Inazuma Eleven: Ares no Tenbin (Inazuma Eleven: Ares)

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Inazuma Eleven: Balance of Ares

Japanese: イナズマイレブンアレスの天秤

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Information

Type: TV

Episodes: 26

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Apr 6, 2018 to Sep 28, 2018

Premiered: Spring 2018

Broadcast: Fridays at 17:55 (JST)

Producers: TV Tokyo, Dentsu

Licensors: None found, add some

Studios: OLM

Source: Game

Genre: Sports

Themes: Super Power, Team Sports

Duration: 23 min. per ep.

Rating: G - All Ages

Statistics

Score: 6.70¹ (scored by 20,834 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #5854²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #3449

Members: 41,666

Favorites: 110

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Synopsis

Taking place in an alternate timeline after Raimon Junior High wins the Football Frontier, a group of boys is playing soccer on a remote island off the coast of Japan. However, one day the students witness the demolition of the only soccer field on the island as they fight desperately to prevent its destruction, to no avail.

The only way to regain their soccer club is to become champions of the Football Frontier. Asuto Inamori and his classmates take up the offer, moving to mainland Japan and attending Raimon Junior High. Leaving behind their families and entering metropolitan Tokyo, they embark on a journey that will test their resolve to be the best in all of Japan.

Inazuma Eleven: Ares no Tenbin tells the tale of a group of friends whose desire for soccer burns brighter by the day. Through their encounters with several titans of the soccer landscape, including the mysterious coach Zhao Jinyun—they rush headlong into the Football Frontier to face the greatest teams Japan has to offer!

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Related Anime

Adaptation:	Inazuma Eleven: Ares no Tenbin
Alternative setting:	Inazuma Eleven
Side story:	Inazuma Eleven: Outer Code
Prequel:	Inazuma Eleven: Reloaded - Soccer no Henkaku
Sequel:	Inazuma Eleven: Orion no Kokuin
Other:	Inamori Asuto no Soccer Kyoushitsu
Summary:	15-fun de Wakaru Inazuma Eleven: Ares no Tenbin

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Nosaka, Yuuma

Main

Fukuyama, Jun
Japanese

Haizaki, Ryouhei

Main

Kamiya, Hiroshi
Japanese

Inamori, Asuto

Main

Murase, Ayumu
Japanese

Fubuki, Shirou

Supporting

Miyano, Mamoru
Japanese

Endou, Mamoru

Supporting

Takeuchi, Junko
Japanese

Gouenji, Shuuya

Supporting

Nojima, Hirofumi
Japanese

Kidou, Yuuto

Supporting

Yoshino, Hiroyuki
Japanese

Kiyama, Hiroto

Supporting

Mizushima, Daichuu
Japanese

Afuro, Terumi

Supporting

Sanpei, Yuuko
Japanese

Kazemaru, Ichirouta

Supporting

Nishigaki, Yuka
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Beniya, Yoshikazu

Producer

Hino, Akihiro

Director, Script, Original Creator

Kamakura, Yumi

Director, Storyboard

Haraguchi, Noboru

Sound Director

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Opening Theme

"Teppen e Dash! (てっぺんへダッシュ！)" by pugcat's

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Ending Theme

"Koisuru Otome wa Amemoyou (恋する乙女は雨模様)" by alom

Reviews

Sep 28, 2018

AK25

Recommended

Ares no Tenbin is an incredibly strong comeback for the series.

A lot of the context for this review is back in my Inazuma Eleven Reloaded review, so don’t forget to check that one out too.

The series mainly revolves around Inanuki Raimon, a team of transfer students that have been brought in the replace the separated Raimon. As far as standout characters go, none of them really do, it’s always been one of the curses of the series where the characters from the first part of any iteration are destined to be replaced for more likable and established characters as it goes on. One thing ... this team has going for it is their head coach, Zhao Jin Yun, Inazuma Eleven has mainly relied on having hardass serious coaches who usually have a reason behind their harsh methods, this man breaks this tired tradition by having a weird and interesting backstory involving him mastering a bunch of sports, being comedically aloof and teaching using things like drawing parallels with soccer strategies to confessing your love to a girl for example, he always manages to match every match feel fresh in regards to how Inanuki Raimon plays and is key to making their fast improvement feel very believable.

