Yoichi Takahashi
Holly&Benji

Exaggerated, hyper-spectacular, pushed beyond the limits of imagination... and sworn enemy of every commonly accepted law of physics: a cartoon, a legend... Holly & Benji!!

A cartoon where the concept of "soccer game" is distorted, dismantled, or even better, ignored: matches that take place on hilly and kilometer-long fields, game actions that last dozens of episodes with protagonists taking on "heroic" feats beyond every limit of the absurd, which have entered the collective imagination of an entire generation of kids, literally addicted to the exploits of the legendary "Newteam," a team led by its two players, Holly (a pure striker) and Benji (an unsurpassable goalkeeper), who challenge teams made up of "talents" that literally put on a show and defy every concept of physics and/or law of gravity.

Shots that seem like cannonballs, with the ball flying at supersonic speeds (sometimes catching fire) and managing to take on the most varied effects, goalkeepers' gloves that shatter, goal nets that are pierced, not to mention the total absence of gravity, with players sometimes maneuvering in the air to execute some acrobatic move (who said the Derrick twins?) and a whole series of "stunts" that made us laugh until we cried.

Then there's the fantastic characterization of the characters: there was Mark Lenders of the "Muppet," with his deadly shot, there were the acrobat twins Derrick or the heart-diseased Julian Ross (introduced as the strongest in the series) with an average of 10 minutes played per game, and also Ed Warner, a goalkeeper experienced in martial arts who used the posts for leverage in executing incredible diving saves.

In short, a real cultoon. If someone missed it back in the day, they should catch up immediately: after watching it, the game of soccer will never be the same again...