[Hiruma/Mamori: Eyeshield 21] Guns, Guns, Cream Puffs, Guns, Guns, Football...
Title: Guns, Guns, Cream Puffs, Guns, Guns, Football...
Author: domlandbubbles
Fandom: Eyeshield 21 (Manga)
Pairing: Hiruma Youichi and Anezaki Mamori
Spoilers: Up to chapter 331 of the manga.
Warning: There are some TV Tropes links here
Notes: Thank you to the ship_manifesto mods for the extensions!
He’s a gleeful, gum-chewing, gun-toting extortionist with an unholy love of mind games and trick plays!
She’s a fierce mama bear member of the disciplinary committee who hates bullies and loves cream puffs!
Together they...run a high school football club in Japan. Yeah.
Eyeshield 21 is a sports manga (I’m ignoring the anime) about American football (I'm just going to call it 'football'). The Deimon Devil Bats are a high school football club made up a ragtag bunch of misfits whose only dream is to play in the Christmas Bowl (the Japanese high school equivalent of the Super Bowl). That’s about it. Everything takes a backseat to football, so, to be fair, romantic relationships are not very prominent at all.
But!
Even if you don’t see Hiruma and Mamori’s relationship as (potentially) romantic, it’s still interesting as it changes over the course of the series.
Character Studies
Hiruma Youichi: The Devil in Plain Sight.
Although running back Sena is the main character, through most of the series, Hiruma drives the plot...at gunpoint. He’s vulgar and violent, a bully, a manipulator and a liar. The entire school (including the faculty and administration) is at his mercy through his Death Note Extortion Notebook, his hyperspace arsenal and his attack dog. Everything about him is calculated to be intimidating, his spiky, bleached-blond hair, his fang-full Cheshire cat grin, his aggressively unpredictable, demented behavior and, well, his guns, guns and more guns. He has an aura of inhuman invincibility about him, mostly because he's clever enough to be mentally miles ahead of everyone else. Basically, Hiruma is an obscenely intelligent thug. Fortunately, (or unfortunately for Sena) the only thing he's interested in is football. As the story progresses, other bits and pieces of Hiruma's personality come out, sort of. He really is like that for the most part.
Anezaki Mamori: The Protective Big Sister.
Mamori starts off as Sena’s only friend...she’s practically his mom. She looks out for him, picks out the jacket for his school uniform, brings him lunch and tells him in no uncertain terms that the one person at Deimon high school he should avoid at all costs is this horrible guy named Hiruma. Especially since Sena is a small, cowardly bully-magnet who always depended on her to stick up for him. Besides Sena, Mamori seems to get along well with the other students, being friendly, capable and well-adjusted as well as smart and pretty. She’s also a member of the school Disciplinary Committee, which has given up any and all hope of reigning in their resident terrorist, but that doesn't stop Mamori from trying. Early in the series, she's the only one who isn't afraid to stand up to Hiruma. As the story progresses Mamori's opinion of Hiruma (and Sena) changes, although her protectiveness and concern for others doesn't.
~~~
Hiruma as Evil Mastermind Quarterback
The creators of Eyeshield 21 have said that Hiruma is supposed to be sort of the antithesis of the ideal Japanese “sportsman." He doesn’t play just to do his best and try his hardest. He isn’t about bonding with his teammates and believing in the strength of friendship and teamwork. He’s about winning even if it kills someone. In an early match, he packs up and leaves in the middle of the game once he calculates it’s impossible to win. But as much as he's focused on winning, Hiruma doesn't cheat (the card counting doesn't count).
For Hiruma, football is a mental rather than physical exercise. In a way he's playing chess (his father is a retired chess player), with life-sized pieces on a football field chess board. As the "Control Tower from Hell," Hiruma's play style is aggressively aggressive and offense-focused, and he creates (sometimes bizarre) game plans and strategies that he can shuffle, change or discard on the fly.
Hiruma loves, loves, loves gambling, mind games and trick plays. The Devil Bats have some talented, motivated players, but they also have no reserves (sometimes not even a full roster), little experience, and quite a few exploitable quirks and weak spots. Hiruma uses cunning tactics, outrageous taunts and insane gambles because he enjoys it, but also to compensate for his team’s limitations.
He’s also merciless with his team, constantly shooting at them, setting his dog on them, giving them all “fucking" nicknames (Fucking Shrimp, Fucking Monkey, Fucking Baldie, etc.) and doling out the rare compliment on a good play by literally kicking them in the ass.
Despite all that, the Devil Bats come together as a tightly bonded and ultimately very successful team. Hiruma really did bring (force) out some amazing skills in his players, and his belief that his team has the ability to pull off his crazy plays translates into their belief that he will always come up with the crazy play that wins the game. In the end, his ferocious determination in any situation where there's at least a 1 percent chance of success is contagious, and his (insane) dream of playing in the Christmas Bowl becomes the whole team's dream.
