Eyeshield 21

How long is it? 145 episodes. What’s it about? American Football. All of it? Yes. (And if you liked this series but found it either too long, or a bit childish, definitely check out Cross Game, a highly underrated sports series that is on a whole different maturity and story level.)

Eyeshield 21 is definite shonen sports anime. Heck, its even sponsored by the Japanese NFL and received backing in the United States as a football series on a sports channel. And now,…don’t get turned off. Because if you do, you’re missing out on one of the most entertaining series people disregard just because of its ... non-traditional anime content.

Review:

Please, please, don’t dump this series just because its football. I cannot but regret that I did put off watching this and suffered my way through crap series like Blade of the Immortal. My 2 cents on why you should watch (if you don’t want to slog your way through the rest of this):
• Typical plot (yet this works perfectly fine for this series), interspersed with drama, comedy, and laugh your head off antics of its marvelous characters.
• Marvelous characters (I said it but I will say it again), You will love the characters of Eyeshield, because even Sena isn’t as annoying as it seems. And…Hiruma will send you to hell if you don’t watch this.
Now that you’re here:

Characters: To put it simply, there is nothing bland about Eyeshield’s cast. From Sena’s traditional shonen perserverance, to Hiruma’s demonic avarice (and he will become your favorite as well), Eyeshield 21 does a masterful job of designing to characters to both appeal to viewers and to transition their interactions with each other smoothly. The rivalry between Sena and Shin is also nonclichedly carried out, and all the supporting characters get their own backstory as well. To tell the truth, I don’t even think that the supporting characters were even ‘technically 2nd tier’. You cannot but feel for the other characters such as the quarterback of the Zokugaku Chameleons whose delinquent team cannot hold themselves together. And so yes, the characters of Eyeshield are not just comedic, but serious, dramatic, and all the time flawed in some way or another. There’s not fun in watching perfect characters now is there?

Plot: Well, its straightforward enough: team has a dream, team wants to go to Christmas Bowl, team must defeat rival teams, team must work together, team must train, then team must win. But this is all you need to watch Eyeshield. It’s 145 episodes does more than enough to advance the adrenaline pumping scenes of the matches. Between moments of drama and football action is raucous comedy which borderlines on the absurd (cough Hiruma gun toting blackmailer), yet makes it more funny all the same. Now come to think of it, you don’t watch a sports series too much for the plot as more for the character development and anime action.

Sound and Graphics: Nothing too shabby here. The BGMs were great, the Ops and EDs were equally great. Eyeshield does a decent job of fitting its sound to its action scenes. The animation is more than adequate for the heart pumping football action scenes. Of course its NOT realistic. Who would want to watch realistic football for 145 episodes? Nah, this is where you see special moves like those in DBZ like Sena’s Devil Bat Ghost, Kid’s Rapid Fire Throw. (No fantastical equipment, mind but enough specialty to make you want to continue watching.) That said, animation is definitely decent for this series.

Entertainment/Replay Value : This is something I wouldn’t mind watching more than once. The one bone I have to pick with the series is its sometimes slightly traditional fillers, which it has to have in its 145 episodes. But even with that, Eyeshield 21 is hilarious, action packed, and a touchdown for us viewers.

Poptart’s Rating: 8/10

Eyeshield 21 - Japan's take on American Football. It's actually quite interesting.

Ok, so for a review on this anime. As far as sports-driven themed anime series, Eyeshield 21 does not disappoint its audience. In a nutshell, Eyeshield 21 is the story of Kobayakawa Sena and his rise from a scared little kid to a full-fledged ace running back that looks down linebackers and defensemen 20x (no joke) his size.

The story is pretty simple. Our protagonist team (Deimon) wants to make it to the championship game (in Japan known as the Christmas Bowl) and needs to make it ... this season because all of the seniors will be retiring the season after. The anime does a good job on giving a lot of background information on each of the characters as well as the characters on the other teams Deimon faces. And the good part is that they don't give it away all at once, but in bits and pieces which wets your appetite a little more each time, in a good way.

Character development is key in this series, because essentially, that is what you are witnessing as you watch this anime. The rise of Deimon, from a really bad team to one of the elite among Japan. And with that rise to the elite, comes the development of each character - Sena, Monta, the "Ha-ha" brothers, and yes, even Hiruma. It's really fascinating to watch all of these characters develop their skills and "special abilities" so to speak.

And where would the fun go if we couldn't see these skills animated in their full glory. Eyeshield 21 manages to do that quite well. Sena's super speed is portrayed well (although it's kind of weird at times to see him run for what seems like 30 yards, but ends up with 4 or 5).

There are enough twists and plot surprises in this anime as far as sports anime goes (I know, I'm keeping up with the manga) to leave you interested and wondering exactly how will Deimon get to the Christmas Bowl and how will they win....and *if* they win.

