Eyeshield 21: Difference between revisions

Sena Kobayakawa was a short, scrawny first year student at Deimon High School. He had always been the target for bullies, from which his childhood friend Anezaki Mamori would always try to protect him when she was around. One day, a group of bullies cornered him and dragged him off to the tiny club room for the school's [[American Football]] team, where he was rescued by the team's only starting lineman, and recruited to be the team secretary.

 

 

 

On the way, they [[Underdogs Never Lose|win a bunch of games]], they [[Averted Trope|lose a bunch of games]], create [[The Rival|fierce but friendly rivalries]], [[Coming of Age Story|learn epic manliness]], and generally get ordered around by the whims of their [[Devil in Plain Sight|captain]].

** Shin, unbelievably, is also one. He had no intention of playing sports in high school, and only tried out for the White Knights because Sakuraba asked him to.

** Furthermore is Ikari, who joined the team after three suspensions from school in order to defend the football team's glory, what with the golden age having graduated.

* [[Against the Setting Sun]]

* [[Affably Evil]]: Marco. There's no two ways about it, whether he's on your team or not, Marco's a decidedly sinister guy who likes to drink soda, share it with anyone he talks with, and likes to wear Armani suits....

** And be prepared to face an enraged Tetsuma if you hurt Kid. Similarly, don't call Tetsuma an idiot in front of Kid. This enough to piss him off, and make him drop his [[Obfuscating Stupidity|lazy, uninterested facade]] for an instant.

** The best way to piss off Mamori? Threaten anyone she's taking care of. Especially Sena and Suzuna.

** Don't insult any player who clashed with [[Blood Knight|Gaou]] but nevertheless faced him bravely. [[Unstoppable Rage|He's been known to completely lose it over stuff like that.]]

** Juumonji doesn't exactly cotton to being referred to as "trash". But what ''really'' gets Juumonji's goat is when his ''friends'' are called "trash".

** [[Cool and Unusual Punishment|Shaving Agon's head.]] More generally, showing him that there's somebody better than him out there or ignoring him completely.

* [[Beware the Nice Ones]]:

* [[Cluster F-Bomb]]: Hiruma calls practically everyone "fucking (something)", with "something" usually being a slightly demeaning nickname such as fatass, shrimp, baldie, or idiot. A more extreme example is when Monta nearly got himself ejected from the Tokyo tournament via yelling at a referee before Tetsuma intervened; Hiruma proceeded to unload a machine gun onto Monta while sprinkling him liberally with "fucking"s.

* [[Combat Commentator]]: The most infamous? {{spoiler|The Anti-spoiler Onihei.}}

* [[Cool Big Sis]]: Mamori, at least for Monta, Sena and Suzuna. Maruko Himuro is implied to be one, too.

* [[Crash Into Hello]]: Sena met Suzuna this way. Played differently in that Sena deliberately threw himself in Suzuna's way to catch her when she was jumping, something she worked out the second time it happened.

* [[Creepy Child]]:

* [[Different As Night and Day]]: Unsui and Agon.

* {{spoiler|[[Distant Finale]]: The last chapter of the manga takes place two years later, and shows the cast entering college.}}

* [[Dramatic Unmask]]: "I'm sorry, Mamori-nee-san, I'm going, they need me....". A [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming]].

* [[Dramatic Wind]]

* [[Evil Laugh]]: Kekekekekeke...

* [[Exactly What I Aimed At]]:

* [[Expy]]:

** Possibly Kobanzame from the Kyoshin Poseidons. He has a slightly longer-than average nose, lies about his confidence and abilities on a regular basis, claims any good idea that comes up is his, is [[Improbable Aiming Skills|incredibly accurate]] (albeit only over short distances), secretly has absolutely no self-esteem, believes that he is holding all of his friends back but is too terrified of being alone/loves the team so much that he simply ''[[Determinator|will not quit]]'', and is good at his job precisely ''because'' he's a horrible coward. Sounds very similar to [[Cowardly Lion|Usopp]] from [[One Piece]], doesn't it?