The real draw to the series really is in the opponents they face and the ones they set up to eventually join Inazuma Japan in the next Orion anime. After the first few couple of matches, excluding the ones involving Haizaki, Ares hits its stride and has powerful character arcs in every single match, in a sense, the opposing team ends up feeling more like the main characters than Raimon do, some of the already existing characters have their arcs fast forwarded while others have been fundamentally altered but still stay interesting in their own way. While not absolutely necessary, Outer Code is definitely something that should be watched as a supplement to Ares, it does a good job of hinting at what sort of dilemmas some characters will face and how the dynamics have been altered because of the retcon.

Haizaki is arguably more of a main character than even Asuto, his development is something that lasts both cours, essentially revolving around coming to like soccer even though he has only been using it as a tool to get revenge on Nosaka and the Ares no Tenbin system. What starts off as a self absorbed madman turns into an inner struggle over the idea of motive, meeting his arch-rival plants the idea of soccer being something he does because he actually likes it and the viewer gets to witness it slowly grow as he faces people with stronger convictions and as he starts to wonder what being strong even means, it all comes to a head at the final match of the first season where decides to face all these thoughts head on, making it an powerful climax purely through all the new characters its featured.

Though not given as much weight and attention as some of the other antagonists, Kidou and Gouenji play their role as those who help the new set of characters find themselves really well, how the former easily earns the trust of his new team and the way he leads Haizaki and the way the latter helps an Inanuki player find his true calling as striker re-establishes them for a new generation of fans, one’s way of strategically drawing out the best of his teammates and the other’s seemingly unbreakable confidence in himself and his skills sell why they’re going to be key members in the new national team so well.

Afuro might have very little impact in terms of plot, but he does embody makes this show incredibly valuable to the franchise, after his crushing loss to Endou, he has a conversation with an old lady over the nature of his self-proclaimed godhood and where he went wrong in the way he viewed soccer, through it, gives him a reason for his metaphorical rebirth that the original show never gave him, which he carries into the match against Inanuki Raimon. The match ends up being one of the most unique ones thematically, where it’s the main characters who end up being taught something important rather than the ones they face. Zeus, by extension because of their captain, encapsulate how revolutionizes everything: in the same way it did it with Afuro, Ares is meant to shorten arcs and make characters relevant in ways they weren’t before, yet still keep the core of what made them so special, like Aphrodite becoming a compelling figure who learns that caring for others is what makes him who he is and why he has so much fun.

The Fubuki twins were another interesting aspect of the series, the rumored unbeatable duo was mainly used to convey how they can always improve through the help of others. Atsuya initially only relies on Shirou, having very little communication going on with his other teammates, works with Nae to bring out her hidden potential and, in turn, his too, symbolized with the already powerful Double White Impact being upgraded to Triple Blizzard by her lending a hand. In essence, it keeps the core theme of drawing the best out of someone that the character of Fubuki is known for, but adapts it to make use of multiple characters with just a couple of episodes instead of making something with a long tragic backstory that requires multiple tries and a heavy dose of angst.

