I
have to confess that I love anime like Inazuma Eleven. They are
perfectly aware of how completely, utterly stupid they are, but they show no
sign of that at all. There's no hip, ironic self-referencing, and no
clever-clever signals that the writers are secretly above all this, but doing
it anyway - the Joss Whedon disease.
Yet,
with complete sincerity, charming honesty and buckets of enthusiasm, Inazuma
Eleven is incredibly, brilliantly stupid. In the tradition of many manly,
manly sports series, from Slam Dunk to Rookies, it focuses on the
competitive spirits of sportspeople as their rivalries and hardships push them
to greater and greater feats. But, probably in part because it's based on a video
game (by Level 5), Inazuma Eleven is about as silly and boyish as it
gets, though coming just over a month after the release of the game, it's
pretty clear the anime was developed in tandem with it rather than a later,
derivative property.
Inazuma
Eleven shows us a world where football (soccer to those who don't want to
listen to the people from the sport's birthplace) is not only played to an
incredibly high level but full of ridiculous special moves. At first, we just
have effects that could seem like they're symbolic, an expression of
characters' inner feelings and powerful moves like the shoots that envelop the
striker's foot in flames or have them surrounded by a dragon - but then later
we end up with characters generating tsunami and solid walls from thin air,
stopping time and launching penguins at one another. Yes, really. These kids
have abilities that could solve the economic problems of the entire world, put
an end to crime and end most military conflicts, but all they do with their
superpowers is play football. In school leagues, no less.
What's
more, despite the supernatural adversaries they face, our heroes never, ever
lose a match that matters. Not a single one! They go from no-hopers without
even a full team to national champions against unprecedented opposition with
absurd magical powers without once losing. If they concede goals, someone's
strong feelings will come through in the end and win them the match in a
montage of goal-scoring. For something based on sports, these anime really
don't show the glorious ups and downs of close competition, but instead teach
the Japanese youth that if you want it hard enough, and put yourself through
enough stupid yet painful training, the sincerity of your emotions will
overcome lack of talent or years' preparation - or, indeed, such dishonest
measures as imitating others, over-analysing their skills rather than being
intuitive and of course doping, because that's how sports really ought to be.
Reality is sobering afterwards, but of course, reality doesn't have giant
flaming pegasi rampaging across the sky because the goalkeeper and two close
friends have rushed out past midfield.
And
it's the sheer absurdity that is so fun. Matching it is a cast of truly
outlandish characters. The main team has its misfits - the giant lummox of a
boy, the tiny little one with pin-eyes, the creepy one nobody notices and more
than its share of very pretty ones - this is, I should probably mention, one of
the great favourites of fujoshi at the moment who gleefully ship the young boys
together - and their opposition match their silliness. The schools they face
tend to be themed in the great tradition of enemies of the weak in most
Japanese shows, with schools where all the kids are ninja, schools where they
are all otaku and, ultimately, one where they are themed like Greco-Roman
gods.
On
the way, generally the boys will come up against some personal hurdle, then
have a match where they get crushed only for inspiration to strike and the
hurdle to be overcome to win the match. It’d be irritating presented many other
ways, but the conviction and lack of gall has a winsome charm and the appeal of
the cute designs and bright colours are hard to resist.
These
26 episodes, covering the 'football frontier' are but the opening chapters of
an extremely long anime. From the looks of it, there will be a lot of turnover
in the main team - already there are so many new members, from childhood
friends to former rivals, that many of the characters are stuck on the subs
bench (including clearly the best pretty-boy, young Handa), and I've seen
plenty of advertising media with entirely different line-ups. It's something of
a marvel to me that Takeuchi Junko not only has enough time to do all the work
she has for Naruto, but as well as taking on the dubbing for Gumball,
has the lead role here as Endou, too. I suppose with the end of Reborn! she had a little more time, but c'mon...Naruto alone ought to fill most
schedules. She's prolific on a whole new level.
Inazuma
Eleven is easy, brainless watching, but that's a big part of its appeal. I
enjoy its simplicity and straightforward silliness, and I like the designs and
vague homoeroticism around the whole thing. I shall stick with it, and add it
to the long list of incredibly long-running shows I watch...though very
possibly it will stall just like all the others and I'll crawl through it over
years and years!
Plus…it’s
slightly strange, but I genuinely was wondering until I watched this what
OLM were up to these days.
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