Fideo and Endou mostly, but also like Tenma and Fei, Tachimukai and Tsunami
Doing a top 6 because I think all of these are important:
Kidou (it was openly stated and their bonding throught the series is clear)
Gouenji (Obvious)
Fideo (for being a one season thing, they became very close. Probably more screentime than most Raimon's friendships of Endou)
Kazemaru (Childhood friends and visible bonding, even if it doesn't hit as strong as Kidou and Gouenji)
Aki (feels strong because of their interactions and their backstory in creating the soccer club)
Fuyuka (childhood friends and still calls each other by first name/petname)
These bonuses didn't made it in the list because of specific reasons:
Hiroto: feels closer to Midorikawa due to season 3 and we don't see him hanging out much with Endou, even if their friendship development in season 2 was very good. I'd say they just left it behind a bit after that point.
Touko: They had a good bond but feels like this too was a bit left behind after a while and Touko gravitated more towards Rika, also because she wasn't in the Inazuma Japan team.
Tachimukai: feels more like a teammate, student though, than best friend. I'd say Tachimukai is closer with his friend group of first years + Tsunami than Endou.
Kabeyama: Good moments and it's nice that in Go they're still working together. But even here, it felt stronger in season 1 and then each gravitated towards other people.
Ichinose: While they get along very good and there's a lot of respect and friendship, I'd say that it's more Endou being between Ichinose's closest friends. But even then, Domon, Aki and Mamoru (the childhood friend) are probably closer.
Domon: Feels closer to Endou than Ichinose, also due to what Domon said in season 1, but also for him it drifted away a bit, so it certainly feels like he is closer to Aki, Ichinose and Mamoru.
Endou and Fideo are my absolute favorite. It was very wholesome to see how much they helped each other and got close in such a short time, it was one of my favorit. They have a lot of very good moments together; their meeting and them playing together in free time, the events with Mr.K and the goal scored by their constant passing ball between each other, their promise to each other, Orpheus helping Inazuma before the finals and their last talk at the airport. I also liked how in the games Fideo stays over at Japan's dormitory and eats with them once and the moment where Fideo asks if he can call Endou by first name.It felt like they formed a very close friendship.
Thought, I also like a lot the friendship between the first years+Tsunami (Haruna, Tachimukai, Kogure, Kabeyama, Tsunami and Kurimatsu). They feel like a very adorable support group that in the free time would end up in accidental chaotical situations.
Another one I like is Tenma's firstyears group (Tenma, Tsurugi, Shinsuke, Aoi, Kariya, Hikaru). And still with Tenma I like his friendship with Fei.
Hiroto and Midorikawa are probably, at least, in a relationship, as they're both legal guardians of Kariya. I don't know how adoption works in Japan and it's fiction so it could be anything, but I think usually in real life they prefer to give guardianship to married couples.
Aki and Ichinose are almost surely dating, seen the OG series and that the boyfriend mentioned in anime and games is from America.
While there's no real hint, I think Haruna and Tachimukai could be seeing each other. In season three of the OG series her friendship with him was very nice, I think that aside Kogure he is the one she is closest to (aside her brother). And it was kind of suspicious that with Endou, Fubuki, Kogure and everyone appearing from the old series she acted very surprised in meeting them. As if she didn't really have contacts over the phone even for a while.
Her calling Tachimukai so easily to help Shinsuke (I think it was said in an interview that Tachimukai is a professional goalkeeper in the major league in the series, so it must have not been easy to drop everything and go there) when it felt like she didn't really hear anyone else in that time, made me think they might at least be in a relationship.
They still call each other by surname with the honorifics in Japanese, but some couples do it until married so might still be possible.
Aside them I don't think we can guess anyone else.
My favorite ship of Inazuma Eleven alongside Tachimukai x Haruna.
I have a soft spot for childhood friend and I really liked how natural this ship felt and the things they have in common.
Both genuinely love soccer (Fuyuka says it more than once that she always liked it herself) and she was willing to play with him just to help him out, also she is able to read his notes which is pretty impressive. The affectionate names (Mamoru-kun and Fuyuppe) are adorable and it's cute how she is the only one kissing him in the games (both in the third game if you choose to talk to her before the finals and in Go Shadow when she encourages him at home).
These details helped making their chemistry very appealing to me.
