Inazuma Eleven Name Analysis

Altaeron

Resident Magical Boy
Inazuma Eleven Name Analysis

Hey guys, Alt here. Welcome to the first edition of Alt's Name Analysis. A while back I told Makoto I'd like to help out with explaining some of name puns that appear in Inazuma Eleven, so he suggested I make a thread about them here. Most of them are pretty simple kanji puns, but a few, particularly later on in the game and presumably in the anime, are pretty darn obscure references. Anyway, for now I'll just start with the members of the Raimon Middle School soccer team and a few other things. These ones are pretty easy.

First off, the setting is Inazuma-cho (稲妻町) which means Lightning Town.

Raimon Middle School (雷門中学校) means Thunder Gate Middle School, appropriate since it's in the middle of Lightning Town.

Now on to the team members.

Endou Mamoru 円堂 守
The "en" is the kanji for round, and the "dou" means "shrine." "Mamoru" is the verb "to protect." So Endou Mamoru is the "person who protects the shrine of the round (ball)". It's a bit of a stretch, but at any rate he's a goalie.

Gouenji Shuuya 豪炎寺 修也
I don't think Shuuya means anything in particular, but Gouenji means "Temple of the Great Flame." All his abilities, incidentally, are fire-based.

Kazemaru Ichirouta 風丸 一郎太
The "kaze" in the front of his name means "wind," because he is said to be as fast as the wind.

Kageno Jin 影野 仁
The "kage" in the front of his name means "shadow," because people have a hard time noticing him.

Someoka Ryuugo 染岡 竜吾
The "ryuu" in his name means "dragon." Why? You'll see ^_^.

Handa Shinichi 半田 真一
In Japanese there's a phrase "chuutohanpa" 中途半端 which means "halfheartedly" or only "halfway done." He's called chuutohanpa in the game, meaning that he isn't really great at anything (he's a balanced character). The "han" in his name is the "han" in the phrase, and it means "half".

Kabeyama Heigorou 壁山 塀吾郎
I love this guy's name. "Wall" "Mountain" "Fence" and then "Gorou" which is just a normal boy's name. Can you tell he's a big defender?

Shourinji Ayumu 少林寺 歩
This one's fun. Shourin might not ring any bells, but if you know Chinese, you're probably smarter than I am and also you'd know that's Shaolin, and Shourinji means Shaolin Temple. And what are those Shaolin Temple monks famous for? Kung Fu. Shourinji is a little kung fu master.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaolin_Monastery

Kurimatsu Teppei 栗松 鉄平
A "kuri" is a chestnut. That has to be a reference to the shape of his head.

Matsuno Kuusuke 松野 空介
I think they just wanted an excuse to give him the nickname Max. I don't see any particular significance in the kanji ("Pine" "Field" "Sky" "Mediate")

Shishido Sakichi 宍戸 佐吉
Don't know about this one, though there was a Japanese action star named Shishido a while back.

Megane Kakeru 目金 欠流
Ah good, an easy one again. Although the kanji are different, "Megane" is the Japanese word for glasses, so he's a nerdy fellow like yours truly. The kanji for Kakeru is "Lacking" and "Flow". Take from that what you will.

Also, their supervising teacher is
Fuyukai Takashi 冬海 卓
Poor guy is always frowning. Doesn't seem very happy does he? Again, kanji are different, but fuyukai means "unhappy" or "disagreeable."

So there you have the Raimon Middle School Soccer Team. I hope everyone enjoyed the first edition of Alt's Name Analysis! Feel free to let me know if you have any ideas about Max's name or Shishido's.

After Episode 2 is released I'll tackle the names of the Teikoku Academy team members! See you then!
 

onkeikun

私語が多いって言われるよ。でもそんなの 関係ねぇ
Just to add a few extra bits of info. :]

Kageno Jin - Based on pronunciation only, this could be translated as "person in the shadows" (kage no jin/hito)

Megane Kakeru - The verb "kakeru" is used for "megane," so altogether this could be translated to "wearing glasses."


For Max, I kind of thought they wanted to refer to his wind element and airy personality. I'm not sure about Shishido either. *can't read Japanese on this computer to infer any meanings*
 

Altaeron

Resident Magical Boy
Good call on the Kakeru. I didn't even think of that. I was too busy looking at the kanji, haha.
 

Eile

New Member
Woah nice info, I've played the game but I've never even thought that it has so many meanings in the names, the only things I've got were kazemaru and Kabeyama, the easy stuff.

you guys inspire me to learn kanji :)
 

Zodiac

Gurren Brigade Member
I guess the "Endou Mamoru" just means "goalie".

Anyway, I didn't know that 円 translated to 元 (圆) in Chinese. I wasn't aware that the word was spelt that way.

Anyway, (makuusu) isn't the same as (makusu). The latter can be interpreted as Max, but the first one emphasises the U (マクース as opposed to マクス), so it's also a bit of a stretch to interpret it as "Max" as well. Maybe "Makus"?
 

Altaeron

Resident Magical Boy
Zodiac;73546 said:
I guess the "Endou Mamoru" just means "goalie".

Anyway, I didn't know that 円 translated to 元 (圆) in Chinese. I wasn't aware that the word was spelt that way.

Anyway, (makuusu) isn't the same as (makusu). The latter can be interpreted as Max, but the first one emphasises the U (マクース as opposed to マクス), so it's also a bit of a stretch to interpret it as "Max" as well. Maybe "Makus"?

Actually, in both the anime and game they say his nickname is Makkusu マックス, which is how you Japanize Max. It isn't the same as the pronunciation of his name - it's just a nickname he has.
 

chazle

<b>Super Special Awesome Translator</b>
A few more notes:
染岡 = Some-oka = dyed hill --> his hair is dyed an outrageous colour
豪炎寺 修也 = Gouenji Shuuya => Shuuya's "shuu" means to fix. It seems he has a tendency to want to fix the things around him; he wants to
atone for the pain of his little sister
and he
helps out the team when it's in a bind at the end
of the first episode.
 

Rief

New Member
nice TL^^

but somehow kazemaru doesnt fit
he is "as fast as the wind", and then he is a defender
defender doesnt have to be that fast
i dont like his position, but i like him^^
 
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