It’s smart how this series goes with Ashito because it is a very natural way to teach soccer to both the reader and Ashito. As we learn, the concept of the triangle is very foundational. Ashito’s roadblock with that felt natural because with his personality, it would make sense he would take the harder route, asking Coach Nozomi for help before asking Kuroda and Asari.
What is really cool to see is Ashito’s intuitive skills taking the concept of a triangle and forming a new triangle, replacing Kuroda with Ootomo. It’s scary where Ashito’s skills are, where he can intuitively predict where they went.
What is most curious is that he also catches the eye of Kuribayashi. Who serves as a goal for Ashito to reach. After all, he is a high schooler much like Ashito, but he made his J-League debut. As in his conversation with Anri Kuribayashi always says he has 4 options available for him. For Ashito this is mind-blowing because he only thinks of one option. The key is that Ashito looks for the best option but more than likely can settle. While Kuribayashi first finds his 4 options and chooses the best out of them. That is true optimal play that would
Of course, watching this does motivate Ashito. The problem is he keeps looking for the flashy play that Kuribayashi performed in the J-League game. Nozomi offers great advice in that if he wants to emulate Kuribayashi, he should emulate all of it. As for Kuribayashi, he doesn’t look for the flashy pass as anything special. This proves that Nozomi is a great coach because he knows how to direct Ashito in the right direction.
Speaking on Nozomi you can tell something is up when Fukuda tells Nozomi to tell Ashito to come to the clubhouse. As Nozomi knows how to direct and coach Ashito. Meanwhile, Fukuda does something entirely different because his vision with Ashito’s initiatives would make him the ideal fullback. The series has shown why Fukuda feels this way. With that being said, this is completely against what Ashito is passionate about. He wants to be the greatest forward and score. We can already see in the final page that Ashito is not taking this well. How he progresses will be very interesting.
