Musashi (Eyeshield 21 #7) (Manga Monday)

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Title: Musashi
Series: Eyeshield 21
Author: Riichiro Inagaki
Artist: Yusuke Murata
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Manga
Pages: 208
Format: Digital Scan

Synopsis:

The coach of the American Team reneges on his deal and doesn't come to Japan. Hiruma puts together a very insulting video and releases it on the internet, thus forcing the coach and his team to come to Japan or be labeled as cowards.
Various aspects of the Devil Bat's team members are shown to progress character growth. Sena and Monta find out who Musashi is and make a deal with him that if they can win against the Americans that he'll come back to the team as the kicker. The book ends right before the game against the Americans start.

My Thoughts:

I am reading a scanned copy, so the American coach is represented as a complete rascist against anyone not white and as a complete ass hole. I'm sure he's still presented as a jerk in the official release, but it makes me want to go hunt down a paper copy to see how it was changed. It is also shown that he's making his team's public face "mighty white" and keeping the one black guy on the team on the bench. Which just doesn't jive with real football.

That aside, not a lot really happens. It is amazing how I can read 200 pages of misc stuff, setup stuff and still enjoy it. A little bit of attention is given to various characters and it really works. They are starting to feel more like real people and not just cliches in a sports manga. This time around it was one of the 3 delinquents. He doesn't want to be useless but he doesn't want to leave his 2 friends. I'm hoping he can drag them upward with him.

The journey to find Musashi, the guy who started the club with Hiruma and Kurita but then dropped out of highschool, is part of the story but I wish they'd concentrated on finding another kicker. They showcase one guy who wants to go head to head with Musashi, so maybe later in the series he'll come on board, but for now he's disappeared.