Besides, Fuyuka is very caring and her nature and future job fit well with Endou's tendency to overwork.
Also the whole memory plot and Fuyuka's family being so involved with Daisuke's survival were nice.
Another element that makes me like her more as character and ship with Endou, compared to any other, like Natsumi, is her character writing.
I feel like while her plotline is extremely related to her bond with Endou (which I like), it's not all about that (which I also like). Endou was fundamental to regain her memories and to deal with her trauma, but you can also see how much her friendships with the players and the other girls influenced her.
She kept dedicating to everyone and tried to improve herself in being helpful and taking care of her friends, to the point it became her career somehow. You can see how she persued her interests, opened up more...
Even while being married with Endou in the games she still works as nurse. Eventually, if you add everything up, it doesn't feel like her character and actions revolved mostly around Endou.
And this is not to criticise who likes Natsumi or her ship with Endou. It makes sense why it was made canon in the anime and one version of the game. But personally it gave me the opposite feeling and I felt like saying my opinion of that too would help to clear more how I view Endou and Fuyuka's dynamic.
She grew a lot too, went from thinking more about herself to helping others, but it eventually felt like her actions were a bit too revolved around Endou. What I like in a ship is when characters are inspired from their crush/lover, but also thanks to those feelings make their own path (ex: AshxSerena, NormanxEmma, Luffy x Uta etc...). I thought Nastumi was going to get that development when she started working for Daisuke, it seemed that choosing to stay with the Little Giants, finding her own place, was the proof of that. But eventually she still went back to the Inazuma and I personally would have preferred something that showed more her choices for her own path in live. Coming back to Inazuma Japan, and becoming housewife in the versions she married Endou, felt like... a bit of a waste of a great character. Nothing wrong with Housewives or with her marrying Endou, but I think the ship and the character could have been highlightened more if it didn't feel (again, personally) that she revolved so much around him. A good thing would have been already making her work for the Resistance like in Shadow, using her smarts and investigation skills.
Fuyuka in the small time she has been in the series, has tried to help various characters (Tsunami, the team during the game against Argentina etc...) while Natsumi, even if she helped Axel in the first season, felt revolved more and only around Endou.
It seems absurd because sometimes this is a reason to ship characters, but instead for me this is why my personal tastes align more with EnnFuyu.
Ok
" perhaps they are more on Twitter? "
Actually No. Don't really know the reason why there is lack of Luhan. Maybe Luhan is less popular in female fanbase or maybe we are overestimating the Luhan popularity because of western crowd where it's too popular..
Even in western side , there is not much Luhan compare to Luna/Zosan. Who knows I don't really care.. I don't like Luhan..
One thing I have noticed that more Japanese are posting their art on Twitter rather than pixiv nowadays. Atleast this is true for Luna..
They do end up dumping their art in one single post in pixiv but that count as 1 work only.
I am Luna fan and I think you are Luta fan lol...
Uta is first female character that made me scared... Like Oda can choose to make Uta Canon because of her popularity. But now it seems impossible..
" Thought as artist I would still like to note that novels can take as much time of a drawing, depending on the length of the story. Between projecting, drafting, actual writing and revision it takes a very good amount too. "
Of course some novels do end up taking more time depending on number of pages and content but generally I don't think that's the case.
That's one of the main reason I didn't took no of illustrated or overall work as parameter of popularity.
View count is very simple. It's only shows number of people who are interested in the ship.
Of course this parameter is not fair to Luta because this ship is pretty new (in way it is advantage too as more people are in internet now. And Luta was like the new trend , everyone likes to follow trend).
Luta was third one piece ship to trend after Lunami and Zosan in Japanese twitter.
I wonder if Luta will manage to keep the same popularity as movie promotion has ended now...
" Also I hope my comment didn't come off as offensive. "
I don't think there was anything offensive in your reply.
I personally don't like Luhan too, so it was more just a curiosity, as I also tend to not go look for ships I don't personally ship.
As for the Twitter thing you said, yeah it's the same for Luuta. Much more content on there than on Pixiv.
Even if it's not as strong as a few months ago, I think the trend will keep going for a while. There's still the blue-ray release in June so there's probably going to be another wave of content. Then, the rest will depend on how much Oda plans to use Uta, but so far the art seems to keep coming so we'll just wait and see?
