Eyeshield 21

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We will kill them!

In American football, unless you become champions, it's the same thing as if you lost in the first round. There is only one truth. Winning!

Sena Kobayakawa was a short, scrawny first year student at Deimon High School. He had always been the target for bullies, from which his childhood friend Anezaki Mamori would always try to protect him when she was around. One day, a group of bullies cornered him and dragged him off to the tiny club room for the school's American Football team, where he was rescued by the team's only starting lineman, and recruited to be the team secretary.

In short order, Sena was discovered to be a fast and agile runner, trained by a lifetime of running from (and running errands for) bullies. In addition to his team secretary duties, he was quickly recruited to be the team's starting running back by the team's captain: demonic Youichi Hiruma. To keep him from becoming a recruitment target for every other club in the school, he was given a secret identity: Eyeshield 21, the mysterious hero from Notre Dame, who always plays wearing a helmet with a dark green eyeshield.

Between its captain's extortion, swearing and Training from Hell, the ultra-rookie Deimon Devil Bats is forced to round up a dedicated team without blackmailing the other sports teams' players. The goal: the high school national championships, the Christmas Bowl.

On the way, they win a bunch of games, they lose a bunch of games, create fierce but friendly rivalries, learn epic manliness, and generally get ordered around by the whims of their captain.

Eyeshield 21 is a less known but very well recieved sports manga. Its defining trait is its unique and individually interesting characters (including those from other teams). Each have an instantly recognizable personality and appearance and their interactions make up a large bulk of the comedy in the manga (the rest is Hiruma). Similar to Slam Dunk, it explains the rules of the sport (American Football) as the story progresses, allowing even a beginner to follow along with the games.

Sentai Filmworks started releasing the series in North America, sub-only, in May 2010. Though with the quality of the anime, most would say it would be wise to stay clear from it.

The manga has now ended, after 333 chapters.

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Tropes used in Eyeshield 21 include:

• Accidental Athlete:
  • Sena's speed comes from years of evading bullies and running errands for them. Which is actually kind of depressing....
  • Monta first caught Sena's attention by catching an errant ball.
  • The Ha-Ha Brothers were initially blackmailed into playing as linebackers until they discovered their love of the game.
  • Karin Koizumi's talent was discovered when she tossed a stray ball back to the practicing team. She was then practically forced to join the team, while all she wants to do is to draw shoujo manga and play the piano....
  • Shin, unbelievably, is also one. He had no intention of playing sports in high school, and only tried out for the White Knights because Sakuraba asked him to.
  • Furthermore is Ikari, who joined the team after three suspensions from school in order to defend the football team's glory, what with the golden age having graduated.
• A-Cup Angst: Suzuna. She's very sensitive about this.
• Affably Evil: Marco. There's no two ways about it, whether he's on your team or not, Marco's a decidedly sinister guy who likes to drink soda, share it with anyone he talks with, and likes to wear Armani suits....
• Against the Setting Sun
• All There in the Manual: Some biographical info (like relative intelligence amongst the Devil Bats, the full names of the main American players) were only/first revealed in the manga compilations' "side" pages.
• Always Identical Twins
• Always Save the Girl: Hiruma, of all people.
• Always Someone Better: There's at least one on every major opposing team. Monta, particularly, usually ends up facing off against a receiver hyped as his superior by far.
• Ambiguously Brown: The entirety of the Taiyō Sphinx, Agon
• Ambiguously Gay: Subverted with Kisaragi, who certainly seems to have a huge crush on Gaou. Ultimately, it's stated on bonus materials (Devilbats Spy bits) that while he likes girls, it's just that he only likes girls that are... *ahem* ridiculously strong.
• Arc Number: 21 of course. It's in the title and on the jersey of the hero, and becoming the real Eyeshield 21 is the ultimate personal goal of the protagonist. However, it also pops up more often than any other number. Sena's testing number in the first chapter, and Hiruma winning money to return from America with games of blackjack are obvious examples. Even Yamato's prediction of 42-0 could be interpreted as 2 * 21 = 42. Another example could be Hiruma and Agon combining for the Flying Dragon at the beginning of the final volume. Their jersey numbers are 1 and 2 respectively. Sena's birth date also falls on December 21.
• Art Evolution: The style starts off rather rough and sketchy, with character designs leaning more towards cartoon-ish and perspective being more exaggerated. In general, the characters were more lanky and angular. As the series went on, the style became more conventionally shonen, with smoother, more serious looking re-designs and beefier bodies. Nearly all the characters got more attractive without losing what made them distinctive.
• Attack! Attack! Attack!:
  • Hiruma's philosophy on football and everything else.
  • Seibu is also primarily focused on offense, to the point of packing no defensive power whatsoever. They get by on their ability to score pretty much at will, but they give up points to even the weakest teams.
  • Ojou and Taiyou invert this by focusing entirely on defense. Taiyou in particular uses the mighty Pyramid Line to compensate for their quarterback's moderate talent.
• Audible Sharpness
• Aw, Look -- They Really Do Love Each Other: Hiruma and Mamori occasionally get moments like this, especially towards the end of the series.
• Awesomeness By Analysis:
  • Hiruma can analyze his enemies and come up with 18 different strategies at same time, even under severe pressure. Yukimitsu can analyze and discover the enemy's formation's weak-point and can make the best use of it. Mamori created a sign language so she could communicate the things she observes about the opponent's formations from the bench.
  • Parodied by Sasuke Kanagushi of the Dokubari Scorpions; by paying attention to tiny details in their positions, he can accurately predict the movements of the opposing team. However, against Hiruma, as Takami says: "His enemy's just plain too evil." Hiruma tricks him, using blush and lipstick.
  • Heinrich Schultz of the German team goes the extra mile by memorizing every last little detail about a player so that the can reliably predict their actions when he goes against them.
• Bald Black Leader Guy: Banba looks and acts the part to the Sphinx, despite apparently being Japanese.
• Bandaged Face
• Bash Brothers:
  • Despite being the leaders on the opposite sides of the spectrum for their consideration on talent, Agon and Hiruma are a very effective combination. Agon who runs on pure reaction is complemented perfectly by Hiruma who works on the opposite, pure mental ability. Despite their abhorrence of each other, they work together far better than any other combination of characters on EVERY TEAM.
  • There's also Sena and Monta, and more literally Unsui and Agon.
• Becoming the Boast: Musashi and the 60-Yard Magnum.
• Becoming the Mask: Sena, from a coward gopher runt into a determined running-back like he was touted as.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: Mid-series, it is implied that Hiruma and Mamori may be like this (however by the end of the series they bicker considerably less).
• Berserk Button:
  • Be prepared to face an enraged Ikari if you insult ANY of the Ojou White Knights. And the fact that he quickly assumes the worst when people are talking about ANYTHING doesn't help at all.
  • And be prepared to face an enraged Tetsuma if you hurt Kid. Similarly, don't call Tetsuma an idiot in front of Kid. This enough to piss him off, and make him drop his lazy, uninterested facade for an instant.
  • The best way to piss off Mamori? Threaten anyone she's taking care of. Especially Sena and Suzuna.
  • Mocking your team's dream in front of a certain shorty-no-power-scaredy-cat-boy? Forget the scaredy-cat part. He'll kill you if he can, or at least, hand you your asses in a most awesome way.
  • Don't insult any player who clashed with Gaou but nevertheless faced him bravely. He's been known to completely lose it over stuff like that.
  • Juumonji doesn't exactly cotton to being referred to as "trash". But what really gets Juumonji's goat is when his friends are called "trash".
  • Let's not talk about Suzuna's bust, or height. In general, don't talk about her child-like features. It's safer that way. Then again, her brother often forgets about this.
  • Shaving Agon's head. More generally, showing him that there's somebody better than him out there or ignoring him completely.
• Beware the Nice Ones:
  • Subverted with Hiruma, you know something is going to be wrong when he starts act nicely.
  • Played a little straight with Sena; he might be a coward, but piss him enough by insulting his teammate and you'll pay a big price.
  • Kurita is one too. No, not that he has a dark side or anything; Kurita's simply too nice of a guy who doesn't know his own strength when it comes to personal interaction (especially hugging.) And when he's excited enough on field, you don't want to face him.
  • Takami, who is generally a really swell guy. It's just that occasionally he really just gets into the zone, and he can be very intimidating at those times.
• Big Eater:
  • Kurita, who is actually gigantically fat, although most linemen (especially the bigger ones) are like this.
  • One of the "Devil Bat Spy" bits claimed that Mamori can out-eat Kurita, but only when it comes to cream puffs. Considering Kurita once ate A HUNDRED OF THEM, that would be no small feat. Of course, it could be a fabrication, but she's rumored to be quite crazy about them...
  • Shin is an aversion. He has a very strict, regimented diet, and is rather picky (he won't eat junk food).
• Big Entrance: Sena pulls off one in the game against the Cyborgs, complete with Three-Point Landing. It's as awesome as it sounds.
• Big Fancy House: Jumonji, to emphasize his father's elitist personality.
• Big Game: Arguably Christmas Bowl, although the games before it had this feel to them, like the matches against Shinryuuji and Ojou.
• Bishie Sparkle: Parodied on Taki. Played straight on Kisaragi. Also briefly parodied on Monta when filming the video sent to America.
• Bishonen:
  • Kiminari Harao, quarterback of the Taiyo Sphinx, is androgynous-looking and wears an Egyptian-style skirt on the field, and his entire team wears eye makeup. He also gets more chocolate from girls on Valentine's Day than anyone else in the tournament. He also has the 2nd most friends out of anybody in the tournament, after Suzuna.
  • Kisaragi from the Hakushuu Dinosaurs, who is downright beautiful in the most feminine way possible. When the team manager, Maria, steps into the showers to talk to Marco, while the other guys hide their genitals, Kisargi hides his chest.
  • Hayato Akaba might count, too.
• Blackmail: Hiruma's modus operandi for everything. In fact, he's the god of it, having discovered the perfect method for blackmail.
• Blond Guys Are Evil: Hiruma. Also, Clifford.
• Blood Knight: Gaou Rikiya defines this trope; He finds the very concept of "holding back" completely alien and perplexing. At the same time, he will absolutely never break the rules while on the field. Quarterback gets rid of the ball .1 seconds before Gaoh smashes them? Gaoh doesn't smash them. Kid and Hiruma also note that this trait makes him even more dangerous than he might initially appear.
• A Bloody Mess: Hiruma returning from an injury during the Hakushuu game.
• Boisterous Bruiser:
  • Rodchenko, the enormous, bench-press world record holder Russian football player.
  • Gaou as well started to be like this.
