(CR) Giant Killing (TV)

[Falkor]

NeoSam announced this adaptation a while ago...

Summary

Originally Posted by M-U

In Giants Killing a ragtag bunch from East Tokyo are struggling in Japan's top football league. The team is going through an abysmal spell right now where they are nearing the bottom of the table and have lost 5 matches in a row. The loses haven't done much to team moral, because it was already low. Fan support, on the other hand, is looking bleak. In the world of football, once the fans turn on a team the end is near. Teams don't recover. Coaches are fired, players are sold, and teams drop to smaller divisions where profits often prevent them from ever being successful against even mediocre top division programs. East Tokyo United, ETU, can only blame their coach right now. And Coach is ready to give up this next game to prove to his team and fans, that against the biggest club in the nation he can make this team win.

Covers

Spoiler for space:

[Fevvers]

I'm liking the manga so far. Though not as conventionally aesthetically pleasing, there's a rough, charming and quirky feel to the artwork. But seeing the promo artwork of the anime and Studio Deen leading, uh, way to go anime creators for making it so run-of-the-mill.

[Kagura89]

Originally Posted by Fevvers

I'm liking the manga so far. Though not as conventionally aesthetically pleasing, there's a rough, charming and quirky feel to the artwork. But seeing the promo artwork of the anime and Studio Deen leading, uh, way to go anime creators for making it so run-of-the-mill.

Eh,that artwork are fanart,not the actual one. They tend to put fanart of any anime news that came across. Reading the first two chapter of the manga,I find it interesting especially the new manager strategy for winning the game.

[Fevvers]

Originally Posted by Kagura89

Eh,that artwork are fanart,not the actual one. They tend to put fanart of any anime news that came across. Reading the first two chapter of the manga,I find it interesting especially the new manager strategy for winning the game.

Hmm, really? Still, Studio Deen doesn't elicit much relief in me eitherway.

[Kaoru Chujo]

The manga is in the top ten in sales and seems excellent to me, through the first three chapters (it's on Mangafox). The cast is good: Seki Tomokazu, Okiayu Ryoutarou, Mizushima Takahiro (Rollo in Code Geass), Ono Daisuke, Asano Masami. The writer of Higurashi and Umineko is doing the adaptation. The director is Kou Yuu, who did Loveless (not sure about him).

Studio Deen is uneven, but it can do good shows as well as bad. Maybe this is going to be a good show. If they can capture the spirit of the manga it will work. And Seki Tomokazu seems perfect for the lead role.

Anyway, this is the first Association Football (i.e., soccer) anime I've seen, so I'm interested. As Kagura89 said, the strategy "East Ham" used to play "Portsmouth" in an early chapter was interesting and made some sense.

[Falkor]

I've been reading the manga. I like football and the strategies that are involved in the game. I used to play Pro Evolution Soccer (or Winning Eleven) a lot when I was younger, so the interest kinda remained in me, plus one of my hobbies besides anime is football.

so what I liked about the manga is probably the essence of sports, not just football; and it is to see one of these so-called giants getting defeated. to fight against the odds; to be in a so-called small team with no chances of winning---and yet being able to pull off a miracle that can awe fans and naysayers alike. I think this is what the manga is about, what Giant Killing is about. the strategy and the psychological aspect of it add a lot of charm to the premise. as some people have already said: it's not about the players; it's about the manager and how he handles the team.

I'm neutral optimistic about DEEN. I don't think they are going to do an awful job at it; but I'm not really expecting to see anything grandiose, either.

wonder if the adaptation has something to do with the football world cup that is coming very shortly. by the way, I think there are two volumes so far scanlated. wonder if should create a separate thread for the manga...

[TJR]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

The director is Kou Yuu, who did Loveless (not sure about him).

He's a veteran storyboarder and OP/ED/episode director (since the mid-80s, it seems. His resume is immense). The name stuck out to me because of his long-time association with high profile creators like Junichi Sato and early-2000s Gonzo.

Unfortunately, Yuu Kou's directorial works have been nothing to write home about.

[kanon78]

The scanlated chapters 8-17 of Giant Killing are out today.

[fertygo]

I'm really hope can have chance to say "Jose Mourinho WHO !!!???" if following this series

[Sety]

Hoping to see something come of this series as the manga has caught my attention, I'm a sucker for a good football series. Though I can't say beating Portsmouth is exactly huge considering they just got 5-0 owned by Arsenal other day. XD

[TheFluff]

this is like one of the top ten best selling mangas in japan right now, and they gave it to studio deen and the higurashi/umineko script writer

there will be so much raging on 2chan

[epl]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnKvIIXGgnI

PV for Giant Killing animated by the awful studio in Studio Deen.

Also, rumor has it that there are conflicts between the animation staff and the mangaka

[bateszi]

I've also read mention of these rumors of conflict between DEEN and the Giant Killing mangaka, but is there any source? I've had a quick look over at ANN and couldn't see anything.

I just hope this turns out okay, I'm a huge football fan and am really looking forward to seeing how Giant Killing transfers to anime, and even though the trailer looks less than impressive, I'm still hoping it'll be alright.

[-Sho-]

Another football manga huh .

