YMMV / Hungry Heart: Wild Striker

• Awesome Music: The opening, Kids Alive's "2nd stage."
• Narm: The characters' over-the-top facial expressions during a serious moment can be really funny.
• The Scrappy: Yuya Kiba and his friends come as Replacement Scrappy for the third year students who graduated. When Kyosuke is wounded during a match, they replace him alongside other two players but are obesessed with passing the ball to Kiba. They are Rescued from the Scrappy Heap when Esaka befriends them, when Kyosuke returns to the team becoming Vitriolic Best Buds with Kiba, and when their shared backstory is explained.
• Shocking Moments: Despite the series' attempt to be more realistic than Captain Tsubasa late in the series Kyosuke makes a shoot that takes down all of the opposite players before turning into his goal.
• The Woobie: Kyosuke has been following his brother's footsteps in hopes of becoming a good player like him. However, he discovered at a young age that he was adopted (this causes a great impact in a young kid, the parents never discussed it with him, and there's quite a bit of difference between Western and Japanese views on adoption) which made him emotionally unstable especially when he was compared with Seisuke. In the manga, Kyosuke realizes he is no woobie when conparing himself with other people who have difficulties playing the sport, and resolves to strengthen himself.