Sayonara Watashi no Cramer
Farewell, My Dear Cramer
さよなら私のクラマー
Over the years, the reputation of women's soccer in Japan has been gradually waning. Despite this rather bleak scenario, there are still some schools with teams trying to keep the sport alive. With that, glimmers of hope are starting to appear. Having played for the boys' soccer club when she was in middle school, Nozomi Onda's skills are nothing less than prodigious. Because of this, she thinks that playing soccer with fellow girls would only drag her down. She is only motivated to play her best when facing those she deems worthy opponents. Meanwhile, Sumire Suou is a promising rookie with exceptional talent—a talent hindered by a team that cannot keep up with her abilities. Onda, convinced by her former coach to join a girls' soccer club, and Suou, accompanied by her close friend and rival Midori Soshizaki, cross paths as members of the Warabi Seinan High School's girls' soccer team. In this new field, both girls begin to display their full potential and skills. Along with their teammates, each of their steps, kicks, and goals will grant them victory—and perhaps also ensure that the sport begins its journey back into the spotlight. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
Synopsis
Over the years, the reputation of women's soccer in Japan has been gradually waning. Despite this rather bleak scenario, there are still some schools with teams trying to keep the sport alive. With that, glimmers of hope are starting to appear. Having played for the boys' soccer club when she was in middle school, Nozomi Onda's skills are nothing less than prodigious. Because of this, she thinks that playing soccer with fellow girls would only drag her down. She is only motivated to play her best when facing those she deems worthy opponents. Meanwhile, Sumire Suou is a promising rookie with exceptional talent—a talent hindered by a team that cannot keep up with her abilities. Onda, convinced by her former coach to join a girls' soccer club, and Suou, accompanied by her close friend and rival Midori Soshizaki, cross paths as members of the Warabi Seinan High School's girls' soccer team. In this new field, both girls begin to display their full potential and skills. Along with their teammates, each of their steps, kicks, and goals will grant them victory—and perhaps also ensure that the sport begins its journey back into the spotlight. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Reviews(14)
OneFaintingRobin
June 27, 2021
A frustrating show in a lot of ways, "Farewell, My Dear Cramer" should have a lot of potential, with a lot going in its favour. The show adapts the manga by Naoshi Arakawa, author of "Your Lie in April", a beautiful, emotionally-resonant story. And, to be fair, this source material, in its story and characterisation, is where this show does shine. Watching the characters come together as a real team over the course of the season is really satisfying, and even if things don't always go fantastically for them, you can see how they make clear progress as the series goes on. It's these characters,this story, that did keep me onboard with this show, and will likely make sure I come back for a second season, should that come in the future. Unfortunately, the production often lets this source material down. I've enjoyed an awful lot of Liden Films works; from absurd comedies like "Sekkou Boys" to the slightly more intense "Hanebado" (ironically, a show which suffers from the opposite issue, exceptional production values with a story that slips up a lot at the end, despite some interesting ideas), I had a great time with "Otherside Picnic", and I even got some enjoyment out of "Love and Lies" and "Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka", even if the latter is still trashy as all hell and the former frustrated me just as much as it entertained me. I like this company's works more often than I don't. And I did like this too, for the most part. But the animation is pretty sloppy at times, especially in the character animation. During more important football matches, it definitely improves a bit, you can tell that's where the budget went, but it comes at the expense of fairly stiff, dull-looking character animation, which is a real shame given the unique character designs they're working with. And, more crucially for me, the pacing is all pretty all over the place; the first half of the season speeds past, with surprisingly little time spent on the sport itself, only for the latter third to almost entirely show one single match (albeit with plenty of flashbacks and context trickled throughout). I've said this with a few shows before, but I think this would really have benefitted from a longer season, to give the plot space to spread out. It's a shame that these details bring the show down, because I think with a bit more money and effort, there's no reason this show couldn't have been excellent. Again, this is the studio that made "Hanebado", and that looks phenomenal, especially during its matches. There is a fun story in here, and I did have a good time more often than I didn't. But I can't pretend that the production doesn't let the source material down.
