Gouenji Shuuya

Gouenji Shuuya (豪炎寺 修也) one of the main characters in the Inazuma Eleven game, manga, and anime, was formerly the ace striker of Kidokawa Seishuu, then the ace striker of Raimon, and later Inazuma Japan.

In the events of Inazuma Eleven GO, Gouenji is now the antagonist of the new series, and was revealed to be the current leader of "Holy Emperor" of Fifth Sector, going under the alias of Ishido Shuuji (イシド シュウジ). He was also Seidouzan's coach.

Inazuma Eleven (game)

 * "A cool transfer student renowned as a legendary striker."

Background
Even in his childhood, Gouenji was shown to be a talented player. His parents would often come to his games to cheer for him, saying that he had a talent for soccer and that they were tremendously proud of it. However, after his mother's death, his father became a completely different person. Despite his pride for his son in the past in soccer, his father wanted Gouenji to quit soccer and become a doctor and has been arguing about this issue with Gouenji ever since.

Before the finals in the Football Frontier-- a year prior to the series' events-- which was a match between Kidokawa Seishuu and Teikoku, Gouenji's younger sister, Yuuka, had been a victim in an accident and was in a coma ever since. Due to this, his father's condition grew worse. Yuuka was then hospitalized in Inazuma General Hospital, where Gouenji's father worked.

Ever since the accident that caused Yuuka's coma, Gouenji thought that if he hadn't played soccer, the accident wouldn't have happened to Yuuka, and wondered how he can simply relax and play soccer when she is suffering. Gouenji keeps an amulet made by Yuuka, transferred to Raimon, and swore that until she wakes up, he wouldn't play soccer.

Appearance
He has fiery platinum blonde hair and zigzag eyebrows. He usually looks very serious. Casually, he wears a white hoodie with an orange jacket over it, brown pants and red sneakers. During season 2, when he was in hiding, he wore brown shoes and an orange jacket with blue side stripes. He has a fair skin tone. In one of the Inazuma Eleven 2009 artwork covers, Gouenji is shown to own a dark greyish-brown yukata, with grey stripes going vertically downwards.

In GO, he has spiky hair straightened down, and now he has azure highlights in them. He wears a red suit coat over a white shirt, with grey combat boots over his pants. Over this, he wears a black shawl around his neck. His accessories include a long necklace with white green, and red beads, and a shorter necklace with one golden bead. He also wears green and purple-colored earrings. In the first GO episode, he was seen wearing a black cloak and hood. He has a dark skin tone. It is noted that in the game promotional artwork of Ishido/ Gouenji, Gouenji's eyes are seen to be lifeless, without any "light" in the eyes, whereas in TCG and Anime artwork, his eyes still seem to have the "light" in them.

Personality
He's cool and calm at most situations. He cares deeply for his sister and has a strong passion for soccer. When one of his team members aren't doing well, he kicks the soccer ball hard at them. And when they look at him in surprise, he makes them realize their mistake and corrects them. This shows that he takes interest of other people and understands their feelings and shares their sorrow and happiness at all time. He's also seemed to have a quick thinking at most times (in the manga, too).

In the manga, he is portrayed more mysterious, and is easily annoyed by Endou Mamoru's attempts to recruit him into the soccer club. After he was recruited, he still wanted to quit the club, as because the soccer club itself was not functioning well, and that Kabeyama Heigorou's defense was not good as well. However, when Kabeyama used his hissatsu, he finally stayed at the soccer club. He's also shown to care about the others. For example, when Onigawara told Endou that Kageyama's the one who killed Endou's grandfather, he was about to punch him. Luckily, Endou held him back.

In GO, when he was revealed to be Ishido Shuuji, his personality has drastically changed, he starts with having no remorse or guilt with controlling soccer. He states that soccer cannot be brought back anymore and he doesn't seem to care for his old friendships with his old teammates, friends and to those who love playing soccer. He also started to have the "sly" smile when watching the matches in the Holy Road tournament. Though, some of his personality remained, like being calm and serious. Even though that, he starts to deny his past identity of being "Gouenji Shuuya" and states his name is Ishido Shuuji when he was confronted by Endou. He does have some guilt in controling soccer as shown during the series.

