Let's talk ball

Youth football tiers

Here's some more info from the essay on Episode 6.

Football teams in japan are categorised on bases of their geological locations. Here are some points that makes it really special and different from other leagues in the world :-

- the club needs backing by the town itself including the local government.
- a community of fans
- and corporate sponsors rather than a parent company or a corporation. (like our Espersion has Kaido as a sponsor)

We saw all the above in this episode.

The title of this episode says "Tokyo Metropolis League" and it's a league in real life.

Now the Youth football tiers

Well I will take a segment from the essay on episode 6 to give a clearer picture

Professional leagues:
• J-League 1
• J-League 2
• J-League 3

Semi-professional league:
• Japan football league (JFL)

Amature leagues:
• Regional leagues
• Prefectural league

Now this structure above is for the senior football.

*Exclusively* for the youth right between the regional league and prefecture league there are further leagues in the following order of level:-

1. Prince Takamado Football premier league
2. Prince Takamado Football prince league

(Just call them with the font in bold)

Ao's Youth team B i.e. Espersion youth B plays in the prince league.
Since these are "youth" leagues they have an age cap of 18 years i.e. U-18.

Now there is further division, but we will focus on the Prince league.

Prince league is further divided into 9 other regional leagues from Hokkaido to Kyushu, our team is in Kanto region.

(How I know this all? I have watched like 2 games of the J-League in real life so that said it's clear I don't really follow Japanese football. But I did some research on the structure of Japanese football when I was reading the manga becz becz I was just curious and the text above is basically it lol.

Now in the episode, it was just a matter of realisation for Ao to connect with Asari and Kurona.

There is a fine line b/w knowing and not knowing. Fine margins, football is a game of fine margins
What is obvious to oneself can be completely obscure to other.

Just like this episode, It seems kinda obviously to must of us, even Otomo said that they are formation a line but for Ao who played previously with a selfish approach with no tactics and no player to player interactions, it was a literal discovery.

A footballing term was used in this episode at 12:22 overlapping

Overlapping generally done by wide midfielder and fullbacks.
It is when a player is making a run beyond the teammate (winger) in front of them *along/near the touch line*.
At 21:26 Asari overlapped Ao who was holding the defender and as a result Asari got space to run into.

(There is also Underlapping in which a player generally a midfielder or fullback makes a run beyond the teammate (winger) in front of them *away from the touchline*.)

Kinda tough to understand them from text I suggest watch some YouTube clips becz that's the best way to understand it.

There types of movements are used to stretch the opposing defence and created space.
At 18:20 Ao got space to run intoas Asari was occupying defenders becz he overlapped.

18:20 and 21:26 are examples how wingers and fullbacks link and co-exist in football.

got more from a post than 4 yrs in HS soccer

Dang bro thanks for the info,it would be nice too if ao ashi shows us a quick info about soccer game just like eyeshield 21.

True! That's what I love about EyeShield 21 is they give info about the american-football sport but I think they did that since most audience in Japan are not into that sport? And soccer is widely known there next to baseball.

Ashito, kuroda and asari are talking in their eyes with saying they just know where to go and when they keep making error and is still testing the passing the opponents thought that was nothing after that it was never fluke anymore

japan calls it soccer, they are soccer teams in japan

so glad i found your comment, i completely gave up after a single google search :D !

It's so great to see Ashito finally understand what he was doing wrong and how Asari, Kuroda and Ashito are finally working together. It put a smile on my face seeing Kuroda score that last shot and then we see Ashito so excited and Asari high fiving him. I like how Coach Date is watching over them with hopes that they'll make things work and is able to see how things are slowly improving without being affected by the current scores of the match.

With the title of the next episode being "Eagle Eye" I'm guessing we'll see both Ashito making even more surprising good plays and him scoring himself. It'd be cool if his plays extended further to the other players but I'd rather him get comfortable working with Asari and Kuroda than risking that.

Lol it was funny how Ashito was bragging on the phone to Hana even though they still haven't made up, I wonder what kind of face she was making as she was listening.

