Reviews for Futsal Boys!!!!!

I started this anime with no prior knowledge about it and immediately felt like I was watching Haikyuu. Because you basically are. Except the character building is terrible, the art is all bland "Hey, look! Everyone has different hair colors, and a few people will have pierced ears! COOL PIERCED EARS!!!" But none of the characters have much depth to how they are drawn, and the animation is really choppy during action scenes. I don't have much to complain about regarding the sound effects because its..well sports sounds. It seemed to do this well. It's just a shame they couldn't try to actually build anoriginal story or make me attached to any characters by episode 3. If it gets better I'll change my mind, but I dont have much hopes for that.

I'd never think to state that in this Winter season, Sunday is the day where conspicuously bad anime all converge to meet up together, save for the BL-centric Sasaki to Miyano that's the actual opposite of being a masterpiece work when compared to the others on the day's schedule: the laughable fully-3DCG made that is Sabiiro no Armor, the dumbfounding waste of a potentially good adaptation that is Baraou no Souretsu, and now Futsal Boys!!!!!, and yes that's with 5 exclamation marks. Who's doing this horrendous title to think that this would sell to fans in Japan? Bandai Namco, that's who. Mixed-media adaptations are equally asbad as game adaptations, though getting into the lore of the franchise is better as a benefit from more sources like movies or mobages. But the first notation is that if the anime is outright bad, then don't bother selling potential fans to your franchise, and this is what Futsal Boys!!!!! did in its total "throw your brain out of the window" whack.

Being the first Futsal-related anime, this is easily 100 times worse than "Puraore! Pride of Orange" for exchanging the CGDCT with the CBDHT (Cute Boys Doing Handsome Things). And both series were pioneers in recognizing the sport in anime form, which baffles my mind to think that it could've been at least decent, but the final product was just an exercise in frustration.

I'm not even gonna try to review this one in much detail, because this anime obfuscated and insulted my intelligence too much. And since I've already been spoiled by Sabiiro no Armor quite a fair bit, here's yet another lightning round for you:

- Story is unoriginal. Comprised by series composer Shouji Yonemura (who's also currently doing the the same staff role for the Shaman King reboot), this "story" if you can call it that, is just the copy-paste of many successful sports shows done before, just made sheepishly bad for all the wrong reasons.

- Characters, all very unlikeable (except for the side characters). And to think that the main Koyo School team of boys are just so mind-numbingly muted both in tone and narrative, I guess this should come as no surprise. Also, who does a story that "I cannot kick a ball to you because of my trauma, just because I don't trust you, and my capable leg is suffering from some blatant stupid excuse of a "disease"" for the entirely of the show? That's one of the lamest excuses of a garbage character development story. Also, why give your shots "superpower"-like names? Because it's not funny nor inspiring at all, dunces.

- Diomedea's animation is decent, though it's done absurdly poor with consistent repeat frames, that just nice, fits with the overall tone of the garbage show! Great.

- Songs aren't good at all, they sound like character-motivated songs that just inspire about the best of the worst as they could. And even for STEREO DIVE FOUNDATION's standard when it comes to songs, I guess I can say that I like the ED a fair bit, but not too much.

The only one good thing that they did was to get the futsal positions (such as Pivot, Fixo, Ala and Goleiro) right, but that's about the only praise that this one gets. What remains is just lazy, boring and uninspired storytelling, and characters that I would desperately pray tell for the side characters to be MCs, just because they have more personality than the MC team. Ugh.

Hey Bandai Namco, if you're listening, please just forget about fixing the mobage game due to quality concerns and dump it into the trashbin, because the anime is about the best representation as it could get for your new IP franchise. And even for PR marketing, this anime is just plain bad, and so should your mobage be that way as well. I'm not cursing your game, it's just that it's so effing bad that I wanna switch off minutes into this dumpster fire of an anime.

For everyone else, just steer clear of this show. This message is plain and simple, and so should your understanding be.

