Inazuma Eleven Anime Concept Part Eight: Season Three Team Changes & First Episode Concepts

With Japan winning the Football Frontier International all seems quiet in Japan. However, a new threat will soon emerage looking to wipe football of the face of the Earth. This will be the third and final season for Protagonist and all his friends and rivals so we will look to pull out all the stops in tribute to them when it comes to the world and teams created. Before we begin it is important to note two things. With the evolving landscape and win in an international tournament the general look to Japan and how popular football is there has an effect, the amount of school with football teams has grown massivly and even those beforehand with them and not in the Path to Glory (or that we have seen) that have been added to this tournament is huge to deal with demand so if we make reference to players from other school appearing suddenly when those school didn't exist in the first season. Secondly if you are starting at part eight please see the links below to the rest of the series: 

Part One: Story, Main Character & First Episode Concepts: https://ramblingsofenglishman.blogspot.com/2021/12/inazuma-eleven-anime-concept-part-one.html 

Part Two: The Path To Glory Begins: https://ramblingsofenglishman.blogspot.com/2021/12/inazuma-eleven-anime-concept-part-two.html 

Part Three: The Path To Glory Concludes: https://ramblingsofenglishman.blogspot.com/2021/12/inazuma-eleven-anime-concept-part-three.html

Part Four: Football Frontier International Characters and Concepts: https://ramblingsofenglishman.blogspot.com/2022/02/inazuma-eleven-anime-concept-part-four.html

Part Five: Football Frontier International Qualifying: https://ramblingsofenglishman.blogspot.com/2022/05/inazuma-eleven-anime-concept-part-five.html

Part Six: Football Frontier International Group Stage: https://ramblingsofenglishman.blogspot.com/2022/07/inazuma-eleven-anime-concept-part-six.html

Part Seven: Football Frontier International Knockout Stages: 

Team Changes: 

Raimon
Before we discuss any other teams we should start with Raimon as they will be one of the teams with the most movement. First of all we should deal with the depatures with Zeke, Auba, Lacca, ICB & Versitlity all graduating we will say the same for the utility players as well as it makes it easier to say they have just left. However, the biggest depature if that of Naito, nothing bad has happened to him I just felt he had a bigger role to play away from Raimon and he will be the captain of a new team more on them later. Now for the additions before we breakdown the new characters we have a few people switching to Raimon mainly ProC & BF. With Naito leaving I felt I needed a player we are familiar with to replace him and ProC coming to Japan to stay with his family in Protagonist made sense. As for BF now XGen & The Cabal is done he can move freely not under the orders of anyone so of course he takes the chance to play a club level with his best friend. Now for the newest additions:

Limitless - Position: Central Defence 
The man mountain defender which Raimon lacked last time out Limitless not only brings power but the speed of a defender half his size to the shock of all around him. A perfect balance of speed and strength I find myself liking him to either Keith Lee or Bob from Tekken in terms of the build they have no limiting their agility. However, one drawback is how deadpan and serious he is in how he talks it makes him come off as not very sociable but it is just how he communicates and is someone who cares deeply for the club.

Copycat - Position: Midfield 
A player who became fixated on football watching Japan in the FFI. While somewhat new to football he became a good player mimicking the movements of Protagonist, if anything he is like an exact copy in his movement and play style. The series will look at him trying to discover who he is following him joining Raimon. 

MS - Position: Midfield 
When it comes to MS we will go over why he is called MS at a later point. He is best described as a reckless player who throws his body into the action with a disregard for his own health which even though it worries his teammates he manages for the most part to keep himself healthy. This playstyle and refusal to change who he is limits his game time which will lead to clashes with Manager. We will call him MS to begin with but don't be surprised if I switch that to Daredevil later. 

Prodigy - Position: Striker/Winger
Someone who took to football like a duck to water a true natural all along the attacking line. His talent comes with an arrogance thinking he can win everything on his own. Ace sees a lot of himself in him when he was part of XGen and wants to help him grow to respect his team.

Axel, Saix, Roxas & Xion - Positions: Wingers (Axel & Saix), Full Back (Roxas) & Manager (Xion)
I'm grouping these four together as they all come from the same school and much like their Kingdom Hearts namesakes are all close friends. All four have come from the same school for reasons revealed later in the series and seem to keep to themselves for the most part at least early on not trusting others due to their past experiences. Axel & Saix are third years where as Roxas & Xion are second years. We will get more into them as the series goes on. 

So with that in mind Raimon's starting formation will look something like the below. A 4-4-3 with Captain as the Defensive Midfielder and anchor with Protagonist the Box to Box Midfielder the engine room of the team covering the majority of the pitch and BF the advance playmaker mostly focused on attacking duties. 

That is it for Raimon. However, we do still have some player movements the main ones not mentioned being as follows:  

• CapR has left Tana's team and has moved to Teikoku to play with his best friend TC
• The two English brothers have left Japan and their teams 
• The Ginyu Force have left Dynamic Gakuen and Omega is now the captain 
• Dynamic have become a place for players around the world who want to devlop their own philosphy of football 
• Aguero has gone to Europe following FFI 

Other movements of players would've happened and if needed we will go over them when it gets to them. The main point being a lot has changed post FFI in Japan a lot of players may have left due to Cabal involments but it is still an international football hotbed. Before we cover the main story of this part we will go over the first episode to this season.

Episode One Breakdown:

We start with Protagonist as we should he is the main character of the series as he narrates and let's us know what has been going on. We find out a little bit of time has passed since the FFI and clubs all around Japan are preparing for the biggest Path to Glory ever which is to take place with an announcement of the new chairman of the Japan Youth Football Federation now all the incidents with XGen & The Cabal have been cleared up. This is when we also find out that ProC has moved next door with his family and joined Raimon. We get a bit of a background to the new characters at Raimon and confirmation of Naito leaving to be with his family up north as well as the graduation of Zeke, Auba, Lacca, ICB & Versatility with Protagonist sad to see them go but excited to get to know his new teammates. 

