Anime ATM 76 Keppeki Danshi! Aoyama-kun

I find that a good portion of my life is spent saying no to people. I say no when they want to go out because of my social anxiety, I say no when they want to play sports because I'm afraid of looking like a fool, I say no when they recommend me anime because I know I shouldn't watch more or it doesn't sound all that appealing to me, but then I end up, for one reason or another, watching it. It's a vicious cycle that I'm trying to ease out of. I'm trying to say yes to more things. I'm trying not to get too in my head about whether people view me a certain way. It's definitely a process. There's some days when I wake up and I'm like wow I'm a terrible person with no good points, but honestly I'm so blessed to even have these thoughts. I'm blessed that I have the time to think about myself, to think about something beyond my survival. I'm so extremely blessed and to think less of that is ridiculous. 

On another note, one thing I'm particularly blessed for is the conversations I've been able to have in college. Because everyone has so much to say. Everyone has such an interesting story and so many layers to them and are so introspective and open to share parts of their souls or their opinions and to justify them that it makes me really appreciate the higher education system which wants you to be a little bit more introspective. But more than that, it's the people that have come into my life and opened up a line of communication, those are the people that make me feel truly honored to have such friends. It's interesting how we can have a lot of different views on certain things, but at the same time they're all so open to hearing opinions and justifications of the other side. I think there's something really beautiful about that.

LOL wow maybe I should just start a lifestyle/introspection blog instead. JK you came here for the animu and the animu I shall review~

{Spoilers}

Originally I put this on my to-watch list because I saw the clip of Umeya quitting judo to pursue his interest in Gotou. It wasn't that big of a deal, but I guess in my mind I thought it would be more of a rom-com? And there definitely are some scenes that could be considered rom-com or at least a parody of it, but for the most part it's just comedy. It's this great sports anime that doesn't take itself too seriously. It's got a variety of people and I love how it doesn't focus just on Aoyama. In fact, if anything, Aoyama is the reason why you start the show, and then as you see all the different episodes featuring different people and the comedic bits they throw in you start to further understand why it's a great anime and why you should keep watching.

Just to further elaborate on my favorite aspect of this anime, or most anime I guess, characters, I really like how ridiculous they all are. They're all super unexpected and a bit bizarre, but if they didn't have such eccentric characters it wouldn't be the same. To start off with the guy who's name is in the title, Aoyama is a complete germophobe. In all the scenes you see him constantly cleaning everything until it's sparkling. He hates people touching him and he hates getting dirty, two things that are inevitable when you play any sport. 

However, in his heart of hearts he can't give up soccer. 

And it's really sweet. Because he's famous for the last five minutes of the game when he loses all inhibition and sacrifices his cleanliness for his desire to win. And while this explanation seems like he's completely self-absorbed, or not as connected to his teammates, what he lacks in physical connection to his team he makes up in his perceptiveness. He can see when his team is feeling down and does whatever he can to increase the morale of his team. In that way it makes him that much more of a complex and admirable character that doesn't leave his team behind in order to win. Maybe it's because of the team aspect of soccer, but Aoyama is an empathetic boy that just happens to show that he cares in a different way. It's also revealed in episode 7 that Aoyama does want to touch people and live a normal life, but he just can't because of his germophobic tendencies. This gave his character so much depth and honestly made me a little bit too sad. Like he wants so much to live a normal life, but he just can't because the world is too dirty. But having a germophobe character is still pretty funny, not to make light of people that do live like that, I'm sure it's a super high stress mindset of everything being unclean and it'd probably distract you from living a "normal" life, but some of the aspects of his character are so ridiculous. Like the reason he came to Fujimi High School was because of the white uniforms and the toilets.

Speaking of ridiculous characters, actually that's not even a good segue because they're literally all ridiculous, is Zaizen. He's our resident rich, spoiled boy. Going off of the OP it seemed like there'd be this really deeply rooted rivalry between Zaizen and Aoyama, but surprisingly there wasn't. Sure there were times when Zaizen would criticize Aoyama for being a useless germophobe, but Aoyama was also the reason they had a chance to progress farther in the soccer competition than ever before. Zaizen is actually a pretty big softie. He gave up the number 10 jersey to Aoyama which I'm sure took a great deal of selflessness, plus the fact that he's also a little bit of a tsundere also makes things a bit more interesting. 