The music could be better, but there are a few insert songs that are amazing (i.e. Be Survivor by ZZ) and a few other pieces of music in there.

At first glance, many thought that American football is all about muscle and killing intent. As a child, I watched NFL games and saw players hurt, injured, worst; crushed, suffer fractures and other accidents that led them to disability. As a sportsman(once a varsity basketball player), I hate games runned by power and skill alone.

Ya-HA!
Enters Eyeshield 21 that features a with unorthodox players such as shorty, porky and a Demon. The plot is very simple, about an errand boy who became a superstar in a game played by monsters and his team, the Devil Bats journey to National Championships, the Christmas Bowl. It highlights the ... rivalry of the main character, light speed runningback Kobayakawa Sena known as Eyeshield 21 and Linebacker Shin Seijurou who is considered as the perfect player. Like other shounen stories, the protagonist grows strong stronger as he faced stronger opponents until the final decesive battle against his rival.

What everyone loved in this anime is its character development and as a sports themed anime, ES21 expressed the importance of teamwork better.

ES21 can be a manual itself and gradually showed the rules of the American football. This sports unlike any other team sports is a game of specialties and choosing a position is very vital to he outcome of the team. In the Devil bats case, the team is composed usually of inexperienced guys (and some are weaklings) relying only on their lifestyle, natural talents, hard work and rushed training. Here are their ligitimate line-up:

QB- H. Youichi - the devilish trickster and master of psychological warfares.
RB/TB- K. Sena- former errand boy with lightspeed legs
RB/FB- Ishimaru - helper from the track & field club
WR- R. Tarou - dedicated follower of a Baseball catching superstar
WR- Yukimitsu- his life was spent on academics
C- K. Ryoukan- a guy who knows nothing but power
G- Y. Daikichi - a loyal apprentice of Kurita
G- Ha -thugs
T- Ha -same-
T- Brothers -same-

Considering these data, thechances of playing forthe national championship was estimated 0.1% but saccording to their Leader, Hiruma-sama, as long as its not completely zero, winning is still inevitable.

Compared with other sports anime, I'd say Eyeshield 21 is the smartest of them all. This anime proves that winning isn't only a matter of skills, athleticism, work ethic and determination, it takes some deep tactics, calculations and brainstorming to outwit the opposing team and to stand on the battlefield.

After watching this anime, surely you'll never doubt that David really toppled Goliath. Ya-ha!

Well, Eyeshield 21, I have to say, I held off on reading/watching the manga/anime, specially because it's a manga/anime about sports, and that doesn'g sound very exciting. But I decided to give it a try anyway, and find out wha the anime really was, and what it was, is awesome.


Plot: Well, the story follows student Kobayakawa Sena, who just got accepted to Deimon High School, Sena is pretty much a whimpy kid who gets bullied around by others, while running away from some bullies, a Senior Student, Hiruma Youichi, the captain of the Football club notices that Sena is really fast, and wants him to ... join, and after a rather strange series of events, he ends up joining the Football Team( or Amefuto, as they call it, yeah, idk).
So basically, there's a team, team has a dream, going to the Christmal Bowl (Highschool Football Tournament in Japan), but they have to do it that year, since Hiruma and his fellow student Kurita Ryoukan are graduating that year, they must train, and beat the other rival teams, from which the most recurring ones are the Oujou White Knights and the Shinryuuji Naga.
It's 145 episodes for the anime (and 333 for the manga) and even though it sounds long, it's very entertaining and worth the time, the matches between teams are great and really entertaining. Besides the football matches, there's also a lot of comedy in this series, most which is absurd, which makes it even better, although most of the time, it is delivered by Hiruma, which makes it even better!

Characters: To put it simply, there is no boring character in Eyeshield 21, not even Yukimitsu is boring. The authors of Eyeshield 21 did an outstanding job in making all of the characters, they are all equally entertaining and amazing, Sena's rivalry with Shin isn't anything cliche or whatever, instead it's done really well and you wanna see Sena beat Shin in a match. All the other characters also get their own stories, from Jumonji and Taki to Agon and Panther, they are all done so well, that it feels like there are no supporting characters, they all feel like main characters, and that also makes it very exciting, not even the matches focus on the main characters, all the supporting characters have their own rivals they have to beat, and it makes it even more exciting than it already is, sure, some characters are flawed in a way, they can't all be perfect, can they?

Sound/Animation: Well, the music was great, all 5 OPs are great, and it's Eyeshield 21 that has the BEST ending theme ever (Blaze Away). Some of the BGM was great too, like Be Survivor, and the animation, well, it's really good, the OPs are done great, and the scenes with special moves like Sena's Devil Bat Ghost or Shin's Trident Tackle, they are all done very well, and all I have to say, is that it looks great.

