The first arc is really weird; it's entertaining as all hell, but it can be tiring to watch at times as well just due to a number of factors. I'll talk about what it does well first though. The first scene is one of the strongest first scenes of any anime I have watched; this isn't because it's got any amazing direction or anything like that, but rather because it sets the tone for the entire first arc of the show by normalising the show's absurdity, presenting us with both the main antagonist of the show (Kageyama Reiji), and leaving a lasting impact on me with its dark tone (in a literal sense) being backed up by the impactful OST track of '
Mortal Battle with Teikoku Gakuen'. The tone of the show is managed well when it needs to be, and it presents a number of interesting plot points, some of which set up plot points in arcs 2 and 3. However, I do take issue with both the way that the team go about solving issues and the presentation of the managers in this first arc. Basically all the problem solving that happens in these first 26 episodes boils down to "power of friendship" and "never give up" bullshit, which honestly gets insanely tiring after you've seen it three or four times, and it just fails to address much in the way of themes which would be actually consequential to the target audience of the show, being kids. As for the managers, it's honestly so rare for them to be presented in a light which doesn't seem to reflect on gender roles in some way or another (outside of the two-three episodes which are spent focusing on Ichinose, Domon, and Aki), and honestly seeing lines like "I wish I was a boy so that I could talk about football with everyone" and stuff like that just strikes a nerve a bit, especially when you consider that it is a kids show and that, concequentially, it shouldn't be putting forward concepts like that anyway. Maybe it's just something which reflects on Japanese culture in 2008–I don't know honestly–but as a left-leaning western viewer it does piss me off a little.