Aoashi

If you want animation that is not just for kids, Aoashi is available in Australia on Crunchyroll, and in the US on Crunchyroll and YouTube TV right now. The 2-season run is exactly the right length for what it is doing. Its 8/10 TMDB score, built from 64 ratings, reflects a title that consistently delivers. Watch it in order — the character development is cumulative. Available now on Crunchyroll — press play and find out why people keep recommending it.

Aoashi arrived without much fanfare and built its audience the hard way — through word of mouth. Aoashi has the visual identity that makes it immediately recognisable, and the writing to back it up. Ashito Aoi is a young, aspiring soccer player from a backwater town in Japan. His hopes of getting into a high school with a good soccer club are dashed when he causes an incident during a critical match for his team, which results in their loss and elimination from the tournament. Nevertheless, he catches the eye of someone important who happened to be visiting from Tokyo. The voice work from Kouki Osuzu adds real texture, not just recognisable names. Across 2 seasons from 2022, it never lost the thread that made it worth starting. The visual gags in Aoashi reward close attention without ever depending on it. The consistency throughout is what elevates it — not every moment is the best, but none of them are a reason to stop watching.

Genuinely enjoyable for a wide range of viewers, Aoashi treats animation as a delivery mechanism, not a limitation. Burning Kabaddi is the obvious comparison, but Aoashi earns its own place alongside it. It is a manageable watch, easy to fit into a single week. Visually distinctive and narratively ambitious in ways that hold up regardless of format. Worth watching in order from the beginning.

Aoashi is currently airing new episodes — so there's no better time to catch up before the story moves forward. Find exactly where it's streaming below, and TV Butler Pro makes it effortless to track your progress as you go. Just search the name, and Butler finds it instantly, tells you which service has it, and remembers exactly where you left off.