Eyeshield 21

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Eyeshield 21
The cover for Eyeshield 21 Vol.1 (Viz Version)
アイシールド21;
(Eyeshield 21)
Genre Sports, Comedy, Shōnen
Manga
Authored by Riichirō Inagaki (story)
Yūsuke Murata (art)
Publisher Japan Jump Comics
United States Canada VIZ Media
Indonesia Elex Media Komputindo
Serialized in Japan Weekly Shonen Jump
United States Canada Shonen Jump
Original run 2002
No. of volumes 21 volumes with 213 chapters (current)
Movie: Eyeshield 21 (Jump Festa)
Directed by Tamaki Nakatsu
Studio Production I.G.
Released 2004
Runtime 30 min
TV anime
Directed by Masayoshi Nishida
Studio NAS, Studio Gallop
Network Japan Animax, TV Tokyo
Original run 6 April 2005
No. of episodes 78 (current)

Eyeshield 21 (アイシールド21 Aishīrudo nijūichi?) is a manga about American football written by Riichirō Inagaki and illustrated by Yūsuke Murata. It has been adapted into an anime movie in 2004, an anime television series in 2005, and two console games are due for release.

The manga started in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump. The manga is published in English by VIZ Media. The anime version, produced by NAS and animated my Artland, premiered across Japan on TV Tokyo from 6 April 2005, and is currently airing across Japan on the satellite television network Animax. The anime is sponsored by NFL Japan.

Contents

[edit] Story

The plot of Eyeshield 21 revolves around a physically unassuming and non-assertive boy named Sena Kobayakawa (小早川瀬那 Kobayakawa Sena?) who enters the high school of his choice, Deimon Private Senior High School (泥門高等学校 Deimon Kōtōgakkō?), where his childhood friend Mamori Anezaki (姉崎まもり Anezaki Mamori?), one year older than Sena, already attends. His only remarkable physical abilities are his running speed and dodging techniques, which catches the eye of the high school's American football team captain Yōichi Hiruma (蛭魔 妖一 Hiruma Yōichi?). Sena was then forced into playing as the team's running back by Yōichi.

To protect his identity (on the basis that other teams will try to lure Sena to their school teams) Sena is forced to assume the role of team secretary, and enter the field with a helmet featuring a green-tinted eyeshield to hide his features. The anime revolves around the adventures and misadventures of the football team as they acquire other characters and compete in local tournaments leading up to the "Christmas Bowl", the high school football championship.

The series concludes the initial manga story arc (with the first loss by the Deimon Devil Bats to the Ōjō White Knights) after Episode 8, and began introducing the rest of the football team starting with catching specialist Raimon Tarō (aka "Monta-kun") as of Episode 9.

Deimon Devil Bats (泥門デビルバッツ?)

  • Logo: Red Devil Bat, a nonexistent breed that bears a striking resemblance to Hiruma Yōichi.
  • The protagonist team of the manga and anime series, this team represents the Deimon High School. At first, there were only three members in the Deimon American Football Club. However, after its inaugural year, there were only two members (Yōichi Hiruma and Ryōkan Kurita) after Gen "Musashi" Takekura left. This remained so until Hiruma found Sena Kobayakawa and his amazing running ability. Their team's chant is "Kill 'em! YA-HA!"(ブッツバス! YA-HA!! Buttsubasu! YA-HA!!)


[edit] Characters

Sena Kobayakawa as Eyeshield 21 in the Eyeshield 21 anime
Enlarge
Sena Kobayakawa as Eyeshield 21 in the Eyeshield 21 anime
Sena Kobayakawa (小早川瀬那 Kobayakawa Sena?)

Seiyū: Irino Miyū

Sena is the main character of the series. He is a running back. He is an amazing runner, his jersey number is 21, and he wears an eyeshield to hide his identity, hence the nickname "Eyeshield 21". It is possible this character was inspired by current NFL star running back LaDainian Tomlinson, who wears #21 and also likes to sport a visor. Throughout the games, Sena develops new techniques, including some fake handoff plays and the Devil Bat Dive. This involves him running at full speed toward the goal line, then jumping high over the defending linemen in a corkscrewing motion. Sena cannot sustain running at high speeds for very long, and may even faint if he overextends himself as it shown during the match against the NASA Aliens.

Character Statistics:
  1. 40-yard-dash Record: 4.2 seconds (High School Record), 5.0 when not under pressure, though he has been estimated by Shin and Homer to run at about 4.6 during games. His ability for "Change of Pace" makes his speed very erratic to measure.
  2. Bench Press: 10 kg (Lowest High School Record), 40 kg in vol. 5, and 45 kg in vol. 10
  3. Position: Halfback / Tailback / Free Safety / Club Secretary
  4. Jersey: 21
  5. 1st Year Student (Grade 10)
Yōichi Hiruma (蛭魔 妖一 Hiruma Yōichi?)

