Funny / Eyeshield 21

• Hiruma's recruitment drive: throw a new student into the air in celebration, lend them his phone, get their number and address, and poster-bomb them...which is scarily effective. The fun part comes when Kurita tried it in the last volume...
• Sena's very first play of the series gets off to an unforgettable start: down 3-0 to the Cupids with only time for a single play, Hiruma catches the Cupid's kickoff and tosses it to Sena, who has to run the entire field for a kickoff return touchdown for them to win. Sena takes a moment to steel himself, reminds himself of what he has to do and takes off like a rocket. Everyone present, on and off the field, on both teams, stares slack-jawed in incredulous, disbelieving shock at what they're seeing...
  Hiruma: YOU'RE GOING THE WRONG WAY!!!!
• The poor fat girl with the pigtails who keeps fainting whenever she meets Sakuraba.
• Hiruma kidnapping Monta and his recruiting Monta by making him think Eyeshield 21 is dating Mamori...with Sena watching...
  Sena (a.k.a Eyeshield 21): He's completely fooling you!
• "The Death of Riceman". After recruiting Monta as their receiver, Hiruma decides to trash their old passing training dummy (modeled after Jerry Rice)... and invites his team-mates to demolish it with part of his ridiculous collection of weapons. Mamori is initially distraught that Sena and Monta joining in with a machine gun... but then, wanting to get into the spirit of things, she takes a freaking flamethrower to "Riceman".
  • A between-chapters break following this chapter introduces Mamori's mediocre drawing skills as she relates a "picture diary" of everyone pitching in to put out the ensuing wildfire (except for a certain someone who threw firecrackers into the blaze).
• Right before the Devil Bats vs Chameleons game, the gang were practicing catching footballs... and hilarity followed.
• The three Haa-haaa brothers trying to insult Kasamatsu into charging them and getting mad themselves. Then Hiruma comes in and in 3 quick taunts got him to squirt blood out of his veins...
  The brothers: ...He's the devil...
• The viral video Hiruma makes in Chapter 53 to get the Nasa Aliens to play the Devil Bats. It involves depicting the Aliens' racist coach as a (literal) chicken and putting him through a Humiliation Conga. The build-up to it makes it even funnier, as you just see Hiruma filming random things out of context (from Monta doing one of his acrobatic catches to Cerberus taking a crap) and have to wonder what he's up to this time.
• The Devilbats (Sena, Monta, Kurita, and Daikichi) and Nasa Aliens having a sushi party...with sake involved. With predictable results...
  • The next morning shows Sena somehow getting stuck on a tree above a lion enclosure (an extra page shows him running away from the lions) and Panther somehow ending up upside down in a trash bin. The others, meanwhile, were tied up and beaten by Kurita's dad for underage drinking.
• After Monta explains his plan to find Musashi and get him back on the Devil Bats, Sena starts getting savvy about Monta's fantasies. "Why am I always the one throwing confetti?"
• Apollo's Oh, Crap! when he realized Hiruma had been playing him with meaningless hand gestures when it's Mamori's pretz that are the true signal. He became so confused that he started to think even the number of Cerberus' feces was the signal...
• Sena's delirious, exhaustion-fueled hallucinations after the game with the Nasa Aliens. Especially when he sees a shirtless Shin carrying a huge dumbbell, a ten-ton weight, and a live elephant. Balanced on a fingertip.
  Sena: He can't be real! But the scary thing is, I can't be sure...
• Hiruma and Apollo's very colorful exchange◊ in chapter 61, filled with a bunch of different words for penis.
  Monta, Sena: Hey, what's "Johnson" and "dick" and... What are they?
  Ishimaru: Pocket monster?
  Mamori (embarrassed): I don't know anything!!
• When the Deimon team goes to Texas in one chapter, there is randomly a cow on the beach. Why?
  Monta: Because... this is Texas?
• For a character who's supposed to be very serious and stoic, Shin surely provides a lot of humorous moments. So, Shin was going to start his training on Mount Fuji. He instantly broke his GPS, got lost in Aokigahara Forest, and had to cook a wild boar for dinner. Then he began to feel worried... that just eating meat wouldn't give him all the necessary nutrients.
  • Then Panther shows up and Shin misinterpreted Panther's challenge as a request for food...
  • Takami inadvertently using a stick with shit stuck on one end when translating for Panther.
• Taki vs. Monta during the death march. The former runs while striking poses and pulling Suzuna. The latter tried having teatime while running and eventually started rolling. At the end of the day...
  Doburoku: Why are these two the only ones half-dead like this?
• The group's misadventures in a Las Vegas casino...
