A review of Aoashi from the perspective of a semi-pro player

It is SHOCKINGLY ACCURATE. At first, I believed that I would be able to spot minor details that were wrong/incorrect, however I couldn't as the show is sooo pinpoint accurate. I found myself even more emerged as a former pro junior player who happened to advance/move into the same position as the protagonist (Aoi Ashito). Everything is coherent and it really dives into the psychological aspects of players as well as the game as a whole.

It really started for me when Aoi was forced to change position to learn the fundamentals, view different perspectives and understand the basics of possession play. It was from that point and forward that he started to evolve by learning and mastering everything: eye contact - body language - triangel play - pass, play, cover/support (tiki taka) - playing with your lines - formation changes - lifting the play - counters - the hidden language of passes - causing confusion - stagnating. The mastermind coach Fukuda was able to put Aoi on the path to become a masterclass playmaker with all of these skills including Aoi’s spatial awareness & future sight (Eagle eyes). The anime is much more than the evolution of a single player, it's about the whole team. The sweet sweet feeling of victory, sadness of a loss, feeling of euphoria after a goal and facing old teammates.

My soccer journey
I might be biased because of my similarities to Aoi. I started playing very young in an unranked team. Our coaches (some soccer enthusiastic dads) were amazing. They taught us everything and made us play like the pros. At the time many of us (including myself) didn't know why we played, moved or did certain things, but it was because they had engraved it into us. They managed to teach us soccer without us even knowing it and sooner or later, everything started to come naturally because of the training, with promising results. We won the first league/season, and moved up in the divisions, even skipping multiple divisions at times and before I knew it, we were in Div 3.

We started to draw more games and even lost more than normally. Our coaches thought that we needed some changes and so did I. I was tired of being a left back (defender) so I started to train my shooting and dribbling ability in order to play as a striker. During one summer I gained a lot of muscles on my legs and came back to the season with stronger passes and even stronger shots, most of them at the sweet spot (top corners). We had to say goodbye to old teammates and welcome new ones (however we had no test or anything because we weren't an academic team). I started the new season as a defender once again and I started to befriend the teams new goalkeeper. He knew that our team was good and wanted to improve his weakspot (saving penalties), so he asked me to take some penalties on him. We practiced on a smaller goal (5-man goal) because the bigger goals were occupied. He thought that it would be quite easy since I was a defender, but after I shot the first one he didn't have the time to react. He said that he knew our team was good, but not that good if that was the shooting power of a defender. I smashed 12/15 goals in the top corners with 2 saves and 1 on the crossbar where the ball struk the goal so hard that it lifted off the ground slightly. The coaches noticed and changed my position to right wing to utilize my strong foot (right), and since I was used to playing along with attacks and taking throw-ins as well as “chance balls” (header passes).

The next summer I went on a vacation to Spain and asked some local kids playing with them. They said sure and we played and I noticed that they definitely played on a team since their technique were on point. After playing for about half an hour I went to a nearby restaurant with my family. As me and my family sat down to eat a man approached. He said that the was the head coach of the Milan FC academic team and wanted to recruit me. It turned out that Mialn FC were in Spain to play in a tournament as they won their junior Seria A leauge and that I just so happend to ask to play with multiple starting members of the team that were a year older than me. He paid for my lunch and gave me his business card and asked for me to move there and play for them. I politely told him that it was a big choice and a huge opportunity and that I and my familty had to consider it. However, I couldn’t do it because of my parents work along with other reasons.

After playing in Sweden again with my team, I started to question some plays when I was subbed and during practice games (scrims). The coaches agreed with my plays and eventually made me a centermid playmaker (same as the Aoi) barking instructions at others. My first official game as a playmaker was in Div 2 and it was phenomenal, 8-0, 6 assists and 1 goal. We continued facing tough opponents after moving up to div 1. After a series of games we ended up winning and while trying to become the back-to-back champions I got a knee injury which ultimatly made me quit.

Back to the anime. The show is filled with sports and emotion with a realistic pace that adds to the realism. It has a nice contrast between serious soccer, drama and an underlining romance alongside moments of comedic reliefs of artistic liberty (funny faces). This is because of the amazing side characters that greatly contribute towards the story. Hana helping and guiding Aoi overall, Yoshitsune giving subtle hints towards Aoi, Anri helping Aoi become better with minor tweaks on exercises, Togashi's beef with Takeshima. Even the lack of presence from Tachibana was greatly used to show that he was feeling out of it, missing easy shots and being off-side because he felt that he was inadequate and didn’t deserve to be on the team. It's only later when he has to face his old teammates that he realizes that he deserves to be on the team and unleashes his true power.

In conclusion: The story is filled with minor details that makes it more believable. I might be biased as a previous semi-pro soccer player, but it is a masterpiece when it comes to depicting the sport and I definitely recommend it.