Ashito has just finished his first match for the A team of the Esperion in the previous volume but the balance is gloomy for the beginner. Will this volume 14 finally show its success?
A bitter defeat
This volume opens with the victory of the A team in the first league. Ashito held on, but he didn't convince. The hero of the series seems to return to the starting point. He no longer has confidence in himself because he feels overwhelmed by technique and physique. He feels perhaps his greatest frustration since the beginning of the series especially since his weakness is confirmed by the coaches. According to them, Ashito doesn't even deserve to be on the substitutes' bench. He must regain the cruel place of spectator in the stands. This regression does not affect his determination because he sees this delay as a challenge. Ashito was able to chat in the previous volume with the club's international hopeful, Harushisa Kuribayashi. According to him, Ashito had the qualities to be a versatile player.
This volume finds the workouts.These pauses allow you to deepen further into the psychological reflections of the characters and their actions to become better people. The book goes back to Ashito's childhood to understand his rapid way of progressing. It started outside the norm.Humor is present as when players kidnap defenders.Screenwriter Yugo Kobayashi also goes off the field to narrate Ashito's complex loves.
Between childhood and adulthood 
In Ashito's new team, the pressure is high both to be at the level and to stand out in order to reach professionalism. It is the law of the strongest pushed to the maximum. Kuribayashi compares the high school championship to an army because the coach has full authority over his troops and imposes his ideology. A player is dryly put in his place. A player must remain humble, accept his shortcomings to be able to overcome them. You have to be the best, but the bad guys are those who refuse solidarity and mutual aid. An exercise shows it in this volume and Anri Kaido criticizes the jealousy of Keiji Togashi.
On the contrary, the B team was a place of training, a school. The arrival of young people in Group A is even harder. Young people are overwhelmed in all areas. In addition, the incumbents have experience of competition and more and more automatisms. Hearing the coaches talk to each other, the promoted feel humiliated. They are not at the level.With the arrival of Kuribayashi and players returning from injuries, there is no place for them. Everyone risks being relegated to the B team.
The youngest must ask the older ones to progress. Coach Tatsuya Fukuda is getting more and more involved. He returns to the field and does not hesitate to invest outside his working hours. However, the adult does not have to explain everything, but this educational relationship goes both ways. The player who teaches learns as much as the one who listens. This transmission between the players, between them and the coaches runs through this volume.
Edited by Mangetsu, these episodes of Ao Ashi outside of a match might appear optional. However, this volume proves otherwise. This is when players like Ashito experiment, learn concepts and techniques that they can test in matches. Individual ambition is essential. It is she who pushes everyone upwards, but it is not enough.
Find on the site other football manga of Mangetsu with Deep 3 and Ping Kong.