Season 1
Gouenji's sister, Yuuka, was in a coma because of Kageyama's interference to stop him from playing against Teikoku. He keeps an amulet made by her, and vowed to never play soccer again. He first appears when Endou was training with the Inazuma KFC. After seeing a punk spit on the ball and then kicking it to the direction of Kisaragi Mako he intervenes, shooting the ball back which hit the punk's face. But then he was struck by Endou's "never give up" attitude telling him that his sister would have wanted him to play soccer the most, he then regains his passion for the game. He changes his promise to become the champion of the Football Frontier. He is first not accepted by Someoka Ryuugo, but later, when he sees Gouenji working hard to complete Inazuma Drop, his respect for him as a teammate and the ace striker of Raimon grows, and Someoka does not accept anybody other than Gouenji as Raimon's ace striker.

Season 2
In season 2, he got kicked out of the team after he got distracted on a match against Aliea Academy. Later, Raimon heard rumors of the "Flame Striker" somewhere in Okinawa and travel there to find him, in the hopes that he is Gouenji. He is seen hiding in the shadows watching Raimon practice, and even saw the confrontation with Burn and Gran. Later on, on the match against Epsilon Remastered, Gouenji views the match under a disguise (an orange and black hood) and it is shown that he and Hijikata Raiden know each other. Later on in the match, three mysterious men try to take Gouenji away but he tricks them with the help of Onigawara. He runs back to the match and rejoins the team at the last minute. The Raimon Eleven are delighted that he came back to them. Together once again, they finally beat Epsilon Remastered.

Season 3
In season 3, he was a candidate to join Japan's national team, Inazuma Japan, and was placed in the B-team, Kidou Yuuto's team and got in. Later, he was almost out of the team again before the finals, because his father wants him to study in Germany and wants him to become a doctor. But later he was able to show his father how much he loves soccer and he still stays in the team. He makes a new hissatsu with Hiroto and Toramaru between The Empire even though they lose 2-1. Later he followed the white team into the depths of hell to the Demon's Gate. Then afterward he and Inazuma Japan were fighting against The Kingdom, and he got the 2nd point for Inazuma Japan, with Someoka and Hiroto in a chain shoot consisting of their individual hissatsu. He scored a goal with Toramaru using Tiger Storm against Team Garshield. He along with Toramaru and Endou scored the winning goal for Inazuma Japan against Little Gigant in the finals using Jet Stream which broke through Rococo's Tamashii The Hand.

In Episode 126 he graduated from Raimon, and when it was Endou's turn to receive the diploma, it was seen that him and along with the rest of Raimon, were all crying because they were about to go their separate ways.

Then episode 127, they had one last graduation match with each other, which ended in both groups not scoring a goal, since they where all equally matched, all of them listened to Endou's last speech, and promised that they'll keep on playing soccer from Endou's word that he said "Let's play soccer!" to which everyone happily agreed on.

Plot (GO)
In Inazuma Eleven GO, he appeared in Matsukaze Tenma's flashback, when he saved his life by kicking a soccer ball to the piles of wood that were falling on top of him. He had done this during the time he was under hiding from Aliea Academy. And when Tenma picked up the ball, it's seen with the Raimon emblem on it, proving how much he missed his team. He actually became Tenma's hero and made him passionate for soccer like he is now, 10 years later. It was shown in Episode 11 that Tsurugi and his brother also wanted good with soccer like him.

He is first seen in Episode 1 (though not revealed as Gouenji yet) in the shadows being commanded by someone else. And also he wishes to "control soccer" at the first episode and was looking determined, though his whole appearance is not revealed, since he was hooded while doing this.

Shortly after Kuro no Kishidan forfeited the game after Shindou Takuto releases his Keshin for the first time, he's seen again, where he is looking at the statistics of each Raimon team member, especially Takuto's stats. He commented that Shindou had "recently awakened".

He's also again seen overlooking Holy Road's opening ceremony.

