Manga: It's pretty killer...

[Commy Pandy]

Then make one! Lol

[HENSHIN]

Alright so due to the fact that I won't be here this sunday I decided to go ahead and roll with the Manga Pick of the Week.

This week's pick is ironically enough on hold along with all it's other Jump siblings (Japan is celebrating it's Golden Week holiday). I said I wasn't going to focus on the main stream but I feel that of the Shonen Jump serialized manga this Sports Title doesn't get as much spotlight as it deserves.

No... it's not Prince of Tennis (sorry fangirls D:) but Riichiro Inagaki's Eyeshield 21.



Eyeshield is a fantastic read for a sports manga (I'm not too fond of most athletics-centered books) and really draws you it's over-the-top take on AMERICAN Football. Now, I'm not a big football fan but I'll be dammed if Murata's art, with it's use of dramatic angles, action lines, and all around unique character design, didn't tempt me to pick up the pig-skin and run the 40 in 5.0 seconds.

Now while Eyeshield does follow the basic outline laid out by all shounen (Meek to Super main character, Childhood friends, Lots of "My Dream" talk, ect.) It's not as predictable due to the fact that very often the Deimon Devilbats (the main characters Team) doesn't win every game or even most games. They win against teams they're better than and struggle against those superior to themselves and it creates some very tense moments when you don't know who will clinch victory in the end.

I really like E21 and I think a good number of you will enjoy it too (I know several non-manga readers who picked it up and didn't put it down till they caught up with the current arc). As always I'll leave a little summary with you guys:

Kobayakawa Sena is a freshman in highschool. Despite his previous decisions to change his life, he finds himself in the exactly same place he was in during elementary school and junior high: a push over and an errand boy. However, this changes when Hiruma, the most feared person in his school and president of the American Football Club, notices Sena and forces him to join the Football Team. Now Sena will become Eyeshield 21, a mysterious running back with lighting fast speed.

Eyeshield 21 and it's first 327 chapters (each roughly 15 pages long) can be found here. Updates are weekly and consitant (as it is a SJ title) with the exception of the ocassional holiday. Hope you guys enjoy it.