** Joe Tetsuma looks like [[Golgo 13|Duke Togo]], never changes his facial expression, practically never speaks and follows orders to absolute precision. Strangely enough, he catches [[Incredibly Lame Pun|bullets]] rather than shooting them.

** It is hinted that Hiruma {{spoiler|has a far from normal relationship with his father}}, but it doesn't explain his manipulative, borderline sadistic, nature at all.

* [[Funny Afro]]: Sports writer Kumabukuro. In the anime, his daughter starts to look like him when she gets excited. It's not very funny.

* [[Gecko Ending]]: The anime got one after the final battle between the Devil Bats and the White Knights. They skipped directly to a [[Distant Finale]], without even ''pretending'' the tournament was over.

* [[Gender Blender Name]]:

** The Zokugaku Chameleons, who trained long and hard all summer for the fall tournament, but lost in the second round.

** Subverted with the Devil Bats as a whole, though. There are numerous scenes where they're shown pushing themselves at practice, and that's not even counting the Death March. Subverted especially in case of Sena and Monta, as their hard works paid off in awesome way with Sena's amazing footwork and speed, and Monta's ability to "read" and "listen" to the ball, making him able to predict ball movement.

* [[Heroic BSOD]]:

** Komusubi, at one point, felt that his lack of height had become too great a liabiliy, especially since the players and even the ''cheerleaders'' of the Kyoshin Poseidons were exceptionally tall. It takes [[Epiphany Therapy|some talk from Sena]] and the Ha-Ha Bros (very literally) [[Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!|"kicking" some sense to him]] to get him back on track.

** Sakuraba (still in his [[Fake Ultimate Hero]] phase) goes through one when he realizes that no matter how hard he trains, he'll never be as good as Shin. His friend Takami [[Don't Say Such Stupid Things|reacted]] [[Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!|violently]] to that, having gone through the exact same thing when he dealt with a childhood injury that kept him from keeping pace with the rest of the team.

** Agon is the most vile, arrogant person in the story. [[Eviler Than Thou|Then Mr. Don appears.]] In fact, both Mr. Don and Clifford manage to be such gigantic asses that they grate on ''Agon himself.''

** The replacement players for the Yuuhi Guts, stars of Yuuhi's other sports teams, are played up as villains in the anime. In the manga, they were depicted as perfectly nice guys -- though selfish in that they were only playing for extra credit.

** Hiruma ''seems'' to be at first glance. But on the other hand, he does care for his teammates/friends, in his own psychotic manner, gives them support when necessary, and even at his worst, ''never'' asks anything of them that he is not prepared to go through himself. And then you have the reason he became the manager of the Devil-Bats in the first place: {{spoiler|He promised his first friend that they would reach the top of the football circuit in Japan, and by hell, that is what they are going to do.}} In addition, he put himself in harm's way to try and protect Mamori and Suzuna from GAOU, of all people. Sure he taunts his opponents, but unlike Agon's insults, they tend to be more childish and absurd then genuinely cruel. The one time Hiruma might've kicked the dog (calling Tetsuma stupid and incompetent), he plainly states seconds later "I was just lying, no one thinks of Tetsuma like that!", then reveals that he's trying to get Kid to show his competitive spirit.

* [[The Juggernaut]]: Gaou is the straight version; at least until he meets Kurita, who's much slower but [[Mighty Glacier|pretty much unstoppable]]. Yamato Takeru is also practically unstoppable on the field; the best thing Deimon can do is slow him down. Not even Shin, widely regarded as the strongest Japanese linebacker EVER, can completely stop him. Tetsuma will go exactly where he's commanded, trampling everyone in his way. Then Mr. Don... oh, God, Mr. Don.

