By Riichiro Inagaki and Yusuke Murata. Released in Japan by Shueisha, serialized in the magazine Weekly Shonen Jump. Released in North America by Viz.
The Devilbats are right in the middle of the Christmas Bowl finals, and they’re in big trouble. As we saw in Volume 29, Gao succeeded in breaking Hiruma’s arm, and he’s out of the action. Now Sena is the quarterback. Can the team find a way to win with Sena at the helm?
Well, no, in fact. But at least he keeps things going. Sena has a steep learning curve, and can’t pass worth a lick, but that works to the team’s advantage, as the defense for the Dinosaurs can’t figure out where his wobbly passes will end up – only Monta can. And of course a mere throwing arm is not going to keep Hiruma out of the game for long.
And so the volume goes, being an excellent example of classic sports shonen. I suspect that fans of actual American football go nuts reading this series, which plays very fast and loose with the rules and regulations of actual football. But who wants a realistic football manga? We want BEYOND THE IMPOSSIBLE!
Hiruma has to come back because Hiruma is the series. Yes, Sena is Eyeshield 21, and technically the hero, but Hiruma is the driving force. In the character poll that came out the volume before this one, he won 1st place handily. He’s a magnificent bastard who wants to win more than anything. At one point late in this volume, the Devilbats telegraph that Hiruma will throw a long pass. Marco is disbelieving, but Gao just nods. “No. He’ll throw with a broken right arm. He’s that kind of monster.” And yup, he does.
I don’t worry too much about spoilers in shonen sports mangas, because in tournament arcs like this, you know that the only place the main team is going to lose will be in the final, if then. (Actually, Japanese sports mangas have a surprising number of titles that end with our heroes’ defeat, and a vow to come back next year and TRY EVEN HARDER.) Much like all their previous games, the Devilbats fall way behind early, then score in bunches to catch up. Sena is a ‘mobile quarterback’, Monta defeats the Ptera Claw, and even Jumonji manages to pick up a fumble and return it for a score.
And we finally get Marco’s backstory, showing how driven he is to win. His story is tied into the Kansai region’s team, who we hear about here for the first time. They’ve won 25 years in a row over Tokyo’s team, and will presumably be our heroes’ opponents in the Christmas Bowl. And they’re so blindingly good at everything (especially recruiting away from other teams) that Marco loses sight of football being fun and starts to focus on winning at all costs. Maruko’s sad realization of this is quite touching. (I also nominate Marco and Maruko as one of the more confusing romances in shonen. No wonder he calls her Maria.)
The best part of the whole volume, though, may be set in the infirmary where Mamori is trying to get Hiruma to stay put and not go play football with a broken arm. Hiruma simply says “Third question: Fools in the NFL often play with a broken bone. True or False?” We then flash back to Volume 2, where Hiruma said he would ask Mamori three questions, and if she got any wrong, she’d have to obey him. After she got two right, he just changed the subject. Now he asks, and when she answers ‘false’ to try to get him to stay there, he calls in his bargain. Great use of what seemed like a simple gag in the very early days of the series.
This series is nearing another climax, and this has been one of my favorite volumes to date. As an example of shonen sports in one of its purer forms, you can’t go wrong with Eyeshield 21.