Mamori as Team Mom Manager
At first, Mamori is takes the team manager job for Sena's sake. She thinks she can shield him from Hiruma's...Hiruma-ness and because Hiruma conned her into believing that Sena was overwhelmed by his team secretary responsibilities, when in fact Sena had just become Eyeshield 21 and couldn't do the secretary's job (what little he did beforehand was pathetic anyway).
Mamori believes that football is too rough and dangerous for someone small and weak like Sena, which leads to many humorous moments in the early parts of the series as Hiruma invents weird ways to keep Sena's secret. Sena believes that if Mamori were to find out about Eyeshield 21, she would freak out and fight with Hiruma. Mamori has a huge blind spot for Sena, and while she spends a lot of time with him as part of the Devil Bats (and even watches him kick a rock from Houston to Las Vegas) she never figures out who he is (although other characters do).
Although she knew little to nothing about football before joining the Devil Bats, Mamori is a quick study (as well as organized, efficient and extremely competent) and settles into the manager position easily. She is responsible for helping during practices and games, keeping track of the Devil Bats’ equipment as well as compiling and editing video and stats on the opposing teams as they play against each other. During games, she passes information onto Hiruma from the sidelines and becomes part of certain plays. In addition to all that, she routinely does all the weird little projects Hiruma comes up with to motivate, train and prepare the team. (She also does all those domesticy-type things commonly attributed to girls in manga: cleaning, cooking, laundry, etc.)
As the series goes on, Mamori’s motherly tendencies expand to include the whole team; she cheers them on from the bench, looks after their aches and pains and checks up on them during school. She becomes an indispensable part of the team, a key member of the Devil Bats.
WHY THEY SHOULD TOTALLY HOOK UP, Y'ALL
She gives him a hard time:
Hiruma is such a magnificent bastard, that it’s rather fun to watch someone get the best of him since it doesn’t happen very often.
In one of their earliest confrontations, Hiruma gives Mamori a pop quiz, not believing she could possibly learn all the rules of football in one night by reading a book.
Question #1. And question #2. Question #3 gets postponed indefinitely when it looks like Mamori is going to get them all.
The main purpose of this exchange is really to explain some of the basics of football to readers who might be as clueless as Sena (which is the only explanation for Hiruma's really basic questions), but it’s still pretty funny (and it comes up later).
And even when their relationship becomes less antagonistic, Mamori is the only one to question Hiruma's decisions, even if there really isn't much she or anyone can do about them.
He gives her a hard time:
In a very different way, no one challenges Mamori. She’s so well-liked that most characters seem to go along with whatever she wants, and there are a few scenes showing peripheral male characters going out of their way to do things for her because she’s pretty. Mamori’s also a member of the Disciplinary Committee, so technically she has some kind of authority to do something, I’m not sure what.
That all means squat to Hiruma.
And although she does spend a lot of time getting on Hiruma’s case about his...obnoxious behavior, Mamori herself can be fussy and bossy. So in a similar way to Hiruma, it’s kind of fun to watch her confronted by someone who doesn’t give a crap about how uptight and smothery she can be.
And unlike the other male characters who show goofy deference to Mamori because she’s a pretty girl, Hiruma doesn’t treat her that differently than the players on his team. He points his gun at her (to absolutely no effect), gives her his own personal Fucking Nickname and rudely yells all his unreasonable demands at her.
Another thing he does that no one else does: he teases her. It’s usually about snacking, but not so much the actual eating. He’s poking at her goody- goody, discipline committee member image. It's one of the few things that flusters her.
She cares enough to understand him:
When the other characters comment on Hiruma’s seeming invincibility and inexhaustible energy, they either come to the conclusion that with enough training they can become like him, or that’s just the way he is.
Mamori knows better. She knows the Death March is just as rough on him as it is on the rest of the other marchers. She knows that at the end of the Death March he needs to collapse just like the rest of his team (she may even know that he needs to do it where no one can see.) (Also, Suzuna says "I have to ask whether or not my brother made the team," not "I have to ask my brother about the places he passed and what happened.") And she knows how much energy and effort he put into the Devil Bats in so many different areas, even as he made it look effortless, which leads to a pretty funny moment.
In some ways, she’s one of the few characters (Musashi is another one) who views and treats Hiruma (occasionally) like a human being instead of a maniacal, invincible, cackling demon king. Mamori even directly (although she’s behind him) confronts him about that. After checking on all the other players who are a heap of aching muscles the day after a particularly rough game, Mamori finds Hiruma seemingly fine. When she asks about it, he blows her off as usual. But remembering his swollen knee during the Death March, Mamori tells him he doesn’t have to be so hard on himself and on his team because they won’t let him down.
ヒル魔くんいつも無理して厳しく見せなくたって大丈夫だよみんなもう気い抜いたりしないよ
And for a brief, quiet moment, he smiles. Not his usual fang-land grin of psychotic euphoria, but a small smile, because it’s true. And then he tells her, not unkindly, to shut up.
