The Eyeshield 21 anime and manga series features an extensive cast of characters created by Riichiro Inagaki and Yusuke Murata. The series takes place in Tokyo, Japan, where the members of Deimon Devil Bats have the ambition to compete at the Christmas Bowl, the most important high school American football championship of the country.
The main character of the series is Sena Kobayakawa, a wimpy boy who was a gofer to avoid being bullied during his childhood; he enters Deimon High School. While he runs away from the Ha-Ha Brothers his running ability is witnessed by Yoichi Hiruma, the captain of the Deimon Devil Bats, the school's American football team. After this, Hiruma coerces Sena to join the club under the alias "Eyeshield 21" to keep him from being recruited by other teams. Sena and Hiruma along with the other member of the club, Ryokan Kurita, try to recruit new players to compete at the Christmas Bowl.
While developing the characters, Murata intended to create characters who have unique qualities and that could stand out amidst the teams they are included. He focused his work on the characters' outfits since he thought it was the thing that would be most noted during the matches. Inagaki also used real-world influence for the teams. Most reviewers have praised the characters of the series, declaring that the characters are one of the best elements of the Eyeshield 21 series as they are distinguishable.
Creation and conception When Riichiro Inagaki and Yusuke Murata were creating the Eyeshield 21 series, Murata was concerned that each character had a stand-out quality because many of them are in groups. Murata said that "due to their heavy protective gear, it would be very difficult to identify personal characteristics in games" and because of this he decided to become more engaged in detailing their clothes, "so the most work on character designs are on their uniforms". Inagaki conceived the teams knowing that "each team has its own style", and designed the characters prior to assigning them a team.
Main characters The main characters of the Eyeshield 21 series are part of an American football team based on The Deimon Devil Bats were founded by Yoichi Hiruma, Ryokan Kurita, and Musashi under the name of After its inaugural year, they need to refound the team in Deimon. However, its membership was further reduced with the departure of Musashi. This remains the case until Hiruma discovers Sena Kobayakawa and his amazing running ability. For the creation of Deimon Devil Bats' uniform, Murata was inspired by the Philadelphia Eagles' gear and helmets, and for its logo he created six prototypes, saying he "spent a lot of work on designing the logo".
Sena Kobayakawa
is one of the main characters in the Eyeshield 21 series. During his childhood, he was a shy boy who was bullied and needed to be protected by Mamori Anezaki. Seeing this, Riku Kaitani, a young friend of Sena, taught him a running technique he referred to as the "explosive run" so Sena could defend himself. However, Sena used this to become a gofer for others instead of getting rid of bullies. In his first day at Deimon High School, he is chased by three bullies known as the Ha-Ha Brothers and his speed is discovered by Hiruma. Under the alias "Eyeshield 21" because of the green eyeshield he wears to conceal his identity, Sena joins Deimon's football team as a running back.
Yoichi Hiruma
is the captain and the quarterback of the Deimon Devil Bats. When he was a child, Hiruma learned about American football after crawling through a hole in a fence of an American military base. He befriended Ryokan Kurita and Musashi, and with them, founded the Mao Devil Bats. After completing middle school he intended to join the Shinryuji Naga, but as Kurita failed the entrance exam, he entered Deimon. Along with Kurita and Musashi, he re-established their former club, Mao Devil Bats, but renamed the team the Deimon Devil Bats. As Musashi leaves the club and few people have an interest in American football, he starts to blackmail students, forcing them to join the club. Hiruma is greatly feared both by students and administrative members of the school. Besides blackmailing people, he also intimidates them with the multiple firearms he carries with him. He is also a genius in maverick trick plays and mind games that he uses to try to frighten his adversaries.
Ryokan Kurita
is the largest and strongest lineman and player in the Deimon Devil Bats. Kurita met Hiruma and Musashi before entering high school, and with them founded the Mao Devil Bats, promising that one day they would contest the Christmas Bowl. Before completing high school, Kurita wanted to join the Shinryuji Naga through a scholarship, but Agon Kongo, who is considered a prodigy, entered his vacancy, and since he could not pass the school's exam he joined Deimon. Kurita is a kind-hearted individual who tries to do not hurt other people, but while on the field he does not hesitate to use all his strength. When playing, Kurita shouts his kiai when exerting extra effort. At the end of the series, he is shown to be attending Enma University alongside Sena, Monta, Riku, Mizumachi, Unsui and Kotaro.
