Aoashi

As people tend to watch a lot of sports anime, some of the story become as cliché as it can get. They follow the same route like many others such as, a kid, with or without any special abilities, meet friends, training, enter competition and the story end with a high note (usually the team that MC plays for win the competition).

But, Ao Ashi, while it seems to follow the generic road, it does not lead to the same conclusion, the story itself is about a kid from Ehime, enter a youth team for an existing club (in the anime not real life) and began to know what soccer is all about. His brain and knowledge on the game change from a Sunday League IQ into a professional player mind during the course of the story, The story itself is just a summary of how a kid enter a youth team in order to become a professional. While there are few exaggerate element , this is the most real as it can get.

There is no super power like Captain Tsubasa or Inazuma Eleven or there is no illogical skills which can be seen in Blue Lock. All the training and tactics seems to be more lean towards realism and while others soccer storyline have either a broken MC who superb all the way from the start to finish or a weak MC who gradually become the best, Ao Ashi tend to push for a different route. The MC have major flaws that cannot be changes(physical) and he only have his tenacity to learn and his inborn talent of bird eye view.

For people who want a fast bombastic and crazy stunt, this anime is not for you. The anime is very slow pace in term of character development. Hence, while it does have a good storyline, the anime might not be your cup of tea if you don't like anime with slow build up.

Ao Ashi is the first 24-episode anime I watched while airing, which means I watched this weekly for 6 months. And I loved it. I won't deny that I did not enjoy some episodes in the 1st half as much, but the 13th episode completely surprised me and turned the story on it's head. It seemed like I knew exactly where the story was going in the first half but that completely changes in the 2nd half, and it made sense later why the first half was slow and why they created a certain environment before going in the 2nd act. This anime did a great job in showing the mental struggles of an athlete and that things won't always go as you want in this profession. You have to adapt according to your skills. And, as you would expect from a sports anime, there are plenty of cheer-worthy moments as well.

The end of the season in general was excellent, how did we felt towards every character & what their backstories are & build their characters starts with Ashito wich was perfect, It was literally flawless! The season is perfect for the upcoming seasons! And how the season showed us all aspects of football, such as the inevitable sacrifices and the feeling of the players, especially Ashito, they showed all aspects of Ashito, his sad and happy side, and the childish side after him laughing at the trivial things, and how Hana is the character who was only interested in the world of football because of her love to her brother, then Ashito appears and after she saw the enthusiasm in Ashito's eyes. It reminds her to her brother once when he was like him!

This was my opinion of the season.

I've seen many anime, but this one is the one that has impacted me the most. The character development is really accurate to how some players will think in real life, but what I like the most is how those character feelings are portrayed in the episodes. The shadowing, the facial expressions, and coloring really adds to the emotion. The way these characters are written make them easy for the audience to connect with at least one of the characters, so many experiences that a player can go through and this show helps us understand the difficult moments a player has to undergo. Another important fact that I seriously love about this anime, is that the story is not really rushed and they pay attention to so many details. So far in my opinion, this is the anime that has been the most accurate to how people would think and feel in real life. Life is not always about blue skies and rainbows and this anime is one of the few that have been able to show us that. An absolutely beautiful show, well written, and filled with amazing character development.

The story is good. I think what it lacks is the intensity and thrill that other sports anime gives. It has the potential to be one of the best only if they could make the matches more nail biting.