Eyeshield 21 (manga, vols. 21-24) story by Riichiro Inagaki, art by Yusuke Murata

Depending on how you look at it, Eyeshield 21 was more of a vacation failure for me than Otomen. I think I had a stack of at least 6 more volumes that I decided not to read. Had my vacation been longer, I probably would have gotten around to them, but after 4 volumes I decided my time would be better spent reading something else.

Back when I first started reading this series, the main reasons it appealed to me were its general craziness (machine gun-toting Hiruma, weird training regimens, over-the-top player abilities) and the ease with which I could understand what was going on. I'm not a fan of sports in general, and I find football in particular to be very confusing. Inagaki made the basics of the sport fairly easy to grasp, and my general enjoyment of the series and its characters helped me overlook anything I didn't quite get.

Maybe it's because it's been so long since I last read the earlier volumes, but my understanding of football seemed to be particularly bad while I was reading volumes 21 to 24. When it came time to crack open volume 25, I realized I didn't really have much of an idea what was going on in the game and only vaguely cared about what the Deimon Devil Bats would do to beat the other teams.

One reason I might continue with this series in the future, though, is the possibility that Hiruma might be more humanized in future volumes. I flipped through some of the later volumes that I never got around to reading, and in one of them Hiruma was talking to Mamori - always interesting, because Hiruma seems more willing to reveal his weaknesses around Mamori, or at least he's not as good at hiding his weaknesses from her as he is from his teammates. While I enjoy Hiruma when he's being devilish, I'm intrigued by the idea of a Hiruma with layers. Plus, the romance lover in me can't help but wonder if Inagaki is setting things up for romance-inspired team tension. I can imagine Mamori falling for the more human side of Hiruma that only she gets to see, inspiring Sena to be jealous of Hiruma. Sena would then have to overcome that feeling so that it wouldn't start to affect his performance during games. Okay, so I read a lot of shojo manga, but it could happen, right?

As with my Otomen post, there are potential spoilers in the volume summaries below. If you don't like spoilers, you might want to skip to the read-alikes/watch-alikes list.

• Eyeshield 21 (manga, vol. 21) - Deimon is still playing against the Shinryuji Nagas and has to do risky, desperate things to survive the game, like over-relying on Sena's legs. Even so, it still doesn't look too good for them by the end of the volume. Yukimitsu wasn't the huge secret weapon I was expecting, just better than other people expected him to be. He's not athletically-inclined, so he instead used his excellent study skills to learn about the players he'd be facing.
• Eyeshield 21 (manga, vol. 22) - More Deimon Devil Bats vs. Shinryuji Nagas. Deimon has to get at least 21 points, so they try to advance and then stop the clock after every play. In this particular volume, some of the most decisive moments are courtesy of Morita, Deimon's best catcher, because Sena's legs are just about useless. While reading this volume, I worried a lot about whether Sena might be permanently damaging his legs, and, although this concern came up, I don't think the other players (or Deimon's coach) worried nearly enough about it.
• Eyeshield 21 (manga, vol. 23) - Deimon finally manages to beat Shinryuji. Then, for a brief period, it's the Hakushu Dinosaurs vs. Taiyo Sphinx. Hakushu's Gao has a reputation for putting quarterbacks in the hospital. Taiyo's linemen manage to protect their quarterback, but only at great cost - all of Taiyo's linemen end up hospitalized. Taiyo forfeits the game. After that, another brief game: Seibu Wild Gunmen vs. Misaki Wolves. Seibu wins. Shin of the Ojo White Knights has Seibu's Riku teach him the secret to his Rodeo Drive, turning Shin into an even fiercer opponent. Meanwhile, Deimon's players begin what training they are capable of doing, considering that they all have horrible muscle pain after the game against Shinryuji. They're playing against Ojo next.
• Eyeshield 21 (manga, vol. 24) - Deimon studies Ojo for a bit, and then the game between Ojo and Deimon begins. Things don't look good for Deimon as Ojo's Sakuraba and Shin switch to playing both offense and defense. My only other note about this volume was that it confused me. I had a hard time grasping what, exactly, it would mean for Sakuraba and Shin to play both offense and defense, but apparently it's a risky move on Ojo's part and, at the same time, a reason for Deimon to worry.

As far as I can tell, manga about American football are few and far between, and none of those other works have been licensed and translated into English.

