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Attacker You! (アタッカーYOU! Atakkā Yū!) is a 1984 Japanese manga series by Jun Makimura and Shizuo Koizumi, published by Kodansha. It originally ran in Nakayoshi from 1985 to 1985, and had 2 volumes. An anime series, consisting of 58 episodes of 24 minutes each, was produced by Knack Productions (yes, THAT Knack - although this is considered one of that studio's better productions) and broadcast by TV Tokyo from April 13, 1984 to June 21, 1985. The DVD version was released in Japan on August 20, 2004. The series was initially made to capitalize on the success of Japan's women's volleyball team, which went to win the bronze medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics (the gold medal went to China). While the Japanese considered the series merely So Okay It's Average, especially compared to a classic like Attack N°1, the Europeans absolutely fell in love with it - especially Italians, Spaniards, French, Portuguese and Poles - and it inspired a number of viewers to join volleyball teams themselves. It also features music by future Gainax go-to composer Shiro Sagisu.
The story is about You Hazuki, a headstrong girl who lives in the Japanese countryside with her grandparents. Her father Toshihiko is a very busy and famous photographer and cameraman so he's been travelling abroads for a long time, and her mother is not really accounted for. And if there's something she's very passionate and dedicated to, is her favorite sport — volleyball. In ther anime, this is even when her father disappoves both of it and of her fangirling of the former volleyball star, now sports commenter Kanako Tajima...
Suddenly, You has to move to Tokyo so she can live with her dad - and again in the anime, with her new adoptive brother, a little boy named Sunny who hails from Peru. Her life becomes even more chaotic when she joins Hikawa Junior High and its volleyball team, led by the Alpha Bitch Nami Hayase and the instructor Matsugoro Daimon. And then You not only has a hard time fitting in the team itself at first, but also gets a crush on the same guy Nami loves: the handsome, kind volleyball player Shou Takiki.
But You is not giving up, nope. She's really fucking stubborn and confident, and she'll keep going on no matter what. She gets close to Shou, more or less manages to befriend Nami, and also becomes pals with an ace attacker called Eri Takigawa. The three girls decide to keep going on and become stronger, so they can become the strongest players in Japan...
There's also a Chinese-Japanese sequel named New Attacker You (続・アタッカーYOU 金メダルへの道 Zoku atakkā YOU- kin medaru e no michi), made in 2008 and distributed on DVD. It takes place in China rather than Japan and has a You who almost had to give up on her career due to injuries, but who's called by Nami and Sho to help save a Chinese team named the Dragon Ladies that is about to be disbanded...
- The Ace: Sho and Eri. With time, You.
- Adaptational Villainy: Coach Daimon was not abusive in the manga.
- Alpha Bitch: Nami, at the start, and she has a Girl Posse to go along with it. She absolutely loathes You at the beginning of the series, but eventually You earns her respect and they become friends. She evolves into a Lovable Alpha Bitch with time, however. (Though she had some LAB sprinkles from the very beginning).
- Bait and Switch Credits: The opening credits and theme songs in the European dubs of the '80s series suggest the series will focus chiefly on a romance between You and Shou; they even show the two kissing, which only happens in You's fantasies. It's even in the titles of the European dubs: Mila e Shiro in Italy, Jeanne et Serge in France, Juana y Sergio in Spain. In reality, You's crush on Shou is a secondary plot element at best.
- Berserk Button: Challenge Coach Daimon's authority at your own risk (in the anime, anyway). In early episodes, Nami is on the receiving end of several brutal slaps for just this reason (so brutal European dubs partly censored them).
- Big Damn Heroes: In the anime, Sunny almost gets hit by a car as he carelessly crosses the street to greet You. Eri saves him... via throwing a volley ball at him to push him out of the way. You is immediately in awe of her.
- Canon Foreigner: Sunny. Kanako, in a way: as said below You's mother is dead in the manga, but that was changed in the anime itself.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: You is this to Shou, and to a degree to Coach Mitamura. Lampshaded in the OP, where she clings to an awkward-looking Mitamura in front of an Eri who's all "just WHAT are you doing?!"
- Dolled-Up Installment: The Italian dub made the main character You into the cousin of Kozue from Attack No. 1. The two shows have, of course, nothing to do with each other besides being about volleyball. You is even called Mila in the Italian dub - the same name given to Kozue in the German dub of Attack No. 1.
- Dub Name Change: In the European dubs. You's name is changed to Mila in Italian, Juana in Spanish, and Jeanne in French; Nami keeps her original name in the Italian version but is Peggy in the Spanish dub.
- Family Versus Career: In the anime, Kanako chose her volleyball career over Toshihiko and little You. She still cares for You, though.
- Fiery Redhead: YOU. More or less averted by Eri, though.
- Genki Girl: You.
- Gratuitous English: In the theme song. "Yes, I'm a sunshine..."
- Sunny can speak some English as well due to having lived in the United States.
- Hey, It's That Voice!: In Japanese, You has the same voice actress as Washu and Gary Oak, Nami is Dorothy Catalonia and Sonoko Suzuki, and Eri is Ayeka.
- Humble Pie: Nami has to eat a quite big slice of this at some point, and she more or less defrosts afterwards.
- Locked Out of the Loop: You doesn't know that Kanako is her estranged mother. Kanako isn't eager to tell her, and Toshihiko doesn't say a peep either.
- Love Dodecahedron: You and Nami want Shou, who leans somewhat more to You but doesn't fully commit since both have their teams. Despite liking Shou, You also kinda crushes on Coach Mitamura. Tazaki is You's biggest fanboy and crushes on her after she defeats him in a fight.
- Missing Mom: You's mother died when she was an infant. In the manga, that is. In the anime, however, she is Kanako Tajima, the ex-sportswoman that You idolizes. Sunny is an orphan, having lost both his parents.
- Ms. Fanservice: Bare breasts, complete with nipples, are shown occasionally during shower and bath scenes. You gets quite a few Panty Shots as well. Not surprisingly, European versions censored much of this, along with some of Coach Daimon's more brutal behavior.
- New Transfer Student: You
- Off Model: On occasion, but not nearly as bad as some of the other shows the studio produced (looking at you, Chargeman Ken).
- Parents as People: Toshihiko loves his biological daughter You and adoptive son Sunny (even if he's anime only), but struggles at times with them.
- Passionate Sports Girl: Oh yes! Although You could care less about volleyball at first.
- Plucky Girl: You, very much so. She never gives up, and her example inspires others.
- Potty Emergency: In episode one, Sunny brings a volleyball match to a halt by wetting his pants, right there on the court... which instantly gets You on Nami's bad side. Later on, You has to go so badly that she runs right into the boys' room without looking (cut in the Spanish dub).
- Sadist Teacher: The anime version of Coach Daimon, who even applies Corporal Punishment to his pupils, for transgressions as minor as letting the opposing team score one point.
- Sailor Fuku: Subverted: You wears a black and white one... at the beginning, since she's a New Transfer Student. Hikawa Junior High has blazers for the girls and gakuran for the boys, and You puts hers on very soon.
- Sports Stories
- You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Rather curiously, guys (save for Sunny) tend to have normal dark brown / black hair while ladies have more "variety": Eri and You are redheads, Nami has blue hair, Kanako is a blonde...