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Eyeshield 21 - Chapter 284. Bloodline of Sky Riders.
Credits: Xophien (translation), Crayola (used Edited Manga).
Ahh, feels so good after finishing one of my exams (4 more to go) and completing an another review. Actually, I'd make it even earlier, but I was playing a new MMO, Rohan Online, so I was "busy" a little... Anyway, this is my biggest and hardest review so far, so enjoy!
"Father, why is EVERYONE around me is so retarded?"
First thing to notice in this chapter is that Teikoku went for a one-point-conversion. Being the strongest team, it is pretty strange that they won’t try in the start, at least for the testing purposes. Are they still analyzing Deimon, in order to understand their true capabilities and then to go at the full force?
Anyway, that quick touchdown was like a slap in the face from Teikoku. If you remember, Deimon did the same in the Hakushuu match; they were only able to achieve this because overall, Dinosaurs was… ahem, a pretty much D-rated team. It was like “sure, you have Gaou, but we are still are stronger that you”. In the last play Deimon was not only overwhelmed by brute force but also beaten in the tactical game. So basically, Devilbats are now suffering from their own weapons – unpredictable, daring attacks. And the onside kick is also is a proof of this…
Shinigami face + absolute prediction = “kyaaaaaa!”
That is about the most expected reaction towards Yamato if there were any fan-girls nearby (they love bisho~*COUGH-COUGH*…). Well, to say that team oriented on offence won’t receive any points during the whole game is a pretty ballsy statement. And this also means, of course, not letting any field goals in. And seeing as Musashi can cover 50 yards with a kick, Teikoku plans of not even letting them to gain even one step forward. Let’s say, for example, that Alexanders will intercept every ball/succeed at each onside kick. It takes for a Yamato-Taka combination 30 seconds to make a touchdown… With some easy calculations we get – 30 touchdowns/210 points in one game quarter!
Perfect panel for a perfect "joke page". Yes, I'm talking to you, "Fucking-Manga" guys.
Sure, it is obvious that Hiruma won’t just let for the game to proceed this way, plus kick-off consumes time as well. But let’s look at the facts:
- Taka can intercept passes without any problems (for now, at least). That means that Deimon is not only always in danger of having the ball snapped from them in any moment. But if they will try to make this game more rush-oriented then they will be in a huge disadvantage, since from that point they will be much easier to read. And, Teikoku not only can intercept the pass, and then they can also deliver to the end zone right away.
- Although the chance of succeeding at the onside kick is about 1/5, Alexanders make it 4/5, due to their overall high speed and their aces Yamato and Taka. They are not giving Deimon any chance to gain points and moving to the attack right away.
- We still don’t know how exactly Teikoku is powerful on offence. But Yamato and Taka is at the offensive positions, to begin with. So they are probably even more adapted to the “normal” scoring. Karin… we’ll talk about her later. And Hercules, he obviously has something in his sleeves, something that will stop Kurita. Count it all down, adding the ace-based “rest of the team”, and we are getting some destructive mixture.
With all this, 1) Teikoku won’t let Deimon to score for the first time; 2) Teikoku will have a lot of chances to make a touchdown; 3) Teikoku is totally not wasting even one second of their time. So I’d say… 60-70 points for the first half? Yeah, pretty much badass… But just imagine for Deimon to make an awesome and twisted comeback from THIS.
Actual fortune-teller’s abilities, Yamato’s, deserve some new highlight. He really can not match Sena’s speed. Or he could be hiding it, but I just don’t see an actual point of this. As we’ve seen at the page 10, he runs at the same speed as the rest of his team. On the other hand, he has catched up to the ball first, as he was blocked by Sena. So, how do their speeds really differ from each other? We (almost >_<) know that he can’t run at the speed-of-light pace, because he was really surprised by seeing Sena closing up to him instantly. Probably, he really does rely mostly at his incredible balance that allows him to run at the straight line and not be stopped.
