Natureza (ナトゥレーザ, Naturēza) is the true number "10" of Brazil Youth, and a highly-skilled attacking midfielder who is rumored to be the "Soccer King".
Etymology[]
His name means "nature" in Portuguese.
Description[]
He is the rival of the series' main protagonist, Tsubasa Ozora, and always aims to play better than the latter and win him and get even with him on a match. He was considered by Roberto Hongo the true number "10" of Brazil Youth, occupying the position that was originally meant to be for Tsubasa (if he was indeed naturalized). Later on, Natureza in every team he plays for, he wears the jersey #0.
He is one year younger than most of the cast. He was still 19 during the first Clasico[1] while Tsubasa was 20 when he joined Barcelona [2].
Appearance[]
Natureza's appearance is foreshadowed in some occasions, before he actually appears for the first time in chapter 63 of the Battle of World Youth arc, which is during the last minutes of the match between Brazil and Japan Youth. Natureza wears dreadlocks. In his début game, his hair was short. Later, on Road to 2002, his hair is tied and is as long as Santana.
Personality[]
Due to him being raised in Brazil's forest, he has chemistry with nature itself, and animals tend to approach him naturally. He is very cheerful and tends to get very enthusiastic before and during matches, with a personality similar to that of Shingo Aoi. Also, he tends to break the fourth wall in the manga, similar to what Ishizaki and other characters do in some panels as comic relief.
History[]
_2.png){kind=link}
Previous arcs[]
Battle of World Youth arc
During the final match of the World Youth between Brazil and Japan, Natureza gets in when the match only had around 3 minutes left. The score at that time is 2-1 for Japan. He inwardly states that he will score 1 goal per minute to reverse the score, which Cario calls the "120 seconds myth". Right as the match resumes, Tsubasa confronts him. Natureza gets past Tsubasa, with the ball kicked high above during his feint. He then jumps very high towards the floating ball, and scores against Wakabayashi from outside the penalty area with a 2 Steps Flying Drive Shot, crushing the latter's SGGK legend. At that moment, Tamotsu Ide states that Natureza must be the "Soccer King" that he saw in a video earlier.
After Japan's following kick off, Natureza easily stops Kojiro Hyuga's Straight Line Dribble and takes the ball, then immediately gets past Tsubasa again. The attack eventually leads to Carlos Santana doing a centering for Natureza, however the latter cannot shoot, as Wakabayashi intercepts the centering, having his hands injured in the process. The score is 2-2 after the second half, and the match has to continue with extra time.
During extra time, Japan do a sink or swim play. The play leads to an aerial 1-on-1 between Tsubasa and Natureza in front of Brazil's goal. This time Tsubasa manages to win and score the victorious goal for Japan. This also marks Natureza's first loss.
After the loss, he tells Cario and Roberto that he understands the profound depth of soccer, and will leave his village to the world.
Road to 2002 arc
With Cario's help, Natureza enters the selection test in the famous Spanish team, Real Madrid CF, since they are the rival of FC Barcelona where Tsubasa joined. During the test, even though all opposing players aim at him, he completely outplays them, using many high level plays. Unfortunately, the judges fail to understand his play, thus Real Madrid doesn't contact him in several days. However, just when Natureza and Cario is about to leave their hotel to look for a new team, Real Madrid's coach Vicente de la Pasque, who wasn't presented at the test earlier, manages to find them. He personally asks Natureza to join Real Madrid, as he saw the video of the selection test and noticed all of the latter's qualities.
As the season begins, he becomes the leading actor of the team's 4 consecutive victories, with 6 goals and 4 assists. During training, he also shows his worth by mastering the special techniques of his teammates, like Luís Fago's Matagi Feint or Roberto Carolus' free kicks.
Real Madrid's fifth match is the El Clasico. Right at the beginning of the match, Tsubasa, who just makes his debut, challenges Natureza. Tsubasa does a Right-Angle Feint, but Natureza follows with a backstep, and as Tsubasa jumps, he takes the ball with a two times defense. Tsubasa still manages to make the ball loose however, and as the two stands up, they both kick the ball at the same time. Natureza eventually gets the better however, as he manages to free the ball while holding Tsubasa's leg, giving it to Roberto Carolus, whose shot leads to a corner kick. The corner kick ends up being cleared and Tsubasa gets the ball, however. Natureza attempts to go mark him, but is blocked by Marcos Almieja.
Barcelona soon gets a free kick near Real Madrid's goal. With the cooperative play between Luikal, Tsubasa and Overus, Barcelona creates an absolute goal chance, however Natureza manages to foresee the play and deflect Overus' shot into the goal bar. Real Madrid eventually counterattack, with Natureza dribbling. Almieja faces him, but he distracts Almieja and the other defenders of Barcelona by making the ball bounce in place, allowing his teammates, Fago and Rail to shake free from their respective markers, before finally getting past Almieja with a nutmeg. He then gets past Pedro Fonseca with a one-two with Fago and do a back heel pass to Rail who scores the opening goal.
