Manifesto of Some Sort
OPPOSING RHYTHMS
Faith, Comradeship and Taste of Music
Akaba Hayato/Sasaki Koutarou
Around 20 images; they might take a while for dial-up users to load.
WARNING: Spoilers for those not up to the Bando Spiders game. A few speculations on my part...?
The Players
The Smart Kicker: Sasaki Koutarou
Koutarou was first introduced in Volume 7, wanting to beat Musashi, the 60-yard-magnum (which, to his dismay, is a lie). The success rate of his kicks is 100%, which, no doubt, he acquired with gruelling training. He combs his hair every five seconds, and one has to wonder how much gel he uses! He has a habit of calling things “smart” or “not smart”, and he’s a goddamn pretty loyal and determined player. He asked the team manager, Julie, to go out with him three times, and she would always tell him to stop saying such foolish things, but she never actually rejected him.
The Magician Lead Blocker: Akaba Hayato
He first appears after Deimon’s defeat against Seibu, and claims to be the real Eyeshield 21. “Why is an athlete playing guitar in the stadium?!” Kuroki exclaimed with disbelief. He researches every single opponent’s “time when his centre of gravity shifts”, therefore he is able to block easily, making him a formidable foe. He talks about music and rhythms all the time, which Koutarou greatly dislikes! Not to mention his guitar! He was last year’s Tokyo MVP .
The Team Manager: Sawai Julie
Don’t forget about Julie! Julie is Koutarou’s childhood friend, but he certainly feels like she is more than just that! On the other hand, she thinks she has an “undesirable but unavoidable” relationship with him. It seems that she admires Akaba’s skills to some extent. She cares about the team, shown in the flashback when she worried about how the two boys would get along.
Incompatible Rhythms
The two don’t get along very well. Akaba’s calm and eccentric attitude (not to mention all that talk about rhythms and sense of music!) annoys Koutarou, and Akaba always disagrees with Koutarou’s views!
“Fuu…It’s our opposing rhythms… or something like it.”
This is responded by Kuroki and Togano’s screams, because Akaba seems to have that effect on people. Other than that, he, you know, beats people to a pulp in matches.
Despite Akaba’s claims that they are “incompatible”, and that their rhythms don’t match, they do share a lot of obvious similarities. They are both posers, as an example.
An Unbeatable Kick Team
“Bando! So strong!”
They placed second in the previous year, and were the only ones to score against Oujou’s golden generation with a difference of one point!
How come they are so weak this year?
It was revealed that all of Bando’s starters were recruited by a high school in Kansai, with only Akaba and Koutarou left.
Of course, the gap left by the departure of the talented starters had to be filled with hard work, and it seems that it paid off.
As remarked by Takami from Oujou White Knights, they really are a tough duo. With Koutarou’s accurate kicks, and Akaba’s lead-blocking, together they create the best kick team that has ever existed in Eyeshield 21 (even if the seniors aren’t quite as talented as them, Akaba’s teachings helped).
As for me, an unbeatable OTP has been born.
This is Our Tale
“Kick team! Smart!”
The offense team didn’t think so, though, and rudely told the kick team to get off the field.
You can tell from their faces just how mean and annoying they are, so let’s skip them for now.
“That kind of talk makes me doubt your musical sense. A kick team is just as important.”
Akaba came to the rescue, and defended the kick team. I would like to think that he was defending Koutarou, the star of the kick team, but the fact is, he’s defending the kick team as a whole. What a shame.
The jerk from the offense team laughed, and told Akaba that he was too nice.
Koutarou didn’t seem to appreciate Akaba’s kind gesture, though.
I’m afraid I have to agree with the offense team on this one.
From here, we can deduct that Koutarou and Akaba weren’t exactly the greatest buddies. Koutarou seems to consider Akaba as a rival. They have completely different talents (Koutarou in kicking, and Akaba in lead-blocking), so it’s not a rivalry like Sena and Riku’s, for example, but it might be because both of them can be considered as the aces of the team. Or Koutarou is just annoyed with how cool Akaba is.
Koutarou seems to dislike Akaba defending him, and my speculation is that he feels belittled. He would rather take care of the offense team himself (though it would’ve caused more trouble than just getting spit on Akaba’s darling guitar).
Julie worries over how the team would get along (especially with these two!)- can they really win against Oujou this way?
The scenario continues with Akaba attempting to get his guitar out of the situation clean, and Koutarou trying to do the opposite. This is probably the only scene where Akaba looks aggravated, excluding the football matches.
The Transfer
After a practice in the rain, Koutarou found the kick team captain shocked at something, and the locker room emptier than before.
