| Neo-World Sport | |
|---|---|
| Created by | Akira Jotaro (aka Justice0) |
| Writer(s) | Akira Jotaro |
| Director(s) | Akira Jotaro |
| No. of episodes | 31 |
| Run time | 22-25 minutes |
Neo-World Sport is an anime that was written, directed, and created by Akira Jotaro who also created the anime Monster Parade, Monster Hunter Phantom, and Sengoku Busou: Kabuto.
The story is set in an artificial island in the Pacific Ocean that is close to Japan, taking place in year 25XX AD, where the world has been renamed Neo-Earth and a new sport known as Star Ball has become the greatest sport in the world. The story is about a formly great Star Ball team called Sky Knights, and one player's determination to bring them back to the top of the sports world.
Plot[]
After many long years of being the greatest team of Star Ball, the Sky Knights' had began to become worse as each year passes by. Now, the current team of the Sky Knights has become the worse of their history of long bad luck, having a losing streak of 19 losses in-a-row. As the youngest and ace member of the Sky Knights, Neo Yūsha, tries to encourage the team to be better and end the long history of bad luck, he only manages to encourage them enough to put them in a good mood until the middle of their game against the Brick Breakers, where the score is 27 Brick Breakers and 10 Sky Knights. At the end of the game, the score was 49 Brick Breakers and 13 Sky Knights, making it their 20th loss in-a-row; after the game, all of the players were depressed and many of them had left the team, leaving only three players left, Neo and the two newest members, Kidd Wilders and Bruce Arens. The next day, all the players except Neo, Kidd, and Bruce had turned in their resignations and had quit the Sky Knights, so the owner and coach, Kagami Skybourne, had decided to sell the team if they don't have at least seven new members by the end of the week, so Neo and the others had put up signs for the Sky Knights' recruiting. At the end of the week, Kidd and Bruce had managed to find 10 more players and reached three more than the minimum requirement, but, none of them had any real experience in Star Ball and only two of them were motivated enough to play; as Neo was about to give up Star Ball during his walk to the Sky Knights' office, he saw a young girl named Rena Silvers playing Star Ball in the streets like a professional and had recruited her into the Sky Knights. After four had dropped out, they had began training as Skybourne trains the new recruits to become professional Star Ball Players, they all go through many events and aim to become the best of the best.
Characters[]
Sky Knights Field[]
Neo Yūsha[]
- The main protagonist. He is 18 years-old and was the youngest player in the Sky Knights team until Rena had joined. He is the ace of the team and the most positive member of the team, usually trying to encourage the team to be better than their best and aim for the win. His position is Captain and he also has a signature kick that he calls Shooting Star Shot. His name means "New Hero", Neo meaning New, and Yūsha meaning Hero. He is voiced by Junji Majima.
Rena Silvers[]
- The main female protagonist and one of the 11 new recruits. She is 17 years-old and loves to work in a Chinese restaurant named Chunmei. She is still in high school and had only agreed to join the Sky Knights if they would sponsor Chunmei. She is the best Star Ball player of the Sky Knights' new members and was the key factor of most of the Sky Knights' wins. Her position is Striker. She is voiced by Maaya Sakamoto.
Kidd Wilders[]
- One of the newest Sky Knights players of the previous team, he is 19 years-old. He is a motivated and enthusiastic young man who wishes for the same dream as Neo. Though he is not a very powerful player, he is fast and has good control. His position is Sweeper. He is voiced by Mamoru Miyano.
Bruce Arens[]
- One of the newest Sky Knights players of the previous team, he is 22 years-old but looks like a middle-aged man. He often likes to make jokes and enjoys karaoke and is surprisingly a good singer. His position is Right Defender. He is voiced by Gackt.
Rolan Bats[]
- One of the 11 new recruits. He is 21 years-old but has the looks of an innocent high school student and also acts like one. He had believed that the Sky Knights had potential and has a chance to be the best team in Star Ball. His position is Goalie. He is voiced by Jun Fukuyama.
Noah Zashim[]
- One of the 11 new recruits. He is 28 years-old and had a dream to play in the World Star Cup (WSC) wether he wins or loses. He had not liked the Sky Knights but had joined them because it was the only chance for him to ever get a shot at the WSC. For a strange reason, he is usually the one who pays for the team when they eat out. His position is Left Defender. He is voiced by Unshō Ishizuka.
Gai Lesner[]
- One of the 11 new recruits. He is 32 years-old and very arrogant. He had joined the Sky Knights because he wanted to prove to them that his addition to the team would make the Sky Knights the best team in Star Ball. His position is Air Defender. He is voiced by Masashi Ebara.
Sky Knights Sidelines[]
Kagami Skybourne[]
- The owner and coach of the Sky Knights. He is a 37 year-old man who prefers to be called by his last name when he is at work and disapproves of letting girls join his team. He had let Rena join the Sky Knights because of her skills in Star Ball, but still disapproves it even though she had grown on him. He was inherited the Sky Knights when he was 19, after his father had too much stress due to the losses. He sometimes plays in the team as a Goalie or Captain. He is voiced by Fumihiko Tachiki and Atsushi Abe (young).
