Whistle!

[branchandroot]

So I just finished watching Whistle! (schoolboys sport anime, soccer in this case)

I liked it. And it left a bad aftertaste.



The heart of what most annoyed me was that this was a very plot-driven story, and I'm a character fan. So, for one, none of the Evil characters are properly redeemed--they just start mysteriously acting nice instead of like utter and complete assholes.

This also means that their behavior is never punished in any way, which I do not find satisfying in any story that goes to the trouble of having Evil characters in the first place.

For another thing, the plot around which the story revolves so strongly has a bunch of annoyingly unresolved parts. I mean, beyond the par for Japanese stories. Shou's father is brought up and then dropped totally. Shige takes off to find himself, appears for the last episode and... then it ends. Kojima is changing her view of Shou, but we never quite find out how. There is forward momentum that is just left hanging, everywhere.

This could well be because the anime overshot the manga in midstream, and just ended rather than force it out of step. And, while I do like that option considerably better than the "my ending iz pastede on, yey!" effort that many anime choose *coughtenipuricough* it does not make the dangling plot dangle any less.

There was a great deal of tension and suspense racked up by the fact that we're never sure whether Shou et al will win or not. Leaving that largely unresolved was very uncool.

And, bottom line, the characters themselves were a bit too flat to appeal to me. Only Shige had any kind of depth and we never find out /what/ kind. Details of characters histories are never given, there are no introspective moments or flashbacks, outside of a very few small ones for Shou early on.

It was a good show. And it didn't satisfy me at all.

Comments

[aishuu.livejournal.com]

My understanding is the anime had relatively low ratings and was dropped. The manga goes on much further, and I hate that ending more because it completely screws Shou over.

[branchandroot]

*makes face* I'll just stop with this, then. The poor kid doesn't need to get screwed over any worse.

[aishuu.livejournal.com]

You might like it. I kinda fell out of it because I'm completely broke and can't afford the series. ^_^

[prillalar]

Whistle! remains the only manga I started to read without a rec from anyone. The Boy said he'd seen a solicitation for a soccer manga and I did I want him to pick it up. After a few volumes of the manga, I tracked down the anime.

I enjoyed the anime a lot, but the manga, even mangled by Viz, is so much better. And it continues far beyond the anime, as I understand it. And Shige's story is rather different, I believe. I think he'll get much better treatment.

I would be remiss not to take this opportunity to rave about Fuwa, who is clearly the product of an unholy union between Elmer Drimsdale and Gaara and who owns me completely. Because he is the Crusher.

I could never see that shot in the Bleach OP -- the one before the current, I think -- of all the shinigami running in a group without thinking of Musashinomori and the Black Tsunami.

[branchandroot]

My brain just tried to fit Whistle and Bleach into the same conceptual space and broke. Thank you. *wry*

[prillalar]

I'm always glad to help. :)

[aishuu.livejournal.com]

Sorry for butting in, but I must disagree with you. Fuwa is the lovechild of Inui and Kaidou from Teniputri.

[prillalar]

That used to be my theory too, but I found it insufficient to explain Fuwa's random areas of research, enjoyment of cutting others down, and blank, blank scary stare.

Plus, I think any child of Inui and Kaidoh would be way cuter. *g*