As the match resumes, Natureza immediately cuts Luikal's backpass after a quick dash. After that he gets past Grandios with a Heel Lift and is about to pass Almieja with a second nutmeg, but the latter does a foul. Natureza and Roberto Carolus does a Twin Shot on the resulting free kick, however Gonzales manages to block it. Tsubasa retrieves the ball and attempts to get past Natureza with a nutmeg like how the latter got past Almieja, but Natureza uses the back of his leg to reach the ball and does a pass to Marientos. Tsubasa blocks the pass however, making the ball float. This leads to the exact same situation as during the final of the World Youth, an aerial 1-on-1 between the two. Unlike before, this time Natureza is victorious, keeping the ball with his right leg and then using his left leg to pass to Marientos once again. They are unable to score a second goal however.
In the next play, Natureza persistently mark Tsubasa, however Tsubasa manages to lure Natureza far away, creating a gap on the right side. Barca soon equalizes and eventually, reverse the score. Barca keeps attacking after that point. It's only during loss time of the first half that Natureza has the ball again. He dribbles towards the goal line, and then do a Zero Angle Shot through Fonseca's leg in order to make Barca's player not able to see the ball, scoring the tying goal. The first half end 2-2, with Tsubasa and Natureza having 1 goal and 1 assist each.
In the second half, Real Madrid goes for fast circulating passes. Natureza also joins in this, and his pass is a good through pass for Rail, who is fouled right after that. During the free kick, Natureza makes it look like he misses his kick, but it is actually a pass for Roberto Carolus who scores a reversal goal.
Tsubasa decides to go on his own as the match resumes. But as soon as he gets past Flavio Conces with the Heel Kick Nutmeg Feint, Natureza cuts the ball. Real Madrid's attack eventually leads to Natureza doing a 2 Steps Flying Drive Shot. Gonzales clears it, but the ball comes back to Natureza again. This time he scores, blowing away Fonseca and Almieja who attempt to block his shot.
Natureza continues to foresee and stop Tsubasa's play afterwards, even making the latter receive a yellow card in the process by blocking Tsubasa's overhead. Barca soon have to put their ace Rivaul in. Natureza soon have his confrontation with Rivaul. Natureza uses a Rabona Feint, and as Rivaul follows with a Submarine Defense, Natureza jumps, but this time it's Tsubasa who foresees Natureza's play and take the ball. Barca scores on their following counterattack.
Natureza is then marked by the Barcelona Golden Combi, Rivaul and Tsubasa. He seemingly gets past both of them with High Speed Clone Feint, but it is a trap, as Grandios is waiting and take the ball from him. Barca starts attacking again, and even though Natureza tries to go back after that, he isn't in time to prevent Rivaul from tying.
Thanks to his teammates, Natureza isn't discouraged. Instead, he again sets the rhythm for Real Madrid's attack. He makes two passes for the forward, but Barca defends. Both passes are baits however, as the next time he gets the ball, he does a breakthrough. Tsubasa manages to come back and prevent a 1-on-1 with the keeper, though. The resulting corner kick ends with Barca taking the ball, but as soon as Almieja does a long feed for Tsubasa, Natureza goes right in front of him to do a Reactive Fast Kick Quick Gun, the signature move of the Chinese Xiao Junguang, on the feed, achieving hat trick and giving Real Madrid the lead again.
Natureza asks coach De la Pasque to let him mark Tsubasa personally, which the latter approves. He closely marks Tsubasa, but eventually Tsubasa manages to do a back pass, and Gonzales scores the tying goal with a long shot.
Not given up on victory, Natureza asks Rail to kick the ball towards him as soon as the match resumes. He does another Reactive Fast Kick Quick Gun on that, but this time Tsubasa blocks it. Tsubasa soon get a 1-on-1 chance with the keeper, but Natureza comes back to mark him. But again, he cannot defeat the cooperative play of Tsubasa and Rivaul. It eventually comes to Natureza and Tsubasa's last duel after the latter's shot hits the goal bar, making the ball stops right in front of the goal line. Both make it at the same time, but as Natureza has to clear the ball away while Tsubasa only has to push it in, Tsubasa gets the better and scores the winning goal.
After the match, Natureza says he will have his revenge at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Golden-23 arc
The fierce El Clasico has taken a toll on Real Madrid's players. Even though Natureza scores 2 goals, they only manage a 2-2 draw against Real Oviedo. This, along with Barcelona's win, has shortened the gap between them to 6 points, as Barca now has 7 points compared to Real's 13.
