Aoki Densetsu Shoot!

Blue Legend Shoot! (Japanese; Aoki Densetsu Shoot! (蒼き伝説　シュート!) is a Japanese anime produced by Toei Animation between November 7, 1993 and December 25, 1994 on the Fuji TV television network; there were fifty-eight episodes. The story revolves around a boy named Toshihiko Tanaka, who has just started at Kakegawa High School in order to play soccer with his idol, Yoshiharu Kubo. Toshi's friends are not interested in playing soccer again this year until he convinces them to join the team. Soon, the team is entered into the All-Japan High School Championship.

The series is based on the manga Shoot! by Tsukasa Ōshima, which won the 1994 Kodansha Manga Award for shōnen.

Story
Toshihiko "Toshi" Tanaka joined the same soccer club that his idol, Yoshiharu Kubo plays for at Kakegawa High School. When Toshi played in junior high with two of his friends Kenji Shiraishi and Kazuhiro Hiramatsu, they were known as the Kakenishi golden trio. Now in high school, his friends do not want or cannot play soccer anymore. Hiramatsu is forced to study by his father so that he would become a respectable adult. However, Hiramatsu loves soccer and wants to play so he confronted his father and says that he wants to play soccer with his friends and that he would never understand his love for soccer. It turns out that his father played soccer during his youth and, remembering how much he loved it, decides to let Hiramatsu play soccer but under the condition that he will keep his grades up as well. Shiraishi on the other hand quit soccer because he lost his temper and got into a fight that ended up disqualifying their team. In the end, he joins the Kakegawa High School soccer club because he loves soccer and playing in the golden trio.

Tragedy struck Kake-High soccer club when they lost their captain and ace striker Yoshiharu Kubo. During the semifinal match against Kakekita, they were down with 2-1 with less than ten minutes left. Kubo was on defense helping Kenji defend the goal against Hirose's Knuckle Shoot, when he decided to make an effort to tie the game. Kubo took the ball from his own side of the pitch, passed every Kakekita player, and scored the tying goal. After the goal, Kubo collapsed and died after the game. Toshi scored the last and winning goal for Kake-High with the end result 2-3.

Afterwards, the team can't get over Kubo's death and lose to Fujita East before they get to the Nationals. Soon after, Mahori, a Brazilian-Japanese student appears. He decides to join their team after making a bit of mayhem. The whole team decides to follow Kubo's example and play fun soccer, vowing to get to the Nationals in his name.

Characters

 * Toshihiko Tanaka
 * The Main character of Aoki Densetsu Shoot! He's a freshman on the soccer team. At the very beginning when he joined the soccer club of Kakegawa High he's only assigned to do the laundry by Co-Captain Kamiya. But later on, as the team started to recognize how great he was during middle-school, they let him join the training
 * Kubo recognized that Toshi has different footings than other members. He's anxious when see Toshi was not balanced in stepping. After examining his legs, Kubo found out that Toshi's true strength lies in his left leg, not right leg. This caused Kubo to put him at separated training apart from their teammates. At first Toshi was disgraced and protested against him. But after rigorous shooting training when Kubo tested his left leg and ordered him to shoot using his left leg, Toshi discovered that he has immense weapon striker left leg that even caused Kubo to be amazed. His left leg shoots very hard. Later he was called "The miracle left", he become the new no. 10 and ace striker of the soccer team.


 * voiced by Hikaru Midorikawa
 * Jersey Number: 11 -> 10
 * Position: Striker
 * Class: Freshmen
 * Birthday: 22 July, 1975
 * H/W: 172 cm / 60 kg
 * Elated Skill: Golden Left Foot, Submarine Shot, Front Axial Shot, Two Plato Shot (with Kazuhiro)


 * Kazuhiro Hiramatsu
 * He's one of Toshi's best friends, since they were young. He stopped playing soccer to study more because of his father's will. But after Kazumi and Toshi talked to him playing soccer again, he tried to convince his father that he can play soccer AND study for his tests. In the end he's allowed to play soccer again after being told from his mother that his father also played soccer when he was young. He was remarked as the genius player through the anime. He is famous of his "Heel/Double Heel Shoot", which causes illusion that looks like the ball disappears. In the later end of series, when the anxious opponents have discovered the secrets of Double Heel Shoot and found a way to counter it, Kazuhiro lifted all his strength, creating a miraculous "Triple Heel Shoot" and tricked the awaiting opponents once again, making him an unstoppable player all the time with his Heel Shoots.


