Your childhood heroes said NO. Now Japan's doomed. Soccer melodrama maxed out.
Trapped in a losing streak against Holland, Team Japan is at its lowest point, with Hyuga injured and desperate for a win. Management tries to convince the abroad Wakabayashi and Tsubasa to come to Holland and take the team on, but what will become of our beloved players when both of the most powerful former members decline to return?
Direction
Kogawa crams a full tournament arc into 47 chaotic minutes.
Writing
Absurdly compressed drama—every scene screams 'THIS IS IMPORTANT'.
Acting
Hiyama's Hyuga screams hit different when he's injured AND desperate.
Director
Yoriyasu Kogawa
Akari Hibino
Tsubasa Oozora (voice)
Nobuyuki Hiyama
Kojirou Hyuuga (voice)
Yuko Kobayashi
Tarou Misaki (voice)
Chie Sato
Ryou Ishizaki (voice)
Daiki Nakamura
Ken Wakashimazu (voice)
Fujiko Takimoto
Sanae Nakazawa (voice)
Yasunori Matsumoto
Hiroshi Jitou (voice)
Masami Kikuchi
Hikaru Matsuyama / Brian Kluifort (voice)
Megumi Ogata
Jun Misugi (voice)
Hiro Yuuki
Shun Nitta / Gerd Kaiser (voice)
Tetsuya Iwanaga
Takeshi Sawada / Johan Rensenbrink (voice)
Kousuke Okano
Makoto Souda (voice)
Ai Orikasa
Kazuo Tachibana (voice)
Yoshiko Kamei
Masao Tachibana (voice)
Shin-ichiro Miki
Genzou Wakabayashi (voice)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Holland represented peak European football dominance to 90s Japanese audiences—this was anime's version of facing your giants.
This OVA compresses a massive manga arc that ran for MONTHS. Every character gets approximately 2.5 minutes of angst before kickoff.
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7.51985
7.71985
7.51986
7.41986
1994
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