Ratings:
Genre(s): School Life, Sports, Shounen
Year: 2002
Series Length: 39
Whistle!! Is an anime about soccer. Now before you look at me funny it's actually quite good! No really!
*Laughs* Actually it's probably not for everyone, but if your a fan of shonen sports series, consider it a must watch, with the way it takes on the themes of determinition and friendship!
This is a series that revolves around Sho and his dream of playing soccer. He started off at a school with a very good soccer team; determined to work hard as a first year, so that he could play in his second and third. Only... he heard some of his older teammates talking about him behind his back; saying that because of his short hieght he would never be allowed to play.
Rather than giving up; Sho decides to transfer to a different school, where he can improve and take on and fight against his old school - and show them exactly how good shorter players can be!
I really love this series; when I started watching I wasn't really expecting too much from this series - I wasn't a sports genre fan at the time, and I don't care for real world sports that often - but it grew on me so quick - it is a ton of fun to watch and the characters are so much love.
I liked how you don't always know who's going to win; I adored liked most of the characters who progress and grow throughout the series; I liked how things that I thought were inconsistent at the beginning, actually proved to be plot points and I liked how it covered issues such as jealousy and frustration - what happens if one team mate really is a better player than the others? Yet also stressed the importance of teamwork - it doesn't matter if one player is faster, if they can't work with the others - you'll still lose the game. .......and did I mention I had fun watching?
There are some episodes where it feels a little stretched out but over all the pacing was quite good. Most of the character designs are comparitively plain - which emphasises how these are ordinary people and makes them more identifable characters. Most can be kind of cute though, especially as their determination comes across the screen and moves the viewer. You will find as you get into the series, that there will be ZOMG cliff hanger! Hit next, hit next! moments - but it's all in good fun!
I love watching the team grow and develop, and a lot of the characters just make me laugh out loud. Some deliberately so like Shinge, our rebellious flippant character who is utterly hilarious. Some not so deliberate, like Fuwa, who's quite confused by this soccer business and how it can get Sho to smile like that - in a manga omake he thinks he might need to perform a disection to discover the reason. The girls tend to be more to the backdrop, since this focuses on a boys team... I kind of wish that Yuki got a bigger role, or we could see more of her actions, but I really quite enjoy seeing her moments, when she totally rocked on the field!
Being a sports series, it's not for everyone, but don't let the sports put you off - it's quite easy to enjoy even if you know nothing about soccer, due to the fantastic characterisation and story development.
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