 * voiced by Masami Kikuchi
 * Jersey Number: 9
 * Position: Right Forward
 * Class: Freshmen
 * Birthday: 26 April, 1975
 * H/W: 170 cm / 59 kg
 * Elated Skills:Heel Kick, Double Heel Kick, Triple Heel Kick, Two Plato Shot (with Toshi)


 * Shiraishi Kenji
 * Kenji stopped playing soccer. He got his team disqualified from a tournament, because of a gang-fight. But like Kazuhiro he has been convinced to join the soccer team. His skills as a goal keeper are outstanding as he has a great sense of the direction the ball is following. He is hot-tempered and pick up fights easily, an example of this were the fights he had with Mahori when Mahori first joined the team. He is popular of his "Moon Salto Save". He found this move later in the series. With this move he defended the goal from Rudy's Wolf Shoot, making Kakegawa impenetrable. In fact, throughout the series he blocks many dangerous attacks using it, including his friend Toshi's Golden Shoot in their spare training.


 * voiced by Nobutoshi Canna
 * Jersey Number: 1
 * Position: Goal Keeper
 * Class: Freshmen
 * Birthday: 17 Aug, 1975
 * H/W: 174 cm / 63 kg
 * Elated Skills:Moon Ape Save, Headbutt Save


 * Kazumi Endo
 * The Manager of the soccer club. She's always there to cheer them up and stop the fangirls to get near 'her' team. Kazuhiro liked her, but she preferred Toshi. Then it's a love-rivalry between Toshi and Kazuhiro, although Toshi himself didn't regard Kazumi as his love and apparently didn't have so much interest in her.


 * voiced by Noriko Hidaka
 * Birthday: 1 April, 1975
 * Position: Team Manager
 * Class: Freshmen


 * Yoshiharu Kubo
 * Genius Kubo was an extremely skillful and talented soccer player. His opponent saw him as the biggest rival and threat; his teammates followed the light and hope shone from his football. He lived in Germany for years before going back to Japan. Although he was invited by a lot of big football school, he chose to build his own team and went to Kakegawa. Kubo's talent was extraordinary that led the newly formed team to the quarterfinal in the national tournament. Also, Kubo did the coaching job of the team too, he made the tactic and worked on the training of the team. The player had affected many people with his talent. Facing Kakekita in the province semifinal, Kubo wrote a legend by getting through all 11 opponents and put the ball in the net. Yet he used too much energy and died due to leukemia. He died in the age of 17. The members of the team carry on his will of "fun-soccer" during the rest of the series. Kubo had superior skills than other players, and he alone can execute one special shoot that later is done by combining Toshi and Kazuhiro together.


 * voiced by Toshio Furukawa
 * Jersey number: 10
 * Position: Mid Fielder
 * Class: Junior
 * Nickname: Genius
 * Birthday: 29 July, 1974
 * H/W: 179 cm / 65 kg
 * Elated Skill: Locus Shot (2 Axial Rotation Super-Breaking Shot)


 * Atsushi Kamiya
 * The Vice-Captain of the soccer team. He's always a bit rude, especially when it's something about Kubo, but still a good-hearted person. He used to play selfish in middle school and his team didn't accept him, but as Kubo joined them, they became a strong formation together. After Kubo dies he became Captain and also decided that Toshi'll become the new no. 10. Kamiya can seemed conceited some times but he is nothing like this.
 * As captain he has the air of a leader. He thinks fast creating strategies which can help the team and he is the one to motivate and help his teammates. He cares deeply for the team. After the loss of Kubo when everyone was depressed he was the one who stood strong and helped the other two understand that they had to be strong too. When Mahori appeared the club separated into two factions: those who agreed with Mahori that the team had to change its style, like Kazuhiro, Nitta and Akahori, and those who insisted on following Kubo's play, like Tanaka, Kenji, Yuutaka and Shigeki (who was the leader of this team). Kamiya arranged a practice match between the two teams with him as a referee. Through this match the second team found their past motive and way of playing ending to tie up the match in the last minute while they were losing making an all-out attack, with even Kenji leaving the post to score. After that everyone understood their mistake and decided to fight together till the end. Kamiya himself entered the match, seeing his teammates playing with their old style, not resisting in that making them look at him in surprise. Looking at this we can understand how he was thinking one step ahead of his teammates, especially after he took the place of the captain.
 * Kamiya makes an excellent playmaker. With his sharp pass he can easily confuse the opponent. As his skills were improving he became one of the best play makers of the nation. Moreover later his abilities were recognized and he was considered as good as Kubo, especially in the leading of his team.