When Raimon advanced to the semi-finals, they were originally supposed to play against Aoba Academy, another participant in the Holy Road tournament. However, Ishido switched Aoba's place with Teikoku, fore sighting that Teikoku would crush Raimon. Despite this, Raimon won the match and advanced to the finals.

He is seen watching Raimon and Kaiou academy's match at the end of Episode 20.

In Episode 22, he is seen in Holy Road Opening Ceremony making a speech.

In Episode 24, he is confronted by Endou Mamoru at Fifth Sector's base, where it is confirmed that Gouenji is actually Ishido Shuuji. Gouenji, however, denies his old identity as well as Endou's offer to help him.

In Episode 27, he's shown to be watching the match of Raimon and Hakuren when Segi was switched into the field and started to playing rough.

In Episode 29, he's shown to be talking to Aphrodi but it's unknown what were they talking about, but then he's shown smiling after his talk with Aphrodi. Also, he watches yet again the match of Raimon and Kidokawa Seishuu. In a flashback of Aphrodi, it's seen that they were talking about Water World Stadium. In Episode 31 he's seen watching the match after Raimon won the match, Aphrodi raised his head so he can look at him but it's shown that he left his seat already.

In the Episode 33, he is seen watching Raimon's members and then Senguuji Daigo came and had a talk to him about the revolution and the Holy Road.

In the Episode 34, he is seen watching Raimon match against Genei Gakuen, then he smiled.

In the Episode 36, he is seen talking to Tenma and he also played with him. He also saved him again.

In the Episode 37, he is seen talking with Amemiya.

In the Episode 38 and Episode 39, he is seen watching the 1/2 final opposing Raimon and Arakumo Gakuen with Senguuji, Toramaru and Yamato. He is seen smiling when he saw Matei Gryphon. At the end of the match, he smiled at Taiyou.

In Episode 40, he is seen training Tsurugi.

In Episode 41 he is seen talking to Saginuma, he is the one who is coaching over Seidouzan since he is their original coach.

As shown in Episode 44, he is seen talking to Senguuji about when he first met him he also had a flashback, he is seen to be happy when he saw Hibiki giving a speech abot true soccer coming back. At the end of the episode, he along Endou are seen shaking hands together.

Game
It turns out that Gouenji only joined Fifth Sector and became the Holy Emperor to stop Senguuji Daigo from destroying soccer. When Seidouzan was switched out with Dragonlink, Senguuji Daigo released Gouenji as the Holy Emperor, as he had found out that Gouenji's intentions were not the same as his own. After Raimon beats Dragonlink, Gouenji afterwards talks to Endou and both of them talk about how soccer was and Gouenji is shown to have been back to his normal self.

In the ending credits of the Inazuma Eleven GO game, there is a picture there that shows that he's teaching Tsurugi new shoots. It is shown that he regretted controlling soccer in the trailer when he had a flashback when he was with Endou and Raimon before. In the 46th cutscene of the game, it is seen that he was watching Raimon practicing, and after that Endou came and talked to him telling him thanks for saving soccer, although at the end he told him let's play soccer again, which made Gouenji say "yeah".

Inazuma Eleven the Movie: Attack of the Strongest Army, Ogre
In the movie, he learned Maximum Fire and used Prime Legend with Kidou.

Inazuma Eleven GO the Movie: The Ultimate Bonds Gryphon
Ishido first appeared in the GO movie in the Holy Road's stadium, making a speech about the Fifth Sector.

He later reappeared in a helicopter, wearing sunglasses, going to the God Eden, an island where the Fifth Sector trains the SEEDs. He was seen to talk with Kibayama Dousan about Endou Mamoru. When Endou and the others turned into their young form, he got surprised.

