The story picks up in Japan, when a young boy Is picked on by a group of thugs and a young lady comes to his rescue, but, the thugs easily over power her, and when all seems bleak, a orange flamed soccer ball is fired towards them, and it does not hit them (non-violence, I believe), and the man who fired the shot, the protag of the series, Kanou Kiyasuki…..

Produced by Motohashi koichi, and based on the work by Takahashi Youichi, Hungry heart or Wild Striker released during the 2002-2003 season, and is one the best anime on soccer out so far, I compare this with eye shield 21 which another classic.
Released by Fuji – TV, I only have one word for this anime, AWESOME….
Now the opening title track “Second Stage” by Kids alive is one helluva opening sequence, and is a real foot tapper.

Now for many people this anime may not be all that great, but this is the anime that introduced me to the world of soccer, it has the very essence of the game embroiled in it, the chief protag, Kanou is the brother of an extremely successful international Japanese soccer player Kanou issuki, and he is always in the shadows of his brother, and this gets to the poor kid and he runs away from home, where he joins the Akenogaka (orange hill in the English version) high school and he meets up with a rather lethargic excuse for a coach ,Murakami but the thing is that he was a national forward for the national team, we don’t get to know of this until later into the series, but along with kanou, there appears two more major characters, who are zekai from Europe and Rodrigo from brazil, and these players from the conceited trio, as they assume that know all there is to know about soccer, and thus does kicked into the b team, but they do make it into the main team within the first match or so.

Initially Kiasuke is made to play as a defender, according to murakami this training will bring out the natural talent which he possess to the fore, and during their first game he is made the striker and thus is born Kanou Kiasuki the Wild Striker,
The story is well thought out, and the character have a certain depth to them, though the first few episodes are a drag once Kanou joins the football club the story picks up and is just a one season show with 52 episodes there are many adversaries which Kanou should overcome in order to eclipse his brother, and these come in the form of temas kokruyo and tenruyu high schools, with spikey head (the name sorta stuck) and yagami both captains of the schools respectively
On the love front Kanou falls for the girls soccer team captain Miki and their relationship is not that well defined until the very end of the series and then one realizes “gosh they were really in love”, and to add the extra oomph factor there is the sexy Kaori.

Though u can find a better written review in Wikipedia I had to do this…
As a tribute to the anime that showed me the way to the world of soccer,
If u are wondering which anime to watch on a rainy afternoon day, then look no further than HUNGRY HEART!!