Monta
is the primary wide receiver of the Deimon Devil Bats. He is most known as , a nickname given to him by Hiruma, who said that this name alluded to Joe Montana. Initially, he wants to become a baseball player, and sees Masaru Honjo, a Shuei the Bears' outfielder, as an idol. However, due to his lack of ability in other areas than reception he is not cast for the main team. Then, Sena invites him to join the Devil Bats, but he refuses the offer. Monta only enters the team after being scammed by Hiruma, who says the team needed someone to protect Mamori Anezaki from the egoistic and harmful Eyeshield 21. From there on, he decides he will become a hero through American football. He has a habit to go into a pose after a catch while yelling "Catch Max", also adding "Max" to nearly anything he describes while excited or determined. In many aspects, Monta resembles a monkey, and it is used as a recurring gag throughout the series. At the end of the series, he is shown to be attending Enma University.
Other Mamori Anezaki
is a childhood friend of Sena that has been protecting him from bullies since primary school. At high school, and after Sena joins the American football club, Mamori also joins it as the club manager to protect him. Despite joining the club just to protect Sena, she eventually becomes an excellent manager who knows the rules, analyzes the adversaries strategies and creates strategies to combat them. Mamori's drawing abilities are terrible if compared to her other academic abilities—actually she is one of the school's top three students—and it is a recurring gag throughout the series.
The Ha-Ha Brothers
are three juvenile delinquents who join the team after Hiruma blackmails them with a negative of a picture where they appear nude. Despite not being brothers, Hiruma calls them this way due to their habit of expression, with each one of the trio saying "Ha!?", in rapid succession with a crescendo. The gang is formed by considered the group's leader, and They join the club permanently after passing the test that consists in climbing Tokyo Tower without letting an ice bag melt. They are notably poor and inexperienced at the game when they start out, and so they are called "trash" by other players, journalists and even the father of Jumonji. This disbelief, however, make them strive to prove to those who do not believe in their skills that they are very capable linemen.
Manabu Yukimitsu
is a second-year student who has always been dedicated to only the studies. His mother wants him to be a studious person and makes him study from day till night in addition to going to cram school. Contradicting his mother, Yukimitsu decides he wants to have sweet memories of his high school not related to studying, and so he applies for Hiruma's qualification test and enters the Deimon Devil Bats. Yukimitsu does not participate in the first game and knowing his limitations he begins to devote more on training to dispute the Autumn Tokyo Tournament. However, he is not cast to that competition, making his debut only in the match against the Shinryuji Naga at the Kantō Tournament.
Daikichi Komusubi
is one of the linemen of the Deimon Devil Bats. Daikichi is highly impressed by Kurita's amazing strength when first sees him and decides that he wants to become Kurita's "apprentice". He joined the team after surviving the Tokyo Tower qualifying test, beating out the Ha-Ha Brothers. He does not talk much, and speaks only in the so-called "language of strong men", that only "truly strong men" (his father and Kurita) can understand, which consists mostly of strange grunts and one-word sentences.
Suzuna Taki
is a blue-haired girl who is always wearing rollerblades. In the manga, Suzuna first appears in a scene in the United States where she is looking for her brother, Natsuhiko, and meets with Sena; in the anime, she appears before it, yet in Japan, where she is working as a reporter hired to discover the secret identity of Eyeshield 21. Later, Suzuna follows the team back to Japan and then proclaims herself a cheerleader for the Devil Bats even though she is not from Deimon High School.
Doburoku Sakaki
is the physical trainer and equipment manager of the Deimon Devil Bats and a former American footballer. He trained Hiruma, Musashi, and Kurita, and taught them how to play American football before they entered high school. However, after his loan shark's debts became too high because of his gambling habits, he left them and fled to the United States. There, he became a beach football coach, returning to Japan only after Hiruma paid all his debts. He and Ojo's trainer and coach, Gunpei Shoji, were teammates at Sengoku University's American football team, and were known as where he played as a tight end.
Natsuhiko Taki
is a high school student who has the dream of becoming an NFL player. He is an incredibly vain and narcissistic person usually dismissed as an idiot by several people, including his sister Suzuna and Hiruma, due to his odd and rather foolish attitude; it is exemplified by his habit of opening his jacket to bare his pecs and making weird poses and pirouettes. However, Taki takes football seriously and uses his flexibility to block his opponents. After he is rejected by Japan's high school teams, Taki travels to the United States, abandoning his family, to attend open tryouts in San Antonio by taking all the savings in his house to afford his flight and traveling expenses. Taki fails, but Sena asks him to join the Devil Bats back in Japan as a tight end. However, Hiruma only allows him to join the team if he follows them in the Death March, a journey of two thousand kilometers along the Mojave Desert. After arriving in Japan, he has yet to make the high school entrance exam, and he debuts only in the second match of the Autumn Tokyo Tournament.
Musashi