Shoot! Goal to the Future

Shoot! Goal to the Future is sequel to the 1993 series Aoki Densetsu Shoot! which was a fairly standard sports narrative that became defined by its major character death midway through the series. It was an interesting exploration of how a death of a renowned player affects not only his team but also his rivals on other teams denied their chances of ever getting a rematch. The story often took a turn deep into melodrama, but the emotional charge is what sets the series apart from all the dozens of no-names to champions sports narratives out there.

Shoot! the sequel takes that melodrama and throws out ... everything else. Characters will suddenly turn incredibly jaded and selfish after some miscommunication. Situations will bring up crazy ultimatums and resolve with lots of loud sobbing. My favorite setup happens midway through the show, where one of the main characters becomes insanely jealous of his best friend (though it's pretty obvious he wants to be more than that) becoming close to the soccer team's new member, to the point where he's openly spreading rumors about the new kid on the team and trying to sabotage his reputation on the school newspaper in order to get him to quit the team. It should be noted that he had no problem playing with him for several episodes before this.

This kind of writing is fantastic if you love soap operas, but it's hard to recommend it to anyone else. There's little else Shoot! really has to offer. The animation looks awful to the point where it can be difficult to find stills that look halfway decent. The nods to the original 1993 series are cute if you know where to look for them, but they can't carry a full 13 episodes. You'll know immediately from episode 1 if this is the kind of show you'll enjoy, and if you do, I promise it's a great ride.

It was expected to be better than that, especially with the new modern techniques. The animation during the matches is not good, also the story is not the best. However, there are few episodes which are very good, such as: 2, 9 and 13.
The best thing in it is that, the old charachters appear with the new generation, although two of them were just secondary.
There are also some OSTs which are very nice. I do not know if the others will enjoy it, but I did not stop watching it despite many weak points which I found, and also I am willing to see the ... two opposite/friend characters playing in one team.

Shooto! When I'm with you, I can play better, because I love the way we work together! Be my gay buddy in soccer so that I can date you on the playing field! Can I? Please Shooto? PRETTY PLEASE???

This is a prime masterpiece example of how to destroy the semblance of the original source material, and for one, Aoki Densetsu Shoot! was at least a decent 90s soccer/football show that exemplifies its existence of anime trying anything to thrive back in its heyday.

But Goal to the Future? More like Gay to the Heartstrings, because whoever was scriptwriting this original show most likely had a penchant ... for BL stories in sports, he/she succeeded for the most part. Giving us all the cringefest of a soap opera that mixes both human feelings and emotions, and sports altogether to create an experience that'll send your eyes and ears crying and bleeding onion tears to the point that you can't unsee it.

Forget about what the synopsis is trying to tell you, it's just a premise. The real one is infused in every nook and cranny of "I'm lovin' it" levels of insanity and disbelief of how a soccer show can go all-out gayness, overloaded with the fact that everything else was non-existent from the character development, worse than subpar animation, the generic OST...just about everything is plain abominable. Hooray for over-the-top BL-ness involving soccer balls to SHOOTO! Doorraayyaahhhhh!!!

You can betcha that Ao Ashi blows this out of the water, easily.