Oh, you said that Oda could make Uta "canon"? Technically she is already a canon character to the manga. Maybe you meant him introducing her to the manga with an active role?
I meant introducing her in manga
Oh got it!
Tbh I hope he does, but at this point it's quite risky. If he wants to give her some character importance Oda will have to hurry up.
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I see! That's really cute tbh lol
As for myself, I see them as brother and sister as far as canon goes, honestly
I guess everyone have a personal perception of them! All is valid tbh!
What is 100% sure is that they care about each other, whether we view them as siblings, romantic pairing or just friends, which is the most important thing
Exactly! I think everyone has the right to interpret it the way it makes the most sense for them when the subject is shipping, so I'm glad to see people share this outlook
Fighting over ships and headcanons is pointless, I think everyone should just respect different views and think of consuming and producing content they like, but sadly a lot of time people tend to look for conflict
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Because its silenced. Check out Suki-Kira with a translator.(I use deepL) Its a japanese Website, not only for votes, but for discussion, too. I got ALL the answers from there. Especially people in japan are ANNOYED to hell by Uta. Over 70% voted to dislike her and its a Huge poll if there are over 80.000 people voting. I would believe a logical, unbiased vote way more than a "official" vote that could have been corrupted or bound to a specific target group(like elementary School kids, also makes sense from her bad writing). Do you expect a totally clean vote from a site thats influenced by shueisha etc. - the people gaining money from its promotion?
Her story sucks to an extend that many people talked about solding their one piece copies. And I foresaw Utas sucking just by knowing her storyline. She harmed one piece, odas, director taniguchis and the red hair pirates image harshly in japan. Japanese people said that red critique was BLOCKED for "Spoilers" and everything makes sense. The people are Voting with relief on Suki kira. We, in the Western parts, are isolated from the shitstorm uta caused among japanese fans and as far as I know French people didn't liked it either. German youtubers were divided in eating everything what they get Served and talking extremely cynical about it. Trust me: Utas story sucks. Everything about her sucks. She was a huge failure and the only Reason why "She" was a box office success, was not herself, but the fact that people got scammed with "Red" and "Shanks", or just dragged in by Ado. It was literally a cinematic scam. A good singing voice doesn't make a good character nor story. Ado was supposed to sing great, so of course uta did.
And its obvious that uta content is now buzzing. She was milked dry from a commercial standpoint, having an own movie. New, pushed things are popular, who could have thought that? People that enjoy uta aren't watching or understanding one piece mostly. She is not popular among old time one piece fans and even some people, that started watching because of RED, really started to dislike her.
even if your resources are on the uta side of life, it doesn't make her better. her popularity means anything if its among kids, thirsty weebs, people that are Catched with emotional bait, people that don't know about the writing and morals of one piece or people that are typical yes-sayers to the officials.
Please consider Listening to the serious critique of her. She is just wrong.
There is a reason why so many people call her a gross schoolgirl fanfic dream.
Considering her extremely bad writing and personality, its more suspicious than a proof that the outrage is pushed under the rug. Think about it: how does it come that you don't see negative reviews until you get bombed with critique after searching for a certain, anonymous like-dislike Website?
Thank you for taking your time to respond.
First of all, I don't think this is the best place to discuss about the topic as it's a post made for ships and we are deviating a bit from it.
Secondly, I would like to remind before you read the rest of my response that I do not intend to come across as rude so I hope you don't take it as such.
I looked in the site you sent and while it's surely a good evidence, I still can't take it as an absolutely proof of the massive hate.Don't get me wrong, I'd like to make it clear: I am conscious there are many people hating her. The more people love something, the more there are people hating it. It's like that in other fields too, like football (european). Juventus is one of the most popular and loved teams in the world, but it's also one of the most hated. The two things coincide at the same time. Sorry the silly example, but it's just to make it clearer.
You said that it's a site where there is a logical and honest voting, but so far I was able to vote and I wasn't registered, and there are anonymous comments too. You said yourself that it's mostly anonymous (even if not completely). Anyone could vote, outside Japan, inside but using more than one research motor (yes, a lot of people do that also for silly reasons). So it's not as safe and unbiased as site as you say. Even for unofficial polls people use more than one account or search engines to repeat their votes.
