Review of Giant Killing

The genre sport anime usually evolves around a genius of the trade, his/her circumstances, friends, rivals and sometimes love interest, who grows with every new challenge. Although very enjoyable, most of the times expecting any sense of realism would be a little naive. Think of Eyeshield 21, Prince of Tennis, Kuroko no Basket, One Outs or Ookiku Furikabutte; to name a few. In my opinion, what makes Giant Killing great is the fact that the story, the pace, the characters are very realistic, almost real-life-like. The plot/story is all about the soccer of the fictional team of East Tokyo United catalyzed by the former playerand the newly appointed coach of ETU, Takeshi Tatsumi. It includes all aspects of the sport such as the management, the coaching team, the players, the fans even their spouses!
The pace of the story is very well kept, especially considering the plot involves all the above mentioned aspects of the sport. It does keep moving along, involving every part of the soccer world without loosing the focal point which is: the soccer of ETU. That is to say, in a sense all the sub-plots about management, players, fans etc make up the main plot of this anime.

The art is like the rest of this anime. Realistic. What I like about it most is the fact that somehow the characters are drawn in such a way that represents their persona's somehow. Also, I don't know if this is the right place to mention it but the animation of the art is fluid. Like the movement of the ball or cheering of the fans. It makes it easier to get absorbed in the anime. I have to mention the following though. I have a tick about anime noses. In some they are none existent, in others they are simple triangles, in yet others simple holes with shadows represent noses. When I was watching this anime all I could think of was "tuber" :D

The sound is very supportive of the mood. As such it barely stands out but I am certain without it, the anime would be less enjoyable. Other than that I can't say much because I usually do not take note of the music that much. That is why I gave it an 8. I am simply not opinionated enough about it.

The Characters are the backbone of this story. There are several and at some point or other each of them gets to be the main character. The anime does an excellent job of not losing the pace or the main thread while introducing, following and deepening the back-story of each and every character. What I liked most was that I came to like even those, which I disliked and stamped as antagonists at the beginning. The more I learned about the reason of their behaviors, the more of their back-grounds, the dearer they became to me. It is definitely to big part due to the characters I like this anime so much. And as a footnote, I perceived Takeshi to be a very very moderate version of Hiruma Yoichi or Tokuchi Toua. (A very very very moderate version.) That is to say, Takeshi is always a few steps ahead of everybody else in terms of planing.

I really enjoyed this anime. Usually, in sports anime's the main character/team barely loses. In this one, losing is part of game, like real life. The characters are engaging. The anime is fun and funny to watch, one finds themselves cheering for the team, and you are not quite certain if they are going to win or lose, which makes it all the more intense. The matches don't make up 95% of the whole plot so even if you are not a real fan of the sport itself, you still don't get bored, or lose interest.

Overall, I cannot recommend this anime highly enough, to not only sports anime fans but also to those who like character and plot driven animes rather than just genre works. Give it a try. I am confident you won't be disappointed