It's a perplexing situation, America's relationship with soccer. For, oh, decades now the game has held the title of most popular recreational activity and widely watched sporting event type the world round, yet America hardly acknowledges its existence. Why? Perhaps its our plethora of locally grown games--basketball (from Canada, actually), American football, baseball, tractor pulls--or perhaps it's part of the North American spirit to zig when everybody else zags. Whatever the case, this writer thinks one hasn't lived until they've experienced a pro soccer game replete with bleachers full of high-energy, nigh-rabid fans. The game ain't bad to watch either. I mean, the things they do to that ball, and all with big, clumsy feet, legs and forehead, it's like combining a dance-off, fitness expo and physics symposium into one event. With body checks, no less.
"You better look at me when I'm talkin' to you about soccer!"
Which is why I'm overjoyed to hear that
Crunchyroll has plans to bring the popular soccer anime
Giant Killing to American audiences via simulcast beginning Sunday, May 23. If you're a member of Crunchyroll's premium service you can watch the show that morning at 8:30AM PDT with only a one hour delay from its original Japanese broadcast. Viewers who eschew paid membership can still watch the show, but one week later and with commercials.
Based on the manga of the same name by Masaya Tsunamoto (story) and Tsujitomo (art),
Giant Killing is the story of the seemingly hopeless East Tokyo United soccer club. Once an up-and-coming club of outsiders who fought their way into Japan's top league, the team lost their best player, Takeshi Tatsumi, to the lure of fame and riches among Europe's glamorous soccer elite. Now, with the team at an all-time low after a string of devastating defeats and about to be bumped into a lower division, Takeshi decides to stage a comeback in Japan and turn his old team into a world-class club to be reckoned with.
The 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa is just a few weeks away, so if you haven't had a speck of interest in soccer up to this point look at this as the perfect opportunity to find out what all the hubbub is about.
Also, Crunchyroll is shooting for goal in another sense, with a petition drive to try to get Bleach simulcast on CR. Since this follows up a poll on whether CR members would like Bleach, at the same time as a poll on Viz whether their audience would like Bleach simulcasts, its likely to be something CR and VizMedia are working on hammering out together. http://www.crunchyroll.com/forumtopic-633056/petition-we-want-bleach-and-need-your-help/