Is that the Tokyo Met building?
No, it's just a regular office building. So where are you trying to go?
Tokyo City Esperion's Soccer Town.
I'm here to play soccer.
And take part in the youth team tryouts.
All of this is one big soccer facility?!
Tokyo City Esperion
They must be here for tryouts like me.
Guess I'd better get out there!
Oh, uh, the registration fee...
Oh, sorry.
Are you the one from Ehime?
Uh, yeah, I am, but how did you...
Your hair.
I was told a guy with hair like Valderrama's was coming.
My bro said it, not me.
Your bro?!
Cut that out! Who the heck are you anyway, showin' up outta nowhere?!
My bro's been going on and on about you.
So annoying.
Hana-chan, hurry it up. The tryouts are about to start.
Oh, coming!
Follow me.
You're here for the tryouts, right?
We have a total of 86 hopefuls. Candidates with promise include:
Tachibana Soichiro from Yokoyama Musashino's Junior Youth soccer team.
He was on the team that won the Kanto boys' soccer tournament.
Kaneda Akinori, captain of the prestigious Tama Central Junior High team.
Hasegawa Yudai from Seiran Junior High.
Lee Jong Suk, also from Seiran Junior High.
Have you achieved anything of note in Ehime?
What's my bro thinking?
The front desk's over there.
You pay the 5,000 yen registration fee there.
Good luck. Do your best. See ya.
Wow.
A grass field!
I get to play soccer on such a beautiful field today!
I wish Shun could see this!
I'm Date, the head coach.
As you may already know, Tokyo City Esperion FC is in its ninth year in the J1 League.
We've won the league title once, and the Emperor's Cup once, too.
Our first team's record is solid.
And it all comes down to the training of our youth players.
Esperion's youth coaching is considered the finest in Japan.
You can take it from here, Manager Fukuda.
Thank you all for coming today.
I believe that a team that fails to nurture the next generation has no future.
In reality, however, pro soccer clubs end up
having to acquire players from other clubs to shore up any weaknesses in their team.
But what if that player you acquire ends up being a disappointment?
There's no such issue with players who we've raised from when they were young.
We know their skills and personalities better than anyone.
Plus their strengths and weaknesses.
You guys can soak up the club's style of play as you train.
That's what it means to "raise" players.
The future of Japanese soccer lies in raising players.
If you pass today, we'll work together.
If you don't, use this experience to become a better player,
then come laugh at us because we couldn't see your potential.
All right!
How was that, Benzen? No flubs whatsoever.
You just ruined it.
Crap. I know hardly anything about the J.League, youth teams, or this club.
I only came 'cause I was invited...
And yet, I can't get my heart to calm down!
Oh, just one more thing.
It's quite rare for us to snap up any players from these tryouts.
There's a good chance we won't pick any of you.
What?
Why'd you spring that on us now, old man?!
What's that?! Show some respect!
But it's not fair!
So many people came here, all wanting to get in!
Not picking anyone's just plain wrong!
M-Manager Fukuda...
Oh, right. I guess I didn't mention that part.
It slipped my mind, Ashito. I was kinda short on time. My bad.
H-He's wearing sandals?!
Th-This team's managed by a crazy, creepy old man.
Youth teams aren't soccer schools. We can only take players who are game-ready.
In last year's intake, with the players one year above you,
we added 15 players to our youth team.
Of these, three were scouted, one made it in from the tryouts,
and 11 got promoted from the junior youth team.
Promoted... from the junior youth team?
Yes. Most of the time, over half the youth team intake
is made up of players promoted from the junior youth team.
Last year, there were 25 third-years in the junior youth team.
Which means 14 kids who'd worked hard believing they'd be promoted weren't.
Then there's the scouted players.
Talent scouts are always on the lookout for promising players in Tokyo.
If we find someone worthwhile, we negotiate directly with them to join the team.
So you're saying I wasn't "worthwhile"?