Also, translating people's discussions, most are just blind hate, and finding haters it's very easy in a comment session. I don't consider blind hate a solid and proper critique.
I also checked other characters pages and as I noted previously, Luffy is still highly disliked on that site, which makes it even less believable. A lot of characters who are known to be very liked have a very low percentage of liking, so it doesn't feel like Uta is THAT disliked.
And this all also put the poll to the same level of official polls. You speak of official being biased and manipulated to make the votes gravitate more towards a certain category, but with the info of Suki-Kira, there are no real elements to say that the voting is just unbiased and absolute speaker of truth. If you base yourself only on one source you are not checking all the parties of the topic.
I am conscious that Uta is a very flawed character, mostly when we talk about the movie, but going over the same remark "she sucks", while not explaining why you think so and using it as absolute fact, doesn't make it as such. It's not an absolute fact she sucks, just like it's not that people who like her are stupid or out of their mind. You didn't use these words, but I assure that it's the feeling that comes out of your statement.
I don't think it's proper to insult a character and belittle her fans just because of your personal taste.
I think in the first message I wrote it was clear that I like her and you indirectly belittling all fans who like her isn't hiding very well that you're trying to belittle also my opinion, while implying i should change my mind. If "listening to the serious critique of her" is just listening to people saying she "sucks" like most of those comments I read on Suki-Kira, is interacting with good and serious critic (with you ending it with "she is just wrong", as if she is something outrageous and morally disgusting), then, with all due respect, I don't think this is a proper, polite and unbiased discussion.
You are putting all the fans of this character in the same category and insulting them and it doesn't certainly come across a serious criticism. It feels like this is much more of a personal matter for you.
Yes, I like Uta, and I do so while perfectly aware of her writing flaws (which most are not canon since everything happening in Red isn't. Which would also solve most of the issues people have with her character).
Going back to the talks about official sources, you may call consider them untrustworphy, but if the author of One Piece Gakuen said that they asked to add Uta specifically because of the popularity and appreciation of her character, it's not surely something so fake.And I don't think either that Twitter is so pure and clean from hate. I've seen japanese lamenting of Uta, so the freedom of speech doesn't seem so restrected. And I also saw negative criticism and positive on Fusetter, which is a kind of japanese blog where people can spoiler tag things and use it as external link for their reviews. Most people from Twitter used that during Red's release time to be able to mention spoilers and I got a lot of insight on their opinions from there.
So yes, I am basing my words on more sources and giving all a certain importance.
You also mentioned how japanese sources said that Oda called her a diva with expiration date, and when I asked you about a source for that, because there was no such thing, you didn't give it, and then said instead how official sources are not always unbiased. It's highly contradictory, besides the fact that with no official source of that statement it could be literally ANYONE saying such a thing and it not existing.
Lastly, speaking of top searchs and contribution...
Most of the people making content, at least fanarts wise, are not kids. So the people drawing Uta, and the massive contribution of content for her is still coming from a big part of older fans (it shouldn't even be that relevant even, because sometimes kids understand reading more than adults). There is also a big percentage of works with no fanservice, unlike other characters from One Piece like Nami.
And the fact that said contributions surpassed other existing ships (I mention this again because the ship content can be an indicator of how well Uta is liked and the fact that it's in the most supported ships, surpassing others existing for years isn't nothing) and came close to characters who are in One Piece since the start, isn't something to ignore.Her influence, being in top searches and contributions, isn't temporarely and due to just the movie, because she was in the top, not the movie itself. And those datas surpassed any other from any other character in a movie. Again, it was said by Sohei Koji. It's something that never happened. It's the first time that they ask for a character to be added. This is not just the movie, this is Uta too.
And you can't say it doesn't count basing yourself on assumptions about her fanbase. It's not fair to them or polite.
Again, I hope I didn't come across as rude in my answer, but I felt like most of your reply was you expressing your hate for Uta and keeping on belittle her and people who like her, instead of giving more proofs of your argument.
The fact that we passed from a topic about ships and me saying the reasons I like Luuta, from a discussion about why Uta "sucks" feels kind of feels oddly specific and unsettling. If it was your intention from the go was to just to insult Uta and her fans in a discreet way, answering to someone who was just expressing their like for it, then I think it was very unnecessary and rude. Mostly since you implied I should listen to criticism (as if I was refusing to see flaws in a character and doing something wrong) and describing people liking her as a lot of things but normal and valid fans like others.
