Giant Killing

The ETU (Eastern Tokyo United) is a team that was once great, but soon fell on the wayside when its star player Tatsumi left for an English team. Many years later the ETU is trapped in the gutter, and the only thing that can save them now is Tatsumi, but not as a player, but as their manager. But why use Tatsumi? Because back in England he brought a team made of everyday people up to professional level of play, and he can do the same for the ETU. Tatsumi is one of those characters who is always thinking, always coming up with new strategies, but gives off the impression of not doing any work. This anime is very similar to One Outs in that regard.

The Animation is really different and a lil bit weird, but you will get used to it after a while. I would say the worse thing in this animation is their noses . . . everyone is a Pinocchio :3

I enjoyed the series, I have been watching anime for year and this was a refreshing show. I stinks that there is not more episodes because I enjoyed it very much. I guess what I'm trying to say is; Where is episode 27???

After losing major sponsors and possibly being finished, Japanese professional football league's East Tokyo United (ETU) brings in former ETU all star, Takeshi Tatsumi to manage a team barely holding together. Even after protests and resentment for bringing back ETU's former MVP (who left suddenly to coach overseas), Tatsumi brings the team together to take on Japan's top ranked leagues. With the odds stacked high against them, ETU shows what Giant Killing really means.

If you've never got into International Football (Soccer), then you will after this anime series. Pitting this low rank, under budget, low morale team cursed with losing streaks up against Japan's powerful high ranking team, clearly sets the stage for overcoming impossible odds. Each character is unique and has their own back story, so you fall right in and want to see it through till the very end. It's a must see for anime lovers who are looking for a change of pace from all the mainstream action/slice of life/romance anime out there. Giant Killing offers an amazing story that's worth putting on your watchlist and setting to "Re-watching"

Awesome storyline. May not be original but how it was delivered really put you on the edge of your seat.

I recommend watching this if you are a sport person, you'll really like it.

Music is good and is in rythm with the intensity. OP song can improved however it is ok

Characters, good drawing and plays a good part in the story.

ETU (East Tokyo United) are languishing low in the league, and that's not the only thing feeling low. So is their morale, and the supporters are leaving them in numbers. They have never reached the hights that they did before their best player (Tatsumi) left for England. And now ETU look like a team on the bridge of extinction. However, after impresssing in England and helping them complete a giant killing in the F.A Cup by defeating Portsmouth 3-2, turning a club of semi-pros to a one defeating the best in the country, he is chosen to be the saviour of the East Tokyo United Football (soccer) Club and turn them into a team capable of beating the best.

This is a rough overview of the series.

While it may be what you would expect from a fottball anime series, it is really brought to life by the characters. Takeshi Tatsumi is a real larger-than life character and brings the whole thing to life. He has crazy tactics yet from him they make sense. His PA advisor, Yuri Nagata, is determined to do her job to the best and complains if anything goes wrong. Shigeyuki Murakoshi (Mr ETU to the fans) is a fan favourite and Daisuke Tsubaki is the young, determined player given a chance to play and shines thanks to Coach Tatsumi.

Now I am quite an avid football (soccer) fan and support a team that over the past few years have gone over a transformation similar to what ETU does over the series. That club is Sunderland AFC. And the reason it reminded me of it was Tsubaki, a player extremely similar to our Jordan Henderson. Everyone in this series reminds me of someone involved with my club and that's why I like the characters as much as I do and I'm sure any other fan of a football (soccer) club would feel the same aswell.

There's not much to say about the animation other than that it is very well done, but the CGI incorperated in the wide shots is strangely distracting but other than that it's fine.

But the music is brilliant. It just feels like each tune is a chant you could hear when watching a match, and the opening and ending are just suit the show so much.

Overall this is really good. But I have one more problem. Not with the show, really, but with how Crunchyroll is showing it. With each show in every series it gives a description, but with this instead of leaving suspense, it just tells you what happens. It'll tell you which team scores and what happens, leaving no suspense at all. But that's not a problem with the episodes themselves. You should still watch it.

I am not going to be long-winded, I am just going to give my opinion on this series.

I loved it. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the series. The characters, animation, music, and storyline were all top-notch.

I gave the overall score a 5 star rating because I truly felt it deserved a five star rating.

Yes I mean it, best soccer anime of all time. Realistic and deep. Instead of doing super tiger shot and rainbow shoot, this series digs deep into the psychological side of soccer. Each character had their own little story/struggle, and Tatsumi the coach was there to guide each of them to overcome it.

Storyline: It proceeds at a relaxed and slow (quite) pace. The story is short and a few scenes felt stretched. Overall great story line, wish the series was longer because some things were never explained. (more on this later)

Music: Great music, very original and not often used in animes. 5/5!

Characters: As I have said before, Giant Killing does very well going deep into a player's mind before, during, and after the game. It shows how an individual struggle in their position, and show how they overcome it. The series is short so sometimes this feel rushed. The worst part was not showing anything about Tatsumi, he was just this legendary and mysterious figure who was godly in everything he does. How did he achieve such skill? How did he do in Europe while he was playing? Nothing was explained and it leaves most fans very unsatisfied.

