Whump Focus I: Manga Soccer Edition - Episode 1: Junior Soccer is More Intense than I Thought
Let met ask you something: what was your whump discovery as a kid? Mine was most likely Detective Conan (it’s been wild seeing it make rounds in 2022 like episodes 188-189 were a new thing) when I was a tiny wittle kid coming back from school to see people get murdered on screen (France 3′s after-school cartoon block was wild in 2005), but I once discussed it with an IRL friend of mine who’s also into this kinda shit and she quoted the good ol’ French dub of the first anime adaptation of Captain Tsubasa.
In case you’re not familiar, CT is the godfather of sports anime and manga as we know them, having debuted in 1981 and still being ongoing (it’s on its last manga arc, Rising Sun, as we speak). It’s the story of a gifted soccer-playing named Tsubasa Ozora who moves to Nankatsu City in the Shizuoka Prefecture of Japan and manages to rise his team of loser classmates to the national junior championship. From then on he slowly reaches his dream of becoming the best soccer player in the world as part of Japan’s “golden generation” for soccer with friends, rivals and foes in his way; his main foe being the mangaka, Takahashi’s, passion for putting injuries in his manga so the matches feel tenser. It’s all very... anime, for lack of a better term.
Ironically, I think people in my country who watched the show as a kid mostly remember the original anime adaptation, a 128-episode behemoth filled with filler content and slow matches (the final match lasts 15 episodes, in case you were curious as to how long it takes) are how the players would push through absurd amounts of pain to reach the damn goalpost. Ask anyone about “that player who had a heart disease”, “the twins who propelled themselves in the air” or the entire finals of the first arc, the junior tournament and you’ll see.
I can’t make a good enough dive without splitting it into big chunks of content, so for now, I’ll be focusing on the first arc, the National Junior Championship, with illustrations from the 2018 anime adaptation since it’s very much a close adaptation to the source material aside from some modernized aspects here and there. In fact, since I can only advise you to watch CT 2018 instead of reading the manga (because finding good scans of the first arc is an impossible task, especially in English since y’all don’t give a fuck ‘bout soccer), I’ll be refering to CT 2018 episode numbers. (also, for the most part, I didn’t read the manga, I just watched the anime. Woops. Don’t worry, there’s a point where we’ll have to take a look at Takahashi’s hazy grasp on human anatomy and perspective).
(insert jingle here)
This arc starts off innocently enough: Tsubasa joins Nankatsu Elementary because the first kid he meets, Ryo Ishizaki, is from there and he wants to play there with his first friend in Nankatsu. He was originally supposed to join Shutetsu Elementary, the fancy-shmancy school who won the national junior championship last year with their epic goalkeeper Genzo Wakabayashi, but Ishizaki’s... charisma was enough to convince him to join the local public school, apparently. The first episodes are very mundane: Tsubasa is good at soccer, he accidentally pisses off Wakabayashi by scoring against him, and the latter wants to settle it in the annual sports competition between their two schools. Y’know, just “rich kid who lives in a giant mansion without his parents’ supervision but instead has a former goalkeeper as a parent figure” things (more on that later).
I was surprised to realize the first injury only happens in episode 8, at the end of the second Nankatsu-Shutetsu match (the first having ended with the former loing 30 to 0): to get through a a tactic known as “the birdcage” (which prevents Tsubasa from scoring, more ir less), Ishizaki sprained his ankle against the goalpost while passing to Tsubasa at the end of the 2nd half (allowing Nankatsu to get the match to 1-1) and can’t play in the additional time. He gets replaced by the boy whose hands you see in the second screenshot, Taro Misaki, who kinda got ropped into this shit when trying to just enroll into his new school. The match still ends in a tie, if you wondered.