Teams: Well, obviously there's the Deimon Devil Bats, but there's also the rival teams like the Oujou White Knights, the Kyoshin Poseidon, the Bando Spiders and the Hakushu Dinosaurs, each one of these teams have their own characters and special plays, and I liked all of them, all of the teams are equally amazing, and of course the matches are really entertaining, but I did feel kinda let down that the Teikoku Alexanders aren't in the anime, specially since the match between them and Deimon is definetly the best in the series.

Replay Value: This anime is really worth watching again, I wouldn't mind it, really, it's a shame that most people pass on it because it's a Sports Anime, like I did, but I'm sure people would like it if they watch it, now, I've really come to love this series, but I have to say that it's better to read the manga because the anime just stops after the final rematch with Oujou, and it didn't show the matches agains Hakushu, Teikoku and the World Cup, which I would've loved to see, but anyway, it's a great anime and it's really underrated, so go watch it, or Hiruma will take you to hell, YA-HA!

Rating: Flawless

Eyeshield 21 is indeed an outstanding anime. From the very beginning and maybe up to the very end of the anime, it will still be very outstanding.

I might make a review about the characters of Eyeshield 21. From my own observation, each of the characters found in there have their own distinctive and outstanding personalities. I will also say my deepest thanks to Riichiro Inagaki and Yusuke Murata for creating the characters of Eyeshield 21.

Here are some of the behaviors of the characters in Eyeshield 21 (I only mentioned 10 characters):
1. Youichi Hiruma - In his appearance alone, you can really tell that he ... is a vampire/demon perhaps! Yet, all Eyeshield viewers definitely like this character (even me). Hiruma carries a lot of guns. I love his Devil's Handbook! He even was the one who created the team's chant: "YA-HA!"

2. Nurse Oka - In the later episodes of the show, you can see a very scary nurse! This nurse is indeed ugly! Yet, she hates being called by that word. This nurse does not even rely to medical technologies to cure people but uses witchcraft and black magic. (When she talks, a scary background music covers).

3. Sasuke Kanagushi - The team captain of Dokubari Scorpions. This guy can really predict your team's strategy. Although he has this kind of skill, I find it useless because Hiruma is more powerful than him. Later he became Hiruma's slave.

4. Rui Habashira - The team captain of Zokugaku. He has a very weird long tongue.

5. Ha-Ha Brothers - One of the linemen of Deimon, they like to say "Huh". Preferably getting stronger and louder.

6. Monta - The word MAX! is definitely from the vocabulary of Monta. He uses that everyday. Catch MAX, Effort MAX, and etc.

7. Kurita - The fattest in Deimon, he looks really like a chestnut. But who cares, Kurita is a little cute. He likes to say Funnuraba to exert more strength when he pushes an enemy lineman or player.

8. Tetsuma - Character from Seibu. When he is being commanded to do something, he'll definitely do it without stopping. He is good at routes.

9. Agon Kongo - Character from Shinryuuji. He envisions himself that he is a football genius (actually for me, he is not). He treats everyone other than himself as worthless trash.

10. Leonard Apollo - He is the coach of the Nasa Aliens. He alone is a racist! He doesn't want Panther-kun to play.


For more of Eyeshield 21's whackiest and funniest characters, I advise that you watch the show from Episode 1 up to the very last.

Eyeshield 21 is an essay in 145 episodes about... American Football! A game that I don't know, like or understand, portrayed in anime! A game that we always believed that was only played in America... In anime! Conclusion: Must Watch.

The story is as simple as "sports anime": a team and its players, represented by the Speed-Light Running Back Kobayakawa Sena as main character, must overcome stronger teams and players by evoluting physically and spiritually in way to get to the ultimate victory (participating in the Christmas Bowl). However, this team is not like your average! They are below the average! In the end, this is ... the fight of an underdog team composed by untalented members that had to generate their talent through train and hard work. Very heart warming for people that, like me, don't have talent and have to do everything through hard work.

Adding to this, the characters are pretty much... Brilliant. Each character design is a caricature from the corresponding personality. With this fashion, characters that had not much of a content, turned into people that you are willing to support and even identify with. You find all the stereotypes, but you also discover that they are real and have their reasons.

The animation is quite good, as well as the art overall, but this series suffers of a disease common to most long anime: repeated animation sequences and loss of detail quality through the series. Of course that if you watch an episode a week like you should and not 15 a day like I did, you will most likely never notice this. However, the slow paced games hook you up to the point of wanting to watch them as soon as possible. Even the filler episodes held enough fun.

A great comedy, with its inspirational and touching moments, and above all a tribute to American Football.

