Anime: Eyeshield 21 4i3s6s

Eyeshield 21 is a Japanese take on the great American sport of football. Although somewhat base in its football knowledge, this anime is a somewhat decent interpretation of the sport to the viewing audiences in Japan.

Animation

The animation for Eyeshield 21 is spot on. Very bright colors and good character movement give the anime a fast feel, which is a bonus as the game of football is a fast paced play-by-play game. With clearly drawn and defined characters, along with the nicely detailed backgrounds, the anime portrays quality work. Along with the subtle add-ons to give the anime a more tactical prespective. For example, when Sena has the ball, he can often ascertain and read his blocks to determine the best running lane, via a bright neon green arrow. And not to leave out the other characters, the match up screen that occurs gives a comical but fairly accurate portrayal of one on one situations that may occur throughout the course of the game.

Sound

The sound of Eyeshield 21 is your common J-pop stuff, giving the show a very upbeat tone. The OP song is somewhat addictive and personally gets me pumped for some odd reason to watch the show. The ED song is your typical mellow, J-rock music to finish off the show. As for Voice Actors, all characters sync up nicely with the VA, maybe except for Sena who, in my opinon, is a little to high pitched, but besides that everyone is voiced nicely. Sound effects are also well done with the grunts of the linemen, the pads colliding in such giving the show a very tense feeling during the game sequences.

Story

Eyeshield 21 revolves around a freshman in high school named Sena, who throughout his life was picked on and made to do menial tasks because of his lack of height. But under the constant vigil of his older sister figure Mamori, has managed to survive thus far. Upon entering highschool he undergoes a series of bizzar events and finds himself on the American Football Club as the secret weapon known as Eyeshield 21.

The story is fairly interseting. We see the usual personal struggles and such that go along with this type of series which is to be expected. But the cool thing for me was the fact that the sport was football, the greatest sport on Earth (imo). With that we are able to see the struggles play out on the gridiron (football field). AS the above review stated, this is a very basic football interpretaion anime and should not be viewed for the sole purpose of seeing in depth football knowledge presented in animation. The plays are very basic at best, screens, draws, tosses, es to recivers running no predetermined route other than to 'get open' and such are common place for the offense in this series. On defense, the showing is somewhat better but not entierly accurate, for example several techniques they present (shins spear tackle comes to mind) are not entirely effective in real life. Coupled with the odd way they change possesion and you have yourself a pretty unique interpretaion of football. But hey, it all works out in the end.

Characters

The characters are all well done. Each character having a distinct and personal identity. Sena, the quiet shy boy with speed unmatched. Himura, the rough gangsta quarterback with all the football knowledge. Mamori, the sister figure. Shin, the hard ass Football all star. Basicaly there are various characters, each fleshed out enough in the first 20 episodes to give the viewer a good overview of them. And with 20 some odd episodes left to go and not even a full team, leaves room for more.

Value

A very nicely done show. With other sports anime sprouting up its nice to see Football the ranks of them. Well worth any sports anime fans time to view and football fan at that.

Enjoyment

I personally like the show, and cant wait for the rest of the eps to come out. Being a football player at the moment, it is nice to see the sport get some recognition outside of America.

Eyeshield 21 is about a little guy who ed his school American Football team coincidentally, and becomes the backbone of the team. His experience of being an 'errand boy' makes him timid but fast with his legs and hence his position at the running back in the team. An interesting series with interesting people, it is a rather lighter hearted comedy series with serious and meaningful moments at times. When you see this high rating you probably think I overrate this series, and in fact I feel I did too, but I simply can't find any points to deduct from any of the below, at least for the first 20 episodes. If you still find it unbelievable, then be sure to see for yourself.

Animation -- 9
The animation is one of bright colours, and since this series is about American Football, you'll see lots of green colour. The overall effect is a "happy" kind of setting, which is very pleasant to the eyes. All the art is drawn with very clearly defined lines, giving a new, clean and sleek outlook. Shadows are used very appropriately on every characters and their clothings, giving some kind of 3D effect. The animation is also exceptionally smooth and detailed, and shows intensity and motion of the situation by appropriate use of colours with animation. For example, when the guy is running at high speed, you can see the fading colours behind him, or the white streak of wind he creates. If you look carefully, even the white streaks of sunlight are done nicely.
Character design is cool, and expressions on their faces are able to convey what kind of feelings they are having completely. I especially love the show of competition between two persons or two teams by "versus s", like those in a 2-player street fighter fighting game before the game finish loading.
Simply put, this is one of the best animation I've ever seen so far.

Sound -- 8
First of all, OPs and EDs are really good so far (so far meaning till episode 20). They also fit the series very nicely.
The music in the series are rather good. The same "competitive" music is played when they are in the matches, but this music brings out the tension nicely. Since this is about American Football, there is a lot of actions of running and pushing around and the sounds are adequately and nicely used to bring out those actions.
Special mention goes to the voice acting of the captain of the team, which really has an interesting voice fitting to his interesting face and character.

Story -- 8
The story, by far, is interesting and engaging. I have watched sports series like Buzzer Beater and Prince of Tennis and they kind turn me off (PoTennis fans, sorry!). I wasn't look forward to Eyeshield 21 but it proved me wrong. It provides an interesting way to look at American Football, adding a new slice to it with the interesting characters. I'm not any American Football fan and have not really watch more than 10 NFL matches. This statistics probably rank me as a beginner in watching American Football and as a beginner, I dare say beginners will surely enjoy the series. As for experienced fans who watched or even played American Football, you may find their strategy rather incorrect because running back is usually not the trump card of the team (or so my "experienced" friend said). Nonetheless, besides the sports factor other factors still contribute to the score of 8 for this series.

Character -- 8
Characters are very carefully and beautifully designed in this series. Be it kind, caring, cruel, dangerous, funny, sensational or competitive, you are sure to find these traits in the characters of Eyeshield 21. A crazy mix of interesting people in the main team makes the team exponentially interesting and they have not even recruit the whole team yet, which gives potential for the story and characters to develop even further.

Value & Enjoyment -- 8
With the above getting so many high ratings, value and enjoyment aren't any different. Although the genre of this series is Shounen and Sports, it's pretty much of comedy as well. In fact, its humor is one of the better ones around which can at least make people laugh in front of the monitor and not one of totally "unfunny" jokes. It is a relatively easy-to-hook-on series and entertainment value is high.