Kakeru takes on his role on the field as a forward and Suguru repetitively gives him his strong passes even though his brother misses them by inches, but the two continue and Kakeru finally manages to catch the pass, however the first time he avoids shooting with his left and did a sloppy shot. The second time Kakeru finally kicks with his left, but it goes flying out the field. He is then subbed and later after the practice he hears his brother talking with Nana about he won’t let him play in a game because he lacks the heart to do so.

Impression:
I went back to check whether I read the manga or not- turns out I did, but stopped reading it at some point (mainly forgotten).
I was shocked at how much they had completely changed what happened in the manga and hidden some dialogue (to conceal the Alien’s identity). I suggest that you read Chapter 4 and 5 (*chapter 6 has spoilers) right now so that you can understand what really happened, what you missed and see what dialogue was skipped.
The episode was good, but also brutal. Anyone who read/has been reading the manga probably feels the same way I do. It was quite painful to watch. The minute morning scene started I slowly started dying inside. I knew exactly what was about to happen and oh my god- all sweet and happy and- oh god it’s just killed me inside. I also am aware of the results, but I won’t say for spoiler reasons.
We were able to learn about Kakeru’s reason for not wanting to kick with his left foot- and to be honest, I find it slightly silly to be guilty of for so long. I guess it’s ‘acceptable’ because he was young, but it doesn’t change the fact that he should let it go. Injuries happen, you can’t stop it. If he did directly cause the injury by injuring the player himself, that’d be a whole different story. Right now, the way I see it- the player injured himself by losing his footing after getting confused and trying to move to defend Kakeru. Let me tell you, you’d be surprised how ridiculously easy it is to injure your ligament just by losing your footing and trying to gain balance or falling. In my experience, I was lucky enough that I didn’t tear it, instead I had sprained it- and you want to know how it happened? The stupidest way possible- pivoting slowly. This by the way happened during Basketball practice, not in soccer (considerably lucky too, it would’ve been a hell of  a bitch to take off the shoe, then the socks, and then what would probably be the most brutal part – the shin-pads). At least the positive thing of all this is that Kakeru himself admits that he is aware that it’s an excuse (the ‘reason’ to avoid kicking with his left foot).
Suguru knows his brother so well and it frustrates him that Kakeru lacks confident. It was heartbreaking to see him smile and wake up from a great dream of him and his brother playing together in the World Cup. I respect Suguru a lot for how much he tries supporting his brother and encouraging him to get his ass back on the field. *I can’t help but cry because he’s an awesome character and I’m going to miss him so much. ;A;*

Eva

Blogging Anime since Summer 2009, & Founder of AngryAnimeBitches Anime Blog ...I may or may not be addicted to writing