If it wasn't your intention I am deeply sorry for assuming, but this is how it came across.
This isn't even a space to discuss about this, it was a space to express which ship you like and why. In my post I expressed my opinion about it and I don't see why I should change it. The only thing we could discuss about it effectively how popular Uta is really in Japan (and somehow it deviated on how she "sucks"), but even there it's a fact that she is popular. She might have a lot of hate too, but she is still also well liked by a lot of fans and there are more than one proof supporting such. Even if there are proofs of her being disliked too. If the two facts can coexists I don't see why this has to be draggen on further.
So, personally, I would prefer to drop this discourse at this point. If you don't like Uta it's super fine and valid of course, but please don't try to belittle other people for doing the opposite.
Its fine but.... She sucks tho, I'm sorry to say it. Its not just about her "flaws", she is an absolute mary sue while being a half baked villain, braindead on top of it AND shanks daughter. Its not "blind hate" I get more logical reasons to dislike uta than to like her. People that like her - again - like her for emotional bait, ado or her visuals. Otherwise there is way too much room for disliking her. I didn't said everyone who dislikes her is stupid either. SHE is just extremely flawed/stupid.. The people on Suki kira are rightly critizing her for taking way too much room(25. anniversary overshadow), acting stupid to a point of insanity(yes, before the mushrooms, defending uta for those mushrooms is like defenting a School shooter for taking drugs after he made his plan. Uta even used the Magic shrooms FOR her plan, which is even worse. And while she acts selfish, self righteous, arrogant, stupid, harmful and so on, she even gets praised. She tried to kill and capture humanity, so she is a terrorist. Despite this everyone still listens to her music at the end. Its just insane. One piece is not the manga for defending fcking terrorism :'D. Shanks even scolds the navy for - i don't know - doing their AND his job by Saving humanity from the overly spoiled lunatic brat, he is responsible for! Ah yes and shanks is like.. The most incompetent dad to ever exist in one piece. Just because of the creation of uta.
Thats more than valid critique. Or do you think this is blind hate? Blind hate by people who just can't stand their favourite manga being humiliated for the sake of a cashgrab Terror waifu? Taniguchi even admitted that utas character was just made to draw in costumers. He scamed people to watch this movie just to Spit in their faces. Having the red hair pirates spoil and literally serve a Diva to insanity is just nuts.
From luffys side: luffy even punched Vivi for less and uta, who is about to KILL his mates and everyone else while disrespecting his dreams etc., no no touching. terrorwaifu gets the special treatment. For some reason. If my captain would act like that, my trust for him would be gone. My captain shouldn't nearly sacrifice me because of his long Missed singer girlfriend. I apologize for my attitude but uta rampages for months now and I really don't get why people are so attached to her. She is a villain like everyone else. She is just treated like a schoolgirl fanfiction oc.
I think blind hate is when there is a necessity of using insults to defend your opinion and refusing to see BOTH the good and the bad sides of a certain thing. Just like again implying that fans liking her aren't thinking clearly, while escalating enormously some details from the movie. Non-canon movie.
Since you basically ignored as a whole my mention of being respectful of others opinions, and this became a space for your personal rant, I think there is no more to discuss about :)
Have a nice day!
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My boy I want to see some comics from you you have what it takes
Thank you! I have some comics about them planned :)
Please next time put the credits in the description 🙏🏻 Not everyone read the comments so sometimes people don't know where it comes from and in this case I didn't put my signature.
If we think about how recent is Uta's debut, it's kind of insane how popular Ruffy/Uta got.
Not that I mind, i love the ship, but it's really shocking. Even more since in western fandom the content for them (romantical) is really scarse.
I wonder how much the numbers will raise in future
Pretty late with this, but I thought to give my opinion anyway. Generally, I quite like all the series (Aside Ares and Orion, which I didn't like personally and I'm not into, so I won't really talk about them), so this list seems longer and more critical than how much I wouldn't change. But it's really more me going into depth.