* [[One-Hit Kill]]: What happens when Shin uses his Trident Tackle against [[Mook|most regular players.]] Subverted since several strong or strong-willed players manage to hold it off, even [[Fragile Speedster|Sena.]] However, Shin isn't to be underestimated; The Trident Tackle stopped Yamato and his Caesar's Charge flat.

* [[The Only One Allowed to Defeat You]]: Shin, towards Sena. Vice-versa as well, but not as much.

* [[Opposing Sports Team]]: Dozens of them. Several are portrayed much more sympathetically than usual, however, and the series doesn't shy away from the fact that the Devil Bats are crushing a lot of people's dreams, either. Teikoku, however, plays it a little straight. The team's structure forces players to compete against each other to get to the first string. Consequentially, in every game, the players are working more against each other than with each other. They can get away with it because the first string is ''that'' good, but it's clear that the entire setup is ''wrong.'' And the team is mostly made up of aces stolen from other teams, as well...

* [[Overtook the Manga]]

** ''Kicking'' is serious business for Kotarou and Musashi.

* [[She Is Not My Girlfriend]]:

** In the Devil Bat's Investigation Files, when asked if Rui Habashira and Megumi Tsuyumine are dating, his answer: [[Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness|"Well, you see, if a man and woman are seen together, that doesn't mean they are doing girlfriend/boyfriend things. The relationship between a man and a woman isn't as simple as whether or not they're going out."]]

* [[Ship Tease]]:

** There was a considerable amount of Ship Teasing for both Sena/Suzuna and Hiruma/Mamori throughout the series... though ultimately, nothing was confirmed. But you mustn't forget, this ''is'' [[Maybe Ever After|a Shounen manga]].

** Unbelievably, the manga has a little shout out to [[Marvel Comics]]' infamous ''NFL Superpro''. Seriously.

** In addition to many shouts out to other Shonen Jump manga; Toganou is almost always seen reading Shonen Jump, as well, and created a manga that combines elements of many manga serialized in Jump... [[Fridge Logic|including Eyeshield 21]]. Other Jump shout-outs show up throughout the series. A filler episode in the anime has every member of the team dress up as Eyeshield and do an homage to [[Naruto]]'s shadow clone technique.

** In the episode where the Devil Bats go on a one-night cruise before a big game, someone eats their dinners, and Suzuna turns the episode into a mix between [[Detective Conan]] and [[Phoenix Wright]]. A blantant shout out to Detective Conan starts with a set of doors opening and closing between breaks.

** Many players in this manga are [[Expy]] of certain players in the NFL, or other famous people. Shin, for example, is both a [[Fist of the North Star|Kenshiro]] [[Expy]] and a [[Bruce Lee Clone]].

** A [[Fourth Wall Mail Slot]] column talking about how easygoing Ishimaru is claims that it'd take something like "[[Cyborg 009|kidnapping him and turning him into a cyborg for a black-market organization]]" to rile him.

** While trying to think of a way to get past Yamato, Taki suggests Sena dig underground, a reference to the Neji vs Naruto fight.

* [[Slow-Motion Pass-By]]

* [[Sneezing]]

* [[The Stoic]]: Shin, Banba, and Kakei are all rather unemotional. Akaba might also count. Tetsuma is also notable in this regard. Subverted with Hiruma; he can be trigger-happy, laughing mad, cursing and threatening all the time, {{spoiler|but when his plans fail completely, he takes it with stoic silence.}}

* [[Stout Strength]]: Kurita, Komusubi, Kasamatsu and Omosadake are all powerful linemen of pronounced girth; Komusubi and Omosadake are sumo wrestlers, even.

* [[Sugar and Ice Personality]]: Maria/Maruko, at first she appears to be your typical [[Emotionless Girl]], but flashbacks revealed she actually used to be quite dere for Marco till he recruited Gaou.

* [[Take a Third Option]]: Subverted with Hiruma and his in-game pop-quiz; he makes you guess A, B, or C, while the answer is...12.5.