English Dub Review: Shoot! Goal to the Future “Group of Losers”

Overview:

The Nomada High School soccer team arrives to play a practice game against Kakegawa. Tsuji sees his old friend and teammate, Kouhei Kokubo, on the other team. Tsuji ends up getting distracted for the whole game.

Our Take:

The last episode hinted at why Tsuji doesn’t have his passion for soccer anymore. The episode explains it better. It’s because his friend, Kouhei Kokubo, moved to England when they were younger. Since then, Tsuji changed as a person and became closed off. Kokubo is back in Japan playing for the Nomada High School soccer team, but Tsuji doesn’t seem happy about that.

The two teams play a practice game and Tsuji reluctantly agrees to join in. Kakegawa’s team doesn’t fare too well in the first half. Once Tsuji takes the lead though, they start to slightly improve. However, Tsuji is distracted for pretty much the whole game.

This gets turned up a notch when Kokubo steps on the field. He’s excited to play soccer with Tsuji again, but he notices something’s off with his friend. Tsuji won’t chase after Kokubo or try to take the ball from him. He even tells Kokubo he didn’t want to see him.

Nomada’s team wins the game and Kokubo says the other team isn’t worth their time. He’s visibly hurt by what’s happened between him and Tsuji. After the game, Kamiya agrees to continue coaching the team. He makes it clear that he’s only interested in coaching those who are serious about playing.

I’m glad that we got more insight into Tsuji’s past and why he hates soccer. I can understand how losing a close friend can affect someone so negatively. That being said, this episode still feels too over the top with its melodrama. It’s fine until Kokubo gets involved with the game. That’s when the tension gets to be too much and Tsuji goes back to being his moody self. Honestly, it stops feeling believable.

I’m also not a fan of Kokubo. He seems friendly, sure, but he also comes off as pushy and annoying. I get that he’s excited to see his friend after so long, but he comes on far too strong.

The game itself isn’t that bad. I expected Kakegawa to lose since their team is supposed to be horrible. Honestly though, they’re not as bad as other characters made them out to be. They seem to have potential and I’m sure their new coach will push them hard to reach it.