Review of Giant Killing

"Where's the fun in it if everything is going as planned?" - Takeshi Tatsumi Giant killing follows the story of a professional soccer player turned manager going back to japan to revitalize a team no one thinks anything of. Wouldn't it be interesting if the underdogs won? Although, i must admit, the manga does a better job of sticking up to the name "giant killing", I still think the added atmosphere from the anime provides a unique enough experience that it's worth watching. Animation is nothing special for it's time, some of the motion scenes are well animated so i assume the budget is beingallocated into some sections, but of course you can't ignore The abhorrent cg sometimes on faraway shots.
The sound design is quite good at times, enhancing the experience and building tension or expectation, but occasionally the voices and sound mixing are not up to par.
Some moments have given me chills, made me smile or feel hyped up. At times I feel like the pacing is unecessarily slow, despite the presence of jarring cuts and timeskips. Sometimes i don't feel like i have a full picture of the sequence of events in the games, but that's likely because they never planned to adapt a second season and so the pacing wasn't exactly well thought out.
You get dragged along in the story, hoping for takumi to do great things, yet being dissapointed or impressed just like characters in the story, almost as if you're a spectator through real life events.
Although sometimes the dialogue is stiff, it has its moments. I ocasionally find myself invested in the story or the characters, feeling excited or distraught.
Certain parts of the show have us focus on different characters and their growth, as well as how Takumi becomes a catalyst for great things to come. You tend to wonder, what cool thing will happen next.
Unfortunately, the moment where the story really begins and it starts to get really really good is towards the end. However, for what it's worth I was really satisfied with the ending
I feel like with a lot better pacing, budget and execution this could have been something close to the one outs of soccer, but alas, no dice.
However, I still love the story of giant killing and as a manga reader, the music and the atmosphere makes me more hyped than the manga could.
Needs an execution that brings it justice, 8/10