[Kaoru Chujo]

Ep1. I enjoyed it, but I can see criticism coming. Flat character design, not much money spent on animation. But I found myself getting used to the look pretty easily. And the story and characters worked for me.

But quite the reshuffling of the first part of the manga. Thinking about the changes they made, I can see why they did it the way they did. But I can also imagine the mangaka being upset. Not that there's much missing -- although I wish one thing was there.

Spoiler for ep1:

We don't get any real detail of how East Ham played Portsmouth, which I found fascinating. But it would have taken up too much of the first episode, so they let it go.

Anyway, I'll certainly be back next week.

By the way, what other football mangas are there? I haven't seen one, but I don't look for them, either.

[Kagura89]

Just watch it & I quite enjoyed watch it despite with the lack of animation department.I wish this show have lot's of budget because this series has potential to be awesome.Though some certain part that interesting was missing.

Spoiler:

how he handle West Ham against Portsmouth & the conversation between GM with Tatsumi at England is cut out

But i will keep watching this for sure.
It's interesting that this anime is shown near the FIFA World Cup 2010 championship that will kick-off within 60 days

[Terrestrial Dream]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

Ep1. I enjoyed it, but I can see criticism coming. Flat character design, not much money spent on animation. But I found myself getting used to the look pretty easily. And the story and characters worked for me.

But quite the reshuffling of the first part of the manga. Thinking about the changes they made, I can see why they did it the way they did. But I can also imagine the mangaka being upset. Not that there's much missing -- although I wish one thing was there.

Spoiler for ep1:

We don't get any real detail of how East Ham played Portsmouth, which I found fascinating. But it would have taken up too much of the first episode, so they let it go.

Anyway, I'll certainly be back next week.

By the way, what other football mangas are there? I haven't seen one, but I don't look for them, either.

Whistle was pretty good and there is also The Knight in The Area which isn't too bad as well. Then there is Captain Tsubasa, which I despises it for multiple reasons.

The some aspect that was missing from the manga was bit disappointing but I actually think that skipping that part and having Tatsumi coming to Japan right away was better as the main story could begin right away. They always show some of the scenes in England through few flashbacks in next episodes which I kinda doubt it but one never knows.
It might be wishing too much for the manga but I want ETU to play in Asia CL and then go to Club World Cup. You can't get more giant killing than beating the biggest European club.

[ZODDGUTS]

Guess Deen decided to spend most of their budget on Hakuouki rather than on this series.

[Saturn Beaver]

Argh, the one anime I was most looking for this season, and I was left disappointed. I can (grudgingly) understand the bad character design and animation due to budget constraints, (I'm biased, but I really prefer this show to get more budget than Hakuoki) but I can't understand why they'd want to cut the prologue. Maybe they do it this way to fit it under 24 minutes, but I still think that if properly animated, they can fit in the whole prologue for one episode and IMO it will serve as a nice introduction to the series. This way, it will make non-soccer fan or those who haven't read the manga to think of Tatsumi as nothing more than an irresponsible cocky jerk who betrayed the team, as they really glossed over his accomplishment.

For example, when Goto said "I pleaded for him to come back" that's a major understatement, as it's really hard to get Tatsumi back and it shows just how much his previous team and the town values him. Also, just a passing mention by Yuri in how they got back from 0-2 to leading back 3-2 failed to portray how epic it really is - sure, Portsmouth may not be that good (especially now) in the Premier League, but it's still way stronger than the 3rd division non-professional team, and the match really shows how awesome Tatsumi's tactical prowess really is.

Perhaps they did this to make the audience shares the opinion of the ETU fans in not knowing what's seems so special about Takumi? If so, that is...pretty dumb, as unlike the ETU fans who have to accept Takumi whether they like it or not, viewers can just choose NOT to watch this anymore.

Tl;dr: for those of you disappointed by Tatsumi's character, I greatly recommends you to read the first prologue chapter of the manga, it shows him in a much better light.

Well, if there's a good thing about the adaptation, I think Tomokazu Seki voiced Tatsumi quite well, and the English pronunciation by the old man is surprisingly good (don't know if the accent fits though). Also, it will encourage more scanlation of the manga, which is amazing. Despite how much I feel the adaptation should have been much better, I'm still going to follow this show, being too much of a fan of the original manga and soccer in general.

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

By the way, what other football mangas are there? I haven't seen one, but I don't look for them, either.

Aside from Whistle and Area no Kishi already mentioned, there's another soccer anime that's pretty good called Hungry Heart - Wild Striker. It's made by the same guy who did Captain Tsubasa, yet watching the anime I can't believe that it's really made by the same guy as it's really different (and IMO much better) than Captain Tsubasa. Also, most of this are not fully scanlated, but other soccer manga I greatly enjoyed (it's fully translated in my home country) are Fantasista, Shoot! (and its prequel Shoot! In Memory and its sequels Shoot! Hot Challenge and Shoot! Legend of a New Age), and also Our Field of Dreams.

[fertygo]

as the man who don't read the manga yet, i'm really enjoying this one...
I'm not disappointed with not much information how good Tatsumi in the starting episode, because he keeps reminds me about the certain rookie manager who leads his team get 6 title on the first year and his natural enemy, eccentric portugal manager

will keep follow the anime now, and pick the manga later.