Real manages to maintain this 6-point gap at mid-season. However, the gap is shortened once more to 2 points just before leg 24, where there will be the second Clasico of the season at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Overseas Fierce Fights arc
The day of the second Clasico finally comes. Just like in the previous one, the match begins with a 1-on-1 between Natureza and Tsubasa, with Natureza being the challenger this time. He seemingly win the duel with a forward rotation, but unbeknownst to him, Barca already expect this, as Rivaul and Grandios take the ball away with an ambush. This almost result in a goal for Barca, but fortunately, Luikal is offside.
Later, Tsubasa also do a forward rotation like Natureza, seemingly get past Flavio Conces and Makelolo. Natureza foresees this though, and pushes the ball away from Tsubasa. However, during their following 1-on-1, Natureza is tricked by Tsubasa, and Rivaul scores the first goal for Barca.
Natureza thinks that he can't stop both aces of Barca alone, but then he sees an angel-like figure, who tells him that that's just an excuse and things can't be left to him. Natureza admits he was careless and made a mistake, since the goal could be prevented, and promises to get his revenge. The figure then says that's what he expected from Natureza and he will let the two confront each other a little more. Just then, Natureza comes to his senses, realizing that he only just saw an illusion. Soon after, as Callusias stops Barca's attack, Natureza asks for the ball. Callusias sends the ball towards Natureza, and the latter scores with a No Trap Flying Drive Shot from the distance of 40 meters.
In his next play, Natureza manages to lure most of Barca's defenders before doing a heel pass to Marientos, however the latter's shot is deflected. Later, as Natureza has the ball, Rivaul and Grandios intercept him again. This time, he gets past both, even beating Rivaul's Submarine Defense, before sending a through pass to Rail. However, the latter is offside. After the play, Blueno warns Natureza about Rivaul's elbow blow.
When the match resumes, Tsubasa goes for another 1-on-1 with Natureza. The two are perfectly even, until Rivaul interferes. Barca doesn't score however. Real Madrid soon have a chance for payback, but Natureza's header is cleared by Tsubasa. The first half ends 1-1.
As the second half begins, Tsubasa and Rivaul go to face Natureza again. This time, with Blueno's help, Natureza gets past the two. Regrettably, they can't score. Grandios later joins Tsubasa and Rivaul to face Natureza and Blueno, but Real Madrid gets the better again by having Flavio Conces and Makelolo join in as well. Natureza then gets past Almieja with a Heel Lift. Tsubasa and Rivaul manage to go back to defend against Natureza's overhead kick, however.
Real Madrid soon sets the pace, and Barca eventually has to do a foul to stop Natureza. Natureza kicks a No Rotation Shot on the following free kick, making the keeper Valtes fumble, creating a chance for Real's two forwards. Tsubasa clears the ball however. Natureza then attempts to score with his Zero Angle Shot, but Tsubasa cuts the shot, and even gets past 10 of Real's players, including the keeper, after that. However, Natureza makes it on time to prevent the goal. Still, this leaves an impact on Real's players, therefore they devote themselves to the defense, and Natureza ends up alone in front.
Natureza soon has to go back to defend, blocking Rivaul's overhead. As the two are falling, Natureza remembers what Blueno told him, and manages to dodge Rivaul's elbow blow. As Callusias recovers the ball, Real Madrid counter attacks. Here, Natureza gets the better of Tsubasa with a 3 Steps Overhead, effectively scores the reversing goal.
Barca desperately attacks afterwards. During loss time, Tsubasa does a shot inside the penalty area, but Natureza comes back to block it. He then clears the ball forward. However, instead of buying time, Rail and Natureza go for an attack, which is stopped by Gonzales. The ball reaches Tsubasa again, who scores this time. 2-2 is the final score.
Real Madrid later faces Valencia CF. Here, Natureza scores 4 goals, and Real wins 5-4. However, in the next match against CD Numancia, the volante Michael, who only meets Natureza in person now, completely holds the latter down. Natureza can't even do a single shot during the match, and Real loses 0-1. Since at the same time, Barca beats Deportivo de La Coruna 1-0, Real lose their first place.
Rising Sun arc[]
In the last leg of Spain's La Liga, Real Madrid beats Getafe CF, with Natureza already scored a hat-trick during the first half. But since Barcelona defeats Granada CF 3-1, Real only finishes second. Natureza later joins the Brazilian team to take part in the Madrid Olympics. The team crushes Belgium during a test match, with Natureza and Santana scoring a hat-trick each. The two comment that they look forward to fight their rival Tsubasa, as well as the one who beat them during La Liga, Michael, during the Olympics.
To be added as series progresses
Techniques[]
- Main article: Natureza/Techniques
Gallery[]
- Main article: Natureza/Gallery
External links[]
|
Notes[]
<references>
- ↑ Mentioned in Road to 2002 arc, chapter 93, page 12.
- ↑ Mentioned in Golden-23 arc, chapter 13, page 7.