Aoashi

Realistic football anime, attaching characters, lots of insight on strategy and life as a pro player, but... sadly suffers from the subpar animation of the anime and all the comparaisons with other anime like blue lock or haikyuu.
I definitely recommend checking the manga as even for me who isn't a football fan, I really liked it. Got me hooked up whether it was Aoi's good or bad moments, which I really like.
You see how hard the life of a sports player is sometimes, like mental health, losing a match, not being good enough, or even issues with life in general with Akutsu's story in the manga. For example, Tachibana and Kaneda/Kuroda, forgot his name, really like the development of this two, where they learn to trust their team and trust their skills as strikers. Or the issues with communication in a team and how to overcome them, etc
+1 point for the romance between Hana and Aoi, not a romance guy but I find it really sweet, hopefully these two end together. Hana supports Aoi and Aoi isn't really aware of why he likes her encouragements, wonder how it is going to evolve in the manga.

Apparently, the rewiew must be more than 2200 characters and I do not have the skills or the time to write that much, but I'll try to fill it with somewhat useful things, I guess. I think one of the bad things about the anime is obviously the animation who doesn't feel as impactful as say Haikyuu or to an extent Blue Lock, only sports manga I've read so far. I could add that the pace of the anime is quite slow, but personally I like it, you get to learn more about the characters and how the life at Esperion's thing works. Aoi is a simple character and quite easy to relate to, he wants to be a pro football player for his mother, and give her money. The scene with the letter is really touching, it's for the little things like that, even if it's quite cliché, as the "guy who plays football for his family/friends" thing has been done a lot probably, but it works. I really like the change of position to striker from fullback and Aoi's reaction too, and how he adapts and just becomes amazing on the field, you even see him learn to defend with Akutsu in the manga. I'd like to add more but sadly I know nothing about football, so please you can just stop reading cause I just want my two thousand and two hundred characters. The sort of health aspect with eating and all too I thought was a nice touch, you don't really see these details on other anime, I think, and the relationship with Hana is just too cute. Really like I'm trying to add these characters. I've said anything I want to say at this point, animation/artistic direction, characters, plot sort of? I guess the openings and music are average at best.
Would rate higher if not for the overall animation and vibe of the anime.