Putting ES21 out of its misery.

[Aikidoka]

Here's probably what happened. The editor(s) saw that the ratings for ES dropped for one week, and just because of that one week of low ratings, overreacted and commanded Inagaki to end the story ASAP. Those stupid editor(s), always sticking their noses into other people's businesses.

That's what I would say but I don't want to be a flamer and stuff...still, that's the most plausible explanation I can come up with. I seriously can't see Inagaki writing so well and then suddenly having it take a nosedive.

[Sorata]

I hate to say it. But it really needs to be said.

This manga has jumped the shark.

We have main heroes that are more antiheroes at best, the main cast has taken a back seat, and we get steamrolled into a new section that just seems forced into a Rocky moment.

I'll explain exactly why I feel the way I do about the manga and how it could have gone better.

1) Teikoku match - I explained it once, I'll go over it again. The perfect team, filled with the very best of the best in all of Teikoku. Deimon kicked their asses. Here's where the problem started:

Marco basically told us about the Top. I couldn't have cared less about Teikoku because they gave Marco at LEAST a few chapters long before we saw him. Hell, they were put in as a dark horse when they had the rankings. NOTHING pointed to Teikoku but tack on at last minute. Yes, old hat, I'll move on.

2) World Cup - Where the heck do I start...? I'll divide this up in order of priority:

A) Unsui/Mummy controversy - That mummy hasn't done one damn thing the entire match. If you're going to have a secret weapon, then you should do a better job of hiding him. I want one badass moment from this guy and yet, his entire thread and reasoning is gone... He's not catching over Tatanka, he's not going for the long passes... What the hell is this mummy man doing? And if it IS Rui instead, what's going to happen? Basically, Inagaki did a poor job of working this plotline to a conclusion so far.

B) World Cup - Over too. Damn. Fast. This was the perfect time to allow us a chance to build a rep with USA. We could learn some of Panther's teammates and see if they were people we like or don't like. We could learn more about Clifford and Panther, their friends etc. OR show Team Japan watching the slaughter similar to how Gaou slaughtered Taiyo! You could have given us something to work with. Instead we got "Nothing can stop us" Determinator power. What a ripoff...

C) Panther - Look, I'm a black man myself. I come off as fairly intelligent sometimes (even if I'm long winded in a post like this. ) But hey, I'm fair about genetics here. I can understand that Panther is gifted. Not denying the slight nod to adaptive science. But seriously, you just said 4.2 was it, Inagaki... Then you go and change that for your main character to have a challenge? AND he runs slower with the ball? *sigh* Here's what also butters my biscuits when we get down to this guy.

The Gonzales brothers are gone. We don't even get to see Homer, who Panther fought for. We get to see NOTHING of Watt no matter how much of a character he was. It's as if Inagaki had to bumrush good character buildup for a pigeon holed story. Whoever the editor is, he needs a new day job. >_<

D) USA - They. Are. Assholes. Every last one of em except Panther. We see Bud, the flashy guy that looks just like Kid for some reason. Hmmm... Clifford. Nuff said. Mr. Don - someone we can hate but damn, tone his condescension down a bit... Tatanka only got one kickass moment and he's been scrubby since the beginning. Can we at least get ONE character that isn't all "I'm better than you" from USA? The coach? A sideline player? Someone that acts a little like Kobanzame but is gifted? Point being, there's only main eventers here and not enough side show.

E) Rivalries - Bud got owned. Sakuraba has yet to take out Tatanka and there's other rivalries that just aren't panning out. Panther vs Shin, I am SO disappointed. Sena vs Panther, again, we need something to happen short of a miracle. Agon vs the world, funny, but he's a chaotic character to begin with that isn't using his brain. Why should I care what he does when he's getting predictable?

This goes back to my other point about the World Cup, we didn't get a buildup to it, it was thrust upon everyone when we got nothing on Panther. How he worked and trained was just a two second panel then off we go back to Japan. If Panther were built up as a second rival from the start, I'd be okay. We'd have a fairly decent rivalry with an American and a Japanese guy. Now I just want to see this to the end, since it's coming soon.

