Days - Episode 12 (Review)

By: AlanV[yasr_multiset setid=11] Miss my review of episode 11? Check it out here!Episode 12 of Days is all about the feels, from beginning to end. Instead of continuing to show how the game unfolded in the final minutes it jumps right into the aftermath, and does so with a vengeance.It starts off by showing some of the Seiseki players having a get together, but their attitudes do not match up with how the game ended. It’s easy to watch this scene and come to the conclusion that they won, only to be greeted with a nice sucker punch of having to see Kasahara have to say his goodbyes and realize his competitive soccer playing days are over. It’s a tough having to watch Kasahara swallow that pill.After having to deal with that brutal opening the story shifts over to Jun, who copes with the loss by playing futsal with some old friends. As the day progresses he begins to realize just how much he loves his teammates, even if it doesn’t make sense for him to care about a group of individuals full of so many quirks. It’s rewarding to see how much of an impact playing for a team full of people he cares about has on him, especially considering his experiences with past teams.Lastly, we get a look at how Tsukushi is doing after the loss. He is being incredibly hard on himself since he missed an amazing opportunity to score at the end. He is unable to sleep or cry; reverting back to his usual way of dealing with things, running. However, it stops him from being able to move on emotionally and mentally. He is snapped out of it by Chikako, who tells him he needs to release those emotions. So far the series has kept their relationship at arm’s length, so it’s nice to see this interaction.Unfortunately, we had to say goodbye to a character, but also got to see how the main characters dealt with defeat and show the resolve get stronger both on and off the field. It was light on soccer, but had the drama up on full blast.Days can be viewed on Crunchyroll, new episodes debut Saturday at 3:30PM EDT.