Ted Lasso is a sports anime in disguise, and you should watch it

Ted Lasso is a sports anime, and you should watch it.

To start off, I should say that I'm not the biggest sports anime fan. One reason for this is that many sports anime are mainly Shonens. And being both a Shonen anime, and then following a sports-based setup, the repetitiveness is often quite high. It often follows a particular trend: unlikely or an underdog protagonist tries out a sport, faces obstacle, overcomes obstacle, often times turning rivals into friends into the process. Then repeat on a larger scale. 

However, there's no denying that this ultimately leads to very good feel-good shows. You see the protagonist overcome obstacle after obstacle, and grow an attachment to them. You start rooting for them. On top of this, when a sports anime manages to add something greater on top of this basic framework, that's when I find it much more interesting. 

For example, probably my most favorite sports anime of all time: Ping Pong the animation. You have Smile and Peco and you want to root for both. You want them to get to the top of the Ping Pong tournaments. On top of it, you have the psychological element that comes with really well-written coming-of-age drama. We get an insight into what makes a hero. And we get to rejoice at the triumph of said hero at the end. The unique art and animation is also a big bonus for this.

Another example might be a bit odd one - Chihayafuru. This can possibly be considered more of a Slice of Life anime rather than sports (and the target audience is shojo/josei rather than the more common shonen). And very interestingly, the additional elements that makes Chihayafuru a favorite of mine is the exposition to Karuta (a sport unlike anything else I've seen before) and the romantic element in this. This would not work as a shonen sports anime. But as it is made, it works really well.

Now I come back to the original topic of this writeup - Ted Lasso.

The premise is this: an American Football coach, who knows nothing about regular football (what he knows only as Soccer), is appointed the coach of a struggling British Premier League team. The team is going through big changes. Their ownership changed hand recently from the previous owner to his vengeful (?) ex-wife. There's a budding rivalry between a club legend and an up-and-coming star. Team spirit is in shambles. What to do? How will this new guy, whose superpower is positivity, handle all of these issues?

So, unlikely/underdog protagonist: check.

Superpower of positivity to battle through struggles: check.

Possible long-term antagonist in form of the previous owner: check

What are the added elements that make it better?

A look into most main characters' backstories: how they were brought up, what makes someone a prick, what makes someone else the greatest environmental warrior since Greta Thunberg. I saw someone in Reddit saying, Ted Lasso is a story about fathers. I don't disagree much with that. At the same time, Ted Lasso is also a story about elevation and redemption. How someone's unwithering belief in you can help one grow, how it can also help someone else redeem themselves. Season 2 also has a great discussion about mental health and how it's communicated.

And along with all these, each season covers a football season. We follow the team. We see the team's goals. We get invested in them. We feel good. We feel sad. And at the end of each season, whether happy or sad, we feel immense solidarity with the team, waiting patiently for the next season.

If that's not the plot of a great sports anime, I don't know what is.