Hungry Heart: Wild Striker



Hungry Heart: Wild Striker (ハングリーハート WILD STRIKER) is the anime adaptation of the 2002 Hungry Heart soccer manga. It was done by Yoichi Takahashi, the creator of the more well-known Captain Tsubasa.

Hungry Heart could be called a more down-to-earth and mature version of Captain Tsubasa with some Slam Dunk mixed in between. Just to name a few points, the protagonist is not as Ace-ish as Tsubasa, his love interest was more outspoken than Sanae, a little bit more of drama is included, less important players are still relevant to the outcome of the match and the maneuvers are a lot less exaggerated.

Unluckily it was a lot shorter than its Spiritual Predecessor, having only reached the 6th volume of the manga, and the 52th episode of the anime. The series has a became very popular in Latin America (most likely due to Latin America appreciation of Soccer and how many times Animax LatAm reran it), following the trend of other obscure series like Koni Chan or Ghost Sweeper Mikami.


 * Berserk Button: Kyōsuke really hates being compared to his brother. Actually, he never had a problem with the comparison in his younger days, it's only when he was in Junior High, after, that he developped the button. Coming to terms with it during a match against a team which tries to use the button at its advantage, is a crucial moment of his Character Development.
 * Big Brother Mentor: Seisuke taught Kyosuke everything about soccer.
 * But Not Too Foreign: Sakai.
 * Does Not Like Men: Gender-flipped with Kyōsuke. He's so allergic to girls, pimples appear on his face whenever a girl comes close to her. The only ones who can approach him without causing this effect are his eventual sweetheart Miki, and the soccer club manager Kaori he  has a crush for.
 * Euro Footy: Seisuke is the star midfielder of AC Milan. At the end of the series, Kyosuke also goes pro for Dutch side AFC Ajax Amsterdam.
 * Expy: considering this series could be described as Slam Dunk meets Captain Tsubasa, expies are to be expected.
 * Kyōsuke: a high-egoed red-headed newbie that's a natural for Soccer. That says Hanamichi Sakuragi all over the place.
 * Miki : is clearly Sanae, but more Hot-Blooded.
 * Rodrigo: Kojiro Hyuuga.
 * Sakai: Genzo Wakabayashi.
 * Self-Plagiarism: Of Captain Tsubasa, another series by Takahashi.
 * She Is Not My Girlfriend: Kyōsuke and Miki, who vehementy do this in a synchro way, when meeting Kyōsuke's headmaster, and his Soccer team captain of his former Junior High School. They don't buy it one second.
 * To Be a Master: Well, duh.
 * Tsundere: Miki.
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: Kyōsuke, Rodrigo and Sakai love to bicker between each other, but they're tight-knit friends who share the same love for soccer, and will always jump to each other's help:, are the best examples of this.
 * Wax On, Wax Off: After Miki's goading, Kyosuke accepted her offer to coach the women's team, only to have them pick up stones and pebbles on the pitch as their "training". It appears that Kyosuke was only bullying them, but the Genre Savvy Miki believes that it is some conditioning exercise of sorts. It is later revealed in a flashback that Kyosuke and Seisuke used to do the same as a warm-up and to have a clean pitch to play on. Kyosuke also does them the favor of leveling the pitch using a manual roller before starting off their proper training.