I have played football for 5 years all throughout highschool. I did not know there was an anime about football untill June of 2009. I normally would stay away from sports anime's as they are boring and dense but I watched an Amv on eyeshield 21 and fell in love.

Everything is real in the anime, well the tournaments and the attitudes the titles of best running back or linemen, and even the plays. Yes the plays in the show are exaggerated as green beams of light cant come from behind you as you run and all that stuff but in football we do those ... plays which makes it exciting to watch and its always a grudge match in eyeshield which alot of football is like!

The characters have their own personalities which rocks! They develop and get better through the whole series. Though every region like canada and america and japan all play football diffrently as the show explained.

The art was great and the voice acting was outstanding and it pumps you up to play football. Only complaint was when there was a moment happening in the game the people would talk to eachother wich doesnt happen in football or you would get crushed. None the less it was great to watch and best sports anime out there it recks King of tennis thats for sure! Watch it and enjoy it! YA-HA!!

This anime is by far one of the most entertaining anime's that i have ever seen. The anime itself is based on the sport of 'American Football', with this said, I was not initially drawn into watching this anime with knowing this alone. However after spending some time watching the first few episodes, i found myself stuck watching the entire series within a matter of days. This anime is by far one of the most entertaining and captivating animes i have seen, incorporating a large range of characters in the football team 'Daemon Devil Bats', from the quiet and underestimated main character, Sena who plays ... as the Running back in the team, Haruma the Captain of the team as well as having a some what shady and evil back ground and many many other characters.

The most captivating thing about this anime is i think the range of characters and their unique and comical personalities which make this sport anime extremely entertaining. Also, the anime's theme itself relvolving around a sport allows it to build up suspense and tension in many of the matches, making you feel like your actually watching a real game! Having to watch more and more until the end of the match!

The storyline is based on a 'Gopher' names Sena, who unknowingly gains the ability to run extremely fast. He is made to be an incredibly weak main character compared to the regular main heroes in other anime's, however this means throughout the anime we can see Sena grow stronger and more reliable therefore making it quite entertaining. Not only does the anime show the growth of the main character, but this also allows us to know the main character in more depth, as this is a long running anime. With the growth of the main character and many of the other characters in the team throughout many matches and training, you can't help but literally cheer on the Daemon Devil Bats!!

Overall this anime, just hearing that this anime is a sport anime about football, don't let that put you off! This is an incredible anime, having everything an entertaining anime of this genre needs. I HIGHLY recommend anyone and everyone to watch this anime, even if you are not a big fan of anime of this genre.

A sports anime... huh..

Ok, before I start the review I would like to comment on the nature of sports manga or anime.. I'm sure you all know that things in the sports anime are not gonna happen in a reality sense right? For example this anime.. This is about American Football and you will see a RunningBack that runs in a speed of a freaking light. In reality sense, where in the blue hell are you going to find that? See, the logic? But that is the spice of manga or anime in the sports genre can offer. It can defy the law of reality ... in order to make things exciting.. To be honest, I don't give a damn about American Football.. I think that it is a sport wherein I can't relate because it's too complex for me to understand its rules and nature.. But, thanks to this particular manga, my eyes were opened to the American Football business.. (Though I don' really play)

One thing that is cool on sports anime is that all the move set have their own names.. It is funny to think that even your simple fake has its own name.. Well, it's just my opinion but at times it is awesome.. It's cool but the back side of it is that, there are two many moves with names..

Damn.. I really enjoy writing reviews..

Ok.. I'm going to give my opinions based on the elements in the rating..

Story (9)
Like I said this is sports anime/manga.. Expect that reality is out of question in here.. That's the essence of sports anime/manga.. (Though I'm not referring to all of the series in the sports genre) This series also defies reality in big time scale.. You know, you need basic physics in order to understand why in the blue hell such scenarios happen.. (You don't need to take the physics thing seriously) Example, Sena's run..

On the struggle sense, I mean the struggle of the group to go to the top is great. You can see that they want the big thing.. They're hungry for supremacy.. They want to prove something. Even I can feel that fire sometimes whenever I watch an episode. I admit, it's inspiring. You can apply it in real life.. Don't give up.. Don't lose your fire.. Don't lose your passion..

Art (9)
The art was good. I'm the type of viewer that looks first at the drawing or art before reading them.. So, according to my tastes.. this series is great..

