Ao Ashi creator's message after the manga's ending has fans in tears

After more than a decade of engaging audiences with the story of Ashito Aoi, Yugo Kobayashi's beloved soccer manga Ao Ashi has concluded. The series concluded with chapter 410 in June 2025. It is considered to be one of the greatest sports manga ever made.

As of January 2025, it had over 23 million copies in print. As of 2023, the creator's moving message of appreciation for the ten-year journey with Ashito from a hot-blooded young player to a professional soccer player.

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The decade-long journey of Ao Ashi comes full circle

Beginning in January 2015, Weekly Big Comic Spirits began serializing Ao Ashi. Ashito Aoi, a talented soccer player from a far-flung Japanese village, is the main character. Ashito is scouted by the Tokyo Esperion youth academy, which is where the series' storyline initially focused. It expanded into an analysis of youth soccer, with tactical analysis, emotional growth, and the harsh realities of the sport.

Creator Yugo Kobayashi revealed that he had planned out Ashito's entire journey, including which teams would appear in the story—Kashiwa, Tokyo V, Funabashi, Aomori, and Barcelona—as early as volume 11, and that he ended the series with the Barcelona match, closing Ashito's arc.

Unlike many sports manga, Ao Ashi diverged from a supernatural formula and instead featured a focus on realist strategy, without relying on unrealistic elements. Its focus on technical analysis and nuanced character development was lauded as a successor to Haikyuu!! in terms of long-form storytelling.

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The creator's emotional farewell

Kobayashi's message of farewell, addressed to readers, struck a particularly personal note. Kobayashi thanked readers for their loyalty over the 10 years of the series and pledged to "pour all my enthusiasm into the next two volumes". He also acknowledged that "it is thanks to you, the readers, that AO ASHI has grown so much."

He ended the message with the phrase "Bye, Ashito. It was fun," signifying the sense of loss of the characters who had become like family. The series ended with its 40th volume, which Kobayashi said was "a nice round number".

This, he believed, is a sense of completion that few long-running series are able to achieve. Kobayashi planned the ending so that the story of Ashito had a natural conclusion and was not artificially prolonged.

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Fan reactions

The ending of Ao Ashi had fans in tears as they were emotionally invested by the creator’s sincere message to Ashito, "it was fun". The ending was very satisfying emotionally but still left fans wanting more. Since the Ao Ashi was loved for its "full-circle" ending, the series offered a fitting ending to Ashito's story.

"Such a satisfying full circle," said one fan.

"THANK YOU, AO ASHI. THANK YOU KOBAYASHI. FOR EVERYTHING," said another fan.

"I've finally come to terms with it, it's been a fun ride," stated one fan.

"The end we could never see, don’t be sad because it ended smile because it happened, from the bottom of my heart I love you Ao ashi', stated another fan.

For the past ten years, fans have been watching these characters develop. As a result, this conclusion is a little bittersweet, but it also expresses thankfulness and desire. It appears that people are thankfully saying goodbye to a story that has been very important to them.

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Final thoughts

Ashito Aoi as seen in the anime (Image via TMS Entertainment)

With the end of Ao Ashi, fans say goodbye to the story of Ashito Aoi. Over the course of ten years, this sports manga has impacted the industry in the way it placed an emphasis on resilience, planning ahead, and growth.

Kobayashi's farewell note is to the end of a manga, but also to the end of a shared journey for creator and reader. Ashito's game is over, but the power of the series will go on to change lives and influence stories for years to come.

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