English Dub Review: Aoashi “Tokyo City Esperion, The Final Test Begins”

Overview: Aoi (Ciaran Strange) endures the first set of the challenges thrown his way during the entrance test to join the Tokyo City Esperion youth team.

Our Take: Wide-eyed and bushy-tailed Aoi arrives in Tokyo with these episodes doing an excellent job at presenting the harsh competition that he has before him and just what it takes to excel. Before that we are introduced to a new character in coach Fukada’s little sister, Hana. She is strong-willed and passionate about the game. She acts as a smart and effective way for the audience to learn, alongside her, about the finer aspects of the game. The stakes and slim chance involved within the selection phase of the program finally sets in for Aoi when it is revealed how very few are chosen from kids who are scouted, with most of them coming from the Tokyo City Esperion students they trained and cultivated.  

Aoi’s solo plays hurting the team show how must rethink his playing style as well as his strategy with his team differing so much from his friends back home. Otomo, one of Aoi’s teammates and new friend, is a nice supporting companion for him in his criticalness of Aoi’s selfish play style as well as being laid back and kind. Another great member is Kaneda in his more gruff, stoic personality, being very focused overall. Both him and Otomo begin learning to play in sync with Aoi with them reading Aoi’s innate instincts for soccer as a whole with him trusting in his teammates to understand his motives, scoring a goal. It is a good bonding scene between the three players in Aoi earning their respect and effectively sets up their friendship, before names are read for the final candidates moving into the final test.

Aoi is chosen along with Otomo with Kaneda failing to progress. Aoi’s trials are not over yet with him and the finalists now tasked with going head-to-head with the Tokyo City Esperion youth team. The initial slower, steady nature of the veteran team’s playing style makes them even more unsettling because you know it’s the calm before the storm. Or perhaps a calm, flowing river is a better analogy because they display excellent positioning and memory of the field to their advantage, showing how far afield they are in skill level compared to Aoi, Otomo and their team. However, nothing can keep Aoi’s spirit down including that of an arrogant hothead player who attempts to bully Aoi, trying to discourage and make him leave, but to no avail. Aoi’s simple kind disposition is nothing new in the grand scheme of main characters but it’s admirable how uncompromising he is in not allowing himself to stoop to his level. The Esperion youth teams’ slow beginning was due to Fukada assigning all of them positions they have never played, handicapping them to give Aoi and the others a fair shot. This shows just how out of their depth Aoi and his team really are in that revelation undoubtedly only psyching them out even more than they already were moving forward.