Forum - View topicThe Knight in the Area (TV).
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dirkusbirkus
 Posts: 699 Location: Manchester, UK |
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(I totally checked if someone had already posted a thread right up to the last second, to avoid a repeat of the Symphogear thread, haha!)
Area no Kishi Another football anime! Since I enjoyed the last offering Japan served up (Giant Killing), I was cautiously optimistic when I decided to pick this up. Japan is no longer a 'joke' team in the World Cup these days, and the J-League produces some insanely talented players. Their footballing star is on the rise, so it's interesting to see if their themed manga and anime can replicate that. As far as first episodes go, it wasn't bad at all. There was a goodly amount of actual football played, and the sequences were technically believable. This is a good thing. The bulk of the episode was given to characterisation and establishing the relationships the main character has. The theme of living in the shadow of an older sibling is a universal one, so there's something here for people who don't really like sports anime but DO like a good story. There's a romance angle in the mix. This is also a good thing. There are a handful of archetypal friends thrown in for good measure. This is... not such a good thing, but none have any overly annoying traits thus far. There was also the 'mystery footballer' angle thrown in, and whilst it's hardly Sherlock Holmes here (spoiler[It's Nana or Suguru, right?]) it still feels like it has a place and purpose- in this case stoking Kakeru's passion for competitive play. If I was watching this episode as a non-football fan I might be inclined to write is off as merely average, but any football themed anime is going to keep me interested with the subject matter alone. Whilst Giant Killing had a bonafide likeable lead in Tatsumi, Kakeru by comparison is a bit of a wimp. But with any sports anime, the lead is supposed to go on a journey, right? He can only get better from here on in. |
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Spastic Minnow
 Bargain HunterExempt from Grammar Rules  Posts: 4630 Location: Gainesville, FL |
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ep.2
Bah! Not another spoiler[traffic accident]! So, you knew from the preview, and basically from the rules of high school sports drama, that spoiler[something tragic was going to happen to Suguru, but I was kind of hoping they wouldn't do that specifically. I guess it's easy- need a tragedy, have the victim die selflessly why protecting a child or someone like this,] but it is also an annoying cliche. And I know that certain show is just abut the most prominent sports anime in Japan's past and you want to emulate it but does Knight really have to borrow this much from it? 
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ArsenicSteel
 Posts: 2370 |
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I was looking forward to this show being a fun, lighthearted sports anime.
I should have stopped at episode 2. |
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Yttrbio
 Posts: 3671 |
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I was probably most bothered by the actual soccer played. "Oh, look, he zoomed past his defender, prompting his big brother to feed him the ball. Which would make him offisdes." Or "Here, let me give you the pass for you to break to... from directly behind you!" Or even "Real soccer players don't miss opportunity after opportunity! Well, except for pros at the highest level of the game."
Also... if you fall asleep at the wheel, can you remain asleep even while you scrape the railing? |
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The Holy American Empire
 Posts: 31 |
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He's only offsides if he is closer to the goal line than the second to last defender AND the ball. If you watch carefully, he doesn't actually meet the requirements for the offside offence. About 8 minutes into the episode there's a good view showing the trajectory of the pass, Kakeru, the defender he's passed and another defender that is still closer to the goal line than Kakeru.
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stinknasty344
Posts: 39 |
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Yea he was never actually offsides, you see him pass the defender with the ball in the air. So basically this is touch but soccer instead?
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Tuor_of_Gondolin
 Posts: 3524 Location: Bellevue, WA |
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stinknasty344,
The offsides rule is probably the most complicated/annoying rule in soccer (IMO, anyway). If he has possession of the ball or if the ball is between him and the goal, then he is not offsides. If he *does not* have the ball and there isn't at least one defender (not including the goalie) between him and the goal, then he is offsides. Oh, and if the ball is on the other half of the field, then he is not offsides no matter where he is. 
I haven't watched the episode, but if a teammate started a pass to Kakeru and Kakaeru was *already* passed the last defender (not including the goalie), then he would be offsides. If Kakeru moved passed the last defender *before* the ball from the pass moved between him and the goal line, then he would again be offsides. So, it's a matter of timing your break so that you fly past the last defender just as the ball moves between you and the goal. And once you have possession of the ball, you're fine to do whatever you want. Of course, defenders know all this, too, and sometimes they try to draw forwards off sides by how they move around. Contrariwise, offensive players have to keep aware of where the defenders are so that that doesn't happen, and passes have to be made so that the teammate can run up on the ball without going offsides. Yeah, that was probably more than you wanted to know, but what the heck.
