Endou Mamoru

Endou Mamoru (円堂 守) is the main character in the Inazuma Eleven game, manga and anime. He's a goalkeeper and the captain of Raimon and Inazuma Japan.

Inazuma Eleven (game)

 * "No one has more love for football than Raimon's fiery captain!"

Background
When Endou was young, while taking something to the shed, he stumbled upon his grandfather's notes, headband, gloves, and an old soccer ball. At that moment, he felt like playing soccer. Even though his father allowed him to play, his mother did not allow it because she was afraid that something bad will happen to him, like it did with his grandfather. But Endou kept persuading her until she finally gave up and let him play soccer.

Sometime later, he met Fuyuka (calling her Fuyuppe mostly) and both of them played a lot. Both of them were close friends. Endou always cheers Fuyuka a lot from crying and Endou is shown to always play soccer too. But one day, she disappeared and didn't come to school and Endou never saw her again until Season 3. But even in Season 3, Endou still remembers her as his friend when they were still kids.

Appearance
Endou has brown hair with two pointed edges at the sides and one at the front of his head. He has black eyes, which are shown as brown sometimes. He always wears an orange headband, and has a striking resemblance to his grandfather, Daisuke. He wears the goalkeeper uniform of Raimon and the school uniform during when he's not practicing in Season 1, but in Season 2 he wears the normal Raimon uniform as he takes up the position as Libero for Coach Hitomiko's strategy. In Season 3, he wears the Inazuma Japan jacket when he's roaming around and his goalkeeper uniform when he's the goalkeeper. He only wore the normal Inazuma Japan uniform once, which was during the match against Neo Japan. He is rarely seen wearing anything else besides the earlier mentioned.

In GO, Endou is taller, has darker skin and a little different hairstyle.

Personality
Endou is described as a soccer loving, cheerful goalkeeper. He is the type of person who never gives up and always thinks of others before himself. He also shows great admiration toward his grandfather, Daisuke, and studies the technique notebooks that he wrote many years ago. People around him call him a soccer freak due to his love of soccer. Even Coach Hibiki once said that for Endou, the best compliment would be: the biggest soccer freak in the universe.

Because of his positive personality, he attracts people even if they're an enemy or an ally. It was because of this that he was able to gather many new members. His teammates benefit from his mental strength and encouragement. They also respect him despite his carefree attitude. He trains harder than anyone else to get stronger. The reason for doing so is that he wishes to face stronger opponents. Though he may sometimes be at a disadvantage, he always finds a way to bring his teammates to victory. Even if he loses, he still isn't disappointed at his defeat and always strives to win the next match, as seen from Raimon's matches against Aliea Academy.

Season 1
Endou Mamoru is a very talented goalkeeper and the grandson of one of the strongest goalkeepers in Japan, who is said to have 'died' before Endou was born. Throughout the first season, Endou's passion for soccer has sparked the ambition his teammates' dreams of winning the Football Frontier Championship.

Even though his skills are incredible, his school originally lacks a real soccer club as the six other members don't appear very interested even in merely training. He had to find four more members for a match against Teikoku or their club would be closed; the team would also be disbanded if they lost also the match. However, as soon as a mysterious forward called Gouenji Shuuya moves to Endou's town, the young goalkeeper sets out to find and recruit members for his soccer team. He encounters a problem since Gouenji doesn't want to join but shortly after, he helps Raimon against Teikoku and because of Gouenji, Endou's team was able to score a point against Teikoku. After that, they had requests of matches against other teams. This follows through to the addition of new members like Domon Asuka but it was revealed that he was Teikoku's spy but he was forgiven later. Afterwards of fighting against different teams, they finally fought against Teikoku in the finals where Kidou Yuuto was having problems if they will still follow Kageyama or not. In the end, Kidou warned Endou and the others to be careful, later steel pillars fell at Raimon but because Kidou warned them, they were able to not get hit by it. Ichinose Kazuya, who was originally thought to be dead, also joined their team later on. He came to meet Kino Aki and Domon but stayed in Japan only because of his attitude that is strongly positive. Then he also found out that the one who might have presumably killed his grandfather could have been Kageyama, but he was able to overcome it, and in the end defeated Zeus in the finals.