• During the game against the Cyborgs, Sena's moves leave Munakata so shocked that he went temporarily insane and started ranting about how Eyeshield 21 was just an errand boy who was bullied so much he developed super speed...
  Sena: ...It's all true, actually...
• When Doburoku assumes that Mamori and Hiruma are in a relationship.
  Doburoku: You support him a lot too, as his girlfriend.
  Mamori: Yeah.
  Beat *Mamori cracks her pencil*
  Mamori: *with a wild look on her face* I am doing my best as a MA-NA-GER!
• Deimon Devilbats vs Dokubari Scorpions. First, the Devilbats showed up wearing lipstick due to Kurita not communicating Hiruma's message properly, which was to bring, not wear lipstick. Then it turns out to be part of a ploy to trick the Scorpions, who specialize in reading their opponents through small habits and "tells". Takami put it best:
  Takami: His(Kanagushi's) opponent is just too plain evil.
• During the game between the Koigahama Cupids and the Seibu Wild Gunmen, Hatsujou is about to go through his usual shtick of making fun of the opposing team for not having girlfriends to cheer them on... and then he sees Seibu's cheerleaders, and laments "Oh no, it looks like we've lost on every count!"
• The Sports Festival chapters have some funny moments, like Hiruma managing to convert Yukimitsu and Mamori into his evil plans, and Hiruma dressed up as a bunny.
  • When two panels show "before and after" to highlight the change that the three have gone through.
  Kurita: "Well, one person hasn't changed a bit..."
  • Bonus points since in the Anime, rather than it being a close match the entire festival, Hiruma's team swept them away. During the "3 legged costume race" (which turns out to be anything but that), it looks like Sena is going to win, until Hiruma shows up on one of Zokugaku's motorcycles.
  Hiruma: "It's only natural that the bunny would be faster than the turtle. Kehehehe!!"
  • Another gem from the sports festival.
  Kurita: "Look, it's a bunny. I wonder who's in that costume..."
  Hiruma: *Pulls out a gun*. "I'll shoot you if you run ahead of me, my fucking forest friends."
  Kurita: "HAAA! THAT'S A SCARY BUNNY!"
  Everyone: "There's no question who's in there now."
  • During the marathon, the Ha Ha Brothers decide to repay Hiruma for everything and convince Sena and Monta to help them ambush him with butterfly nets. Hiruma being Hiruma, he shows up at the ambush with a tank.
• This little gem:
  Banba: This is...! Sena's been infected with FUNNURABA!
  Suzuna: IT'S CONTAGIOUS?!
• Kotaro Sasaki using up one of his team's time-outs... just so he can tell the Devil Bats the Bando Spiders' dramatic back-story.
• After the Bando game, Hiruma decides to punish Musashi for leaving the team by... giving him a haircut. Of course, this being Hiruma, he decides to go with the most ridiculous hairdos ever, including at one point a clown afro. Bonus points for Hiruma's increasing laughter, Kurita looking mortified, and Musashi remaining stoic the entire time.
• The quiz show at the Ojou Academy school festival. Highlights include poor Sakuraba getting partnered with Ootawara, Ootawara and Natsuhiko's "idiot battle", and Mamori's startling knowledge of the ingredients of her Trademark Favorite Food.
  • In the end, Sakuraba and Ootawara end up dead last and are forced to spend the rest of the day in maid outfits... including during football practice.
• Takami and Hiruma showing defeat... "is that what you expected me to say?!"
• Ikari's backstory during the Kanto semi-finals. He was constantly getting suspended for picking fights with people he thought were making fun of Ojou Academy. After a string of these, he overhears two guys ridiculing the current lineup of the White Knights, and proceeds to... sign up for the football team.
  • Or, during the game against Deimon, Ikari gets fired up and starts pulling on his chains... then he finds out one of them belongs to Cereberus. What follows? Ikari vs. Cereberus. The dog wins.
  Juumonji: "Cereberus! Get out here and stop the Ballista!"
• In the Oujou vs Devilbats competition, after finally managing their first touchdown, Monta claps his arm over Sena's shoulder declaring that they'll plow through to the next touchdown with an unbeatable tag team. Sakuraba hears this and tells them that he and Shin will do the same and score as a tag team. The commentator notes that Shin isn't the type to put his arm over someone's shoulder and wonders what he'll do.
  Sena & Monta: HE DID A TRIDENT TACKLE?!
  • Poor Sakuraba.
• Chapter 270, Sena vs. Gaoh. How does a guy look so badass yet so cowardly at the same time?
• After Kurita finally manages to stop Gaoh, the rest of the team gets fired up resulting in....ultra-manly screaming and thick eyebrows. Even the mascot. This troper nearly choked laughing seeing Marco's reaction.
