inazuma eleven - season one (📺 7/10)
the opposite of blue lock where the powers of teamwork and friendship and literal fire tornado kicks will bring raimon high to nationals. jinpatchi ego blue lock would hate this team because he has no faith in friendship. [7/10]
sorry, i just think it's funny that this and blue lock are on two opposite ends of the soccer spectrum and i love it so much. ina11 was one of my older brother's childhood shows that i managed to only catch glimpses of in the tv. sometimes i'd watch it with him because i was also waiting for pokemon to air on cartoon network. i forgot all of it, but my partner invited me to watch it after playing a bit through the latest ina11 game's chronicle mode (whose premise of preventing the literal end of the world through soccer is absolutely insane to me). needless to say that the rush of nostalgia was very good upon hearing that opening :) the song still manages to worm through my thoughts on any given moment of the day
but it's a fun watch!! sorry i really suck at explaining my feelings past "oh this is fun" but the stakes aren't TOO high for a sports anime i think... or maybe it's because i already know that they'll somehow always pull through at the very end of dire situations. mamoru endou, the protagonist, is a very optimistic little dude. because of the voice actors, my brain thinks that he is soccer naruto (i have not watched a single episode of naruto) (again that is my older brother's field of expertise). i like that despite his optimism, he's definitely got his moments of being very stubborn and frustrated - which is normal considering the goal he's striving for, but you'd think a kid show would just write him as nothing but happy happy. actually now that i think about it yeah, while ina11 keeps it generally safe for kids i'm surprised that it throws a bunch of implications about death. though i guess ichinose was revealed to be alive after all. but the stuff with endou's grandad being sabotaged and potentially killed by that one guy, who happened to also run over gouenji's sister is still kinda messed up if you think about it. not that much. you get it i think. inazuma has it's ways of keeping things interesting enough. i mean the second season literally introduces aliens which is a very wild jump from competing in japan soccer games - but despite me not having watched much of it, i'm sure it'll find bizarre some way to work somehow. endou is also a very likeable protagonist and not to beat the dead blue lock comparisons with a stick, i think i find myself rooting for endou more than isagi. which is funny because isagi is just a Guy who happens to Really Like Soccer compared to all the other players (the bluelocklings) who have some sort of really sad story sometimes. my guy yukimiya is going BLIND, my son bachira is outcasted as some sort of soccer freak, my buddy hiori isn't treated like a person by his own family... so part of me also roots that they'd win over isagi sometimes tbh. anyway endou is great because we see that same intense passion for soccer, and we find reasons to want him to win because you see how much he finds joy in it. how much he really looked up to his dead granddad, and how he probably wants to carry his legacy and avenge his death somehow. the latter isn't explicitly said, but i feel like it would make sense that he'd want to prove whoever went against his grandpa and the original ina11 to be all wrong. we see him push himself to the brink, and if that's not enough, despite being already badly beaten up by his intense training he pushes himself so that his friends don't have to suffer through hardships alone. the amount of soccer balls and car tires that guy has taken should have given him several injuries realistically! ow!!
last comparison SOOOOORRRYYYY but while blue lock makes me care for it's wider cast, ina11 struggles to make me care for some of the other cast members. i like the characters that had more screentime and were established more, of course, because the show gives them their proper spotlight with endou. gouenji is cool, kidou is really great and i actually really also enjoy his character (my second favorite little dude i do enjoy his development a LOT and seeing him trying to protect raimon in their match by looking out for any hazards n stuff for a fair match where he gets to play by his own) (he is great) (i regret everything bad i said about his cape it actually rocks). i also find someoka and domon neat too. the manager trio is also neat, but i do hope they get their spotlight soon. i don't know if they'll ever show aki play soccer again, but that would be neat to see iunno... but other than that, there are just some characters i can't get myself to care for bro i hate that glasses nerd SOOOO much ughrghugughuuu... and that weird little guy with the bad hair. the one who's bald all over except for his bangs and ponytail. what the fuck is even going on with that. it's not too much of an issue, i guess. a story can only focus on so much!!
thank god they kind of solved this issue by injuring the non important members in season two LOL :) i do really want to see more of this anime. it makes me happy and gives me heaps of nostalgia