Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de)
"Captain Tsubasa: Europe Daikessen" or "Captain Tsubasa: The Great Competition of Europe" or "Captain Tsubasa - Soccer Boys Europe Finals" is a Japanese anime short film from 1985 and the first movie about Tsubasa and his gang of football players. I cannot really say too much about cast and crew really, but to me this one looked a lot like the original series with the protagonists being not that young anymore. Content-wise it felt mostly like two episodes added together into one long episode and it also looked that way. There was the slightly over-the-top music, the over-the-top dramatization and the way-over-the-top action scenes and football movies. But it is still entertaining and charming, or maybe these references are just why it is entertaining and charming. The Japanese team travels to Europe here and plays against a European all-star team with players from france, Germany, England etc. Of course they cannot fit a whole tournament into slightly over 40 minutes, so they went for just one all-star game if you want to call it like that. I don't think I really have to give you a recommendation as you certainly should have seen several episodes from the original Tsubasa series when considering watching this one. If you haven't, then you may want to go for it instead and then decide for yourself, if this one is worth seeing. I personally would say it is as despite all the unrealistic moments, there is some decent charme to it all in my opinion. I give this one a thumbs-up and I honestly also liked for once that focus and attention were shared fairly and it is not all just about Tsubasa. By the way also nice to see so many familiar faces from the series in the Japanese team. Yeah, go check it out. A must-see for Captain Tsubasa fans and a worthy addiition to the franchise in my opinion.
