Anime Addiction

I’m so happy! That was definitely a touching chapter. It was just great watching all the Devil Bats players reflecting on how and why they got this far. And then there’s Sena..damn! Butter fingers! But then that was due to his numb arms anyway..so I can’t blame him entirely for his clumsiness. Hiruma always there to help out..But I love it how Sena made his most admirable speech in front the entire Kantou teams. And then to have the chairman of the Kantou tournament mentioned how no one until now had ever said that they’ll beat Teikoku Gakuen made me shiver all over. Sena, you are the man!!! By the way, we finally got to see the "real" Eyeshield 21 (and his name Yamato) from the West. Boy! Their attitude was what we thought it would be nonchalant and "we already got this in the bag". Can’t wait for the meeting to begin!

Sena has always been bullied. Ever since he was little, he’s been forced to be a gopher for bigger kids. His constant errand running, however, toned his legs so well that he’s the fastest kid in Deimon High School! After being harassed by some delinquents, Sena runs away from them and heads for the train station. It just so happens that the football team captain, Yoichi Hiruma, is there to see his flawless cuts and dashes as he outmaneuvers the bullies. He is (rather forcibly) recruited to the football team, the Deimon Devil Bats.

He wears a tinted eyeshield to protect his identity, lest the other sports teams try to steal him. Fortunately, Hiruma, who pretty much rules the school, ensures that he is protected from bullies. Sena is scrawny (barely 5′), weak (can only bench press the bar), and has absolutely no experience in the game (couldn’t even hold the ball correctly during the first game). However, on the field, Sena is impossibly fast. He runs the 40-yard dash in 4.2 seconds (the fastest possible speed for a human), and very few players can catch him.

Sena’s greatest rival is Seijuro Shin, the Ojo White Knight’s linebacker. His vicious spear tackle tortured Sena for an entire game until Sena was able to outrun him (Shin runs the 40-yard dash in 4.37 seconds). Sena and Shin have both agreed to meet each other at the Christmas Bowl, the high school national championship game. Sena had originally signed up as the team’s manager, but it was pretty obvious that he sucked as a manager. When Mamori joined, he was able to practice full time.

Sena’s trump card is the devil bat ghost. At first, his greatest flaw was that he would slow down before cutting. This gave any defensive player an instant to strike. After completing the Death March across America, he learned to cut without stopping. Now when he runs at a player, he seems to split in two, becoming one again after the player has fallen far behind.

Eyeshield 21  is a manga about American football written by Riichiro Inagaki and illustrated by Yusuke Murata. It has been adapted into an anime movie in 2004 (shown at Jump Festa), an anime television series in 2005, several video games and a trading card game from Konami.

The manga is serialized in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump. The twenty five volumes have collectively sold over 16 million copies in Japan, and the number of children playing American football has almost doubled in the four years since it began. The manga is published in English by VIZ Media.

Sena Kobayakawa spent most of his school years as the unfortunate one who always got picked on by the bullies in school. Ever since his younger days, he’s always played the errand boy, which gets to the point where Sena becomes extremely fast and swift when he moves. This catches the attention of Hiruma and Kurita, who are searhing for a fast running back for their Football team.

Sena joins the quirky and ragtag "Demon Devil Bats" team and takes on the name "Eyeshield 21," based on the Eyeshield Sena uses on his helmet in order to protect his identity from his fellow High School students. In this twisted take on American football, you never know what may happen when the Devil Bats are on the turf!