Gouenji Shuuya

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

In the events of Inazuma Eleven GO, Gouenji was revealed to be the antagonist of the new series because his status as the "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. However, he's revealed as a protagonist afterwards.

Inazuma Eleven (game)

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

Inazuma Eleven 2: Kyoui no Shinryakusha

 * "Beneath this ace striker's cool exterior burns a fiery football passion."

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, Gouenji Katsuya became a completely different person. Despite his pride for his son in the past, his father wanted Gouenji to quit soccer and become a doctor like himself 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 become a victim of 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, 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, and black sharp eyes. He also has a fair skin tone. 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. 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. Since Episode 45 of GO, Gouenji has once again changed his appearance; he now has removed his highlights, and wears his hair as a low ponytail which is sometime laid on his shoulder. His hair is now similiar to Afuro. He wears a red jacket with blue and white accents, fitted with dark navy blue pants. It seems to be a Pro League Jacket. Gouenji has also notably got rid of his earrings, scarf and jewelry.

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, 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 for controlling soccer. He states that soccer cannot be brought back anymore and he doesn't seem to care for his old friends, teammates and those who love playing soccer. He also started having the "sly" smile while watching the matches in the Holy Road tournament. Though, some of his characters like cool, calm and serious remained. He also 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, 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, as it is seen when he does not accept Fubuki as Raimon's new ace striker after Gouenji left the team in Season 2.

Season 2
In season 2, he was kicked out of the team after he got distracted in a match against Aliea Academy by Coach Hitomiko. Later, Raimon heard rumors of the "Flame Striker" somewhere in Okinawa and travelled there to find him, hoping 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, in the match against Epsilon Remastered, Gouenji views the match in 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 with Gouenji's new hissatsu; Bakunetsu Storm and Fire Tornado.

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. He and some of his teammates was chosen by Coach Kudou, to represent Japan. Later, he was almost out of the team again before the finals, because his father wanted him to study in Germany and become a doctor. However, he was able to show his father how much he loves soccer and wants to stay with the rest of the team. He makes a new hissatsu with Hiroto and Toramaru between the match with The Empire, even though they lose with the score of 2-1. Later he followed the Kidou's team into the depths of hell to the Demon's Gate, in a effort to save Haruna from Makai Gundan Z.

Then afterwards when Inazuma Japan was fighting against The Kingdom, he scored the second point for Inazuma Japan, along 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 G2.

In Episode 126 he graduated from Raimon, and when it was Endou's turn to receive the diploma, Gouenji along with the rest of Raimon were seen 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 to have 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 to play soccer like him.

He is first seen in Episode 01(GO) (though not revealed as Gouenji yet) in the shadows being commanded by someone else. He wishes to "control soccer" in the first episode and was looking determined. 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 seen again 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 was seen watching Raimon and Kaiou academy's match at the end of Episode 20.

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

In Episode 24, he was 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 play 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. He watches 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, after Raimon won the match, Aphrodi raised his head so he can look at him but it's shown that he had left his seat already.

In the Episode 33, he is seen watching Raimon's members. He came to the hospital and had a talk with Taiyou about the revolution and the Holy Road.

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

In the Episode 36, he was seen talking to Tenma and played with him. He also saved him again. In the Episode 37, he was seen talking with Amemiya about Arakumo Gakuen's next game, where Gouenji says that Amemiya can't play.

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 was 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 about "true soccer" coming back. At the end of the episode it is seen that Endou as usual told him let's play soccer again, to which Gouenji actually agreed and then he along with 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, thanking him for saving soccer, although at the end he told him "Let's play soccer again", which made Gouenji say "Yeah".

Plot (Chrono Stone)
Alpha travels back in time where Gouenji saves Tenma, and Tenma sees how Gouenji kicked the ball but Alpha stops the shoot which makes Gouenji unable to save Tenma from injuries.

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. Later, during the match opposing Raimon against Team Zero, he got surprised when Endou and the others turned into their young form.

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] Inazuma No. 1 (with Endou)
 *  [SH] Inazuma No. 1 Drop (with Endou and Kabeyama)
 *  [SH] Dragon Tornado (with Someoka)
 *  [SH] Maximum Fire (movie)
 *  [SH] Prime Legend (movie)
 *  [SH] Joker Rains (GO Game)
 *  [SH] Fire Tornado DD (GO Game)
 *  [SH] Death Drop (GO Game)
 *  [SH] Tiger Storm (with Toramaru)
 *  [SH] Jet Stream (with Endou and Toramaru)
 *  [SH] The Earth (with Fubuki & Endou)
 *  [SH] Twin Boost F (with Kidou Yuuto)
 *  [SH] Honoo no Kazamidori (with Kazemaru Ichirouta)
 *  [OF] Heat Tackle (Game)
 *  [DF] Quick Draw (Game)
 *  [SK] Jamming! (GO Game)

Keshin

 *  [KH] Enma Gazard (Young Form, GO 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 GouenjiTCG(gold,_inazumajapan).pngmatch!"'' (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)
 * "Unnecessary thoughts will only interfere with your plays. Just concentrate on the ball and you'll stop worrying." (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 Senguuji Daigo)


 * "Yes, as long as the sacrifice to achieve it does not matter anyway." (To Senguuji Daigo)


 * "I... will control soccer!" (Senguuji Daigo)


 * "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)


 * "Thank you for everything you have done for me up until now." (To Utsunomiya Toramaru)

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.
 * He is the first person from the original series to reappear in GO.
 * 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" ("The Reason for Flames").
 * His seiyuu, Nojima Hirofumi, is also the seiyuu for Kurumada Gouichi in Inazuma Eleven GO.
 * 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.
 * He is the only player of Inazuma Japan who plays full time in all the official matches of the FFI.
 * The teddy bear doll brought by Gouenji for Yuuka is similiar to Clark Wonderbot.
 * 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 known that he became the Seitei to protect soccer from Senguuji Daigo.
 * It was shown that Gouenji is wearing the Japan Pro League jersey when he confronted Senguuji Daigo.
 * He used to be in the same team with Kazemaru and Kabeyama.
 * All of his hissatsus that he uses by himself involve him spinning around fire in the air.
 * He loses the blue/teal highlights in his hair after he leaves the Fifth Sector.
 * He learnt at least one hissatsu in every IE season.