Ao Ashi: Where does the anime leave off in the manga? Explained

Over the past year, Ao Ashi has become a well-known anime with a strong fan base. Viewers have been anticipating the second season of Ao Ashi since the first season ended in September 2022.

However, for those who have seen the first season and are waiting for the second installment, they might want to pick up the manga in the meantime. As such, readers can begin with the 118th chapter of the manga, which is the content that comes after what was covered in the first season of the anime.

At the end of Ao Ashi season 1, fans got to see the protagonist Ashito being selected to Team A, for which he had practiced a lot. Not only Ashito but Togashi, Kuroda, and Ohtomo also got selected for Team A. Akira Sato, known for his work on Gosick, Fate/Grand Order: The Movie: Divine Realm of the Round Table: Camelot, Deadman Wonderland, Cardfight!, Vanguard G, etc., directs the anime series.

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The second season of Ao Ashi will follow events happened that happened after chapter 117 of the manga

Based on an idea by Naohiko Ueno, Ao Ashi is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yugo Kobayashi. Since January 2015, it has been published in Shogakukan's seinen manga magazine Weekly Big Comic Spirits. In May 2021, Production IG announced that they would make an anime version, which ran from April to September 2022.

Ao Ashi has completed one season of broadcasting so far. The first season consists of 24 episodes, each lasting 24 minutes. Season 1 adapted 12 volumes of the manga, which, when taken as a whole, leaves a lot of room for more manga content to be adapted in season 2. As discussed earlier, this means that fans waiting for the second installment can pick up the manga and start reading from chapter 118 to get an understanding of what to anticipate next in the series.

The manga series currently has 325 chapters and is still ongoing. This indicates that even after adapting content for the second season, there will be a possibility of a third installment as well. However, for now, it is anticipated that this season will be more exciting because several other characters will be introduced later in the story.

Ao Ashi is thought to be popular enough to warrant a second season at Production I.G. The anime now has an IMDB rating of 8.1/10, an Anime-Planet rating of 4.2/5, and a MyAnimeList rating of 8.26/10. Manga sales have also gone up in Japan because of the anime. In February 2023, it held the fourth position in the top five on Oricon Weekly, which tracks sales of manga.

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What is the anime about?

Ashito (Image via Production IG)

Ao Ashi follows the young protagonist, Ashito Aoi, who is a football player from Ehime. However, his hopes of getting into a good high school with a good football club are crushed when he causes an incident during a crucial match for his team, resulting in their loss and elimination from the tournament.

Nonetheless, he attracts the attention of an important visitor from Tokyo. The person is revealed to be Tatsuya Fukuda, who is the coach of one of the top J-League clubs' youth teams, Tokyo City Esperion FC. As Tatsuya spends time with Aoi, he sees potential in him and wants to bring him to the selection tryouts.

With Tatsuya inviting Aoi, the latter goes to the big city, hoping that his dream won't be crushed and that he can continue to become a pro.

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Although Production I.G. is yet to confirm the production of Ao Ashi season 2, viewers can meanwhile catch up with the first season on Netflix Japan, Crunchyroll, and Disney+ International, all with English subtitles.