Hyuuga's favorite drink is Coca-Cola, and he consumes it whenever he can despite knowing how it's not healthy. So why does he insist in drinking something that could potentially cause him health troubles when consumed in excess? That's because Hyuga was VERY poor as a kid so he couldn't afford to drink Coca-Cola regularly. (And one of his part-time jobs was carrying around empty bottles); now that he has a regular income and a good part of his goals are secured, he feels that he can allow himself that little pleasure. You can say it's a bit of Comfort Food effect.
It also makes sense that Hyuuga mellows out more once he no longer has to worry about money. When his family's livelihood was at stake playing as aggressively as he did made sense, because anything that debilitated the other team not only increased his chance to win, but also was another step toward securing his family's livelihood. Back then he probably felt that if he took it soft his family would suffer for it.
Also Kira Kouzou, his father figure, first trainer and childhood hero, lost his wealth, career and sanity (becoming a bitter drunkard) when the aggressive players of the British team gave the Japanese team he was playing with a crippling defeat by playing aggressively. Since Kira Kouzou spent most of Hyuuga's training teaching him that being on the receiving end is worse than being the aggressive player, Hyuuga feared ending up broken, penniless and kicked from stardom. With Mr. Kouzou himself abandoning this belief, Hyuuga felt no need anymore to worry.
In the WYC manga, there's Stefan Levin. He often plays very violently and has injured more than one rival, like Wakabayashi and Müller, and we even get to see him harming Akai via hitting him point-blank with his strongest shots. Okay that's harsh... but the fridge horror kicks in when we recall that Levin has such Super-Strength... that he's able to destroy a statue with a single shot. Suddenly his super aggressive and cold playign style takes a much darker turn... It's almost a miracle that Akai is even still alive.
Again in the WYC manga... why is Hyuuga so horrified when his mother falls ill, to the point of having a massive Heroic BSoD? It's not just because of Mrs. Hyuga's brush with death, but because said illness was an almost fatal case of karoshi... aka the infamous death from overwork. Which almost overlapped with Death by Falling Over, as she hit her head and got a concussion when she passed out. Remember, Hyuga's mother was widowed with several little children and she always insisted that Hyuga should NOT take part-time jobs so he could focus on his studies... so now that he cannot directly help her with physical work due to having his own job and training, she doesn't have his help and/or his reminders of how she shouldn't overwork herself — and ended up collapsing. One can imagine the horrifying guilt that Hyuugamust have felt upon being told what was going on, specially considering his early story: not only he was this close to lose his remaining parent (iirc, some flashbacks to his dad's death were included), but her being in such a bad state could have been avoided if he had been there to remind her when to stop, since Mrs. Hyuuga didn't listen to her workmates when they tried to warn her. And for worse, he can't go back home due to the current conflicts... W H O A. Powerful woobie vibes there.
In the 2002 anime, Tsubasa is given a bunch of red apples as a gift from the Ishizaki-mama expy and iirc was seen eating one during his flight to Brazil. How on Earth did he sneak it pass the Customs offices and stuff? Are Japanese laws on sneaking food and drinks that lax?
It has never really been explained why the original series, both manga and anime, had the managers of the teams sitting with the spectators instead of hanging out with the coaches. Surely the guys won't need someone to keep data or help out if someone's hurt and needs caretaking, right? note The last one got addressed when Tsubasa was injured by Souda and had to tell Manabu to go get Sanae so she'd patch him up, but yea. Thank God one of the movies and later Road to 2002 fixed this not-so-little detail.
In Captain Tsubasa J Playstation video game, it has never been explained why the Street Team challenged All Japan Youth when Asian qualifier rounds had already started instead of before it began, when Mikami's open challengenote Any Japanese footballer, pro or amateur, under the age of 20 who is confident with their skills is encouraged to challenge the temporary selected 24 players and earn their spot in the team was still on play. Not only it brought unecessary distraction, it could've also potentially demoralized the whole team; had the Street Team won, they weren't allowed to join Japan Youth anyway, for Japan had registered all their players to AFC. It was also never explained why Minato (Japan Youth's head coach) and Hyuga (Japan Youth's vice captain when Tsubasa is absent or injured) accepted the Street Team's challenge, when they had nothing to gain and so many things to lose.
... aka the infamous death from overwork. Which almost overlapped with Death by Falling Over, as she hit her head and got a concussion when she passed out. Remember, Hyuga's mother was widowed with several little children and she always insisted that Hyuga should NOT take part-time jobs so he could focus on his studies... so now that he cannot directly help her with physical work due to having his own job and training, she doesn't have his help and/or his reminders of how she shouldn't overwork herself — and ended up collapsing. One can imagine the horrifying guilt that Hyuuga must have felt upon being told what was going on, specially considering his early story: not only he was this close to lose his remaining parent (iirc, some flashbacks to his dad's death were included), but her being in such a bad state could have been avoided if he had been there to remind her when to stop, since Mrs. Hyuuga didn't listen to her workmates when they tried to warn her. And for worse, he can't go back home due to the current conflicts... W H O A. Powerful woobie vibes there.