Let me begin by stating that I finished this series approximately a year ago after following it weekly for a while and then letting it slip for whatever reason. With this in mind I figured it?d be interesting to explain why I still feel so strongly about this manga. It has a lot to do with a seriously pathetic emotional response I get from self-sacrifice and melodramatic do-or-die moments. Anime has a lot of these, from the ?break through to the next level? moments in shounen battle manga, to the sheer energy and passion of Beck?s triumphal performances that never fail to raise the goose bumps.
In fact, if I had one manga to compare my emotional attachment to Eyeshield 21 with it?d probably be Beck. Superficially this is perhaps a little unusual: one is a hyperactive, gag filled sports tale of ridiculous physics defying plays and a lot of shounen clichés about believing in yourself and your allies; the other is a slice of life portrayal of the ups and downs of being in a band, from the mundane to the ecstatic. Obviously Beck?s tale of tiny band to worldwide success is somewhat less plausible than the winning of a school level sports tournament, but it?s here that Inagaki (the mangaka of Eyeshield 21) really shines in somehow subverting, or converting I?m not sure, the expectations of all these clichés and creating something utterly compelling and emotionally resonant. Hell, I?m English and the only interest I take in American sports is watching the Superbowl if I remember it?s on and still I can appreciate the team sports dynamics and tensions that Eyeshield manages to manipulate so well.
Like a lot of shounen manga Eyeshield 21 (E21 from now) has a main protagonist who seems unable to catch a break: socially awkward with few friends, initially he is the target of bullies and performs menial tasks for them. And like a lot of shounen, our main character Sena soon displays an awesome talent for sprinting, honed by his constant gopher work for his tormentors. However, with the introduction of the sadistic demonoid captain of the American Football team, the Devilbats, Hiruma his life takes a turn for the better as sport shows him the value of confidence, teamwork, spirit, yadayada... so far so cliché.
Add in an inordinately large named cast and you have something which looks light-hearted, run of the mill and predictable. But! But! There?s something so indefinably awesome about a series that takes something familiar like a popular sport, and fucking amps it up to over 9000. With the ingenious and unscrupulous Hiruma at the helm of the good ship Devilbat, the team develop and cope with the ups and downs of competitive sports, from trash-talking rivals to the rigours of training. Oh did I forget to mention the techniques? Yeah this series has about as many ?Named super skills? as you shake a Naruto/Bleach/DBZ shaped stick at: From Receiver Monta?s knowingly ridiculous ?CATCH MAX!? shout every time he makes a dive, to the slightly dubious ?Delinquent Death Blow? of the team?s linesmen.
It?s these moments of sheer exuberance, those fist-pumping-shiteating-grin times when everything comes together to emphasise the character development, the skills and the underdog tenacity of a team of people who will not quit, who play their guts out and who are all capable of making me laugh out loud or well up like a little girl. This point is probably getting back to my original reason for writing this: EY21 is simply the most emotionally engaged I?ve ever got with a manga aside from Beck for the simple reason that Inagaki writes the characters so broadly that I?m always taken aback when they do something extraordinary. It?s this brilliant and, by the standards of shounen quite subtle, shifting of tone from the ridiculous to the deadly serious and vice versa that really gives this series its edge. By sketching these characters in and then sticking with them for 37 volumes of material we truly come to know each and every Devilbat, and by the end of the series a great deal of their opponents as well. Almost all of them have convincingly mundane problems and obstacles, from disapproving parents to the doubts and self-confidence issues that all teenagers go through. It?s called growing up, and in the journey from football minnows to contending the national championship we witness it in various forms in each character so that by the end it has real, genuine poignancy.
I?d like to say this was just a quick rant by me in a spare moment but I hope some people will be interested in picking up Eyeshield 21 that might have discounted it as ?just another sports manga?. It is spazzy and cliché, and the art style doesn?t do anything like realism with chibis and mad facial expressions but hey! What do you expect? It takes itself seriously enough to quit screwing around when the moment calls for it, and ramps it back up when there?s some levity. Potential art concerns aside I can?t recommend this series enough and I hope someone else out there gets just as psyched as me when they hear the words ?Devil Bat Ghost?!