My biggest nitpick, and the only thing I'd really force a change upon...Orpheus vs Little Giants and the latter's role (or what gelt like a love triangle between Orpheus, LG and Inazuma Japan):
On a side, I personally would've enjoyed to see Fideo playing against Endou in the finals because the whole storyline about their promise and their friendship, just like the healthy and supportive rivalry between their teams, was wholesome. With so much push on it, I just felt like something was missing and it would have payed off to see such a match between them. It would feel pretty natural to see those teams fighting in the finals. However, I understand that this is the reason Orpheus helped Inazuma Japan to train lore wise and why their match ended with a tie in the anime (it felt the most right decision and in the finals it wouldn't be possible as result. In case they faced at the end, it would fit to have Orpheus winning first and then IJ winning the finals as rematch). I also get that the main goal to to end with Mamoru vs Daisuke somehow, and effectively the final match payed off, it was pretty awesome.
So, at least I would have expanded more the Little Giants lore, because as rivals they felt much less explored than the Italian team, and with LG players being very similar to the Inazuma members, it feels like something's lacking.
Also, I would have totally remade the Orpheus vs Little Giants match. Almost everyone mentioned it here and in other posts, but it's always fair to remember how unnecessary was a 8-0 with no hissatsus. With how strong the team and Fideo are supposed to be, it only comes off as super forced. I feel like the team being totally destroyed on the field wasn't necessary to make Fideo sad and to make them help IJ.
Even if it's stated that Natsumi studied the team and passed all the informations to the LG, it just feels like LG were overpowered suddenly.
Bringing back Fideo:
Fideo is my favourite character, but he is also a quite important character in season 3 and aside being probably one of the strongest characters he's also pretty close to Endou (proved also with him being brought to the past to help against Ogre and not feeling like just a matter of character popularity). I would have him re-appear in Go as adult, mostly since Italy is mentioned and knowing that many of the Inazuma members played in pro league. Kidou even played in Italian league and I'm pretty sure Endou is strong enough to have been called by some team in Europe, so I would have at least mentioned him if showing wasn't possible.
Still about Fideo:
Pretty small detail, but I would have kept in the anime the bond between Rushe and Fideo from the game. Also, I would have showed Fideo's past. Him talking about his father and how he's similar to Kageyama was interesting and I think it would have been even more stricking with some parallel flashbacks. And still talking about Fideo, maybe I would have given him a bigger send off with Endou?
More insight on the 10 years gap:
On this previous note, I would have shown something more about those 10 years gap between the graduation of the og cast and Go. How some characters grew, what are and were their lives like. What kind of jobs do they have? If they're soccer related which club are they playing for? How are their families or relationships? (I don't think Endou is the only one between so many characters of the og series that married)We've seen something and maybe showing a lot of this with many characters would be difficult in the anime (more flashbacks would have been great), but perhaps a spin-off of shorts, a manga or something similar? (Also, Ichinose is implied to be involved romantically with Aki, so they could have showed him at least in a picture with her or on a call). Having Gouenji mentioned for leaving played soccer, Endou being married and apparently having been injured in the period they called him to be a coach, all the possible character interactions... too many interesting things I think are worthy to see. Even in side content.
(Continue in the next comment)
Endou x Fuyuka:
Pretty much going on personal opinion and tastes in this case. Talking about ships (so you can skip this point if not interested), I like more Endou x Fuyuka, so I would have picked her as wife in the anime too.I get that Endou x Natsumi is liked more by fans and that it offers more gags, so I quite figure why they decided to go for it in the animated version like for Go Light. To be honest I don't mind the ship at all, it's quite cute, with all that Natsumi did by searching for Daisuke and the two's banters it's no surprise it's supported widely.
But with Mamoru and Fuyuppe's childhood friendship, the whole memory plot, Fuyuka's family being involved in Daisuke's experiences, her managing to read Endou's grandfather notes too, her being genuinely interested in soccer since the very start and her efforts to help Endou with his daily struggle... it makes me enjoy a lot their chemistry.
Again, it's pretty much personal opinion. I just see a romantic chemistry more with Endou and Fuyuka than Endou and Natsumi.
Fuyuka and Natsumi:
Another element, still tied to the ship, but also about character growth...
