garfield15
Kamen Rider Meta
Oh sure, you could go to ANN and read the plot description of
But that doesn't even begin to describe even a fraction of how insane this show is.
At heart, the show is completely and utterly focused on soccer, soccer, soccer and football...you know, soccer. It also completely utilizes the shounen sports tropes of teamwork, friendship and how guts and courage conquer all to win the day. You know, the basic shounen hero tropes. However, if I was to describe it in a few words, I would say....
Imagine Eyeshield 21 but you know how they added like effects and stuff to make it seem more exciting? Yeah, now put those beyond the impossible and crank them up to 11. Like Beyblade level. This is a very shounen show. Constant screams of "Soccer does not work that way!" could probably be heard by various viewers. Now, I am one who has a high level of suspension of disbelief. So, I wasn't bothered by the striker shooting a flaming kick as he jumps like 30 feet into the air. I wasn't annoyed by the giant hand that comes out of the goalkeeper in one big G Gundam reference ("GOD HAND!"). I wasn't even flinching at the Occult soccer team that could paralyze the players with hypnotism. Yes, you read that right. Hypnotism.
No, it was when they were summoning giant stone walls out of nowhere to guard the goal that I realized that this was incredibly Beyond the Impossible. (Oh and triple kicks on a ball. And did you know you can punch a soccer ball like something out of Hajime no Ippo?). Still don't believe me? You know what kicks off season 2?
[hide]Soccer....Aliens.[/hide]
This has a lot of shounen action in it. Many over-the-top attacks are launched, characters get injured in ways that are incredibly illegal normally and, of course, Calling Your Attacks is incredibly prevalent. I don't think Eyeshield 21 ever did it this much. It's almost like I'm watching Digimon sometimes. Personally, though that sort of thing is fun for me. Once you understand how the show works, you can enjoy it's nature. Yeah, these moves would be incredibly impossible to do in real life and sometimes border on the utterly crazy but that's the charm of it. Shows aimed at kids get like that.
A strong point of this show is the surprisingly stellar voice cast. Most of the voices of the main characters are people you've heard before. For example, the first thing you'll note Mamoru being played by Junko Takeuchi, aka Naruto, as well as Gouenji played by Gainer, and so on like Kidou being played by Kimblee (which is AWESOME) and even better, Fubuki Shirou being played by "I am Gundam" Mamoru Miyano. There's a lot of other good voices too.
However, a show is nothing without the plot. This has a surprisingly deep plot underneath it's soccer obession. There is a lot of character development over the course of the show and the way it focuses on everybody (though that tends to slow down as the show goes on) is a major accomplishment. Also, it has a great villain in Kageyama. He will literally do anything to destroy the main group from blackmail to sabotage to even plotting murder (seriously). Also, the girls aren't [strike]complete[/strike] doormats shafted out of the character development. Hooray.
So, give it a check out. You could use the OP 1 as a reference but the experience would be lacking.
(There's an episode where two guys kick a ball so hard, it tears a hole in the fabric of the space-time continuum)