This show sucks. Oh my god, it sucks so bad. It’s unfortunate, really, considering it had a few promising elements sprinkled here and there throughout the show, but overall, it just ended up being a huge mess that left me feeling completely empty inside. I’ve been waiting for this to come out since 2019, so it’s a real disappointment. DISCLAIMER: Unlike many other reviews, I am not going to mention Haikyuu at all after this paragraph, because I think that making these excessive comparisons renders your review useless to those who haven’t watched Haikyuu. However, I do feel the need to mention the fact thatFutsal Boys seems incredibly insecure about the fact that it’s not Haikyuu. Many of the character archetypes, dynamics, backdrops and even character poses seem directly ripped from Haikyuu. Like, there are scenes that look literally traced from Haikyuu. I’m not kidding. It sucks considering that there were some very interesting original elements to the story (namely Taiga & Ryuu’s dynamic and Haru’s backstory), but they were completely overshadowed by the fact that the creators seemed to feel the need to make it as close to Haikyuu as physically possible, without taking into account what made Haikyuu popular and likeable as a show in the first place (as shown by Sakaki’s entire character).

Don’t worry if you haven’t seen Haikyuu, though, because Futsal Boys has plenty of bad elements that aren’t directly ripped from Haikyuu, too!

The main character, Haru, is such a sad case of wasted potential. While he’s not exactly original (‘red-haired genki protagonist’ is an incredibly common character type), his backstory is actually incredibly unique among protagonists, and while I’m not going to spoil anything, I really like how the show handles his particular trauma. It’s pretty realistic, and he has a really unexpected way of handling and processing it that I really want to give the show praise for… but it gets pushed to the side in favour Sakaki’s BS problems stupidly fast. There’s also the fact that he has a background in breakdance, which I thought could theoretically be really cool and give his play-style some uniqueness (especially as a former breakdancer myself)… except there’s only a brief mention of how it could maybe have some transferable skills, and it really doesn’t come up much outside of his ‘special move’ which he does, like, twice. Overall, he could have been a semi-decent protagonist, but he gets overshadowed in favour of Sakaki (who I admittedly hate), which was unfortunate and annoying.

Sakaki is an awful character. You expect him to be the usual ‘blue-eye black-haired genius character type,’ the blue to Haru’s red, and the show really treats him that way— except he’s demonstrably awful at futsal. Despite being referred to as something along the lines of ‘the best player on the team’ or the ‘only capable one’ or something, and constantly being talked up as if he’s amazing, he also can’t pass, is constantly shown missing goals, refuses to get better, and yells at everyone else for supposedly sucking. He also throws a hissy fit when he finds out that Haru has been practicing with Ryuu, berates Haru for his trauma, and never apologizes for any of the awful shit he does, because the creators decided that Sakaki was the victim or something? I also hate the fact that Sakaki’s middle school nonsense was compared to Haru’s real actual trauma, as if they were at all similar.

The characters basically get more interesting the further that you get from Sakaki. Taiga & Ryu have a really lovely dynamic (who doesn’t love a tiger & dragon duo?) and the captain & vice captain are fine. Adelbert probably would’ve been interesting if they’d gotten more screen time, same with Amanogawa. Momomi were WONDERFUL, they were easily my favourite part of the show. I loved their dynamic so much, I genuinely wanted them as protagonists. Also they have a theme song and it’s a bop.

The animation is iffy. It’s pretty inconsistant, with a lot of the colours being a tad unpleasant to look at, but it’s not the worst I’ve ever seen, I guess.

The voice acting is great, though. The vast majority of the voice actors are complete newbies, with exactly one role (whoever they play in Futsal Boys) to their name, but you can’t even tell. I also think it’s neat that Komori, a musician on Momomi, is played by the guy who sings the opening (Takao Sakuma). I think that’s neat.

Overall, I wouldn’t recommend this show to basically anyone unless they were really desperate for a new sports anime to watch, or wanted to see some good daddy issues representation.