He actually cares:
This doesn’t come up very often, actually. But anyway, before the Bando Spiders game, Sena decides to tell Mamori who he really is. This is, of course a HUGE moment for Sena, and his teammates naturally focus on him, in surprise or jubilation. But it’s a big moment for someone else too: someone who can only feel both proud and foolish at the same time as she watches Sena run out onto the field. To the creators’ credit, although Sena’s deception had been played for laughs up until this point, this scene is treated seriously, and Mamori’s tearful reaction is handled nicely.
And of all the people (well, his ear, anyway) to appear during Mamori’s big realization, Hiruma is right there to tell Suzuna that Mamori is tough and that she’ll be fine, and come out on her own.
And then he gives her a little nudge, adding her to the team introductions (usually just for the players), acknowledging what she does for the team (as well as a little public harassment). It’s kind of a modified version of the (literal) kick in the ass he gives his players when they need it.
In one move (which had to have been prepared well before the game), Hiruma reminds her that even though Sena may not need her protection any longer, she’s an integral part of the Devil Bats. They need her, and he needs her on the bench analyzing the game and sending him signals.
He provides her with opportunities to let loose:
Put simply, Mamori needs to unclench once in a while. Anyone who takes being on a disciplinary committee that seriously does. But because Hiruma is so audaciously over-the-top, when she has to go along with his weird ideas, Mamori gets to loosen up and stop being a fussy little old hen self (it ends up pretty funny).
And she’s good at it (even if she finds it a little embarrassing).
Of course, Hiruma uses all of that to harass her later.
She provides him with opportunities to delegate:
Before the Kanto Tournament, a reporter asks the players on the participating teams a series of questions including “what kind of girl do you like?" Hiruma’s answer:
And boy does he use Mamori. From explaining the tournament structure to in-game analysis, to playing a vital role in his psychological warfare against other teams (and their coaches), Mamori does everything required of a team manager and a whole lot more.
Through the course of the series, Mamori becomes just as important to the Devil Bats as team ace Sena. She’s the Team Mom to Hiruma’s Team Dad/Drill Sergeant Nasty/Heroic Sociopath. But she’s more than that. Mamori is observant, resourceful, picks up tactics and analyzes plays faster and better than almost all the other guys on the team. As far as the mental game goes, Mamori is the only one smart enough and alert enough to keep up with Hiruma and give him the information he needs.
To do that, the two of them actually have their own system of hand signals. They literally have a language only they can speak. The sign language was created after an unfortunate moment during a game where Mamori unsuccessfully tried to communicate from the bench. Because of that, she develops a code of hand signals, which Hiruma promptly uses to tease her.
Along with the sign language for in-game communication, Hiruma incorporates his manager into plays, like deciding the number of players blitzing the other team's quarterback, and deciding the snap count to keep the game moving quickly.
Basically, he needs and uses every bit of her brainpower and dedication.
For contrast, there’s Agon, who’s only interested in pretty girls and simply sees Mamori (first from the stands and later on that bridge thing) as a nice piece of ass. He puts on his fake nice face and his fake nice personality, and when that doesn’t get him into her pants, his menacing approach after he knocks her down practically suggests an impending assault. (It ended okay.)
Hiruma never pretends to be nice, he never pretends to be friendly (and he has his violent moments too). If anything he pretends to be worse than he actually is. But his violent, abrasive tactics and personality have an effect on Mamori that’s not too different than the players on the team: her untapped abilities get to shine.
To Agon, Mamori is just another disposable girl. To Hiruma, she's irreplaceable.
Gaou
Intro
In the regional finals, the Devil Bats and Hiruma in particular face an opponent that isn’t particularly interested in beating the team or any individual player. Instead, he’s very, very interested in a battle of brute strength that usually ends in the hospitalization of the opposing team’s quarterback.
The Kid of the Seibu Wild Gunmen (one of the few players Hiruma respects) thinks he found the one way to keep healthy: throw the ball faster than Gaou can charge at him. In the beginning of the game, he successfully avoids Gaou’s insane charges with his quickdraw passes.
But ultimately, it doesn’t work. Without the Kid, Seibu is easily beaten, and the Dinosaurs advance to face the Devil Bats for the regional championship.
And Hiruma is nowhere near as fast as the Kid.
Part One:
This part is simple. Gaoh goes on a rampage through the audience after a game. Mamori shields Suzuna. Hiruma shields Mamori. (The Ha-Ha Brothers show up too, but they’re in a different panel.)
Part Two:
So, understanding the situation that there is a definite possibility that he will be seriously injured in the next game, Hiruma has a contingency plan for a replacement quarterback, and he secretly gives the plan to Mamori.
Although the sneaky little eavesdroppers (some of them anyway) mistakenly think that it’s a love letter, it’s not as juicy as that.
