The Inazuma 11 theatrical
theatre animation is in many ways lazy, yet feels less so than many similar
releases. Most of the film retells the series very quickly, albeit with the nice
little addition of the year during which the football team was just Endou, Someoka
and Handa, until it diverges at the end. A recap film is certainly a
disappointment, but as there’s quite a large gulf between OLM’s cheap weakly
animation and the slick but still charming work in films like Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva, it was quite a joy to see old scenes redone.
Plus threaded through all this
was a very, very silly time travel story. As silliness is what Inazuma 11 does
best, I had no objections. The framing device for all the recaps is that Endou
is being watched from the future by a shadowy organization. At their head,
Hibiki – apparently a descendent of the coach but far more sinister. In their
time, football has apparently become regarded as amoral or socially
undesirable. Welp...okay, fine. Either way, there’s an evil organization out to
stop Endou through a time portal. To do this, they change history in the
Football Frontier we saw in the first season of the anime, and which was the
centre of the first game. After Zeus destroy Teikoku, instead of clashing with
our heroes Raimon, Zeus are then themselves crushed by Ogre, sent back from the
future and somehow entered into an interschool tournament.
Ogre are absurdly powerful and
of course Raimon at this stage cannot compete. But throughout the film, a sweet
little boy who looks a little like Toramaru but has a headband rather like
Endou’s has been watching proceedings. He, of course, is also from the future,
and shows up at a crucial moment – revealing himself to be Kanon, Endou’s
great-grandson (and, I have to say, a character design I rather prefer to Endou’s).
Kanon not only has formidable skills, but also brings Fubuki, Toramaru, Tobitaka,
Hiroto and even Fidio to help. No Tachimukai, sadly – Endou is the only goalie
needed, after all.
Ogre don’t object to these
reinforcements, and everyone takes the utterly bizarre time-travel story in
their strides. With a newly empowered team, the ability to chain shoots and Endou
spontaneously acquiring his future skills, including the
not-yet-seen-in-the-series Omega the Hand, Raimon pull through and history does
not change. Endou of course can give his silly pep-talks in his Naruto voice
and the bad guys see the errors of their ways.
This is strictly for the fans,
incredibly silly and with its recap elements, decidedly lazy. But Inazuma 11
remains a guilty pleasure, and this was still a part of that. Including the
‘pleasure’ part.
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