  • Ootawara is always seen sporting the same dopey smile in pretty much every situation. It seems like he simply doesn't know how not to have a great time. Bonus points in that every time he becomes boisterous, he's goddamn right.
• Book Ends: The first and last chapters have similar color spreads that show the growth of the players through the series.
• Boring Invincible Hero: Initially subverted - the Devil Bats win against teams who are genuinely worse than them, and lose against the better ones. Played straight in the Kanto Tournament arc. Deimon always trails the team they're facing at half time, only to come back in the 2nd half and win.
• Brilliant but Lazy: Agon.
• Brother Chuck: Actually justified in this case; Daigo Ikari hasn't been around lately because he's too old to be in the youth cup, having spent a few years in juvenile hall after one of his messier outbursts.
• Bunny Ears Lawyer: Almost everyone in this manga is a Bunny Ears Lawyer. Hiruma's over-the-top devilish attitude; Sena's cowardice; Taki's idiocy; Mamori's overprotective tendencies, her bad art and her love for cream puffs; Monta's resemblance to a monkey; Shin's training habits and poor luck with technology; Kisaragi's obsession with strength, and so on.
• Busman's Vocabulary: Action movie star Bud Walker seems to think he's constantly filming a movie, if all the jargon he spouts is any indication.
• Call Back:
  • The entire last chapter was this. The chapter title parallels the first chapter, the surprise at the sudden game, and, of course, fighting the weakest team in the league for the first game.
  • A minor one also came sometime before the Hakushuu game. For one of the chapters, we were given a full-color two-page spread of what all the characters were up to. Agon was shown to actually be training, struggling to do push-ups while Yamabushi sat on his back. This is a call back to an earlier chapter where someone mentions Unsui trains till he bleeds (while showing Unsui doing one handed push ups with Yamabushi on his back) and Agon has never had to work for anything.
  • An additional one occurs just before the Japan/USA game. Back in Las Vegas, Monta and Sena killed their amazing winning streak by betting everything on Red 21, which are the Devilbat's main color and Eyeshield's number, respectively. Fast forward to Yamato confronting Mr. Don at a casino, betting on red. This time, the ball lands on Red 21.
• Calling Your Attacks
• Camp Gay: Sanzo, so much. Crossdresses, wears make up, and is called the "Queen of Shinryuuji".
• Captain Ethnic: In the last Tournament Arc, many of the foreign players shaped up to be this, from the cold, ruthless Heinrich Schultz from Germany to the gigantic Olympic weightlifter Rodchenko from Russia.
• Captain Obvious:
  • "Now I remember, this is pain!" says Sena, "It hurts!"
• Cast of Snowflakes: Especially considering that given the sport, characters have some of their most important moments in helmets and padded uniforms. Despite this, each character is easily distinguishable.
• Catch Phrase: Almost every single character in the story has one. Notable are Himura's "Ya-ha!" and "Fucking (thing/nickname)" and Monta's "Max!" with a verb either before or after the max.
• Censor Box: Hiruma's cheerful exchange with Apollo before the NASA Shuttles game is completely in English and almost completely covered with the Shounen Jump logo.
• Character Development: One of the big draws of the series is the fact that almost every main character gets at least some.
• Charles Atlas Superpower:
  • Sena's speed and near-inhuman footwork came from constant training... via running errands and evading bullies for 10 years.
  • Monta's incredible catching ability came from 10 years of training only in catching, which is why his throws are sooo bad....
  • Karin's throwing ability came for years of drawing shoujo manga and playing piano. Which was her actual hobby from beginning.
  • Yamato Takeru's ability was implied to come like this, too
  • Unsui was born without natural talent, and is called the strongest average person, a title he gained through intense training.
• Charlie Brown From Outta Town: Number 88 on the Japanese world cup team is bandaged like a mummy, but is stated to be a familiar character choosing to obscure their identity for some reason. It was Rui Habashira.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • Taken to nearly literal extremes by the 60-Yard Magnum.
  • Remember all the way back in the first chapters when Hiruma says he broke his 40 yard dash record? His running a 5.1 instead of a 5.2 ends up being one of the deciding factors against Shinryuuji.
  • And the pop quiz that Hiruma gives Mamori and the bet he almost loses comes back more than 200 chapters later.
  • Subverted with the Chris Cross play first shown as a card at a rest stop during the Death March. The play was called their trump card when fighting the Teikoku Alexanders (around 200 chapters later), with Sena and Monta as the pair running in the play. They screw up and fumble the ball, with the Alexanders gaining possession. Played straight later on in the same game when Hiruma turns it into the Evil Cross, one of the most Mind Screwing plays in the entire series, second only to the Dragon Fly. Later, it's used by Hiruma and Agon in the match against America in the World Cup.
• Chekhov's Gunman:
  • Musashi was initially introduced as the carpenter working on the club house long before he was revealed as one of the founding members of the Deimon Devil Bats, and their ex-kicker.
  • Marco also seemed to be of little consequence at first, appearing no more important than the other throwaway captains in the Kanto tournament. In fact, the Dinosaurs as a team are first mentioned as early as chapter 52 when they're listed with a bunch of other teams. While the other teams end up not having any significance at all, they advance to the Kanto finals.
  • Similarly but not to the same degree, the Poseidons were originally mentioned in chapter 89 as one of the teams in the fall tournament, but their write-up was shorter than most and jokey at that, basically implying that they're a silly team of losers on the order of the Cupids.
  • For that matter, the Ha-Ha Brothers, who first appeared as the nameless bullies antagonizing Sena in the first chapter before ending up (unwillingly at first) joining the team later.
  • Subverted by Miyake, one of the students who tried out for the team at the same time as Yukimitsu and Komusubi; Introduced with Boss Subtitles, given a motivation, close-ups... clearly this guy is going to be important, right? Nah. He washed out of the tryouts during the Hell Tower phase, and now he's just a comic background character who hangs out with Jerk Jock soccer player Muro.
• The Chick: .
  • Usually subverted or even averted, since most of the girls on a team are either a good, caring manager, a determined cheerleader who takes training that would make most actual players cry, or even a scary delinquent queen who makes everyone practice through force and intimidation. There are several who played this trope straight, like the White Knights manager, and Suzuna, though.
  • Koizumi Karin, quarterback of Teikoku Alexanders. Subverted since she's good at her job, but actually never wanted to get involved in football in the first place...
• The Chikan: Hiruma and Agon save a girl from one. Not for her sake, but their own.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: Basically all nice guys in Devilbats had this, which Hiruma used effectively, often to get great effects.
• Club President
• Cluster F-Bomb: Hiruma calls practically everyone "fucking (something)", with "something" usually being a slightly demeaning nickname such as fatass, shrimp, baldie, or idiot. A more extreme example is when Monta nearly got himself ejected from the Tokyo tournament via yelling at a referee before Tetsuma intervened; Hiruma proceeded to unload a machine gun onto Monta while sprinkling him liberally with "fucking"s.
• Co-Dragons: Gaou (Line) and Kisaragi (CB) to Marco (QB/Safety/Team Captain) of the Hakushuu Dinosaurs.
• Combat Commentator: The most infamous? The Anti-spoiler Onihei.
• Cool Big Sis: Mamori, at least for Monta, Sena and Suzuna. Maruko Himuro is implied to be one, too.
• Cowardly Lion: Sena. He'll run at the first sight of trouble, but if his friends (or team) in danger, he'll run straight at the problem. Agon learned that the hard way.
• Crash Into Hello: Sena met Suzuna this way. Played differently in that Sena deliberately threw himself in Suzuna's way to catch her when she was jumping, something she worked out the second time it happened.
• Creepy Child:
  • Hiruma, who could unnerve an American soldier when he was just in elementary school. Talk about a Magnificent Bastard in training...
  • And then Gaou, who crushed a car that hit him at elementary school age.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Both played straight and inverted; the only thing Monta's good at is catching. This makes him bad at baseball, his favorite sport, but he's a spectacular reciever in American football.
• Curb Stomp Battle:
  • Despite the build-up, The substitute Japanese team trounced the Russian team with ease.
  • The all-stars also made quick work of Militaria and won by a decent margin against Germany. The fact that both of these victories happened in the same chapter is a testament to that.
  • This also happened in the Tokyo Tournament. The most prominent is the match between Amino Cyborgs and Deimon Devilbats. The scientifically advanced, calculating, purported "Tournament Stormers", the Amino Cyborgs, got trounced 38-8 by the Deimon Devilbats. To be fair, the Devil Bats spent all summer on the Death March...
  • Also when the White Knights played the heavily built-up Sankaku Punks in the Fall tournament, having only beaten them by one point when they played them in the spring. Ojou won in a complete shut out; the Punks never stood a chance.
  • Gaou is pretty much a walking monster of destruction. But Mr. Don makes quick work of him, in one strike. Even more awesome is the fact that Gaou survives the hit thanks to Agon who had reduced Mr. Don's strength by chopping his hand; if Mr. Don managed to get him full-power, Gaou would be dead.
• Cute Bruiser: Chuubou, the tiny middle schooler on the Japanese World Cup team. He may not look like much and he might act like even less, but he's got an explosive power that can stop both Yamato and Rodchenko in their tracks. Of course, this has the unexpected (and undesirable) side effect of catching the attention of Japan's #1 benchpresser and #1 (almost literal) player killer, Rikiya Gaou, who owns him completely at the first try. Later, Chuubou manages to improve and later knocks Gaou out, which promptly reignites his interest in the technique, leading to Gaou doing a variation of the technique.
• Cute Sports Club Manager: Mamori Anezaki, Wakana, Juri/Julie, Maruko/Maria, and Megu, to name a few. Eyeshield 21 loves this trope.
• Dangerous Forbidden Technique:
  • The physically tasking, injury-risking Devilbat Dive.
  • The Devil Stungun will allow opponents to easily steal the ball, while increasing the chance of breaking through.
• Delinquents: The "Ha-Ha Brothers", the Zokugaku Chameleons (every last one of them has a motorcycle) and the Dokubari Scorpions. And Ikari, from Ojou, who's so rowdy his teammates hold him in chains. He's only ever missed practice twice... because he was under house arrest.
• Demoted to Extra: Ishimaru's plainness has become a running gag in the series, and is especially prevalent after the second popularity contest; He came in 9th in the first, and 21st in the second. Sure, he's second string, but Yukimitsu gets more screen time, and he doesn't even play!. Adding insult to injury, a survey posed to fans pitted Ishimaru versus Unsui, asking who was more forgettable. Ishimaru won by a fair margin, with the victory caption reading 'His presence is faint!'