Hissatsu

 *  [SH] Bakunetsu Screw
 *  [SH] Bakunetsu Storm
 *  [SH] Crossfire (Anime, With Fubuki)
 *  [SH] Fire Tornado
 *  [SH] Grand Fire (With Hiroto & Toramaru)
 *  [SH] Inazuma Otoshi (with Kabeyama)
 *  [SH] Dragon Tornado (With Someoka)
 *  [SH] Maximum Fire (Movie)
 *  [SH] Prime Legend  (Movie)
 *  [SH] Joker Rains (3DS Game)
 *  [SH] Fire Tornado DD (3DS Game)
 *  [SH] Tiger Storm (with Toramaru)
 *  [SH]  Jet Stream (with Endou and Toramaru)
 *  [OF] Heat Tackle (Game)
 *  [DF] Quick Draw (Game)

Keshin

 *  [KH] Enma Gazard (Young Form, 3DS Game)

Relationships

 * Gouenji Yuuka (younger sister)
 * Gouenji Masato (great-grandson)
 * Gouenji Katsuya (Father)

Inazuma Eleven

 * "A fight against the world. For that, I'll put in everything I've got for this match!" (To Himself)
 * "I understand how you feel, Kidou. But I intend to follow this coach. It's him. As long as Endou keeps trusting Coach Kudou... I trust him too. He's gotten so fed up with doing nothing that he's finally started practicing in his own room." (To Kidou Yuuto)
 * "That kind of soccer isn't fun at all. Look! The people here are the strongest players from all over Japan. And...We're up against the entire world! We're here to fight against the world and win. Don't forget that!" (To Utsunomiya Toramaru)
 * "Try and suprise me, Toramaru." (To Utsunomiya Toramaru)
 * "You still need some time before you can catch up to us, Toramaru." (To Utsunomiya Toramaru)
 * "No matter what path I take on after this, my feeling towards soccer won't change. The fact that you guys are my friends won't change. That's all I can ask for. All I can do today is play with all my might like I always do!" (To Himself)
 * "I'll... send these guys to the world no matter what. No matter what!" (To Himself)

Inazuma Eleven GO

 * "The moment arrived, even if their destruction doesn't matter, for what he believes. I go to give everything of me for this intention." (To an unknown person)
 * "Yes, as long as the sacrifice to achieve it does not matter anyway." (To an unknown person)
 * "I... will control soccer!" (To an unknown person)
 * "Don't you get it? Soccer has changed. It won't return to the way it's been. Therefore, I must control soccer and divide it equally amongst everyone." (To Endou Mamoru)

Trivia

 * '炎' in Gouenji (豪炎寺) is Japanese for flames.
 * He is left-footed when kicking, but in four combined hissatsu shoots, he shoots with his right foot.
 * It is revealed in the Drama CD that he makes delicious takoyaki, but he doesn't make it in front of Urabe Rika, stating that "he doesn't want to end up like Ichinose."
 * He has a character song titled "Honoo no Riyuu".
 * His seiyuu, Nojima Hirofumi, is also the seiyuu for Kurumada Gouichi and Ishido Shuuji in Inazuma Eleven GO.
 * In episode 24 of GO is revealed that he is Ishido Shuuji, the Seitei. This is also the reason why they have the same seiyuu.
 * When you look closely at both names, Gouenji Shuuya and Ishido Shuuji, "Shuuji" is made up from Gouenji Shuuya 's name. "Ji" from Gouenji and "Shuu" from Shuuya, when you combine it together, it creates the word "Shuuji".
 * In the manga, he seemed to be a bit more harsh compared to the anime: he almost punched Kageyama, but luckily Endou stopped him.
 * His dad wanted him to become a doctor.
 * Gouenji is the only player of Inazuma Japan who plays full time in all the official matches of the FFI.
 * He seemed to be close with Kuroki Zenzou and Terumi Afuro in GO.GouenjiVsIkarashi.PNG
 * As Ishido Shuuji, his skin is darker and he has earrings.
 * It is confirmed in scans he has a keshin, Enma Gazard, in the GO game.
 * It is known that Senguuji, the old leader of the Fifth Sector, convinced Gouenji to become the new leader.
 * It was shown that Gouenji is wearing the Japan Pro League when he confronted Senguuji.
 * He used to be in the same team with Kazemaru and Kabeyama.
 * It is shown in the game that his true self came back again.
 * All of his hissatsus that he uses by himself involve him spinning around fire in the air.