Aoi is having a hard time nailing down the basics of soccer he lacks. Even lying to the coaches and secretly practising extra is not helping him gain any insights into how he should start. Will Aoi give up on the sport? Or will he finally get a break? Let’s find out more in this review of Aoashi Episode 9.
Aoashi Episode 9 Overview
Aoashi, also referred to as Ao Ashi, is a sports anime based on a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yūgo Kobayashi. It has been serialized in Shogakukan’s seinen manga magazine Weekly Big Comic Spirits since January 2015. It is being produced by Production I.G, who have great hits such as Guilty Crown, Psycho-Pass, Kuroko’s Basketball, Haikyuu!!, Psycho-Pass 3 and Moriarty the Patriot.
Ao Ashi follows the story of a third-year middle school student Ashito Aoi living in Ehime prefecture, a backwater town in Japan. Ashito seems to possess talent but has a very straightforward personality. Because of this, other players dislike playing with him. Finally, he was able to join an average team where he felt accepted and came into the eyes of the coach of the youth team, Tatsuya Fukuya. Aoashi proceeds to showcase his journey from here.
The anime is being directed by Akira Satou, who worked on previous projects such as Deadman Wonderland and Release the Spyce, with scripts written by Masahiro Yokotani, and Nakatake and Yamaguchi also serving as chief animation directors. This episode of the show is also known as Ao Ashi Episode 9.
– Ao Ashi Episode 9 Review does not contain any spoilers –
Aoashi Episode 9 Review- Learning One Step At A Time
By now, Aoi is aware that he is not a special player recruited to play soccer by the Tokyo City Esperion FC- at least, not special yet. Sure, his eagle eyes ability on the court can be described as nothing less than a feat of a soccer prodigy. However, due to the lack of a basic foundation of the game, Aoi is pitifully failing on the ground. The previous episode of Ao Ashi saw him realize the coach’s words and his start of self-implemented, self-improvement training. And so far, things are not looking good.
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Aoi is taking help from his friends, Tachibana and Otome, to practice the first must-needed basic skill of soccer, i.e., how to pass a ball. It is not going so great. Aoashi Episode 9 sees him taking lessons from Togashi. Togashi’s character, though extremely skilled, is designed to portray his gangster side. Even his teaching methods reflect this, and it’s funnily scary. Surprisingly, it made Aoi’s brain bulb turn on!
The writing in this episode of Aoashi is done extremely well, as Aoi’s struggles in understanding the concept and Togashi scrambling to explain how to do it right are delivered perfectly. We feel the frustration in these scenes. And when Aoi finally gets it, we have a great “Eureka!” moment. Accompanied with decent animation, the momentum was built well in the first half of this episode.
The canteen food animations were extremely well done in Ao Ashi Episode 9, though I cannot help but feel a huge chunk of the budget went into it, and I am not complaining about the results! Aoi is grinning from ear to ear, but the second match of the day seems to make his victory short-lived. We officially get to see both Team A and Team B at play, and the level of difference in the skills is boldly evident. Poor Aoi can not seem to catch a break!
Even though the animation is decent, and the characters are good, the entire plot felt different from what you would expect from a sports anime, negatively. The anime seems to be focusing on just one guy- and his strategy is just putting out fires, one after another. There is practically no character development for any character other than the main protagonist, and even he is dealing with situations as they come in front of him. Shouldn’t he start learning ALL the basic techniques, not just the ones explicitly being pointed out to him? Shouldn’t there be a more proper plan designed specifically for Aoi by his coaches? Feels like such a waste of time and talent.
Despite this major flaw, Aoashi Episode 9 did justice with its great writing. The stress was built up just high enough by the end of the episode, only to be followed by the ending theme song cutting the tension smoothly. The animation during the game is not good, rather uses a lot of stills and facial zoom-ups. Aoi’s bird eyes are a great gift and are slowly being realized by those surrounding him. Hopefully, his character is developed properly to use these well.
Prognosis
Aoashi Episode 9 was successful in building the momentum for Aoi’s next progress. Accompanied with average animation throughout the game, this episode showed some flaws in the overall plot.
Click here to read the review of the next episode!