• Determinator:
  • Not the typical shounen manga example, but Yukimitsu has the highest determination stat out of anyone in the team. With it, he's eventually able to overtake Agon. Without it, he wouldn't be on the team at all.
  • Shin. Oh, boy. When the White Knights go to dinner to celebrate their victory against the Punks, Shin does one handed chin-ups instead of eating. Later on he manages to reach Sena's speed of 40 yards in 4.2 seconds, just to be able to compete with him.
  • Many of the characters, especially for the Devilbats, get their Determinator moments. The line "I'll do it even if it kills me!" shows up a lot. Even Hiruma gets his Determinator moment when he returns to the game after having his throwing arm broken.
• Devil in Plain Sight: Hiruma Youichi. "Devil In Broad Daylight" indeed.
• Did Not Do the Research:
  • In Chpt. 317, Mr. Don drinks, and he, with Clifford and Hiruma, all (supposedly) 18, are gambling in a casino. In New York. While there are casinos in New York, only an unlicensed, illegal casino would be likely to let them in.
  • It's hard to be sure sure which part of Houston Panther lives in, but the number of neighborhoods in the greater area that look that much like Brooklyn are somewhere near zero. Funnily enough, it's mentioned in one of the collected volumes that Murata, Inagaki, and their editor went to the U.S. specifically do to some research on architecture and that sort of thing -- apparently they just scoped out the wrong locations.
  • Apollo originally wanted to create an all-white football team yet two of his linemen have the last name Gonzales. Of course, they could be Spanish, but considering Texas's large Mexican population, one would think Apollo would be a little more reluctant to put them on the team. That said, Apollo's prejudice seemed solely directed at black people.
  • During the World Cup, we learn that Panther just finished 10th grade and the announcer notes that he's just a "freshman". While there are high schools in the US that begin in 10th grade, it's more likely the writer assumed the American and Japanese grade systems were the same.
  • All the cars in America. Murata seemed to forget that America's cars have steering wheels on the left side and we drive on the right side of the road (the opposite of Japan). Though it does offer another reason for why Agon was driving against traffic (other than to be a dick).
• Different As Night and Day: Unsui and Agon.
• Distant Finale: The last chapter of the manga takes place two years later, and shows the cast entering college.
• Down to the Last Play
• Dramatic Unmask: "I'm sorry, Mamori-nee-san, I'm going, they need me....". A Crowning Moment of Heartwarming.
• Dramatic Wind
• Drill Sergeant Nasty:
  • "Sgt." Gomery from Militaria, right down to calling people "maggots" and such. Because American Football is war, maggot, do you understand me? And cut that hair, boy!
  • Then we've got the Chameleon's manager, Megumi Tsuyumine. She makes everyone in her team practice through force and intimidation.
  • Hiruma often does this when necessary.
• Dumb Muscle:
  • Otawara, in many ways. For one thing, he's barely literate. For another thing, he frequently forgets to dress his lower half.
  • Taiyou's offensive linemen, barring Banba, aren't so bright themselves.
  • While having a powerful throwing arm, Homer of NASA Aliens admits that he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer.
  • Tatanka probably qualifies as well; after learning several foreign languages in an attempt to emulate Mr. Don, he discovered he'd somehow become worse at speaking English.
• Dumbass Has a Point: Mainly Ootawara when he got insightful, but there are other idiot characters as well.
• Education Mama: Yukimitsu's mother
• Elaborate University High
• Estrogen Brigade Bait: Not too evident at the beginning, but post-Art Evolution...
• Evil Counterpart:
  • Hiruma, despite arguably being evil himself, has a whole bunch. The last one, Clifford was built up as one of these, with a similar level of intelligence and skill at gambling, hacking, etc; Their jerseys even sport the same number, 1. Not to mention the pronounced physical resemblance between them. There's also Agon and Marco, both of whom give Hiruma a run for his money when it comes to being seriously bad people.
  • Arguably, Mr. Don is intended to be an evil version of Gaoh, as well, though that's another case where it's a "lesser evil" kind of deal.
  • The Hakushuu Dinosaurs could be seen as this to the Devil-Bats as a whole. Both are darkhorse teams run by Manipulative Bastards and based around a few key players, and are willing to do just about anything to get to the top.
• Evil Laugh: Kekekekekeke...
• Exactly What I Aimed At:
  • When he got tackled by Agon near the sidelines, after Hiruma's fake spike trick play, Monta yelled, "CATCH MAXXX!!", which Agon responded, "It's useless, the ball is in your hand already. Your dream is over now!" It's revealed that he had actually tried to grab the SIDELINE, forcing the clock to be set back and allowing the Devil Bats one more chance to pull ahead and win.
  • In the game against the White Knights in the Kantou Tournament semifinal, the White Knights, with only one minute left, send their strongest runner, Shin, to score a touchdown. Sena is benched with an injury, and as a replacement, they call in Yukimitsu. Yukimitsu clearly can't stop Shin, since he's the weakest of the Devil Bats, and really, no one can stop Shin. With three seconds left in the game, Yukimitsu, instead of trying to hold Shin back, pushes him into the endzone. Then it's revealed, Ojou's plan was to score right as time ran out, leaving Deimon no time to catch up. Yukimitsu realized this, and saved Deimon, by giving them the one second they needed to mount a comeback. And they did it. As Shin said, "Even though you're an enemy, that's... magnificent."
• Expy:
  • Ikkyu seems to be based on Vegeta, having the exact same hairdo, having a similar short stature, and being similarly prideful.
  • Possibly Kobanzame from the Kyoshin Poseidons. He has a slightly longer-than average nose, lies about his confidence and abilities on a regular basis, claims any good idea that comes up is his, is incredibly accurate (albeit only over short distances), secretly has absolutely no self-esteem, believes that he is holding all of his friends back but is too terrified of being alone/loves the team so much that he simply will not quit, and is good at his job precisely because he's a horrible coward. Sounds very similar to Usopp from One Piece, doesn't it?
  • Joe Tetsuma looks like Duke Togo, never changes his facial expression, practically never speaks and follows orders to absolute precision. Strangely enough, he catches bullets rather than shooting them.
  • President Arnold Oberman is literally Arnold Schwarzenegger with a different last name.
  • The manager for the Yuuhi Guts is a basically just a female Domon Kasshu.
• Fake Ultimate Hero:
  • Sena starts out as this, but he's surprisingly good at this job. Though the "fake ultimate hero" angle mostly comes from the badass persona Hiruma had cultivated around Eyeshield 21.
  • Sakuraba also starts as one (thanks to a certain Model Company), but he nearly trains himself to death to improve his skills. It works.
  • Kiminari Harao of the Taiyo Sphinx. He's an at-best average player who relies entirely on his team's powerful offensive line and secretly knows he's not his team's real ace.
• Fan Disservice:
  • The running gag of Otawara's frequently missing pants complete with frequent farts. On top of that, at one point he dons a maid's uniform (alongisde Sakuraba, who can actually pull it off). It Makes Sense in Context.
  • In a rare in-universe example, NASA Aliens/Shuttles players had a habit of showing their body to impress girls... except it plainly doesn't work. None of them are aware of this. Similarly, the beach football team "Sexy Queens" had a habit of showing their "beautiful" (by their own standards; they frankly look like Borat, swimsuits and all) bodies, and wearing easy-to-tear material in beach football games to do so.
• Fan Service: The various cheerleading teams, most especially the Devil Bats, Wild Gunmen and Poseidons. For female readers, the fabulously fit athletes working out and sometimes removing their shirts.
• Fission Mailed: When the team loses the Fall Tournament semifinal, everyone breaks down in tears, until Hiruma reveals the consolation game.
• Five-Bad Band: There's a couple of them.
  • Hakushuu Dinosaurs:
    • The Big Bad & The Evil Genius: Reiji "Marco" Maruko, Manipulative Bastard, Team Captain, quarterback and safety. He's also the one you can blame for the team's deliberately brutal style of play.
    • Co-Dragons: Rikiya Gaou and Hiromi Kisiragi, described as Hakushuu's Right Hand and Left Hand by Marco, Hiruma, and most commentators. Gaou breaks quarterbacks, runningbacks and linemen, while Kisiragi cripples recievers.
    • The Brute: Subverted. Marco clearly has former team ace Tengu slotted for this role, due to his status as their best linebacker, but Tengu pissed off Gaou (which never ends well) and Marco was forced to use himself and Gaou to fill the gap in the defence.
    • The Dark Chick: Team Manager Himuro "Maria" Maruko, a Sugar and Ice Personality turned Emotionless Girl, courtesy of Marco's interest in her. She's also the Token Good Teammate.
  • The Pentagram:
    • The Big Bad Duumvirate: Donald "Mr. Don" Oberman, both The Juggernaut and a Genius Bruiser, who leads the team on skill and sheer force of personality & Clifford D. Louis, Hiruma's Evil Counterpart, and Manipulative Bastard and Chessmaster extraordinaire, who serves as the field leader, is the one member of the team to not be afraid of Mr. Don, and does extra duty as The Evil Genius
    • The Dragon: Patrick "Panther" Spencer, who doubles as the Token Good Teammate and serves as their main offensive power.
    • The Brute: Tatanka, perhaps the series crowning example of Dumb Muscle.
    • The Dark Chick: Bud Walker, action movie star and wannabe cornerback. What exactly is he doing here?
• Five-Man Band: Many.
  • Deimon:
    • The Hero: Sena
    • The Lancer: Monta (Or Hiruma)
    • The Big Guy: Kurita (who leads all the other big guys, the linemen)
    • The Smart Guy: Hiruma (And Yukimitsu)
    • The Chick: Mamori (Team Mom), later Suzuna (standard)
    • Sixth Ranger: Musashi
    • Team Pet: Cerberos
  • Ojou:
    • The Hero: Shin
    • The Lancer: Sakuraba
    • The Big Guy: Ootawara
    • The Smart Guy: Takami
    • The Chick: Wakana
    • Sixth Ranger: Ikari (who plays The Big Guy with Ootawara)
    • Tagalong Kid: Torakichi
  • Shinryuuji:
    • The Hero: Agon (for a given value of "hero")
    • The Lancer: Ikkyu (shares this role with Unsui actually)
    • The Big Guy: Yamabushi
    • The Smart Guy: Unsui (also doubles as Lancer)
    • The Chick: Sanzo (who's probably a parody of this trope)
  • Seibu:
    • The Hero: Riku (or Kid)
    • The Lancer: Kid (or Riku)
    • The Smart Guy: Also Kid.
    • The Big Guy: Tetsuma and Ushijima
    • The Chick: Their coach.