But it’s still got its own little significances. Hiruma, knowing he might have to leave the game due to a major injury, doesn’t trust his team to the Doburoku the only (albeit drunken) adult or any of the players (although this might be because he didn’t want them, especially Kurita, to think that he wasn’t completely confident in their ability to protect him). He doesn’t even tell the guy he chose as his potential replacement. The one person he trusts is Mamori.
But Mamori refuses. She refuses the possibility that he would have to leave the game, refuses to be part of the idea that he wouldn’t find a way to make it to the end. Because although he used to be the one person whose behavior she absolutely could not stand, the thought of him seriously or possibly even permanently injured actually brings tears to her eyes. Tearing up the note is her way of telling him to use his evil brain to figure out a way to stay whole.
Part Three:
It doesn’t work out that way. Because even Hiruma’s evil brain didn’t imagine Marco would set up his own player to get trampled by Gaou just to take out Hiruma. And for the first time, in front of everyone, the invincible Hiruma, Deimon's unmatched brainpower, driving force, and ringmaster loses control of the game and gets totally smashed by Gaou.
As he's taken off the field on a stretcher, he reaches out and signals the only one who can understand him. He needs Kurita to snap out of his mid-game crisis.
Instead of staying on the field with the team, with Sena, Mamori goes with Hiruma. (This isn't to say that she's abandoning Sena. One of the big things in the series is how Sena proves that he can stand on his own.)
And back in the medical area, Mamori tearfully reveals that even though she ripped up Hiruma's instructions, she taped them back together. And it turned out that Sena became the replacement quarterback by his own choice, just as Hiruma wanted and predicted.
Part Four:
But being a running back, and having relatively little football experience, Sena can only go so far. So of course Hiruma comes back, broken arm and all.
He puts on his scary face, cackles like a madman and acts like he's fine. Musashi and Sena realize that he's not fine at all, but only Mamori knows just how bad it is.
Because she's the one who taped up his arms. She's the one who tried to keep him from going back into the game.
But Hiruma tricks her. Five years (reader time), twelve games and two hundred fifty six chapters later, Hiruma still remembers the little wager he almost lost. And he uses it to trick her into helping him get back on the field.
Because out of the filthiest mouth in high school football comes the affirmation that he too has a promise to keep. From the guy who threatened his team into existence, and was willing to abandon them in the field, comes the assertion that he's going all out for his team.
Of course, he doesn't say any of that to them. But he'll say it to Mamori. And it wasn't a lie just to convince her either. She'd already given up on keeping him from returning to the game.
(And just for that extra squee: the only ones in the medic area are Hiruma and Mamori. Therefore, she had to help him take off his uniform and protective gear to bandage up his busted arm. And then she had to help him back into all of it. If that doesn't get the hurt/comfort vibes going, I don't know what will.)
Why I like Eyeshield 21 and Hiruma/Mamori
So the reason I got into Eyeshield 21 is the simple, shallow fact that I thought Hiruma’s character design looked interesting. I sort of like watching sports too (Football is okay. My favorite is hockey.) so I thought, "what the heck?"
It’s fun to watch two smart, tough, seemingly incompatible characters interact. And they just look good together (my bias is showing). I have no idea if Hiruma is actually supposed to be physically attractive. There are some single panels scattered throughout the manga where he’s not bad looking. He’s actually pretty cool looking* (especially next to Agon and his new...hair. Yikes.) Unfortunately, for the rest of the manga, he keeps making those faces, so it’s unclear exactly how just plain “attractive" he was intended to be (and then there's the Victorian Gentleman's Beach Holiday Outfit. Gaah.) Many fangirls, however, find him perfectly hot, weird faces and all. After all, it's his insane audacity that makes him such an interesting character.
(*Actually, these are probably more examples of where *I* think Hiruma looks good than anything...)
And Mamori is a pretty decent female character for a shounen manga. She's more than the token pretty little potential love interest who the hero (in this case Sena) has to get stronger for (although, it is sort of like that). But along the way, she develops her own character and expands her focus from one person (Sena) to many. And she's funny. I love funny characters.
Also, although the Hiruma/Mamori relationship starts off looking like a typical Slap Slap Kiss situation, it evolves into something different. The bickering calms down (somewhat), and they develop a mutually beneficial relationship with its own version of respect. They become the Mom and Dad of the Devil Bats.
It's interesting to watch Mamori's attitude toward Hiruma change over the course of the series from intense dislike and frustration to understanding (and frustration). Hiruma, too goes from viewing Mamori as another little pawn, a meddling but useful source of simple, free labor to trusting her and relying on her to help him run the complicated schemes necessary to give the Devil Bats the chance to win.
Fandom Guide
The Hiruma/Mamori LJ community. There's fic, art, fan soundtracks, discussion and more over there.
The Eyeshield 21 Doujinshi LJ community. There's also links to the Japanese artists' websites.
The Hiruma/Mamori DeviantART club.
