I love watching football (soccer) and my favorite team is Manchester United FC (Go Red Deviils!!). Though I love watching football, I hardly watch football-related shows or anime. As you may have noticed, recently, I'm especially into sports anime and I've been watching mainly sports anime. The one that I recently completed is called
Hungry Heart Wild Striker. It's by the same person who drew the famous Captain Tsubasa, which I haven't watched as I couldn't find any website that has it. (Please leave a comment if you know where I can watch it! Thanks! ^^)
Story: (8/10) – GoodKano Kyousuke had been living under the shadow of his successful brother Seisuke, who is playing professionally for AC Milan, all his life. Tired of being compared, he abandoned playing football until a boy from his new high school discovered him and asked him to join their team. Kyosuke joins it and befriends two other first year players named Rodrigo and Sakai, who have the dream of becoming professional soccer players themselves.The story is very typical and quite predictable (especially the romance part). However, the good thing is that the outcome of the matches are not as predictable and that makes this anime quite interesting to watch.
Characters: (8/10) – GoodThe most outstanding character is definitely Kyousuke - he's loud, has dyed Orange hair and receives the most air time! The other characters also do get their fair share of air time and that's good as I doubt I can finish all 52 episodes if the story focuses mainly on Kyousuke alone.Here are some of the characters I like:
Sakai - He's easy on the eyes and is indeed the most good-looking character in this anime.
Seisuke - My biggest qualm is that he gets too little air time! I want to see him more in his AC Milan jersey. (My favorite player, Kaka used to play for AC Milan but is now with Real Madrid. (v.v) I very much prefer him to play for AC Milan.)
Kyousuke - Frankly, I hate his orange hair! However, I do admire his never-say-die spirit!
Art/Animation: 7/10 – Fairly GoodIt's common for a sports anime to have repeated frames, but this anime has too much of it! I always felt like I was watching the same exact match from an earlier episode, just with a different opponent. Football action wise, the animation is not very smooth at times, but it's not too bad. Music: 8/10 – GoodCurrently, the first opening theme, '2nd Stage' by Kids Alive, is stuck in my head. Of all the themes, I like the first opening theme and the first ending theme, 'Mi Title' by Utaibito Hane the best.
Enjoyment: 8/10 – GoodIt's a pretty long series (52 episodes). There are exciting moments (the matches), boring moments and there are moments when I felt inspired by the players' game play. I did enjoy the series but I probably won't spend time watching it again.
Overall: 8/10 – GoodAs a sports anime, Hungry Heart Wild Striker is not too bad. It's pretty entertaining to watch and the ending is quite satisfying too.