Of course, we are talking about “normal” Yamato right now. How exactly he will play in his real style is very hard to comprehend at this point. Especially the factors that are needed to actually “wake” him up…
Suicide prevention hotline welcomes everyone who needs us.
This time, I have set as a target of this topic to find out the actual abilities of Taka. I’ve deformed this picture a little for this purpose:
I hate Photoshop and Photoshop hates me. Mutual feelings work best.
All measurements were made mostly with the ruler and computer. As a basis I took the only known to us number – Monta’s height, 155 cm (~61 inches, 5 feet). Sure, he has probably gained some centimeters since the last “file check”, but he is standing in a battle pose on the picture, so I think that it’s pretty much balanced. Number are somewhat rough (I could be mistaken about something, though it is unlikely), but I’m sure that it will suffice.
All right, now let’s go.
1) Line a. 280 cm ~ 110 inches ~ 9 feet. This is the measure of the Monta’s new high jump height. Normal person only gains about ~30 cm without practice and ~ 80 cm if jumped from the squat position. So Monta has shown some real progress after training with Ikkyuu and “pumping up” his already strong legs. Actually, he could even compensate with this for his shortness even if his opponent was Sakuraba (his height is almost 2 meters + 30-40 cm gained from straight jump).
2) Dot A. I have set it as the point from where Taka jumps from, though he will probably do it with his right leg …
3) Line b. This is the actual distance that Taka “flies over” in a second. It is (almost, I think) the actual 8.25 meters – 9 yards, his own record. Yeah, a huge freaking distance. No words are needed to describe how big of a reach he actually has. Now imagine him on offence with the ball – this guy can leap away from a catching up opponents, not giving them the chance to stop him…
4) Dot B. The middle of the trajectory of the jump, the highest point Taka can reach. But I’m not sure that I placed it right (maybe a little higher), so I can’t talk about the height for sure. Still, it is about 3 meters; maybe some centimeters are questionable…
But in any case, his actual jumping power (in the height definition) is very close to the Monta’s. He only wins because of his balanced, unbending stature; Monta is trying to reach the ball jumping straight from the ground, so obviously he loses some height that way, compared to the long jumping.
So, as you can see, Taka is unreachable to Monta. Many people were saying that Hiruma should just ignore it and go with the Hail Devil Pass. But I don’t see it as the solution, because:
- Hail Devil Pass is a really low version of a Devil Laser Bullet, so it is takes much power and accuracy to succeed. I don’t think that Hiruma can do it in his current condition.
- Taka can intercept it too. Hell, even Ikkyuu almost did it. Taka runs faster than Monta and doesn’t lose to him in catching abilities.
- It could actually work, but I think only once. After that things will get really ugly. Especially seeing that Yuki and Taki can’t catch it…
In addition to all of this, there may be some hidden trick that Taka uses. I think so, because Hiruma noted that “that distance is now something that human can jump”. Some secret passed from his father? Who knows...?
Anti-aerial missile launchers: assembled!
But you know what? We still haven’t finished with the picture. Sure, long jump, if used right, could be a very dangerous weapon. But it does have its own weaknesses. First one is the Taka’s stature during the jump. It is impossible to jump for the full distance and to keep it straight, so when he lands he could continue running. Like he did during the first interception. So, unless mangakas are fucking with us and again ignoring the high school kids’ limits, Taka doesn’t really much freedom in the sky.
Second one is… well, look at the line c. It is the distance that Taka must pass before he could make a long jump. Actually, it doesn’t even fits in this panel! Though I don’t have any real numbers (if you have them, please post them), but it definitely more than 10 meters.
So you see – Taka is more like a machine, simply overwhelming, but very predictable, unlike Monta is. If Hiruma uses his super-computer brain at the fullest, he possibly may even be able to control him on the field. Remember the Bando match – “your kicks are so perfect; it’s like telling us where they will land”.
"Kaaaamehameha!"
