The moment has come! The national high school football championship,
the Tokyo Tournament, has officially begun!
Here they are!
Making their first tournament appearance and already turning heads
as potential championship contenders, they're launching a full-on invasion of football:
Amino High School!
Personally, I'm not a fan of how they focus all their efforts on a different sport every year.
But regardless, it's almost unsettling how much they've trained for this.
Ooh, and up next are the Hashiratani Deer!
They're as stoic as statues!
I doubt they'll even break a sweat until the third round!
And now!
The odds-on-favorite to win, the Seibu Wild Gunmen!
If they've somehow gotten even BETTER since the spring, no one stands a chance!
YA-HA!
Next up, the Deimon Devil Bats!
Kumabukuro's personal favorites!
Well, without a kicker it's hard to call them a dominant force,
but their explosive offensive style is really something to behold!
This ain't the time to get butterflies, Fatty!
And finally! They're here!
The number one seeds for the championship,
the Ojo White Knights!
All right, Ojo's here!
Get 'em, Ace Sakuraba!
S-Sakuraba?
That's Sakuraba?
I-Is he a bad boy now?
That's a shocker!
My wristband...
Sakuraba! You promised to win it all!
Shin...
I know that emotion is running high amongst everyone here.
That you all are truly hungry to become champions.
But only two teams in all of Japan will make it to the Christmas Bowl!
I see no need to dress things up, so I'll be blunt.
There are far more important things in football than sportsmanship!
This is a world where losers leave without being respected for their effort,
and winners are showered with honor and praise.
You have one goal:
Win!
I hereby declare the National Football Championship Tournament to be underway!
It's... It's finally time!
Kireigoto de katameta boku no
My defense is so full of holes,
suki darake no defense
nothing I do can cover it up.
Nani wo mamotteta no?
How was I supposed to protect anything?
Ukabarenai hibi wa
Let's just say these long boring days
yosou no hanninai to shiyou
are about what I expected.
Demo yume wa bokura no
But our dreams
souzou ijou no chikara de jimen wo keru
will kick up off the ground much harder than we imagined.
Tsugi no shunkan
And as the dirt gusts up
ano kaze wo hikitsukete fuwari to ukabun da
the wind will take me and carry me into the sky.
Kinou no kusari wa chigireteku
I'll break free from the chains of yesterday
Boku ga tonde misetara tsuzuitekureru ka na
If I keep trying to fly, will I eventually take flight?
Nigitta bukiyou na kono te mo
And pretend these clumsy hands of mine
tsubasa to shinjite
are really wings.
The Ace's Missing?
So Deimon's game against Amino is in the afternoon at field #2.
Let's not be late!
Yes'm!
Doctors?
I'm Munakata, from the Amino Cyborgs.
Let's have a good clean game.
N-Nice to meet you.
That's kinda... unnerving.
This ain't a bodybuilding tournament.
Their muscles practically look artificial.
I take that as a compliment.
In fact, to Amino, that is the highest praise.
Muscle-building is a science!
One could say our bodies were sculpted by the hands of master craftsmen.
Supplements?
Switch it on.
What're you doing?!
We've gone from basketball to soccer and now football.
Amino's expertise in sports medicine will change the world as we know it.
Your team doesn't even have a trainer...
you should already know how our game will end.
Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk.
That's where you're wrong.
Our trainer's none other than the famous Doburoku Sakaki!
One of Sengoku University's Swords of Japan...
Wow, he really is famous?
Obviously I don't know the details,
but I've heard during your time at Sengoku,
you followed a decidedly UN-scientific training regimen
that destroyed both your team and your own body, no?
Hmph... You make it sound like they died.
Do you really intend to repeat the mistakes of your past
by forcing another generation to conform to your spartan methods?
You're wrong.
We weren't forced into anything!
We... We all...
We chose to follow him because we want to win!
Ah, Eyeshield 21.
Amino's scientific prowess has revealed all there is to know about your running.
A football player must be the complete package!
Unintelligent bottom-feeders such as yourselves
have no chance of survival!
Perhaps you'll learn that some sports require a logical approach,
not just spirit and willpower.
- We're gonna crush them! - We're gonna crush them!
Someone's talking big all of a sudden.
There he is!
The fabled "Devil Footballer," Eyeshield 21!
