【The Knight in the Area】Sports x Shounen! An epic journey about soccer and adolescent fervour!!

The Knight in the Area is a Japanese sports franchise written by Hiroaki Igano and illustrated by Kaya Tsukiyama.

The manga was serialized in Weekly Shounen Magazine from 2006 to 2017. Its chapters are compiled and published into 57 separate volumes. The story of this sports manga is a very deep and well written one.

An anime adaptation of the manga was also released in 2012, with the anime adapted by Shin-Ei Animation.

As the match's final moments approach, we witness Suguru Aizawa playing in an international football match. The Japanese side is down a point, but at the last moments of the game, Suguru comes up with some outstanding plays to score a goal and tie the match. Kakeru, Suguru’s brother and the protagonist of this story, erupts in applause as he scores.

Kakeru is back at school, describing his brother's game to all of his friends. Out of nowhere, a ball comes flying and goes straight for his head. With an expressionless face, Suguru, who is also the schools soccer team captain, approaches Kakeru and instructs him to quit messing around during practise time.

On the playing field, Yusuke, Kakeru's friend, encourages him to return to soccer and relinquish his managerial post, but Kakeru claims that it is his desire to be a professional trainer and support his brother in the World Cup as his manager. Yusuke is asked to sub in, and as Kakeru looks on, Yusuke makes a fantastic play with Suguru to score a goal.

As he is sitting there along with Kouta, a young girl approaches Kakeru and compliments his smile, telling him that he looks cute when he does. She introduces herself as Seven, as Kakeru recalls she was a dear friend and the only female member in his elementary school soccer team. Mishima Nana, the girl, tells Kakeru that she had moved schools and was going to be the football club’s manager with him.

Kakeru's pals start choking him as they are jealous of him being so close to such an attractive girl. Kakeru says that they have some misunderstanding because Nana likes his brother Suguru.

Nana goes on to greet Suguru, who looks quite happy upon seeing her. As he watches Nana talking to his brother, he remembers how much he liked her as a child.

At home, Kakeru's mother and sister tease him about being in love with Nana, but he blushes and refuses to accept it. After dinner, Suguru suddenly gets in his way and grabs him by the collar, yelling at him that he only runs away and that he should stop acting like a chicken.

After a squabble between the brothers, Kakeru departs. Suguru, back in his room, reminisces about his childhood, when he used to play with Kakeru and Nana. He wonders why everything changed so much.

Late at night, Suguru is watching a sport on TV when Kakeru appears and says he needs to go to the convenience store for a while. Suguru is informed by his younger sister that Kakeru has been leaving around that time every day since eighth grade and that Suguru should go check on him.

Suguru goes out, only to find Kakeru practicing football all by himself in an empty park. He is using the obstacles in the park to pass around the ball.

Kakeru dribbles through the empty park, and when he winds up to score a goal, a mysterious figure in a mask catches the ball, signaling Kakeru to steal the ball from him. To show his skills, the masked man dribbles the ball across Kakeru, with him barely being able to keep up.

As they begin to play, Kakeru tries to steal the ball from the masked man. Despite the masked man's underestimation of Kakeru, Kakeru is able to keep up with him. Kakeru predicts the ball's trajectory and eventually gains control of it. The disguised man recognizes Kakeru’s good instincts as he goes in to steal the ball once more.

As they continue their intense match, Kakeru remembers the thrill of the game once again. And even though he was crushed by the mysterious player, Kakeru discovered that he was happiest when he was playing football.

As Suguru watches from the balcony, Kakeru returns home smiling, hoping that the masked man will return the next day.

Where will Kakeru’s passion for football lead him? Was the masked man really Suguru?