Aoi Ashito, the main protagonist of Aoashi, takes the common idiom "seeing from a bird's-eye view" to a whole new level when he discovers the true form of his innate ability, the Eagle Eye. Unlike other sports anime series which feature this ability, like Shun Izuki from Kuroko's Basketball, it is presented in this soccer anime series as front and center in the plot and not diluted by even more overpowered abilities.
In collaboration with the original manga artist, Yūgo Kobayashi, and the renowned production company, Studio I.G, Aoashi currently has one anime season released with twenty-four episodes which aired from April 2022 to September 2022. As the manga is still ongoing, there is not a confirmed second season. The story follows Aoi Ashito, a down-on-his-luck middle-school soccer player who lost his last tournament. Through a mix of luck and skill, he's invited to participate in the tryouts at Tokyo Esperion Youth Academy, an elite training school for aspiring soccer players wishing to be on the world stage. Throughout the series, he's shown to subconsciously access his Eagle Eye skill during practice and competitive matches. As the series progresses, he grows more and more conscious of this ability turning instincts into strategies.
What is the Eagle Eye?
The Eagle Eye, as described by the anime, is the ability to not only memorize the positions of every player on the soccer field but also to precisely predict their movements several seconds in advance. This description and portrayal are very similar to Kuroko's Basketball's Eagle Eye and Hawk Eye. Aoashi, however, tends to lean toward a more realistic deliverance, as only one or two managers are able to tell what is going on. So, even as Aoi's eyes light up for dramatic effect, the sole indicator of this change in his vision is the outcome of his play.
Eagle eye vision, as described by vision specialists, centers on the shape, acuity, position, and focus of eagles themselves. Unlike humans, who have eyes on the fronts of their faces, the eyes of eagles are on their sides giving them a panoramic perspective. Due to this perspective, when they do want to focus on a particular prey or object, they have to turn their heads. Astonishingly, they perform this head-turn movement every five seconds. Likewise, due to the oil produced in their cone photoreceptors, they are able to see more vivid colors on top of already being able to see ultraviolet rays. According to Insight Vision Center, the visual acuity of eagles is 20/5 or 20/4 in comparison to humans, who at normative best, reach a maximum of 20/20.
How the Eagle Eye is Used: Tier One
Within season one, there are several instances when Aoi uses his Eagle Eye to disrupt or utilize the positions of the players on the soccer field whether that be his enemies or his allies.
The first notable time is during episode four around the twelve-minute mark at the final match of the tryouts. Aoi gets into a zone-like state, and the scene switches to a black backdrop and the positions of every player are highlighted. He draws out three of the enemy players and then masterfully passes the ball to the opposite wing of the field. Not only did he take into account the positions of his teammates but also where the enemy team would leave an opening. What's even more startling is that this highly-complex play-making strategy was made without him thinking about it.
Another time is during episode seven around the ten-minute mark. The setting of this episode is an intra-squad youth match pitting Team B players against each other in order to be qualified to move up to Team A, the main goal for Aoi during this season. Aoi closes the gap between the enemy defender and himself by slowly walking towards him throwing the enemy off balance and ends up scoring a goal for his team during the confusion. This ability serves not only for positioning purposes but also for attacking purposes as a forward.
How the Eagle Eye is Used: Tier Two
As the series progresses so does the maximum potential of Aoi's Eagle Eye. The more knowledgeable that Aoi becomes about the basics of soccer techniques, such as "Kill It, Then Kick It" and "The Triangle," the better his field of vision improves ultimately buffing his innate visual ability.
One of the more subtle times when Aoi uses this skill is during episode nine around the thirteen-minute mark when Aoi notices what his friends were ordering from where he was sitting and grabs the appropriate condiments to accompany their food choices. It is only made apparent to the audience that this is a nearly impossible feat when his friends act shocked that Aoi could see from that far away with that level of detail. Like an eagle, he has a long-range lens that can identify targets with incredible accuracy from a ridiculous range.
Perhaps one of the most vital scenes in the anime is where Aoi, in episode twelve around the seven-minute mark, combines the concept of the Triangle with his Eagle Eye. Accumulating everything that he's learned from his teammates and his coaches, his Eagle Eye unlocks its next advanced form: prediction.
During this scene, he not only can see the tips of the Triangles made by his teammates and the enemy team members, but he can also predict based on their positions where they will be a second or so into the future and act upon that split-second information.
How the Eagle Eye is Used: Tier Three
The final enhancement to Aoi's Eagle Eye is displayed in episode seventeen around the sixteen-minute mark when he combines everything that he's learned in the series to create a complete field-wide mental image. During this scene, he realizes that by merging the positions of the players with the spaces that are created in between them, he is able to manipulate or orchestrate the path to scoring based on where he creates or destroys the spaces for his team and the enemy team. Additionally, once he is able to verbalize his thinking in the form of "barking orders" to his teammates, he is able to fully realize the strategy and foresight within his mind.
The climax of the season is in episode twenty-four around the six-minute mark when Aoi is able to use his Eagle Eye to its maximum potential. What is most exciting about this scene for the audience is that he is now able to improvise and apply not only the basics but also create new tactics. While the concept of doing a diagonal run, as described in this episode, is a huge risk, he turns it into a viable tactic due to his broader view of the field and the players.
Is Aoi's Eagle Eye Realistic?
According to Moorestown Eye Associates, the highest visual acuity a human can have is 20/10 which is about 20 feet. Based on the dimensions of a real-world soccer field which is 360 feet long and 225 feet wide, Aoi's Eagle Eye is much more about dramatization than realism in the world of sports. However, that's not to say that none of Aoi's abilities exists in real life, to a certain exact.
For example, Aoi's ability to memorize every player's position on the soccer field is reminiscent of the commonly-known memorization skill, photographic memory. As seen in episode ten around the sixteen-minute mark, Aoi draws a field-wide map of where every player stood during the game with perfect accuracy. Yuma and the other two students who realized this mind-blowing talent explained that at best they could only remember their own position or at most the positions of the two players who were standing next to them.
Additionally, the head-turning technique he uses in the later episodes of the season also matches closely to what eagles do to focus closer on an object. In Aoi's case, he uses it to fill in the gaps in his vision which allows him to expand his view of the field even more than before when he was limited to his role as a forward. Copying what Haruhisa Kuribayashi does reflexively in his games, Aoi is able to combine his exceptional memorization and spatial awareness to create the Eagle Eye effect even without an actual eagle's 20/5 visual acuity.
Aoashi takes on the challenge of applying the anatomical abilities of an eagle to the realm of sports anime. While not always the most realistic, the audience can enjoy the absurdity of this ability as portrayed in the anime while also can marvel at the aspects of realism spread throughout the series. Avid watchers will have to wait and find out whether Aoi's Eagle Eye undergoes even more upgrades in the seasons to come.
Source(s): Moorestown Eye Associates, All About Vision, Insight Vision Center, & Backyard Sidekick.