I hate it.

I hate it. I hate it. I hate it.

I hate how when the ball is kicked, it doesn't go in. It either hits the post, is off target, or the keeper blocks it from being a goal.

I hate how not being able to score means the team is losing.

I hate having a competitive side because it means I need the win. I can't lose. I hate losing.

I hate soccer.

I hate it so much I am going on the offensive.

I hate Aoashi.

Yes, I am choosing to address the sport as soccer in the football/soccer debate because it's what I'm accustomed to. I am also reviewing this as someone who doesn't frequently watch sports anime but has experience playing the sport before albeit in a novice environment. Play along before the officials call it :)

I hate how Ashito behaves in this show and what he has to go through.

Ashito is the ace of his high school team. He is a hotheaded kid and allows his temperament to get the best of him on the field. He selfishly asks for the ball because he wants to score. The ball always seems to be around him too and really, the only way to get it away from him is to irritate him. If the people he cares for are insulted, he'll fight. And during a game, that's what happens.

I hate selfish teammates.

Basically, who Ashito is is used against him and that ends up disappointing everyone.

His household is a single parent one as his mother works along with his brother, but there's not much optimism that they can get out of their financial situation and him being ejected is a hurdle to his dream of helping his family. Ashito wants to make it to the major leagues.

In all honesty, it's unfair. As someone who understands the struggle and wanting to help the family be in a better situation, this situation felt relatable. That's why I hated it.

But there is a saving grace and that comes in the name of Tatsuya Fukuda.

Fukuda is the head coach of the Esperion Youth A Team and guess who attracted his attention?

He scouts and encourages Ashito to come to tryouts in Tokyo for a possible spot at the Esperion Youth B Team. A possibility has now opened...if it can be afforded.

I hate the competition.

Tryouts arrive and all sorts of characters appear. Everyone wants to get officially recruited to the B Team and they have tryouts to show their worth. Few impress and in the end, Ashito gets good news.

To the B Team he goes.

To the B team he goes and I love it.

I love it.

I love it. I love it. I love it.

I love how when the ball is kicked, it goes in. It either hits the post and bounces in, is on target, or the keeper fails to block it from being a goal.

I love how being able to score means the other team is losing.

I love having a competitive side because it means I can win. I can win. I love winning.

I love soccer.

I love it so much I am going on the defensive.

I love Aoashi.

The thing about Aoashi is that it captures the essence of the game. Not just soccer but any competitive sport in general.

There's a pain to being beat. There's a pain to being behind your peers. There's a pain to feeling like a goal is becoming unachievable. And sometimes, even if you have teammates, you feel a burden of being alone. Because let's be honest, every position has their own value and every individual has their own path in life.

Aoashi takes all this and combines it with the meaning of youth and growing up to perfection as well as the spoils of victory or even the agony of defeat.

While it's a sports anime at its core, there's a romantic subplot to it. It's a love that comes out in various ways, most directly in the form of a first crush seeming to appear, but also for being a fan of the game.

Hana Ichijo is the younger sister of Fukuda and she helps around the team facility every now and then. She helps and helps but the thing is, she doesn't know a thing about soccer. Anything past surface level she's clueless about. All her interest comes in seeing the players' love of the game. If I intend to be precise, it's from seeing Aoi Ashito play.

See, Hana fell in love with soccer. When she was a kid, she saw Fukuda play and now that she sees Ashito play she feels the same sense of awe she did back then. As silly as the phrase 'it's more than just a game' sounds, particularly in dramatization, it does hold meaning and truth.

To all these characters, soccer is the world. And in a way, it's the same for Hana.

An inspired Hana does what she can to support. She cheers for the team and for Ashito. She helps break things down in order for Ashito to be able to room at the facility since his home is far away. She sets up a nutritional plan (in accordance to her knowledge and interest in nutrition) and intends to give it to Ashito so he can maximize his athletic performance. She even goes as far as finding Ashito when he's mentally in a rough place (this particular sequence got to me). It's not an exact outward expression of love, but the underlying meaning is there in her interactions with Ashito...and given time her romantic feelings develop as they do with young love.

In other words, her love is true. She is simply the truest adoring fan in his life.

Instead of letting emotions get the best of someone, being smart is advantageous.

At least, that's how it's supposed to go.

Aoi Ashito plays with a fire that precedes any strategy into the game. Pass him the ball and he shoots. However, this isn't easy the closer to being a pro he gets. In fact, it's a struggle for him.

It's a struggle because just about everyone is great. In fact, there are so many great characters in Aoashi from teammates to coaches to friends and family. I will present examples for some standouts.

