DAYS

Episode 10

Before watching DAYS, I knew the basics of soccer. As a kid, I played in my local CYA, where it was really just “chase the ball until you get tired and then you get a Capri Sun.” But as an adult watching the World Cup, I realized that soccer could be far more intricate—a complicated network of passes and feints before attempting a goal. Since this episode and the last have neglected the show's sunny moral center, Tsukushi, I've been stuck watching characters I don't know very well play soccer, and I just had a realization. While most sports anime elevate their sport to a global competitor level or even into the realm of impossible fantasy, the choreography of DAYS's soccer reminds me of my CYA DAYS more than anything else. No matter how much onlookers hype the athletes and plays, all I see is back and forth, back and forth.

Just like last week, this episode is divided into two halves—first about Kazama, and then about some other guy named Ooshiba who I only knew about from the eye catch. It's nice to see Kazama again, but it's been difficult to get to know him beyond the way Tsukushi idolizes him. Once again, we are treated to enigmatic glimpses of his past, with gray tones and somber childhood expressions that contradict Kazama's narrative: “People made a fuss over me every time I touched the ball.” It's still hard to tell if he was revered as a child genius or completely neglected, so give me the backstory already! The only time we see any real emotion out of Kazama, instead of this posturing, is when he deflects the ball with his face. He's learned from Tsukushi that acting cool has no place in soccer; trying your hardest is all that counts. Ooshiba learns a similar lesson when he runs himself into exhaustion, because that's what the weakest link on the team would totally do. By the way, it always infuriates me when a show doesn't do the groundwork of introducing you to a character and then has the main character (Tsukushi) ask about him. “Didn't you know?” Kazama replies, offering some explanation about how Ooshiba interacts with other players. No, I sure didn't.

This is basically the Didn't You Know? of DAYS episodes. About half of the action is on the sidelines, where unmemorable onlookers explain the significance of what's going on in the game. Usually, I deeply appreciate having onlookers explain the nuances of the sport, but in DAYS it feels like no work was put into giving us reliable narrators. In Baby Steps, for example, Ei-chan's friends and coaches weigh in. In Yowamushi Pedal, a dorky tryhard cyclist explains what's going on in an attempt to impress his girlfriend. In Kuroko's Basketball, pre-introduced basketball players from other schools comment on the game. In all of these shows, it's been established that we can trust these narrators for a helpful play-by-play. In DAYS, however, onlookers are often contradictory or incorrect about what's going on. Not that I blame them, because it's really hard to tell what's going on. I'm not going to slam DAYS for its awful CGI and barely-there animation, because I feel like I do that every review. I'll just say this: with so many characters on the field—most of whom have not been introduced—and very few shots of the field from above, this version of soccer looks like a one-on-one sport, with a focus on just one guy chasing the ball at a time.

All this said, I have extremely high hopes for next episode, because Tsukushi is coming back! DAYS put all its eggs into one perfect, sunny basket. We know everything there is to know about Tsukushi's strengths, weaknesses, and motivation, while knowing hardly anything about anyone else. Since the show has put so much effort into one great character, I'm going to get ready for an emotional episode next week, despite hardly feeling a thing this time around.

Rating: D

DAYS is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.