  • Poseidon:
    • The Hero and Smart Guy: Kakei
    • The Lancer: Mizumachi
    • The Big Guy: The Hiroshis (LITERALLY)
    • The Chick: Kobanzame
  • Teikoku:
    • The Hero: Yamato
    • The Lancer: Taka
    • The Big Guy: Achilles (And Heracles)
    • The Smart Guy: Heracles (being the team captain)
    • The Chick: Karin
• Foe-Tossing Charge:
  • Otawara in the first Ojou/Deimon game.
  • This is Gaou's modus operandi when playing offense--the Hakyuushuu Dinosaurs run a north-south game wherein they basically follow Gaou, who runs over and through anyone who gets in his way. Until Kurita, anyway.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Sena's test number for the Deimon entrance exam? 021.
  • Whenever a supposedly "insignificant" off comment is made about a team, it always comes true (unless it's said by Onihei of course). For example, in chapter 19, Agon predicts Ojou can only make it to 4th at best. Ojou got 3rd in the Kanto tournament, and 4th overall. One random member of the Dinosaurs suggested "they should just aim for 3rd", which is what Hakushuu ended up getting.
• Forgotten Childhood Friend: Riku
• Four Is Death: Yamato's prediction for the game against Teikoku is 42-0, as 42 is pronounced as shi-ni in japanese, which is a homophone of "to die". Additionally, chapter 4 of the series is appropriately titled "Kill 'em".
• Fragile Speedster: Sena starts as one. Being forced to play defense and choosing to endure the Death March toughens him up enough to take multiple full power blows from Agon and Shin, a full power blow from Gaou which can lay everyone but two players in whole the series out, and a blow from Mr. Don, the stronger one of the two players beyond Gaou, and still gets up to play. His fragility goes WAY down as he gets used to the brutal beatings.
• Freudian Excuse: Less than you'd think.
  • There is no explanation what so ever for Agon's behaviour - the man is just plain evil.
  • Gaou seems to break bones for the fun of it.
  • It is hinted that Hiruma has a far from normal relationship with his father, but it doesn't explain his manipulative, borderline sadistic, nature at all.
• Freudian Trio: Oodles.
  • Ojou:
    • Id: Ootawara (Dumb Muscle)
    • Ego: Sakuraba (the most normal)
    • Superego: Shin or Takami (Takami is more typically intelligent while Shin is the least emotional)
  • Shinryuuji:
    • Id: Agon (relies on his talent and instinct)
    • Ego: Ikkyu (prideful but reasonable)
    • Superego: Unsui (the most cautious of the three)
  • Seibu:
    • Id: Riku (actions based on emotions rather then what's strategic)
    • Ego: Kid (intelligent, but insecure)
    • Superego: Tetsuma (the one whose emotions are the most controlled)
  • Taiyou:
    • Id: Kasamatsu (easily enraged and tricked) or Kamagaruma (impulsive)
    • Ego: Harao (reasonably intelligent, but hampered by insecurity)
    • Id: Banba (the real brains of the team)
  • Poseidon:
    • Id: Mizumachi (lives for fun)
    • Ego: Kobanzame
    • Superego: Kakei (thinks the most strategically of the 3)
  • Bando:
    • Id: Kotaro (values passion most)
    • Ego: Juri (Only Sane Man)
    • Superego: Akaba (values intellegence most)
  • Hakushuu:
    • Id: Gao (animal instincts personified)
    • Ego: Maria (desires victory, but not at the expense of others). Alternately, one could argue that Kisiragi is the Ego: he's Marco's Left Hand in contrast to Gaou's Right, worships strength every bit as much as Gaou does, but relies on brainpower to use his strength effectively, putting him right between the two of them.
    • Superego: Marco (goes for the most straight forward path to victory regardless of those he hurts)
  • Teikoku:
    • Id: Yamato (plays for the love of competing)
    • Ego: Karin (the peace keeper)
    • Superego: Taka (the intellectual)
  • Team America:
    • Id: Panther
    • Ego: Mr. Don
    • Superego: Clifford
• Fun with Foreign Languages: The NASA Aliens' Gonzales brothers have some interesting kanji tattoos due to Watt's cluelessness regarding the language. More specifically, the older Gonzales' tattoo reads "Big Shit" (which is somewhat appropriate) and the younger one's reads "Piss."
• Funny Afro: Sports writer Kumabukuro. In the anime, his daughter starts to look like him when she gets excited. It's not very funny.
• Gecko Ending: The anime got one after the final battle between the Devil Bats and the White Knights. They skipped directly to a Distant Finale, without even pretending the tournament was over.
• Gender Blender Name:
  • Kisaragi's given name, "Hiromi", is almost always a girl's name, which fits in pretty well with his overall feminine aesthetic.
  • Maruko "Marco" Reiji and Himuro Maruko; In Marco's case, it's deliberately referred to and the reason he insists on being known by his nickname... and on calling Hirumo "Maria."
• Genius Bruiser:
  • Many of the power players, like Shin or Banba, are implied to be this, having good grades while also being tremendously physically powerful. But the most promninent might be Hayato Akaba, ace Tight-End of the Bando Spiders, who spends most of his time as technical advisor for his team due to tournament rules, and manages to analyze the movemements of all of the opposing players and share it with his team. He still manages to throw Kurita with relative ease.
  • Parodied by Amino Cyborgs. While they definitely had brains and muscle, their overall strength and stamina didn't make it. As said by Juumonji (who is pretty much a Genius Bruiser among the Devil Bats): "Sure, we might be idiots, who cannot attend a high-prestige school like Amino High School, and stupid enough to take spartan, injury-risking training provided by Doburoku-sensei.... But tell me, with all your muscles and your brains, can you PUSH A TRUCK ACROSS THE UNITED STATES IN FORTY DAYS, 2000 KM, ON FOOT?"
• Genius Ditz: Taki's math ability ends at the six times table (his other academic abilities are about the same level), but if a question is phrased in American football terms, he will answer it correctly without fail.
• Genre Savvy: Kid likes to quote, "Something bad will happen after something so good" and vice versa. It always happens.
• Gentle Giant: Kurita. Yamabushi as well, unless your name is Ikkyu.
• Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!:
  • Mostly verbal. Takami did the straight Armor-Piercing Slap, though, as well as the Ha Ha Bros literally kicking some sense into Komusubi.
  • When Harao begin to chide his teammates for their failures, Banba calls him out, pointing out his shortcomings as a quarterback.
  • When Natsuhiko Taki realizes that he is nothing compared to fellow Tight End Akaba Hayato, Musashi grinds his pride to dust with the truth that Taki isn't the special talent blessed by the gods that he claims to be. Then "Is that it? Ha, ha, ha.... I realized it now. That's why I always failed at everything. I didn't have that kind of talent since the beginning. I should have realized it sooner.... If that's the case, SO BE IT! If God didn't give me the talent, then I'll defeat God with MY OWN POWER!!
• Going Commando: There's an Omake devoted to how much of an average day Otawara spends without underwear. Apparently he frequently forgets it while changing in the locker room.
• Gonk: The linemen of the Taiyo Sphinx (barring Banba), especially the incredibly squat and wide Niinobu Kasamatsu, who looks positively inhuman.
• Good Eyes, Evil Eyes: Shun Kakei's "fox eyes", though he just really hates Eyeshield posers.
• Gratuitous English:
  • Although words like "tacchidaun!" can't be avoided, Hiruma's "fakkin" nicknames are just part of his charm.
  • In the dub, having Americans like the NASA Aliens call football "American Football".
• Gratuitous French: Taki tends to say "Monsieur" instead of "-san".
• Gretzky Has the Ball:
  • The manga gets the rules of American Football mostly right, but players often perform acts violent enough that in any real game a referee would be jumping in. Much more prominent in the anime, especially when it's in filler.
  • Another clear example is when Kamagaruma uses the Chariot Bump at one point to try and keep Monta from catching a long pass, which is clear pass interference.
  • Subverted in that Hiruma seems to be fond of what would be intentional grounding at the NCAA football or NFL level. However, intentional grounding is not illegal on the high school level.
  • Also subverted at the end of the Seibu game. On the Devil Bats' all-or-nothing onside kick, Monta rips the ball out of Tetsuma's hands, but his shoulders had already hit the ground. All of the Devil Bats get mega pumped and start opening up paths for Monta to block, creating problems for those familiar with football rules. However, the ref calls the play down where Tetsuma was down, meaning the Gunmen retain posession. And the Devil Bats lose the game.
• Groupie Brigade: Sakubara's fans before his Important Haircut.
• Hard Work Hardly Works:
  • Unsui's inablity to catch up to Agon.
  • Leonard Apollo, during his time in the NFL, trained three times as much as anyone else, but never made it to the starting lineup and was junked in favor of a Deion Sanders-like ace.
  • The Yuuhi Guts, who work super hard but are still a below-average team.
  • Played straight with Yukimitsu, who works harder than anybody and still isn't good enough to start at the beginning of the fall tournament. Subverted during the Shinryūji game, as it works in Yukimitsu's favor against genius and hyper-talented Agon.
  • The Zokugaku Chameleons, who trained long and hard all summer for the fall tournament, but lost in the second round.
  • Subverted with the Devil Bats as a whole, though. There are numerous scenes where they're shown pushing themselves at practice, and that's not even counting the Death March. Subverted especially in case of Sena and Monta, as their hard works paid off in awesome way with Sena's amazing footwork and speed, and Monta's ability to "read" and "listen" to the ball, making him able to predict ball movement.
• He Also Did: Sort of. Series artist Yusuke Murata sent Robot Master submissions that got made into Crystal Man and Dust Man when he was in grade school.
• Heroic BSOD:
  • Kurita, after Gaou breaks Hiruma's arm, sending him out of the game for about one quarter and halftime. He even loses the ability to understand Komusubi, signifying that he was no longer a strong man.
  • Komusubi, at one point, felt that his lack of height had become too great a liabiliy, especially since the players and even the cheerleaders of the Kyoshin Poseidons were exceptionally tall. It takes some talk from Sena and the Ha-Ha Bros (very literally) "kicking" some sense to him to get him back on track.
  • Sakuraba (still in his Fake Ultimate Hero phase) goes through one when he realizes that no matter how hard he trains, he'll never be as good as Shin. His friend Takami reacted violently to that, having gone through the exact same thing when he dealt with a childhood injury that kept him from keeping pace with the rest of the team.
  • Monta got one when he realized he's going to face Honjou Taka, the son of his lifetime idol.
• Heroic Resolve: Agon's "happy game over" comment gives Sena's wrecked legs revitalized strength.
