Futsal Boys!!!!!

This show sucks. Oh my god, it sucks so bad. It’s unfortunate, really, considering it had a few promising elements sprinkled here and there throughout the show, but overall, it just ended up being a huge mess that left me feeling completely empty inside. I’ve been waiting for this to come out since 2019, so it’s a real disappointment. DISCLAIMER: Unlike many other reviews, I am not going to mention Haikyuu at all after this paragraph, because I think that making these excessive comparisons renders your review useless to those who haven’t watched Haikyuu. However, I do feel the need to mention the fact thatFutsal Boys seems incredibly insecure about the fact that it’s not Haikyuu. Many of the character archetypes, dynamics, backdrops and even character poses seem directly ripped from Haikyuu. Like, there are scenes that look literally traced from Haikyuu. I’m not kidding. It sucks considering that there were some very interesting original elements to the story (namely Taiga & Ryuu’s dynamic and Haru’s backstory), but they were completely overshadowed by the fact that the creators seemed to feel the need to make it as close to Haikyuu as physically possible, without taking into account what made Haikyuu popular and likeable as a show in the first place (as shown by Sakaki’s entire character). Don’t worry if you haven’t seen Haikyuu, though, because Futsal Boys has plenty of bad elements that aren’t directly ripped from Haikyuu, too! The main character, Haru, is such a sad case of wasted potential. While he’s not exactly original (‘red-haired genki protagonist’ is an incredibly common character type), his backstory is actually incredibly unique among protagonists, and while I’m not going to spoil anything, I really like how the show handles his particular trauma. It’s pretty realistic, and he has a really unexpected way of handling and processing it that I really want to give the show praise for… but it gets pushed to the side in favour Sakaki’s BS problems stupidly fast. There’s also the fact that he has a background in breakdance, which I thought could theoretically be really cool and give his play-style some uniqueness (especially as a former breakdancer myself)… except there’s only a brief mention of how it could maybe have some transferable skills, and it really doesn’t come up much outside of his ‘special move’ which he does, like, twice. Overall, he could have been a semi-decent protagonist, but he gets overshadowed in favour of Sakaki (who I admittedly hate), which was unfortunate and annoying. Sakaki is an awful character. You expect him to be the usual ‘blue-eye black-haired genius character type,’ the blue to Haru’s red, and the show really treats him that way— except he’s demonstrably awful at futsal. Despite being referred to as something along the lines of ‘the best player on the team’ or the ‘only capable one’ or something, and constantly being talked up as if he’s amazing, he also can’t pass, is constantly shown missing goals, refuses to get better, and yells at everyone else for supposedly sucking. He also throws a hissy fit when he finds out that Haru has been practicing with Ryuu, berates Haru for his trauma, and never apologizes for any of the awful shit he does, because the creators decided that Sakaki was the victim or something? I also hate the fact that Sakaki’s middle school nonsense was compared to Haru’s real actual trauma, as if they were at all similar. The characters basically get more interesting the further that you get from Sakaki. Taiga & Ryu have a really lovely dynamic (who doesn’t love a tiger & dragon duo?) and the captain & vice captain are fine. Adelbert probably would’ve been interesting if they’d gotten more screen time, same with Amanogawa. Momomi were WONDERFUL, they were easily my favourite part of the show. I loved their dynamic so much, I genuinely wanted them as protagonists. Also they have a theme song and it’s a bop. The animation is iffy. It’s pretty inconsistant, with a lot of the colours being a tad unpleasant to look at, but it’s not the worst I’ve ever seen, I guess. The voice acting is great, though. The vast majority of the voice actors are complete newbies, with exactly one role (whoever they play in Futsal Boys) to their name, but you can’t even tell. I also think it’s neat that Komori, a musician on Momomi, is played by the guy who sings the opening (Takao Sakuma). I think that’s neat. Overall, I wouldn’t recommend this show to basically anyone unless they were really desperate for a new sports anime to watch, or wanted to see some good daddy issues representation. For a 12-episode anime with a better red/blue dynamic and a better case of “character is a newbie to the sport but has a previous skill that gives them a unique play-style,” I would recommend Sk8 The Infinity. If you’re okay with watching 75+ episodes of what Futsal Boys was desperately trying to do, watch Haikyuu. Both shows are way better written, and their blue-eyed genius characters are actual endearing and good at the sport, instead of unbearable and awful at it.

Warning: Contains a lil bit of spoilers The art is very good but can't say the animation was that good lol. The majority of it was just one image passing by (ex: Training arc scene) Also, it was so fast-paced yet so slow. It took the whole season for this guy to learn how to pass like what?? But also, the training "arc" was really fast and overall it felt sped up and bland. Also, there are a lot of questions that are left unanswered in the show. Overall, the only thing I liked is the art. It had potential when it started out despite thecringy moves but I mean every sports anime is exaggerated. The characters were also pretty bland and boring.

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