Made me really happy when I saw Asari go in for a high five with Aoi!!! The plays and passes they were doing today really put a big smile on my face today haha

It made me smile and laugh because that high five 1 frame good looking art 1 picture stop is kinda similar when ashito, tachibana and ohtomo got their spot on this team we can see it in the ending song

you know shit gets real, then Chinese guy opens his eyes

He's name is Kuroda I also learned and remembered his name in this episode because when he opens his eyes wide you know something unexpected is gonna happen

I like how kuroda thumbs up even though the ball got steal because that pass was so perfect they couldn't believe

When Aoi and Asari both hi-5’d it reminded me of that time when Sakuragi and Rukawa also dapped from Slam Dunk. Man i love sports anime

Looks like things are finally starting to heat up and get good!!

The sudden snap and understanding mid game between Aoi, Asari and Kuroda was really good!! Especially Aoi finally finding out and fixing what he was doing wrong was really good as well but those passes he was doing end game really had me on the edge hype!!

As they finally closed in, I love the fact that Aoi could’ve went in and scored himself but still ended up passing which was really nice, this time Aoi Didn’t think about himself and only himself scoring…

Overall this was really good episode love the plays Aoi was doing today, Also love the fact that Asari and Kuroda are finally taking liking and understanding Aoi…

Ashito, kuroda and asari were a mess in the first half they were almost got replaced but that coach gave them one last chance to fix this in the second half because he believes in ashito even though he's always serious and now that guy next to the coach thought something bad about ashito but he was wrong

I think only Luca came back, because you can already tell he doesn't even fake that he has already encountered these types of things.

That high-five at the end is SO satisfying considering what it took to get here...

Ashito and asari high fiving was nice looks like this team has finally has some trio relationship kuroda couldn't high five because he already gave that thumbs up to ashito

NIIIICCEEEE!
that pathetic Ashito turned into an interesting player! i hated him sooo much, but in the previous and in this ep he made a super change and now i enjoy watching him play! even without "zone" its entertaining! dang! well played!

now lets search for Yashondowski's comment..

Though they had their differences, kuroda seemed to be the most level headed one...and the pivotal character in the trio's dynamic

And from now on this anime will get 10000000x better.

well until Aoi hits the next wall. XD

This is exactly why it will get better.

Happy birthday to Yui Yugihama from SNAFU and Nero/Secre from Black Clover!

Also, yesterday (June 17th) was Hana's birthday!

YAHALLO~~

Gotta thank Gahamama for her genes

Man i got goosebumps while watching the episode....the ost, the pacing, the plot everything was perfectly done and the hype is carrying on with each episode....definitely top 3 for this season. my heart was racing while watching the episode ngl....Aoi changing his playstyle is such a great thing to the team and lets go Esperion.

This anime feel so underrated and I love it

This anime is so depressingly motivational

Aoi is finally learning. I just hope he keeps this up. The teamwork and communication with him and Kuroda and Asari was beautiful. It seemed like he finally realized that’s what he lacked. Kuroda's thumbs up and Asari's high five were so satisfying.

I think he still will messed up just a little he still needs to learn something more harder than this

Time for a Saturday morning dosage of soccer!

Futbol!

Congratulation Aoi. You are now starting to learn how to play soccer the right way or a better way.

On episode 11 he finally figured out it's a team sport.

Yep

i knew it aoi is like floor leader.. he has insane observation skill

lol ya, just takes him a little while

Lucky number 3, paired with great communication with their eyes and passing skills. Can create a gap in their defenses. They have a chance to catch up with only 15 minutes left

nice, they now learned Kuroko's True Zone ´

Ashito finally at the proper start line when it comes to tactics. Next episode should be when he fully shows off the rare ability most players wouldn't have. And he'll do it painfully.

He almost pronounced Ferenc Puskás properly. Almost.

Haha, I have no idea how to pronounce it properly myself, but I love your comment.

Chills. Literal chills.

Good breathrough. Aoi is definitely a decent guy; also level headed and fair, even in disagreement and he is willing to do whatever, to become better.

That's good to see.

I suppose Togashi will be next to interact with the trio. (And maybe the other guys from the selection - green/orange hair; can't remember their names right now). We'll see...

FINALLY, SOME GOOD SHIT FOR AOI!!

That last picture that appears every end of the episode is actually pretty cool. As you can see, it's a picture of their team. At first glance it's just that. But notice how Ashito, Kuroda, and Asari are all standing up. This really emphasizes how these three were able to form a connection among themselves. Pretty cool.

Nice. Anime Ashito now has 1% of Manga Ashito's power.

The show finally started for me~