Eyshield 21

Eyeshield 21 Story by Inagaki Riichiro and Art by Murata Yuusuke

           

            Genre: Shonen (13 and up, though it depends on the translation, some have more foul language than others)

            Series Length: 37 Volumes, 333 chapters

            Back in the days of my youth when I was in high school and I read any manga that I could get my hands on I read things I wouldn’t now touch with a ten foot pole. Including a manga called ‘Eerie Queerie’ my first shounen ai (also called ‘BL’ or boy’s love) manga though I did not realize it for a long time. My point being, that if I was judging manga by their premise then like I do now I would have missed out on one of the greatest manga of all time. I hope, with this article, to have you avoid this mistake, too, because even I was skeptical. A sports manga about American football? And I’m supposed to be interested in reading it? Really? But Eyeshield 21 is so much more than football and even the football parts, which are about seventy-five percent of the manga, are so amazing you wont even care they are about football. Seriously, football matches that span volumes, and you could care less. Sure, maybe that sounds like a stretch, but I wouldn’t football lie to you. Football.

            The art of the manga is superb from the beginning, though it does get even better as the characters are pinned down, but there is no period at the beginning that makes you hope it will improve soon like some manga do, the artist is a pro and it shows. The premise is introduced quickly and effectively and the gags are truly laugh-out-loud funny. But, be warned, if all you have is the first volume, you will be cut off and angry about it because it’s just getting warmed up by then. They do explain the rules of football ad nausea, probably because this was released in a magazine a chapter at a time so they wanted to make sure new readers understood the rules, too. If this happens to be your first sports manga, which it was for me, you’re in for a treat.

            Sena Kobayakawa is painfully shy and awkward, but now that he is starting high school, he hopes to break away from his past self as a ‘go-fer’ and live the rose-colored life with his childhood friend, Mamori Anezaki, his only friend and crush. Sorry, Sena, this is a manga so... Very quickly, he is targeted by some rough kids who make him run to the store for snacks for them and do any other task they ask by threat of force. His days as a go-fer beginning again, Sena laments his fate but is too cowardly to stand up for himself. On one such outing, he is spotted by Hiruma Yoichi, captain of the school’s American Football team, and Sena’s amazing speed is discovered. You see, all of his years going for snacks and errands for others gave Sena amazing legs. From then on out, through Hiruma’s unique brand of persuasion (i.e. threats and blackmail) Sena is drafted into the team’s roster as the manager, but is really the man with the golden legs, Eyeshield 21. Typical shonen manga fare follows, the glory of success and defeat and common interest friendship. YA-HA!
            I won’t lie, this manga is all about Hiruma and by the end of the first chapter you will understand and recognize it. I can’t imagine my life before Hiruma and I don’t want to because a life with out him is hardly a life worth living. Hiruma makes you want to play American football. I admit that I love shonen manga, I’m a girl with the heart of man, but all the same this “boy’s” manga is just a fun read. Though there are some… cultural things that may be a little… iffy. This is nothing new in manga, I’ve run across it lots of times and maybe it just has to do with my over sensitive American nature but there is the use of, to use more PC friendly words than the manga itself, ‘African Americans and their achievements in sports.’ There is quite a bit of it to the point where you can see it coming. Like I said, maybe its just me but they pretty much flat out say, to not use PC wording, ‘Black men are better than anyone else at Football’ through out the story, especially near the beginning when the Devil Bats go up against an American high school team, but it follows through the whole manga. Even my favorite manga One Piece has gone a little into the cringe area with such statements (though with them it’s a gag with an ‘afro.’) The proclamations don’t really detract from the story but I would feel remiss if I did not mention it, especially if it were your first manga to have such themes. It’s just cultural, and if you plan on reading manga or watching anime, getting across that culture gap is one of fun things about becoming a fan. Like how it’s always ‘American Football’ even though here in America, it’s just plain football and everyone else’s football is ‘soccer.’

            Boy I went off on a rant there…

            Anyways:

            5/5 And I dare you to find something that detracts from that score, because explaining football a lot didn’t, borderline racism didn’t, endless streams of oddball high school football players didn’t, and I’m convinced nothing will.

Hiruma, that is not how you recruit people to your team...