Seiyū: Atsushi Tamura

Yōichi Hiruma is the Deimon's team captain who has pointy ears and sharp teeth, and looks and acts like a demon. Hiruma is usually carrying some kind of firearm. Hiruma lies, cheats, bullies and manipulates people to do his bidding. His most potent weapon is probably his "Book of Threats" (originally "Devil's Handbook"), a small black notebook filled with everyone's darkest secrets, which allows him to blackmail anyone into doing what he demands of them. Although portrayed as a cruel slave-driver and an inhumane captain at times, his passion for football (and winning) is unrivaled, and he is known to goad, tempt, bribe, force and inspire the team to victory. Although very stubborn, it is evident that Hiruma loves his team, occasionally showing a sly content smile in times of happiness involving his team. Also, to show he his proud with his teammates he began to kick them and make a some what positive comment afterwards, this is picked up by Sena during the match between the Zokugaku Chameleons. He has a vast knowledge of football, this includes not only the rules, plays, formations etc but a lot of knowledge of famous NFL players. This is how Monta's nickname was created, Hiruma named it after football legand Joe Montana. As well as this, it has been discovered that Hiruma collects comics about football involving a hero with the number 21, whether this is an attempt to break the 4th wall or the reason Hiruma gave Sena that particular number is unknown. Hiruma is considered by many as the best quarterback in Japan. His ability to think and react are not on the quarterback level but more like on the running back and linebacker level. Hiruma developed this ability due to the fact that he was always surrounded by amateurs, especially his Linemen. This remark was first revealed in a "Japan Representative Match" with the Taiyō Sphinx.

Hiruma had been extremely frustrated when he had not been able to pass during games, as it could be assumed that Hiruma's speciallty is passing judging by Monta's surprise at how powerfully Hiruma threw the ball and how much he loved to practice passing, and though he doesn't really show it, he is quite happy that he has a wide receiver in Monta. He gives names to many people, usually using the prefix "damn." His family ties and where he lives are unknown, but most readers assume that he lives in the clubhouse, as this was the room featured in the 'bedroom inspection' special in Volume 1 of the manga. This also leads readers to assume he probably uses the school's restrooms, the locker room's shower, and lives off of the groceries from the Son-Son market, but he seems to be on bad terms with his father. He's been known to chew excessive amounts of gum (sugarless of course), even during games. Never seen opening a door with his hands, he seems to prefer slamming them open with his feet, as he always has his hands in his pockets. Despite his what maybe considerded inappropriate nicknames for his fellow teammates, Hiruma is very much respected and liked by the team because of his sheer passion and commitment to the game. It is evident though that the teammate closest to Hiruma is Kurita as they have struggles together to gather a proper football team for quite some time. Hiruma also shows a bit of a friendly liking to Sena, defending him from the Hah brothers and other dangers, but this may just be because of Sena's talents as Eyeshield 21.
Character Statistics:
  1. 40-yard-dash record: 5.1 seconds
  2. Bench Press: 75 kg
  3. Position: Quarterback / Strong Safety
  4. Jersey : 1
  5. 2nd Year Student (Grade 11)

[edit] Manga


[edit] Anime

[edit] Music

Opening
  1. Break Through by Coming Century (Episodes 1-35)
  2. Innocence by 20th Century (Episodes 36-64)
  3. Dang Dang by ZZ (Episodes 65-)
Ending
  1. Be Free by Rikkenzu (Episodes 1-14)
  2. Blaze Away by The TRAX (Episodes 15-35)
  3. Goal by Beni Arashiro (Episodes 36-64)
  4. Run to Win by Sena, Mamori, Monta, Kurita (Episodes 65-)
Insert songs
  1. Be SURVIVOR by ZZ
  2. Chain Of Power by V6
  3. MIDNIGHT SUNSHINE by Ojo White Knights
  4. Chain of Power by Deimon Devil Bats

[edit] Games

Konami appears to have the rights to produce Eyeshield 21 games for Sony video game systems. They have released Eyeshield 21: Portable Edition for the Playstation Portable and Eyeshield 21: AmeFoot Yarouze! Ya! Ha! for the Playstation 2.

Nintendo secured the rights to the Eyeshield 21 video game license for their systems in December 2004. They have released Eyeshield 21: MAX Devil Power for the Nintendo DS and Eyeshield 21: Devilbats Devildays for the Game Boy Advance. There is supposedly another Eyeshield game in production for the Gamecube.

Nintendo will be publishing an Eyeshield 21 game for the Wii but it is unknown as of now as to who will be developing it. [1]

[edit] Trivia

  • During the first episode of the anime, as Sena is pondering which school club to join, you can actually see Monta (Raimon Tarō) in the background.
  • A few of Eyeshield 21's members appear as support characters in the game Jump Superstars and its sequel Jump Ultimate Stars for the Nintendo DS including Mamori, Cerberus, Hiruma, Sena, Monta, & Kurita.
  • In fan polls, Hiruma is usually voted the most popular character. This is unusual because typically in Weekly Shonen Jump polls the protagonist of a given manga always places first, IE, Luffy in One Piece,Son Goku in Dragon Ball, etc. But in ES21, the main character, Sena, is usually in second, behind Hiruma.
  • During the Death March across the USA, Sena takes a detour and ends up being picked by a professional football team, but he leaves before his name is announced.

[edit] See also


Eyeshield 21
Media: Manga volumes | Anime episodes | Eyeshield 21 OVA
Other: Characters | Deimon Devil Bats | Autumn Kantou Tournament
Games: MAX Devil Power (NDS) | Devilbats Devildays (GBA) | AmeFoot Yarouze! Ya! Ha! (PS2)

[edit] External links