TLR version

I find it sad, we started this manga with schools with certain themes, learning more about football as we go. Now, near the end, someone fumbled, believing that pigeonholing the plot would somehow get us to appreciate characters we don't know about. I for one hope for the best, but it's kinda hard when we've forgotten some characters and the rivalries just aren't top notch like they used to be.

I agree with most of what you said, IMO ES21 has gone downhill since the Hakushyuu game and Sena´s last worthy opponent was Shin after great bouts against Rikku, Akaba and Agon(Marco was more like Gaou´s tamer).

Anyway i just want to point some things about your post, you criticize the mangaka for making the american characters a bunch of assholes but(don´t take me wrong, i have nothing against USA) that´s how the rest of the world see´s the american people specially high school athletes, if you ask me it´s hard to believe that a guy with Panthers skills can have such a nice personality in the USA, i know this is just a steryotipe but that´s how the rest of the world see´s them and that´s how USA sells their people in movies and series.

And when you talk about the some past characters and rivalaries, but let´s be honest the american team was build with such monsters as Panther, Don and Clyford that the only ones who stand a chance face to face with them are the big five from Kantou(Gaou, Sena, Agon, Monta and Shin) and probably Yamato, so this 6 together with Hiruma(the real main character from ES21) are gonna have much more air time than guys like Rikku, Marco or Kakei; Akaba is another great player but he stated that he would only play on the kicking team.

[JC123]

Anyway i just want to point some things about your post, you criticize the mangaka for making the american characters a bunch of assholes but(don´t take me wrong, i have nothing against USA) that´s how the rest of the world see´s the american people specially high school athletes, if you ask me it´s hard to believe that a guy with Panthers skills can have such a nice personality in the USA, i know this is just a steryotipe but that´s how the rest of the world see´s them and that´s how USA sells their people in movies and series.

All respect, I have been to Japan as well as the Phillipines. I was treated as an American which has a different connotation than political agenda. In Japan, the fact that I learned Japanese, kept a pretty low key profile and loved to party was great for them and many people catered to American interests. Not saying it's a bad thing but military life does come with military perks.

Phillipines, I was never treated harshly even though I probably had more money than the average Filipino. All in all, the stereotypes don't exactly match everything that could have made these characters better. What I was truly criticizing was the fact that they were rushed. Bud really has no purpose it seems. He's stronger than Tetsuma but weaker than Monta, nearly giving them the match unless Tatanka destroys the pass.

And I'm sorry if this offends people but Tatanka is officially a Butt Monkey. How the hell is he the tallest person in the tournament but Sakuraba is able to jump over him for the TD? Somehow, that's Deus Ex.

And when you talk about the some past characters and rivalaries, but let´s be honest the american team was build with such monsters as Panther, Don and Clyford that the only ones who stand a chance face to face with them are the big five from Kantou(Gaou, Sena, Agon, Monta and Shin) and probably Yamato, so this 6 together with Hiruma(the real main character from ES21) are gonna have much more air time than guys like Rikku, Marco or Kakei

Which is fine. But we got nothing about them before the match. Having Mr. Don as a mystery was great. But it's similar to how I came to respect Hercules in the Teikoku match. He lost a little but he gained ground until he was at the top in Teikoku. And he kept fighting to stay there. Even though the Teikoku game could have been better, it did a decent job. But there was NOTHING on anyone, other than former info such as Panther and nothing on Bud until firmly the last minute. Almost as if they didn't exist until Murakata had to say "We might need more than Panther..."

[Rsatori]

Tatanka is the human dome and supposed to be one of the strongest men in history. I'm sure in America he's probably had to face tall QBs and tall receivers. There's 1,500,000 players in America. I'm sure there's somebody that is taller than Sakuraba and Takami in America that have tested out the Human Dome name. The moment was nice but it just seems like Tatanka should have been able to deflect that shit.