Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-24342386-20191210181621/@comment-24342386-20191211002519

Maria.ionescu.5437 wrote: This thread is a good idea.

You have a point there about Someoka, not helped by the fact most of his teammates didn't really respect him in the first episodes. And he also got injured a few times. I think there are quite a lot of characters in the original series (though the other series also have a few) who deserve better. Might as well make a Top 10 out of it, either through a blog post or I'll just post it here. In terms of overall treatment alongside Someoka:

Max (Handa, Sam, Ayumu, and Jin get this treatment as the part of Raimon that didn't get much focus but I'll give Ayumu and Jin credit for being useful in matches and having character development respectively) kinda had the most wasted potential out of the five. Okay, I could put Handa here since Freeze Shot is something he got in the games, but Max had so much as the other forward of the team and being supposedly good at multiple sports, but they gave him nothing to do in season 1, he and the rest of B team got demoted until they got Dark, and season 3 could've done something with him, but alas.

Rika: Character wise, she's fine, field wise, its a mess. She was doing pretty decently up until Neo Eplison. And the weird thing is while all the other forwards have more power than her, she's arguably the most agile and flexible of them (since the rest are a good balance of finese/speed/agile/power expect Somoeka's who's moreso power and endurance). Heck, she scored with Butterfly Dream against Chaos (I think), but Tsuutenkaku Shoot didn't in its only time. I know Touka's consistency is also debated but at least Perfect Tower worked and the Tower helped out Endou with the saves.

Shadow: Everyone's brough up Shadow before, but not counting season 3, there's one thing I keep forgeting about him: his soccer club was destroyed by Aliea Gakuen. He is the perfect counter to F-Shirou since both want to take them down. And while Shadow isn't necessarily agressive, if Fubuki was that pissed against Desarm, how far would Shadow go in a match? Plus he's got Dark Tornado, Kagenui, Jude Through 2 (which still hasn't been in the anime), and Wolf Legend in the game. If he got injured, imagine him helping Fubuki overcome his own darkness and give him a hint towards Wolf Legend. Aprohodi gave Fubuki advice that stuck, Shadow could've too.

Kurama: Same problem as Ryuugo, expect since Kurama was a douche, he actually got character development, its just Sidewinder only worked in two Chain hissatsus. Actually, both him and Somoeka don't get combination hissatsus with other team members, which is so weird when almost every forward got a combo hissatsu or tatics

Mansaku: I honestly prefer Hattori to be in Inazuma Japan, but out of the Inakuni members who joined IJ, I feel like he contributed the least, and everyone else got a new hissatsu but him, and they didn't even bring up his relationship with Atsuya. At least Spark Wind didn't get nerfed but still.

Michinari just needed more focus and depth in the first half of Ares, otherwise he's decent.

Sakanoue I don't hate cuz he pulled his weight when he did but the writers could've done more with him as Orion went on. Also, its not the first character who's just used an hissatsu he saw from someone else so I'm not gonna complain.

Arata (Ares): After the development he got and considering Sugimori probably gave him his blessing for taking command of the team, he could've had a stronger impact against Inakumi Raimon.

Desarm (Orion): He's the first character to have played all 4 positions, but they didn't let him do much after he got the Asura.

Hiroto (Orion): I think him being a offensive defender fits well since he worked as a good forward and midfielder, I think they just did stuff with him way too late.