As Koutarou wondered why, Akaba had a conversation with Julie.
Julie: So you’re really transferring, Akaba? I guess your dad was convinced. Is it Kansai’s Teikoku Gakuen?
Akaba: Yeah…Honestly, I hesitated at first. If I lived here, by myself, I could still play at Bando
At this point, Koutarou interrupts the conversation, looking sexy wet and displeased.
Akaba, not knowing what Koutarou was talking about, simply stood there, clueless.
Koutarou kicked the resignation papers out of his hand. Apparently, the scouts who invited Akaba to transfer also came to all the talented Bando players, including Koutarou. He was the only one who refused the offer.
Personally, I think that Koutarou actually expected Akaba to refuse as well, or at least inform him about it, because Akaba was the only one he approached. This shows that even if he keeps showing great dislike towards Akaba, he actually placed his trust on him.
Akaba, surprised by this little bit of information, was too stunned to say anything. Julie bends down and looked at the papers.
“Our starters… have all transferred?”
Akaba’s Decision
“Me and the seniors in the kick team… Just what did we do all that work for? Weren’t we going to the Christmas Bowl together?”
Akaba began to feel guilty for transferring, and thought about the kick team’s hard work.
“You guys are all… not smart. Not smart…”
Koutarou ran away, and Akaba, still stunned, simply stood there. But take a look at Akaba’s face:
Akaba began to regret transferring, but made no effort to chase up Koutarou.
Akaba plays his guitar; his hobby doesn’t seem to be as enjoyable as before. But now, with a determined look on his face, he is finally sure of what to do.
That is Why
“TRANSFER BACK TO BANDO?!”
Koutarou noticed Akaba, or at least something going on in the room, and listened to the conversation.
The scouts tried to convince him out of it, by reminding him about the probation- even if he transferred back, the 6 months probation would disallow him to play until the end of the Autumn Tournament. He might waste a year for nothing!
Akaba coolly replies: “As I thought, your musical sense and mine aren’t compatible at all”
“I’ll show the whole country… the power of a kick team! Let’s meet at the Christmas Bowl!”
While I think it’s a bit selfish that he said that he was going to show the power of a kick team, instead of “we’ll show the whole country” for the whole team, it shows just how much faith he has on the kick team. Technically, the kick team’s talent is mostly Koutarou, so that means he trusts that Koutarou’s kicks can get Bando Spiders to the finals in Tokyo, at the least.
Game Start
Let’s move on from the flashbacks. At the start of the game, after all the cool dry ice effects and everything, Akaba tells Koutarou the game plan.
Feeling the need to disagree/go against everything Akaba says, Koutarou claimed that he was going to do that in the first place, though it would have no use if the others weren’t aware of the game plan. Julie responded that no one actually cares.
Knowing that the ball’s landing point was going to be at DFLAT 7, Akaba caught the ball in such an awesome way it made Sena weep. It means that all the members of Bando Spiders depend on Koutarou’s kicks, including Akaba.
I Will Now Slowly…
Yet another one of Koutarou’s idiotic acts! Koutarou burnt a time-out just to do a little story-telling with the Deimon Devil Bats team members.
Note Akaba’s reaction to Julie’s worries after Koutarou burned a time-out.
First, what happened right after he called for a timeout: Koutarou went up to Musashi, telling him that this match would be the battle between the smartest strongest kickers, with the tournament at stake!
Musashi’s reply was: Did you burn one of your three timeouts… just to say that?
Ehhh?! Julie starts to worry.
“No…”
You can define this in a few ways:
1) Akaba believes that Koutarou would not do something that stupid (well, duh)
2) Akaba places faith in Koutarou that he would not do something that would not be beneficial to their team
3) Both
Unfortunately, Koutarou did do something stupid, even if Akaba trusted him not to. But that, again, shows Akaba’s faith on Koutarou!
Akaba's Approval
Hiruma told Sena the truth about the Eyeshield 21 title, and remarked:
Akaba sighed coolly to this, and replied:
"Hmm... Tokyo MVP. That's just a passing honour... Aiming for a popular reputation doesn't suit my taste of music, but..."
Akaba's flashback! And it's full of Koutarou. Er, I think it's Akaba's, but... Moving on.
"Koutarou."
Koutarou replied, annoyed with Akaba (as usual): What do you want?
Akaba seemed to have ignored Koutarou's reply, and continued: You and I... Our inner tastes in music aren't compatible at all...
Still annoyed, Koutarou instantly responded: Who CARES about taste of music or whatever! But I do agree that we're not compatible at all!