As Hiruma is a “launcher”, Monta is a “missile”. Yes, he is losing to Taka in everything, but he may as well pose a threat to him:
1) He still jumps pretty high. With the Hiruma’s guidance and some right timing, Monta can get on same height as the Taka in order to fight for the ball.
2) Monta can “feel” Taka’s presence with his back. Probably some kind of a Devil Backfire.
3) This is purely theoretical, but it is seems that his second jump (the one during the onside kick) was either a little higher or has disturbed Taka in some way; look at the page 17, Taka didn’t land on his feet there, although I don’t think that he jumped too far. Maybe Monta became much stronger that he thought and he is getting used already to the Taka’s jumps?
4) Staring battle. Another way to control someone’s movements.
With all that, the “only” thing that is left for Monta is to figure out how to counter Taka’s god-likeness, while knowing his every movement.
Beauty and the beast.
Finally, the most awaited event of this match is getting closer. We will be able to find out the skills of the only girl in the tournament, Koizumi Karin.
Karin can make every review look cute, even mine.
I’m going to follow Hera’s words (he wouldn’t say that just out of nowhere) that her personality really changes on the field; she will be the first one in the whole series, not counting Sena. So, her real one shouldn’t really matter, when her voice in so weak that it is not even heard. Anyway, let’s try to predict her abilities:
- She can finish 40 yards under the 5.0 seconds. With that, she probably is a high-speed modern-type quarterback that runs with the ball herself often. But also, it is possible that her skills are so unique, that “her speed is not needed” and she is just a normal girl physically.
- She was said to able to deal with Hiruma. With the changed personality, she will probably be really wicked and perceptive. Maybe she is a 200+ IQ girl, who is able to analyze other people and to be unpredictable herself.
- She was said to be “stronger” than Ibarada. Of course, we can’t count here her bench-press or something, since she her arms are pretty slender (and thanks to God for this…). So is she much better than Ibarada at scrambling or simply more useful than him?
- Her passing abilities are under the huge question for now, so I won’t touch this topic.
Whether she has a “special” abilities or not - this is a question too, for now. But she has two details that I have already mentioned:
1) Some things on her hands, which were seen when she was presented to us as quarterback for the first time. I think that this either is tattoos or a band-aids. I’ll talk about tattoos in 2), so let’s just say that this is really a band-aids.
I say that year is first one when she actually practiced playing football. She probably came on the field to become a manager or something, but Yamato has seen something in her and gave her a “test-drive”, becoming really surprised by her raw abilities or “special” useful skills.
2) Karin has something on her lip. It just could be a glitter, but I don’t believe that it always would be located at the same place. So, my personally favorite theory is that this is a hole from a piercing and Karin was a delinquent or a gang leader in the past, tattoo also works with this theory... That means that on the field she would be dangerous and brutal.
Anyhow, to be the no.1 quarterback in the strongest team means much. Whether she is a “hidden nuclear (Iraq) weapon” or just an ace, we’ll know in the next chapter. In any case, the minimum of one touchdown from Teikoku is almost a mandatory.
Notes:
- - Dunno why I’m noticing this only now… Where did Kurita’s scars disappear to? (page 10)
- - I find the nickname “Birdman” pretty lame. >_< But still better than "monkey" though.
- - Taka is starting to resemble hawk more.
- - Sena is really could be catching a cold (thanks to Game Hunter for pointing it out).
Final Commentary:
Another great chapter, although there weren't much action - only onside kick. But, on the other hand, we were to find out some new things, like - Sena can block Yamato (but doesn't seems that for a long time), Taka can catch ball that is even close to the ground. Aaand, Karin in the next chapter, finally! Although, to be honest, I'm more curious in the Yamato's "that" and Sena is going to deal with it.
Oh and there won't be a review next week, since I will be busy. But I will do a merged 285-286 review next time, so it's okay. But if someone wants to fill in my place so I won't have a much work, then it's will be great.
