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「小さな魔女」 (Chiisana Majo)
“Little Witch”
I had pretty well convinced myself that Area no Kishi wasn’t going to have the depth I thought it would going in, but there were signs this week that I may have given up too soon.
I promised myself that I wasn’t going to keep obsessing on the unrealistic side of Nana’s story, so I’m going to try and avoid doing so even though the fact that a 15 year-old could slip unnoticed into the Nadeshiko and be their best player still rings false for me. I’ll just say that for me the soccer was the weakest part of this episode for a couple of reasons. One important one is that I don’t especially care for the impression most of the game action in this series (so far) leaves, which is that soccer is basically an individual sport. Really, one could almost have guessed that the match between Nadeshiko and Hamburg was a one-on-one battle between Nana and German ace Mina Meier. Well, football isn’t really like that – it’s the consummate team sport, where most attacks are the result of patient buildup or precision passing on a quick counterattack, and even the game’s superstars rarely make extended dribbling runs to score unassisted goals. It’s harder to portray the true nature of the game, as the sort of wizardry (I guess I should say witchcraft) we saw from Nana and Mina is flashier and easier to grasp – but it can be done, and I encourage anyone out there to watch (or read) Giant Killing as proof of that. I’ll be interested to see if next season’s manga adaptation Ginga e Kickoff (about a middle-school boy inspired in the sport by a women’s professional footballer) tries to display the team aspect a little more prominently.
That aside, though, there were several elements in this episode that both entertained and gave hope for the future of the series. It’s clear now that the anime (and presumably the manga) isn’t glossing over the difference in skill between Nana and Kakeru, and all the boys whose uniforms she washes. Nana is clearly of a different order of magnitude talent-wise, and that’s a fascinating thing in a shounen series. It’ll be interesting to see how Kakeru deals with this fact, and indeed how the series treats the incongruity of a world-class female player acting as a manager for a team of high-school males. This is obviously a hard thing for Kakeru to swallow, not so much because of the gender issue but because Nana’s success is a reminder not just of how much better she is than he, but how much better his brother was too. Trying on Suguru’s uniform in front of the mirror is a watershed moment for Kakeru, and his reaction reveals that he’s both realistic about the gap that exists and willing to work to close it. Kakeru’s good, but he’s not a genius – and I like that as a story element.
Hand in hand with this of course is the relationship between Kakeru and Nana, which continues to be a strength of the series for me. We’re not talking about Adachi-like levels of subtlety, but there’s some substance to their friendship – it’s obvious that they have a lot in common but that’s only the start of their bond. I think their growing closeness and the very gradual intrusion of physical attraction into the relationship is portrayed quite well here. Right now Seven sees herself as supporting Kakeru, but I can easily see their roles shifting to some extent as the story progresses. I think Kakeru is seeing that as well, and even more, I think he’s finding the idea of supporting her quite an attractive proposition.
I’m still not sure whether the obsession with Nana’s beauty is insulting or intended as social commentary – this is a very real issue for female athletes everywhere. Either way, it’s really nice to see women’s football get some serious attention in an anime (although I think Nana overstates the popularity of the game in America) and I’m relieved to see it’s going to continue to be a major focus, as the way it was largely ignored for a while had me faked out. I’m also pleased to see the issue of the culture clash between SC and FC isn’t going to be glossed over, and that the very real tensions this forced marriage would cause are going to be explored in more depth. The Enoshima team has some real structural issues – two pools of players trained in completely different philosophies of the game, and far too many players for one high school team. I don’t know if the second schism hinted at in the preview is going to happen, but at the very least those difficulties are going to be confronted in the story, and that’s a positive development as well.
It’s that time again – the 2012 Spring Season Preview and Poll is posted at LiA. Please stop by and check out my view on the upcoming season and share what you’re looking forward to.
Preview
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Little Witch FTW!..
needs more kakeruxseven action
I agree with your analysis of Soccer as solo game in this episode, but they actually did show off the importance of teamwork in the FC/SC match. Sadly that was the one episode of AnK in which gameplay came across as well thought out. Aside from the explanation of Nana’s signature move, I didn’t think the game was particularly interesting; it even copped out by narrating that it was a great game, instead of showing it happen.
On Soccer’s acceptance in America, I think Nana’s remarks make more sense when you consider that she is talking about female Soccer. Soccer is a very big deal amongst young women, it has close to no acceptance amongst males. So if she is talking about the view of Soccer amongst young women in America, her comment makes some sense.
I got the sense that she was talking about pro soccer, not youth soccer – which is indeed popular here, even among boys. She specifically mentioned the women’s pro league as proof, but that league doesn’t get much media coverage. I will say that on the national level, the sport does get some attention – largely because the women’s team is so much more successful than the US Men’s team.
Well, you cant deny that Nippons Female Footballer won the WM, that give Boost to this kind of Animes…
And yes. they won trough Team play. Even if they have a Charisma Taijo 🙂
Except the best soccer female player in the world(as of 2010) is in Brazil, so she has no choice but to go around the world xD
Um, in 2011, Japan won in Women’s World Cup and Homare Sawa (from Japan) won both the Golden Ball and Golden Shoe award. And in 2010 Japan got second in the U-17 Cup, so yeah, female soccer in Japan is pretty badass right now.
I never said it wasn’t, but oh well…lol
The series was started in 2006, so Japan was not as good as it is now in Female Soccer.
Show Spoiler ▼
I would be all for a Seven spin-off series!
Wow, I just realised that the author of this series is the same person as the one that write Kindaichi and Tantei Q.
I can sort of see why the series portrays soccer as a more individual sport (not that it actually is). For the high school matches, there’s likely to be large disparity in skill levels between players and even more so for determination/amount of practice(whereas at higher levels most players are achieving pretty close to what physical limitations would allow). The fields are also going to be smaller for high school matches allowing for more showmanship -> goals than would be possible in higher level matches. The nana vs mina matchup is kinda bull though. Felt like they didn’t even have any teammates.
This was much better than the last episode. I have to agree with you though that the football match itself was portrait more like a duel than the teamsport it really is.
Sadly it seems they are glossing over and simplifying much of the female football side and matches, since the focus is clearly on Kakeru and his male team and their rise to success.
I totally agree! This anime is, in essence, flawed in the story line and concept. I am a hardcore football fan, play it professionally for college. You just can’t convince any real football player with those unrealistic dribbling and shots which one needs great concentration and luck to execute in a real game. You just can’t make the main character flashy without forgoing rationality.