Characters / Eyeshield 21 The Pentagram

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General

The nickname for the five star players of the American National Team at the World Cup. Consisting of Running Back Patrick "Panther" Spencer, Quarterback Clifford D. Louis, Linebacker Tatanka, Cornerback Bud Walker, and Lineman Donald "Mr. Don" Oberman, the Pentagram were widely hailed as the best high school football players in the world.

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• The Aces: Even more so than the Alexanders. These guys were the very best football players at the high school level, in the WHOLE FREAKING WORLD.
• Arrogant Kung Fu Guys: Every last one of them, except Panther.
• Badass Crew: Pretty much a given.
• Bad Guy Bar: When the other national teams were doing the drawing at the Empire Building, the five were chilling out at a strip club. Panther was rather disturbed by it.
• Break the Haughty: The Japan vs USA match did this to them.
• Chick Magnet: Clifford and Bud both had their Groupie Brigades. Mr. Don was also frequently shown to be hanging out with A Lady on Each Arm. Justified, since these guys were The Aces in just about everything. Panther and Tatanka didn't have as much luck with ladies, though.
• Combo Platter Powers: Ability-wise, each of these five was a combination of certain players from Team Japan, usually their Good Counterparts.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Inflicted this on every team they had faced, except Team Japan. At a personal level, it's also very notable that Mr. Don did this to Gaou and Yamato at the same time and Panther did one to Shin, while Clifford had one brief moment crushing Agon.
• Defeat Means Friendship: Well, the Japan vs USA game ended in a tie. But these five did lose personal battles, and seemed to warm up to Team Japan to varying degree afterwards.
• Eagleland: They certainly fitted into quite a few American stereotypes, including Mr. Don's pride over the greatness of his home country and, of course, a burning passion for football.
• Equal-Opportunity Evil: "Evil" as a Jerk Jock at least. Native american, Afro-American and alleged French aristocrat were all accepted as top-tier footballers representing the USA.
• Evil Counterpart: Each of these five was this to someone from Team Japan. They were also quite clearly meant to be unpleasant.
• Evil Is Bigger: Every one of them was larger than his Good Counterparts.
• Final Boss: Of the World Cup Arc, and the series as a whole.
• Foil: To none other than the Amino Cyborgs: both teams are relatively new (the Pentagram having been gathered just for the tournament, the Cyborgs being at their first tournament), they are extremely hyped as invincible, and make a big deal of their physical superiority, but where the Cyborgs end up as a joke opponent the Pentagram lived up to their hype, crushing all teams before Team Japan by being just that good.
• The Gift: It's heavily implied that all five of them had this.
• Jerk Jock: Aside from Panther, they and Morgan were this trope.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: General jerkishness and smug aside, they did have redeeming traits. Mr. Don was a man of honor and refused to cheat. Clifford later seemed impressed by Sena and offered him a chance to play football at Notre Dame, during which Tatanka and him helped train Sena together. Lastly, Bud appeared to go on friendly terms with Team Japan and offered Taki a chance to become an actor in Hollywood.
• Motifs: Averted, these guys were the only team without any major gimmick except that they were all top-tier american football players. Best illustrated by Mr. Don. The national stereotypes weren't applied to every major player as in the case for Team Russia or Germany.
• Opposing Sports Team: Panther was a Nice Guy, but Mr. Don and Clifford were both filled with smug and needed to be taken down a peg.
• Second Place Is for Losers: So were ties.
• Signature Move: Averted. The Pentagram didn't rely on flashy moves. They instead focused on crushing opponents with their sheer superior stats. And this alone was enough to make them very formidable. It's played straight for Bud though.
• Smug Snake: Mr. Don, Clifford, and Tatanka. The three just couldn't stop looking down on the other national teams, or talking as though the World Cup was no more than a show in which Team USA decimated the other teams, etc.
• Smug Supers: A quintet of these, no less.
• Villainous Friendship: Despite being unpleasant, these five appeared to be on fairly good terms with one another.
• Villain Respect: Team Japan's determination earned them the respect of these five.
• Younger Than They Look: They were high schoolers? Riiiiiiiiight...

Patrick "Panther" Spencer

See Eyeshield 21 NASA Aliens.

Clifford D. Louis

"Do you understand how to handle cards now? I win as long as I can make you think "Maybe he will play this card." Brat."

