However, when the series starts, his team is on the verge of being disbanded. Hidemaru/ Mario dreams of becoming a star player on a top soccer team. International audiences might know the series as Forza! Mario. But there’s no doubt that the series loves soccer as much as its main character does. The show is toony and a bit silly to be certain. This 2002 anime series belongs to a small, but unique genre of funny animal/ furry anime.
If you’re a fan of the cult classic animated TV film Animalympics, or if you like BEASTARS, BNA: Brand New Animal, or Aggretsuko, you might enjoy Forza! Hidemaru.
The series is also on Disney Now and at Amazon. However, not all episodes may be available in your region. It’s sort of a dark and shadowy version of FIFA.Īrait Play, a Spanish anime distribution company, has the English dub version on its YouTube channel. Raimon must now fight against the evil organization which controls soccer. Given the science-fiction and fantasy elements of the original, it’s no surprise that the sequel series Inazuma Eleven GO would take the story in a dystopian direction. In the third season, the game goes international, including angelic and demonic teams. The second season adds Aliea Gakuen, a military academy of ‘alien’ players. Within both the game and the anime, soccer players also have video game-style special techniques to use in matches. But, with the unstoppable enthusiasm of goalkeeper Mamoru Endou, the team manages to return from the brink. Like many anime sports teams, Raimon doesn’t have enough players to keep going at first. The anime focuses on the Raimon Junior High soccer team. The 2008-2011 Inazuma Eleven anime series is based on a video game franchise. Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing depends upon your taste in sports anime. Some have said that it has more in common with the shy protagonist of Yowamushi Pedal than it does with a more serious soccer series such as Captain Tsubasa.
But he tries hard, and with determination, he grows into a stronger player over time.ĭAYS is as much about the slice-of-life school stuff off the field as it is about the typical sports anime soccer action. At first, Tsukushi starts out as a novice player. It features a shy teen who joins his high school soccer team. This 2016 anime series is based on a Tsuyoshi Yasuda manga which ran from 2013 to January 2021. But there are Blu-ray discs and DVDs available. Captain Tsubasa: Road to 2002 (2001-2002)įor such a successful franchise, the anime is surprisingly hard to find online outside of Japan.He even achieves his dream of playing in the World Cup. He eventually leaves Japan for international competition. Soccer-loving Tsubasa leads teams to qualifiers and tournament victories. But the story remains essentially the same. The various timelines are tricky, because the sequels sometimes retell stories from Tsubasa’s childhood. Since then, the original series has been followed by multiple anime movies, OVAs, and sequel remake anime series. It was adapted as a TV anime series in 1983-1986. The Yoichi Takahashi manga series started in 1981. Captain Tsubasa did for soccer anime what Slam Dunk did for basketball, or The Prince of Tennis for, well, tennis.