3 Episode Taste Test: Giant Killing
Capturing the spirit of football and not simply throwing angry young men together is a tough ask, whether Giant Killing achieves it is a question best left for an audience more familiar with the enthusiasm the sport engenders. The first three episodes certainly capture the fury and, one presumes, the passion it stems from but whether the series can transcend its relegation to the sports genre is another matter. With only a single match and a lot of shouting in the opening episodes it has a long way to go to individuate itself from others in its league but converting an audience ambivalent or indifferent to football is perhaps too much to ask.
East Tokyo United (ETU) isn't doing well: after years of poor performance after their star player Takeshi Tatsumi departed, they've had to turn to their last resort. A renowned manager is hired to drag the team out of their slump; the manager however is the same player who abandoned the team and caused their rapid descent down the leagues. His style is unorthodox and destructive, riling up the experienced players by claiming that the group of younger players is in the best position to make the first team. After an abrasive and revelatory training session, the team heads out to their training camp in the frigid north where the whimsical Takeshi is doing everything he can to fracture the team. Whether the techniques his time in England fostered will transfer over to ETU will define whether they'll beat their rival, Tokyo Victory, and prove they are in fact capable of giant killing.