Another funny thing about Zaizen is his family. His dad literally sees money as no object, like he would've paid the soccer coach, who by the way is such a closet soccer anime otaku and doesn't get enough screen time, just to put his son on the starting eleven. And the whole training camp episode was completely and utterly ridiculous, but also tons of fun because of Zaizen and his extra af family. I also really appreciated the small detail of Zaizen always slipping up when referring to his dad. Like he would always start off saying Papa and then revert to old man, which is both funny that he had to put up a cool facade in front of his teammates, but also ridiculous.

Probably the most ridiculous part of Zaizen's character is his mom. Like the way he described her made her seem like she was dead, but actually she was doing charity work for 5 years. Like who is this woman?

Yet another ridiculous character was Umeya. This dude trained his whole life to become a judo champion. And then overnight decides that he wants to be a part of the soccer club over a girl. Who is this man?

And it's so sweet because he understands that Gotou can't love him right now because her heart belongs to Aoyama and instead of being bitter about it and trying to sabotage her love for Aoyama, instead he becomes her wingman. His ultimate goal is to wait it out and for her to eventually fall in love with him which I can see happening, albeit it is a bit of a long-term goal, but it's still pretty sweet. Or maybe I just like the idea of unwavering love. In any case it was a pretty romantic episode.

A particularly large part of the show was actually taken up by the infamous three stooges of the soccer club. They had a surprising amount of screen time, maybe because the creators realized how important goofy characters were in transforming this from a regular sports anime to a comedic sports anime. For example Tsukamoto and his butt keepie uppie seemed like a running gag joke, but it actually got really deep in the episode where he faced the school his middle school bully attended. He was brought back to his childhood trauma and faced this mental block. This could've been the end of Tsukamoto, but Aoyama saw this and used it as a chance to increase his morale. It's times like these that are really important in team sports anime, that raise the feeling of camaraderie and support among the characters. But beyond that they were honestly the most relatable of all the characters. They remind me of me and my friends. Especially the last picture. That's us dissociating.

I saved my absolute favorite to last. I love Gotou Moka. First of all I don't think I've watched another anime where there's a girl named Moka. The name is so cute. I really like how she's kind of creepy, but in an endearing way. Like she got all these tools to unlock the soccer club's clubroom just to clean it and help out Aoyama. The way she works so hard for Aoyama and just wants him to do well is super cute and you can't help but root for her too. But I think my favorite part about her is how she looks super cute and when you see her around Aoyama she's a little shimmering star and then when people threaten Aoyama or do stupid stuff she pulls out the bat with nails, flowers and kittens on it. Like it's actually the best thing. I love how her character has the quality of duality. Like she makes these cute little stuffed animals and is a super kindhearted person, but she's also not a pushover. She knows what she believes in and she's just the best.

Something that made the show extra comedic and easier to take lightly was how often and easily the characters would transition from regular to chibi. It's hard to take them seriously when they look so cute and pudgy. That was pretty random, but I also think it was a good decision to make stylistically to convey the fun, lighthearted feeling that this series exudes. 

If you haven't figured out by now, this show is driven by characters. There is somewhat of an underlying plot of them wanting to get past the preliminaries and maybe even to nationals, but that's kind of lost in everything else. There's definitely a diverse cast and you won't get bored of seeing them do dumb stuff. I could go deeper into each of the characters, but honestly I think you'd benefit more from just watching it. Even if you don't really like sports anime or you think that sometimes the gay ships are too much for you, I think this one has enough slice of life and comedy to change your mind a little bit about sports anime. Not to say that this is like your usual sports anime because it most definitely isn't, but it's still a nice way to dip your toes in the water. Overall it was a great season of a new twist on a sports anime that I enjoyed. The art was spectacular and the OP was super artsy and had a great mood and feeling to it. The ED is a bit more of an acquired taste wit the vintage kind of art style. I know I missed a lot like the mangaka or the fellow clean freak, but I never said I was comprehensive. Teehee~

Some more side characters with interesting quirks lol

I love how they felt the need to add these disclaimers. Like I'm definitely gonna ride my bike like these people now because I saw it in a show

There are so many ridiculous things going on here. Like the three stooges spying on them. Or Umeya making the victory symbol as if Aoyama wouldn't see it. Or the judo captain with some cloth to blend into the wall?

Aoyama is a man of few words which is pretty funny. Like it makes you appreciate when he speaks a lot more. But my friend and I were also talking about whether or not we thought that the voice actor was particularly suited to him and couldn't really come up with a consensus. What are your thoughts? Peep that love triangle though!

And I'll leave you with this sequence because it's perfection. I'm obsessed with the cool tones they used for this show overall. Beautiful aesthetic oml