Ignoring Koutarou again, Akaba went on with his speech.
"Hn... Which means, Sena, I can't hand over the title of the ace Eyeshield 21 over to you yet"
Akaba is willing to carry the burden of a title for Koutarou (this time it's not just fangirl speculation!). People wouldn't do such a thing just for anyone, would they? So underneath all their quarrelling, it seems that they respect each other a lot.
Excuse me while I go squee for a moment.
Without Fail! “The reason for your defeat is that… you have thought too much about your comrades.”
The game ended with Deimon’s victory. Koutarou blames himself for their loss, for not doing a raft kick. Bando Spiders have failed their mission to go to the Christmas Bowl, and prove the kick team’s abilities to those who betrayed them.
Musashi told him that no one could say that the kicks weren’t important, and that Deimon has won the kick game. “Shit… you’ll see…”
“Yeah… Akaba?!” Koutarou continued. And in reply: Without fail!
Say What?!
A bonus to the manifesto… An extra section full of nonsensical reasons for supporting Akaba/Koutarou!
- You know… it’s very suspicious how Akaba is always the one holding the ball for Koutarou whenever he kicks… There must be an ulterior motive for it. Koutarou's ass.
- Their favourite animal is Monta monkey. OMGLYKWTF that’s true love.
- Note that Akaba likes monkeys because they’re smart
- Bando Spiders rock like Akaba’s guitar!
- Akaba keeps saying that their senses of music and rhythms aren’t compatible! He is so in denial
- They’re both hot together! But wait- that’s actually a proper reason *cough*
- To both of them, kick games are important! How this becomes a reason for a pairing, I do not know! But it is!
- Akaba likes salad, while Koutarou likes meat. OMG THEY COMPLIMENT EACH OTHER TRUE LOVE FTW
- As said by
grayout : "Akaba plays his guitar all the time, but he totally doesn't have the flamboyantness to be a rock star vocalist. Koutarou does! They need to start a band. :D (Or get recruited to be IN a band by some huge famous company, only they -have- to work with each other and and--IwouldkillforanIC!serious!crack!ficlikethis)"
Like, Who Cares? Where are the Fics?
Sadly, there are not many fics with this pairing. ;-; So actually, I'd like people to post Akaba/Koutarou links here if they can. XD
Assorted Drabbles by
grayout
Attunement by
grayout
Away Games by
alina_cantha
Compulsion by
richestgrave
Fanart Stock
No, I don't want to recommend my own fanart, because that'd be stupid. But I am tempted to.
WARNING: I do not guarantee that all the fanart sites listed below would be "safe", for both work and your eyes. =__= I also do not guarantee that all the fanarts are of high quality or to your liking. It's hard enough to find Akaba/Koutarou fan material, but to actually look for good ones is just like looking for a needle in a haystack.
快速ラビット
collectors. (scary. enough said)
kazunokopizza
Gamusyara
ROCKIN'DOG!! (comics I don't understand. but involves Akaba being packed into a box)
極彩式シチュウパラダイス
STD (scary. I suggest you don't come here T__T)
空想世界
afterincendiarism asterisk
chiko*chiko
少年スクラップ
Spark Solid
pink bazooka
BAND-AID (personally? I think the name is really cute @__@)
Red Queen (... *dies*)
クロガネ (the comics and sketches look neat)
As for general Eyeshield 21 pairings love, aishi-love for DeviantArt users might be worth checking out. (Shameless club promotion...)
Damnit people, give me your links @___@
This Far?! Smart!
Those who managed to read this far, give yourselves some appalause. I am sorry for any mistakes I made, especially with my grammar. I tried my best. I hope some of you will contribute to this awesome yet small fandom, anything, really.
Akaba and Koutarou's relationship is certainly a strange one. At times, Koutarou can be complaning to Akaba about the red-haired boy's "rhythm" and "taste of music" talk, and annoyed with his mere existence, yet other times, he held high expectations for him. Akaba can consider Koutarou an idiot, yet he defends the kick team, believes in him and promises to win the kick game next year!
When I first decided to ship this pairing, I was surprised to find that it's not very popular in the Eyeshield 21 fandom. Two hot guys, with clashing personalities, trusting each other and arguing all the time! What more could people want? So I had a bit of trouble trying to find fan material on this ship.
I find it funny that I ship Akaba/Koutarou as my OTP in Eyeshield 21 besides Hiruma/Mamori, because I tend to not like shonen-ai. But their relationship is just THERE. They trust each other, even if they frequently fight, and the fanfiction you can write for it ranges from Humour to Angst. Yes, Bando Spider is just that much love. :3