DAYS: Touin Gakuensen

I've been fairly clear in this blog about my lack of enthusiasm for shounen shows in general and shounen sports shows in particular. I've never had much interest even in exemplars of the genre like Ace of the Diamond, Yowamusha Pedal, or Kuroko's Basketball, to name just a few recent monster hits. Yet Orphan is now releasing the three-episode soccer OVA DAYS: Touin Gakuensen (DAYS: Touin Academy Battle). Accordingly, you're entitled to ask "Why?" The answer is, Sunachan loved the show, bought the DVDs, and translated them, and at Orphan Fansubs (and every other original-translation fansubbing group I've worked with), translators rule.

If you're not familiar with DAYS, it's a 24-episode series broadcast in 2016 and streamed by CrunchyRoll. It tells the story of the Seiseki High School team in general and of Tsukamoto Tsukushi in particular. Tsukushi is weak and shy, a target for bullies, but he falls in with eccentric soccer genius Kazama Jin and decides to join the Seiseki soccer team. Despite his lack of talent, his dogged determination and overwhelming energy help propel the team to a winning season. Following the TV series, there have been two sets of OVAs. The 2017 OVAs were side stories. 2018's Touin Gakuensen continues the main storyline, presenting Seiseki's match against the favored Touin Academy in the finals of the National Tournament preliminaries.

The cast is a who's who of contemporary voice actors:

• Yoshinaga Takuto (Tsukushi) starred in Beatless and is currently appearing as Kariya in Hinomaru Sumo.
• Matsuoka Ysohtsugu (Jin) starred as Souma in all the Shokugeki no Souma franchise, the hero Bell in the Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru properties, the male lead Sorato in Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo, and numerous other leading roles.
• Namikawa Daisuke (Mizuki, the Seiseki captain) played Takeru in the Freedom OVAs, Tokunaga in the just-completed Gurazeni, Tooru in Haikyuu!!, Italy in the Hetalia franchise, Hisoka in Hunter x Hunter (2011), and my personal favorite, the demon-summoning detective Akutabe in the Yondemasu yo, Azazel-san franchise. He also appeared in Sangokushi 2 and Cosprayers, both Orphan releases.
• Ise Mariya (Ubukata, the Seiseki manager and strategist) starred as Killua in Hunter x Hunter (2011), Reg in Made in Abyss, Stocking in Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt, and Eco the dragon girl in Dragonar Academy, among many other leading roles.
• Nakamura Yuichi (Hoshina, Touin's captain) starred as Shinkaku in the just-completed Bakumatsu, Tada in Tada-kun wa Koi wo Shinai, Kyousuke in Ore no Imouto, Hotarou in Hyouka, and Okitsu in DIVE!!, to name just a few of his star turns. He showed his comedic flair as Grizzly-san in Shirokuma Cafe, an Orphan release.
• Ono Daisuke (Kimishita, a Seiseki midfielder) is one of the most famous current seiyuu. He has starred as Erwin in the Shingeki no Kyojin franchise, Handa in Barakomon, the demonic butler Sebastian in the Kuroshitsuji franchise, Kyouma in Dimension W, Midorima in the Kuroko's Basketball properties, Sinbad in the Magi properties, and too many other roles to mention. He was wonderful as Llama in Shirokuma Cafe, an Orphan release; you should listen to his ending song, Lamambo (Llama Mambo).
• Miyano Mamoru (Ooshiba, the goofy Seiseki forward) seems to be everywhere in modern anime. He starred as Light in Death Note, Kei in Ajin, Eiji in Antique Bakery, Osamu Dazai in Bungou Stray Dogs, Rin in the Free! franchise, Reinhard von Lohengramm in the recent TV version of Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Shotaro in Skip Beat, the hero Riku in Tokimeki Memorial ~Only Love~, and many more. And he played Crested Porcupine and Alpaca in Shirokuma Cafe.
• Sakurai Takahiro (Usui, Seiseki's co-captain) starred as Mitsuya in the marvelous Fune wo Amu, the unfortunate Kazuhito in Inu to Hasami wa Tsukaiyou, Misaski in the Junjou Romantica franchise, Reigen in Mob Psycho 100, and of course, Polar Bear himself in Shirokuma Cafe. (His ending song is also not to be missed). He played Atsumu in AnoHana, Suzaku in the Code Geass franchise, Yu Kanda in D.grayman, Guice in the Zero no Tsukaima properties, Bernhard in Maria the Virgin Witch, and many other great roles.
• Yasumoto Hiroki (Inohora, Seiseki's goalkeeper) starred as Hoozuki in the Hoozuki no Reitetsu series, Germany in the Hetalia franchise, and the bear in Kumamiko.  He played the hero's wingman Bonba in the Himouto shows, the antagonist Yuuri in Megalo Box, Kinjo in the Yowamushi Pedal franchise, and many other roles.
• Oosaka Ryota (Isurugi, Touin's goalkeeper) starred as Eijun in the Ace of the Diamond franchise, Mutsumi in All Out!, Staz in Blood Lad, Satan in Hataraku Maou-sama!, Lucifier in the High School DxD shows, Montmorcey in the just completed Ulysses, and other roles too numerous to list.
• Konishi Katsuyuki (Nakazawa, Seiseki's coach) is an industry veteran. He starred as Kamina in Tengen Toppan Gurren Lagann and Ren Tsuruga in Skip Beat. He played America in the Hetalia franchise, Haji in Blood+, Beelzebub in Hoozuki no Reitetsu, and many other featured roles. He played Full Time Panda (and Adélie Penguin) in Shirokuma Cafe.

It's almost as if the casting director said, "I need voices for a dozen bishounen; round up the usual suspects!" The director, Uda Kounosuke, helmed another soccer series, Ginga e Kickoff, and is currently directing Hinomaru Sumo, which is about as canonical a shounen sports show as you can imagine.

Sunachan bought the DVDs and translated the show. ninjacloud timed. I edited and typeset (typesetting is minimal, except for the damned whiteboard diagrams). BeeBee and Topper3000 QCed. bananadoyouwanna encoded from Sunachan's DVDs. I must give a special shout-out to my editing colleague, FD. He did a thorough technical check on the soccer jargon in the episodes; without his help, the show would have sounded like basketball rather than soccer. However, I must emphasize that any remaining errors are my own.

So if you liked DAYS, or if you like shows about soccer, or if you like sports anime in general, then DAYS: Touin Gakuensen is for you. You can get the OVAs from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.