Inazuma Eleven: Ares no Tenbin English Dubbed Review

As someone that have a passion for association football (soccer for Americans), having a combination of soccer and anime has been an amazing feeling to hear and watch. So, watching Inazuma Eleven ever since I was a teenager was one of the best feelings of watching anime.

For people that haven't heard of the series before, Inazuma Eleven is mostly a soccer anime that a hyper passionate soccer player named Endou Mamoru taking his junior high team (Raimon junior high) from under 10 players being close to disbandment of the soccer team to being champions of Japan.

The drama, the passion for soccer, and the friendships you gained from playing the sport itself is a great feeling to have. So, watching all the seasons of Inazuma Eleven have been the best feeling for someone that have the best of both worlds. 

With the parallel universe of Inazuma Eleven: Ares no Tenbin aired in Japanese back in 2018 (season ended a couple of weeks after our initial launch of our brand). I've watched the entire season in Japanese, and it was really great to watch. The Japanese subbed makes it a lot more authentic, plus it does help me out with my Japanese.

From watching Endou Mamoru and the original Inazuma Eleven series to watching Asuto Inamori in the Ares to Tenbin series, it was a really nice feeling to watch the stories of the usual underdogs-to-champions story. 

However, in September 2024, I was watching Family Guy and trying to relax a bit. When I got into the guide to see what's been going on around other TV channels, Inazuma Eleven: Ares no Tenbin popped up from Disney XD. Immediately, I ended up watching it just to feel the nostalgia of watching the development of Asuto and his friends going through the same route as Endou.

It was the first time I've watched the Inazuma Eleven series in dubbed, so I got really excited for it. I even binge watch the entire season in dubbed (which I am surprised since I rarely binge watch anime), and all I can say for the dubbed is....

It's not good at all (at the nicest way for me to say it), but for the honesty I would say is... WHAT IN GOD'S NAME IS THIS???. It's one of those anime series that once it debuted on English dubbed, it immediately flattened in quality. The moment they changed Asuto to Sonny from the first 10 seconds of the first episode, that's when I know it'll be barely lackluster at best and super disappointing at the very worst. I know I'll definitely lose the time that I will never get back from a terrible English dubbed anime series.

The opening and the ending of the dubbed version was so rushed and off beat from the original that it made the song super awkward to hear the entire thing. The series is already bad dubbed, but it was so bad from the opening and the ending that I have to mute it immediately to not hear the songs. When I say the subbed and dubbed is night and day, it's literally night and day. Japanese subbed would make it really anticipating and catchy, whereas the English dubbed made it just... so awkward to deal with...

The one thing that upsets me the most was the characters' translated names. I know in Pokemon Ash real name was Satoshi, but at least it fit in the dubbed version of Pokemon almost perfectly that it tends to be a lot more memorable. But the changes was from Inazuma Eleven: Ares no Tenbin was just downright awful. I thought the change from Asuto to Sonny was terrible enough, but the other names that change are even worse.

• Sasuke Kozoumaru to Basile Hardy
• Ryouhei Haizaki to Elliot Ember
• Yuuma Nosaka to Heath Moore

I know changing the names to dubbed would make the characters be a little memorable, but for someone that have watched the Japanese subbed version was just a headache to deal with to learn the name in English dubbed.

Finally, and getting the elephant in the room (shouldn't have done that in the first place), the story would be confusing to the average viewer because they don't know the entire story. Why take off with Inazuma Eleven: Ares no Tenbin and just leave off the original Inazuma Eleven.

If I was watching Inazuma Eleven: Ares no Tenbin for the first time, I would be really confused on why they put in a lot of emphasis on certain players such as Endou Mamoru (Mark Evans) and Gouenji Shuuya (Axel Blade) and others? The best example for viewers being confused of the entire story was when Sandra Fischer (Japanese name Umihara Norika) was training with a huge tire. Normal viewers would see that as a weird training to do, but for me watching the entire series, it'll be like "The OG character Endou Mamoru does that first and became really strong from it". Translation: for normal viewers it'll be strange, but for people watching the entire series, it's nostalgia.

I remember the times I've watched English dubbed anime series (Pokemon, Beyblade, Durarara), and they used dubbed really well. Yeah, only Durarara kept their openings and endings in Japanese, but the dubbed still works out. 

It sucks that one of my favorite anime series Inazuma Eleven have their own English dubbed that was debut on Disney XD, and it was just so forgettable dubbed. I am just super disappointed that it's one of those rare occasions that I disliked the English dubbed version. 

It would overall beg the question: would certain anime series should just stick to Japanese subbed? Because Inazuma Eleven: Ares no Tenbin is one of those anime series that's only good for Japanese subbed, but the moment it went to English subbed, it just all went downhill from there.

Oh well... At least the second season of BLUE LOCK would return next month, so at least I'll wait for that one a lot more than this...