Sound (9)
Are you a fan of J-rock band BACK-ON? If you do, you will definitely get me.. The songs from that band are awesome!! The opening 4 and some endings, it's awesome.. I really like the rap and rock style of music of BACK-ON.. OK, that's all.. hehe

Character (10)
Good job for the creator of this series for making characters of different styles.. First, the protagonist Sena.. He has a balance of awesomeness (when Eyeshield) and wimpiness (when normal mode).. I would also like to thank the creator of this series for creating Hiruma Yoichi wherein I can attribute my somewhat evil and never say die attitude.. As you can see, where in the blue hell are you going to see an athlete that carries legit firearms whether he is in school or in the football field? I also want to point out his catch phrase of saying "We'll Kill them!! YAHA!" That is so EPIC!! It is a good cheer.. It can be apply in real life... I apply it in real life!! It's freaking awesome!!! Well, I will no longer give ideas to the other characters.

Bottom line in here is that, they are a lot of characters and I'm sure there are one or two characters wherein you can relate your life to..

Enjoyment (10)
I find the match build up interesting and enjoyable.. Each school has its own motif and has its own matchup logo and mascot.. Whenever there is a match there is this kind of build up title card that shows the name of the schools.. I was like watching a wrestling match title card.. (If you get my analogies)

Even though I don't really played American Football my entire life, I can say that it is fun to follow this series, The plays are amazing.. You can see the awesomeness and drama for each match specially when the Deimon DEVIL Bats wins..

Overall (9)
I want to play American FOOTBALL.. Joke..

This is a good series.. Good drama, awesome defying of reality, awesome complex characters, good match ups and the I really like the chant..

I knew that the anime series is not completed. I wish that they have another series wherein they will finish the story up to the end. Well, the manga is finished, the material is there.. I honestly felt that you can feel the action more when things are animated.. I strongly wish that this must have a continuation..


That's all.. Thanks for reading..

LightningSnow :)

The most amazing thing about this show is that it made me care about sports. The hand-egg sport, at that. I actually still don't care much about hand-egg in real life, but I guess the american football knowledge I gained from watching this show are small talk material.

I started watching it when I was in middle school and it definitely shaped a bit of my personality. The series taught me what healthy friendship looks like, why hard work is important, and how satisfying pursuing your passion can be. I looked up to Deimon Devil Bats. A lot of things are exaggerated in the anime, but ... that's what makes it much more interesting than irl american football.

I genuinely like Eyeshield 21. When I finished watching the anime, I immediately read the manga just to explore the richer story in it.

21 out of 21, ya-ha!

I would give 10 for all the components.

Many people have been saying that eyeshield 21 is better in manga than anime and that the anime seriously sucks. That is not TRUE AT ALL. Just because it the anime art isn't on par with the manga , just because the animators did not do such a good job in bringing the most epic scenes / badass scenes for eyeshield does not mean the anime sucks.

Firstly , the animation may not be good but it gives life to those characters. It is cute in a way like its so refreshing to watch. We also get to see ... some very good characters getting animated like Youichi Hiruma and Habashira Rui.(There probably are some others) but i only like these 2 characters cause they are pretty similar to each other XD. Pretty much why i keep on watching :D

Secondly , the voice actors bring up on to another whole new level for eyeshield 21. There are some scenes that really hits us on point. Like for the part when they lose, and their cries really hit on point. For E.G. Chameleon team , Habashira Rui confrontation. The manga did make me tear up but the anime make the sadness in another whole new level. Hiruma voice also did quite well. Well , there are certainly some down points for some not well-done voice actors but i don't think it affects much in this 145 episodes tv-series. I can overlook the cringe part , that's just how good the anime is.

Lastly , I do love both the manga and the anime. I like the manga more than the anime but the anime is just good as well. There are only somethings that can be found in the anime like the animation of the team bonding. It has many episodes where they train as a team and so on blah blah. Those animation makes me like : uhhh ~~ so sweet~~.

NEVERTHELESS , I recommend watching the anime as well as the manga (re-read from 1st chapter) For 2-WAY TRAIN TICKETS to feel trips X)

This is the type of anime where the main character sena is pretty lame. He does a cool thing or two every 20 episodes or so and then cries about how he sucks the rest of the time. Personally I couldnt stand him as the main character because he never has his own confidence and is always beaten. When you are watching a long series such as this you need some type of motivation to keep you going every 10 or so episodes and they fail to give it in this show. Sena loses pretty much all the time. They work him up to think ... hes gonna succeed and bam its torn down with him failing. I personally cant stand watching that over and over again for 100 episodes. It gets annoying. The rest of the characters are great because they keep working hard no matter what and keep confidence unlike sena. The art is really good, Music is pretty good, story is good, but overall sena is the weakest link in this anime. I personally like main characters with a bit more guts and confidence once they see their own abilities. All this guy does is cry and whine the entire series and somehow comes through for his team because they pump him up just for that one time. He has no courage to do anything and is pretty lame. If you can stomach this for 140 episodes then fine but I personally cant handle someone so weak for a main character.

