And while we have seen some half-decent soccer anime in the past, such as Days and Inazuma Eleven, both Ao Ashi and Blue Lock will be on a whole different level.Ĭurrently, the hype around the upcoming releases of the Ao Ashi and Blue Lock anime is mostly limited to its manga readers, but once both series begin broadcasting in Japan we expect their popularity to explode, much in the same vein as Haikyuu!. If it isn’t already clear, both Ao Ashi and Blue Lock are the future kings of sports anime. So why should Netflix pick up Ao Ashi and Blue Lock? Ironically, both anime series have been produced by Production I.G, which makes Ao Ashi as the natural successor to Haikyuu!. Between formations, player positions, attacking, defending, passing, training drills, it’s a great education of the beautiful game without being boring.Īo Ashi and Haikyuu! share a lot of similarities, but one of the most important aspects shared between the two stories is how welcoming they are to newcomers of their respective sports, while at the same time being able to avoid insulting the intelligence of fans of respective sports too. What makes Ao Ashi so special and popular amongst fans is the level of detail the story goes into explaining the tactics of the game. While the first few years of the manga’s run went relatively under the radar, the past few years have seen a rapid surge in the manga’s popularity, and fans all over the world have been clamoring for an anime adaptation. But his dreams are dashed when he is the reason behind his team’s elimination from a tournament, however, his talent catches the eye of Tatsuya Fukuda, the youth coach of Tokyo City Esperion FC.
The story is centered around aspiring soccer player Ashito Aoi, who dreams of becoming a professional. On January 5th, 2015 the first chapter of Aoashi was published in the Japanese magazine Big Comic Spirits.