Area no Kishi - Episode 12

Stop looking at your jersey and watch the sunset, Kakeru!

After a season's worth of episodes, I'm starting to feel that Area no Kishi will continue to drag on for a while. Each episode is more or less the same; it's either a match or characters talking to each other. There isn't anything that's unexpected. While the target of the soccer club is most likely to win at the national level, everything in between is more or less predictable. There'll be ups and downs, wins and losses, drama and heartbreak. Keeping this up for around 50ish episodes will definitely result in the loss of fans, especially those who aren't into soccer in the first place. This repetitiveness is starting to get to me too, as it's hard to think of something interesting and unique to blog about since all the episodes are similar to each other. While I am enjoying the anime, I am thinking of dropping it on the blog. But until I do make a decision, please note that the reviews may get shorter and shorter.

As for this episode, what happened throughout was almost exactly how I pictured it before watching it. Everything from Iwaki being tougher than he seems to the members of the former SC rejoining the soccer club was very predictable. Even the ending where the bench players were being picked provided no tension. The attempt at making Kakeru seem like he was going to be left out did not work at all. I mean, seriously, as the main character, there's like a 99.99% chance that he's going to be picked. Showing him clutching at his heart and anxiously thinking about his brother didn't make it any better for me as I dislike how the whole heart incident is overplayed. Despite this, at least the match was enjoyable.

The next episode doesn't seem to be any different than this one, judging by the preview. There'll be another match in which the soccer club will try to prove themselves. My prediction for the outcome of the match is that they'll win, but only by a goal late in the game. As a side note, the lack of Nana in the episode was disappointing.