That has to be the most graphic depiction of an injury in a sports anime I’ve seen in quite a while; admittedly, I haven’t watched most sports anime. (Ep 8)
Nankatsu City decides that, this year, for the perfectual tournament, they’re going to send a team incorporing players from all four schools of the city (including two I haven’t mentioned because they weren’t relevant to the injury count). All you need to remember is that, from now on, we’re following the Nankatsu SC (instead of FC, which was the club of Tsubasa and Co’s school), and Tsubasa and Wakabayashi will both be part of it... but not for long.
Behold, one of the few leg injuries which has a lasting impact in this show! A lasting impact for 2 episodes, but that’s that already. (Ep. 9)
Meanwhile, the plot introduces us to a new major character: Kojiro Hyuga, the captain of the (then future) Saitama Prefecture representants, Meiwa FC. His specialty? Playing so rough he injures his opponents when tackling them.
A normal day for Meiwa FC. (Ep 10)
I mentioned like 5 seconds ago that Wakabayashi was going to share a team with Tsubasa, but only for a short time. That’d be because, during one of the selection matches for the Nankatsu SC team, this happens:
The beginning of the most epic arc of the entire season. (Ep 10)
During yet another selection match (the most direct one), Hyuga decides to pay Wakabayashi a visit and scores against him, thus making Wakabayashi seek some revenge again despite his hurty leg disease situation. Also, we learn in the same episode that Hyuga has three younger siblings, an overworking mom, a dead dad and that he has to work to help his mom bring food to the table on top of school and soccer stuff. Yes that’s foreshadowing for later.
We skip through one match to arrive to the Shizuoka Prefectural Tournament’s finals, Nankatsu SC-Shimizu FC. This match kind of introduces a couple characters (Yayoi Aoba and Jun Misugi, namely, but we’ll see them more later... a lot of them), but mostly focuses on Morimichi Kawakami, the captain and goalkeeper of Shimizu, who has an amusing sense of tactics when it comes to scoring against Wakabayashi. You know, as in “the opposing goalie can’t stop us if we break his leg”. The most ironic is that despite this, Shimizu still can’t score and Nankatsu SC wins 3-0.
Reminder that Wakabayashi’s injury is common knowledge. Also that’s not a foul, I promise. (Ep 12)
I didn’t know what picture to pick, there are too many possible ones, so here’s the one that looks the most epic. (Ep 12)
Nankatsu SC is going to dem nationals, but at a cost: Wakabayashi’s doctor tells him he really shouldn’t participate in that tournament because of his hurty leg disease. He takes it as well as you expect him to. Instead, he makes Tsubasa and Co promise they’ll win every match until they face off against Meiwa FC and Hyuga so he can go to that damn pitch and get his damn revenge.
I’m pretty sure that if Mikami (that’s the Shinji Ikari’s dad-looking guy over there, albeit he’s a much better father figure than that guy for sure) hadn’t been there, he’d have fist-fought that doctor. (Ep 13)
Everyone goes to Tokyo. There, they meet twins playing over the railways in the train station: Kazuo and Masao Tachibana, from the Akira Pref. representatives Hanawa (they’ll be more relevant in the next arc). Misaki gets to introduce his current team to his former teammates of North Hokkaido, Furano (remember that name), while Yayoi whom I mentioned ealier chimes in to introduce her team’s captain. I didn’t mention it earlier, but she’s a friend of Tsubasa from where he lived before: her family moved to Tokyo after the Ozoras moved to Shizuoka and she’s now the manager of one of the tournament’s favourites, the Musashi FC. Also more on them later.
Shit heats up immediately for the Nankatsu SC since, in the drawing for the pool phase, they get put in the same group as... Meiwa FC. That’s literally the first match of the tournament, Wakabayashi is pissed in front of his TV, and Hyuga tries to wreck through Nankatsu’s entire lineup. One of his favourite tactics is to shoot right into the goalkeeper’s face, so poor Yuzo Morisaki, who didn’t ask for jack shit because he’s a substitute to begin with, gets a bad wake-up call.
