天下制覇

First show that made me laugh today.

Impressions:

Mappa, I have to ask, how much do you think people sweat? Because that opening sequence was like a torrent of salty disgustingness spraying off literally every single one of them. The sweat was just the tip of the salty iceberg. Our hapless protagonist is stalked by an escapee from a shampoo commercial for… god only knows what reason, and when asked to join his soccer club, stares in glassy eyed shock for five straight seconds. Try that with your friends some time. When they ask you a question, say nothing, and just stare fixedly at them without blinking while slowly mentally counting to five. And then he starts playing a sport that he doesn't even know the basic rules for, but all of a sudden, that is the most important thing ever to him, even though he can't even run without falling over his legs. And then this same guy all of a sudden did his very best by sprinting from one goal to the other in a matter of seconds to give a diving header, which so moved everyone involved that they now can relish the renewed joy of youth and soccer.

This was all just in the first half of the episode too, so goddamn, did it manage a lot of nonsense in a short time. The second half wouldn't be outdone either, as his power of doing his best moved the hearts of all and won him the greatest prize of all, a friend. Granted, better for them to be something terrible rather than the tepid nothingness that's far more common, and I will say that this made me laugh more than any of the comedies I watched this morning, but that's because the characters and direction are so ridiculous. Soooooooooooooooooo ridiculous. The only way it could be cheesier is if it was made of gouda. And since it's anime, I could not at all tell you if it was on purpose or not. What's more, it did so without an endless stream of exposition (well, until the triumph of doing his best at the end), just letting the ridiculously corny characters' actions speak for themselves. It's almost depressing how they could get the little things right while overshooting all the rest by miles.

Next Episode:

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