An arrogant but very gifted quarterback, Clifford was in a league of his own when it came to intellect and passion for head games, while having speed that rivaled Sena. Said to be descended from French royalties, Clifford acted as the brains of Team USA, and served as a cool-headed leader during offense using a rich arsenal of tricks and wits. After the Japan vs USA match, Clifford seemed to be impressed by Team Japan, especially Sena. Later, he invited Sena to play football at Notre Dame and, along with Mr. Don and Tatanka, gave the latter training, thus making the lies about Sena being Eyeshield 21 come true. Also, the part about him being royal was a fraud. His father was in fact a genius computer hacker.

• Position: Quarterback
• Jersey: 1
• 40-yard Dash: 4.2 seconds
• Bench Press: Unspecified
• Nicknames: "The Prince", The Invincible Gambler

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• Absurdly High-Stakes Game: The night right before the Japan vs USA match, he played Texas hold'em with Hiruma betting millions of dollars. Hiruma lost and could only avoid being routed by retreating at the last moment.
• The Ace: Well, duh. Clifford's the number one quarterback in the entire world.
• Agent Peacock: A very downplayed example, but still. Clifford tends to dress rather... flamboyantly, to say the least, with his big fur coat and tight pants. That being said, he's still undoubtedly the number one quarterback in the entire world, effortlessly kicking the asses of undeniable powerhouses like Agon, Sena, Ikyuu, and Shin. In fact, his campier, mafia don-esque getup seems to make him even more intimidating to his opponents.
• Aristocrats Are Evil: Subverted. He was lying about being descended from French royalties.
• Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: Oh, absolutely. He nearly makes Agon look humble in comparison. The worst thing is, he's completely justified in acting like this.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: One of his skills.
• Badass Boast: Clifford's made plenty. But the absolute crowning example of this has to be his series debut at the press conference, where he corrects a reporter by saying that he's not one of the best American football players in the world, but that he is actually the best American football player in the world. And considering his nigh-invincible talent and overwhelming intelligence, Clifford pretty much lives up to his boast.
• Bad Boss: Surprisingly averted, for the most part. Even though he has no qualms lying to his own teammates, outright declaring himself to be superior to his fellow Pentagram members, and yelling at anyone who acts in a way he disapproves of, he doesn't otherwise treat his teammates particularly cruelly. When one of Clifford's teammates apologizes to him for not catching his pass (since Agon intercepted the ball), clearly worried that Clifford was going to be angry at him, Clifford didn't seem to hold it against him.
• Berserk Button: Anything that prevents Clifford from getting 100% his way. Even though Hiruma ended up losing to Clifford at poker, he nevertheless earned Clifford's ire since he lost in a way that prevented Clifford from getting the complete win he wanted.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: With Mr. Don. Unlike the rest of the team, Clifford wasn't afraid of Mr. Don and provided the field leadership, tactics, and cool-headed calculations to Mr. Don's brutal plays and charismatic leadership.
• Blue Blood: Subverted. It's a lie.
• Brains and Brawn: The brains to Mr. Don's brawn. Well, Mr. Don was far from stupid, but Clifford was almost beyond human when it came to intelligence.
• Break the Haughty: In the Pentagram, Clifford was the one most full of smug, which made it more fun to watch when Shin tackled Clifford and brought him to the ground.
• Bullying the Dragon: Telling Agon that you didn't give a damn about him wasn't exactly a bright idea, Clifford.
  Agon (Trying to bring down Clifford): Die, trash...
  Clifford (Running at max speed, doing his pass and ignoring Agon): ... I don't even need to pay attention to guys like you.
  Clifford passed the ball, uninterrupted.
  • To be fair, he really was so good that he may not need to fear Agon...
    • Played with. While Clifford truly didn't need to fear Agon, effortlessly defeating him every time Agon tried to take him down, his insulting Agon indirectly led to the formation of the triple combo of Sena, Agon, and Shin that ended with him getting successfully sacked for the first time in his career.
• The Chessmaster: Like Takami and Hiruma.
• Chick Magnet: Even more so than Bud.
• Combo Platter Powers: To sum it up, Clifford has brains that rival Hiruma's, does passes like Kid, dodges tackles like Karin, and runs like Sena.
• The Comically Serious: Clifford is hilariously intense about everything. He takes everything, from football games to casual betting, so deathly seriously that it becomes funny.
• Consummate Liar: He seemed to have no qualm at all lying to his own teammates, seeing that he tricked Panther into believing that he would let him play against Shin at Team USA's first play. Also, he somehow managed to get away with lying about being royal.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: He did this to Agon once.
