Dawn of the Time-Out (Eyeshield 21 #16) (Manga (non) Monday)

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Title: Dawn of the Time-Out
Series: Eyeshield 21 #16
Author: Riichiro Inagaki
Artist: Yusuke Murata
Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Manga
Pages: 200
Format: Digital Scan

Synopsis:  Spoiler

It is the Devil Bats versus the Gunmen. Two super aggressive teams battling it. Unfortunately for the Devil Bats, the Gunmen are simply more aggressive and Kid's quick snap throw speeds up to compensate for blitz after blitz after blitz. To add more bad news to the mixture, Sena can't seem to compete with his old friend Riku and in fact Riku steals the ball from Sena and scores a touchdown.

This is all being televised and Musashi is at the hospital with his dad. Musashi's backstory is revealed and his reason for quitting football and highschool are shown. His dad beats him and tells him to get over himself and go help his team mates. Now with a kicker on the team, Hiruma has options.

But with a 20-6 deficit, is even Musashi going to be enough?

My Thoughts:

Wow, wow, wow!!! That is exactly how I started my review for #15 and it continues here. The game between the Devil Bats and the Gunmen starts with each team scoring a touchdown against the other by running the kickoff. Which means that there are 2 touchdowns within 1 minute of the game starting. I found that pretty exciting.

The Gunmen are just plain good and their quarterback, the Kid, is olympic quality. Hiruma is simply outclassed and his tricks aren't enough. Sena doesn't have the willpower to counter Riku and each member of the Devil Bats encounter their opposites and fail.

The return of Musashi is done pretty well. You can see where he gets his fire from. Also, his return re-energizes the Devil Bats and gives Hiruma another whole set of options to play with. Thus the volume ends and we have to wait until the next volume to see if the Devil Bats can come back from a 14point deficit.