As Protagonist and ProC are walking to Raimon they’re joined by GK all reminiscing on FFI when they are joined by BF at the school gates looking lost. He says he’s still not familiar with the layout of the school having only recently joined. He joins the trio on their way to the football club where we see Ace and C are watching over the new joiners training and this is where we’d get our introductions to the new players. This would cover how Copycat idolises Protagonist, Limitless seems friendly but serious, something is off with Axel and co with how they normally just stick together and some issues seem to be prevalent between Manager and MS most likely due to his play style. Regardless Protagonist feels they have a strong team and can win again. They are joined by Captain and CapF now both fit and ready to play. Protagonist says it is weird and will have to just use to calling Captain as his captain again, Captain laughs it off saying it will be an adjustment period but it’s not just and armband that makes a captain and Protagonist won’t be allowed to shake any leadership responsibilities.

Now with the whole team gathered Manager calls a meeting. He first says welcome back to everyone and welcome to the new team members and gives a brief rundown on team formation and how he expects to play. When talking about the Path to Glory this year having an expanded format he mentions to Football Federation has no head after XGen was taken down, when he says he was offered the role but is thinking on turning it down. When asked why he says he would have the stop managing Raimon but as the team indicate to him he should chase the role to bring the positive impact to all of Football. After thinking Manager says ok but he will help sort a replacement before the start of the Path to Glory with that in mind after contacting the board it is set for the announcement of his takeover as the head of the Youth football assocation of Japan will be tonight the same time as the opening for the Path to Glory. 

We end up later that day at Japans national stadium packed with people and players for the start to the Path to Glory. Beforehand we get to see some of the Inazuma Japan players reuniting with some of their old teammates. First being speaking with TC he introduces a new player for his team we will call TMF, a young prodigy who has a Phantom of the Opera like mask on. TC mentions how they're looking to strengthen their midfield and with that CapR interupts the conversation wearing the Tekioku jacket saying he has moved and Protagonist isn't the only person to team with his best friend in midfield now. When asked about Tana he appears saying it is fine and is happy CapR gets this moment but the team he leaves behind is no one man team and they will aim to win. 

Omega & Ibushi later join with Omega announcing he is the new captain of Dynamic Gakuen with the Ginyu Force five not returning. Omega says they were surprised on the amount of players who wanted to join their club mainly from Japan & America. They hope their philosphy of football will reach the hearts of many and power them through to winning the Path to Glory. 

They are all interupted by Naito sporting the look of his new school up north he introduces them to Hiromu a first year at his school and younger brother. The team of his new school is build of people he grew up with plus others from around the world which share his mindset. Those that cannot be forced or controlled.

Our final joiner to the conversation is AceF, unlike how his initial appearance was of an arrogant player he is a lot more warm and friendly this time around. He talks about now the FFI is over they are all enemies but hopes this is just to have good matches and not a battle of ideals. When asked about his team he says Aguero went back to Argentina, after the Cabal he wanted to go back and gain the trust of his country again. 

With that all done the players take their seats as the ceremony begins. It is announced that Manager will be the new head of the Youth football assocation of Japan. He comes to the middle of the pitch to give a speech but before he can speak he is interupted. This new person (who from here on out we will call The Opposition) takes to the field. He says about how football is a corrupt entity not just here but the world over, look how XGen used it and even more so The Cabal and now they stand here about to bring someone in unelected? No, this issue is not just shadowy corporations it is the sport itself is rotten to the core and should be abolished. The Opposition has support from many school the Path to Glory previously ignored in which one name in regards to calling thsemselves more of an Organisation than a school which noticeably has an effect on Axel, Saix, Roxas & Xion. Manager says he has assembeled a team that want to end football which The Opposition says it is about half the team in Path to Glory and proposes that they face off and the team that wins the Path to Glory will be the ones to decide the future of football. This is agreed upon as the first episode ends with the players we know looking on shocked at the developments of this ceremony. 

Story Overview
Now that we have revealed the opening episode and what happens we can go over the full overview when it comes to the story. As you can see this will be in a sense of war between two opposing ideals in football one which wants to demolish it and one that wishes to keep it running with the later being where Raimon falls. 

To go over the goals and purpose of The Opposition this can be broken down as an effect of the previous two seasons. After seeing the chaos brought on and the stories told of XGen and The Cabal following their defeat it makes sense some would link the common demoninator of football to be the reason this happens. Doing the using football to destory football thing is a trope that Inazuma Eleven uses a fair bit but I like the idea of it being built on the actions of previous antagonists is something I felt would be interesting, a new antagonist rising due to the actions of those previous is something I've wanted to do so it will be nice to see them and the teams alligned with them develop over the course of the series. 

Focusing more on the main antagonist we are introduced to in episode one I feel we should dive a little more into him here. As a individual he does not care about football. He is using this as a political front by using what has happened before to try to place the blame on football instead of bad people using football he is making it look like he is a cause for change. We will see and hear from others durning the series about the promises he has made to those alligned with him and the manipulation of others in the end our main antagonist is a manipulative person out for their own interests. We will go over those who allign with the antagonist as we get to them in the show. At that point and surrounding the match it will make more sense to do it there. 

I'm going to wrap this part up here as an overview ready for the next part to kick off the run down of the season. We will cover the story from the next part. It's another fight to football but looking into this I feel that I have the best protagonist team of the concept which I now need to justify. We will pick up the overview next time from episode two onward.