A Hiruma/Mamori YouTube video. Just to see how inconsistent the animation was.
So, that's it. YA-HA!
Author: domlandbubbles
Fandom: Eyeshield 21 (Manga)
Pairing: Hiruma Youichi and Anezaki Mamori
Spoilers: Up to chapter 331 of the manga.
Warning: There are some TV Tropes links here
Notes: Thank you to the ship_manifesto mods for the extensions!
He’s a gleeful, gum-chewing, gun-toting extortionist with an unholy love of mind games and trick plays!
She’s a fierce mama bear member of the disciplinary committee who hates bullies and loves cream puffs!
Together they...run a high school football club in Japan. Yeah.
Eyeshield 21 is a sports manga (I’m ignoring the anime) about American football (I'm just going to call it 'football'). The Deimon Devil Bats are a high school football club made up a ragtag bunch of misfits whose only dream is to play in the Christmas Bowl (the Japanese high school equivalent of the Super Bowl). That’s about it. Everything takes a backseat to football, so, to be fair, romantic relationships are not very prominent at all.
But!
Even if you don’t see Hiruma and Mamori’s relationship as (potentially) romantic, it’s still interesting as it changes over the course of the series.
Character Studies
Hiruma Youichi: The Devil in Plain Sight.
Although running back Sena is the main character, through most of the series, Hiruma drives the plot...at gunpoint. He’s vulgar and violent, a bully, a manipulator and a liar. The entire school (including the faculty and administration) is at his mercy through his Death Note Extortion Notebook, his hyperspace arsenal and his attack dog. Everything about him is calculated to be intimidating, his spiky, bleached-blond hair, his fang-full Cheshire cat grin, his aggressively unpredictable, demented behavior and, well, his guns, guns and more guns. He has an aura of inhuman invincibility about him, mostly because he's clever enough to be mentally miles ahead of everyone else. Basically, Hiruma is an obscenely intelligent thug. Fortunately, (or unfortunately for Sena) the only thing he's interested in is football. As the story progresses, other bits and pieces of Hiruma's personality come out, sort of. He really is like that for the most part.
Anezaki Mamori: The Protective Big Sister.
Mamori starts off as Sena’s only friend...she’s practically his mom. She looks out for him, picks out the jacket for his school uniform, brings him lunch and tells him in no uncertain terms that the one person at Deimon high school he should avoid at all costs is this horrible guy named Hiruma. Especially since Sena is a small, cowardly bully-magnet who always depended on her to stick up for him. Besides Sena, Mamori seems to get along well with the other students, being friendly, capable and well-adjusted as well as smart and pretty. She’s also a member of the school Disciplinary Committee, which has given up any and all hope of reigning in their resident terrorist, but that doesn't stop Mamori from trying. Early in the series, she's the only one who isn't afraid to stand up to Hiruma. As the story progresses Mamori's opinion of Hiruma (and Sena) changes, although her protectiveness and concern for others doesn't.
~~~
Hiruma as Evil Mastermind Quarterback
The creators of Eyeshield 21 have said that Hiruma is supposed to be sort of the antithesis of the ideal Japanese “sportsman." He doesn’t play just to do his best and try his hardest. He isn’t about bonding with his teammates and believing in the strength of friendship and teamwork. He’s about winning even if it kills someone. In an early match, he packs up and leaves in the middle of the game once he calculates it’s impossible to win. But as much as he's focused on winning, Hiruma doesn't cheat (the card counting doesn't count).
For Hiruma, football is a mental rather than physical exercise. In a way he's playing chess (his father is a retired chess player), with life-sized pieces on a football field chess board. As the "Control Tower from Hell," Hiruma's play style is aggressively aggressive and offense-focused, and he creates (sometimes bizarre) game plans and strategies that he can shuffle, change or discard on the fly.
Hiruma loves, loves, loves gambling, mind games and trick plays. The Devil Bats have some talented, motivated players, but they also have no reserves (sometimes not even a full roster), little experience, and quite a few exploitable quirks and weak spots. Hiruma uses cunning tactics, outrageous taunts and insane gambles because he enjoys it, but also to compensate for his team’s limitations.
He’s also merciless with his team, constantly shooting at them, setting his dog on them, giving them all “fucking" nicknames (Fucking Shrimp, Fucking Monkey, Fucking Baldie, etc.) and doling out the rare compliment on a good play by literally kicking them in the ass.
Despite all that, the Devil Bats come together as a tightly bonded and ultimately very successful team. Hiruma really did bring (force) out some amazing skills in his players, and his belief that his team has the ability to pull off his crazy plays translates into their belief that he will always come up with the crazy play that wins the game. In the end, his ferocious determination in any situation where there's at least a 1 percent chance of success is contagious, and his (insane) dream of playing in the Christmas Bowl becomes the whole team's dream.
