A header with six different illustrations of Manabu Yukimitsu at different points of the story. (From the left) Yukimitsu calling out from the bench while grasping Pretz sticks; raising his finger with a smile while explaining something; lifting his head in attention, tears run down his cheeks; looking up, smiling and exhausted after scoring a touchdown; grimacing as he catches the ball in his arms and his helmet flies off; and frowning nervously under his helmet as he runs a play.

 Manabu Yukimitsu 

“Just once, I thought it would be nice to do something I wanted.
This year is…my last chance!”

A transparent illustration of Yukimitsu in a suit and tie. He's a tall, skinny teenager with a large, shiny forehead; his hair is spiky and combed back, almost appearing as though he's balding. He's looking up in thought while counting on his fingers.
A transparent illustration of Yukimitsu in his team uniform. He's sporting a youthful curtain haircut, holding his helmet, and narrowing his eyes with determination.
School
 Deimon High School (2nd year)
Jersey
 16
Position
 Wide Receiver (WR)
Birthday
 February 29th
Age
 16
Blood Type
 A
Height
 179cm (5'10")
Weight
 67kg (147 lbs)
Bench Press
 40kg (88 lbs)
40-Yard Run
 6.1 seconds → 5.6 seconds → 5.5 seconds
Nicknames
 Yuki (雪さん, by Sena and Monta)
Yukky (ユッキー, by Suzuna)
Fucking Baldy (ファッキンハゲ, by Hiruma)
Bald Trash (ハゲカス, by Agon)


Childhood and most of adolescence have passed Manabu Yukimitsu by. With his lanky build, large forehead, and what appears to be a receding hairline, he looks like the farthest thing from an athlete. Since the first grade, his mother has forced him to study excessively and attend cram school. Yukimitsu always yearned to play team sports like his peers, but felt too discouraged—at first by the adults around him, but ultimately by his own inhibitions—to change his situation for the better. However, watching the tiny Eyeshield 21 take on the Zokugaku Chameleons finally empowered him to give sports a try.

Although he failed the Deimon Devil Bats' team tryouts, Yukimitsu made the cut after impressing Hiruma with his dogged persistence. He was too frail and uncoordinated to be a regular player, so he stayed on the bench, cheering and calling plays from the sidelines alongside Mamori, Suzuna, and Coach Doburoku. Yukimitsu tearfully regrets the years he had spent studying instead of exercising. So he not only partakes in team practices, but also does extra workouts to boost his endurance. While Yukimitsu has a meek personality and has little confidence, he's very well-read about a variety of subjects. He'll even give a detailed explanation when the moment calls for one.

After spending half a year strengthening his body, watching countless plays from the bench, and memorizing a wealth of opponents' defense formations, Yukimitsu becomes a competent wide receiver in his own right. After his long-awaited debut, where he scored the Devil Bats' first touchdown against the Shinryuuji Nagas, Yukimitsu's presence on the field has strengthened the team's passing ability. When he isn't catching passes, he's also instrumental in other plays requiring his contribution.

What Yukimitsu lacks in physical ability, he makes up for with his resilience and sharp intellect, which rivals that of Hiruma. His years of studying and test-taking helped him develop a photographic memory, pattern recognition, and calculative thinking. For all of these reasons, Hiruma entrusts him with the Option Route, a play requiring him to predict the route needed to catch a pass based on the opponent's movements.

Yukimitsu remains the Devil Bats' weakest player and can only last half a game before running out of stamina. Nevertheless, he makes the best of his abilities and is a valuable asset to Hiruma's strategies. Thanks to Hiruma’s recognition of his strengths and months of painstaking hard work, Yukimitsu is finally growing into the promising young athlete that he has always wanted to be.



Yukimitsu's physique and athletic abilities are the weakest out of all of the Devil Bats, so his Power and Speed stats reflect this. His deficiencies include poor gross motor skills, limited arm strength, and below average running speed. Months of exercising has given him decent endurance for partaking in complex plays, but his stamina only lasts for half a game. If overworked, he collapses from fatigue and is barely able to move.

Unsurprisingly, Intellect is Yukimitsu's highest stat, as he's the only other player that comes close to Hiruma in terms of brainpower and thinking on his feet. This bolsters Technique by helping him carry out more intellectually rigorous plays that his teammates can't handle. His Height stat is also quite exceptional, benefitting his ability to catch passes.



Option Route

The Option Route is a complex pass pattern with numerous possible routes, as opposed to a single, predetermined one. A wide receiver must watch the defense's movements as the quarterback throws the pass, and then choose their route accordingly. A lifetime of test-taking has given Yukimitsu the calculative mind needed to make snap judgments, a talent that this technique requires. He's the only wide receiver on the team that's intellectually capable of figuring out where Hiruma will throw this type of pass.


Man in Motion

A "man in motion" is the one offensive player—usually a wide receiver or running back—permitted to move as the center lineman snaps the ball to the quarterback. According to the rules of American football, this player must only run backwards or parallel to the line of scrimmage. Hiruma has Yukimitsu run this play several times during the Shinryuuji Nagas game. After completing his run, Yukimitsu then joins the Devil Bats' linemen in blocking. While he has very little strength, he can apply just enough pressure to break an opening, allowing Sena to penetrate Shinryuuji's line.


A black and white illustration of Yukimitsu's mother, Akari, smiling cheerfully. She's a skinny older woman wearing pointed eye glasses, dark lipstick, and hair tied back in a bun. Her features and large forehead resemble Yukimitsu's.
A silhouette with a question mark on its face, indicating that no picture is available
A black and white illustration of Yukimitsu's older sister, Hotaru. She has long, light-colored hair parted in the middle and a sizeable forehead, though not as large as her brother's. She also has a soft, beautiful face and smile.
A silhouette with a question mark on its face, indicating that no picture is available.
Akari Yukimitsu
(mother)
Tsutomu Yukimitsu
(father, unseen)
Hotaru Yukimitsu
(older sister)
Unnamed turtle
(pet, unseen)

In Japanese, Yukimitsu (雪光) means “snowlight,” or light that reflects off blankets of snow. It most likely came from the opening lyrics of traditional graduation song Hotaru no Hikari (蛍の光), or “Fireflies’ Glow." The song chronicles the hardships of a Japanese student studying by natural light sources until they graduate, not unlike Yukimitsu’s toiling efforts both in academics and athletics. It may also be a cheeky reference to that bright shine that reflects off his forehead.

Manabu (学) means “learning” or “knowledge," a name befitting Yukimitsu’s lifelong study habits.


Masaru Hotta

In the 2005 anime series, Yukimitsu was voiced by Masaru Hotta. Over the years, Hotta has played in numerous bit roles in various anime series and television dramas.

His other voice acting roles include Guardian Baou in Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters GX; Tony Simmons in Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V; Yoshihiko Koga in Whistle!; and Osamu Abe, Ivan, Enzo, and Leonardo Lippi in Katekyo Hitman Reborn!



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Eyeshield 21 and its characters belong to Riichiro Inagaki and Yuusuke Murata, copyrighted under Shueisha Inc. Licensed in the United States by Viz Media, LLC. Credit for layout and tile background go to SadGrl.Online. CC0 Public Domain, 2022.