Inazuma Eleven Is Finally Back (An Orion no Kokuin Commentary)
Hello! Thank you for clicking into this chapter! The holidays are here, and I hope you are getting some well earned rest.
Inazuma Eleven fan, rejoice! Level-5 has heard your wishes and brought a new series that is worth being acknowledge as a sequel.
In this post, I, will encourage you to watch Inazuma Eleven Orion no Kokuin and tell you why this new story wiped is sure to warm you up with excitement and drama!
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I have been watching IE since I was twelve, and got into the fandom when I was sixteen. I grew up cheering for Endou while watching the intense matches on TV in my first language with a talented cast of dub actors and watched it in subs when I was able to get my hands on wi-fi.
I have written a lot about Inazuma Walker, a web program staring the Akihiro Hino and his assistant about Ares no Tenbin in my book Scrapshots.
It would have been very likely I had taken the next step and reviewed the anime itself. But I wasn't compelled to despite all the hype smeared in the chapters I wrote. Regardless of my personal opinion about Ares no Tenbin, this post will focus on its sequel, Orion no Kokuin aka the Seals of Orion. I will try my best to make it spoiler free because I want as many readers as possible to pick the anime up, whether Ares plummeted your hopes and dreams or whether you are a die hard GO fan.
To understand this new series, some background information is needed. This chapter will cover up the first three episodes of the anime to keep it solid and theory-free.
Orion no Kokuin revolves around the Football Frontier International arc. As we are shown in Reloaded, the objective of the Ares no Tenbin arc was so make Japan's soccer players stronger for this arc, causing the Raimon team to be dispersed through the whole country to other soccer teams.
This is why, regardless of its execution, the Ares no Tenbin arc was really important. With this new Inazuma Japan, capable players can play against the world. This isn't the same team in the original whose best players were Endou, Kidou, and Gouenji. What happened in the match against Argentina will not happen again. Because this team is more promising.
Now, what makes Orion no Kokuin a good story and a good Inazuma Eleven sequel? To answer that question, first we need to answer what is it that makes Inazuma Eleven so distinct from other sports anime (apart from the hyperdymensional soccer).
The Aliea Arc showed exactly what IE had to offer: interesting characters, glorious character interactions and dynamics, and drama. Orion no Kokuin has these three things, and it takes it a step further. And with the main cast back, characters we know from front to back and are already emotionally invested in, it makes it easier for the scenes to flow.
The team is comprised of the following characters:
With the same joke of a coach, Zhao Jin Yun, and Kudou Michiya as trainer.
From the get go, the team's relationships and dynamics are shown and set: Endou and the original Raimon do not falter at the face of adversity, and Endou's charisma is just as strong if not more than the original series. Whereas Asuto, Haizaki and Inakuni Raimon need their encourament for their spirits to lift.
Furthermore, new characters are introduced in the first episode, and the darkness behind this otherwise harmless tournament begins to seep to the viewer's eyes.
One of Inazuma Japan's member, Ichihoshi Mitsuru, definitely seems to know what is going on behind the matches.
Before the start of the first match, we are quickly introducted to the key player of Red Bison, Korea's representative team.
Just like in the matches in the original season, this makes the match more engaging as it brings the opposite team to life as an organic obstacle rather than an RPG goblin to kill and gain experience from
Just like in the matches in the original season, this makes the match more engaging as it brings the opposite team to life as an organic obstacle rather than an RPG goblin to kill and gain experience from. Remember the match against Mikage Sennou, Italy, Genesis, and others.
The match takes off from this starting point, shifting to their perspective at times; showing us the tension between their members and the clash between individual ideologies. Of course they want to win, but they do more than just obeying the coach's orders. At first, the team uses their hissatsus to score a goal, but their shoot is stopped so they decide to go with the coach's "strategy" to win. Good old rough plays and dirty tricks. However, the main antagonist does not obey orders for the sake of it. He actually enjoys the method.
Red Bison manages to score a goal, but it wasn't because of these dirty tricks. Both Endou and Gouenji realize and acknowledge the team's strength.
Things start to get weird when a certain Inazuma Japan player gets injured after performing a new hissatsu, scoring their first goal, and is taken off the match. The hurdle gets higher, and it is harder to see the team's certain victory without that person. It keeps the match interesting, and it definitely kept me at the edge of my seat. However, this Inazuma Japan has more talented players which doesn't make their win far from their reach. It is said they are equally matched, so victory will depend on strategies, mistakes, and surprises.
Kidou starts to think there is something going on behind the match, and the injury wasn't an accident. Hints are thrown by other characters--not InaJapan's players apart from Ichihoshi--who seem to know what is going on as well, yet the mystery is tightly sealed.
In the end, Inazuma Japan's win is cemented in their training--a little bit of a spoiler if I were to elaborate. Just like training in Episilon's secret base, or playing in the mud for the match against a certain FFI team in the original-- new character dynamics, and those mistakes previously mentioned. While it was a fun and exciting match to watch, that unease behind the strange events during the match are brought up once again.
Something is wrong. Not only a higher authority disposes of the antagonist character who fails the "mission" of beating Raimon, but Inazuma Japan's coach seems to have some relation to whatever is going on, and one of the players seems to have orders to destroy the team from the inside.
When was the last time the stakes have been so high, the team has been more in danger, and the plan of the big bad been this hazardous? This is no Garshield using a single team to stop Japan from winning, the whole tournament is against Inazuma Japan, and they will stop at nothing to realize their goal.
And the name of the series starts making more sense.
The characters also seem more self-aware, slipping in little details like Gouenji and Goujin's similarity in their names pretty smoothly.
The anime develops every single character in Inazuma Japan, creating new flavors like the God and the Devil duo, and a group of problem children who are willing to play dirty to help the team.
The tension is felt in the air, the team is a mere part of the grand scheme, and they aren't safe. Orion no Kokuin takes one knotch up the drama in Aliea and the tournament in the original FFI. This is what the writing Inazuma Eleven is capable of!
This beloved series is finally back!
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