For a 12-episode anime with a better red/blue dynamic and a better case of “character is a newbie to the sport but has a previous skill that gives them a unique play-style,” I would recommend Sk8 The Infinity. If you’re okay with watching 75+ episodes of what Futsal Boys was desperately trying to do, watch Haikyuu. Both shows are way better written, and their blue-eyed genius characters are actual endearing and good at the sport, instead of unbearable and awful at it.

𝑭𝒖𝒕𝒔𝒂𝒍 𝒃𝒐𝒚𝒔!!!!! or you can also call it "𝑯𝒂𝒊𝒌𝒚𝒖𝒖 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒇𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒗𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒚𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍!!!!!" It's a waste of time, a waste of energy. I thought the 1st episode was pretty nice but when I watched the other 2, I was totally disappointed. i felt that i was watching a bad version of Haikyuu, Sasaki has the same personality as Kageyama and litteraly his background story is the same but not as developped as Kagayama's, it was really pathetic. Sasaki's background was just "a guy who forgot that futsal was a group sport, he yells at the other players on his team to play better andhe got into trouble at his old school because of it..." AND THEN you have the little super excited guy who admire him because he saw that he's rly good and all, lmao it reminds me a lot of a certain orange haired guy...

So the story is really cliché and the personalities of the characters too, they are the main characters moreover, they should have something for the viewers to get attached to them and like them not remind them another series!

(please why did i think that an anime with a logo with 5 exclamation marks will be good...)

Review from a person who used to play futsal. I was really surprised to see an anime about futsal cause it's a pretty niche sport and one of my favorites so I had to give it a shot. But with a name like Futsal Boys!!! I wasn't expecting a masterpiece. It was nice seeing them use the correct names of the positions but thats about the only thing they got right about the sport. Part of the fun of futsal is that it's a lot more technical than soccer putting more of a focus on passing and positioning and less on sprinting and shooting. Whenthe characters are playing futsal most of the focus was on fancy trick shots and maradona type moves. And when they did show them passing, characters were literally passing when there was no pressure on them.

Story 3/10

Story is pretty much just a worst copy and paste of Haikyuu. What I do appreciate is how overly hyped everyone is about futsal and how they have magazines and have announcers and full stadiums at high school games. It's pretty funny considering that most people don't know what futsal even is. It's also weird to me how the story has not mentioned soccer once. People don't normally just decide to play futsal they are usually soccer players who play futsal on the off season.

Art 2/10

The actually design and art itself is not bad but it's pretty clear that the studio behind this did not use actual futsal references to base it's animation on. There's no interesting formations or passing happening, Theres a lot of the same reused shot of two players passing back and forth on what is the longest court ever. (Futsal courts are supposed to be relatively small and there's not that much open space between all the players so you should be able to see most of them in one shot.) The perspective and size of the players and court always seem to be shifting and the shots do not do good job in showing where each of the players are. I find my self constantly asking, where is everybody why can't i see them did they just vanish? That being said from a technical stand point the art and animation is fine, from a creative and accuracy stand point its very bad.

Sound 5/10

Nothing really stood out as bad or good so it's fine

Characters 3/10

Really boring and generic, feels like they are just copy and pasted from other sport animes. But they are somewhat entertaining

Enjoyment 7/10

It's pretty funny to see all the crazy moves and ideas this anime throws out and I'm honestly having a good time needlessly tearing it to shreds every week. At the end of the day it's a silly goofy bad anime and it's fun having a laugh at it. It's a good way to relieve my stress on a Sunday after watching demon slayer and aot.

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS My main issue with Futsal Boys is the absolute lack of character development. It was clear from very early on that this is meant to be reminiscent of Haikyuu, particularly Kageyama and Hinata's partnership -- the ace character who doesn't know how to play on a team and the new, up and coming hotshot character who has never played the sport before but is really determined to be the best possible. Then over the course of the show, they learn how to overcome their differences and play as a duo to lead their team to victory. The main conflict of Futsal Boys isthat Sakaki doesn't want to pass the ball to anyone, let alone Yamato. They draw it out and make it so dramatic that the big, hurrah moment in the very last episode that is meant to tie the whole story together and make us all stand and cheer is Sakaki finally passing the ball to Yamato and then Yamato scoring to win the game and save the day. Which would be fine, because that's a fair conflict resolution and does show character development.

