Eyeshield 21 is definitely one of the best sports manga made. If there’s Slam Dunk in the 1990’s, then there’s Eyeshield 21 in the 2000’s. The anime follows the manga story closely and like Slam Dunk – the anime ending is kinda hanging. It ended when the Devil Deimon Bats defeated the Ojou White Knights for a chance to play for the Christmas Bowl. The last scene was Sena shown entering the American Footbal field wearing the NFL uniform as RB and Hiruma as QB of the opposite team. The last chapter of the manga (333) was finished this October after 7 years of serialization. What happened in the manga? What’s the ending?

Hiruma and Kid made a promise before that they will fight for the Kantou finals but this was not fulfilled due to Seibu Wild Gunmen was defeated by Hakusho DInosaurs. The latter’s dirty tactic of crushing the quarterback made Kid retire to the game As always Hiruma had a secret meeting with the Kid giving him some pointers. This 2 have a special kind of relationship,I think. Everytime each team is in trouble they were always there helping each other. Kid said that he wanted to go where the Deimon is waiting. At the game he realized that it’s alright to have a dream but they were crushed at the last minute.

For the Kantou finals, it’s the Hakusho Dinosaurs. There was a specal training for Devil Bats, the contract was made by Hiruma stating that no matter what team wins over Kantou,the other teams will cooperate for the conquest of the finals.

Pupil – Personal Coach
Sena – Shin
Kurita – Gaou
Monta – Ikyuu
Yukimitsu – Tetsuma
Taki – Akaba
Ishimaru – Riku
Kumusubi – Ootawara
Juumonji – Kakei
Kuroki – Mizumachi
Taganou – Banba

As expected, Hiruma was injured during the Kantou finals by Gaou. But our tactician has lots of startegy in his sleeves, he rested for a while in the game and came back as a “gargoyle”. He can not move his arms but he managed to deceive the opponents that he can still play. In the end he was able to pass one more ball.

Hiruma does not have one as he was healing due to his arms were broke by Gaou in the last match. Kid helped with the training too.

Deimon Devil Bats one by a point against Teikoku Alexanders 45-44. They made a comeback in the 2nd half. Sena defeated the real Eyeshield 21. And Musashi was able to deliver the 60 yards magnum as a kick to gain the winning point.

After winning the X’mas Bowl, Japan was invited to play for the Youth American Football World Cup. There were tryouts and the players were:

Offense -
RB Sena
RB Yamato
QB Kid-Hiruma
SB Tetsuma
WR Sakuraba
OL Yamabushi
OL Heracles
C Kurita
OL Chuubou
OL Banba
WR Monta

Defense -
S Marco
S Riku
CB Taka
LB Kakei
LB Agon
CB Ikyuu
OL Mizumachi
OL Gaou
OL Ootawara
OL Achilles

During the World Cup, Agon tried to blackmail Kid and Hiruma to give the QB position to him. Hiruma declined immediately saying Kid is a lot better than him. He said that they will just give him the $ 300mil cash prize. Agon also asked for the NFL contract but he also declined saying “I will never give you that chance. With my current abilities, I have no chance to enter NFL except that.”

The Dragonfly and Chris Cross was played by Hiruma and Agon. Agon for the first time thought that it was fun. He said to Hiruma “If you only had godlike abilities like mine, we could have been the best tag team partner”. Hiruma replied by “We dont have time to waste asking for things that we don’t have. We can only look for the best way to fight with the things we have for our whole life.”

Another tactic – the Golden Dragonfly by Kid, Hiruma and Agon. The strongest triple play! The strongest trio of quarterbacks!

The Youth American Football World Cup ended in a tie and they all decided to do overtime in an unauthorized match. The winner was not revealed. But Panther was the MVP.

After graduation, Hiruma, Musashi and Kurita decided to go to different universities. It’s like building 3 empires and their goal is to meet at the Rice Bowl. The participating teams are as follows:

1. Saikyoudai University – rumored to be the #1 team of the college league lead by Hiruma. Members are a powerhouse team – Agon, Takeru, Taka,Ikyuu, Akaba Mamori is the team manager
2. Kurita, Sena, Riku
3. Musashi, Kid, Tetsuma, Gaou the worst team of semi pro, also a strong team
4. Oujou University – Shin,Ootawara, Sakuraba
5. Shuuei Medical College – Takami, Yukimitsu and Aiso
6. Zokuto University – Bashira Rui
7. Enma University – Kurita, Monta, Sena, Riku, Mizumachi, Kotaro

Riku could have joined Saikyoudai but he wanted to fight against Hiruma

There was also a character popularity poll and it was Hiruma who was voted as the most popular J Ya-ha! He is my fave character after all! (My next fave is Kid and then Kakei, Musashi and Taka)

It made me wonder, Sena like Mamori since the beginning of the manga right? But there was no conclusion about it in the manga.

It was sad that the manga ended. I hope there will be a manga about Hiruma. Ima made, Arigatou Gozaimasu Riichiro Inagaki sensei and Yusuke Murata sensei!