Can we get a word from you about Deimon's mood after the opening ceremonies?
Huh?
Come to get a shot of me, have you?
Who're you?
There will be four first-round games taking place today,
but Deimon is about to face Amino High here at field #2.
All eyes are on Deimon vs. Amino,
and people are pouring into the buses headed towards the stadium!
Sanada,you're always "on," even during everyday conversation.
This place is packed.
It's really not so far that you'd need to take a bus...
Then we should jog over there, it'll be a good warm-up!
Yeah! Good idea!
Let's roll!
Look, Munakata...
Those Deimon monkeys are actually running right before they have to play.
That old-school "win on guts" mentality is so ridiculous.
Even given the same amount of time, the results of our elite athletic training
versus those fools' method would be so vast, you couldn't even compare them!
Amino's sports medicine expertise is unmatched.
Take how much stronger it made me in just one year.
Hail to the Amino Empire.
Did Sena already leave?
I think he was with my brother.
Oh.
Those TV people made us late!
Uhh... Which one goes to field #2?
- Hey, wait up!
- This one, this one!
Good thing you knew, Taki.
There's a 150% change I guessed right!
Nagano
What're that runt and that idiot doing?!
We're still missing Sena and Taki?
Eyeshield...
The game is... about to start.
Hello, everyone!
Welcome to Shuuei Tours' "Nagano Experience!"
I'm really sorry, we'll be there as soon as we can!
I sent some bikers from Zokugaku to get you.
Just stay where you are.
R-Right...
He's not gonna make it before the game starts.
Knock it off, Fatty!
You think we'll make it to the Christmas Bowl if we just leave everything up to him?!
N-No, but...
We'll NEVER have a full team the whole time.
People will get benched when they run out of juice, or if they get injured!
Do a few moments like that guarantee we'll lose?
Does it mean we lose our shot at the Christmas Bowl?
Because if they do, we'll never win our way to the championship!
Y-You're right...
Yeah!
Even if Eyeshield 21's MIA, you've got a catching master right here!
Do our best!
R-Right!
A solid line is part of our offense, too!
You're not the only linebackers, you know!
Yeah!
Let's take 'em down, guys!
Kn-Knock it off!
Yeesh...
We, uh... We're real athletes now, huh?
What a bunch of spazzes...
It's football time, folks!
The first round of the national high school tournament,
the Amino Cyborgs versus...
...the Deimon Devil Bats!
Football Clinic!
What is a "huddle?"
A strategy meeting held during the game.
Hurry up and figure our what you're gonna do so you can score a touchdown! Ya-ha!
A-mi-no! A-mi-no! A-mi-no!
Amino's side... They're really into it...
It's like their whole school is here...
Compared to them, we don't-
YA!
HI!
Whoa!
They're cute!
Th-They're-
Fresh from America.
Bouncy, bouncy, bouncy!
See? We can hang with anyone!
Amino! Amino! Amino!
Deimon! Deimon! Deimon!
We may not have everyone here right now,
but we still don't have our kicker either, so it's nothing new!
We won't lose until the whole team's assembled!
We're going to the Christmas Bowl, every last one of us!
Even if we die on the way!
And those jacked-up freaks are in our way.
So what do we do?
What do we DO?
Rip their heads off! Ya-ha!
Ya-ha!
W-What's going on here?
Deimon's ace, Eyeshield 21, is nowhere to be found!
Maybe they're saving him for later?
Whatever...
Either way, we've got our anti-Deimon formula perfected.
Regardless, this game will be decided on the line.
With Eyeshield on the bench... or even if he was out there,
if his line can't open up a route, they'll be shut out.
Interesting!
W-What the-
What the heck?
Why don't them move?
Is this all Deimon's line is capable of?
What?!
Aoyanagi effortlessly smashes through Jumonji's block
and stops Deimon's pass before it gets off the ground!
H-How'd he do it?
What happened?
Nothing's working...
D-Don't panic, don't panic!
Everyone just calm down!
This strength, this power, it's so wonderful!
I'm not some scrawny bookworm anymore...
Fear me, you fools!
Their bodies really do resemble man-made cyborgs!
The fruits of Amino's sports medicine research.
They've calculated exactly the right moment to squeeze out their maximum strength.
All according to our calculations.
