Knight In The Area Episode #01-02 Anime Review

So, anyone up for a game of footie? While it’s not very popular in the States, soccer is the biggest game in the world, including in Japan. And so, we have the story of youngsters in Japan who like soccer. One of them really likes soccer. Will the viewers?

What They Say:
“I Like Soccer”/”Knight in the Area”

Kakeru is the manager of the junior high school soccer team, while his older brother Suguru is the captain and rising star in Japan’s soccer world. During an intrasquad game, Kakeru is placed as the forward. Will this bring back his love for soccer or will old memories stop him dead?

Then, Kakeru is the only one who can keep pace with Suguru, but after each failed goal, his old nickname of “Mr. No Goal” starts to be heard. Suguru keeps the pressure on Kakeru hoping he will change, but the change coming might be for the best.


Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
So, in the World Cup, the Japanese national team is playing Brazil. Brazil is up 2-1, but Japan is pressing, desperate to put one in the back of the net and level the match. Thanks to the brilliant attacking of Suguru Aizawa, Japan manages to get the equalizer. While Japan have a good squad, going up against Brazil and keeping the score to 2-2 in the World Cup…I think we’re in the land of fantasy.

But the focus of the show isn’t on the genius striker. Instead, our story centers on his younger brother Kakeru, who is the manager for the Kamakura Middle School team, on which his older brother plays. Kakeru cheerfully goes around picking up loose balls, bringing players water and other items of equipment, all the time smiling and staring in awe of his brother. But things are not so simple and straightforward as that. It appears that Kakeru was once a player himself, a rather good one, and several of the second stringers on the team tell him that he should play again. Also telling him to do so is the pretty new transfer student Nana Mishima, who apparently knows Kakeru from back in elementary school, where she played soccer with him (and was called Seven by him and the rest of the team, a reference to her jersey number and also a pun on her first name, as nana can mean the number 7 in Japanese).

She also knows Suguru. Cue the love triangle.

Things are not so simple at home for the Aizawa’s at home. While Kakeru worships his brother Suguru, Suguru has nothing but anger and contempt for his younger brother, who he feels is running away from soccer. So, the next day, after a strange nighttime encounter with a masked soccer player in the park, Kakeru finds the will to play again when his brother orders him to suit up and step on the pitch in the position of forward for a split squad match which will determine who gets to be on the team and who will be left behind.

In the second episode, the selection match takes place. We get expert commentary from Nana (I have to assume, as I’ve not heard professional play-by-by in Japanese before), while Kakeru’s friend Kota provides comic relief. During the game, where Suguru puts Kakeru through his paces (literally), it becomes clear that Kakeru has a psychological trauma to work out. He apparently is incapable of shooting with his left foot, for some reason rooted in the past. And after several failures to score, Suguru takes Kakeru out of the game. That night, Kakeru goes to the park and plays with the masked player again, and we learn the reason for his avoidance of his left: in elementary school, he once injured another player when he used his left. Back at home, it leads to an angry encounter between Kakeru and his elder brother, who had earlier told Nana the day before that Kakeru lacked heart, an important quality for a great player.

The next day, Suguru is in a better mood. He had a dream of playing in the national blue in the World Cup. There, he made a pinpoint pass to a striker breaking towards the box. The striker drove the pass home and there was cheering all around. While the two boys are walking to school, Kakeru is down, intending to quit being even the manager of the team, while Suguru tells his younger brother of his dream. Before we can see what Kakeru’s reaction is, however, tragedy strikes.

Okay, enough summary. I’m not going to reference it directly, but it would seem, improbable as it sounds, that the writer for this show is fond of hearts that rumble, throwing a devastating curve at the viewers at the end of the second episode. While so far the show has been interesting, at least interesting enough as a teenage drama mixed with sports story, there is the potential for a quick descent into the tear-jerking realm of overwrought melodrama. As if it wasn’t enough that Kakeru had a mental block caused by a relatively minor bad break during his wonder years, the writers have seen fit to strike him now with a blow so potentially damaging, he’ll need professional counseling for the rest of his life to deal with the long term post-traumatic stress that this event could induce.

But we’re not there yet. So far, the show has done its best to provide some balance and entertainment. While there are many possible elements at play in the show, from school comedy to sports drama to young love all in addition to the central focus on one boy and his coming of age, the various paths that the show could go down have been kept at the right levels, none of the sideshows overwhelming the focus on Kakeru and his relationship with his brother, and his hard path through adolescence.

In Summary:
Sports stories are never purely about the sport. Looking over many a movie and series, from various cultures about various sports, the works are almost always as much about the people and their inner lives as lived through the sport as they are about the sports themselves. This show is no exception, as soccer forms a wrapper in which to present the tough adolescence of Kakeru Aizawa, a talented young player who will, it appears, have to overcome quite a bit of tragedy in order to rise to the top of the young soccer world in Japan. For the moment, there is promise in this show, though also a few warning signs, as the end of the second episode shows the writers are capable of being really quite harsh in their treatment of the young lad.

Grade: B+

Readers Rating: [ratings]

Streamed by: Crunchyroll



Review Equipment:
Apple iMac with 4GB RAM, Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard

G.B. Smith

Greg Smith has been writing anime reviews and a review column on anime dubbed into English for several years, first at AnimeOnDVD and now for The Fandom Post. His occasional column on English anime dubs, Press Audio, appears whenever he comes across a dub worthy of a closer look. He is also the deputy editor for our seasonal and year end retrospectives.

See author's posts