I’m not a Sera fan. I’m not big on underdogs. You may think Giant Killing is all about underdogs, but it just has you fooled. The biggest dog in the kennel is Tatsumi himself, and he’s just slumming it. Despite myself I found this moment one of the most intense things I felt all year.
A diving header, to tie the biggest match of the season for their little team. This is the match East Tokyo United can legitimately call themselves Giant Killers, and little Sera scored.
It has something to do with how the show is so good at getting me behind ETU. It really is. Three episodes prior to this one (25) I’ve nearly stopped relating to this show as an anime in the purest sense and I’ve been watching it as if I’m watching my side play its way up the table. When the opponent scores a goal I feel kicked in the stomach. When they scored their first goal back, I broke in a cold sweat.
So when Sera finally evens the score I pumped my fist in the air and let out a whoop so loud it would’ve startled the entire household if they weren’t used to me doing so in odd hours given that both World Cup ties as well as NBA games are broadcast live early in the morning here in the Philippine Islands.
That’s really it, for making me punch the air and scream incoherently in my own home, online… throwing me into internal monologues wherein I struggle to explain how a cartoon can bring me to such an emotional summit. There’s no other anime that aired this year that can claim to move me this way. So Sera, I raise my glass to you. Good header!
I’m only halfway through this series, not that spoilers matter much since it’s all about the experience of watching. This is the show’s strength indeed. A lot of things make me not want to keep watching. The production values are terrible, and every episode features more recap than the last. Games are padded out to take up as much time as possible (they’re probably adapting at a 1-chap=1-episode rate), and the characters aren’t that interesting.
And yet, the show inspires a hot-blooded enthusiasm that keeps me having fun and smiling through all the faults. I’ve got a soft spot in my heart for shows like this one.
Slam Dunk. That’s the show that really brought it home for me. Being about basketball, field goals don’t have the same dramatic importance as in football given how much easier it is to shoot a basket… but still, Slam Dunk is something my bros and I have watched many times over. I have the manga too and I re-read it constantly.
I miss Giant Killing. Don’t know what the chances are of it receiving a second season, but I NEED more ETU, damn it.
I just found out that the VA for Mr. ETU also played Scar in FMA: BRO, and lol the Desert Tiger in Gundam SEED and GSD.
I know how you feel, Sir.
Thanks for being a BRO, bro.
It really was an underrated show this year, but I watched it cause as the World Cup was starting (being the ignorant American that i am) had no knowledge of Football (soccer
) other than the ball goes into the goal. So what better way to learn than by watching anime 
I really wish it was the whole season through the play offs but the pacing makes sense. A coach turn a team around over night unless it was stacked with start that needed motivation.
It was a good bit of timing to release the show while the World Cup got going indeed. I think Slam Dunk did a similar service to Japanese youngsters who were largely ignorant about basketball back then.