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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.^[1] The manga is published in English by VIZ Media.
The anime version, produced by NAS and animated by Artland, premiered across Japan on TV Tokyo from 6 April 2005, and is currently airing across Japan on the satellite television network Animax. The anime is sponsored by NFL Japan. By fall of 2007, the series is planned to air on the free on demand Toonami Jetstream as a joint effort with NFL Rush.^[2]

Contents

Story

Characters

Manga

Anime

Music

Games

See also

External links

References

Story

The plot of Eyeshield 21 revolves around a physically unassuming and non-assertive boy named who enters the high school of his choice, , where his childhood friend , one year older than Sena, already attends. His only remarkable physical abilities are his running speed and dodging techniques, which catch the eye of the high school's American football team captain who then forces Sena to join the team (Deimon Devil Bats) as the running back.
To protect his identity (on the premise that other school sports teams will try to recruit Sena upon discovering his athletic skill) Sena is forced to publicly assume the role of team secretary, and enter the field wearing a helmet equipped with a green-tinted eyeshield in order to hide his features under the pseudonym of "Eyeshield 21." The makeshift team initially takes part in the Spring football tournament (at the beginning of the Japanese school year) hoping to win with through the strength of their new "secret weapon." But the extremely weak team is eliminated early on by the Ojo White Knights, a powerhouse football team. Others see the skill of the current White Knights as having declined from the previous "Golden Generation" but the team members are trying to prove that they have the ability to surpass their predecessors. It is in this game that Sena meets the man he will acknowledge as his ultimate rival, Seijuro Shin, a talented linebacker.
After Deimon's defeat, the Spring tournament is revealed as a secondary in importance to the Fall tournament, where the teams compete for the chance to play in the "Christmas Bowl," the high school football league championship. Hiruma, Kurita and Sena regroup and slowly build a real team from other misfits and students looking to define themselves, with the goal of reaching the championship. The series follows the building and growth of the Deimon Devil Bats and its members, as well as various rival teams encountered through their games and tournaments, as they all strive to achieve their goal of playing in the Christmas Bowl.


★ Logo: Red Devil Bat, a nonexistent breed that bears a striking resemblance to Yoichi Hiruma.

★ The protagonist team of the manga and anime series, this team represents the Deimon High School. At first, there were only three members in the Deimon American Football Club. However, after its inaugural year, there were only two members (Yoichi Hiruma and Ryokan Kurita) after Gen "Musashi" Takekura left. This remained so until Hiruma found Sena Kobayakawa and his amazing running ability. Their team's chant is "Kill 'em! YA-HA!"(ブッツバス! YA-HA!! ''Buttsubasu! YA-HA!!'')

Characters

Manga

Anime

Music

★ Composer - Ko Otani
;Opening:
# ''Break Through'' by Coming Century (Episodes 1-35)
# ''Innocence'' by 20th Century (Episodes 36-64)
# ''Dang Dang'' by ZZ (Episodes 65-103)
# ''BLAZE LINE...'' by BACK-ON (Episodes 104-)
;Ending:
# ''Be Free'' by Rikkenzu (Episodes 1-13)
# ''Blaze Away'' by The TRAX (Episodes 14-35)
# ''Goal'' by Beni Arashiro (Episodes 36-64)
# ''Run to Win'' by Sena, Mamori, Monta, Kurita (Episodes 65-86, 88-100)
# ''Dang Dang'' by ZZ (Episode 87)
# ''A day dreaming...'' by BACK-ON (Episodes 101-116)
# ''flower'' by BACK-ON (Episodes 117-)
;Insert songs:
# ''Be SURVIVOR'' by ZZ
# ''Chain Of Power'' by V6
# ''MIDNIGHT SUNSHINE'' by Ojo White Knights
# ''Chain of Power'' by Deimon Devil Bats

Games

Main articles: List of Eyeshield 21 games

Konami appears to have the rights to produce Eyeshield 21 games for Sony video game systems. They have released '' for the Playstation Portable and '' for the Playstation 2.
Nintendo secured the rights to the Eyeshield 21 video game license for their systems in December 2004. They have released '' for the Nintendo DS and '' for the Game Boy Advance. There was going to be a Gamecube game but Nintendo pulled the plug.
Nintendo published an Eyeshield 21 game for the Wii, entitled Eyeshield 21: Field no Saikyou Senshi Tachi. It was released in Japan on March 8, 2007. [1]

See also

★ Eyeshield 21 characters

★ Manga Summary of Eyeshield 21

★ Autumn Tokyo Tournament

★ Autumn Kantou Tournament

External links

★ Eyeshield - official site

★ TV Tokyo's Official Eyeshield 21 site

★ Animax's official ''Eyeshield 21'' website

★ Anime News Network's Eyeshield 21 Profile

References

1. Mainichi: American Football Popularity on the Rise
2. Japan's Top Anime Series Eyeshield 21 Brings a New Concept, Sports Anime, to the Forefront of the Cartoon World with Its Global Debut on Toonami Jetstream