• Heroic RROD: Sena's maximum speed, at first, is his own bane. Before Kantou Tournament, he can only run at his maximum speed once since it overexerts him and makes him pass out. Even after strenuous stamina tranining, during the match against Shinryuji, Sena's legs were on the verge of total collapse from trying to keep up with Agon.
• Heroic Wannabe: Natsuhiko Taki thinks he's a genius in football, but he's not as great as he thinks.
• Heterosexual Life Partners:
  • Sena and Monta are nearly inseperable after they meet. More apparent in the anime.
  • Kid and Tetsuma also definitely count, knowing each other since early childhood.
• Honor Before Reason: Surprisingly, the Americans. Including Mr.Don and Panther.
• Hot Springs Episode
• Hot-Blooded:
  • Daikichi Komusubi.
  • One egregious case: The Kantou Area Commisioner is so Hot-Blooded (literally), that his office didn't need a heater in the midst of winter. .
  • The Yuuhi Guts, particularly team captain Daisuke Atsumi and manager Katsuko Konjo.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Komusubi's parents.
• Husky Russkie: Rodchenko takes it to the next level: He's the world record holder in the bench press. This is also implied to be his downfall as he's very top heavy and comparatively lacking in lower body strength.
• Hyperspace Arsenal: Hiruma
• I Can Still Fight: Hiruma after Gaou breaks his arm.
• I Know Madden Kombat: Full of it. Mizumachi uses a swimming technique as a lineman. The defensive line of Seibu tries to use street-fighting on the field, which failed since their enemy (the Ha Ha Bros) had been fighting almost constantly since middle school. Zokugaku also reverts to brutal fist-fighting when all else fails. And let's talk about how Sena got his speed in the first place....
• I Will Definitely Protect You: A plantonic version occurs when Banba says to Harou, who knows he's an average player at best and is frightened by the extreme power of their next opponent the Hakushuu Dinosaurs who are known for breaking the opposing quarterbacks. While the Taiyo Sphinx ultimately lost, Banba kept his promise to make sure that Harou wouldn't be harmed at the cost of him being badly hurt by Gaou.
• I Wrote Our Story: According to the epilogue, Karin did.
• Identical Stranger: Subverted. While the Devil Bats meet a man who looks exactly like Ishimaru in America, Ishimaru himself isn't with them and the only confusion is immediately dismissed because, well, they know Ishimaru's back home.
• Idiot Crows
• The Idiot From Osaka: Aki Reisuke and Hera Kureji of the Teikoku Alexanders. Kureji manages to make it intimidating, somehow. The ace players of the Alexanders are each shown to have an idiocy rating, with Aki at the top with 60%.
• Important Haircut: Sakuraba gets a crewcut at the beginning of the fall season after finally quitting his contract with Jari Productions to focus on football. This move ends up cutting away at his massive fanbase until only the real fans (all three of them) are left. Ironically, he signs with Jari Productions again soon after. Yukimitsu also started doing his hair differently at the start of the Kanto tournament. Hiruma dyed his hair blond shortly before starting the team in the first place, as well. Agon shaving his head also marked his decision to go all out in the tournament, starting with Militaria. Then he removes his wig completely to call his brother out.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: Almost every major quarterback is shown to have these. This is Takami's most prominent ability, beside his height. The Kid is practically an Olympic champion of sharp-shooting. Hiruma uses this for everything. Karin brings this to a new level: all her passes are supposed to be catchable, no matter where the receiver is or how he's doing... well, as long as they're in Teikoku Alexanders, anyway. Subverted with Homer, who doesn't have any accuracy and relies on power and his receiver to do anything.
• Informed Flaw: Musashi's kicking is supposed to be peerlessly powerful with the drawback that he's not entirely accurate. Despite this, he never misses a single kick in the entire series (apart from one in a flashback which was directly blocked by Shin), even when his rival Kotaro, who's known for his 100% accuracy more than his power, misses a pivotal one. This even includes the 60-yard kick he scores to win the Christmas Bowl against Teikoku.
• Instant Bandages
• Instant Fanclub: Sakuraba's fangirls. The first game between Deimon and Ojou was covered extensively by the media solely because of his fame. Only three remain after he changes his look. Once they get to the Kanto tournament, they're all back.
• Instant Humiliation - Just Add YouTube: Before the NASA Aliens game.
• Insult Backfire: The Amino Cyborgs take it as a compliment that their muscles look artificial.
• Jerk Jock:
  • Every element of this is taken to its psychopathic extreme by Kongo Agon. Hiruma would be a Heroic Sociopath version.
  • Agon is the most vile, arrogant person in the story. Then Mr. Don appears. In fact, both Mr. Don and Clifford manage to be such gigantic asses that they grate on Agon himself.
  • The replacement players for the Yuuhi Guts, stars of Yuuhi's other sports teams, are played up as villains in the anime. In the manga, they were depicted as perfectly nice guys -- though selfish in that they were only playing for extra credit.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Several. Including Rui Habashira who secretly supports the Devilbats during their match against Teikoku by building them a snowbat and Hiruma himself. Mizumachi also is actually a pretty decent guy, if you can forgive his lack of tact.
  • Hiruma seems to be at first glance. But on the other hand, he does care for his teammates/friends, in his own psychotic manner, gives them support when necessary, and even at his worst, never asks anything of them that he is not prepared to go through himself. And then you have the reason he became the manager of the Devil-Bats in the first place: He promised his first friend that they would reach the top of the football circuit in Japan, and by hell, that is what they are going to do. In addition, he put himself in harm's way to try and protect Mamori and Suzuna from GAOU, of all people. Sure he taunts his opponents, but unlike Agon's insults, they tend to be more childish and absurd then genuinely cruel. The one time Hiruma might've kicked the dog (calling Tetsuma stupid and incompetent), he plainly states seconds later "I was just lying, no one thinks of Tetsuma like that!", then reveals that he's trying to get Kid to show his competitive spirit.
• Jerkass:
  • Hiruma. Admittedly, Mamori tends to call him on it, but this guy waves his guns around in the middle of school and everything's just ducky.
  • Agon is a much bigger jerkass than Hiruma. Hiruma at least cares about football and his team. Agon doesn't even care about his teammates, especially in the International Youth Cup arc where his cunning plan, as Hiruma points out, amounts to "When we're losing, the great me will save everyone". Everyone hates him so much for this, they decide to foil his plan and beat their opponents with all their strength. They do so. In the end, however, he mellows a little bit.
  • Kakei started as one, but his experience in the USA and his meeting with Yamato Takeru changed him. He still believed in superiority of physique in American Football... until a certain shrimp forced him to reconsider his beliefs.
  • While Mizumachi sometimes acts like a dick toward shorter players, even pushing Komusubi to want to leave the team. He's not really a jerkass, he's just very tactless.
  • Harao is quite a jerkass, until Banba scolds him for that.
  • All the members of the American Pentagon are fairly unpleasant (with the obvious exception of Panther, Sena's Worthy Opponent) but Mr. Don takes the cake. He had Yamato, who at the time was hailed as Eyeshield 21, the strongest running back at Notre Dame High School, expelled from the team (it's implied by abusing his power as the son of the US president) just because it offended his sensibilities that someone so obviously inferior (i.e Japanese) would claim the title. And he wears an almost permanent sneer. Yamato's revenge is a moment of great joy.
• Jerkass Facade:
  • The most prominent is Musashi. He says things like, "I already discarded them (Hiruma and Kurita), don't bother," read: "I'm sorry, my father is sick and nobody can take care of the company but me", "I'm tougher than you thanks to my work as carpenter, first year weaklings, so I guess I'm the one who sould be quarterback" read: "I'm a second year, I'm your senior, let me risk being crushed by that monster so you can still play next year.
  • Hiruma himself might not be all bad, either, as Lampshaded by Mamori.
  • Marco, as well. In spite of his sinister aura and intimidating appearance, and, indeed, his usually less-than-noble intentions, he's shaken pretty easily and is more frightened of Gaou than anyone else.
  • Harao's jerkish tendencies spring from his feelings of inadequacy as a player. He acts the way he does to distract people from the fact that he lacks any real talent.
• The Juggernaut: Gaou is the straight version; at least until he meets Kurita, who's much slower but pretty much unstoppable. Yamato Takeru is also practically unstoppable on the field; the best thing Deimon can do is slow him down. Not even Shin, widely regarded as the strongest Japanese linebacker EVER, can completely stop him. Tetsuma will go exactly where he's commanded, trampling everyone in his way. Then Mr. Don... oh, God, Mr. Don.
• Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: Marco did this after realizing that his team's strength was nothing compared to the Teikoku Alexanders, who won every Christmas Bowl and had never been scored against for 20 years straight.. He decides the most probable way to win is to destroy the enemies completely, using brute strength, injuring the opposition if he can get away with it. Of course, since his original goal was to show his senior Love Interest the "morning sun after the victory", the latter didn't really appreciate it.
• Karma Houdini:
  • Gaou of the Hakushu Dinosaurs targets quarterbacks intending to break their bones in games. His only karma was that his team lost against the Devil Bats, and despite intentionally breaking Hiruma's arm, he's still invited to be a part of the Japan high school all-star team.
• Keet: Mizumachi, Up to Eleven.
• Kevlard: Kurita has this mildly. The average high schooler can't really hurt him, but a lot of the linemen he plays against are around his size and can do plenty of damage.
• Kick the Dog: Agon's hobby.
• Know When to Fold'Em:
  • Despite his love for offense, Hiruma knows that sometimes, he should just give up. The first time is against Ojou, and he's rather an asshole about it. Then, in the match against Seibu, he realizes that none of his carefully crafted scenarios will work against the Kid. Musashi's appeareance changed that, though. Also his poker game against Clifford, although his tactical retreat really pissed Clifford off.
  • Monta giving up baseball, since his ability is much more suited for American Football.
• Large and In Charge: Played straight and subverted. Mr. Don of team USA played this straight, as well as Rodchenko of the Russian Team. There are several subversions, though: Teams led by less-than-competent players, while his second-in command is larger and more competent, like the Kyoshin Poseidons (nominally led by Kobanzame, who defers practically every decision to the tall Kakei, including recruiting and tactical planning), the Taiyou Sphinx (led by Harao, but held together by rock-solid Center Banba), and the Hakushuu Dinosaurs (led by Marco, a talented player and a capable leader, but their biggest strength is Rikiya Gaou, without whom they wouldn't be half the team they are). Another type of subversion: Shinryuji is led by the biggest player, 3rd year senior Yamabushi, but the team is pretty much steered by Agon.
• Law of Conservation of Detail: You can tell how important a team is going to be by the number of named players.