  • Speaking of eyebrows, this gem.
  • The girls had to resist that moment with all their womanly heart...
• Every single time Heracles pulls a prank. A few highlights:
  • After entering the team, Karin started a secret blog about it. Not even ten minutes later Heracles had commented "I found out!" on it.
  • His teammate Karin writes fanfics and doujins, and Taka reads constantly. So Heracles procured a copy of one of Karin's fanfics and swapped it for one of Taka's books, much to Karin's embarrassment.
    • The fact Taka read it in its entirety.
  • During the match against the Devil Bat, Karin suddenly started laughing and declaring she becomes ruthless on the field... Then she turns and berates Heracles for saying such things imitating her voice.
  • The fact this actually fits their Ancient Rome theme. Ancient Romans were prone to jokes and pranks at the most surprising moments (for example, during a Triumph's parade it was traditional for the troops to insult their own general in the most embarrassing way they could come up with), so of course the Alexanders have The Prankster as their captain.
• Mamori's face when Hiruma signalled for a long pass with his broken arm...which rubs off onto Suzuna...which rubs off onto the audience...
• Gaou + Agon vs Gomery and the pages building up to it, starting from Agon getting his hair shaved off, were absolutely, gut-wrenchingly hilarious. Sena and Monta put it best.
  Sena: "The worst. It's the worst tag team in history."
  Monta: "From the bottom of my heart, I'm happy they're our teammates."
  • Special mention goes to Mamori, Sena, Monta, Kurita, Suzuna and Ikkyu's priceless reactions when Gomery shaves Agon's hair.
  Sena: "Out of all the players...the one he shouldn't have laid a finger on..."

  • Agon's reaction:
  Agon: "Hey, I thought I'd try and pretend to get along with you bastards, for the sake of the three million, but I've changed my mind. I'LL GO AT FULL STRENGTH AND MAKE A BLOODBATH OF THESE BASTARDS!!"
  Gaou: "Agreed!"
  • Also Taka's completely stoic "I'm glad I wasn't walking on that side" comment.
• The night before the match with America, the whole team bursts onto the scene screaming bloody murder which builds to be....
  Sena: "What's with that uselessly badass pillow fight?!?"
  • Bonus points for Shin's Trident Pillow
• Mizumachi taking one for the team to be the "Cupid of Friendship" for Sena, Shin and...Agon.
• "There is only one person having so much fun though ..."
• When huge amounts of flowers were delivered to the clubhouse and Mamori suggested Hiruma did it, Musashi and Kurita's disbelieving faces sold it.
  • And then there is Hiruma arriving puzzled as everyone else about the flowers.
  Hiruma: Did the fucking fatty die by overeating?
• Sena nervously asks a few people if they could make some room for them at a resturant. They rudely make fun of him. Enter Gaou, Shin and Agon. Shin politely asks, Gaou has a Slasher Smile on and Agon flat out tells them to "die".
• Anytime the normally stoical Shinryuuji Nagas (minus Agon and Unsui) start blushing, hooting or hollering whenever they see a pretty girl. Only to later revert back to normal when they see guys...and always blaming Ikkyu...
• Mizumachi is more concerned with how Agon's hair regrew in such a short time and suspecting it was a wig when everyone else was freaking out over how Gaou had gotten easily beaten by Mr Don. Next panel...
  "There are two corpses now."
• The Devilbats' Acting Unnatural moment when against Ojou.
• The tiny Chuubou sending Gaou flying through the window. Sena's reaction is priceless.
  • Or, during the game against Russia, Gaou is looking forward to fighting Rodchenko, since he has the most strength in the World Cup. When Chuubou manages to take him down, Gaou gets another idea...
  Marco: "Aaah... Gaou has switched his target. My condolences."
  • Rodchenko was heavily hyped by the powerful linemen of team Japan as a powerful opponent, being a Gold Medalist for Weight Lifting and World Record Holder for benchpressing. After Chuubou takes him down, Gaou has a shot at Rodchenko...and easily swats him aside with one arm.
  • Gaou hearing that Rodchenko is in the tournament. The others note he looks a little... too excited.
  Marco: "That's bad! That's really really bad!"
  Sena: "Gaou's eyes are..."
  Monta: "Shining like a little kid's!"
• During the sports festival chapter, the Ha-Ha Brothers talk Sena and Monta into attempting to capture Hiruma to prevent him from sabotaging their runner in the marathon. Unfortunately for them, they underestimated him AGAIN.
  • What makes it even better is Sena's reaction to the idea itself.
  Sena: "Y-You're going to try and.. STOP HIRUMA-SAN!?"