In fact, if I had one manga to compare my emotional attachment to Eyeshield 21 with it?d probably be Beck. Superficially this is perhaps a little unusual: one is a hyperactive, gag filled sports tale of ridiculous physics defying plays and a lot of shounen clichés about believing in yourself and your allies; the other is a slice of life portrayal of the ups and downs of being in a band, from the mundane to the ecstatic. Obviously Beck?s tale of tiny band to worldwide success is somewhat less plausible than the winning of a school level sports tournament, but it?s here that Inagaki (the mangaka of Eyeshield 21) really shines in somehow subverting, or converting I?m not sure, the expectations of all these clichés and creating something utterly compelling and emotionally resonant. Hell, I?m English and the only interest I take in American sports is watching the Superbowl if I remember it?s on and still I can appreciate the team sports dynamics and tensions that Eyeshield manages to manipulate so well.
Like a lot of shounen manga Eyeshield 21 (E21 from now) has a main protagonist who seems unable to catch a break: socially awkward with few friends, initially he is the target of bullies and performs menial tasks for them. And like a lot of shounen, our main character Sena soon displays an awesome talent for sprinting, honed by his constant gopher work for his tormentors. However, with the introduction of the sadistic demonoid captain of the American Football team, the Devilbats, Hiruma his life takes a turn for the better as sport shows him the value of confidence, teamwork, spirit, yadayada... so far so cliché.
Add in an inordinately large named cast and you have something which looks light-hearted, run of the mill and predictable. But! But! There?s something so indefinably awesome about a series that takes something familiar like a popular sport, and fucking amps it up to over 9000. With the ingenious and unscrupulous Hiruma at the helm of the good ship Devilbat, the team develop and cope with the ups and downs of competitive sports, from trash-talking rivals to the rigours of training. Oh did I forget to mention the techniques? Yeah this series has about as many ?Named super skills? as you shake a Naruto/Bleach/DBZ shaped stick at: From Receiver Monta?s knowingly ridiculous ?CATCH MAX!? shout every time he makes a dive, to the slightly dubious ?Delinquent Death Blow? of the team?s linesmen.
It?s these moments of sheer exuberance, those fist-pumping-shiteating-grin times when everything comes together to emphasise the character development, the skills and the underdog tenacity of a team of people who will not quit, who play their guts out and who are all capable of making me laugh out loud or well up like a little girl. This point is probably getting back to my original reason for writing this: EY21 is simply the most emotionally engaged I?ve ever got with a manga aside from Beck for the simple reason that Inagaki writes the characters so broadly that I?m always taken aback when they do something extraordinary. It?s this brilliant and, by the standards of shounen quite subtle, shifting of tone from the ridiculous to the deadly serious and vice versa that really gives this series its edge. By sketching these characters in and then sticking with them for 37 volumes of material we truly come to know each and every Devilbat, and by the end of the series a great deal of their opponents as well. Almost all of them have convincingly mundane problems and obstacles, from disapproving parents to the doubts and self-confidence issues that all teenagers go through. It?s called growing up, and in the journey from football minnows to contending the national championship we witness it in various forms in each character so that by the end it has real, genuine poignancy.
I?d like to say this was just a quick rant by me in a spare moment but I hope some people will be interested in picking up Eyeshield 21 that might have discounted it as ?just another sports manga?. It is spazzy and cliché, and the art style doesn?t do anything like realism with chibis and mad facial expressions but hey! What do you expect? It takes itself seriously enough to quit screwing around when the moment calls for it, and ramps it back up when there?s some levity. Potential art concerns aside I can?t recommend this series enough and I hope someone else out there gets just as psyched as me when they hear the words ?Devil Bat Ghost?!