Could be just my interpretation, so I may be the only one getting it like that, but I felt like Fuyuka, still being extremely related to Endou in her development and plotline, isn't really... revolving just about him. You can see that she has her goals to grow as manager, to fill in the group of friends, and then face her trauma, she is invested in helping others and improving herself, eventually even proving it by becoming a nurse and dedicating herself to help out. It felt like while Endou was one of the fuels of her story and is very important and fundamental for her, it wasn't all about him eventually. While it was Endou who triggered her memories and sure helped her facing them, what saved her from her status was also and mostly her friends and her genuine like for soccer.
With Natsumi instead it feels the opposite. She has a lot of interesting traits to her character and of course DID do things for others too. She grew to be more involved with other people and caring about them. But personally I felt like this side wasn't expanded enough or pointed out, and mostly everything revolved back around Endou. Her work as manager, even searching Daisuke... it's obvious it's not just about Endou, but it still feels like it is eventually?One example is when she decided to join LG. Her traveling and settling there with them, finding her own place seemed a very huge growth for her, even if the main goal was to find Daisuke and help Endou reconnecting with him. I personally would have left her as manager of Little Giants till the end, because it felt like a pretty personal choice, even if it wouldn't go along the classic view of belonging to the Inazuma group. (And if she really had to marry Endou or anyone really for the matter, I wouldn't have made her housewife, considering also it's not really a job she seem to fit much into and she has the potential to have a great career both in soccer departments and outside it).
This is one of the reasons I feel more interested in the dynamic between Endou and Fuyuka and why I would have changed Natsumi's development a bit.
SSC focus:
Even if it was pretty much hinted almost to confirmation that Tenma is Saru's ancestor and some similarities can be found for others too (like Kinako, so carrying the gene for Fei, resembling Tachimukai. Or Yokka with Fideo), I would have explored more the Second Stage children plotline. Show some flashbacks of their lives, since it seemed pretty sad but interesting. Maybe how they felt being abandoned but also being descendants of probably still acclaimed people in soccer department. Have some more insight on Tenma carrying the SSC gene etc... It's something I find pretty interesting. Saru to me seem a pretty good character, more insight about his feelings and past, and so his relation with Tenma, would have been pretty cool.
Galaxy:
I didn't overly dislike Galaxy... but I would have changed many details.First of all, I wish it had a bigger feeling of "final season" for Tenma's story. Compared to the OG series, where season 3 feels like a proper conclusion and seem to have a finale for the whole series, Galaxy doesn't really give a proper send-off to the characters, as if it's the last we're seeing of them. Maybe it wasn't planned to stop there and they decided later to go for Ares? But I still would have tried to make something in case. Even a movie.Then...
Like many others, I would have preferred something more classic as FFI. I admit the aliens thing threw me a bit off, and even rewatching I never vibed much with this choice.
I'd rather see other characters from the rest of the nations of the world, maybe showing old ones and taking occasion of Mixi-Max and Avatars not being allowed (I don't mind them, but for official games it feels a bit extreme. Souls are a cool concept I would keep in this case)
If not possible, and the aliens storyline was to be kept at all costs, I would at least include more characters from other nationalities in the Earth Eleven. I'm okay with new characters, but them being from other nations and maybe having some ties with older characters like Fideo, Thorres, Edgar, Ichinose or even Rushe would have given more diversity.
This would still introduce new characters to develop, in the main team even, so leaving behind characters that weren't developed much already in the previous seasons or the ones we've grown close to but didn't get to see anymore like the entire Raimon. In this case, if bringing them along was a big no, I would have given a side-plot for them, something to do on Earth (Or in Japan if it wasn't about space, aliens etc..). Making them still a part of the story and be useful with their character and strength.
On this regard, Hikaru... I would have given him a much bigger role, since he was introduced as Kageyama's relative. Why doing it to then leave him behind?
Kageyama Reiji's return:
And talking about Kageyama's family, Reiji in my opinion, should have stayed dead. I admit that seeing him as coach of the main protagonist team is a cool idea, but the thing about him coming back to life and with the development he reached in IE3... I felt like it was just forced and unnecessary to me. I would have just left it there as it was. If Reiji was just implied to be dead, or in a coma or something, it would have felt less forced, but like this I would prefer to just not include him.Again, if necessary, at least I would have included Hikaru in the whole matter.
More insight of Garshield as villain:
Feels like he was introduced a bit too late and we don't know much of him. We don't need a sad backstory or such, just see a little more about him.
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