The problem is that it takes twelve episodes to get there, and there is absolutely zero character development in either of the MCs until that moment. The entire season is spent with Sakaki thinking about and then refusing to pass the ball, and Yamato trying to prove himself worthy of being passed to even though he could already do a fancy, shonen-esque power move in the first episode. It's basically them dancing around each other weirdly for twelve episodes with some other stuff thrown in. It's also ridiculous that at the beginning of the season, the main team couldn't score a goal to save their lives and then twelve episodes later, with zero character development from anyone, they suddenly beat one of the best teams in the country. There was no progress of them learning to work together, overcoming their own struggles, and banding together as a team. Even the other teams that showed up for two episodes were better developed and had closer bonds as a team than that main team.

I really love sports anime and I'll happily watch one just for the fun of seeing a sport animated, but god, if you're going to set up the big finish of your show to be passing a ball and go from Point A in episode 1 to Point B in episode 12, you need to add some other pitstops along the way to make any of it worth it.

Warning: Contains a lil bit of spoilers The art is very good but can't say the animation was that good lol. The majority of it was just one image passing by (ex: Training arc scene) Also, it was so fast-paced yet so slow. It took the whole season for this guy to learn how to pass like what?? But also, the training "arc" was really fast and overall it felt sped up and bland. Also, there are a lot of questions that are left unanswered in the show. Overall, the only thing I liked is the art. It had potential when it started out despite thecringy moves but I mean every sports anime is exaggerated. The characters were also pretty bland and boring.

This is only the 2nd or 3rd sports anime that I've ever watched and I actually enjoyed this anime more than I would have expected. I'm not familiar with the sport of Futsal but like versions of sports that are faster pace like 3v3 basketball so I thought I would atleast get some entertainment from this anime. I was right lol. That being said there are a few things that I think could have been done differently in certain situations that would have added to the scene and made it have a different feel too it. The first thing being that I wish it wasa BL anime, in my opinion that would have made this anime better, and if they won't make it BL atleast add some women in the anime. The only woman we hear in the first 8 episodes is through a door or an intercom talking to one of the MCs and that was only a few lines of dialogue. Anyways this intro is getting a little long so I'll stop here and I hope you enjoy the review.

Story: 5/10 - the story revolves around the sport of Futsal in Japan and is focused on the team at Koyo Academy. Although the main focus is the team, season focuses more on who I believe are the 2 MCs, Futsal new comer Haru Yamato and Seiichiro Sakaki who is a prodigy in the sport. Even though Yamato is new to Futsal he puts in tons of effort and shows the most improvements throughout the 1st season and although Sakaki is a supposed prodigy it seems he has issues passing the ball and trusting his teammates especially Yamato. The story is all about redemption and learning to let go of the past for both of the MCs, Sakaki needs to forget about issues with former teammates and Yamato has to try and leave the shadow of his father. It's also about teamwork and that not all things can be done alone or even if they can be done alone, that doesn't mean that have to be done alone. I really liked these parts of the story and I wish there was just a little more of that content in the 1st season. It isn't super complex but it's really enjoyable and at only 12 episodes it can be watched in a short time.

Art: 7/10 I I liked the style of animation, it was very modern and clean with lots of bright colors. All the characters were designed well and had a lot of different looks. There was CGI used but I actually really liked the way they utilized the CGI by using it for the characters special attack moves. It made them seem really over the top and cool, all the characters special attack moves looked super cool and had ridiculous names especially the 2 MCs special moves, those were my favorite. The one part of the CGI I found kind of funny was when they used it for a team's jersey graphics and when the character moved the graphic on the shirt didn't so it looked a little janky but was still fine.

