Giant Killing

is a manga written and illustrated by Masaya Tsunamoto. It has been serialized in Morning from Jan 11, 2007. An anime adaptation aired from Apr 4, 2010 to Sep 26, 2010. It won the Kodansha Manga Award for best general manga in 2010.

Plot
Experiencing a long streak of poor performances for several years in the Japanese professional football league, the East Tokyo United(ETU) hires Takeshi Tatsumi as manager to try to break the curse that seems to have fallen over the team. Having spent three years in England, Tatsumi managed to take an amateur team to the top 32 teams of the FA Cup. Many consider him a bad choice and protest against this decision. They hold a grudge against Takeshi because they consider him a traitor for leaving ETU at the height of his career when he was still a football player. Unfazed by the negative mood that looms over the field, Tatsumi seems confident that he might be able to bring glory back to his team once again.

In Giant Killing a ragtag bunch from East Tokyo are struggling in Japan's top football league. The team is going through an abysmal spell right now where they are nearing the bottom of the table and have lost 5 matches in a row. The losses haven't done much to team morale, because it was already low. Fan support, on the other hand, is looking bleak. In the world of football, once the fans turn on a team the end is near. Teams don't recover. Coaches are fired, players are sold, and teams drop to smaller divisions where profits often prevent them from ever being successful against even mediocre top division programs. East Tokyo United, ETU, can only blame their coach right now. The Coach is ready to give up this next game to prove to his team and fans, that against the biggest club in the nation he can make this team win.