Ashito AOI is a 3rd year middle school student from the Ehime countryside who is a gifted soccer player. His dreams of joining a good high school soccer club were crushed when he caused an incident during a crucial match for his team, resulting in their loss and elimination from the tournament. Despite this setback, he attracts the attention of Tatsuya FUKUDA, a coach for the “Japan Youth League”. Since Ashito's family is poor, all he has when playing soccer are old and worn-out shoes. In order for Ashito to participate in the league selection and to achieve his dreams, his older brother spent all his hard-earned savings to provide Ashito with new shoes and travel expenses to Tokyo. This is an emotional roller-coaster story about the trials and tribulations of a boy who will revolutionise Japanese soccer.
Ao Ashi is a soccer anime based on the award-winning manga created by Yuugo KOBAYASHI and Naohiko UENO. The manga has been serialized in Shogakukan's weekly manga anthology magazine, Big Comic Spirits, since January 2015. The anime is directed by Akira SATO (Release the Spyce) with Masahiro YOKOTANI (Wasteful Days of High School Girls) responsible for the script and series composition. Production I.G will handle the anime adaptation, which will premiere in April 2022.
