07.06
That kid has balls. Or rather, he had them.
I tried reading the Days manga a couple years ago, and couldn’t really get into it. I found it to be a pretty run of the mill shonen sports manga with a rather unimpressive sense of pacing and paneling, and few characters I could really get behind. But as they say, execution is everything. Like Haikyuu!, the Days anime takes a mediocre sports manga and uses the medium of animation to make it a more engrossing, engaging experience. The show immediately hooks you by flash-forwarding to the main characters actually playing a soccer game. Here the show pulls out it’s most impressive animation and most exciting action, sure to at least pique your interest in seeing how things turn out, and how the characters will get to this point from were they are now. The music played during the sequence also captures that “inspiring” aspect that shonen sports fans find appealing about the genre, especially in underdog tales like Haikyuu!! and Hajime no Ippo. The OP also does a great job establishing the lengths Tsukushi goes through for the sake of self-improvement, how dedicated he is towards reaching his goal, and the fact that even though he struggles, he has a team behind him that supports him. Basically, everything you need to know about what the series is like and will be about is cleanly established within the first 4 minutes of the episode, making it easy to know if it’s your kind of show or not pretty early on.
More than another sports series, Days most closely resembles Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad in it’s execution. It’s a very show don’t tell style of storytelling with a lot of emphasis on the actions of the character over the words. We don’t need to be explained what the characters’ personalities or motivations are; they’re made clear through subtle clues through what the character does or how they interact with one another. The atmosphere of the series also feels more down to earth like Beck, making the characters feel a bit less like anime characters and more like believable human beings.
But the closest similarity to Beck lies in the characterization and relationship between the lead characters. Not only does Kazama look like a blond doppelganger of Ryusuke, his laid-back personality and deep mellow voice characterize him almost exactly the same, just replacing his love of music for soccer. Like Ryusuke, there’s no clear reason why Kazama befriends Tsukushi, other than he might see a sliver of potential or a kindred spirit in him. The influence he has on him is clear though; he admires his passion and effort in the face of adversity, and it reinvigorates his own drive to become better himself. It’s easy to see why both characters would look up to each other and try to emulate their example, and how that forms the basis for a compelling friendship that will undoubtedly carry the series.
Similarly, Tsukushi reminds me a lot like Beck’s main character Koyuki; a socially awkward kid with not a lot going on in his life, drawn to the mature coolness of an older guy whose love for his hobby rubs off on him and gives him something to be passionate about, a dream to work towards, and friends and a community who share the same interacts. Compared to Koyuki, Tsukushi is a more typically starry-eyed and naïve sort of shonen lead, but there’s still an admirable quality to how passionate he is.
In a sense, Tsukushi is an atypical shonen sports protagonist; he does not have a natural talent for soccer at all. He’s actually pretty bad at it. The running training scene in particular hammers in the vast gap in the level of skill and stamina between him and the rest of the soccer club, and the mountain of time and effort he’ll need to climb in order to become that athletic. But his selling point is his dedication and earnestness. He tries harder than anyone and does not want to let people down, even if it comes at personal cost or injury. He tries and fails, gets injured several times, but he always gets back up, he never complains, only expressing disappointment and regret that he can’t do any better and let people down. He’s quick to take advantage of opportunities to help, and is earnest to a fault. He finds a purpose in soccer that emotionally fills him and makes him feel needed, gives him a goal to pursue in life. Whereas that character could become overbearing and obnoxious if over-emphasized as I found it to be in the manga, the anime executes it with restraint, making him a more sympathetic and endearing characters.
Basically, the show takes the potential of the characters and premise found from the original manga, polishes the rough edges, tightens the focus and streamlines the pacing to emphasize the most important story beats and character moments. I think it’s pretty easy to tell they’re speeding through the source material even if you haven’t read it, just by putting into consideration the passage of time and the dialogue, and how Kazama’s speech at the end about how ashamed he is for them ignoring Tsukushi’s potential is pretty obviously meant to have come after chapters of the two building a relationship and moments of him being ignored and doubted by his teammates and other characters. That being said, the show crafts the narrative of the episode and places the focus on the developing friendship between the two leads so squarely that the episode doesn’t feel stitched together out of multiple different story treads but conveys a fully realized and satisfying emotional arc.
Moreover, the animation is very expressive in the moments it needs to be to sell the story and add personality to the characters. For instance, I really loved the scene where Kazama is mulling over what happened during the practice session at a diner and we see through the window behind him Tsukushi’s friend Sayuri crash parking her bike, frantically getting off, trying to get his attention by hollering at him, eventually giving up running inside the dinner to talk with him inside. That kind of embellishment shows that there is genuine effort being put into making these characters and this world feel real and alive, and provides a great demonstration of visually-focused and proficient storytelling. It adds flavor to Kazama’s monologue by adding another facet of interest going on in the background, while also giving a showing of Sayuri’s character as well. Sure, the scene could’ve been done without it, but it adds so much more character to the scene and the show as a whole.
Choices like that inspire confidence that the Days anime will be a thoughtfully crafted adaption that will not simply regurgitate its source material but take it to the next level using the tools only animation can provide. It may not necessarily bring anything new to the genre, but it establishes itself as a worthwhile entry in it nonetheless. As someone who didn’t care for the original manga, I was pleasantly surprised by how much better the anime adaption was, and am hopeful for the show to continue to improve upon its source material throughout the course of it’s run. If you’ve been hankering to watch a solid shonen sports show in the vein of Haikyuu!!, Days will undoubtedly your pick of the season. – LumRanmaYasha