• Leitmotif: Most of the main characters have one but the one that really stands out is Hiruma's (appropriately named the same). It starts playing each time Hiruma yells YA-HA and jumps down from somewhere high, shoots his guns and explain his next crazy plan to the team.
• Let's Get Dangerous: During the Bando game, Taki goes into a Heroic BSOD because he failed so often, but quickly recovers, ties his hair into a ponytail, and suddenly becomes serious. He goes on to clinch the victory.
• Lightning Bruiser:
  • Type 1: Ootawara, whose speed is insane for someone his size. That said, while powerful, he's actually one of the weaker opposing players to deal primarily in strength; at the beginning of the series, Shin can bench more than him.
  • Type 2: Yamato and Shin. Shin's just a tad slower initially than Sena but has incredible physical strength and resilience. Yamato runs at slightly below Sena's pace and while he isn't noted to be especially strong, he takes pride in being a more complete player than Sena because he can take hits and hit back. His main strength, though, is his ability to run without being taken down by tackles.
  • Gaou doesn't seem to be this at first, but in reality he is. Kid notes that Gaou's blitz speed keeps increasing, such that he starts getting closer to Kid with each play. Furthermore, regardless of the fact that he doesn't actually fall for feints, he was still fast enough to nail Riku with his right hand while Riku was on the left side of his body (for reference, Riku wins fights simply by using his running style).
• Literal Genie: Tetsuma takes instructions very literally; If you tell him to run, he'll run... but he won't stop if you don't tell him to stop.
• Loads and Loads of Characters:
  • There's at least one (and usually more) notable player on the opposing teams.
  • This has the unfortunate side-effect of several Devilbats being pushed out of the narrative by the all-stars in the last arc. Komosubi and Taki in particular are last seen cheering on the sidelines during the last game of the world cup; they are conspicuously absent from the final chapter, with no explanation given.
  • Additionally, pretty much every minor or incidental character gets further characterization in the bonuses in the collected volumes.
• Loophole Abuse: Leonard Apollo said that if they failed to beat Deimon by at least 10 points, the NASA Aliens would never go back to America. When they failed to meet that goal, Apollo revealed that he was just going to change the team's name to the NASA Shuttles; that way, it technically wouldn't be the NASA Aliens going back. On the other side, Hiruma said that if the Devil Bats didn't beat the Aliens by at least 10 points the entire team would leave Japan. However he never said they would not come back.
• Love Makes You Evil: Marco. He was actually a pretty decent guy until he realized average guys couldn't defeat Teikoku. He then resolved to do anything, including (and often) crippling anyone who gets between him and showing Himuro "the morning sunshine after a victory."
• Mama Bear: Just don't threaten Sena or Suzuna when Mamori's nearby. This is a woman who is brave enough to face Gaou should he endanger them.
• Manly Tears: Frequently happens with Sakuraba and Yukimitsu, but it happens to practically everybody, even the jovial Panther and hard boiled Habashira. Frequently reaches Ocular Gushers level with regards to Kurita.
• Meaningful Name: Nearly everyone.
• Meet Cute: Sena and Suzuna, with a Crash Into Hello.
• Mighty Glacier: The Taiyo Sphinx' Pyramid Line, and most of the offensive linemen in general.
• Miracle Rally: The Devil Bats often find themselves trailing by a huge number, especially against strong teams like the Shinryuji Nagas and the Teikoku Alexanders. They always fight back in the 2nd half to win. Most of it is thanks to Hiruma's tactical decisions, which are often seen as crazy or outright insane but proven to be effective and successful.
• Mister Danger: Mr. Don.
• Mobstacle Course
• Morality Pet: Kurita. Sure, Hiruma inflicts his bizarre violence all over Kurita, but the things he does for Kurita (like attending Deimon instead of Shinryuuji) show he's not as bad as he appears.
• Mundane Utility: Sena uses his run to take back a letter from one of the Huh Huh Brothers, Hiruma uses his Improbable Aiming Skills to make fun of people, and in a recent chapter there was a "uselessly badass" pillow fight.
• Muscles Are Meaningless: Subverted and played straight at the same time. Akaba, Chuubou, the Ha Ha brothers all show that muscles are not everything. Shin has quite a lot of muscle, and was even stronger than the comparatively gigantic Ootawara for a long time. Rodchenko is the world champion of weightlifting, but Chuubou easily counters him. The Amino Cyborgs, particularly Atsushi Munakata, all had impressive muscles, but the Devilbats make quick work of them. However, to be fair, there are players who have huge muscles and impressive power, like Gaou and Mr. Don. There's also Daisuke Atsumi, the captain of the Yuuhi Guts. Despite being so muscular that he practically lacks a freaking neck, he's a below-average player on a below-below-average team of perennial losers.
• My Kung Fu Is Stronger Than Yours: Many of the "quarterback battles" between Hiruma and the opposing quarterback turn into a football version of this.
• My Name Is Not Durwood: Because of some confusion on Sena's part, the team thought Raimon Taro's name is Kaminari Montarou. Hiruma later convinces "Monta" that his nickname comes from Joe Montana, a famous wide receiver in the NFL. (Hiruma added the last part to make Monta happy; Montana was a quarterback.)
• Naked People Are Funny: Otawara, if you can get past the Fan Disservice.
• Neutral Female: Mildly subverted, since Mamori is often incorporated into the games by analyzing the game from the bench and informing Hiruma via hand signals.
• The Nicknamer:
  • Suzuna. She has the nerve to call Hiruma "You-nii", which also happens to be "Elf-bro" when translated into English.
  • Also, Hiruma. He usually refers to someone by "fucking" followed by a trait of theirs, such as "fucking shrimp" for Sena.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed:
  • One of the creators said that Sena is based off of Marshall Faulk, as he is a huge St. Louis Rams fan. He also, however, bears many similarities with LaDainian Tomlinson (the eyeshield, the number 21, the position as a running back), but by all accounts these are coincidental.
  • Homer might be based on Brett Favre, with whom he shares both a powerful throwing arm and a tendency to misfire passes.
  • Mr. Don, in what appears to be a coincidence as well, resembles Tim Tebow - mostly because of his beard and gigantically muscular frame.
  • Morgan, the star running back who edged Leonard Apollo out of his job, resembles Deion Sanders from what little we see of him, Sanders having been perhaps the most infamous fame-loving, money-flaunting egotist in NFL history
• Noblewoman's Laugh: She hasn't actually done it, but in the manga, Yukimitsu dreads the day his mother eventually lets this loose, because it suits her so well. Mamori also does this during Deimon's field day.
• Not So Different:
  • Rui Habashira does this to Hiruma while choking back tears after the Chameleons were knocked out of the fall tournament.
  • After Hiruma traps Marco using his own trick, Marco asked whether, if Hiruma were in his shoes, he would use the same tactics (using Gaou to crush their enemies completely). Hiruma's answer: "Of course, fucking eyelashes!"
• Occidental Otaku: Jeremy Watt of the NASA Aliens.
• Odd Friendship:
  • Taki and Akaba get along very well, despite seeming almost ridiculously incompatable.
  • Akaba and Kotaro.
  • Shin and Sakuraba.
  • Hiruma and Kurita.
• Official Couple: Hiruma and Mamori. It's somewhat obvious. She even follows him into college and shares a car with him!
• Off-Model: The anime is riddled with this. Suddenly Hiruma is creepy for a whole new reason.
• Old Master: Doburoku-sensei. Sumito Sendoda of Shinyuji Nagas also counts.
• One-Hit Kill: What happens when Shin uses his Trident Tackle against most regular players. Subverted since several strong or strong-willed players manage to hold it off, even Sena. However, Shin isn't to be underestimated; The Trident Tackle stopped Yamato and his Caesar's Charge flat.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: There are characters, like Kid, that are known mostly by their nicknames. Marco is a deliberate case, since he didn't like his girlish real name.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Shin, towards Sena. Vice-versa as well, but not as much.
• Opposing Sports Team: Dozens of them. Several are portrayed much more sympathetically than usual, however, and the series doesn't shy away from the fact that the Devil Bats are crushing a lot of people's dreams, either. Teikoku, however, plays it a little straight. The team's structure forces players to compete against each other to get to the first string. Consequentially, in every game, the players are working more against each other than with each other. They can get away with it because the first string is that good, but it's clear that the entire setup is wrong. And the team is mostly made up of aces stolen from other teams, as well...
• Overtook the Manga
• Pet the Dog:
  • Almost every character originally played as a villain or antagonist gets one of these, from arrogant ace Harao to slimy agent Miracle Itou. Mr. Don also manages to get in on this... though, true to form, he manages to strangle a woman while Petting The Dog. Even Agon manages to pull off some strange variant of this when he takes off his helmet as simultaneously a sign of challenge and encouragement to his older brother, who has always sacrificed everything to raise Agon up. Still a dick though.
  • In an omake, Hiruma had a literal Pet the Dog opportunity, which he completely ignored until it turned out the dog's sad little puppy face was a trap to trick a potential victim into coming close enough to become food. Hiruma and Cerberus are really made for each other.
• Phenotype Stereotype: Just see the Youth World Cup. Finland: Best dental care in the world, USA: Of the players in the Pentagram, two are blond, one is black, and one is Native American. India: turbans, Russia: has the strongest guy, who loves material wealth, Germany: sharp features, analytical and good memories, France: led by a Bishounen prettyboy
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: So much for Chuubou Akira. Also Komusubi.
• The Plan: Hiruma, with all his trick plays.
• Planet of Hats: The other schools are designed around themes - to the point of looking like theme parks; Ojou High School looks like Notre Dame university, while Taiyo's architecture is ridiculously Egyptian-themed. Taiyo students even look Egyptian because their other hat, surfing and going to the beach, gets them really tan. The Occults actually try to curse their opponents, Zokugaku students mostly get jobs involving motorcycles, etc.
• Plucky Girl: Katsuko Konjo, manager of the Yuuhi Guts, needlessly follows an intense workout regimen so brutal that it would make most other teams' actual players plead for mercy.
• Pointless Band-Aid: Monta
• Poor Predictable Rock: Most of the opposing teams have one or two defining strengths or gimmicks, like the Seibu Wild Gunmen's quick-draw passing, the Taiyo Sphinx and their "Pyramid Line", or the Bando Spiders' kicks. In that vein, the Devil Bats themselves fit the trope early in the series, by always relying on Sena's speed or Monta's catches. Later, their reliance on the Devil Bat Ghost also came back to bite them. Basically lampshaded in the match against the Wild Gunmen, after Musashi returns to play. Kid makes the observation that without a good kicker, Hiruma's tactics were basically analogous to a person playing rock, paper, scissors - but only using rock and scissors.