Finally, a sports anime that shows my actual experience with sports! (Ep 14)
Hyuga isn’t the only rough player in Meiwa’s arsenal, though, because that happens to Tsubasa a couple minutes later:
The most miraculous is that this actually results in a yellow card! (Ep 14)
Oh, also, remember earlier when Hyuga shot Morisaki point-blank in the fucking jaw? That was to purposefully traumatize him! (Also, Wakabayashi, pissed-off calls Hyuga “a clown” in the French dub. It’s got nothing to do with anything else, it’s just funny). Don’t worry, he gets better because Tsubasa took a ball in his face to show him the ball is his friend and he shouldn’t be scared. Gotta love sports anime logic!
I mean, if the opposing goalkeeper is too scared of the ball to stop it, I guess you may as well be declared the winner by default. (Ep 14)
Nankatsu-Meiwa ends in a 7-6 victory for... Meiwa. Woops! Of course, since this is the pool phase and the 2 best teams gets to qualify for the knock-out rounds, they’re not eliminated, but they need to win their next 4 matches against the 4 other teams in Group A.
We skip ahead to Nankatsu’s last match, against Hanawa and, of course, the Tachibana twins. Both teams are fighting it out and are fairly equal, despite a slight advantage to Nankatsu. The twins use their secret technique, the “Triangle Shoot” (which defies logic and physics but looks cool so whatever, ain’t like Tsubasa wasn’t doing some acrobatics when shooting in like episode 5), where one of the twins jump on the goalpost. Of course, the first time they use it, theys core... but Kazuo, who shot, falls on one of Nankatsu’s defenders, Koji Nishiyo, injuring him and prompting his substition with the legendary Ryo Ishizaki (I say unironically. I love this guy).
That’s blood in my soccer anime! There’s blood in my damn soccer anime!! (Ep 16)
Crutch shot! (Ep 17)
Nankatsu ends up winning against Hanawa and gets to the knockout round. Also, we learn that Misaki’s moving out soon again and really wants the team not to get worked up over some drama during the match (nothing worth mentioning here). Every team like Nankatsu meets up in the dinner hall at the end of the day: that’s when we learn they won’t be facing off Furano unless both team qualify for the finals. That reminds me: I forgot to introduce you to Furano’s captain all along! Well, to be fair, he hasn’t been relevant until now, but that’s about to change... mostly because he accidentally collided with Hyuga in the cafeteria and it almost ended in a fistfight. Also, Misugi chimes in after Tsubasa and Misaki have defused the situation to tell them “it would be unfortunate if you two got injured before the match, sksksksk”.
I’m only showing you that shot because I’m always amused at how violent Hyuga gets over this guy for no fucking reason. Matsuyama was just going to apologize when he got bitchslapped five meters backwards. (Ep 17)
The 1/8th and 1/4th aren’t very noteworthy for us, aside from Naniwa FC’s goalkeeper trying to break Tsubasa’s leg because he dared breaking his no-goal record (and failing to break said leg). The one thing to note is that Nankatsu more or less knows Musashi will be their opponent for the semifinals and that’s when one tiny little quirk about them appears: Misugi, their genius captain, the most promising player of his generation, the “Prince of the Fields”... never fucking plays. At best, he plays like 5 minutes, scores 6 goals, and goes back to fuck off on the bench. Sounds sus. All we know is that he “intervenes when it’s necessary”, Nankatsu’s players are jelly of his fanclub, and Tsubasa really wants to face him off like Misugi wants to play against him.
Not to worry, because the show is telling us right here and there. Remember when I told you Yayoi, Musashi FC’s manager, was an old friend of Tsubasa? Well, she goes to tell him about something real important; or, rather, she asks him a favour, and it’s to let Misugi win because he’s got an Anime Heart Disease that makes it so the semifinals will be his last match and she wants him to finish off on an epic note. Tsubasa tells him that he can”‘t lose because his dream to go to Brasil to become a pro player and also that Misugi probably wouldn’t want him to let him win. I wonder how that’s gonna develop, huh. Of course, when Misugi asks what she told Tsubasa about (because he spotted them, how discreet), she tells him a bold-faced lie and goes all like “noooo I didn’t tell him about your condition nooooooo”.
