Eyeshield 21, Vol. 32: Xmas BOWL continues where the previous tankōbon left off and contains the next nine chapters (278–286) of the on-going manga series.
The tankōbon covers the prelude to the Christmas Bowl and at least partway through the first quarter of the game between the Deimon Devil Bats and the Teikoku Alexanders.
To prepare for the match, the players of the Deimon Devil Bats trains with their rival team – the Ojo White Knights. Sena Kobayakawa trains with Seijuro Shin in order to face Takeru Yamato of the Alexanders, as the mantle of Eyeshield-21 is on the line.
The Christmas Bowl is a real tournament and is the annual Japanese high-school American football championship game. In a way similar to the Super Bowl, the top two teams from throughout Japan come together in Tokyo Stadium to play against each other for the championship. As with most American Football leagues, the league setup is split into two regions – Kantō and Kansai – and the champions of each region play in the Christmas Bowl.
The Devil Bats are at a severe disadvantage as the Alexanders have represented the Kansai Regions since the inception of the Christmas Bowl and have never lost. It further complicates matters that the Devil Bats are inexperience in playing with snow. They take an early lead by scoring a touchdown rather easily.
Karin Koizumi is an interesting character introduced. She is the quarterback of the Teikoku Alexanders and the only female player (thus far) in the series. Taka Honjo, the wide receiver, discovers her skills as a player after he catches a ball that she threw back to him. She is reluctant at first but agrees after Takeru Yamato talks to her. As she had a natural ability for passes, Karin Koizumi only trains hard to improve her dodging ability.
This tankōbon is written by Riichiro Inagaki and illustrated by Yusuke Murata. For the most part, I really liked how the story is progressing. It seems that the Teikoku Alexanders is a team filled with phenoms of incredible talents – a difficult and worthy team for the Deimon Devil Bats to play against.
All in all, Eyeshield 21, Vol. 32: Xmas BOWL is a wonderful continuation to a series that seems intriguing and I cannot wait to read more.