Read-alikes and Watch-alikes:

• Hikaru no Go (manga) by Yumi Hotta (story) and Takeshi Obata (art); Hikaru no Go (anime TV series) - This series is about a board game, not a sport, but the overall feel is similar to sports manga. This is another one where, the further the main character (Hikaru) got into the world of his "sport," the less I understood about individual matches, but in Hikaru no Go's case that didn't seem to matter to me. I've seen all of the anime and loved it (I hate what I've heard of the English dub, though), and one of these days I'll read all of the manga. I've written about volume 12 of the manga.
• Whistle! (manga) by Daisuke Higuchi - Less crazy than Eyeshield 21, but this may still appeal to those who'd like another sports-oriented series. In this case, the sport is soccer. I've written about volume 19 of the manga.
• Yakitate!! Japan (manga) by Takashi Hashiguchi - Like Eyeshield 21, this series has some really outlandish characters and moments. In this case, the focus is competitive bread baking. Hashiguchi usually makes the breads the characters create seem at least somewhat possible. Those who'd like another crazy, competition-filled series might want to try this. I've written about volumes 11 and 12 of the manga.
• Big Windup! (anime TV series) - Like Whistle!, this series grounds its players more in reality than Eyeshield 21 - if you want an outlandish cast, you need to look elsewhere. However, if you'd just like another sports manga starring an underdog team you can root for, you might want to try this. The sport, in this case, is baseball. I've written several posts about this anime.
• The Prince of Tennis (manga) by Takeshi Konomi; The Prince of Tennis (anime TV series) - A sports series that is outlandish in a slightly different way than Eyeshield 21. These tennis players are intense, and, similar to Deimon's players, I don't think you ever see anyone in class - like Eyeshield 21, the focus is on the sport and how the players interact with each other via that sport. I've written about volumes 25 to 27 of the manga.

Eyeshield 21 (manga, vol. 20) by Riichiro Inagaki (story) and Yusuke Murata (art)

This volume begins with several interviews with players from the various football teams participating in the Kanto Tournament. Then readers get to see Hiruma, Kurita, and Musashi's connection to Agon - it turns out all that all three of them had originally intended to join the Shinryuji Nagas, but went to Deimon instead after Agon prevented Kurita from taking one of the two athletic openings in the Nagas. The story jumps to the present again, as the teams prepare for the Kanto Tournament. The Nagas are convinced that there is no one among the Devil Bats who could stand a chance against them, although Hiruma seems to consider Yukimitsu, the Devil Bats' least athletic player and the only one who hasn't yet played in a game, to be the Devil Bat's secret weapon. Unfortunately, as the game progresses, it seems likely that the Nagas will win. By the end of the first half, the Deimon Devils Bats are at 0, while the Shinryuji Nagas are at 32. Even Hiruma tells the Devil Bats that they have no chance of winning.

This was kind of a depressing volume - usually, even when the Devil Bats are outclassed, they do at least a few incredible things along the way. In this volume they get thrashed, and nothing anyone does seems to be able to overcome the other team's strength. Agon has inhuman levels of endurance, so it's not a hardship for him that he does everything himself - this is not the kind of game where one player is going to learn the value of teamwork. The fact that Hiruma ends up telling the team to give up is especially depressing - Hiruma never tells his team to give up, because there's always a sliver of a chance that they can make it.

The main consolation is that Hiruma has yet to bring Yukimitsu into the game. Inagaki has emphasized that Hiruma considers him to be a secret weapon, and even other people on the Devil Bats team don't know how Hiruma intends to use him. If the team had really been at the end of their rope, Hiruma would've brought him in before now. I'm convinced that Hiruma has some sort of great and sneaky plan he's going to unleash in the next volume. The cryptic preview for the next volume seems to back me up - the words "There was one who would never give up" next to a picture of a somber Yukimitsu, with pictures of determined players from both teams (including Hiruma, with his usual devilish smile).

As depressing as this volume is, it makes me look forward to the next volume even more. Long live the Devil Bats, and all that.

As far as extras go, there's more short interviews with various characters, more Devil Bats investigations (like "What does Yuki's sister look like?"), a picture of a Devil Bats cake made by a fan, the Kanto Tournament lineup, and a few character profiles.

Read-alikes and Watch-alikes:

• The Prince of Tennis (manga) by Takeshi Konomi; The Prince of Tennis (anime TV series) - Ryoma Echizen is a tennis genius and a new student at Seigaku High School. He soon becomes a member of his school's famous tennis team and proves that he's capable of beating 2nd and 3rd year students. Those who'd like another exciting sports manga might want to try this series. In addition, Agon's determination to crush untalented players reminds me of at least one opponent in The Prince of Tennis.
• Whistle! (manga) by Daisuke Higuchi - In this series, a hard-working boy named Sho transfers to a new school just so that he can get a better chance to play soccer. Although he isn't very good at soccer, he practices long and hard and gradually improves his skills. Others begin to notice him, and Sho becomes part of his school's team. Even though he isn't usually the best player, people notice him because his cheerful, determined presence tends to improve moral and his flashes of brilliant playing hint at future greatness. Those who'd like another series featuring exciting sports competition might like this title. In addition, I think this manga has a "you can't play on your own when you're on a team" theme at one point, which is something I had expected would come up with Agon in Eyeshield 21 (except that he apparently has super-human endurance).
  

