I had quite fond memories of the Kickers watching the anime growing up as a kid and always wanted to read the original manga that it was based on. It was one of the reasons that I got into learning Japanese ‘cause the books seemed to be pretty much unavailable in any other language that I can manage to read. Having all volumes sitting on the shelf for over half a year I decided it was finally time to go back and dabble in some good old nostalgia. Or so I thought.
Disclaimer: I’m reviewing the original version and will therefore not regard name changes, general translation, censorship or other deviations occurring in other versions. Also while reviewing this body of work I will in stay in generalities and not go into actual details of the plot. So mild spoilers, I guess.
So where to start? Remember the anime? How the Kickers went from a no-good hopelessly forlorn team to the cream of the crop? The developing relationship between Daichi and Uesugi and of course the one with his sister? And Hongo’s love interest?
Well, scrap most of this ‘cause the manga is basically “all soccer, all the time”! You won’t get to know a lot about the characters or their circumstances. Most events are quite trivial and seem half baked though the story’s heart is always in the right place. However it’s all kind of lifeless and only feels surprising or emotionally engaging to the actual characters in the manga. There might be occasional short intermissions where they do not kick the ball and get some “character development” (better put this in quotations) but this is actually where it is most prevalent that Nagai-Sensei is just not a good storyteller. Unfortunately that does not mean that the manga excels whenever they play the game. On the contrary the portrayal of soccer is repetitive, abstruse, dull and jarring and get’s pretty boring pretty fast. It’s almost as if you had explained the concept of soccer to someone who has never seen a single game in their entire life and know nothing of it who then decided to create a manga about it solely based on your explanation.
Don’t get me wrong here! I knew going in that I had to expect a manga-esque portrayal of soccer rather than a BBC documentary. Meaning to forget about the laws of physics and biology and just accept that children can effortlessly jump more than three meters high, move faster than a certain blue hedgehog, shoot balls so hard they’ll break, tear or dent just about anything and have physiques of super-physiological adults or fictional medieval monstrosities. But that is not the issue here. It’s just that the game doesn’t resemble soccer much at all. What do I mean by that?
Well, in a typical Kickers soccer game you first have to treat offence and defence as if you were on a basketball court. (Or handball for you European fellas.) You know, semi-circle offence and an all-man defence. Every attempt at the goal that does not result in an actual goal will by default give the offence back possession of the ball. Defence however is a rough game. You will be obliged to block the ball with your whole body but mostly your head all the time and let’s not forget that flying into the goal post is a regular thing and soccer balls are filled with sand, so this one’s gonna hurt and leave you bleeding a lot. Nonetheless, in the rare occasion that the ball get’s loose it is of course mandatory that everyone regardless of field position starts chasing it. Preferably stirring up a big cloud of dust, so no one can see what’s happening. In there the occasional punch or kick might be thrown. But worry not. ‘Cause in a Kickers game there is usually no ref in sight, so all’s fair and square. Just slamming into people and headbutting them? Sure. And if you got the ball while doing it, even better. You’re untouchable! Beware though if you’re a member of the Kickers the ref might temporarily leave his cage of non-transient blindness to enforce some arbitrary rule that didn’t seem to matter before or isn’t even applied correctly. Why? Because everybody hates the Kickers!
Which brings me to my next point. Not only that every other team has mostly only one guy that seems to literally make the whole game, omnipotently occupying front, back and centre of the field (a phenomenon that the Kickers themselves seem to struggle with in the early stages of the manga), they’re also almost always a massive jerk. Mostly for no particular reason. And because the ace player hates the Kickers, sequentially the whole team and all the affiliates hate them too. They’re then joined by random people with no connection what so ever hating on the Kickers as well. All groups including fully grown adults actively engaging in this mob mentality irrationally fuzzing over a team of minors that has never done anything wrong. But worry not! ‘Cause when the last goal is kicked and the game ends (‘cause apparently that’s when games end) all the insults, mischief, felonies and straight up battery are forgotten and they all become friends. Because the Kickers fought really hard and showed them the spirit of soccer or whatever!
I could probably go on and on about all the inadequacies of this manga and all the questions that bugged me throughout reading it. Like: Who adjusts the score board when there’s literally no one in sight? Is the announcer always the same guy? Why not just substitute a severely injured player? Where are all the adults? Are they never worried about their kids or govern any decision that they make? Why does nobody ever consult the police or any other authority when it seems only logical? And why the hell does everyone just go along with the plot all the time so that the most atrocious and incoherent events can take place?
All of these are fair questions that only fan the flames of the garbage dumpster fire that is this manga. A part of me is concerned that I’m going to hard on it ‘cause it was certainly not the most terrible read and as I said in the beginning I do have quite fond memories of the anime. I really wanted to like this. But it was quite the struggle to read it to completion especially during the last four to six volumes and it’s not like there is a satisfying ending awaiting you. The manga basically just ends after giving you something that feels like a couple of extra shots after the serialization by Coro Coro Comics stopped.
If you’re like me and you’re all hellbound on reading this because...nostalgia; I won’t and obviously can’t stop you. Just keep in mind that liking the idea of something doesn’t mean you like the actual thing. And sometimes it’s best to leave good ol’ memories just that!
Sincerely,
your MegaMangaNerd