Actually, we didn't account for one thing:
We never planned for Deimon's line to be such lightweights!
Cocky jerk...
We gotta squash him!
Believe in yourselves, guys!
Set, hut, hut!
This's their first tournament, isn't it?
Y-Yes, it is...
You line-babies!
You haven't blocked them for more than a second!
I-I'm sorry, Hiruma!
Why?!
Why don't they even budge?
What was... What'd we even do the death march for?!
Maybe guts and willpower really aren't enough to win!
Sorry!
We really appreciate you coming to pick us up!
But isn't Zokugaku getting ready for the tournament, too?
I know Hiruma's... Well, he's Hiruma, but why are you still taking orders-
Huh? We haven't taken any orders from him in a while!
Hiruma set us free before summer vacation started.
We spent OUR summer training for the tournament, too.
N-No way...
I can't think of one face I'd like to slug more than Hiruma's.
But he's a weird guy.
Football's the one area where he keeps things on the up-and-up.
Then why did you ride all this way just to pick us up?
So I can pound YOU, ya little runt!
On the field, I mean.
You're not gonna lose early and get outta facing me
because of something as dumb as being late!
Ha-Habashira...
Hang on tight!
Seven-nothing!
Amino's famous sports medicine
has created a wall of bodies that Deimon simply can't handle!
This is hopeless! What can we do?!
Excuse me, linebackers...
Come push my truck!
Huh?
Huh...? Doburoku...?
Huh?
It won't move!
Why?!
You've got the spirit, but you're charging forward too hard!
Those huge strides are throwing your balance completely out of whack!
Let your bodies remember what they did on the death march!
Did you do all the pushing with your arms?
Were you dashing forward in huge steps?
Oh yeah...
That's right... We...
Yeah.
C-Coach Doburoku!
One, two!
What a ludicrous training method...
You don't suppose they think they can beat US like that?
I think they've got it now.
Set, hut, hut!
Short, steady steps!
Get in position...
...and push with your glutes!
Make your butts explode!
Hit with your whole body!
Hip Explosion!
W-Wha?!
Catch, butt-monkey!
No sweat!
D-Deimon's line explodes and Amino's wall crumbles!
They get the first down!
Nice!
We did it!
Why?!
I went to the gym twice a week,
and took every kind of supplement there is...
The numbers said we would win easily!
But we, the elites, beaten by these scum,
By Deimon!
Hey, Mr. Elite.
You have every right to call our training inefficient and dumb.
We don't have Amino to make us new bodies in their test tubes.
But could you guys...
...survive an old-school training program like Doburoku's
and walk for 40 days straight while pushing a TRUCK?
Goal mezashi
Zero in on your goal
eranda michi hashirinukou.
and charge down the path you've chosen.
Yowai jibun wo semeru yori
Instead of berating yourself for being weak
naritai jibun wo egaitemiru.
figure out what kind of person you want to be.
Hajime no ippo fumidasu yuuki
Work up the courage to take that first step
ashita no bokura kaeteyuku.
and we can change who we'll be tomorrow.
Nandomo tsumazuite wa
Constantly getting tripped up
ashiato furikaeru.
just ends up making you retrace your steps.
Okubyou na kono kimochi
Take that nervous, sick feeling
bane ni shite
and use it as your springboard
habatakou.
to take flight.
GOAL ni mukatte SPEED agetara
If you all turn towards the goal and start speeding up
kokoro wo hitotsu ni kake dasou.
your wills and spirits will unite as one.
Tomo ni tatakau nakama tachi to
And you and your friends, all together,
tsugi no tobira hirakou.
will open the next door.
What's taking Sena so long?
If he doesn't get here soon, the Amino game will be over!
He'll come!
Until he does, the rest of us will just have to make do!
That's Max Friendship Power right there!
Next time on Eyeshield 21: The Devil Bat Ghost! Ya-ha!
- Hooray! - All right!
I see...
You put them through a death march, eh, Doburoku?
They're doing so well, even without Eyeshield...
Deimon's really improved.
However...
...they won't win at this rate.
Huh? You think Deimon will lose?
We didn't consider they'd improve this much when we did our calculations,
but they're still no match for Amino's science.
Without Eyeshield 21, their only option is to pass.
Deimon will fall!