Apart from Hana, there is another girl involved in Ashito's life. Her name is Anri Kaido and she is the daughter of one of the team's sponsors. Basically, she was pretty much born into a soccer environment and thus is knowledgeable of the sport. A bit of an opposite to Hana in a way. Anri's role is to help Ashito by coaching him with pointers because she aspires to be a coach some day but wouldn't you know it, she slowly becomes his fan too. Regardless, she gives him advice for what to practice and who to model his game after for growth. In a roundabout way she is his coach.

The main coach directly speaking however, is actually Nozomi Date. An intense looking man on the outside looking in but one who holds to his values in getting the best of his players. He plays the role of bad guy if needed but also gives hints that are pretty much advice. I'm slightly downplaying him but his coaching method is a strong one in part because it's tough love but also because it gets the players to think things through.

He is what a coach should strive to be. Him and Fukuda.

And speaking of Fukuda, the man is a genius. A madman too but every single move he makes has meaning to it. From who he scouts to how he gives instructions. Every thing he says or does has a purpose and if a player is to succeed they end up realizing what he intends to teach. I certainly wish I had a person like him coaching me up back in the day. He breaks you only to help you grow back stronger.

Fukuda has passion and at times it's only rivaled by Ashito's.

Ashito's teammates are also passionate in their own way don't get me wrong, but it feels different when Ashito gets into the zone. When instinct just kicks in for Ashito, he can simply see the field and everyone's placement and anticipates moves that any player will make. It's so automatic in an eagle eye point of view that it's what Fukuda expects to carry him forward. But the problem lies in Ashito having a very weak foundation.

Ashito struggles because he's only relied on shooting. The moment it clicks for him that he needs to do more on the field is the moment his evolution happens.

As a basic, he hadn't mastered the triangle. It's more or less a tactic where a group of three stay close together and pass and move around to make an open space for whoever is going to shoot through gaps in the opposing defense. From personal experience I funnily enough felt Ashito's lack of knowledge but that's particularly because I played defender. However, the fact remains that putting something into practice speaks for the value of cooperation on the field and whether a team can be successful or not. Let's just say that Ashito had trouble with his fellow partners until push came to shove.

My intention with bringing this point up is twofold. We see the desire to make his dream a reality in various moments but we truly understand who he is as a player once he's on the field. Off the field, he practices after training time is over. On the field, he puts it into practice and....fails. He fails but doesn't let it break him. What he hadn't accounted for are things such as everyone's playstyles. Some play more aggressive, some more safer. Some slower some faster. So many things need to be thought out in a moment's notice really and witnessing it was a marvel.

A separate but somewhat related portion to this point is that we also get an understanding of who the other characters are. On occassions we don't get much of a backstory to a teammate so we have to go by off how they are on the field.

For example, Souichirou Tachibana is a striker who can score but easily loses confidence if he misses or sees others performing well to where he feels he isn't living up to the standards everyone else is at. We see this shot confidence seep into an outside storyline when the B team anticipates playing Tachibana's old team.

Eisaku Otomo plays more of a comedic relief role as a character but on the field his vocal self is more pronounced and he holds the team well together when their morale drops. Kanpei Kuroda plays more carefully, anticipatory, and tactfully and it's why he comes across as frustrated with Ashito's lack of basic knowledge but gives him ample opportunity and trust during a game. Keiji Togashi is formerly part of a biker gang and his hotheadness appears in him wanting to be on the attack but if given instructions he falls back on defense pretty quickly. Jun Asari is pretty cool and even keeled so he gets angry at blunders but is willing to put issues aside for the sake of the game. All this is to say that Aoashi makes excellent use of support characters.

Really, I didn't find personal fault in anyone because everyone has a role that leads to Ashito's evolution and growth.

Apart from characters and thematic elements, I liked the style of choice both artistically and auditory. The soccer games have a back and forth balance to them but pressure is felt when it's needed, especially as time is about to expire. Expressions give a pronounced feeling to the mood and vibrant colors and change in time such as the appropriate weather or day and night cycle are used to show how days go by in practice and development. They also add to the momentary tone a scene necessitates and at times blends majestically with the soundtrack. It's a very minute spoiler but even the secondary ED is integrated over into appropriately following a certain scene.

It made me fond of it to a point I find myself repeating it.

As a sport, Aoashi portrays soccer extremely well. As a story of life, it lives up to emotional highs and lows that come with giving something your all. Terms that carry over from soccer also bleed through purportedly. Whether it's pace that doesn't lose its flow through the various episodes, shots that don't miss a mark because we see characters expressively, or accuracy in the details such as language of the sport.....it all comes together for a shot that doesn't miss.

Ashito himself felt at peace at times and that weight feeling lifted carried over onto me, which speaks to how strongly evocative the show can be.

All in all though, I hate that I love Aoashi. I hate it because I can no longer see it for the first time again. I love it because I saw it for the first time from start to end.

Or to mirror the words of a certain character, I am Aoashi's fan :)