Tatsuya and Hiroto are arguably the best set of characters in the whole season, they have the most thought put behind their backstories, the attention to detail regarding their plays and presentation, their difference in personality. Tatsuya, formerly known as Hiroto until the retcon, has been affected the most out of anyone because of the changes, he no longer has to carry the burden of trying to be someone else, symbolized by his Ryuusei Blade not looking like The Explosion does, rather his dilemma is now trying to pull that person along with him until they're ready to run on their own. He’s still the earnest kind-hearted character he’s always been, but seeing more of him as a captain than we ever had makes him so much more than that cool dude who came back as a friend in the original Inazuma Eleven, it makes everyone from the orphanage putting their trust in him and why they rely on his presence so much understandable and something to empathize with. Hiroto, formerly known as that one kid who died, has an arc that mostly boils down to being very similar to Haizaki’s, the differences in how they’re handled is what makes it engaging. Once all is said and done, their conflict resolving results in the best moment from the whole run of the show, Hiroto learning his dad’s always cared about him in his own way and him willing to work with Tatsuya to fire off Cosmic Blaster, the best looking cut of animation in all the 26 episodes. Out of any of the characters featured in Ares, they are the ones who have seemingly reached the clearest starting line when it comes to their dream, so what they can possibly offer in Orion is nothing short of exciting.

Endou is the 2nd best thing this show has to offer, but only by very little. We’ve seen him as the main protagonist, as a supporting teacher figure, and now as an antagonist, which he pulls off in such a great way. The match against Tonegawa Tousen was in essence very different from the other matches in the series: because many of the teams didn’t have defense as strong as their offence, most of the matches ended up with over half a dozen points being scored, though only 3 goals were scored in the match with Endou. Taking what has always been the main supporting pillar of morale for the entire series and turning him into someone who our protagonists have to overcome is something most franchises can’t really hope to get far enough to pull off, so him being used this way is surprisingly gratifying. While it may just seem like a simply cool move at first glance, Fuujin Raijin carries so much more weight thematically than it seems, prior to Ares, Endou had followed his grandfather’s teachings until he was pushed to come up with Ijigen the Hand in the FFI arc, but the changes here manage to circumvent that and justify it too, Endou faced one of the best players in the world and felt the weight of it firsthand, so him wanting to come up with a power capable of going up against that is what makes that move feel so heavy, it’s him acknowledging his place as one of Japan’s representatives and how much harder he’ll have to push himself to catch up, also acknowledging his status as legend, both in universe and arguably in a meta-narrative sense too. Although not the match I’d consider the best, it’s great to see him back this way.

With this season making so many interesting protagonists to follow, Orion no Kokuin already has so much going for it, hopefully it manages to make use of them. Even if it doesn’t this season alone has been a wonderful set of gripping personal matches that showcased a bunch of varying and nuanced views about what makes soccer fun and the mindsets one can have to improve. I’m really glad Inazuma Eleven is still something I can look forward to even after all these years.

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Oct 1, 2019

vradmic

Mixed Feelings

I will preface this by saying that I love Inazuma Eleven. It is one of my all-time favorite anime, so I was really upset when they announced its end after Galaxy (or, well, after the Dream Match, technically). When I heard that this franchise would come back to us in 2018 really got my hopes up. And... maybe I got my hopes up a bit too much.

I will also have to reference the other Inazuma Eleven series leading up to Ares in this review to bring my point across.

Story (5/10) - What can I say here? It's typical Inazuma Eleven, so the story is what ... you would expect. I will give credit where credit is due: the writers were being very ambitious with Ares (or what Ares should have been), and I will respect them for trying. The execution, however, was quite the mess with the story's pacing being its most notable flaw in my opinion. One of the things that I found annoying in the original Inazuma (and this includes GO and its three installments) was how much time was shown in between the matches. I think somebody in the higher-ups heard me as they adjusted Ares no Tenbin quite readily; more prominently so in the later episodes of this season, we can see that they throw all the "between match" content out the window to try and focus on the matches themselves. And that is a really big missed opportunity as that left the aftertaste of it being severely rushed.

Art (6/10) - This is somewhat of a mixed bag for me. On the one hand, I do enjoy the (re)designs of most of the Hissatsu Techniques here. They're flashy, they're over-the-top, and while I understand that it might not be everybody's cup of tea I do find that these redesigns increased the technique's presence on the field. On the other hand, I am not that big of a fan of the designs of the characters, most notably the returning characters from the original Inazuma Eleven. But since I like the art of the techniques more than I dislike the design of the characters... it gets a 6 here.