I really love the manga for Eyeshield 21, so I tried to watch the anime. It doesn't really do justice, in my opinion, to the manga at all. The animation is really shoddy, and I really don't like the style. I doesn't feel nearly as dramatic or fast-paced as the manga at all. I definitely recommend the manga, I couldn't force myself to watch more than three episodes of this show, which is really unfortunate because they had good voice actors for the characters, but the animation was just utter garbage and I can't handle bad animation for a manga series so beautifully drawn.

Eyeshield No.21 as the name suggested is about a boy Sena Kobayakawa, who considers himself as weak, loser but with accidental discovery of Youichi, made him wear this eyeshield which masks his true identity,who finds his another identity with his number in the game 21. Whenever Sena wears it his personality takes 180 degrees change, in terms of confidence.

Characters:

1. Youichi himura was the main LEAD if you watch the whole series. He is the ring master who spots our protagonist sena, as he was escaping from his bullies. This is unexpected to Sena but youichi makes him join the team. Youichi gathers new members ... by correctly perceiving the true strengths of each of the members that he chose.
2. True Rival from Ojo whites, Seijuro Shin. Shin's character inspires Sena to slowly gain confidence in himself and at last ariouses in him the desire to become strong. There was never shown in the anime any arrogance in Shin, in fact he was the most hardworking sportsment in this anime. In reality he was the one other than youichi who strongly believed in Sena's ability.
3. Musashi's character is amazing too.
But all the characters were amazing. Teamwork is shown very well in this anime.

Art: Beautiful. Especially in game scenarios you would forget about the art but get excited to see what happens next.

Sound: Appropriate for the series.

I like this anime for the following reasons:

1. Beautiful way of character development from starting to the end.
2. Youichi's mindblowing strategies in the game.
3. Training Sessions for the team members were too amazing.
4. Friendship and collective aim of victory is nowhere to be compared with other sports anime.
5. Humourous. There is Natsuhiko Taki, whose acts are always compliments by crows "aho(idot) sound. Tetsuo Ishimaru who seems to be invisble to his teammates ( actually i sympathized with him)

Overall: 10/10
I Enjoyed it a lot. From episode 1 to Episode 145 it's more than EXCITING. Whenever matches came, i and my family ( as we watched together) were not able to concentrate upon eating lunch, dinner so did both at a time in front of the screen. When it ended searched for similar anime series but none were able to produce such excitement so far.

Forget about the basket anime or the volleyball anime, try AMERICAN FOOTBALL anime because you know, why not? Out of all sports that you watch, it has to be american football. Some of you right now probably lives in America and kinda knows nothing about american football.

Eyeshield 21 is an under rated sports anime because it is a pretty old sport anime and it is american football. Not that many people even knows about this sport unless you live in america, but Eyeshield 21 did this sport an amazing job on making it interesting and enjoyable.

Story: (9/10)

The protagonist, Sena, isn't your usual hot headed ... guy but a weakling, who grows as a person quietly but also strongly and together with his newly and weak formed team, they work hard to win the Christmas Bowl, a championship game for American Football. All under the alias, Eyeshield 21

Eyeshield 21 did a very good job with pacing for every game is never feels like it ended to abruptly and allows us to know our opponents, showing us that they are just like our main team, all working hard to win the championship and should not be dismissed for their losses are real and painful to them.

Eyeshield 21 doesn't just use the fact that their opponents are stronger than them, but use the factor of how small the team is with no reserve, stamina, and time. They use time so well because you, the watchers are aware of how little the time is and it makes your hearts beat fast as you try to think of what can happen next because with so little time this is probably the end for our main team. It uses all these factors very well on making you be on the edge of your seat.

Eyeshield 21 started strong and goes on strong but ended with an abrupt ending though, but the kind that you can allow to pass because of how good all of the story are with it's suspenseful matches with heartfelt characters, opponents included, and witty and comedic moments.

Art (8) and Sound (7):

The sounds is nothing spectacular, with pretty catchy opening song and one soundtrack that stands out more than other, it is nothing of praise but not to be hate either. But the voice acting are just perfect.

The art though, Eyeshield 21 is a manga drawn by Yusuke Murata, who I considered a God of art. Though at first in his manga, the art is drawn averagely, Yusuke Murata grow as an artist and his art flourished like flowers in spring time. Eyeshield 21 anime did a poor job to capture that beauty of an art but still enjoyable to watch, and the animation can be something to be cried over. Compared to the sports anime of today's time (like kuroko no basket or haikyuu) it is poor with overused scenes. I recommend on watching this first before reading the manga, because if this is the first thing you watch, the art and animation can still enjoyable before reading the manga and realizing what an awful job they did with the animation and art.