That’s enough babbling about whomstever this Misugi guy is for now, let’s go to the finals! The first opposes Meiwa FC to Furano, which means on one side we have Hyuga who doesn’t care about the bones of his opponents and, on the other, we’ve got a team known for their team spirit and collective playstyle (yes, that’s notable in this universe). And now I can introduce you to Furano’s captain, Hikaru Matsuyama: of every player I’ve mentioned so far, bar Ishizaki, he’s got no discernable talent and, instead, what fuels him is hard work, training in the snow and a lot of willpower. Also, he hates dirty tricks, so let’s just say he has more reasons to beat Meiwa up than wanting to make Hyuga pay for his cafeteria slap of the other day.
Meiwa’s as violent as ever, especially with sliding tackles, which pisses Matsuyama off very quickly, especially since Hyuga scores at the 5th minute of the 1st half. However, fret not: Matsuyama’s found the solution to stop Hyuga from decimating your entire team with tackles and it’s to... uh... put his leg between Hyuga’s foot and the ball? (Maybe you should fret, actually).
Would you believe me if I said the tackle right into the leg was on purpose, but on Matsuyama’s part and not Hyuga’s? (Ep 19)
Of course, when Hyuga discovers the yellow card he just took to the face was actually a Deliberate Injury Gambit from Matsuyama, he gets pissed - make it tenfold when Matsuyama transforms the free shot he got into Furano’s first goal and the entire team then proceeded to prevent Meiwa from scoring again until the end of the first half.
In general, Furano-Meiwa devolves into whose captain is going to be in the worst state yet play ‘til the end anyway. Indeed: Matsuyama may’ve taken a tackle square into the leg and is pretending it’s just some little bruise, but Hyuga’s doing less than good. Let’s just say working this much at the age of 12 isn’t doing him any favour. Kira, Meiwa’s coach, knows how badly exhausted Hyuga must be, so he asks Takeshi to do all that he can to alleviate the weight off his captain’s shoulders.
Some consequences? In my soccer anime? Preposterous. (Ep 19)
The second half starts with Meiwa scoring and Misugi (yes, him again) analyzing the situation. I just mention it because I love how CT 2018 adapted one of the panels of the manga for this one, and also because it’s a good summary, courtesy of the French dub and the one big liberty they took with it.
“Kojiro clearly has a physical issue, I’ve never seen him like that, and his tackle has really diminished Hikaru, he’s been in pain all that time. I don’t know how this is gonna end, everything’s still possible”. (Ep 19)
Speaking of Furano! Guess who got tackled again! In the same leg as earlier!
Let’s just say Matsuyama did not intend for this foul to happen. (Ep 19. Yes we’re still on the same episode and it’s only getting downhill from there).
So, Furano gets a second free shot because their captain just keeps getting tackled in the goddamn fucking leg, and Meiwa doesn’t like it because it’s in one hell of a good spot for Furano. Hyuga sure seems frustrated about it... not that he’s doing much better than Matsuyama right about now.
You didn’t think my soccer anime didn’t have a sick episode, did you! (Ep 19)
Takeshi points out, concerned, to his captain that he’s burning up, but Hyuga tells him it’s nothing (yeah sure dude). That free shot, btw, is wild: Furano has three forwards all shooting in some direction to prevent Meiwa’s defence from properly working, Hyuga manages to push off Furano’s main forward’s shot... but Furano still scores anyway because woopdeedoo guess who was still near the ball! No, I have no idea how Matsuyama’s doing that crap either.
