Eyeshield 21 Chapter 333: Final Down

Eyeshield 21 Chapter 333: Ready, Set, Hut Last Page

Two days ago, I thought of writing an article about the sports manga New Prince of Tennis and now I'm writing another one for another sports manga which came to an end - Eyeshield 21.

Writen by Riichiro Inagaki and illustrated by Yusuke Murata, Eyeshield 21 focuses on one of the most popular sport in America which is the American Football. Sena Kobayakawa who was discovered by Hiruma to have the potential to be the fastest running back was recruited forcefully to join the Deimon Devil Bats during their High School Christmas Bowl journey. Hiruma together with Musashi and Kurita initially had the dream of participating in the Christmas Bowl during their freshmen years. However, the problem is they don't have the pieces to even complete a line-up. This time around, with baseball catching tensai Monta and other role players joining the team, they fought adversity and played through Hiruma's trump cards and plays. Upon winning the Christmas Bowl against Hakushuu Dinosaurs and eliminating Oujou White Knights and Shinryuji Nagas in the process, an All-Japan team was formed to join the High School American Football Cup.

And now Eyeshield 21 came to an end with the final chapter 333 entitled Ready Set Hut depicting the whereabouts of the All-Japan team members. Sena became the team captain of Deimon after the trio of Musashi, Kurita and Hiruma left. MVP Panther joined the NFL as a professional player and Sena was invited to play in Notre Dame wherein the legendary player Eyeshield 21 was born. Sena came back from America and joined Enma University as they easily pass the entrance exam because no one fails the university's exams. Here are some of the line-ups featured in the last chapter:

Enma University:
1. Sena Kobayakawa of Deimon Devil Bats
2. Monta of Deimon Devil Bats
3. Riku of Seibu Wildgunmen
4. Unsui of Shinryuji Nagas
5. Mizumachi
6. Koutarou of Banjo Spiders
7. Kurita of Deimon Devil Bats

Saikyoudai University - the most powerful school in the American Football Sport includes a powerful cast
1. Agon of Shinryuji Nagas
2. Akaba
3. Yamato
4. Taka

Oujou University still has its former high school players led by Shin

Shuuei Medical College
1. Takami from Oujou White Knights
2. Yukimitsu from Deimon Devil Bats

Takekura Construction Babels - rumored worst team from the Semi-Pro League
1. Musashi of Deimon Devil Bats
2. Kid from Seibu Wildgunmen
3. Gaou from Hakushuu Dinosaurs

Takekura Engineering
1. Hiruma of Deimon Devil Bats
2. Ikkyuu of Shinryuji Nagas

Zokuto University was known for Habashira Rui.

The trio of Hiruma, Kurita and Musashi decided to part ways mainly because Musashi can't afford to go the same university as Kurita and Hiruma wants to go to eventhough they all wanted to play with each other. However, Kurita decided not to team up with Hiruma with respect to Musashi.

In the end, everyone mentioned above watched the first performance of Sena Kobakayawa back from Notre Dame who was wearing the popular Eyeshield and jersey number 21 qualify and play in the Rice Bowl.

Overall, I really liked the manga. I haven't watched the anime though. I enjoyed reading it not only because of the underdog players who battled with sheer determination against naturally gifted players but also with the humor and idiocy that Deimon Devil Bats brings to the plot and Hiruma's trick plays against their opponents. It was a great manga and I really hope Inagaki and Murata comes up with another run of the Eyeshield 21: College Edition just like the New Prince of Tennis.

New Prince of Tennis Manga

Last March 5th, ryColaa scanlated the first issue of New Prince of Tennis which was made available at OneManga.com. I was very delighted to read about the continuation of one of the more popular sports manga/ anime to date because the last OVA episode was just finished just months ago.

This is a great news for sports manga fans as probably the longest running sports manga series Hajime no Ippo will be joined by the New Prince of Tennis as they try to continue on their success.

Just to give you an overview, this time, they're Middle Schoolers battling it out to be chosen in the U-17 team Japanese High School Representation selection camp. Ryoma Echizen just came back from conquering a US Open and as usual the Seigaku team is complete together with other middle school teams like Rikkai Dai, Hyotei and Shitenhouji. The first challenge in the selection camp was to grab a tennis ball in order to qualify as a candidate and our favorite middle schoolers easily did that as opposed to other nobodies bragging about their tennis skills. The second challenge was to pair up and as usual long-time doubles pairs quickly formed their teams but to everyone's surprise, they will be battling their teammate to remain as a candidate in the selections. This challenge is still on-going though with only seven chapters to date of this series continuation.

