Ace of the Diamond is one of my all time favourite animes and Ao Ashi is now pretty close behind it, and the two definitely have their similarities. Alot of sports-based manga are incredibly timid. The reason why I've dropped titles like Days and Haikyuu is because of the author's defiance to have their team lose at important moments. Losses are (in my eyes) some of the most important character building moments available, and to turn your back on that can only make it more difficult to create investment and growth for the team that the audience watches.

Although Daiya and Ao Ashi definitely have some elements of plot armour (which at some points can be unavoidable), I never felt like the team was invincible or that there was some sort of safety in losing situations just because they were main characters. This, as well as the characters' personal losses and ups and downs, creates that element of thrill and excitement which is so hard to find outside of these shonen sports or battle shows.

I also feel that Ao Ashi excels at creating characters. The most obvious evidence of well-written character growth is Akutsu, who literally goes from the least to the most likeable character in the span of one arc - but other characters like Tachibana or even non-players like Hana have levels of depth and struggle which makes them feel real and relatable, which makes this cutthroat world of football seem that little bit more realistic. Another highlight was Taira - although his actual presence in the manga is fairly negligible, I felt that his ending alone was enough to remind us of the other side of the coin in the club, those who simply aren't lucky, and living on through Aoi just shows me how close the main character was to that and just how imminent the danger really is.

My most recent boners have come mainly from this Espereon vs Seiran match, which definitely has its place among some of my favourite arcs ever. Akutsu's backstory drop, Aoi and Ren's rivalry, the manager mind-battle, Aoi's 'grasp' and even the mangaka's football knowledge (N-box??) just made for an absolute rollercoaster with an unbelievable amount of highlights (u better believe I screenshotted those) and the manga honestly could have ended after this with no real complaints from me. My only worry from now is that it never lives up to this same energy, but I also think I need a breather after that anyway.

I guess we'll see after I inevitably binge the rest of this tomorrow

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Jun 23, 2023

GangstaSquirrel

Recommended

Preliminary (332/? eps)

If you don't know much about soccer, probably you will like it more. It's just more than soccer.

So, here's the thing about spokons that I don't like: They only focus on their respective sport. Only that. Just that. The sport is the only thing that exists in the world. Those who practice a sport know that isn't true, there is more about than that.

Ao Ashi is about a kid who plays soccer and he's kinda bad but also kinda good, and then he's improving throughout the time he's playing. Nothing new about that, right?

However, Ao Ashi goes beyond the sport. Everybody knows how racist Japan ...

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Gift

Mar 6, 2024

argy97

Mixed Feelings

Preliminary (340/? eps)

Spoiler

Plot: (6/10)
Football, aoi the mc wants to become Van Basten and he gets a call up from a youth squad of tokyo, he joins the team he becomes friends with his teamates but turns out the manager wanted him to become roberto carlos so they change him position to the left back and the plot moves on covering a part of the season with the small youth team and then eventually he will move on to the bigger youth team.
The Pacing is bad its way too slow at times and fast in others, it takes time to establish the characters and opposing teams at the ...

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Recent News

Manga 'Ao Ashi' Receives TV Anime for Spring 2022

Publisher Shogakukan announced a television anime adaptation of Yuugo Kobayashi's Ao Ashi (Aoashi) on Friday. The anime series is scheduled for premiere in Spri...read more

May 27, 2021 9:34 PM by Vindstot | Discuss (13 comments)

Winners of the 65th Shougakukan Manga Awards Announced

Publisher Shougakukan announced the winners of its 65th Manga Awards on Wednesday. General Ao Ashi Serialized in Big Comic Spirits since January 2015, Ao Ashi is a ...read more

Jan 22, 2020 2:59 PM by Sakana-san | Discuss (10 comments)

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Recent Forum Discussion

Poll: Ao Ashi Chapter 383 Discussion otakuweek - Oct 6	0 replies	by otakuweek »» Oct 6, 1:01 PM
Poll: Ao Ashi Chapter 382 Discussion Ferhat2K - Sep 29	1 replies	by otakuweek »» Sep 30, 2:47 AM
Poll: Ao Ashi Chapter 335 Discussion Sun_Chan - Jul 28, 2023	1 replies	by Dan-Te »» Sep 29, 1:05 PM
Poll: Ao Ashi Chapter 310 Discussion Rexnihilo - Oct 28, 2022	4 replies	by Dan-Te »» Sep 29, 11:11 AM
Poll: Ao Ashi Chapter 308 Discussion JoDiFartura - Oct 10, 2022	9 replies	by Dan-Te »» Sep 29, 7:28 AM

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