Mamori as Team Mom Manager
At first, Mamori is takes the team manager job for Sena's sake. She thinks she can shield him from Hiruma's...Hiruma-ness and because Hiruma conned her into believing that Sena was overwhelmed by his team secretary responsibilities, when in fact Sena had just become Eyeshield 21 and couldn't do the secretary's job (what little he did beforehand was pathetic anyway).
Mamori believes that football is too rough and dangerous for someone small and weak like Sena, which leads to many humorous moments in the early parts of the series as Hiruma invents weird ways to keep Sena's secret. Sena believes that if Mamori were to find out about Eyeshield 21, she would freak out and fight with Hiruma. Mamori has a huge blind spot for Sena, and while she spends a lot of time with him as part of the Devil Bats (and even watches him kick a rock from Houston to Las Vegas) she never figures out who he is (although other characters do).
Although she knew little to nothing about football before joining the Devil Bats, Mamori is a quick study (as well as organized, efficient and extremely competent) and settles into the manager position easily. She is responsible for helping during practices and games, keeping track of the Devil Bats’ equipment as well as compiling and editing video and stats on the opposing teams as they play against each other. During games, she passes information onto Hiruma from the sidelines and becomes part of certain plays. In addition to all that, she routinely does all the weird little projects Hiruma comes up with to motivate, train and prepare the team. (She also does all those domesticy-type things commonly attributed to girls in manga: cleaning, cooking, laundry, etc.)
As the series goes on, Mamori’s motherly tendencies expand to include the whole team; she cheers them on from the bench, looks after their aches and pains and checks up on them during school. She becomes an indispensable part of the team, a key member of the Devil Bats.
WHY THEY SHOULD TOTALLY HOOK UP, Y'ALL
She gives him a hard time:
Hiruma is such a magnificent bastard, that it’s rather fun to watch someone get the best of him since it doesn’t happen very often.
In one of their earliest confrontations, Hiruma gives Mamori a pop quiz, not believing she could possibly learn all the rules of football in one night by reading a book.
Question #1. And question #2. Question #3 gets postponed indefinitely when it looks like Mamori is going to get them all.
The main purpose of this exchange is really to explain some of the basics of football to readers who might be as clueless as Sena (which is the only explanation for Hiruma's really basic questions), but it’s still pretty funny (and it comes up later).
And even when their relationship becomes less antagonistic, Mamori is the only one to question Hiruma's decisions, even if there really isn't much she or anyone can do about them.
He gives her a hard time:
In a very different way, no one challenges Mamori. She’s so well-liked that most characters seem to go along with whatever she wants, and there are a few scenes showing peripheral male characters going out of their way to do things for her because she’s pretty. Mamori’s also a member of the Disciplinary Committee, so technically she has some kind of authority to do something, I’m not sure what.
That all means squat to Hiruma.
And although she does spend a lot of time getting on Hiruma’s case about his...obnoxious behavior, Mamori herself can be fussy and bossy. So in a similar way to Hiruma, it’s kind of fun to watch her confronted by someone who doesn’t give a crap about how uptight and smothery she can be.
And unlike the other male characters who show goofy deference to Mamori because she’s a pretty girl, Hiruma doesn’t treat her that differently than the players on his team. He points his gun at her (to absolutely no effect), gives her his own personal Fucking Nickname and rudely yells all his unreasonable demands at her.
Another thing he does that no one else does: he teases her. It’s usually about snacking, but not so much the actual eating. He’s poking at her goody- goody, discipline committee member image. It's one of the few things that flusters her.
She cares enough to understand him:
When the other characters comment on Hiruma’s seeming invincibility and inexhaustible energy, they either come to the conclusion that with enough training they can become like him, or that’s just the way he is.
Mamori knows better. She knows the Death March is just as rough on him as it is on the rest of the other marchers. She knows that at the end of the Death March he needs to collapse just like the rest of his team (she may even know that he needs to do it where no one can see.) (Also, Suzuna says "I have to ask whether or not my brother made the team," not "I have to ask my brother about the places he passed and what happened.") And she knows how much energy and effort he put into the Devil Bats in so many different areas, even as he made it look effortless, which leads to a pretty funny moment.
In some ways, she’s one of the few characters (Musashi is another one) who views and treats Hiruma (occasionally) like a human being instead of a maniacal, invincible, cackling demon king. Mamori even directly (although she’s behind him) confronts him about that. After checking on all the other players who are a heap of aching muscles the day after a particularly rough game, Mamori finds Hiruma seemingly fine. When she asks about it, he blows her off as usual. But remembering his swollen knee during the Death March, Mamori tells him he doesn’t have to be so hard on himself and on his team because they won’t let him down.
ヒル魔くんいつも無理して厳しく見せなくたって大丈夫だよみんなもう気い抜いたりしないよ
And for a brief, quiet moment, he smiles. Not his usual fang-land grin of psychotic euphoria, but a small smile, because it’s true. And then he tells her, not unkindly, to shut up.
