I know elements aren’t really a thing in the anime as they are in the game, but I like how Inazuma Eleven uses the concept of elements to elevate their main characters’ arcs and their styles of leadership. (Only using OG and GO here because those are the ones I’m most acquainted with)
Endou’s element is mountain (earth in dub), and for most of, if not the entire series (not just OG but GO and AreOri as well) he represents endurance and stability. Endou is not the brightest nor is he ever stated to have any soccer-related speciality the way Kidou has his tactics or Tenma has his dribbling. What makes Endou special is his ability to endure anything.
Endou is mentally the strongest character in all of Inazuma Eleven, and it’s very important to the overall feel of his character that he starts off as the captain of the soccer team from the very first episode. His mere presence is meant to be reassuring and for the majority of the series, Endou serves as a solid foundation for other people to rely on. He is always inspiring everyone around him, he is always the first to dive in and the last to quit, and he is the one everyone looks to for reassurance. It’s a very simple and humble kind of strength, one that is very easy to take for granted.
Everyone confides in Endou, but Endou doesn’t ever talk to the others about his problems. When he has a confidence crisis before the match against Zeus, he tells no one. When he’s steadily breaking under the pressure of having to lead his team in fending off an “alien” invasion, he tells no one. When he spends most of his time practicing nonstop before the match against Korea because he doesn’t think he’s strong enough, he doesn’t tell anyone.
Because Endou is the team’s backbone. He’s their sense of security, and he’s the one who grounds everyone. It’s very easy to just think, “Oh, it’s just Endou. That’s just how he is.” But it is when he’s not there that you realize the stability he provides. Like the depression episode, or when he’s benched in the match against Korea, or even the confidence crisis prior to the match against Zeus. When Endou falters, the entire team loses its stability.
In contrast, Tenma is different. He’s more insecure, less sure of himself and a beginner at the start of GO rather than someone like Endou who may have a long way to go but is still a much more experienced player at the start than Tenma. Tenma is not his team’s backbone the way Endou is; even in matches, whenever the team is in trouble, the responsibility of keeping everyone grounded and focused rarely falls on Tenma’s shoulders.
Instead, Tenma is more of a wind than solid ground. Yes, Tenma tends to inspire others like Endou does, but he doesn’t have a stable presence like Endou. He is more naive, airheaded and childish than Endou, and that works for his character very well. While Endou’s role in the narrative is to support others, Tenma’s role is to bring change and to uplift others.
In terms of the revolution plot of GO, it is very apparent in how Tenma is described as “the winds of change” or “winds of revolution” in early GO. Tenma arrives in a system that is inherently oppressive, and his role as the mc of the story is to challenge that system. This ties in very well with his theme of wind because the wind is something that cannot be contained or chained, and wind is often a symbol of momentum and change. It is not controllable and neither is Tenma.
It’s very noticeable that people don’t tend to confide in Tenma the way Endou’s teammates confide in him. Shindou doesn’t ask Tenma for help, Tsurugi doesn’t ask for Tenma’s help; heck, Tenma doesn’t even learn Fei’s story until he overhears Fei talking to Big, and even then Fei doesn’t talk to him about it. Yet, it is through meeting Tenma that people are able to grow and change, despite often him not knowing their whole situation (like Matatagi in early Galaxy, or Kariya in early GO). Unlike Endou, Tenma does not provide his team stability; instead, his role as a captain is to uplift them and help them reach their maximum potential.
Despite other characters not confiding in him much, Tenma has a much more active role in “changing” others. People confide in Endou, but Endou doesn’t seek to solve people’s problems the way Tenma does.
When Gouenji tells Endou about Yuuka, Endou decides to leave him alone. When Kidou tells Endou about his fear of being unable to separate himself from Kageyama in season 3, Endou talks to him, but at the same time, that’s it. Even in Tachimukai’s arc, Endou lets him figure things out on his own. Arguably the one Endou actively helps the most is Tobitaka and even that is initially because Hibiki asks him to.
Meanwhile, Tenma insists on helping Shindou and Raimon in early GO season 1 despite being repeatedly told not to, simply because he doesn’t want to see people hurting. Tenma is resolved to fight the Fifth Sector on his own in the beginning even when most of Raimon is against him, simply because the Fifth Sector is wrong and Tenma can’t abide by that. Even in Galaxy, when the entire team is uninterested in soccer and Shindou and Tsurugi don’t believe that they’ll be able to convince them, Tenma insists on it again and again.
Perhaps this is why Endou and Tenma, despite their surface similarities, never struck me as too similar. Because when I think of Endou, the trait that pops into mind is “endurance” while with Tenma, what comes to mind first is “change”.