I just said he was near the ball. I never said he was fine. (Ep 19)
Some speeding ahead, since we don’t have all day. Furano gets a third free shot on a hand foul. Meiwa substitutes their GK for Ken Wakashimazu, who’s just back from a car accident or whatever, and he stops Matsuyama’s third attempt at a goal. Hyuga speeds ahead even if he can’t see jack shit anymore. Furano panicks. Also their captain is on the ground now.
Pay attention to that red patch on Matsuyama’s right leg: that’s our second instance of blood on this show. Noteworthy that him bleeding was more explicit in the manga and the first anime adaptation, but is kept to a discreet shot or two in CT 2018. I also don’t want to imagine how painful a wool sock on a bleeding wound like that must feel.
When I was 12, just hitting my knee against a chair would send me in that position. How in this fuck this 12-year-old kid is doing this is still beyond me. (Ep 19)
Hyuga scores, giving Meiwa a 3-2 victory at the last second or so. That being said and done, he can now collapse in peace knowing he’s playing in the finals. Wait, what?
He’s fiiiiiiiiine mom. (Ep 19. Yes this is a single-episode match.)
Coach Kira immediately asks for a doctor while Matsuyama, who’s somehow managed to get up on his own (again, what the fuck does this kid do in his spare time), is trying to cheer up his team. It’s when he sees Meiwa having to lift up their captain that, knowing Hyuga did all that he could to win, he makes peace with his team’s defeat.
Pictured: Hyuga lying through this teeth as he tells Takeshi he’s “just a little dizzy” or “needs to eat smething”, depending on what version you’re watching.
I’m showing you this shot of Matsuyama’s shins to prove my point from earlier, and also to tell you I was very confused about that choice of visuals when first watching the series. He’s thinking about how Hyuga’s played with all he had. (Ep 19. I promise it’s the last time)
Okay, so that was Furano-Meiwa. We’ll of course hear more about Matsuyama and his pals in the 2nd arc since his team will be playing a bigger role there, but for now, let’s switch gears to the other semifinal: Nankatsu is scheduled to face off against Musashi and, of course, Jun “Fly can you please get to the point about this guy?” Misugi. He intends on going all out this time, no matter how many heart attacks that gives both of his parents in the audience! I hope you’re ready for a shitton of screencraps again.
Of course, the match goes well, there’s no foul, both teams are motivated and fairplay... Who am I kidding? It takes exactly 8 minutes into the next match (opening included) for Tsubasa to shove his elbow into Misugi’s chest while trying to pass him.
What a way to begin this match, huh, Misugi? (Ep 20)
And now starts a sort of weird state where Misugi decides that, since Tsubasa must know about his heart problem, that he’ll show everyone he ain’t affected, and Tsubasa isn’t feeling good about, y’know, causing that guy some pain. The first half ends on Musashi winning 2-1, Tsubasa thinks there’s no way he’s beating Misugi, and Misugi slaps Yayoi in the corridor because she told Tsubasa and that disturbed him. I’m not showing you the slap (CT 2018 more or less censored it anyway), but let’s just say he’s really fucking pissed about it.
These flashbacks show how Yayoi found out about Misugi’s heart condition, so how she’s one of the very few people to even know about it. I feel like they were mandatory on a whump content-centric post (Ep 20)
The second half starts with rain and Nankatsu having to deal with Tsubasa in despresso mode. He gets over it after Wakabayashi, the mentor character I don’t feel like mentioning, his love interest and Misaki give hm a speech on never giving up, but only after Misugi and Co have already scored again, bringing the score to 3-1. Don’t worry: Nankatsu comes back with a goal, from Tsubasa, and it’s all good... for Nankatsu anyway, because meanwhile, it’s soon Misugi’s time to go back to the bench and his mom is getting worried. Oh, and y’know.
Welp, there it comes. (Ep 21)
Hyuga update! He’s been diagnosed with a juvenile form of overwork (successive heat waves, intense training and intense stress, what a cocktail!). His team’s worried, but Kira reassures them; Hyuga just needs complete rest, he’ll be there for the finals!
