Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-3153924-20130601105233/@comment-4445743-20130607070539

Sorry this is going to be a bit long and I'm writing sleep deprived from an all nighter so this more of an outlet of what came out of my mind xD

In all generalness, overall I did love the original a lot better than GO. Plot-wise I think GO and the original can't really be compared that much. I've heard a ton of people say the plot was overall better in GO, but I felt that because it was the first and formost original season needed to be a lot more simplistic in order for the audience to get a better grasp on the series itself. It had a slow build up which I personally found exciting - afterall 'magical' soccer and hissatsu techniques are definitely far from what you'd call a 'normal' soccer anime. Hitting small hurdles from just being able to get a fully functioning soccer club to learning their first hissatsu, it felt amazing to watch the journey of a no named soccer team to grow become the best Japan. In a way, it reminds me of my other favourite soccer anime "Whistle!". A weak soccer team needing the passion, teamwork and friendship to rise to the top and then already in the first few episodes, having to face the toughest team in the district.

Of course in comparison to original, GO already had a massive problem on hand and I felt like I was already being pushed into the deep end. With Raimon as an esatablished as a high ranked soccer school and with the knowlege of the previous three series, of course Level 5 needed to take the next step with a new plot. After plunging through 3 seasons of chaotic drugs, aliens and whatnot, we're already used the craziness that Level 5 has already put us through. I guess as well with Raimon being an established team in GO compared to the original, there's not much of the learning curve we had in the original as majority of the players have already had a huge experience prior to the series.

Throughout the first episodes of GO, I really disliked the idea of Keshins being added yet by the time Tenma was able to get his own I was able to accept it and started to like it. Another thing I didn't like that much was how original characters were just randomly chucked in. Aside from the prominent trio of Endou, Gouenji and Kidou, I somewhat wished that the characters that were chucked in had bigger roles than the slight ones they had. Though then again, if that happened I guess it would distract the main plot of GO and the newer characters. Funny enough, when GO first started, I disliked a lot of the characters. Shindou was one for example. Maybe it was the fact that he was always "fustrated" and spilt those tears of fustration? Kurumada, Amagi, Hamano, Hayami, Kirino, Kurama etc. It took me a while before I actually started liking them. I remembered something that was posted on tumblr about Level 5 creating more "good looking" characters in comparison to the original Raimon team which kinda got me thinking as well.

However, on a high note, I did enjoy the fact that the main character wasn't the Captain of his team and had very little experience in playing soccer giving him room to buildup. Then when Tenma became captain, the strong feelings of doubt he had against other more trained captains like Shindou and eventually Taiyou. I liked how Tenma was given the chance to play goalkeeper but didn't stay with it. Instead of shinning the spotlight completely on Tenma, they gave the official position to Shinsuke.

The main trios from both series is also a reason I choose original over GO. With Tenma, Tsurugi and Shindou, I felt the connection wasn't as strong as with Endou, Gouneji and Kidou. I think the "main trio" of the series was one of the things that made me to really love IE - afterall, most of the episodes and scenes I decided to rewatch were all Break Trio scenes xD. I think that the fact that by the end of the first series, it's really interesting how their all connected to Kageyama which I feel makes them stronger as friends. All three suffered misarably in someway by Kageyama in which they can relate to each other and create a stronger bong with each other. Gouenji originally found Endou annoying as he kept bugging him to join the soccer club and Kidou at Teikoku calling him a complete idiot. However, they cared for each other so much, enough for Kidou to move and to actually stay with Endou (thanks to Gouenji's fire tornado influence), eventually becoming best friends.

With the debate of Aliea VS Chrono Stone, personally Aliea Academy was a win for me.I can tell you this: Originally I hated Season 2 but grew to love it. I even missed several episodes and skipped on sometimes. I was already debating whether I should continue IE or not seeing as Gouenji was going to be gone for X amount of episodes. But was certainly curious to how Level 5 would still be able to create an intriguing plot while missing one of the main protagonists. New characters such as Fubuki, Tsunami and Tachimukai we're added, each with their own history and problem. Fubuki for example developed an amazing character development facing his own problems of multiple personality disorder and having to overcome the challenge of letting go of his brother and letting other friends and people into his life. Tachimukai learning to be a goalkeeper like his idol Endou yet later in season 3, he learns that he can't live under Endou's shadow forever and that he has to be his own self. I really enjoyed how in each season Endou has had to face a problem on his own, often pulling him in to a somewhat depression. Season 1 he realises that he can't rely on God Hand forever and that he has to come up with a new hissatsu otherwise they'd stand no chance against Zeus. His problem during Season 2 had to be one of my favourite episodes as he mopped at the top of the roof thinking about how his friends were leaving the caravan. Legitamitly, that was the first anime episode that had made me cry, and I'm the last person to go cry from watching anime - sports or not xD Endou is a strong character no doubt, but even a strong protagonist may have his doubts sometimes. The idea of the Dark Emperors was also a brilliant idea. To the point in the plot where we have almost forgotten about some of the original characters because they had been too injured in the first episode of Aliea and giving them dominent roles. Even if they were very small supporting characters, they were still there on the journey of growing Raimon enough to shock the audience. The conflict of having to faceand defeat friends rather than the other 'aliens' was an interesting thought one way or another.

Of course, can't go talking about Aliea Academy without Aliea Academy itself. Just when you thought Kageyama giving steroids to Zeus was intense, Level 5 adds in an Aliea Meteorite. Overall I loved both Aliea Academy captains as well as El Dorado captains and both, but I loved the Aliea captains more just slightly. Burn and Gazelle during the second season and their rivalry before becoming chaos and eventually Hiroto and Midorikawa by season 3. As much as did love the El Dorado Trio (and Rei Ruku) and their own rivalry, there was just something I really loved about Aliea that made me like them a bit more than El Dorado.

I had to stop watching by the 12ish episode for Chrono Stone and eventually decided on waiting for the whole series to end before watching it straight through. I enjoyed it up until they went to get Endou Daisuke's book from the museum, I think the moment they started travelling back in time to the different eras which sorta put me off Chrono Stone for a bit but it still was the slightest bit interesting to watch. By the time Saru was introduced, it perked my interest up a bit and when we finally reached the collaboration between Raimon and El Dorado as well as Fei's history and betrayal, I really started to get interested in it again. I loved how Chrono Stone began, how all the members were in different clubs and didn't play soccer and further the use of characters like Endou and Yuiichi. I think it was a great series however for me, doesn't really compare much to original Season 2.

Of course it's too early to compare between original FFI and GO Galaxy. I'll have to say that even after 5 episodes I'm really enjoying it so far. Although I really love the addition of the new characters, I'm still a bit sad that the team for Shinsei Inazuma Japan we saw for the movie wasn't the same as in GO Galaxy and I wanted to see return members like Hakuryuu and Yukimura. Though I still have the hope that they might appear in further episodes. But yeah, that thought alone doesn't stop me from loving GO Galaxy as it is now. There are so many unique hurdles that Inazuma has yet to come across like a team of  unexperienced soccer players to the mystery of the green slime. I hold extremely high standards for GO galaxy because original FFI was my favourite but of course Level 5 has their ways of surprising us and twisting the plot in ways we haven't thought of. I have no doubt that I will really enjoy this season.

There are a lot more things I could add if I wasn't so sleep deprived but then again this post has already gone to long. So yeah, after a long tl;dr post I conclude that I have a preference to original than GO.