He actually cares:
This doesn’t come up very often, actually. But anyway, before the Bando Spiders game, Sena decides to tell Mamori who he really is. This is, of course a HUGE moment for Sena, and his teammates naturally focus on him, in surprise or jubilation. But it’s a big moment for someone else too: someone who can only feel both proud and foolish at the same time as she watches Sena run out onto the field. To the creators’ credit, although Sena’s deception had been played for laughs up until this point, this scene is treated seriously, and Mamori’s tearful reaction is handled nicely.
And of all the people (well, his ear, anyway) to appear during Mamori’s big realization, Hiruma is right there to tell Suzuna that Mamori is tough and that she’ll be fine, and come out on her own.
And then he gives her a little nudge, adding her to the team introductions (usually just for the players), acknowledging what she does for the team (as well as a little public harassment). It’s kind of a modified version of the (literal) kick in the ass he gives his players when they need it.
In one move (which had to have been prepared well before the game), Hiruma reminds her that even though Sena may not need her protection any longer, she’s an integral part of the Devil Bats. They need her, and he needs her on the bench analyzing the game and sending him signals.
He provides her with opportunities to let loose:
Put simply, Mamori needs to unclench once in a while. Anyone who takes being on a disciplinary committee that seriously does. But because Hiruma is so audaciously over-the-top, when she has to go along with his weird ideas, Mamori gets to loosen up and stop being a fussy little old hen self (it ends up pretty funny).
And she’s good at it (even if she finds it a little embarrassing).
Of course, Hiruma uses all of that to harass her later.
She provides him with opportunities to delegate:
Before the Kanto Tournament, a reporter asks the players on the participating teams a series of questions including “what kind of girl do you like?" Hiruma’s answer:
And boy does he use Mamori. From explaining the tournament structure to in-game analysis, to playing a vital role in his psychological warfare against other teams (and their coaches), Mamori does everything required of a team manager and a whole lot more.
Through the course of the series, Mamori becomes just as important to the Devil Bats as team ace Sena. She’s the Team Mom to Hiruma’s Team Dad/Drill Sergeant Nasty/Heroic Sociopath. But she’s more than that. Mamori is observant, resourceful, picks up tactics and analyzes plays faster and better than almost all the other guys on the team. As far as the mental game goes, Mamori is the only one smart enough and alert enough to keep up with Hiruma and give him the information he needs.
To do that, the two of them actually have their own system of hand signals. They literally have a language only they can speak. The sign language was created after an unfortunate moment during a game where Mamori unsuccessfully tried to communicate from the bench. Because of that, she develops a code of hand signals, which Hiruma promptly uses to tease her.
Along with the sign language for in-game communication, Hiruma incorporates his manager into plays, like deciding the number of players blitzing the other team's quarterback, and deciding the snap count to keep the game moving quickly.
Basically, he needs and uses every bit of her brainpower and dedication.
For contrast, there’s Agon, who’s only interested in pretty girls and simply sees Mamori (first from the stands and later on that bridge thing) as a nice piece of ass. He puts on his fake nice face and his fake nice personality, and when that doesn’t get him into her pants, his menacing approach after he knocks her down practically suggests an impending assault. (It ended okay.)
Hiruma never pretends to be nice, he never pretends to be friendly (and he has his violent moments too). If anything he pretends to be worse than he actually is. But his violent, abrasive tactics and personality have an effect on Mamori that’s not too different than the players on the team: her untapped abilities get to shine.
To Agon, Mamori is just another disposable girl. To Hiruma, she's irreplaceable.
Gaou
Intro
In the regional finals, the Devil Bats and Hiruma in particular face an opponent that isn’t particularly interested in beating the team or any individual player. Instead, he’s very, very interested in a battle of brute strength that usually ends in the hospitalization of the opposing team’s quarterback.
The Kid of the Seibu Wild Gunmen (one of the few players Hiruma respects) thinks he found the one way to keep healthy: throw the ball faster than Gaou can charge at him. In the beginning of the game, he successfully avoids Gaou’s insane charges with his quickdraw passes.
But ultimately, it doesn’t work. Without the Kid, Seibu is easily beaten, and the Dinosaurs advance to face the Devil Bats for the regional championship.
And Hiruma is nowhere near as fast as the Kid.
Part One:
This part is simple. Gaoh goes on a rampage through the audience after a game. Mamori shields Suzuna. Hiruma shields Mamori. (The Ha-Ha Brothers show up too, but they’re in a different panel.)
Part Two:
So, understanding the situation that there is a definite possibility that he will be seriously injured in the next game, Hiruma has a contingency plan for a replacement quarterback, and he secretly gives the plan to Mamori.
Although the sneaky little eavesdroppers (some of them anyway) mistakenly think that it’s a love letter, it’s not as juicy as that.
