EYESHIELD 21: THE DEVILS MISTAKE & THE LAST OF THE DEIMON DEVIL BATS (VOLUMES 33 & 34)
April 13th 2011 22:18
Category: Manga
Publisher: VIZ Media LLC
Story by: Riichiro Inagaki
Art by: Yusuke Murata
Translation & English Adaptation by: John Werry, HC Language Solutions Inc
Touch up art & Lettering: James Gaubatz
Cover & Graphic Design: Sean Lee
Cost: AU$12.95/US$7.99
American Football, or Gridiron as it’s sometimes called, has never been a sport I’ve gotten enthused about. I will admit that I have now and then watched a bit of the Superbowl when it’s been aired on the idiot box here in the land down under, but it’s never gotten to the stage where I’ve gotten behind some team in the competition and fanatically followed them as I do with League or Union. So it comes as some surprise that I would even bother reading a manga about American Football but then again I also read a manga about tennis and I am most assuredly no fan of tennis either…
With this particular series you have the quintessential underdog tale, a tale where a team of virtual nobodies in the hurly burly of high school level American Football manage to drag themselves up by their bootstraps and become a team of champions. And it is presented in such a manner that even the most jaded of manga fans would be hard pressed not to shed a tear in the moments of despair or pathos or shout with joy at the unexpected triumphs and sheer gutsiness. That is what great storytelling can do and Eyeshield 21 has that in spades…which is why I have found it to be such a pleasant read whenever I come across it in the stacks.
So what is going on in these two volumes? And why do the two at the same time I hear you ask? Well as both volumes cover the culmination of a major game between the Deimon Devil Bat’s and the Teikoku Alexanders it seemed that it was a logical thing to do, cover them both in the same review. The action and drama between the two is seamless and without covering them both you wouldn’t quite get the full picture of the unfolding story; at least that’s my take on things. The game that is occurring between the two teams is the penultimate competition between high school level football teams; it is the Christmas Bowl, the Japanese national high school football championship which for at least thirty years has been won by the Teikoku Alexanders.
Hailing from the thriving metropolis of Osaka and champions of the Kansai region the Alexanders are a veritable powerhouse of American Football. They scout out various players from rival schools all across the nation and entice them to come to Teikoku to study and play – they kind of sound like the Manly Sea Eagles back in the seventies and eighties – where they form a cadre of elite players upon which the number one team can draw upon and practice against. How can anyone hope to effectively compete let alone defeat such an effective apparatus, a machine created solely it seems for dominating and wining the Christmas Bowl…
Unfortunately for Teikoku the Deimon Devil Bat’s are not exactly fazed by the reputation of this legendary football powerhouse…they are team who believe in themselves and their devilish leader; Yoichi Hiruma. But he is not the only big draw card on the team; even though they’re eleven players strong in comparison to the multitudes available to the Alexanders they can still be a major menace…the Alexanders know that they’re not a team to be underestimated. And there is the fact that the ace player of the Alexanders; Takeru Yamato, is the legendary Japanese player who played with Notre Dame in America and earned the title of Eyeshield 21. He is pitted against Deimon’s legendary running back…Sena Kobayakawa, the Eyeshield 21 of the East.
Sena has worked hard to build his reputation as Eyeshield 21 and for much of his football career he was only know by that moniker. But he has over the times he has played built up his talents and ability, finally backing up the legend with real skills honed in the gruelling arena of high school football. Now he is faced with the original Japanese Eyeshield 21, it is a veritable clash of the titans, west versus east, although it looks as if the westerners from the Kansai region have the upper hand. Sena seems to be incapable of getting past the man who claims to be the true and original Eyeshield 21. But as the maxim goes it isn’t over till the fat lady sings…and though the Devil Bat’s take a pounding from their opponents and in particular the aces Taka and Yamato their courage and resolve have not completely deserted them.
Gripping stuff…I couldn’t put either of these volumes down; once I started I had to read to the finale. And what a finale it was…if only football in real life of whatever code you follow was just as gripping weekend after weekend it’d be superb. If you’re a fan of American Football or someone who is looking for a good read then Eyeshield 21 is probably a work worth getting your hands on…SET…HUT…HUT!
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