The Christmas Bowl (Eyeshield 21 #32) ★★★★☆

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Title: The Christmas Bowl
Series: Eyeshield 21 #32
Author: Riichiro Inagaki
Artist: Yusuke Murata
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Sports Manga
Pages: 192
Format: Digital Scan

The special training happens and all the other top players from the defeated team help the Devil Bats train so they can beat the Alexandres, who have won the Christmas Bowl ever since it started. Of course, Agon, that paragon of evil who I’d throw under a bus, doesn’t honor his agreement and goes to the Alexandres. What a bastard.

Then, the Christmas Bowl. The Devil Bats take the immediate offensive and begin a huge drive. Only to have the Alexandres stop them cold, stone cold! Everything the Devil Bats try fails. Monta realizes that he is simply out-talented by Taka Honjou, son of his baseball idol and that Honjou has been training his own son for years as a catcher.. It almost breaks Monta. Then it’s the Alexandre’s ball. Their quarterback is a girl named Karin.

The volume ends with Karin throwing a perfect pass to Yamato, the Alexandres running back. Sena catches him, is blown off, catches him again and is blown off again.

So, this game is going to be 5 volumes long, or maybe just 4 if they do the last volume as a wrapup, but I doubt that.

I have to admit, I was feeling a bit bored. It was still good football, but still, you can only draw things out so much. How many times have the Devil Bats been immediately shut down? How many times have they been outclassed? How many times has Hiruma played mind games and Sena run faster than anybody else? I really hope the rest of the game doesn’t bore me.

Now, Karin. I’m sorry, and I’ve mentioned this before, but a girl playing American Football? No. She’s obviously going to be a big part of this game, as she’s the quarterback for goodness sake. But it is so inconceivable that the whole idea throws me out of the game. It would be like Arnold Schwarzenegger, back in his Terminator days, entering a Miss Busty Bikini Contest and be given real thought to by the judges and the crowd. It would be ludicrous. So I’m just switching off my brain for this and hope it doesn’t get too much more unbelievable.

A Real Tom Brady  /sarcasm

★★★★☆

1. The Winner Is… (Vol. 31)
2. This Is American Football (Vol. 30)
3. Second Quarterback (Vol. 29)
4. Showdown at Tokyo Dome (Vol. 28)