Characters (9/10):

Sena is through and through a scaredy cat but Sena's moments being one gets shorter and shorter because he grows up. He still gets scared yes, but his need of thrill and curiosity of fighting against someone stronger get a hold of him and he rises up, with a straight back and kind heart. His new and empty phone slowly gets filled up for with every matches, the opponents don't stay as opponents but also a friend and a companion in American Football and his team mates stays with him though thick and thin. That's what makes him a fleshed out protaganist, still being him and not changing but growing with a kind personality but is not a pushover.

The most memorable character is Hiruma, the team's captain, but each of the characters, both in team and the opponents, aren't just a theme but a character, some more well rounded than others, that knows the feeling such as being in the bottom and not being able to be the best they are or something else that is also complex and heartfelt. They are relatable with good character designs, they aren't the characters that you will easily forget.

Overall (9/10):

If it weren't for the so-so music, the could-be-better animation and its abrupt ending, people would fawn over it much more, I think. But this anime is a must watch for it's good pacing, well rounded characters and humors. Also, it's american football, the sport itself is pretty interesting.

Eyeshield 21 is the best Anime/Manga about sports, it is about a kid named Kobayakawa Sena who discovers the awesome world of American Football or Football as an american like myself would call it. To be honest,ES21 was my first sports anime and it is the one that hooked me to sports anime. it is really funny and whenever i have a bad day, i watch one ep of it and i cheer up. It combines both comedy and sports together to make the best sports Anime/Manga

Eyeshield 21, so far, has been the only sports-related anime that I've actually been able to finish - yet, at the same time, it's the longest. In fact, it's the only anime with 100+ episodes that I've actually been able to complete.

How does a girl get through a 145-episode-long anime series about a sport she pretty much hates? Simple, she doesn't. At the time, I was a fan of stuff like Katekyo Hitman Reborn - and when I saw people point out similarities, I gave Eyeshield 21 a shot...a real one. With the first few episodes, I fell in love with the series - and ... everything about it.

STORY: It's your typical underdog comes out on top type of thing. What makes it different? Nothing, really. However, it's the way that it's executed. They do it in a way that makes you actually want to sit there and watch the damn thing from start to finish. It's about American football, yet it's set in Japan. As far as I knew, the game wasn't even played there. I didn't even realize NFL Japan existed until I saw the show's end credits - but that's not the point. Normally, due to my attending a high school that was OBSESSED with football, I wouldn't have bothered - but, like I said, I ended up trying the series anyway. It converted me from a football-hater to a football-lover. The show has some fillers, and with 145 episodes, that should be expected. I would have rated it a 10, but I was upset that they didn't bother to include the Teikoku Alexanders. Deimon's goal was to win the Christmas Bowl, right? Then why the hell do they end with the semi-finals of the Kanto Tournament? At least go all the way to the first mentioned goal. The ending wasn't bad by any means, but if you've read the manga - it's a bit disappointing because they don't go all the way to the end.

ART: The art was done wonderfully. Yes, it could have been better - but for an anime about a sport that most people assume isn't played in Japan, it's very good. I don't know who the animators are, but they did a very good job with this series.

SOUND: I loved all of the OPs and EDs, well except for the two songs used in the last match against Oujou - but the themes were very well done, for the most part. My personal favorite, lyric-wise, would be "Blaze Away," and I have to admit that it's probably the best ED ever in terms of lyrics because you can hear the emotion behind them. In terms of actual sound and melody, I'd prefer "A Day Dreaming..." any day. However, all the themes were wonderfully performed - even if they wouldn't all fit everyone's taste, anyone who watches the series and actually listens to the theme music will be able to pick at least one that they like. The BGM was beautifully done too, although it's a shame you never hear the lyrics to "Midnight Sunshine" in the actual series because the vocalists (the seiyuus for Sakuraba, Shin, Takami, Otowara, and Wakana - I believe, although I'm not sure if Wakana was really featured) did an amazing job on it, but "Be Survivor" and the other songs featured throughout the series were quite entertaining as well.

CHARACTER: Each character has their own distinct and unique personality. Sure, you've still got your stereotypes, but that's not all there is to them. Juumonji starts off as just another delinquent, but as he plays with the Devil Bats, he slowly grows as a man. In the beginning, he seems like he could just walk by a girl getting raped and not do anything - yet, in a later episode, he saves a girl from that fate. Sena's the weak boy who constantly gets forced into doing other people's errands; the thing that makes him efficient at this, preventing himself from being beat up, is his "golden legs" that enable him to run at the speed of light. He goes through the most growth in the series, and one can't give away much about his development without spoiling the whole series. Hiruma, on the other hand, had the most depth throughout the whole series - and, to be honest, you still haven't figured him out by the end of it. However, the series goes into enough detail about him that it's impossible to not love the character. Shin, Sakuraba, Takami, and Otowara are really the only Oujou players that get any true development but it would spoil things if we went into that in-depth. I will say this, though. Takami can be just as cunning as Hiruma, Sakuraba is more than just a pretty boy, Otowara isn't just the guy that everyone runs away from when he farts, and Shin's more than just the perfect player (you can't really write much about him without spoiling everything).