 * voiced by Toshiyuki Morikawa
 * Number: 7
 * Position: Mid-fielder
 * Class: Junior
 * Birthday: October 11, 1974
 * Height: 175 cm
 * Weight: 63 kg
 * Elated Skills: Through Pass


 * Keigo Mahori
 * Keigo lived in Brazil for several years, and he got back to Japan just after Kubo died. Learning his skill from Brazil, the Samba technique excites the audience. He fills in Kubo's spot splendidly using his polished skills.Originally annoyed by his teammates because of his attitudes, it was him who pointed out that Kakegawas had to free themselves from Kubo's shadow.


 * voiced by Tomokazu Seki
 * Jersey Number: 11
 * Position: Mid Fielder
 * Class: Freshmen
 * Birthday: 8 Sep, 1974
 * H/W: 172 cm / 63 kg


 * Yutaka Sasaki
 * Sasaki wasn't considered a very good player. Sasaki his self entered the team to be with his best friend Nitta, as he was more into music and indeed a member of a band. However through the anime Sasaki shows very good skills, he was chosen for the main squad from the beginning while Nitta entered a lot later.But knowing the secret practices Nitta has after school, he is willing to accompany his friends instead of guitar practice. His stamina and Speed, which are fast as Kazuhiro's are remarkable and he seemed to get too close with the team later. When Kubo died in a conversation he mentioned that Kubo was the one who made him take the decision to enter too.


 * voiced by Isshin Chiba
 * Jersey Number: 6
 * Position: Forward
 * Class: Freshmen


 * Shinichi Nitta
 * He's a close friend of Sasaki. His role in story is minor. But surprisingly, he's often the savior in the heat of the game. His ability is creating offside-trap that often helped the team in dire situations when dangerous opponent strikers are attacking. His innocent face combined with great offside timing proves true alongside Kakegawa team. Although he's good at defending, he sometimes made mistakes by soloing the dribble pushing the opponents alone. This causes more advanced opponents to easily retake the ball from him and counterattack Kakegawa.


 * voiced by Yuusuke Numata
 * Position: Defender
 * Class: Freshmen


 * Shigeki Otsuka
 * Otsuka is big and strong player. His tackle and shooting are all about power. And he plays a very important role to the team. He is a good friend with Akahori and they went to the same junior high. He is a very impetuous and impulsive person. When the team was recruiting, he didn't want to join because he disliked the way Kamiya played. Kamiya then apologized and both Otsuka and Akahori joined the team at the end.


 * Jersey Number: 5
 * Position: mid-fielder
 * Class: Junior


 * Tsuyoshi Akahori
 * Akahori is very tall, standing 1.92 m. He is very tough in the defensive end. He took over the whole defensive responsibility on his own shoulders before Kenji came over as the goalie. Now, he is still the strongest and smartest defender in the team. Off the field, he is very kind and easy going. He can also play basketball well. In junior high, he used to play goalkeeper.


 * voiced by Shinichirou Ohta
 * Jersey Number: 2
 * Position: Defender/Sweeper
 * Class: Junior

Music

 * Opening theme: "Keep Going until Reaching your Dream"～ (Yell ~Anata no Yume ga Kanau Made~)" by WENDY
 * Ending themes
 * 1) "Sunao de Itai" by WENDY (1-46, 58)
 * 2) "Watashi Datte" by Noriko Hidaka (47-57)