Review of Giant Killing

Being an avid follower of the sport, the concept of underdog triumphs never cease to interest me, Giant Killing is one such show that is all about stealing wins out of the opponent's pocket and making comebacks. East Tokyo United also known as ETU, find themselves in a slump after numerous slip-ups and consecutive defeats. As a result frequent sacking of the manager is not a rarity for the club. However, desperate for a reversal in fortunes, the club appoints the eccentric Tatsumi Takeshi as their very recent manager. Giant Killing revolves around Tatsumi as the manager of ETU as they try and get out oftheir losing streak into the once basking glory that's been lost in recent times. Now ETU are a fairly successful club in Japan's Pro Football League with their own share of history. A decade earlier they were the champions of Japan, with Tatsumi himself being a pioneer for ETU's success as a player. The appointment of Tatsumi as ETU's new coach doesn't go down well with either the players or the fans, as they all have their own contradicting opinions towards Tatsumi. A major chunk of frustrations from the fans is the fact that Tatsumi's sudden decision to leave ETU for a foreign club in his playing days right after when ETU last won the league was the starting point of their downfall. Stalwarts such as Murakoshi who was a crucial member of the team who helped ETU bounce back after they relegated into the lower leagues, question Tatsumi's determination to lead ETU and make them a prominent team in the league once again.

The show follows a very realistic approach. The characters have their limitations which adds to the appeal and has a feel of realism in it. This is one of the strong aspects of Giant Killing. It's not exactly your typical shounen football show where the underdogs pull off a win simply by their sheer willpower and completely discarding the strategic aspects. Giant Killing may not heavily rely on tactics alone, but there's enough there to support for an outcome. It's not overly psychological, but its fairly simple and calculated. Tatsumi's intentions and careful planning synchronizes with the pacing of the show, the right tricks are revealed at the right time. I feel that the common misconceptions surrounding Giant Killing is that its not underrated, but rather under-appreciated. If you come here looking for the exact same psychological twists and mind play as in One Outs, you won't be satisfied. Giant Killing is a show which earns it bread-and-butter through proper world building and development of the characters. They're shown to be as flawed and are given enough time to correct themselves. It's a character driven show which might not be to everyone's liking. The titular figure Tatsumi Takeshi is shown as a carefree individual but there aren't restrictions on his abilities. In other words, Tatsumi is very humanly and not a God who can change the game just because of his presence. Almost all of his actions have a corresponding reasons which are conveyed at different suiting intervals. His character is like a stronghold of everything surrounding him. This is one my reason for appraisal of Giant Killing.

For a show so unusually unattractive, its seemingly difficult to get invested in the show. But personally I was able to get used to it rather quickly. The characters look quirky and exaggerated, the balls and the grass neatly animated with frequent use of deliberate CGI. Excluding the very art style of Giant Killing, the animation quality is refined and quite apparent with rare mismatches and inconsistencies. The only subject of dissatisfaction might be the regular use of weird facial structures to depict the mood of characters. While that might be on the negative side the frequent use of "sakuga" drawings also are done to almost perfection. Accompanying the visuals are also some quirky soundtracks to lighten the mood and in times to convey stimulation. The cheers from the crowd is also very much apparent and feels very atmospheric. Different teams chanting different anthems of their own adds to the mood and feels very real. With Tatsumi being the main figure, Tomokazu Seki's energetic voice feels refreshing and sends across the message of what kind of characteristics he has to the audience. One of the interesting inclusions in the show was the addition of foreign languages like French and Dutch. While its universally accepted that characters no matter what their background is talking in Japanese was a basic thing, this felt very refreshing and something new that you don't see that much in any other sports anime, all adding up to Giant Killing's genuineness. The opening and ending are standard and used just for the namesake, although the opening really conveyed what the mood would be like to be in an actual stadium.

Giant Killing has its fair share of shortcomings with a few characters not getting enough screen time for development, and an abrupt ending that was also dragged a little. 26 episodes might seem little considering where the show lands in on at that point of time, a second season would do great justice. Overall Giant Killing is still a great show and which is currently the most accurate one around about football. I'd recommend watching Giant Killing with an open mindset.