But it’s still got its own little significances. Hiruma, knowing he might have to leave the game due to a major injury, doesn’t trust his team to the Doburoku the only (albeit drunken) adult or any of the players (although this might be because he didn’t want them, especially Kurita, to think that he wasn’t completely confident in their ability to protect him). He doesn’t even tell the guy he chose as his potential replacement. The one person he trusts is Mamori.
But Mamori refuses. She refuses the possibility that he would have to leave the game, refuses to be part of the idea that he wouldn’t find a way to make it to the end. Because although he used to be the one person whose behavior she absolutely could not stand, the thought of him seriously or possibly even permanently injured actually brings tears to her eyes. Tearing up the note is her way of telling him to use his evil brain to figure out a way to stay whole.
Part Three:
It doesn’t work out that way. Because even Hiruma’s evil brain didn’t imagine Marco would set up his own player to get trampled by Gaou just to take out Hiruma. And for the first time, in front of everyone, the invincible Hiruma, Deimon's unmatched brainpower, driving force, and ringmaster loses control of the game and gets totally smashed by Gaou.
As he's taken off the field on a stretcher, he reaches out and signals the only one who can understand him. He needs Kurita to snap out of his mid-game crisis.
Instead of staying on the field with the team, with Sena, Mamori goes with Hiruma. (This isn't to say that she's abandoning Sena. One of the big things in the series is how Sena proves that he can stand on his own.)
And back in the medical area, Mamori tearfully reveals that even though she ripped up Hiruma's instructions, she taped them back together. And it turned out that Sena became the replacement quarterback by his own choice, just as Hiruma wanted and predicted.
Part Four:
But being a running back, and having relatively little football experience, Sena can only go so far. So of course Hiruma comes back, broken arm and all.
He puts on his scary face, cackles like a madman and acts like he's fine. Musashi and Sena realize that he's not fine at all, but only Mamori knows just how bad it is.
Because she's the one who taped up his arms. She's the one who tried to keep him from going back into the game.
But Hiruma tricks her. Five years (reader time), twelve games and two hundred fifty six chapters later, Hiruma still remembers the little wager he almost lost. And he uses it to trick her into helping him get back on the field.
Because out of the filthiest mouth in high school football comes the affirmation that he too has a promise to keep. From the guy who threatened his team into existence, and was willing to abandon them in the field, comes the assertion that he's going all out for his team.
Of course, he doesn't say any of that to them. But he'll say it to Mamori. And it wasn't a lie just to convince her either. She'd already given up on keeping him from returning to the game.
(And just for that extra squee: the only ones in the medic area are Hiruma and Mamori. Therefore, she had to help him take off his uniform and protective gear to bandage up his busted arm. And then she had to help him back into all of it. If that doesn't get the hurt/comfort vibes going, I don't know what will.)
Why I like Eyeshield 21 and Hiruma/Mamori
So the reason I got into Eyeshield 21 is the simple, shallow fact that I thought Hiruma’s character design looked interesting. I sort of like watching sports too (Football is okay. My favorite is hockey.) so I thought, "what the heck?"
It’s fun to watch two smart, tough, seemingly incompatible characters interact. And they just look good together (my bias is showing). I have no idea if Hiruma is actually supposed to be physically attractive. There are some single panels scattered throughout the manga where he’s not bad looking. He’s actually pretty cool looking* (especially next to Agon and his new...hair. Yikes.) Unfortunately, for the rest of the manga, he keeps making those faces, so it’s unclear exactly how just plain “attractive" he was intended to be (and then there's the Victorian Gentleman's Beach Holiday Outfit. Gaah.) Many fangirls, however, find him perfectly hot, weird faces and all. After all, it's his insane audacity that makes him such an interesting character.
(*Actually, these are probably more examples of where *I* think Hiruma looks good than anything...)
And Mamori is a pretty decent female character for a shounen manga. She's more than the token pretty little potential love interest who the hero (in this case Sena) has to get stronger for (although, it is sort of like that). But along the way, she develops her own character and expands her focus from one person (Sena) to many. And she's funny. I love funny characters.
Also, although the Hiruma/Mamori relationship starts off looking like a typical Slap Slap Kiss situation, it evolves into something different. The bickering calms down (somewhat), and they develop a mutually beneficial relationship with its own version of respect. They become the Mom and Dad of the Devil Bats.
It's interesting to watch Mamori's attitude toward Hiruma change over the course of the series from intense dislike and frustration to understanding (and frustration). Hiruma, too goes from viewing Mamori as another little pawn, a meddling but useful source of simple, free labor to trusting her and relying on her to help him run the complicated schemes necessary to give the Devil Bats the chance to win.
Fandom Guide
The Hiruma/Mamori LJ community. There's fic, art, fan soundtracks, discussion and more over there.
The Eyeshield 21 Doujinshi LJ community. There's also links to the Japanese artists' websites.
The Hiruma/Mamori DeviantART club.
A Hiruma/Mamori YouTube video. Just to see how inconsistent the animation was.
So, that's it. YA-HA!