Shuukyuu Shoujo
Football Girl

Edit

What would you like to edit?

SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links  

tl;dr: A strange combination of sports manga and gag fanservice manga that works surprisingly well. 

This manga is unique in that it’s an interesting blend of a serious sports manga and fanservice gag manga. It starts out as pretty much a complete fanservice gag manga, but as it goes on the plot takes more and more of a focus. It starts off with continuing the fanservice aspect but beginning to develop a plot. But as it goes on, the plot takes more and more of a focus and becomes the core of the manga. The fanservice doesn’t disappear however, in that it takes place in between the plot, meaning there’ll ... be a long portion that’ll be dedicated to moving the plot forward that’ll have no fanservice at all, and then there’ll be a very evident break dedicated to solely fan service, and then it’ll move back into more plot without fanservice. There are a few exceptions to this, but they stand out due to how rare they are. It’s a very strange dynamic, but to be honest I thought it worked really well. As for the plot itself, it was a pretty decent sports manga. I don’t have a lot of experience with sports manga or soccer, with Whistle being my only frame of reference, so this is from the point of view to someone new to the genre, but from that perspective I think it was solid. There was a solid build up to things with random twists and ultimately it feeling pretty awesome when things work out. Beyond that it was character focused, and in that it was somewhat of a mixed bag. The character motivations for Rin were developed well and her character arc was great, with her story and not Yuuki’s ultimately being the center of the plot. Yuuki’s motivations and story sort of got dropped and at the end barely acknowledged basically just to say they don’t really matter, which is fine I suppose as he ended up growing well in a completely different direction, but it felt kind of messy. Another major complaint I have though, is that I felt that it was building up a relationship between the two of them, but in the end it didn’t manifest which I found really disappointing. As the for the rest of the team, almost all of them got some development, though none of them got that much, so they very much felt like side characters. Still, it never really felt necessary to have side stories like that for pacing purposes, so what they got felt fine. Though I should note that despite it being 10 volumes long it goes through as much plot as a 5 volume series due to how a lot of time ends up getting spent on fanservice, which I think actually helped with pacing purposes, but meant that there was a lot less plot than one would expect. The art was pretty rough, so while it looked decent enough on occasion, most of the time it was lacking. 

First things first...
This is a shonen - seinen ecchi, so... plot and fanservice for teenies, but it is uncensored, meaning 18+ (seinen).

Moving on...

Story

The main theme of this manga is football ( or soccer ). Mixed with a lot of comedy and fanservice. But it is really unrealistic. In terms of football themed plot, there a lot of mangas which did this better. As a footballplayer, I was just shaking my head in the beginning of the manga. The games/matches are more focused on entertaining the reader, leaving the realistic aspect behind( at least they didn't shout out some pokemon attack names when kicking the ... ball ;) ).
On the other hand, the comedic aspect was really well done. I enjoyed everything that happened. Was it the boob – football matches or the no-panty-training.
Ok, don't give up hope now, because later on, as the story progresses the matches become more realistic and have real “plot”. (Doest change the fact that there were weird tactics and moves)

Characters

Stereotypes everywhere. Innocent male MC (badass if it's about football), nympho-like female MC, big breasted support character, kuudere second female MC. If they took this cast and put it into an other typical ecchi-comedy manga, it wouldn't make a difference.

*Spoiler* *Maybe not a real spoiler, since it is obvious"
The stars in this manga are the opposing football teams. I like it how the dudes look really badass and pumped up, but somehow manage to loose against a group of girls and a maybe 5 foot tall boy.
More than half of the girls are new too football.


Art

Published about 5 years ago and it still looks really good.
I hate to judge art, because.... I can't draw like that. The only way I can somehow judge it, is to compare it to other mangas. And I have to say, being published in 2008, it can hold up to the mangas which are published around now. Of course those today look better, but I mean come on, 5 years is a long time. Look at the difference between 1998 and 2003... worlds between them.


Enjoyment

It is hilarious. A mix of fanservice, comedy and football. Because of that, it is somehow unique.
The matches are entertaining and have a non dramatic vibe. The story has no deep plot or any kind of important story background (this changes as the story progresses). Perfect for reading without using your brain ;).


A little extra note :
I am an online reader, which means I only have access to chapters which are published in the internet. 2010 was the first chapter uploaded for us internet users. The newest chapter was out on 28th of april 2013.