Some things to note:

1. So far, the selection camp's results of prospective candidates were looking like that of the Japanese representatives in the US vs Japan arc wherein the final battle was between Kevin and Ryoma.

2. I really don't quite dig Eiji winning against Oishi. Eventhough Oishi has been portrayed as more of a doubles player and has been inferior to Eiji in terms of skills when they play one on one, I still don't quite get it why Eiji's name has been popping out as a candidate option. Besides the Kikumaru beam smash and the dopple ganger, there's only the acrobatic technique in which the author can call it Kikumaru's own.

3. What happened to the Fuji vs Tezuka after the National Championship arc? If I remember correctly, Fuji challenged Tezuka to play against him after he won in the finals. And it also seems that Fuji has very few appearances so far in the new series.

4. Akutsu joins part of the U-17 selection camp. It was quite a surprise for me considering he wasn't even interested in playing tournament tennis again though but this is quite a nice new development.

5. No new prodigies on the middle schoolers' ranks. Perhaps the author just wants every Prince of Tennis fan to be happy that their favorite PoT characters are still intact and included in the series. Sad to say though that no new prodigies have come since Ryoma was not around for a long time.

With only seven chapters released, I think the author is still plotting the storyline for the old and new characters alike. I hope it won't turn into a one-sided middle school-filled line up of the U-17. Slam Dunk fans who have lost hope that the series will be revived after a shocking ending in which Shohoku failed to advance to the national championship will be very much delighted at the storyline of Prince of Tennis series. Seigaku unlike Shohoku won the national championship and guess what, the author is continuing the series in the form of the New Prince of Tennis ala Dragon Ball to Dragon Ball Z. The shift to middle school really is refreshing for manga readers like me who have long been starved of the storyline that Slam Dunk has teased us. Have fun reading the manga!

The 7th Philippine Toys, Hobbies and Collectibles Convention 2008

SM Megatrade Hall - Time to have some fun reminiscing about your favorite toys.

Around 5PM, Sunday, June 15, I lined up to enter and pay 80 bucks for the Toy Con 2008. It was a fun-filled activity as I was still lucky enough to arrive just an hour before the Group Cosplay competition. Upon seeing lots of photographers, I quickly gathered mine, set it up and captured pictures of different toys feasting our eyes scattered around the hall.

A few booths worth noting:

Gong! While loitering around, I saw around four players playing a cute soccer online game called Gong! I was ecstatic to see a football online game being played on PC because not only is it promoting football in the country but it's also my favorite sport.

Guitar Hero - Want a free Game Mag? Get ready to line up and play Guitar Hero on PS3.

Lego - My favorite toy is still very much alive! It's been 50 years since Lego started these little building blocks helping the toddlers develop their inner passion for designing anything out of these blocks. A Philippine community was built as Lego also pays tribute to the recent Philippine Independence Day. In this huge lot, you'll be able to find a city hall, police station, houses as well as portions featuring space and pirates.

Wacom - Wacom has always been present when it comes to toy events. The booth boasts of lots of talented Filipinos drawing in a variety of Wacom tablets showcasing their drafting skills in Adobe Photoshop.

Alfredo Alcala and Mars Ravelo's comic booths - While many of us find Filipino artworks cheap, it never ceases to amaze me how they've managed to fight for Filipino comic book survival against American and Japanese giants such as Marvel, DC Comics, Shounen Jump!

Private Collectors - Mostly, these private collectors want to showcase their toy collections to various toy fans. They, trust me, are a lot knowledgeable in terms of the collectibles.

Group CosPlay

Ten groups participated in the group costume play. It got me guessing whether I had the guts to ask them to pose for a shot at my camera. With the help of luck, I was able to get more than enough as the Group Cosplay competition just started a few minutes after my arrival.

Among the participants were the following:

• Shinigami Captains dancing in Hagibis songs
• WWE's Incredible Hulk + Hulk Hogan vs Triple H
• Counterstrike with Zenigata (?), Zoro of One Piece and school girls
• Sven the Rogue Knight of DoTA, Magic Knight Ray Earth theme dancing the Michael Jackson's Black or White while imitating the Coca-Cola commercial with C2
• Power Rangers with Sentai theme battling an alien
• Cross-dressed boys wearing Japanese school girls' uniforms
• Resident Evil with Crush and Freddie Krugger (?)
• Macross story narration
• School Rumble with Hard Gay fighting Cyclops, Manny Pacquiao and Spartan's Leonidas
• Ragnarok players dancing the Kuro-chan (?) song

I'll be posting more once I get the photos uploaded to Multiply.