It feels weird typing this, but I wanted to watch something Captain Tsubasa for a long time. I mean ever since I've researched older anime a long, long time ago. I mean, it is a classic series for a reason right? So. I was happy when this new, 39 episode series of Captain Tsubasa show appeared on Crunchyroll. It's a sequel season to be sure but also a reboot. There was another season of Tsubasa playing high level middle school soccer made earlier that could be found on Pluto that is the first reboot season. You know, another free, ad supported streaming service.
This is the season that took the drama from the first season with Tsubasa being injured and the rivalries he made and squished them together. This season, Tsubasa is on an international level in a gigantic tournament in France. Team Japan's soccer team against all sorts of teams from South America, Central America, and Europe. This sounds like I'm missing a lot of material by jumping into this season without much knowledge but nah. All the characters are pretty simple archetypes or can just be explained very really early through a short flashback.
Tsubasa himself is a pretty simple shonen protagonist who is effortlessly good at soccer. Like he has potential and he's training himself to get better. His arc revolves around him playing in Team Japan because he has an injury and the team has to unanimously approve him joining. That takes a while and is part of why Japan loses at first and is considered an underdog. Hyuga is like Vegeta to Tsubasa's Goku because he doesn't want to let his rival in until it becomes clear how Tsubasa is needed. So clearly, his arc is learning to think as a team instead of being individual. Every character from Japan and other countries are that simple.
Here is the thing about having very simple characters is that it works on a gigantic tournament level. With a huge cast, you can't really go that in depth with everyone. A show just needs to have one team's members have some sort of rivalry with the other teams to create some sort of tension between them. Tension that allows some of the hypest soccer moments possible. Captain Tsubasa: Junior Youth Arc delivers on that extremely well. This show is just pure fun in the best episodes and still pretty entertaining in the slowest ones. I was never bored when watching the show at all.
The pacing is something I need to discuss because it is very old school. Considering that Captain Tsubasa is a very old manga on the level of being one of the first sports manga ever, the slowed down every moment has to be highlighted is par for the course. Games can last four episodes to eight episodes depending on how detailed they are and that means sometimes five minutes is covered in one whole episode. That doesn't bother me because I miss shows that can take their time and have breathing room because most shows are 12 episodes in length and every minute of screen time has to have one plot or another. This is like one of a small list of shows that can afford to be old school style.
Visually, this show is generally pretty great. There are standard Captain Tsubasa character designs that are spread through people from different nations with slight variations. It works pretty great because the soccer uniforms and design changes are more than which to make them different. There is some really good stock or bank footage when each character names their special anime shots on the goals, but there are plenty of unique dribbles, steals, defensive moves, and special plays from each character that get loving attention. You know the team knew where to spend the time for the hypest moments possible.
I really enjoyed watching this show. It fulfilled a small lifetime dream of watching something that is Captain Tsubasa and it was completely worth it. But I would call this a good show, not an amazing show. But it is so much fun. That's all I wanted from this soccer show and it was delivered on that and went a bit further. The characters are still simple, but they are very memorable because you know what they are about which works. I've also learned a bit more about soccer which is what I want from a sports series. If you want something fun that has a little bit of tension in you that gets you invested and you want to watch something classic, watch this show.
No comments:
Post a Comment