The picture of health or something. It was funnier in CT ‘83 where Wakabayashi was about to burst through the door to Hyuga’s hospital room to talk about getting his revenge, ngl. (Ep 21)
Back to the match. It’s still raining. Everyone’s tired as balls. Nankatsu scores again thanks to Tsubasa and Misaki’s combined play. Also, Misugi’s on the ground, a hand on his chest, and now everyone is suspecting something’s afoot. Of course, his mom tries to intervene (his dad prevents him from doing so) and the coach wants to sub him out, but Misugi protests, saying that he got promised he could play the semifinals in full.
Pictured: Misugi coming clean to his teammates about why he hasn’t been playing much... and everyone on the field learns this shit at the same time as they do. (Ep 21)
His father is the one who ends up convincing everyone to let his son stay on the field because, I mean, he can get one last match, as a treat.
Just don’t look at him too hard, his heart may shatter if you do. As in, don’t pity him, he could still somehow beat you up. (Ep 21)
He isn’t here to kid around despite the fact he can barely stay up! (Ep 21)
Because he has the power of soccer and anime by his side, Misugi makes a mad dash to the goalpost of Nankatsu while in immense fucking pain, which a nifty little monologue tells us about.
“Ngh... I think my heart’s gonna explode. On each footstep, the vibrations are piercing through my chest.” And then it sounds like he’s reading out his will or something. He’s 12. Everyone’s fucking 12 (Ep 21)
The plot just had to get one more elbow-to-the-chest while it was at it. (Ep 21)
Misugi arrives in front of the goal, breathless and on the wet-ass grass but still in possession of the ball. Morisaki and Tsubasa are both rushing to get it, but when Tsubasa gets there first, Misugi throws the ball far up in the air. What happens after is a little... confusing, let’s just say, but another heart palpitation seems to rob him of either his sight or his space perception, leading him to panic.
This shot always gets to me, for some reason. I think it’s because of how Misugi’s hand is drawn here, since it makes him look so much younger, all of a sudden, with those chunky fingers, more like a child’s hand than how he’s usually drawn? In all cases, if it’s deliberate, then hats off (Ep 21).
Thanks to Yayoi screaming at him from the bench where the goshdarn ball is, Misugi finds it and shoots it. Goal! Musashi’s now winning 4-3. Also, Misugi’s heart may have fucking stopped.
Actually, if you ever want a more stylish version of this shot, watch episode 36 of the ‘83 anime. You won’t be disappointed (Ep 21)
Of course, Misugi’s still alive, his heart’s stll beating and he’s the first surprised of that fact; he’s just completely spent. Still, the match ain’t over, so everyone goes back to their positions. Nankatsu must score if they want to face Meiwa in the finals, but Musashi doesn’t intend on losing either, even if their captain has to order everything from the goalpost.
Oh, so when I’m slouched against the goalpost, I get told I’m “lazy” and that I’m “not making any effort”, but when this guy does it, he somehow looks badass? That ain’t fair! (Ep 22)
Anyway, we’ve been on this match for long enough, so let’s cut to the chase. Misaki ties the score with a head. Misugi hates that he made a judgement mistake. Tsubasa scores a 5th goal. Nankatsu SC wins. Tsubasa tells Misugi his team would’ve won if he didn’t have hurty heart disease, but the latter tells him he’s got no regrets. Everything’s well, see?
I just wanted to include this shit cuz it’s cute. (Ep 22)
Don’t worry, ladies, Jun Misugi will be back next time! He ain’t giving up soccer yet. Or ever, actually. (Ep 22)
And it’s on Nankatsu qualifying for the finals that I’ll be stopping here today. The finals themselves are also a whump fest of a match, just like Meiwa-Furano from earlier, to the point I think they deserve their own post. Also, I need to go eat lunch. See y’all next time for most intense anime soccer action!