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Yttrbio
Posts: 3671 |
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So, episode 3...
Forget soccer. I want to know what goes on in the driving schools in this Japan. spoiler[A driver can fall asleep so soundly that scraping the guardrail won't wake him up. Another driver is so inattentive it takes a soccerball to the head to convince him to react to an obstacle on the road. And damn, that was some serious ambulance tailgating.] |
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ArsenicSteel
Posts: 2370 |
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I gave it a chance to see what direction the story would go in after the last episode and I'm even more disappointed.
Area no Kishi is going to be the cliche of the season. @Yttrbio spoiler[The second driver wasn't inattentive. The dog and girl dashed into the street before the driver could react, KakeSuguru made the driver react faster then he would have. ] |
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dirkusbirkus
Posts: 699 Location: Manchester, UK |
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They glossed over spoiler[the death of his brother rather conveniently... After just two months, they're throwing him in the air and laughing upon his return?] Really?
The whole 'spoiler[channeling Suguru'] thing is also a bit... eh. This needs to get back to being a football anime, and fast. |
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calimike
Posts: 113 |
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I’m waiting for this anime for so long… my favorite football anime
[better than whistle! anime... and i wonder if fantasista will have anime..] Last edited by calimike on Mon Jan 23, 2012 8:55 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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calimike
Posts: 113 |
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Megiddo
 Posts: 8360 Location: IL |
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Yeah, that's really not hard to understand. Japan loves Touch, so they wouldn't really want to bother with a modern re-hash.
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Spastic Minnow
Bargain Hunter Exempt from Grammar Rules Posts: 4630 Location: Gainesville, FL |
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ep. 4
Well, I guess spoiler[the transplanted heart affecting his actions] is a decent twist on the tragic loss trope of sports series. I guess no one would let a total rip-off of Touch to continue to be published and made into an anime so there better be something significantly different. As for content of the actual episode, it had some nice weepy moments. It really had some very nice and touching parts. When you have you have your character spoiler[cry his eyes out when he realizes his dead brother really respected him] it's hard not to be touched... yet, on a couple occasions it started getting so "serious" I ended up laughing at it, couldn't help it. And then we have the animation... It's getting worse. Off model, out of proportion body parts, weird looking faces. Hopefully they're at least putting more time on their soccer stuff. I guess the playground scene looked pretty nice, although they're maybe overusing the blurry slow motion thing to get around animating complicated motion. |
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ookamigirl
 Posts: 2274 Location: Croatia |
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Episode 27
Summer fun at the beach! These kid of episodes are always nice ^^ spoiler[Seven and her school swimsuit were kinda LOL Araki... he's just hopeless around food, but Momoka was a good incentive. Beach volleyball/soccer game was fun. Araki vs Oda for Momoka competition was interesting to watch. The painful realization she already had a boyfriend was just ROFL] This sure was a nice and relaxing episode. Episode 28 National finals! spoiler[Kamakura vs Syukyu.] That was some really nice soccer. spoiler[All the famous guys really made the difference in the quality of the game. Even though Kakeru and others were watching from the stands, they were enjoying it. Also, they were better commentators than the actual commentators LOL Araki is just hopeless.... food is his biggest enemy.] Episode 29 spoiler[This time it started with girl's soccer. Mai & Seven play really good. Seems like Mai was not satisfied with her performance though. This time guys were forced to do a really intense training. So basically, to become the best, they have to get much stronger. I wasn't surprised by Araki's behavior though. That guy really needs to stop eating so much! Turns out that Mai is acting pretty selfish. She's not mush of a team player. Her passes at Kakeru really made him loose his cool ^^ Kakeru a U-16 Japanese representative!! Awesome!] Episode 30 spoiler[The short recap was a nice reminder of how it all began. U-16 representative training camp. Kakeru & Araki got invited. Flashback to soccer days with Suguru was interesting to watch. Araki's weight sure was getting attention from other players ^^" Those 15-minute games were pretty intense. Hazing Kakeru was LOL] Episode 31 spoiler[Kakeru in a match against USA.] Just looking at others play was pretty interesting. spoiler[That USA goalkeeper was really good. With all those great players Kakeru really had to go all out to prove himself. The USA guys sure were big when compared to the Japanese team. Getting one over Americans won't be easy as the inter high matches.] Looks like Kakeru realized he needs to get more serious. Episode 32 spoiler[Cultural festival time! Well, that's a first in this anime if I remember correctly.] This was a pretty fun episode. spoiler[Not much soccer in it though. Well, at least we got to see all the different clubs they participated in. Romeo & Juliet play was really ROFL] |
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