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.