• Post Dramatic Stress Disorder:
  • While most of the Devil Bats showed obvious signs of fatigue and exhaustion during the Death March, Hiruma chased after his receivers while screaming passing patterns and strafing them with machine gun fire with no indication that the endless running (while hauling around a machine gun) had any effect on him. Even when they reached Las Vegas, he continued to harass them and shoot at them in the hotel...until he got to his room, where he collapsed, face-first and unconscious on the bed, with his shoes still on his feet and his gun still in his hand.
  • After exhausting himself to defeat the Bando Spiders' Spider Web, Sena makes it almost to the locker room but collapses in Suzuna's arms before he gets there.
• Put Me In, Coach:
  • Panther and his whole team knelt down for this. Panther went on to beat back Deimon for the win.
  • The Yuuhi Guts manage to score a single touchdown and overall give better performances than the hastily created "team" of other teams' aces.
  • Yukimitsu Manabu scores the first touchdown against the Shinryujii Nagas in both a Crowning Moment of Awesome and a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming.
  • Shin tries to do this with regards to an offensive tactic during Ojou's first game against the Naga, however he is denied becuase they had not practiced the ballista enough.
• Quirky Miniboss Squad: The Cyborgs and the Scorpions, seeing as how Deimon defeated them with a considerable lead. The Guts and Chameleons could be considered a deconstruction of this trope.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Deimon; in fact, only three (later two, one forfeited himself) of the players on the team had any prior experience in football.
• Rated "M" for Manly
• The Real Remington Steele: Hayato Akaba of the Bando Spiders claims to be the actual Eyeshield 21. After Sena beat him, he gave up the title, which Sena had ironically abandoned before the game. Then it turns out that Yamato Takeru of the Teikoku Alexanders was the real Eyeshield 21 (due to it being a title passed down from player to player in Notre Dame), and was the one Shun Kakei played against. Eventually, however, the lie of Sena being Eyeshield 21 is made true when he goes to play at Notre Dame high school for a short while.
• Reality Is Unrealistic: In a reverse of the above examples of Gretzky Has the Ball, the attention to detail is somewhat staggering, to the point where people not intimately familiar with high-school level Football might assume that a mistake was made. For instance:
  • During the Bando game, Kotarou lands the kickoff just out of bounds right by Deimon's endzone. In college and professional football, this results a penalty that results in the ball being started at the 40 yard line. However, at the high school level, this is allowed due to the quality of most high school kickers.
  • Many people are unaware that American football games can end in ties and were thus perplexed by the America vs Japan match ending in a tie. However, even in the NFL, if the score is still tied at the end of the sudden death overtime period whole in the regular season, the match ends as a tie. Obviously, this cannot occur during the playoffs, so the game continues until someone scores. In regards to the World Cup, an explanation is given: Morgan was so confident that the Americans would crush all their opposition that he didn't bother to write an overtime rule into the tournament guidelines.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni:
  • Akaba and Kotaro of the Bando Spiders, who also have a Three Amigos thing going on with team manager Juri. They're very similar, liking many of the same things for tellingly different reasons. The blue oni, Akaba, feels that technical ability is the most important thing in football, while the red oni likes things that are "smart", and likes passion.
  • Kakei and Mizumachi of the Kyoshin Poseidons are a pretty exaggerated example- Kakei takes being unemotional to new levels, while Mizumachi is the biggest spazz in the series.
  • There's also Agon and Unsui. Agon is driven by spite and hedonism while Unsui has the self-discipline of a monk. Agon has a perpetual sneer while Unsui rarely ever emotes at all.
• Refuge in Audacity: Hiruma in general, but mostly his guns.
• Right Behind Me: Sakuraba overhears Takami praise him in a discussion about his hopes for the wide receiver with his coach. It's the Crowning Moment of Heartwarming that ends his Heroic BSOD.
• Right-Hand-Cat: Leonard Apollo has one named Hillary in the anime. He loves that little thing.
• The Rival:
  • Seijuro Shin, the stone-faced star linebacker of the White Knights, is Sena's rival. Agon is arguably Hiruma's, Ikkyu Hosakawa is Monta's and Gaou is Kurita's. Additionally, Sena also faces opposition from Riku of the Seibu Wild Gunmen, the person who taught him to run in the first place, and the real Eyeshield 21, Yamato Takeru.
  • Hiruma also has notable rivals in the other 'control tower' players, Marco and Takami. More than one occasion of detected tactical malice from any of these three has given others the willies.
    • By contrast, this trope is subverted a bit by the LACK of malice, animosity, or negativity between Sena and Shin. The two simply have a great deal of respect for each other, and each recognizes the other as the best possible rival based on their skills.
  • Monta also has Sakuraba and Tetsuma as rivals, and Komusubi is a rival to all three of the Ha-ha bros.
  • And of course, Sena and Panther.
• Rollerblade Good: Suzuna is an expert when it comes to rollerblading and ice-skating. She wears her rollerblades pretty much all the time.
• Rousing Speech: Well, duh. This is an anime about football.
• Rule of Three: Ended right at its 333rd chapter.
• Running Gag: Several. Shin's cluenessness with technology, Monta's inability to throw, Mamori's inability to draw, Ishimaru's plainness...
• Ruritania: The Republic of Militaria seems to be like this, except, naturally, with a strong focus on its military.
• Samus Is a Girl: And so is Karin Koizumi, the quarterback of the Teikoku Alexanders and probably the best QB in the country. The guy Kotaro thought was their ace quarterback is actually on the fourth string because he can't compete with her.
• Scary Black Man: A bizarre example being Banba, who looks and acts the part despite being ethnically Japanese. The series tries to justify his appearance by explaining that he's just really tan from frequent surfing and likes Egyptian culture, but it doesn't explain why he's drawn with the facial features of a Black Egyptian.
  • Ironically enough, the only actual black guy of any significance, Panther, is extremely friendly and humble, often letting people push him around.
• Scary Shiny Glasses: Takami gets these in the final game between Ojou and Deimon. His teammates find it a little unnerving, especially because he's usually so benign.
• Second Place Is for Losers: Played with. At the beginning some characters, like the Kantou commissioner, said that "there is only one winner, everyone else is a loser." It never gets more emphasized than that, other than all teams always try their best.
• Selective Obliviousness: Mamori as a running gag in regards to Sena's identity as Eyeshield 21. He's practically Clark Kenting it and yet she keeps missing the signs. She's knows Sena is the same build as Eyeshield. She knows he's joined the Football club and she's never seen Eyeshield 21 without his mask. When she figures out that Sena leaves before Eyeshield 21 shows up, here is her thought: "Everytime Eyeshield 21 shows up... Sena never seems to be around. Maybe they... don't get along well?" The justicification is that she sees Sena as such a wimp, she simply cannot think of him as someone who could be a successful football player. It's even lampshaded by Hiruma: "Preconceptions are harsh..."
• Serious Business:
  • Okay, yeah, it's not that unreasonable for people to get a little crazy in high school sports... but did you know that beach football is Serious Business? No, seriously, it's the only thing keeping the Houston youth from dealing drugs. It is true, though, that placing your energy into something like sports to get away from bad habits is perfectly viable. Doburoku took a group of drug abusers and gave them an outlet to put their energy and time into. Kinda funny since he is an alchoholic with a massive gambling addiction.
  • For Hiruma, blackmailing is one.
  • For Mamori, creampuffs. It's even been stated that she eats more creampuffs than Kurita and she can apparently discern their weight and size by sight.
  • Kicking is serious business for Kotarou and Musashi.
• She Is Not My Girlfriend:
  • Mamori had one of these moments when Doburoku mistakenly assumed Hiruma was her boyfriend. Suzuna was intrigued. It doesn't help that this is a Running Gag in the anime.
  • In the Devil Bat's Investigation Files, when asked if Rui Habashira and Megumi Tsuyumine are dating, his answer: "Well, you see, if a man and woman are seen together, that doesn't mean they are doing girlfriend/boyfriend things. The relationship between a man and a woman isn't as simple as whether or not they're going out."
• Ship Tease:
  • There was a considerable amount of Ship Teasing for both Sena/Suzuna and Hiruma/Mamori throughout the series... though ultimately, nothing was confirmed. But you mustn't forget, this is a Shounen manga.
  • Also, the scene with Marco and Maria after the Dinosaurs lose. We don't know what exactly was said, but given that Marco is the poster boy for Love Makes You Evil, and she's in the middle of saying he didn't have to go as far as he did to impress her, right before it fades out... something must have happened.
  • Rui and Megumi also get teased a bit in the side chapters.
  • For Hiruma and Mamori, the fact that she chose to stay as Hiruma's manager in the Distant Finale when every member of their team is now split up is quite telling.
• Shipper on Deck: Suzuna ships Mamori and Hiruma in and out of the series ^{[dead link]}.
• Shirtless Scene: Mizumachi, Shin... Ootawara, although with Ootowara, shirtless isn't the problem--it's pantsless.
• Shout-Out:
  • Unbelievably, the manga has a little shout out to Marvel Comics' infamous NFL Superpro. Seriously.
  • In addition to many shouts out to other Shonen Jump manga; Toganou is almost always seen reading Shonen Jump, as well, and created a manga that combines elements of many manga serialized in Jump... including Eyeshield 21. Other Jump shout-outs show up throughout the series. A filler episode in the anime has every member of the team dress up as Eyeshield and do an homage to Naruto's shadow clone technique.
  • Ken Kamaguruma of the Taiyo Sphinx is an Expy of Jean-Pierre Polnareff from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, from his hair to his "Chariot" techniques.
  • In the episode where the Devil Bats go on a one-night cruise before a big game, someone eats their dinners, and Suzuna turns the episode into a mix between Detective Conan and Phoenix Wright. A blantant shout out to Detective Conan starts with a set of doors opening and closing between breaks.
  • Many players in this manga are Expy of certain players in the NFL, or other famous people. Shin, for example, is both a Kenshiro Expy and a Bruce Lee Clone.
  • The Bando Spiders' uniform is basically a football version of Spiderman's iconic costume.
  • A Fourth Wall Mail Slot column talking about how easygoing Ishimaru is claims that it'd take something like "kidnapping him and turning him into a cyborg for a black-market organization" to rile him.
  • While trying to think of a way to get past Yamato, Taki suggests Sena dig underground, a reference to the Neji vs Naruto fight.
  • Some of the Kanto team's mascots are shout-outs to other works. For example, the Kita Eskimo's mascot is Ice Man.