In short, thanks to the work done by our scout team, we already know all about you.
All 86 of you here today are players we didn't think were worth snapping up.
Hey, now...
Don't say it like that, Manager Fukuda.
Fukuda...
However...
All of you already know that.
You know your worth, but you came here to take a chance on what is a very slim possibility.
So many of you came here wanting to join Tokyo City Esperion.
Players who can crawl up through a crowd like this really do shine through.
I'd say that spark is essential to this club.
That spirit of defiance. A player who can turn the tables.
We'd kill to get players like that.
Display that spark and we will find you.
So do your best.
Yeah!
The first stage of assessment is the fitness test.
That's 6.1 seconds.
A new PB!
Hey, you're trembling.
Huh?
S-Seems like I am, too.
I get a stomachache when I'm nervous.
It hurts.
You're the very first person who's spoken to me since I got here. Congratulations!
I'm Aoi Ashito.
My position is "Genius Forward."
I'm Ohtomo Eisaku.
But forget about names! This is all your fault!
Huh?
Because you couldn't keep your mouth shut, Manager Fukuda gave us that speech.
And now, everyone's fired up.
A bunch of 'em were bundles of nerves before.
I actually had a shot...
Oh, is that so?
You're right. Lots of these guys looked super stiff at the start.
But I like it this way better.
Huh?
I get to play soccer with these guys at their best.
Next up, we'll play some 20-minute mini-games of 7-on-7.
This is the most important element of the first stage.
Good luck, everyone!
Who the hell decided these teams?
This is so unfair.
Bring it on!
Hey, bro! How's the grading going?
Hana, I told you not to call me that out here on the field.
Oh, sorry, "Manager Fukuda."
Hana-chan, I'm sorry for making you work under this scorching sun.
Even if you're Manager Fukuda's sister...
I don't mind!
It's nothing compared to the guys out there. They're putting their careers on the line.
Though the game going on here seems kinda... one-sided.
Hey! What do you think you're doing?!
Don't try and do it all by yourself!
You keep giving the ball away, Ehime!
It's 'cause you guys aren't passing to me!
I wanna score, but since no one's passing to me,
I have to take it upfield all by myself!
No one's passing to you 'cause you don't let go of it once you have it!
Despite all that big talk, you're just another show-off.
You've got the guts to try things. I can see that.
And it's not all your fault.
We've got zero teamwork.
We need to pull ourselves together.
The white team appears to be arguing.
It's understandable, though. They're totally outclassed.
Especially by that guy, Tachibana Soichiro.
What was that?!
Rumor is, the main purpose of these tryouts is to work out whether or not to sign him up.
Nice!
I'm free over here!
I'm free!
Don't worry, Kaneda! It was a nice try!
Bro, is it really okay to have such a huge gap in skills between the teams?
Their careers are at stake in these tryouts.
All of them want to stand out and be noticed.
It's all me, me, me.
In a makeshift team where no one knows each other,
showing off your A-game is next to impossible.
"What's needed right now?"
"What role should I play in this imperfect situation?"
We aren't judging their physicality or techniques.
We're judging their ability to think—their intelligence.
That boy from Ehime's no good.
He's stopped moving completely.
Why'd Manager Fukuda even get him to come all the way out here?
Dammit. My bad habit strikes again.
You're just another show-off!
It was thanks to my friends that I could play the way I wanted.
I must never forget that.
Playing with these guys, I can see that they're all skilled.
I want to play real soccer with these guys!
Ohtomo!
Hey, what's he doing?
He's a forward, but he's dropped all the way into defense...
Is he still hung up on making a grandstand play this late in the game?
What are you doing, Ehime?
Pass it back to me! C'mon already!
Keep the ball away from our goal area!
Five minutes left! Do your absolute best so you won't have any regrets!
Bear with it! I can do this!
Unfortunately, he hasn't made the cut, even though he came all the way from Ehime...
Aoi Ashito
Dammit!
