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.