Sound: 7/10 the sound was one of the things I felt could have been handled better. The OP was really good and the ED was fine too but during a lot of the games when there were supposed to be a lot of people in the stands cheering, there was just silence instead. I understand that there can't be cheering over top of the dialogue but atleast but a little bit in the background while the characters are talking on the court. There were so many scenes where it went from fans cheering like crazy to a couple characters talking with just pure silence in the background, it really through me off a few times and almost takes the mood away from some important moments.

Characters: 6/10 - the characters in this anime were one of my favorite parts lol. They all had their own style and looks, almost all of them were pretty boys and the fact that there are literally no girls until the last 4 episodes, and they are just some fan girls for one of the team's that has a bunch of Idols on it. I already mentioned the 2 MCs on Koyo Academies team so I'll name the rest, first is team captain Toi Tsukioka who was a member of Japan's U-18 National team the year before and has just returned to Koyo Academy coming back from Spain. Toi has a team first philosophy that is the opposite of a lot of teams that just focus on their best players. Next is Co Captain Tsubaki Yukinaga and he was in charge of the team while Toi was in Spain. I'm not going to lie, he is mostly a bench player but when he gets in the game makes a few good plays. Next is Ryuu Nagumo who was a really good offensive player in middle school and is one of the more important characters. He helps Yamato train and become a much better player and the 2 of them develop their own combination special move. Ryuus best friend Taiga Amakado is the goleiro and in middle school was known as one of the best. All the characters have their own unique look and style, they all look great and the voice acting was really good. Even all the opposition teams had really great designs and had really cool special attack moves.

Enjoyment: 5/10 - I really enjoyed this anime more than I first expected. After watching the first few episodes I kind of had an idea where it was going especially after they lost to Adalbert which is Koyo Academies rival because each team had a member on the U-18 National team. I knew the season would end with them playing each other again and I had an idea that it was going to take that long for the 2 MCs to begin to play well together and I was pretty much right. But guess what, I still really liked this anime. It had a lot of really funny moments and a couple more dramatic moments that helped the tone of the anime. It was a serious anime that probably won't be appreciated by everyone but for those who did enjoy this anime, and I'm 1 of them, then I hope there is another season.

Overall: 6.5/10 - it was a good sports anime that has a lot of over the top antics and good animation. I liked all the different characters and how most the episodes were really fun to watch. Some people that watch or play the actual sport may not like it because of all the theatrical moves and special moves the characters do but that's all for entertainment, there are sports anime out there that's more serious and doesn't have all the extra theatrics and those anime are fine and provide entertainment. This anime is aimed more at the entertainment and theatrical moves which can be good if done well and I think Futsal Boys!!!! was fairly entertaining and I would watch a 2nd season.

Note: I honestly thought this anime was missing the BL tag cause for 1 there wasn't any women anywhere and another reason is it looked like some of these characters were in love with each other. There ain't no way that Ryuu and Taiga are not a couple, the way Ryuu ran up and jumped on Taiga and wrapped his legs around him and then Taiga just holds him. I dunno if it's the BL anime I've been watching lately but Sakaki is the biggest Tsundere I've seen in a while. I swear that he was more mad that Yamato didn't come celebrate a goal with him rather than celebrating with Ryuu. All Sakaki wants is for Yamato to love him! Lol I swear this anime would have been better as a BL. As usual though, these reviews are in my opinion and may not be the same opinion that everyone else. I apologize for the length of this review, it got a little longer than I anticipated and if you read it and make it this far I appreciate that you read my review and I hope it helps you make a decision to watch or not watch this anime.

Reviewing this at chapter 4 cuz I honestly think it will not get better. It's not good, like, at all. I laugh every chapter not because there are funny jokes in it, but because it makes no sense. Storyline is similar to other sports anime which is not a bad thing perse, you will always find simmilarities with other anime of the same genre. The thing is, Futsal boys!!!! doesn't bring anything new into its storyline to make it a bit original. Characters are meh, the relationships between them are pretty standard and don't seem as deep as the anime tries to make them. The animationis decent enough and the special effects used for the "special moves" are kind of corny but somewhat nice. Still, for a sports anime I expect a bit more. Now, as what character designs concerns, they are an absolute mess. It's all over the place to the point it seems like they used two different art styles when drawing the characters. Also, you can make a character stand out without having to give them a crazy haircolor/hairstyle. And, if you are going to give them such crazy hairstyles, make it at least so that they match the character's personalities. Props to the voice actors tho, as they convey the characters' personalities better than their designs.