  Togano: "No, we know it has zero percent chance of working, but..."
  Monta: "...If we all go together, who knows?"
  • Then Hiruma shows up in a tank.
  Hiruma: *noticing them* What are you doing?
  Jummonji: ...Nothing...
• Cerberus and Hiruma really are the perfect pet and owner for each other. Poor Buta...
• Komusubi's first impression of the 'Huh' Bros—and the subsequent smirk. As well as their reaction.
• Hiruma getting the audience involved as part of psychological warfare against the Nagas. Doubles as Moment of Awesome.
• When Sena is asked by the Hakushuu manager Maria to meet up with her, the rest of the team act as Date Peepers and are surprised when it turns out Riku arrives.
  Togano: "Has he awakened to guys, in the end?"
• During the world cup arc, when the Japan team used the Devibats' yell:
  Hiruma: WE'LL
  Banba: FUCKING
  Agon: KILL
  Gaou: THEM!
  Sena: Y'know, when they say it, that kill part doesn't seem like a joke anymore...
• Kurita's Imagine Spot where he faces off against Godzilla, whose stats were later given as: 40 yard dash in 0.1 second (one step), but somehow shrinks when facing other lines. Also features a Hot-Blooded Hiruma.
• Sena realizing that instead of having to score 4 touchdowns, with Musashi's kick they only have to score 3 touchdowns. Jummonji point out how obvious it is, only for everyone on the field save Hiruma and Musashi to react in awe. Hiruma put it simply: "We're a bunch of idiots".
  • This has a Call-Back later, when Suzuna reports in a viewer mailbox segment that the team is half geniuses, half idiots. Hiruma corrects her, saying that the idiots are the majority.
• Sena getting the Kantou MVP trophy after defeating Hakushu. His arms still numb from Gaou's strike, he drops the trophy and it shatters into pieces, which everyone immediately takes as an ill omen. Meanwhile, his teammates thinks it's perfectly in character for him..
• When Musashi first introduced himself as Deimon's former ace kicker, Kotaro remembered that Musashi was supposed to have entered Deimon the year previous. That means that Musashi was...
  Sena, Monta and Kotaro: 17 YEARS OLD?! WITH THAT FACE?!
• The local sumo tournament that Deimon Chibis (Sena, Monta, Komusubi) participated in order to prepare against Kyoshin Poseidon is chock full of funny moments:
  • Sena getting himself disqualified because he dodged so much that he unknowingly stepped out of the field.
  • Omosadake being dragged in by other locales to participate in the tournament. And he came with other Deimon members in the first place because they bribed him with a banana.
  • Komusubi finally defeats the tall player and is about to face the last year’s winner Ootawara. Everyone puts a serious face, but then...Ootawara gets himself disqualified due to not wearing a mawashi.
  The guys: “THE DECIDING FACTOR HAS BEEN REVEALED!!!!!!”
  Suzuna: (turns around, embarrassed) “...”
  • The prizes for winning the tournament are leftovers from summer...*cough* 200,000 Yen worth of fireworks. One of which looks so Obviously Evil that Sena lampshades it.
• During the flashback of the White Knight’s intense training in the previous year, it’s assumed that Sakuraba and Ootawara were also running away from the training. However, it turns out that Sakuraba finished his lap on the next day, and that Ootawara got arrested by local polices for accidental public shaming he did in few pages earlier. For extra hilarity, extra materials revealed that the police who arrested Ootawara had to endure the big guy’s farts while interrogating him.
• It's revealed that Ootawara was the only Ojo player to never have missed any training day, since idiots don't catch cold. When Sakuraba asks about Shin Takami tells him he broke a metro ticket machine once and missed the trip. There is also a quick mentions that Ikari came close too but he was under house arrest during one practice day.
• Sena not being able to recognize the president of the United States causes the smart players of team Japan to basically facepalm, the dumber players to admit they didn't know either and Ootawara to ask what is a "president".
• At the start of the very last match of the series, Hatsujou smugly declaring his team will win against the Enma Fires, and their new quarterback is no problem, just a substitute... Before recognizing Sena's racing.
• Some of the chapter omakes where Devil Bat would answer questions sent in by readers were rather amusing, but possibly none more so than #65:

  Hiruma, will you marry my daughter?

  - K.T., Tokyo

  Devil Bat: You'd offer your child to Hiruma?!
  • Perhaps one of the funniest is the #100, in which Devil Bat is asked to investigate the secret behind Yukimitsu's hairstyle change from the Fall Tournament to the Kantou Tournament.
  Yukimitsu: Oh, I just let my hair down.
  Devil Bat: THIS is what I used my #100 special investigation on!?

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