I didn't expect a sport series has a plot beside "Lettttt's playyyyy gamesssss", and yet, IE proved me wrong in many, many ways, especially the alien Arc, and I was like whatttt. Surprisingly, the arc ended up pretty well with the most reasonable solution that we can get and with all the character developments. The plot is never boring, in fact, you couldn't get bored because of how likable the characters are, how fun the hissatsu are to look at, and how the matchs are not really predictable. I couldn't guess whether the Raimon would win or lose in the Alien Arc, and maybe Raimon actually lost more than won in that arc. However, I think the reason that makes the plot successful is the pacing. The longest match would only be 3 and half episodes, and there would never be a moment that looked like the match just stops for characters to monologue. That is also the factor that makes some sport animes look like they're buying time (Kuroko no Basuke, Yowamuda Pedal, Diamond no Ace...). And yet, in fact, they actually said in the interview that they were buying time by throwing a random match in, but we would never realize (LOL). I also like the fact that the series doesn't treat us like kids, they already say "it's a super-dimensional soccer, and this's how IE world works, deal with it." That's why, even though it's ridiculous, we can accept it, while some serious animes out there, trying to look as realistic as possible, but end up having unrealistic powers (KnB - no, I don't hate it, I have the whole mangas, but it's the best example) and stupid reasons and twists that comes out of thin air (Gunslinger Strator, Valvrave...). IE doesn't treat itself serious, and that's why we can easily accept it later instead of the annoying feeling hanging in our throats. The balance between goody and sad moments is also perfect, it never gets really bitter and makes us hard to swallow, while keeping the depth in characters' personalities.
The most thing I like about the series is the characters, and I can feel a strong connection to somes like Fubuki, Kazemaru, and maybe Hiroto, and sometimes I would just wish I have a friend like Endou, he is like a sunshine to everyone. In a show that have so many characters, you wouldn't expect all of them will have backstories, and yet, in IE, all of them would always have one or at least time to shine, although the story would only focus on certain one, like Fubuki and Hiroto in Alien Arc...This wonderful character developments is thank to the amount of episodes, because it's more effective when it takes long time for them to surpass their fears, like in reality. We can't easily change in such 1 or 2 episodes, like most short-term animes love to portray. Fubuki did take nearly 40 episodes to finally change, and his struggle takes like 10 episodes, continuously trembled and couldn't face soccer direcly. However, the director did a perfect job in expressing his deep fear, and we would never yell at Fubuki "Godarnit get over it already." I was sincerely hoping he would get over his fear somedays soon, and when he finally did, I was really happy, and decided to change myself like him. Also, the character's design are really cool, even though it gets overboard sometimes lol, but at least we can easily recognize who with who.
Music is also a strong part of the series, and I would say the music director did a really great job in inserting the OP and ED in the matchs. Many times, the music make me feel goose bump during the match, when it's not actually that exciting. As expect of one that did the music for many series! The OST are just fun to listen to, and there are some piano songs that really nostagic whenever they're played in sad parts.
The weakness of the series would be its animation, but it never gets really bad as some A-1's shows, so it's okay.
