Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-4436931-20181213023845/@comment-35303794-20181214202849

(Copy & pasted from a random FB post)

Hino unveils new information during an interview. https://bit.ly/2BhNe8D

Published this week in Japan, the latest issue of the monthly Animedia has dedicated a few pages to the anime Inazuma Eleven Orion, including an interview with Akihiro Hino, president of Level-5 and lead writer of the series, who teaches us some information about the characters and what we can expect from the rest.

Here are the key points of the interview:

As in Inazuma Eleven season 3, Inazuma Japan faces teams from other countries; however, the goal is not to make a remake of this season, and therefore the members of these teams have all been changed. Hino suggests, however, that fans of the American team can expect to find famous heads. Ichihoshi is a character we have never seen in the original series: where characters like Tsurugi in Inazuma Eleven Go were just following orders, Ichihoshi has his own motives and is really dangerous. Hino saw that a lot of fans find Ichihoshi hateful and his actions unforgivable, and that's exactly what he was trying to achieve. He hopes, however, that fans will continue to follow his evolution. Hino suggests that the opening scene of episode 1 contains a clue to the "true nature" of Ichihoshi ... From now on, Asuto, Haizaki and Nosaka will lead Inazuma Japan. In Inazuma Eleven Ares, Asuto was jovial and focused on football, but with the drama that sets in, he begins to show a facet that we did not know in the previous series. Hino decided to make Haizaki and Hiroto the team's main attacking duo because he found it interesting to make a "god and devil" duo. Both players are very opposite and seeing them bump into each other makes him smile. According to him, this rivalry will lead to strong ties. Nosaka appears at the end of episode 8 and will replace Kidou as Inazuma Japan's playmaker. Hino wants Nosaka to rescue Inazuma Japan as Kidou was able to save Raimon after being transferred from Teikoku. He wonders how Nosaka can repair the damage caused by Ichihoshi. Noticing that Endou is on the cover of the magazine, he reassures the fans that although he is in a difficult situation after episode 8, he will come back and do his best for Inazuma Japan. Strangely, Kazemaru is not a target for Ichihoshi - in episode 9 he considers him more like an elder. As for Fubuki, he can not say anything because it would be a spoiler. When the FFI's Asian qualifications finish, a "fairly large " number of new players will join Inazuma Japan. Goujin and Saginuma have not yet had the opportunity to shine on the field, but their turn will come. Hino can not say more about the mysterious Fujimaru Mutekigahara, but he will show up again on the road to Inazuma Japan. The anime will soon reveal the reason for his interest in Inazuma Japan, and if he has a connection with the mysterious girl watching their matches. At this moment, Inazuma Japan is going through a difficult time, and the first episodes may be painful to watch for fans, but things will improve afterwards.

Thanks to A-Key for translating this interview for us

Among the interesting points to remember from this interview:

Hino hints that there will be some famous faces on the American team. It may be characters such as Mark Krueger or Dylan Keith, but we think of course to Ichinose and Domon, totally absent from Inazuma Eleven Ares and that we have not seen since Inazuma Eleven Reloaded. At the end of the episode, they were both leaving for the United States. There is a strong chance that as in the original series, they will be part of the national team and face Inazuma Japan during the tournament.

A clue to Ichihoshi's "true nature" would hide in the opening scene of the first episode of Inazuma Eleven Orion. This seems to corroborate a theory formulated by many fans from the launch of the series: indeed, if the flashback early in the episode seems to show us Ichihoshi and his brother, the most attentive spectators will have noticed that the eyes of Ichihoshi do not do not correspond with his eyes in the present. That would mean that in this flashback, Ichihoshi is not the big brother ... but the little brother!

Finally, Hino says new players will join Inazuma Japan as soon as the Asian qualifiers are over. If he does not specify how many players will be added to the selection, he seems to say there will be a good number. Could it be that we are entitled to more than 3 players as initially expected? As a reminder, the choice will be according to their popularity, a hashtag has been launched on Twitter to probe the fans.

Anyway, it will not take long to be fixed, the end of the qualifications approaching fast. Inazuma Japan is currently facing Uzbekistan, and will then face Saudi Arabia, as we have learned through concept arts characters , and more recently through synopses of future episodes. Inazuma Japan, however, should face a last opponent, if we believe the cards Eleven License visible during the sequence "proverb of the day" at the end of the episode (see above).

Inazuma Eleven Orion airs every Friday at 17:55 on TV Tokyo. On the occasion of the New Year, the series will take a break on January 4th.