Sound (7/10) - So, fun fact: the two groups that did the OP/ED of the original Inazuma Eleven (T-Pistonz+KMC and Berryz Koubou) actually disbanded (or went on an indefinite hiatus) in that blank period between Galaxy and Ares. I was quite worried at first how they would do, but indirectly bringing T-Pistonz+KMC back in the form of pugcat's did result in a nice OP at least.

Character (5/10) - Okay, so here's the big issue with Ares that you will also hear me talk about when I write my review on Orion right after this: there are too many characters. The whole premise of Ares was to introduce a new team and get them to fight up the ladder against other teams led by the original, returning characters... but that ends up having the new Raimon, the old Raimon, and all the central players of the other teams. In short, there are too many characters for the anime to focus on all of them which results in very minimal (if any at all) character growth for any character that are not the main characters. And while I am normally okay with the non-main characters to not receive a lot of character growth, we even see the returning main characters not receive a lot of it themselves. And that's the big issue... the only thing that is keeping this up is for the nostalgia factor brought by the returning characters from Inazuma Eleven and that those characters who did get character focus received a substantial amount of it.

Enjoyment (5/10) - I am going to be blunt here: in the first couple of episodes I was watching this with the hopes that I could enjoy a later episode. Having watched it and even having re-watched it to remember some details, I can say that I enjoyed Ares... but I have to make a conscious effort to ignore the things I dislike about it when doing so.

Overall (6/10) - The biggest thing that Ares has going for it is the nostalgia. If you watch Ares no Tenbin for the sake of reliving your childhood and meeting the returning characters again, you will probably find joy out of this. But if you are going into Ares hoping and/or expecting that it will provide the depth needed to live up to any expectations, then... I am afraid Ares no Tenbin may not deliver.

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Oct 13, 2019

TakaCode

Not Recommended

I am a big fan of the original Inazuma Eleven series. While it wasn't a masterpiece by any means it was still a great anime that I really liked. The story while predictable at times was engaging and entertaining to watch.

The characters were for the most part great and well written, the visuals while not being great had its own charm and style and the soundtrack while a bit repetitive at times was great. It is a show I loved and to this day I hold it on high regard.

Then, we have the Inazuma Eleven GO saga and while it was pretty good it had ...

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Poll: Inazuma Eleven: Ares no Tenbin Episode 13 Discussion Unkrowned - Dec 13, 2019	1 replies	by jigblaz »» Jan 28, 7:49 PM
Poll: Inazuma Eleven: Ares no Tenbin Episode 26 Discussion salman7 - Oct 7, 2018	5 replies	by StallionXD »» Jan 11, 9:01 PM
Poll: Inazuma Eleven: Ares no Tenbin Episode 23 Discussion Unkrowned - Dec 13, 2019	1 replies	by StallionXD »» Jan 10, 10:09 PM
Poll: Inazuma Eleven: Ares no Tenbin Episode 11 Discussion Unkrowned - Dec 13, 2019	1 replies	by StallionXD »» Jan 8, 8:04 PM
Poll: Inazuma Eleven: Ares no Tenbin Episode 2 Discussion Tatsunami - Apr 6, 2018	12 replies	by StallionXD »» Jan 6, 2:51 AM

Inazuma Eleven: Ares no Tenbin

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Characters & Voice Actors

Nosaka, Yuuma

Haizaki, Ryouhei

Inamori, Asuto

Fubuki, Shirou

Endou, Mamoru

Gouenji, Shuuya

Kidou, Yuuto

Kiyama, Hiroto

Afuro, Terumi

Kazemaru, Ichirouta

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Inazuma Eleven: Ares no Tenbin

Alternative Titles

Information

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Synopsis

Background

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Characters & Voice Actors

Staff

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Ending Theme

Reviews

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