What the heck is he doing?!
Please...
I'm begging you! Just take one more step into our half!
What's going on?
Why's Ehime keeping the ball in that area?
What's he aiming to do?
Funky Hair over there is totally panicking.
Yeah.
If we press him, we can win back the ball.
Let's go.
Ah! What's he doing?! Why's he dribbling towards his own goal?!
Kaneda, run!
Eat that!
Awesome! Well done, Kaneda!
That was me! My instruction was key!
Without it, you wouldn't have been there, right? Right?!
Hey! Did ya see that?!
I'm the guy who shines even when he doesn't score! Yup, that's me, Aoi Ashito!
Me, me, me, me!
I-It was pure luck that it actually worked...
Assists feel great, huh?
Amazing!
So cool! What a treat we just witnessed, huh?
It was all so perfectly timed, wasn't it?
As the forward, he dropped all the way into his own half,
and drew in the opposition. Even their defenders.
That created an opening in the other half for a fraction of a second.
He seized that chance to send a long pass upfield with pinpoint precision.
In his play, I saw a glimpse of his bird's-eye view that covers the whole field!
Okay, time's up!
We will now go decide which 11 players move on to the final stage of assessment.
How can you eat so much, Aoi?
Why are you hardly eating, Ohtomo?
The food won't go down 'cause I'm nervous about whether I made the cut.
I didn't get any time on the ball... Like, at all...
Tachibana Soichiro. Kaneda Akinori.
Hasegawa Yudai. Lee Jong Suk.
They're all solid choices.
Tsukishima, what do you think?
Ohtomo Eisaku-kun!
He was very unique.
Ohtomo Eisaku?
I don't think he did anything of note...
It was more his behavior on and off the field, rather than his skills.
Did you notice?
Of course.
I did, too.
Even before the tryouts started, he was chatting to different players.
Especially those on the white team with numbers close to his.
Do you know what that means?
In those interactions with players likely to be on his team in the mini-game,
he was gauging their personalities and playing styles.
Aren't you reading too much into it?
No, no, I'm telling you. Trust me. He's a shrewd one.
He was also the only one who tried to pump up his team when the chips were down.
We're short on midfielders, so let's keep him.
The real question mark is Aoi Ashito.
We're very split on him.
W-Wait, you...
I see. I didn't realize you were a cafeteria lady.
I'm not! You saw me helping out with the tryouts!
I'm just volunteering for today. I'm just a normal junior high school student.
But never mind that.
No more seconds for you.
What?!
Why's that surprising?
If you make the cut, you have to play again right away.
On top of that, you've had too much fried food, which is hard to digest.
Hey...
A reckless guy like you couldn't think far enough ahead to pull off a perfect pass like that.
So was it just a happy accident?
To be honest with you, I'm not totally sure myself.
They'd completely owned us up until that point,
so I just looked around the field, thinking we had to do something.
It's a habit of mine.
Looking around the field calms me down.
I don't really remember much after that.
My body just sort of reacted...
I see! So it was intuition!
I'm so relieved.
I knew it wasn't something a mere teenager could copy.
Huh?
My all-time favorite player said he never stopped thinking about soccer.
During training, during a match, even when he wasn't playing soccer,
he thought and thought and... thought about it.
If you do, "You're able to do things without thinking about them."
"That's when you've truly mastered your craft," he said.
"It's similar to intuition, but different."
Good luck.
"A man is but a thinking reed."
I'm Ichijo Hana. Nice to meet you!
I'm Manager Fukuda's sister. Or well, sister-in-law.
Goal!
Unstoppable 23-year-old, Fukuda Tatsuya,
sent a laser beam of a long pass upfield from inside his own half!
Attention, all candidates.
We have selected who will move on to the next stage.
Please make your way to the field.
Next Episode
The Final Test Begins
This is a work of fiction, and bears no relation to any actual persons, organizations, or names.
The next episode of Aoashi is: "The Final Test Begins."