annahoj
*Hungry Heart: Wild Striker* is not perfect by any means, but it is definitely worthwhile. Being in
the shadow of other anime based on football, such as *Captain Tsubasa, Inazuma Eleven, Giant Killing*
etc it is a shame the anime is not much known, but I hope with my review I will be able to bring this
underappreciated show to light.
It is a rather realistic story about football, though they do have a tendency to jump a bit *too* high
sometimes (see the first image) and their shooting form looks very odd with how far back they swing
their foot. But putting that aside the story itself starts with Kyosuke Kanou, the younger brother of
a famous footballer, finding his way back to the sport, after having constantly been compared to his
brother. I had not encountered a story similar to this before, so I was immediately intrigued and I
could also relate to Kyosuke, having been in the same situation as him. It was not exactly my sibling
but a teammate who shared the same first name as me. It is natural to want to compare people like
that, but the people surrounding them often do not realise how much they are hurting the one being
downgraded.
While watching it I found many similarities with other sports anime such as *Slam Dunk* and
*Haikyuu!!*, but with mostly the former. I will discuss those in length, as I think anyone who enjoyed
*Slam Dunk* would be sure to enjoy *Hungry Heart: Wild Striker* as well. One of those similarities is
Kyosuke himself, who just like Sakuragi is a self-proclaimed *tensai* and a bit stupid, but someone
you will still end up wanting to root for. He is often there to motivate his teammates with his hard
work or to just lighten the mood. There were moments where I had to pause the episode, since I could
not stop laughing. Even his friends remind me of Sakuragi's as they are without fail always there to
support their friend, though being as they are they do not pass an opportunity to laugh at one of
Kyosuke's many failures.
So far I have only mentioned Kyosuke, but there are many other characters who make this anime a joy to
watch. Perhaps the characters who receive the most attention besides Kyosuke are Rodrigo and Sakai,
both of whom underestimate Japanese football at the beginning. There is no need to go into their pasts
or analyse their character, but I can say they both grew on me more and more as the episodes went on.
It is not often that one can even see foreign characters at such a prominent role. Having powerful
personalities like this on a single team makes one only wonder how could they all possibly come
together and work as one.
What I really enjoyed was seeing the interactions within the team. The rivarly between the three I
already talked about, or the Conceited Trio as they are often referred to by their teammates, is
interesting to say the least. Kyosuke and Rodrigo are like the Sakuragi and Rukawa of *Hungry Heart:
Wild Striker* - refusing to pass to one another, competing over who scores most during a game etc. The
one keeping Kyosuke in check, Kamata ("Sergeant Chin"), is much like Akagi ("Gori") from *Slam Dunk*.
And guess who gave them such nicknames? Bingo, it was Kyosuke and Sakuragi respectively. Both main
characters have a tendency to give people nicknames, like Mori ("Glasses-Wearing Monkey"), Esaka
("Osaka") and Yuuya ("Nesthead"), which are some of Kyosuke's more notable ones.
The boys' team also has good connections with the girls' team, which is not something commonly seen in
sports anime. The first time Kyosuke's love for football could be seen is actually when he was
coaching the girls' team by accident. The interactions between both teams feel real, they support and
motivate one another. Though not the primary focus of the show, the girls' team is the one whose
progress impressed me the most in fact. The relationship between Miki, the girls' football team
captain, and Kyosuke is quite amusing. I lost count of how many times people mistook those two for a
couple.
While the rivalries within the team impressed me then unfortunately the ones with other teams, who
they were matched up against in tournaments, disappointed me. Apart from a handful of teams who have
more than one appearance in the show, most teams are just introduced and then never mentioned ever
again. Even the ones who have more appearances in the show do not get any backstory or much screentime
outside of the matches.
Talking about the matches, they are often very weirdly transitioned, with one ending and then the
other already starting. Time seems to be an unknown concept in general. There is no indication given
during the matches of how much time is left, it is always sudden when the final whistle can be heard.
For its 52 episodes it sure fits a lot into the story, so while it was fast-paced at times it did not
bother me much. There is not a single boring moment in the anime. I for one have not seen that big of
a variety in shots in any other football anime as here and no, I am not only talking about the epic
goals but the creative and often spontaneous ones - *or are they?* - that are entertaining to say the
least.
What is also a shame is that there is not much explanation provided for the sport, some basic
knowledge about football is required to understand the matches. Though the translators have tried to
add notes for the harder terminology.
The art style is nice, really has that 2000's look to it, but overall the visuals are its weak point
for me. As can be seen from the above image, even though it is raining quite hard the boys' clothes
look dry, there is no hint of their shoulders even being remotely wet from the rain. Little details
like that brought down my enjoyment, though that is just scratching the surface. The anime suffers
greatly from the same face syndrome, apart from the main characters there are only a few that I can
actually distinguish from the rest, but only due to their hair colour or style. The animation is
nothing to write home about either, not to say that it is bad *per se*. It is just obvious that they
had to make cuts *somewhere*. In a sense it is even commendable with how few frames they can animate
some scenes or the amount of times a single scene can be reused.
The music cycles through the same three-four tracks during the matches, kind of like the recycled
scenes, *but* I really like it overall. They create the right atmosphere for the scenes. Moreover, the
openings and endings are really nice, I would listen to them more often if they were actually
available anywhere.
Remember when I mentioned it had similarities with *Haikyuu!!* ? Well here is one of them, picturing
Esaka and Tanaka respectively.
All in all, *Hungry Heart: Wild Striker* is an anime that has gone unnoticed by many. While it does
have its flaws with the visuals, the experience itself kept me at the edge of my seat for the duration
of 52 episodes, by the end of which I even craved for more. I recommend anyone with even the slightest
interest to give this anime a chance, since it certainly scored in my book.