Season 2
After they won the Football Frontier, Endou and the others found their school was destroyed by soccer team from Aliea Academy, called Gemini Storm. Endou fought the team led by Reize. Because the difference in skills, Endou and the others lost. Most of the team get injured badly. They start training to beat Gemini Storm. Later Zaizen Touko and Fubuki Shirou joined their team and with their help they were able to beat Gemini Storm. During the course of the journey they met a number of people who like soccer and had joined their team. But tough teams like Epsilon and their master rank team, The Genesis, defeated them still. Kageyama also came to destroy Raimon with his team True Teikoku Academy but was defeated. Onwards towards this season, his hyperactive personality tones down as later understands that his teammates are much more important than when he realizes he was only thinking highly for himself that they can clear every challenge anywhere. For instance, when he understands it was his fault for pushing his team towards defeating Aliea Academy, where it dragged Kazemaru down into depression through his inability to catch up with everyone else. Though when there was a time when he was badly depressed, he was able to overcome it. They were able to defeat Epsilon and Chaos which were combination of Prominence and Diamond Dust with the help of Gouenji Shuuya and Aphrodi. They also came to know Coach Hitomiko was the 'sister' of Gran (Genesis's captain) and Aliea Academy consist of humans who used Aliea Meteorite to boost their power. They had a tough fight with Genesis but at last they won. When they return to Raimon, they had one final opponent: Dark Emperors, who are none other than their old teammates. But because of Endou's perseverance reaching to his teammates hearts, he was able to free them and shatter the Aliea meteorite.

Season 3
During the FFI, Endou continues to be very passionate for soccer. He still motivates his other teammates with inspiring confidence and encouragement. Unlike before, his passion for soccer and playing in the FFI has spurred him into waking up very early to practice, something he rarely did as he always liked to sleep in. He was shocked to see Coach Hitomiko when she brought a team Neo Japan which consists of players who weren't called during the formation of Inazuma Japan. He and his team goes up in soccer ranks as they eventually challenge their former teammate Ichinose. During this time, his grandfather was eventually revealed to be alive.This may be the most challenging tournament his team has ever faced, where their friendship will truly be tested as well. While Kageyama planned on destroying Endou's team in the beginning, he became a minor protagonist due to the events of Episode 105. However, Endou still has to face the true person who plotted to kill his grandfather. It was revealed soon after that Kageyama was just a pawn of the true villain, Garshield Bayhan. Afterward, their next fight was against The Kingdom and their coach is Garshield. After getting more info, they learned that The Kingdom is having a hard time especially their captain, though with of the help of the detective, they were able to arrest Garshield for his actions and the real coach of the Kingdom returnes. But more trouble ensues when Garshield later escapes and attacks Cotarl team, Little Gigant, though this time, he is finally defeated and arrested and now the next match of Inazuma Japan begins against Little Gigant. But this time Endou needs to perfect his new hissatsu for the strongest battle yet against Little Gigant. As Inazuma Japan fought against Little Gigant, he finally mastered God Catch and both teams are now on the edge for the winning point. Then he uses a perfect Jet Stream with Gouenji and Toramaru and they score, making Inazuma Japan the winner. They return home after the FFI and move on to graduation.

Plot (GO)
Endou has been referred to by Otonashi and Kudou a few times in the first two episodes, comparing him to how Tenma acts towards soccer.

He first appears in Episode 005 (GO) watching the Raimon vs. Eito match. In Episode 007 (GO), he is assigned as the new coach of Raimon. From Kudou and Endou talk during Episode 007 (GO) it is clear that Endou didn't know much about Fifth Sector before he was called. Though it is still unknown why he doesn't play soccer now and became a coach of Raimon in such a young age (24). He wasn't liked much at the beginning by the new Raimon, but later on because he was able to bring them hope again, they slowly started to like him. Endou also seems interested in Tenma's soccer.

Movie
He learns Omega The Hand and his grandson, Endou Kanon will help him.

Hissatsu

 *  [GK] Bakuretsu Punch (Anime)
 *  [GK] Fist of Justice
 *  [GK] God Catch
 *  [GK] God Hand
 *  [SH] Grenade Shot (Game)
 *  [GK] Hammer of Wrath
 *  [GK] Ijigen The Hand
 *  [SH] Inazuma No. 1 (Anime)
 *  [SH] Jet Stream (Anime)
 *  [GK] Majin The Hand
 *  [SH] Megaton Head (Anime)
 *  [GK] Nekketsu Punch (Anime)
 *  [GK] Omega The Hand (Movie)
 *  [SH] The Earth
 *  [GK] Triple Defense

Trivia

 * 'Mamoru' (守) means protect, which is a pun on his position as goalkeeper.
 * His seiyuu, Junko Takeuchi, also voices Naruto from the Naruto series.
 * He has a character song titled "I'll Protect It!".
 * Level-5 President Akihira Hino confirmed in his Twitter that Endou is married in GO.