What bothers me the most though is that they barely stop to explain what futsal really is; the rules, positions and such. They barely mention it despite having the MC's whole deal be that he's a newbie in the sport. For viewers like me who might not know what futsal is about, explaining a bit of the sport is key in making the viewer empathize with the characters' struggles and immerse themselves in the story. So seeing how this is overlooked and solved by giving the main character a silly little training montage in an episode is really dissapointing.

Overall it gives the feeling that the production team did the bare minimum in every aspect possible and this is what we got. I recently learned the animation's purpose its to hype up the upcoming game of the fanchise but with what they've delivered at the moment I hardly believe it will attract people to the game.

I watched this anime because I USED to play Futsal and well I'm an anime watcher. Despite the reviews here, I still watched it anyway. {slight spoilers (character)} Story 2/10 Just minutes into the first episode, I can tell that this is told like typical sports animes. Guy gets inspired then dedicates their whole life to that inspiration. Boom, Sports Anime. In conclusion, it's a literal Haikyuu copy-paste Art 5/10 Not much to say about it, just the fact that main characters tend to have emphasized hair colors while background characters don't really matter.Sound 4/10

It is okay, that's all I have to say

Character 1/10

Again, like I said. A Haikyuu copy-paste. Haru gets inspired by a person who played Futsal then dedicates their type for it, boom Hinata from Haikyuu. Sakaki doesn't get along with people despite his good skills, boom Kageyama from Haikyuu. Taiga, a goalkeeper that everyone needs but doesn't come back boom, Asahi from Haikyuu. I want something unexpected and new. This whole anime feels like rewatching Haikyuu but downgraded and Futsal

Enjoyment 7/10

Not gonna lie, I enjoyed it because like I said, I used to play the sport. The pandemic affected everyone which is why team sports are limited these days. I enjoyed the adrenaline even if it's through this anime. Problem is that it focuses on special skills and their "hidden talents" but not how it actually happens in a Futsal game. Even a simple pass, Futsal players get anxious and even Haru as a beginner doesn't seem to get that anxiety really surprised me.

Overall 4/10

I'd say "It's good because it is bad" I might've dropped it but I'd probably come back for the adrenaline. What I appreciate is that Futsal isn't even that popular of a sport but the anime seems to think that "it's the only sport" out there. It's nice to see that underrated sports like Futsal are given a highlight. I'm just hoping they'd highlight it better through BETTER plot, BETTER characters and NON-COPY plot

*may contain spoilers* "How many eps does one need for a character development?" Watching this has been a ride. I liked the Futsal concept, however it looked like every idea or backstory from any sports anime was added with not so good execution. Father is a popular national player but abandoned the son, the son playing on his own, idolize a good player and let them be your inspiration, previous close teammate has quit so I'm on my own, teammate from U18, flashback to how they met in the first episode, the opponent is on the lead so we need to take care of the mental conditionof players, cool-ish names for some techniques — name any element you get from all other sports anime, they insert it. However, everything is inserted out of the blue and suddenly abandoned after a few mins so you don't get to follow up on it.

One thing that I didn't like about this (which affected the whole score) was that Sakaki, the blue haired guy, really took his time for character development - the whole 12 episodes!! Lol. Honestly this would've been more enjoyable if he moved on from his previous boyfriend and not see him in Yamato (red haired guy) and proactively tried to overcome his problem. The rating would've been higher if not for this, and unless you really like sports anime and futsal, then this one is not for you.