Teams - Yes, they're getting their own section. The Deimon Devil Bats are the main team in this series, and the most developed one. You see their growth from the original two (Kurita and Hiruma) to almost full team. You can't help but sympathize with them most of the time, and the producers made it hard for fans to not side with them for each and every game. The second most-developed team is obviously the Oujou White Knights. It's clear, throughout the whole series, that the creators intend for most, if not all, of the viewers to fall in love with both Oujou and Deimon - possibly because they knew the anime series would end where it did and wanted to make it a bit more climactic. Kyoshin Poseidon were there mostly to raise the self-confidence of the "Deimon Chibis" since almost all of the starters were 2 meters tall. Shinryuji was there to show how a hard-working team like Deimon can beat even the 'strongest' team in Kanto by focusing all of their strength on winning. Bando was there mostly to show how Musashi was necessary for Deimon to actually guarantee any kind of winning game; they also helped Sena gain the confidence to tell everyone who's behind the Eyeshield 21 mask. The other teams mainly helped Sena to grow as a football player - even Seibu, although Seibu helped Monta too, in that regard.

ENJOYMENT: There wasn't much of anything that I didn't enjoy about this anime.

OVERALL: 8/10 - It could have been better, but at the same time, there's not much they could improve on unless the mangaka or the animators were willing to actually go to America to see how practices, practice games, and official games actually go about. It's still pretty good as is even if they did do the research.

I love all sport anime , I mean all. For me there is no good or bad sport anime cause all make me wanna exercise more but what i like about Eyeshield 21 is Yoichi Hiruma ! He is so cool,just so damn cool and bad ass hahahaahhahah.So maybe if you are not into this particular sport or this particular anime then at least u will have to enjoy it for him .I don`t usually write reviews cause we all have our own reasons why we watch what we watch and well opinions and opinions but except of the FAMOUS heroes that we all remember ... Yoichi Hiruma got stuck in my mind .I am his fan :P

It was very very average.
Maybe it's just that I watch too much football.
I dropped after first 3 episodes and finished manga instead.

Positive: how many mangas talk about the gridiron
not a whole lot.
Novel sport, pretty detailed descriptions, fairly involved storyline.

Negative: exaggerated features, even for a sports manga

... Hated some details,
I dont like how the author glorifies notre dame. Yeah, ND was good
when they were all wearing pigskin helmets and all caucasian.
Last ND champ was in 80's. If they want to talk about real college football,
talk about SEC football: Florida, LSU, Bama, etc.
Also, players do not immediately sign into NFL. Most players play in college for mandatory 3 years before goin to pros.
Third, I've yet to hear of any real football players with 4.1 speed. That is absolutely and utterly impossible because most players have a pretty big muscle bulk too.

Yeah, I ranted, because I care

"Eyeshield 21" is traditional sports anime about a kid who learns to believe in himself and become a winner, but at the same time it is also a comedy with a bizarre twist - it's about a group of misfit Japanese high school kids forming a team to play "American Football" in their Japanese high school. So you not only have all of the usual "Gambatte! Gambarimasu!" (Do your best! I'll do my best!") sort of stuff, but also an attempt to give a Japanese youth audience a crash course in American-style football. The result is a spectacularly funny comedy, both deliberately - due to ... the wacky cast of misfits - and also unintentionally, because of the ongoing attempts to explain the rules and concepts of American football during the eyecatches and off-and-on during the story line.

First year high school student Sena has always relied upon his older female friend Mamori to protect him. And when Mamori isn't around, Sena has learned to run away from trouble because he is smaller than most of the bullies that bother him. But now that Sena is in high school he no longer wants to be "protected by a girl" and allows himself to be talked into joining his high school's American Football team, which has few players, never wins, and is almost unknown in the high school. But Sena's "running away" has developed him into a phenomenon - he can out run most pursuers and thread his way through most obstacles, including football defensive teams. Because of that, the fanatical and demonic captain of the football team, Hiruma, decides to rebuild the team around Sena, with Sena disguised as the mysterious running back "Eyeshield 21".

What results from this is a fast-paced, unpretentious story with surprisingly adept character development and smart, consistent comedy. Add to this reasonably good animation and a lively soundtrack and you have a nice bit of old-fashioned fun done in a thoroughly up-to-date manner. So forget about anything you ever knew about American High School Football, sit back, grab a bottle of "sports water", and enjoy the action.