Inazuma Eleven is everything you would have wanted from an anime, especially if you are a new otaku. The anime does include not only hilarious scenes and interesting twists and turns, but also wonderful characters that would make definitely make your heart flutter (or your stomach ache with laughter). So, let’s dive into one of these amazing anime characters!

Gouenji Shuuya

Ok, so let me take a deep breath as I will talk about the famous and irresistible ace striker of Raimon Junior High. With his dark brown eyes and spiky light-blonde hair reminiscent of flames, Goueji is the true driving force behind most of Inazuma Eleven’s events. Let me tell you that when I said he is irresistible, I really meant it as just a few minutes watching him, you will be hooked. A few hours in and you will be addicted. And a few episodes in, you will wish he was a real person.

So, let’s dive back at the beginning.

Even as a child, Gouenji was a very talented football player and his parents would often attend his football matches to encourage him and tell him that they were proud of him. However, things got worse when his mother died and his father changed to a completely different person. Despite his pride for his son’s talent in the past, he stops going to his games, asks him to quit football and become a doctor like him. However, despite the arguments with his father, Gouenji continues to practice his favourite sport.

However, tragedy strikes when just before the finals of Football Frontier, Gouenji’s younger sister, Yuuka, becomes a victim of an accident and goes in a coma. And that’s when many tears are shed as Gouenji decides to stop playing football. He wonders how he can relax and play his favorite sport when his sister is suffering in a hospital.

Later, he is transferred to Raimon Junior High where he remains as a mysterious student who doesn’t say much. He might have stopped playing football but the sport never left him. And that’s when my beloved Endou Mamoru enters the picture. With his love for football and his “never give up” attitude, Mamoru chips away all the defensive layers that Gouenji had put up over the years. He is able to resurrect the passion for football in Gouenji’s heart and together they are able to bring Raimon to victory.

Of course, our character faces more obstacles. At one moment, he was even blackmailed by the Alias Academy, who warned him that if he wanted his sister to stay safe, he had to intentionally play and make his own team lose all football matches. Unable to deceive Endou, his team and football, Gouenji decided to leave the team and go into hiding. He made a sacrifice, and only true geniuses realize that sacrifices must be made sometimes for great things to happen.

However, how many times during Raimon’s face-off against the football teams of Alias Academy, have we truly long for Gouenji to come back, use his Fire Tornado to fight and exact justice upon the reprehensible savage that had disrupted the world of football?

And fortunately, our hero returns, and with his new hissatsu technique, Bakunetsu Storm, is able to defeat the wicked Alias Academy.

At first glance, you might misunderstand Gouenji due to his cold demeanour, but he is actually loyal to a fault, always sticking up for Endou, his best friend and mustering all his power to support and help Raimon Junior High win. He is often cool and calm in most situations and has a deep affection for his younger sister, making it hard not to like him.

Even though he is usually the type who does not talk too much, he is considered the trump card of Raimon with his burning passion for football. And when his teammates are not doing their best or something is bothering them, he is always there to remind them that nothing can hold them back from reaching the top. For example, do you remember that shot he made towards Endou when the latter was troubled with the story about Kidou and Haruna?

Finally, it has to be said – you don’t have to understand football to appreciate Gouenji’s journey or his passion. It’s just transcendently hypnotic!

So, do you think you can resist the temptation of Gouenji Shuuya? If yes, then my dear friend, you are merely deluding yourself (tee hee hee!)