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Title: Time-Out 0
Series: Eyeshield 21 #22
Author: Riichiro Inagaki
Artist: Yusuke Murata
Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Sports Manga
Pages: 210
Format: Digital Scan

Synopsis:

The battle for the game continues between the Devil Bats and the Naga.

Monta wins the catching game against both Ikkyu AND Agon, thus allowing a crucial 4 seconds to remain on the clock. Sena's legs are done. He has one play left in him and that is it. Hiruma is pulling out every single trick he can think of to keep the dream of going to the Christmas Bowl alive.

The rest of the Naga watch as their top players are countered and it shakes them. Agon isn't shaken, but neither does he learn. He knows that his talent has been enough before and he's going to stick with that.

The volume ends with 4 seconds on the clock and 8 yards to go for the Devil Bats to tie the game up. Not Fair!

My Thoughts:

Holy smokes, another nail biting, adrenalin pumping volume of Eyeshield 21! It was awesome to see the various members of the Devil Bats match the Naga in ability and come back from an impossible point deficit.

Honestly, since this is still the same game started 2 books ago, (or was it three?), I don't have much to say. There is no resolution and I'm not one to talk about specific plays within a game since it doesn't mean that much to me. Monta catches the ball, Sena runs the ball, Hiruma throws the ball, The End.

It is kind of a double edged sword, being a social football fan. Since I'm not that into it, I don't care about the details as much, but if I were into the details, I'd probably give up in disgust as it wouldn't match real life; this is a manga after all. It would be like me reading a Land Surveying Manga, hahahhaa. Goodness, the very idea makes me cringe, as I could see something like cutting down whole forests with one “power” swing of a machete or bouncing the laser off of multiple objects and getting the info from each bounce, just silly things like that. That wouldn't be real, but to someone who doesn't know surveying, it would just be cool.

I actually groaned at the end of this volume, as the manga-ka lets the reader believe the game is lost for the Devil Bats for at least 3 pages. Then I groaned again, and louder, when the volume ended and there were 4 SECONDS left on the clock. All I can say is that they had better finish this game next volume and give me some “slice of life” segments to break up all the “football”. It's getting pretty danged serious and needs some lightening up again. ( )