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| From one sports manga hell to another. |
One day I might find a sports manga that I hate BUT THAT DAY IS NOT TODAY AND I FUCKING LOVE EYESHIELD 21. How did we come to this; is this blog just going to be sports manga 24/7?? But I can't help it if sports manga just manage to hit all the great points: protagonist power, character development, level ups in badass, teamwork drama, hot-blooded battles and big dreams.
At this point I should just set Eyeshield up against the other sports manga that I've reviewed already. Let's see how it stacks up:
Protagonist with a limitation: CHECK! The protagonist Sena is short and wimpy and can barely lift 10kg, a record that his childhood friend/sister can beat
a.k.a Hinata (HQ), Kuroba (KNB) - what's with all these great shortie protagonists of my heart?
Protagonist with a speciality: CHECK! Sena may be short and wimpy and weak but he's got one of the top speeds in high school football
a.k.a Hinata (Jumping), Kuroba (Misdirection)
Protagonist gets a special title: CHECK! Sena gets named the titular Eyeshield 21 which also serves as an interesting plot point that had me going 'would the real slim shady please stand up' like ten different times
a.k.a Hinata (The Strongest Decoy), Kuroko (The Phantom Sixth Player), Sakuragi (The Rebound King)
In a lot of ways, IC21 reminds me a lot of Katekyo Hitman Reborn. The protagonist is a wimpy kid who always gets bullied and the only person nice to him is a brown haired gentle girl-next-door type. Then a crazy personage wielding firearms comes into his life and whips him in shape. He's forced into carrying a title he doesn't want...at first. Along the way he gathers many more friends and true companions, discovers a goal for himself, and comes into his own as a leader as well as fully stepping into the role he was forced in the beginning. He also gets a lot more attractive because the shounen rule is that character development makes you hotter so there's that to look forward to.
In terms of the sport itself, IC21 is also kind of a cross between Kuroba and Haikyuu where they name all the moves and they all have crazy effects but it stays
relatively in the realm of reality while giving it that dramatic shounen flair. But it kind of differs in that it doesn't actually make me want to watch real football. I didn't like it to begin with and even now I'm not that pumped about football, instead where all my love stems from in IC21 are the characters.
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| [PUNK ROCK STARTS PLAYING IN THE BACKGROUND] |
They're not as cute as HQ or KNB, but not as rough as Slam Dunk. Rather than that, they endear themselves to you slowly until you get to a point where you realize that their dreams mean so much to you and by then it's too late. By the end you're like who put this football in my eye I DIDN'T SIGN UP FOR THIS (yes I did). The art also gets better and better, especially the colour pages which are just gorgeous towards the end.
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| These nerds. THESE LOSERS. THESE DO RK S OF MY HE ART |
My favourite is of course Sena, then Hiruma and Riku and Shin. But whereas with Riku and Shin it's more of an aesthetic love. I love Riku because he's short and cute but such an older brother. It's great to see him cheering Sena on like a proud brother. (The guardian deity of Seibu??) And with Shin I enjoy his seriousness but also his bond with his partners, Sakuraba and Sena. Especially when he's with Sena he shows those rare smiles, it's great.
The Christmas Bowl was fantastic, but the World Youth tournament was even better. The one complaint I had about that arc was that it was way too short. I just wanted to see this A-Team more and more. But it's kind of like what I said about Kuroba, it's sad to see them go their separate ways, but sometimes that's the only way to move forward. And even though it's bittersweet, they'll be okay in the future too, because they have the thing that ties them together, the sport that they love.
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| Would pay money to see this match up. Would sell soul to see these losers play football forever. |
But my devotion to Sena, and to a slightly lesser extent, Hiruma, is levels above the others. It's the same devotion I gave to Tsuna and for the same reason: character development. I love Sena because he grows in leaps and bounds, and while he stumbles sometimes, he never gives up. It started from the moment he let go of Mamori's hand. He finally found a place for himself, and he never wavers from the path he chose. The best parts are in matches when he's up against a difficult situation but he's constantly thinking, always trying. At first glance he looks like a coward but ever since he discovered American football, he's never run away. I absolutely love that. He sucks, but he doesn't waste time moping and whining about it. He just thinks of how to improve. For me, although the plot twists regarding the 'real Eyeshield 21' were definitely interesting, there was never any contest. Sena was, from the day he first ran bearing that name, the one and only Eyeshield 21 for me.
Hiruma I love because he also gives off a very superficial appearance, but there's an incredible depth of character underneath. The little moments when he shows his weakness and doubt, just like the moments when Sena shows his strength and courage, are what get to me. What I love the most about both of them is seeing them in matches. For both of them, that's the one stage that lets them shine. For Sena, it's his chance to show his fierce, unshakeable resolve that's so different from his usual feeble demeanour. Whereas for Hiruma it's the opposite. While we usually see him full of confidence and absolutely unflappable, in a game we see that he's just the same as any other high school boy. He grits his teeth and tries his best. One character even lampshades it, he bleeds and it's just as red as the rest of us. He's no monster. From someone who thinks only towards victory in terms of statistics and cold facts, he starts to add unconditional trust in his hand of cards. Rather than ruling his team with terror and pain, he starts being able to communicate with them with eye contact alone. We see the full spectrum of his feelings and it's beautiful.
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| OH GOD AND MY MISTAKE WAS EVER READING THIS MANGA I'M CRYING |
Like in KHR where my favourite moment was Tsuna standing up and saving his teacher, in IC21 it was the moment when Sena comes into his own to support Hiruma. I don't ship them at all (Mamori x Hiruma FOR LIFE) but their relationship is the one I love the most in this series. Hiruma was the one who found him, and with Sena as a starting point the whole team came together. Although he had controlled all the others around him with fear, this time, he found a different kind of companion. Sena who was very much dragged into by force but in the end was given a goal of a different kind, he took on his senpais' dream. So when the absolute pillar was in danger instead of being lost, he takes a step forward. Hiruma who had finally found comrades he could trust, he placed all of his trust, his dreams, his faith in that scrawny, unassuming boy.And that boy who had always run away but finally found something he could run towards thanks to Hiruma, he fulfils all of that unspoken trust spectacularly. "He's the type of guy who'll say he absolutely can't do something right before he does it."
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| HE'S STILL THE SAME HE LOOKS DIFFERENT BUT THAT'S THE SAME BEAUTIFUL PRECIOUS BOY HE ALWAYS WAS HE JUST NEEDED SOMETHING TO FIGHT FOR I'M CRYING AGAIN |
That moment just sums up everything I love about sports manga and Eyeshield 21. It starts with a boy who is average and not particularly good. But through meeting others he starts to change. Through exhausting training and pure hard work, he makes it through the obstacles in front of him. And even when he faces defeat, he just presses on. He finds friends that are with him through thick and thin, he finds rivals that improve each other. And at the end, we get to see that boy we saw at the beginning become a man. We get to see him take the lies and turn them into reality, we get to see him turn himself into the ace that everyone relies on. We get to see the beginning of a legend. Facing his dreams head on, running into the future with those golden legs of his, do your best Sena!
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| Can't you just feel the youth emanating from this page or am I just blinded by tears for these children? |
Tl;dr: If you're looking for an emotional, moving journey of character development please read Eyeshield 21 I care TOO MUCH HELP
Guess there's a Slim Shady in all of us
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