Gino is the most likeable character in the series for me, he was arrogant and he felt real. Most others were good, except for Tsubaki. Typical weak Japanese boy in Tsubki.

Animation: nice, smooth, but mostly either too slow or too fast I thought.

Overall best soccer anime of all time IMO! Must watch for any soccer fan!

Overview
Giant Killing, despite its name, is a soccer term for when a minor team defeats a team considered much stronger. (David vs. Goliath)
ETU (East Tokyo United) is a soccer team struggling to keep up the pace in the 1st division in Japan and hires their old star player Takeshi Tatsumi as a coach to lead ETU to success. Tatsumi was ETUs' star player but abrubtly got up and left to play in England, much to the board of directors' and fans' dismay. It is unclear why Tatsumi transitioned from player to coach, but it turns out he is very skilled at what he does and Tatsumi had great success coaching an english division 5 team which he managed to get into the FA cup. However, there are many people and fans of ETU that are not pleased with Tatsumi's return. Tatsumi sits up all night to look at footage of his next opponents previous matches to study their lineup and strategies and as a result he's always late to train his team as he oversleeps and as such his players depict him as a very laid back and lazy person. He is however adept at coming up with counter strategies and he learns his own players strengths and weaknessess at an accellerated pace. His first match is a pre-season warm up against last years League-winners, Tokyo Victory, where he promises the team he'll take them to a draw if they follow his strategy. The team does what they're told to do and the end result is 2-2. With their new coach, and his somewhat bizarre training methods, the ETU team is filled with confidence as the league is soon starting for real.


Story
Giant Killing, focuses around the story of Takeshi Tatsumi, a former star player turned coach, a trend you can see many places around the world. Tatsumi is the GTO of the soccer world, he has bizarre training methods but they ultimately works out in the end. To me this not necessarily a good thing, as in so many stories past someone turns up, does wierd things and succeeds. It is rather cliché, but it just manages to pull it off. The story of Tatsumi isn't always in focus, the writers does a good job in making the other characters relatable, and each episode focuses on a certain character on the team, in the fans or in the office. The story goes by fairly slow so if fast paced action is your thing, you would most likely be looking elsewhere. But if you're into soccer, which isn't always fast paced, you'll definately want to try this out. A very straight forward storyline which is easy to follow with no plot twists other then the strategies used by coach Tatsumi, which you will learn underway.

Animation and Music
The animation in this series is as good as it gets. Everything looks realistic enough to be believable whether it be close ups or wide shots, and you can feel the different pace of the players on the pitch. The music has a nice jazz and rock feel to it, and it blends in naturally with the games that are being played and gives it that extra edge to it, which will make you wish you were on the pitch.

Overall
If you're like me and have played your share of football games on the NES, SEGA or SNES you'll automatically think back to your glory days when watching Giant Killing. The one thing that set this anime apart from games like Tecmo Cup, or animes' like Prince of Tennis, is the lack of special abilities, which is a good thing because it seems more realistic. The story is fairly slow, but that's not necessarily a bad thing as it helps you appreaciate the tension before the games. The voice acting is good, part from the voices of the foreigners which sounds like the bad actors you heard on a "learn x language for beginners" CD at school. It's too slow and thus becomes too unnatural. What's worse, sometimes japanese is dubbed over the foreign languages. An example of this is when the foreign players are thinking to themselves. With the japanese dubbed over the orignal you sometimes get a feeling it's a different person and it makes it confusing. WIth the only notable weakness being the voice acting, Giant Killing has the potential of being a very good anime in the future. Look beyond the "it sounds stupid but it apparently works" cliché's, forgive the sloppy foreign voice acting and you got yourself a solid soccer anime which makes you want to put on your soccer boots, wear your supporter scarfs proudly and cheer on your winning team. Go ETU!

This anime combines two of my favourite things. Soccer and anime, and what an excellent anime it is! Tatsumi really seems to have a deep understanding of human nature and soccer, using this to manage and lead a very broken team and make it whole again. There are hurt pride, crushed egos and other issues in the wake of Tatsumi's quest to remake the team. You just know that while the team overall might indeed play its best soccer under Tatsumi, some players will be warming the bench 90% of the time. This is also a dose of reality, where it doesn't matter how much your heart is into it, a 31 year old forward is still at the end of his career and the 20 year old forward will start instead of him under any competent manager. This is the important point here.

Tatsumi is a competent manager, ETU is a club that has suffered a string of bad management to the point that the players have had to coach themselves. Anyone who has suffered under the a bad manager will want to make said manager watch this anime and go "Look! This is what a good leader and manager looks like!"

This is a slower paced anime, with some matches being stretched over a number of episodes. However, I never noticed the slow pace while I am watching the episode, its only when the episode ends that I get annoyed that it wasn't longer because I am impatient and I want to see the next bit of action as soon as possible. In short, I love this anime!