Days

I became a fangirl after episode one. Some things about reviews to keep in mind is that they tend to be as much as people try not to, full of biases. I find that the overall score of a series doesn’t determine whether it’s good or bad. You will notice with DAYS, you either get people who are in love with it like me or people who hated it and then the sprinkle of the neutral here and there. I’m going to warn you this is a bias review. I did start it off with an “I became a fangirl after episode one”bit after all. I’m the type of anime watcher where you have to hit me in the feels in order for me to like it and if you don’t hit me hard, no great animation or interesting plot is going to make me love the series. However, the instant I watched episode one of DAYS, I binged watched the rest that was on Crunchyroll that’s how hooked I got into it. DAYS, plays out the typical formula in sports anime. There is an amateur who develops a love for the sport, and they tend to be below average compared to their average skilled teammates with one super genius on the team as the ace. Or in the case of DAYS, a couple super bad asses. If you like shounen series this one definitely plays on the whole Nakama feels with players who want to become stronger and become useful to the team. This is especially true for our below-average protagonist player Tsukamoto who lacks even the stamina just to run and chase the ball but tends to be the most critical of himself. Many characters are amazed at how far Tsukamoto has progressed with only starting to play soccer his first year of high school, but he, unlike the others, knows better than anyone the vastness of skills he lacks but that doesn’t stop him from trying his best. The series other protagonist is Kazama, Jin – the pretty boy soccer genius who is a lot more complex emotionally and mentally than he appears. These two develop a strong bond right off the bat. There is an also an interesting parallel of characters between the third years and the first years who will be taking over the mantle after the third years graduate. Both of them learning and growing together. There are also interesting character development and interaction with other characters within the team and rivals from other schools. It shows the role of each player and just how pivotal they are to a team, from the defence, to the forwards and goalie. Now to soccer, I find I can’t watch actual sports, as they bore me but what I love about watching DAYS is seeing what’s going on in the heads of the players. Being able to understand their mind frame and their struggles while they play. It’s beautiful. There is some awkward soccer playing animation that looks bad especially when framing it at a distance but overall, the animation was beautiful. It’s not over the top but not too simple. Something very interesting about the openings in particular is that the music while very catchy and probably one of the few anime series that I took the time to listen to each episode was the animation. The opening was made up of clips and scenes from the actual anime itself which is simple but none the less beautiful than a fancy over the top OP that you tend to typically see. One key point for me in this series was, that we have a disabled person in the anime! In all the anime that I have come across, there has been either little to no representation of disabled people. EVER! That to me gives this story a great plus as it shows a more diverse cast of characters. I have to talk about this because managers in sports anime, are useless side characters that do very little for the main plot. Until Ubukata. She is a powerhouse all her own. There are actual episodes dedicated to her character development. The freakan managers for crying out loud!!!!! She doesn’t start off as a manager but as she gets to know Tsukamoto who she originally discourages from trying to learn soccer, she starts to respect him and in my humble opinion becomes his number one fangirl. I honestly think she is falling in love with him. Who wouldn’t? He is so cute with his rosy cheeks. I admire this being one of the few series that makes a realistic female character who isn’t madly in love with the protagonist to the point that, that’s all her character is about. Her feelings for Tsukamoto are just one aspect too her character.