Giant Killing - Episode 2

After a weekend where Portsmouth dumped Tottenham Hotspur out of the FA Cup to take a berth in the final, it seems all too apt to sit down to another episode of an anime named Giant Killing. Besides, anything that lets me gloat over a Spurs defeat can only be a good thing, right?

Anyhow, in the first episode we saw new manager and returning legend Takeshi Tatsumi shaking things up right from the off in his new position at East Tokyo United, using the results of some fitness and sprinting tests to turn the first team into the reserves and vice versa before setting the two sides off against one another in a training match.


Of course, the result of said training game is pure Roy of the Rovers stuff, with some Alex Ferguson-esque mind games and other tricks bringing the pacy, fitter reserves to a resounding victory over the regulars, before Tatsumi creates even more unrest by publicly announcing that he's dropping fan favourite Murakoshi as captain. But is there a method to his madness? Of course there is!

For all of its occasional, and I suspect unintentionally, amusing moments (the crows at your average English Premier League game don't invite their players to go eat at their restaurant, that's for sure, while simply choosing players based on pace and stamina only works in FIFA 10), there's still a lot to like about Giant Killing thus far. Simply the fact that it's about football has me hooked with relative ease, but Tatsumi's Jose Mourinho like attitude towards both the press and players is eminently watchable, while the the whole thing is both enjoyable fare while also proving to be pretty polished when it comes to actually showing the game being played - Okay, it isn't that realistic compared to the real thing, but it isn't too bad either. All in all then, Giant Killing is rising up the table of shows to watch this season.