Eyeshield 21 (manga, vol. 19) by Riichiro Inagaki (story) and Yusuke Murata (art)

In order to make it into the Kanto Tournament, the Deimon Devil Bats (a high school football team) must defeat the Bando Spiders. At the beginning of this volume, Bando is in the lead and high winds seem to be making things even harder for Deimon. However, Deimon, least of all Sena and Hiruma, don't plan to give up. Sena has finally admitted to everyone that he's not the real Eyeshield 21, but he still has a chance to prove that he can beat the person who is, Bando's Akaba.

This is not the most realistic of football stories. A lot of the characters have weird quirks (Hiruma's a demonic gun fanatic, for instance), and the different teams' themes have a tendency to get way over-the-top. However, despite, or maybe because of, all of that, this is an exciting and enjoyable series, something that also applies to this particular volume. Taken by itself, I don't think this volume is the best so far in this series, but I enjoyed it as part of the story as a whole, because it shows how Deimon finishes the battle to become part of the Kanto Tournament.

As far as character development goes, this volume offers something unusual: information about Hiruma. It isn't much, only a couple panels worth, but apparently even Hiruma has a father out there somewhere, and Hiruma's father wants to do something to repair their relationship. Besides that, this isn't a big character development volume - there's a scary character with dreadlocks who I assume will be getting more time in the next volume, and Sena becomes a bit more self-confident as he continues to improve his skills.

Even if you (like me) don't like football, I recommend trying this series. It's energetic and action-packed, there's tons of sometimes silly humor, and there's buckets of emotion as various players improve their skills and either defeat other players or are defeated themselves.

If you're interested in the next stage, the Kanto Tournament, this particular volume clearly shows what the lineup will be for the tournament.

This volume has a few extras: a few funny pages of "Devil Bats Investigation Files", 24 color pages, a few short biographies for minor characters, and a funny little extra non-Eyeshield 21 comic strip.

Read-alikes:

• Hikaru no Go (manga) by Yumi Hotta (story) and Takeshi Obata (art); Hikaru no Go (anime TV series) - When Hikaru discovers a haunted Go board, he suddenly finds himself saddled with Sai, a ghost who was once the emperor's Go instructor. Sai wants desperately to play more Go, giving Hikaru, who could care less about Go, no choice but to go out and find people to play against. As Hikaru learns more about Go, he becomes more involved in it and eventually works hard to become a professional Go player. Yes, Go is a board game and not a sport, but a lot of what Hikaru goes through emotionally is similar to what sports players like the ones in Eyeshield 21 go through. Those who'd like something with humor and tense and exciting (yes, I said exciting and I mean it) matches might like this manga/anime. The anime follows the plot of the manga pretty closely, so you can take your pick.
• Whiste! (manga) by Daisuke Higuchi - Sho loves soccer, but his school's team won't let him play. He switches schools, practices every chance he gets, and improves his playing. Although Sho's not always the best player on whatever team he's on, he's so hard-working and enthusiastic that his mere presence tends to improve morale. Occasionally he does something on the soccer field that hints at how awesome he could be in the future - without knowing it, he attracts the attention of other players, spectators, and coaches, who are all waiting to see what sort of player he will become. Readers who'd like something more physical than my first suggestion, with exciting and emotionally-charged matches and amazing athletic growth, might like this series. Whistle! has less wacky humor than Eyeshield 21, but both series demonstrate a love for their particular sports and Sena and Sho are both players who encourage those around them just by working hard.
• Yakitate!! Japan (manga) by Takashi Hashiguchi - Azuma Kazuma's goal is to make Ja-pan - every country except Japan seems to have its own national bread, and Azuma wants to correct this by making bread that would fit in with Japanese cuisine and be loved as much as rice. In pursuit of this goal, Azuma finds work at a branch of Pantasia, a famous bread-making chain. Bread-making isn't a sport, but you wouldn't always know it from reading Yakitate!! Japan - in this wacky manga, people bake the craziest things, competing rabidly against one another. Just as Eyeshield 21 is based on realistic football rules and strategies, despite its wackiness, Yakitate!! Japan also apparently bases at least some of its amazing bread-making on real bread-making techniques. Those who'd like a wacky, humorous manga filled with tense, emotionally-charged competition might like this series.