Riku Hariyama[]
- One of the 11 new recruits. He is 26 years-old and a former sumo wrestler from Japan who had gained interest in Star Ball and had lost lots of weight to try it out. His primary position is Defender and secondary position is Goalie. He is voiced by Kazuki Yao.
Rufus Tenshi[]
- One of the 11 new recruits. He is 24 years-old and a punk who dyed his hair yellow when he was 16 and kept it like that ever since. He had joined the Sky Knights because it was his mother's favorite team in Star Ball and told him to try it before she had died in the hospital. Though he thought that he wouldn't enjoy it much, it had actually turned out that he loved the sport as much as his mother did, even though he is only a subsitute player. His primary position is Striker and his secondary position is Defender. He is voiced by Kazuya Nakai.
Jeice Draco[]
- One of the 11 new recruits. He is a 25 years-old man who is often very serious about things and looks smart but is actually not so bright at all, and he also sometimes goes to a depression mode when he is wrong about his predictions. His primary position is Sweeper and his secondary position is Captain. He is voiced by Kenjirō Tsuda.
Nayu Asaga[]
- The manager of the Sky Knights. She is 24 years-old and her family had worked for the Sky Knights since the first Sky Knights team. She tends to remain calm no matter how crazy the team gets, but sometimes overreacts after eating new foods. She is the only other female member in the Sky Knights. She is voiced by Kikuko Inoue.
Star Ball[]
Star Ball is the world's most popular sport in year 25XX and had began in year 23XX. It is similar to soccer, volleyball, and American football. Star Ball requires a special item to play it, the item is called Star Shoes, which allows the wearers to float in the air for a certain amount of time.
Official Rules[]
Team Members[]
A team in Star Ball must have at least 10 players in an official match, seven on the field and at least three extra players to subsitute for the field players. Though the extra players are not actually needed, it is more of an insurance, just in case one of the field players leaves the field for a reason.
Field[]
The field of a Star Ball match must have two goals in each side of the field, one in the air and the other on the ground. The official field must be 90 meters long and 50 meters wide, and the goals must be 10 meters wide in the center of the field's ends. In the middle of the field, there is a line that seperates the teams' sides of the field and both sides of an official field must have yellow and blue lights; the yellow lights meaning the home team and the blue lights meaning the away team.
Field Starting Positions[]
Seven members of each team playing against each other must be on the field. The Captains' position must start in the center of the field and Goalies must be at least five feet away from the outside of the Goalie Area. Strikers can begin anywhere in the top right in their side of the field, while Sweepers can begin anywhere in the bottom left. Defenders begin any where in the bottom side in the position they are designated to, Left Defenders in the left, Right Defenders in the right, and Air Defenders in the middle, but Air Defenders must jump to the air right after the match starts.
Getting Goals[]
Scoring a point can be done by any field player in the match so long as they score with the right way of getting a goal. An aerial goal is 2 points, a ground goal is 1 point, and a goal from across the field is 5 points. If a team has 30 points more than the opposing team by the end of the round, the team with more points wins by default. To be able to get a point, an aerial goal must be from the air, meaning that the player can be anywhere to get the point except on the ground; a ground goal can be scored from anywhere but only with kick shots or hit shots and cannot be dribbled into the goal, otherwise, it's a foul.
Handling[]
On the ground, players must dribble the ball with their feet but can pass or shoot the ball with their hands. In the air, players have a limit of 6 seconds to stay in the air when they have the ball, and after 6 seconds, their Star Shoes will automatically turn off until they land on the ground. When in the air, players are aloud to carry the ball with their hands and aloud to do anything with the ball until their time limit runs out. Players are aloud to dunk the ball into the aerial goal if their air time limit is up.
Fouls[]
Like all sports, fouls in Star Ball result in a penalty.
List of Fouls and Penalties[]
- Out (Out of bounds) - The other team gets the ball
- Attack (Tackle on ground) - Warning
- Leaving (3rd tackle on ground) - Player must leave the field and be replaced for the rest of the game
- False (Ground shot to aerial goal) - No points
- Minus (Getting a goal in the wrong side) - Minus 1 point until 0
- Illegal Shot/Dunk (Putting the ball into the goal while not using a shot or dunk) - Minus 3 points until 0
- Default Victory (Having 30 less points than opposing team at the end of the round or having not enough players) - Opposing team automatically wins
- Destruction (Breaking something or injuring a non-player during a game) - Game ends as tie and restarts in a different date with the other team having a 5 point start
Official Teams[]
These are the official teams of Star Ball that were shown or talked about in the anime
- Sky Knights
- Brick Breakers
- Royal Blues
- White Diablos
- Hurricane Wings
- Sun Guards
- Heavy Hammers
- Great Armors
- Soul Samurai
- Hunters
- Pure Hearts