Dear
Internet,
YA-HA! "Eyeshield 21" is over, all 145
episodes. This is both a relief on my
mind but also a sad reality about how it did so. My suspicions were correct that I have been outlining
in my letters to you. The television series
ended after the game against the White Knights.
Taking 16 episodes in total, the single match would have taken four
months to air or over four hours if played in real time. It is a testament to sports shows how it is
able to make twenty or more steps made by a player to equate to five
yards. I remember one episode where it
was clear that Eyeshield ran past ten white lines. Each of those line are equivalent to five
yards, so he ran fifty yards. Yet the
audience was told he went only ten to twenty.
Also, "Eyeshield 21" has a way of allowing many characters to
comment on a split second play. A ten
second play can last two minutes with all the interjections. But alas, the show has draw itself out and
to a close. There are still a few things
that I must say before I move on to the next item of the backlog.
"Eyeshield
21" is a show that never once plays the "man card" despite
obviously holding it the entire time.
What does that mean? It is a show
about guys playing American football while never once saying to the women that
they are not welcome. This is a narrow
line that the show walks which it might have only done so because it is aimed
at a low age demographic. Only adults
care about such matters and usually adults who do not have kids involved with
the situation talk the least sense when it comes to it. At the same time, the show actually makes the
case that despite females never playing the game they are invaluable to the
team. Trying to pull the argument that
the Devil Bats could have won without Mamori diligently compiling data and
supporting the players is impossible.
Even Suzuna played her role as emotional support from time to time, not
just acting as a cheerleader. The
females of the show are neither denied acceptance or pined after as a
goal. With that being said, the number
of females are rightfully low. I can
perhaps name roughly 80% of the females that appear in the show without looking
through my notes. There is Suzuna,
Mamori, the manager of the White Knights, the manager of the Chameleons, the
manager of the Spiders, the three fans of Sukuraba and the rest of his female
fans who really only count as one character, the girlfriends of the Cupids,
Sena's mother, Monta's mother, Komusubi's mother, Yukimitsu's mother, Taki and
Suzuna's unseen mother, the two American women who were harassed by punks early
in the show, the American biker chick, Panther's grandmother, the pregnant
woman who couldn't get a doctor, the extra Devil Bats cheerleaders, the Poseidon
cheerleaders, the Gunmen cheerleaders, the scary nurse, the stewardess, and the
gun crazy police officer. While some 26 recallable
females might seem like a lot, most of them do not even get names. It is less a testament that the show does not
care for females but more of a testimony that the show is there to talk
football not relationships.
Another
thing that "Eyeshield 21" does
quite well that needs mentioning is the music.
There are twelve songs used for the opening and ending themes. A majority of them are well suited for the
show and act well to build up or let off tension to get the audience anxious to
find out what happens next. I am
reminded of a number of "F-Zero" songs when listening to the soundtrack
of the show. There are also a number of background
music tracks that can be missed if one does not play attention. These tracks are sometimes so beautifully
done to the point where it feels like they poured a little too much of their
budget into the ambiance tracks, yet they are warmly welcome.
On the
matter of pacing during a match, the show suffered greatly from a major
flaw. Every time that a new technique
was created or showcased, it was almost immediately shot down as ineffective. I have talked about this before but with the
White Knights game it was worse than ever.
Numerous times a play would start and when someone was about to pull off
an unbelievable feat they either failed or some new facet was thrown in the
viewers face. What made it worse here
was how often it occurred. It got to the
point where I could no longer fall for the obvious attempt to make every single
play the most important one so far. I
could tell that the eventual dupe was coming well ahead of time. The only time in the match that completely
went against this obvious formula was the face off between Himura and Ichiro
Takami, the two quarterbacks. Here the
show went for broke pulling about four of these switches one right after another,
with each time the one character mocking the other. It was the closest time that the show was
self aware and willing to go over the top.
That is also where a lot of the strength of the show comes from. Whenever it goes well over the top,
"Eyeshield 21" is able to entertain.
Characters shooting guns off to intimidate, good. A violent dog chasing team members to train
them, good. Having only 1 cm to the end
zone, meh. The last item is just one
upping the 30 cm to end zone play a few games back. What differentiates between "one
upping" and "going over the top" is asking if the show just
takes it to the next logical level. If
someone can run 40 yards in 4.3 seconds, then the next guy is going to run it
in 4.2. If the show is predictable then
there is little incentive in watching it.
Internet,
it might seem like what I have discussed her make it seem like "Eyeshield
21" is worth avoiding or at the very least is bogged down by too many faults
to warrant the time to watch it. But
that is not the case. "Eyeshield
21" is enjoyable despite the faults that
mar it. The characters are varied
and well made. The plot tells you what
to expect and delivers it, which is refreshing especially when so many of its
peers can go aimless for well over 100 episodes. In some aspect, it is educational between the
American Football Clinic breaks and the story's direct explanation of the
rules. And for the most part, it is
fun. "Eyeshield 21" is a good
show, just not great. The biggest
problem of the show is just the length and time it would take to watch it as a
weekly show, which is something that I cannot replicate. However, it can definitely qualify as a
guilty little pleasure.
Yours in digital,
BeepBoop
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