A Little Story of Wakabayashi Genzo

Hey, guys.. I have this crush.. on a comic character. In the story, he is a football player, tall, well-built. He's not hard to be recognized on the field, because he always wears a cap and stands in the same spot every match. He has one job.. keeps the goal. After all, he's the only player who can touch the ball with his hands. He's the only Super Great Goal Keeper that you will ever find in the Captain Tsubasa universe created by Yoichi Takahashi in 1981 (can you believe how long this shounen series has been running?) He's Wakabayashi Genzo.

I fell in love with Genzo since last year, I was 15 and he, in the story, was around 12. But that doesn't make me a pedophilia, I swear, 'cause he looked much older than his age. Moreover, I skipped a lot on my reading and suddenly after a handful of chapters he turned 15. So, there's no age difference problem. Back to how I was charmed by a teenage football player, I blame that on his early charismatic and gentleman attitude, his leadership, his decisiveness, his loyalty to his friends, and his will to sacrifice for the team's sake. Genzo sounds so perfect right now, but, believe me, he had some issues. More like some sort of savior complex. He would do anything to help his friends, even if that makes them hate him. He sacrificed his own happiness for his friends' future. Outside the field, he also made himself emotionally unavailable. But, with a few people that is really close to him, he will open up. He will talk about how proud he is of his friends, how he hopes they shine and how he wants to be put back in the same team again and play for the same country along with them. Oh, poor my heart.

I did a research. According to myAnimeList, "Genzo always keeps his feelings to himself and people close to him as seen in Shin Captain Tsubasa, when he's willingly criticize his teammates' performance in order to make them realize that football in Europe is different than what they play in Japan. His actions caused a lot of Japanese players to dislike him and Genzo only told Tsubasa his true intentions."

No one question Genzo's skill. If you read the manga, you knew that he has been training from hell since he's a kid. He's the youngest son of a well off family, but he's not a spoiled brat. Obviously his parents are pleased to have a personal trainer taught their son from elementary days and brought him to Germany to pursue an international career.

But what makes me engaged to Genzo the most is his character development. He was first shown as a jerk-ass. He tended to be selfish, and brag about his skills before he met and played a couple of games against Tsubasa. After his draw against Tsubasa, he has learned to be a better man.

It's not an overnight change, it's a learning process through experience. In the natural law of Captain Tsubasa, defeat means friendship. Finally, 12-year-old Genzo has found his match. Oozora Tsubasa, whom Genzo believes to be the best player in the world, has offered Genzo the best friendship of all time! Tsubasa is Genzo's moral compass and Genzo is Tsubasa's inspiration to train abroad. 

They made a lot of promises. One of them happens to be in the manga volume 13 chapter 50 which they promised to meet again in the Japanese National Team. I cried during this chapter. That farewell messages on the cap was so sweet.. After that, Genzo set off to West Germany. Tsubasa stayed in Japan and studied in Nankatsu JHS, but eventually made it to Brazil.

"Everyone's Setting Off"

The funny thing is that 3 years after, Wakabayashi was reunited in Germany with his old friends that had made their way to be Japan Jr. Soccer Team, only to shatter their bonds by playing the "evil role". 

The first confrontation between Japan Jr. Soccer Team and Genzo. Kojiro, the captain, refuses to be looked down before the match even begin.

Genzo is seriously pissing All Japan off. But, I get why he did this. He's just trying to make them aware of how great their opponents are. The fire ignited by Genzo inside Hyuga and the others somehow can pushes them over the limit. They need that kind of boost right now.

And that leads us to this mess, started by Genzo. At this point, I'm starting to worry about Genzo and Kojiro's relationship *sigh*. Being a girl I am, I never like when these boys are fighting. Genzo, you're really knock it out of the park on angering Kojiro.

I find that Jerk with a Golden Heart trait of Genzo to be endearing. I mean, who doesn't love bad boys with good intentions. 

Mikami visits Genzo. It is revealed that Mikami asked Genzo to act that way. Japan Jr. Soccer Team isn't strong enough to defeat Hamburg SV anyway, so the positive reinforcement is worth to try.

Now we know that Genzo didn't mean any of the words he said, but he had to say it to pull the best of Kojiro.
When will you stop concealing your feelings?

Fortunately, their tense interaction didn't last long. Soon after that, Hyuga found out that Genzo was only trying to help Japan Jr. Soccer Team. The rest of the team reconciliated with Genzo, even supported him to be a substitute keeper for Wakashimazu. 

Thank you, Kojiro, for clearing out everything.

Come on, Genzo.. ^_^

"HELL YEAH!" is all I can say.

Hey, Germany players, surprised? It's amusing to see their reaction when they realized that they were going to challenge their beloved keeper (Genzo used to play for Hamburger SV).

And to prove that, Wakabayashi made a lot of brilliant savings in the final match against Germany. There's still so much thing I want to tell, especially about this match. But, I don't want this post to be any longer. So, I think I will save the story for later.

Aaaaah.. I'm so happy to have my feelings out. I can't be more proud of my SGGK. Now I can sleep well.

Genzo always keeps his feelings to himself and people close to him as seen in Shin Captain Tsubasa, when he's willingly criticize his teammates' performance in order to make them realize that football in Europe is different than what they play in Japan. His actions caused a lot of Japanese players to dislike him and Genzo only told Tsubasa his true intentions.
Read more at http://myanimelist.net/character/15027/Genzo_Wakabayashi#oIFU53tUXR4Ub7C7.99

Genzo always keeps his feelings to himself and people close to him as seen in Shin Captain Tsubasa, when he's willingly criticize his teammates' performance in order to make them realize that football in Europe is different than what they play in Japan. His actions caused a lot of Japanese players to dislike him and Genzo only told Tsubasa his true intentions.
Read more at http://myanimelist.net/character/15027/Genzo_Wakabayashi#oIFU53tUXR4Ub7C7.99