Alternative Titles
English: Giant Killing
Japanese: ジャイアントキリング
Information
Episodes: 26
Status: Finished Airing
Aired: Apr 4, 2010 to Sep 26, 2010
Producers: Studio Deen, NHK
Genres: Sports, Seinen
Duration: 24 min. per episode
Synopsis
East Tokyo United, ETU, has been struggling in Japan's top football league for a few years. It has taken everything they have just to avoid relegation. To make matters even worse, the fans are starting to abandon the team.
In an effort to improve their performance, ETU has hired a new coach, the slightly eccentric Tatsumi Takeshi. Tatsumi, who was considered a great football player when he was younger, abandoned the team years before but has proven himself as the manager of one of England's lower division amateur teams. The task won't be easy, the teams East Tokyo United is pitted against have bigger budgets and better players. However, Tatsumi is an expert at Giant Killing.
Review
When I was younger, I used to watch an anime series called Kickers which revolved around football (or soccer for some). It was one of my very first encounters with anime and it definitely left an impression on me as a child, especially with its inspiring message and characters. Of course, as I grew up I started realizing that the world isn’t as perfect as Kickers depicted it—you wouldn’t always end up coming out on the winning side from conflicts and battles. I also learned that there’s no “I” in team and that a single person can’t stand victorious without some kind of help. Kickers was an anime series that took football and depicted it in an idealized form, but it’s not Kickers that I’m going to talk about, but rather a much more recent anime that also deals with football, but in a very different way.
Giant Killing is an anime series based on the ongoing football manga of the same name. Despite what its title may suggest, Giant Killing delivers a realistic depiction of a sports team and its struggle to compete in Japan’s top football league. In other words, no, it does not feature football players battling each other with samurai swords and magical abilities. As a matter of fact, I don’t recall any people dying throughout the entire running time of this anime either. All jokes aside, the title ‘Giant Killing’ refers to the act of an underdog team coming out victoriously from the hardest of matches and winning against all odds.
The story focuses on Japanese football team East Tokyo United (or ETU short) which is having difficulty competing in the country’s top football league and barely avoided relegation last season. There is little hope for the team and even its fans are slowly starting to abandon it, but all is not lost yet, for ETU has selected a new manager for the upcoming season and he is not to be taken lightly. Former East Tokyo United player, Takeshi Tatsumi is hired to coach ETU after previously leading the English amateur team FC Eastham to victory.
Takeshi Tatsumi is a highly puzzling and intriguing character and often works in unconventional ways when training his team and preparing them for upcoming matches. His eccentric ways and his mysteriously confident personality easily make him the most interesting and important character in the series, but he is not the anime’s main focus. As a matter of fact, there is no such thing as a protagonist in Giant Killing. Instead, the series concentrates on the ETU team as a whole and even though it does feature some minor character arcs from time to time, it always remains devoted to portraying the characters as a group rather than individuals with a predetermined level importance.
Unfortunately, Giant Killing also comes with a limited budget and therefore may prove to be unsatisfying for some when it comes to its portrayal of the football matches. Action and tension are present, of course, but Giant Killing falls short when it comes to delivering fast-paced football games. Some will be okay with that while others will irreversibly turn their heads and prematurely walk away from the series. However, those who do decide to stay will come to experience a football anime series that is very unique at its core and which will deliver some really impressive things that will ultimately make up for its shortcomings in the animation department.
Unlike the series’ animation, Giant Killing boasts a fairly good look in terms of art and style. Each of the characters present throughout the anime have their own specific appearance, which helps a lot when it comes to the viewer connecting with them and being able to identify them individually early on. Even though the anime tries to focus on each of the ETU players in equal amounts, some characters tend to stand out more than others.
In addition to Takeshi Tatsumi, who always remains a central character and is vital to the progression of the story, there are other notable characters such as the team captain and veteran Shigeyuki Murakoshi, who fans call ‘Mr. ETU’ for keeping the team together through the hardest of times, inexperienced but talented newcomer Daisuke Tsubaki and Italian midfield superstar Luigi Yoshida (or simply Gino), nicknamed ‘Prince’ for his impressive abilities on the field and his narcissistic tendencies. Of course, these are only but a few of the extensive amount of characters that Giant Killing manages to bring to the story. Apart from the football players, the series also goes on to develop side characters such as fans of the team, journalists, photographers and even opposing team players and managers.
Despite what some may believe, being able to enjoy Giant Killing does not depend on whether you’re a football enthusiast or not. Knowledge and understanding of the sport are not as crucial here when it comes to the anime’s watchability. The series does an excellent job at delivering an exciting look into the world of football, particularly that of team ETU, and the interesting characters help keep things exciting from start to finish. Sports anime may not appeal as much to some than they do to others, but it would be a shame to miss out on Giant Killing and what it has to offer simply because it’s often very different from the usual ride and viewers may find it a very rewarding experience.
Review By: Atroxion
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