Yeah I was sad they changed it up. I don't mind that much when the anime is a bit different from the manga but sometimes it could feel like something is missing and I felt that with the first episode. It seems like they wanted to get straight into the soccer instead of really telling the characters stories first.
Right ... the bullying gives his character background and helps him out come his shyness and negativity on having friends..... and shows his loyalty and determination to fulfill a promise to his friend no matter what..that's what I think
...compare to the anime which they cut to only the parts that lead to the next scene the fastest...
Yup...it's really too bad they did that :(.
I saw that too. I felt like the pace in the anime is a little fast.
The anime just came out and for some reason they have changed certain parts of the manga.... for example, when the main characters meet and how he got to the first game of soccer.... like really they took the bullying and the heavy rain.... ╮(￣▽￣)╭
But it was OKAY for the first episode..