I have never wrote a review but I just had to because of how dreadful this anime is. Pro: From design point of view, the artwork is quite good and the environment/props are well designed compared to many other anime. Cons: This anime is most definitely trying (and failing disastrously) to copy Haikyuu. I can actually accept that since it is a different sport. However, the pathetic story, the bland animation, the missing character development and worst of all, the voice acting of the lead, ruins any charm that this anime could have had (which isn't much to be honest). I wanted to drop thisanime from the first few minutes of the 1st episode but had to sit through and waste around an hour of my time watching this trash, hoping that it will start not sucking so bad.

Every review that you will read will state pretty much the same but in a very detailed manner but I don't really want to even remember that I watched something this horrible and would simply recommend not to bother with this anime.

Honestly, I only watched 3 episodes before I dipped. I may watch more but at this moment I will not. As many mentioned the main duo, warm hair x cool hair is really similar to Hinata and Kageyama to the point in episode two I was suddenly transported to the beginning of Haikyuu. To me the idea of using Haikyuu as a reference isn't inherently bad, but the way it is used just makes it so obvious and poorly done. Saka-whatever was terrible. He had an outstandingly shitty attitude, to where I had to wonder if the man was a hidden antagonist. He obviously followsthe trope of can't play with middle school teammates, yada, yada. But the thing is most of these characters eventually learn and deep down want to be a team player, but this kid is really not showing any charm towards that direction.

It's episode three and there is a heavy lack of any gameplay or training despite an upcoming tournament. I'm assuming it's being glossed over so to make room for tournament episodes, but to have three episodes of like absolutely nothing concrete is bad, I haven't even been given a learners guide to how the game actually works. Sure, maybe I should learn the rules of the game more Indepth somewhere else, but the thing is I haven't even gotten the basics like what the positions actually do. You can't just throw technical terms for a niche sport and assume your audience knows what the heck is going on. I find that many sports anime watchers, don't actually know anything about the game till they watch the anime.

The MC was okay, he wasn't terrible. I really can't say more to it because 1.) I only watched three episodes 2.) Despite watching three episodes I actually don't know much about the MC. This is strange because I know more about the side characters than the actual main character. It's not even like it's some sort of slow reveal mystery MC too, I legit can't care too much about his character because it is completely overshadowed by everyone else.

I started this anime thinking that I would get another All Out!!, or Re-Main, but instead I was met with a conglomeration of bad writing, bad pacing, and minimal originality. I've watched three episodes of this anime, and three episodes are enough. I will run down all the different aspects that make this anime mind-numbingly difficult to watch. Characters - The characters are all so trope-ish, I could barf. They are bland and are essentially made of cardboard that has a decent art style. I've seen all of them before but in different fonts, and in different anime. We have an overly loud airhead, an infuriating shallowlytraumatized egoist, a feminine-looking boy who is basically there for exposition, the bland as hell captain, worried vice-captain, pathetic manager, honestly, I could go on and on.

The point is, none of these characters have any sort of depth, and I immediately have trouble rooting for them, even though they are the protagonists.

Pacing -

The story's pacing is abhorrent, to say the least. There is little to no breathing room between introductions, and basically, all of the main characters are all piled into one episode, lightning round style. None of them had any time to develop likable qualities, and we know nothing about them. (Not even from the exposition boy!!!) In only three episodes, the anime leaped through so much drama and tension that none of it really stuck. I feel like I wasted the past 60 minutes watching sports anime static noise.

Animation -

The art style isn't bad, per se, the saturated colours and rounded eyes are very reminiscent of older, more charming anime. However, the animation is choppy at best and painful at worst. The mouth flaps don't match up in places, the 'cool killer move!!11!' scenes are sort of cringy, and it's pretty repetitive in places. Not my favourite animation style.

I'm going to play devil's advocate here and say that the anime was good for a few things, like the accuracy of the position names, and the interesting side characters, and some scenes are even enjoyable!

But overall, a pretty disappointing experience. Probably stay away from this one, y'all!