• Slow-Motion Pass-By
• Small Name, Big Ego: Natsuhiko Taki
• Sneezing
• Sorting Algorithm of Evil: Regional Tournament to National Tournament to Christmas Bowl to World Cup. Expert analysts predict Sena will soon be the first running back in space. Subverted in the National Tournament when Deimon face super-hyped, 10-time undefeated champions Shinryuuji first, then their ultimate rivals Ojou second, and finally fellow darkhorse team Hakushuu in the grand finale.
• Speed Stripes
• Spikes of Villainy: Hiruma is very pointy.
• Stealth Pun:
  • The Bando Spiders rely on their kicks; They're all legs.
  • The nickname "Panther" is one in Japanese, since it can be formed from a phoenetic shortening of his real name, "Patrick Spencer." (Pansaa = Patorikku Supensaa)
• Stock Footage: Used to an almost obscene level during matches in the anime. Combined with the frequent appearance of characters drawn Off-Model, it's not far from torture for anyone who has read the wonderfully detailed and dynamic manga.
• The Stoic: Shin, Banba, and Kakei are all rather unemotional. Akaba might also count. Tetsuma is also notable in this regard. Subverted with Hiruma; he can be trigger-happy, laughing mad, cursing and threatening all the time, but when his plans fail completely, he takes it with stoic silence.
• Stout Strength: Kurita, Komusubi, Kasamatsu and Omosadake are all powerful linemen of pronounced girth; Komusubi and Omosadake are sumo wrestlers, even.
• Subordinate Excuse: At the start of the series, Mamori became manager of the Devil Bats solely to relieve Sena's workload and protect him from Hiruma's 'bullying'. Then, in an interesting turn of events, the epilogue has her as the manager of the Saikyoudai Wizards, whose captain is Hiruma. Considering the two have had varying amounts of Ship Tease throughout the series, and that they're sharing a car...
• Sugar and Ice Personality: Maria/Maruko, at first she appears to be your typical Emotionless Girl, but flashbacks revealed she actually used to be quite dere for Marco till he recruited Gaou.
• Take a Third Option: Subverted with Hiruma and his in-game pop-quiz; he makes you guess A, B, or C, while the answer is...12.5.
• Talking Is a Free Action: The players manage to fit astonishingly long stretches of dialogue and thought into actions which probably take place in the blink of an eye - while running, throwing, blocking, catching. It's amazing they have enough breath to play.
• Team Dad: Hiruma, in his own warped, violent, abrasive way.
• Team Mom: Mamori for the Devil Bats. She even (sort of) managed to mother Hiruma. Some of the managers from the other teams are Team Moms too.
• Team Pet: Cerberus, but he's not, like, cute, or anything. Hell, he's a wild dog, people shouldn't even be around him, a fact that Hiruma owns up to completely. There's also Butaberus the pig.
• Team Spirit
• Tear Jerker: Several over the series, an early flashback showing one for Kurita. After buying 100 cream puffs expecting a huge turnout for club tryouts, he sits alone in the dark, eating them in tears. Someone saying how tasty pastries are has never been sadder.
• Tempting Fate:
  • "You put Sakuraba on the offense? Thank you. You made our job easier, reducing one pass target on the field". And then Sakuraba turns out to be a phenomenal receiver, given his tenacity and height.
  • "We already know Eyeshield 21's weakness. We can stop him". And then here comes the Devilbat Ghost.
  • The most prominent example is Onihei. Everything he predicted will be inverted, or at least, subverted.
• Terrible Artist: We're frequently reminded why Art is Mamori's weakest subject in school.
• Testosterone Poisoning: A funny in-universe example where every member of the Devil Bats basically 'mans up' by getting Big Old Eyebrows and very intense eyes during the Hakushuu game. Even the Team Mascot got in on the act, and Mamori and Suzuna had to resist it with every last bit of their female instinct.
• This Cannot Be!: What happens to almost every one of Sena's opponents, and, to an extent, all the teams to face the Devil Bats, given that they're considered to be mediocre by every other team up until the middle of the series.
• Those Two Guys:
  • The recruits from the basketball team.
  • There are also Mamori and Suzuna's friends. The latter gets some screentime but no dialogue.
  • Two idiots from the soccer team, Muro Satoshi and Miyake (Mitaku in the fan scanlations, for some reason), whose schtick is insulting people, which often backfires on them.
• Three Amigos: Sena, Monta, and Suzuna. Kotaro, Akaba, and Julie as well.
• Thundering Herd: Aside from the players, in early episodes Sakuraba is often pursued by a Thundering Herd of fangirls from his Instant Fanclub
• Time Skip
• Tokyo Tower: Or should we say Hell Tower?
• Took a Level in Badass: Nearly everyone in the Devil Bats. Well, except Hiruma and Musashi, but he's already too badass to start with and the latter's pretty much a legend. There are also several players who go through this, like Sakuraba, Otawara, and Riku.
• Tournament Arc: Interestingly enough, this makes up the majority of the manga, starting roughly in the mid-90s chapterwise and running pretty much the end, which makes sense.
• Trademark Favorite Food:
  • Hiruma with sugarless bubblegum and Marco with soda.
  • Don't forget Mamori's cream puffs and Monta's bananas.
• Training from Hell:
  • The Devilbat's training on the infamous "Death March".
  • Other teams get into it, too; the Zokugaku Chameleons' training involved chasing and being chased by and carrying their motorcycles.
  • Mamoru Banba of the Taiyo Sphinx underwent some mysterious training prior to the Kanto tournament; the details are never revealed, but he ended up with scars all over his body.
  • The Yuuhi Guts' training is incredibly intense... but sadly it doesn't translate to on-field success.
• Trickster Archetype: Hiruma
• Trigger Happy: Guess.
• The Trope Kid: Musyanokoji Shien.
• True Companions: Although they're not always friendly to each other, the Devil Bats have many moments, probably the best being an unplanned, unspoken onside kick to the second half of the Devil Bats/Nagas game. The entire team knew it was coming despite Hiruma's words to the contrary.
• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Hatsujo and his girlfriend. Every time the Cupids lose (which is often, they're a bottom of the barrel team with the only moderate talent being Hatsujo himself), you can't help but feel like Hatsujo's the real winner, you know?
• The Unintelligible: Komusubi speaks and writes in a language only understood by powerful men.
• Unknown Rival:
  • Both inverted and later played straight with Kotaro and Musashi. Kotaro initially considered himself to be Musashi's rival without having a clue of exactly who Musashi was, and later became a more normal kind of unknown rival himself.
  • We never know the identity of real Eyeshield 21... until the Christmas Bowl.
• Unstoppable Rage: This what happens when you tick off Gaou. Additionally, Ikari of the White Knights is always in this mode, thanks to his temper.
• Unusual Ears: Hiruma
• Up to Eleven: Mr. Don is by far the most ridiculous character in the manga. Here is a small list of his crazy attributes: He's the son of the president, who he looks OLDER than despite being 18. He can swat away both Gaou and Yamato AT THE SAME TIME with minimal effort, and he knocked Kurita out of a large chunk of the game with one hit. He rides around in limos drinking with women (again, he's 18). He knows like, every language. He runs around a 4.4 40-yard dash despite his inhuman strength. The one time his offense falters, he calls a time-out to make a crazy speech to the crowd about how they came to see "the men chosen by God as they effortlessly hunt down a tiger!" Mr. Don is NEVER anything less than completely over the top in any aspect.
• Verbal Tic: "...MAX!", "Ahaha!", Ikkyuu sticks "oni" into his sentences a lot. Mr. Don can't seem to express any kind of opinion without repeatedly remarking that "it makes me sad."
• Versus Character Splash
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Komosubi and the Ha Ha brothers. For all their fist fighting and one-upping, they're quick to defend each other if their skill as a line is questioned.
• Viva Las Vegas: In the manga, at the end of the Death March, the Devil Bats have to win enough money for tickets back to Japan.
• Walking Techbane: Shin. He was even forced to pay 23,000 yen for accidentally damaging a vending machine.
• Warding Gestures
• Wax On, Wax Off: "Kick this stone across the U.S., and don't lose even a tiny bit of it."
• Weak but Skilled:
  • Osamu Kobanzame, the weak, indecisive quarterback of Poseidons, who is overshadowed by his junior teammates, but has amazing accuracy in short passes, and foot speed (triggered by fear), which results in 0 interceptions in the tournament. He also went through Mizumachi-style training without complaining.
  • Hiromi Kisaragi's athletic skill is below average, but his Ptera-Claw is formidable against a receiver like Monta.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Musashi punches Hiruma hard enough to draw blood when Hiruma orders Sena to continue marking Agon, even at the risk of permanently crippling his legs. Subverted because it's actually staged as part of a trick play.
• Where Are They Now? Epilogue: The final chapter. Most of the members of the team are now at university (different ones), and now play football against each other and go to the Rice Bowl, thus ending the series the same way it started.
• White-Haired Pretty Boy: Both Riku and Taka.
• Who Needs Overtime: Hiruma always chooses to go for the "surprising win" instead of overtime, although it's kinda justified since the team only has 14 players (4 borrowed from other sport clubs), so continuing with a really exhausted team is a poor option.
• Whoa, Bundy!: Many of the Devil Bats' huddles during football games in the manga break with a cry of "Kick their asses!" Many of their opponents have similar Whoa Bundy cries.
• The Worf Effect:
  • Onihei's team was built up as a powerhouse and an overall favorite in the tournament, so that when they got their asses handed to them by the Kyoshin Poseidons, we'd know who the real power was. Similarly, Taiyo and Seibu both bit it against Hakushuu to illustrate how brutal the Dinosaurs were.
  • Subverted in the Ojo versus Sado game, where Otawara gets bowled over twice - but he was faking weakness so Shin could test out his Trident Tackle on opponents, and when he gets to let loose his Lightning Bruiser properties soundly trounce Sado.
• Worthy Opponent: Patrick "Panther" Spencer.
  • Also Shin.
  • Yamato Takeru considers Sena to be this.
  • And Heinrich Schultz
  • Gaou thinks Kurita is one.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Toganou often wonders if Hiruma is not human.
• Yamato Nadeshiko:
  • Mamori, with some dashes of Mama Bear.
  • Dinosaurs manager Maruko Himuro is implied to be one.
  • Karin Koizumi might be one, subverted since she's a quarterback.
• You Shall Not Pass: Played straight by Banba. His quarterback is the first (and only) quarterback that survived the onslaught from the beastly Rikiya Gaou.
• Younger Than They Look: Most of the football players from other teams look like they'd fit in better in real NFL matches than in high school, most notably Musashi and "The Kid." There was even a metatextual "Old Man's Face" contest between them. Musashi won.