Plot : unrealistic and basic, like a copy paste of 90% of sport animes but not as good Characters : In my opinion they are mostly cringe … Art and music : OK Animation : almost none, it’s only fixed pictures … Voice acting : I didn’t like it but I think it’s the first anime for almost all the staffGood points : It’s about futsal which is uncommon

Bad points : it’s unrealistic but in a bad way in my opinion. The players are very ordinary and slow which can be very boring if you are used to sport animes, but suddenly they will use a technique which is totally impossible, there is no consistency.

Moreover the characters are not well developed and it’s kinda boring to watch, even cringe sometimes (mainly the main character).

Finally, I think that the main problem is the total lack of originality associated with a poor quality of technique which cannot raise the quality of the whole work.

Fuck-sal Boys!!!!! I could start and end this review by saying “Futsal Boys is a bargain bin Haikyuu” and you’d understand exactly what I mean by that if you’ve watched them both. Most sports anime have been trying (mostly failing) to lift the Haikyuu formula ever since it became popular without understanding why it works so well for that specific show and Futsal Boys is no different. Firstly, you need good animation to help convincingly build up the hype and emphasis the action. Unfortunately, Futsal Boy’s animation is stiff and clumsy. The characters running after a very painfully obvious CGI football inspires boredom and yawns. Thevoice acting on and off the pitch can at times be so distractingly out of sync with character lip flaps that it makes Angel Beats look good in comparison.

Second, you need a team of boys/girls with convincing chemistry and quirks which contribute to the game. Yamato and Sakaki are fundamentally carbon copies of Hinata and Kageyama, but unlike the former who built their rivalry through a middle school match which lead them to begrudgingly respect each other's unique skills, Kageyama kind of has every right to just, not accept Yamato at all as a Futsal player as Yamato continuously demonstrates that he does not know how Futsal is played nor does he have any real skills to back up his ganki personality. Unlike Hinata who is short, but can jump high and can smash volleyballs harder than Eren smashes Reiners face in AoT, Yamato is… good at break dancing, but uses his breaking dancing skills in Futsal to… kick the ball hard whilst shouting out the kicks signature name…

The rest of the team also cherry-picked Haikyuu personalities right down to the nervous coach. Seriously if Haikyuu were a NFT Futsal Boys did the equivalent of right-click-copy-paste and then boast about what they did on Twitter. That’s how distractingly blatant it is. Also just to be clear, fuck NFTs.

I won’t say it’s all bad for Futsal Boys. I did enjoy the first episode. I thought Yamato’s and Sakaki’s introduction was well done and their match against the delinquents was good. However, the more I watched the more it reminded me of Haikyuu. If you’re really, really into football then… I guess you could watch this? I don’t know if there are any better Football/Futsal (whatever) anime out there. If there’s anything you should take away from this review it’s that if you’re looking for a new Haikyuu you won’t find one here. Just watch Haikyuu… or Tribe Nine… or Ryman’s Club. Those shows are awesome so far.

4/10 Disappointment

Futsal Boys is a fun show. I enjoyed it. I see a lot of people keep comparing it to Haikyu. It’s weird because Haikyu is Volleyball, and Futsal is soccer, last I checked. So no one should be comparing the 2 to each other. Haikyu honestly broke the sports community. All you do is compare EVERY sports anime to that show. It would be best if you only were comparing the same sport. Story 10- The story was fun to sit thru. Seeing the characters develop in different situations. The story was somewhat predictable, but so is EVERY sports anime. I’ve seen ppl complain that thecharacters run for what seems three times the length of the court. It’s a classic anime trope for characters to look like they ran more than they did. I don’t know why only this show gets the flak for it.

Art 10- The art was beautiful to look at. The characters looked all unique and were well designed. Not much else to say since it’s only a sports anime.

Sound 10- The sound is what you’d expect from a sports anime. Ppl who don’t like 100% don’t watch sports. The OP-ED and OSTS for the show are excellent to listen to.

Character 10- There were some enjoyable characters in the show, and none that I hated, and all were written well and were expressed well.

Enjoyment 10- Binged watch the whole show in one sitting, not one complaint.

Overall 10- Recommend. But do stop being toxic and comparing it

to Haikyu, and they aren’t similar other than sports anime.