  • In a notable instance, he would have delivered this to Sena and Agon at the same time if Shin hadn't joined in at the last second.
  • In a way, Clifford later got revenge on Shin by managing to throw a long pass while breaking through the line before Shin could try and sack him.
• Deadpan Snarker: Given he was The Stoic, Evil Genius and Smug Snake in one, it's no surprise that Clifford regularly delivered snarky comments to basically anyone who wasn't Mr. Don.
• Defeating the Undefeatable: Shin (in a triple combo with Sena and Agon) successfully sacking Clifford is treated like this since it was the first time anyone had managed to take him down. After it happened, everyone was stunned, and even Mr. Don felt a sense of genuine despair. In fact, Clifford was considered so undefeatable that Shin managing to sack him completely turned the tides of the game since it showed Team Japan that stopping Pentagram members like Clifford was possible.
• Defeat Means Friendship: Okay, "Friendship" may be too strong a word, but after losing a battle of wits against Hiruma, Clifford dropped his smug attitude towards Team Japan.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Unlike Mr. Morgan and some of the other members of his team, Clifford never displayed any racist tendencies towards anyone. He even went so far as to viciously berate Mr. Morgan, a former NFL superstar, for his jingoistic attitude towards the other world players. While Clifford does openly deride other players as talentless losers, he does so because of their skills as individuals, and never because of their race.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: The idea that someone can be friends with a member of the other team and still play their hardest against them seems positively foreign to Clifford. When Clifford discovered that Panther was friends with Sena, he began to question the steadfastness of Panther's loyalty to Team USA.
• Evil Counterpart: A blonde-haired, unscrupulous quarterback, in a #1 Jersey with a love of head games and refusal to ever lose his cool? Hiruma had got several counterparts over the course of the series, but Clifford had so much in common with him it's not even funny.
• Evil Duo: Clifford and Mr. Don made a pretty effective one.
• Eviler than Thou: Played with. On one hand, he was never as overtly monstrous as Agon, who did things like throwing a football directly at a disabled kid's legs. On the other hand, he was even more smug, arrogant, condescending, and haughty than Agon ever was. Even Agon would show some respect towards his fellow aces, but Clifford showed nothing but open disdain and contempt towards anyone who wasn't Panther or Mr. Don.
• The Evil Genius: Was as smart as he's jerkish.
• Evil Is Petty: After what essentially amounts to one play against New Zealand's team, Clifford and the rest of the Pentagram just left the field and let the bench players replace them, all for the sake of showing just how little they thought of New Zealand's team.
  • Clifford and the rest of the Pentagram didn't even arrive to the drawing ceremony to show how highly they thought of themselves and how much they looked down on the rest of the world.
  • Even though Clifford won against Hiruma in poker, the mere fact that he didn't win 100% the way he wanted to infuriated Clifford to the extent that he went out of his way to antagonize Hiruma at every opportunity.
• Evil Versus Evil: Agon versus Clifford was essentially this. After Clifford delivered a complete Curb-Stomp Battle to both him and Ikyuu with ease, and after Clifford pressed Agon's Berserk Button by making it clear that he thought that Agon was such a loser that he didn't even need to pay attention to him, Agon spent the rest of the game obsessed with trying to take Clifford down one-on-one. Unfortunately for Agon, he never succeeded since Clifford effortlessly trounced him every time he challenged him, and even after he teamed up with Sena and Shin to try to do so, Shin ended up being the one to deliver the blow.
• Fragile Speedster: By Pentagram standards, at least. If his stats was any indication, Clifford seemed to be the second fastest (after Panther) and the second frailest (after Panther again) member of the Pentagram.
  • Clifford seems to be frail enough that he can't handle tackles quite well. When Shin sacked Hiruma, Hiruma definitely felt the hurt, but he still managed to keep himself running for the rest of the play. In contrast, when Shin sacked Clifford, Clifford crumpled like a sack of bricks.
  • Impressively enough, Clifford weaponized this trope. By using his relatively small size and speed, Clifford can accomplish things that no bigger player could even dream of doing, such as throwing a long pass while breaking through the line since he alone is small enough to have enough room to do that in such a narrow gap.
• Foil: Both Clifford and Hiruma had gambler motifs. The main difference between him and Hiruma was that Clifford had trump cards, so he could win simply by making the opponents see all the ways he could defeat them, while Hiruma's strength was that no one could see how he'd defeat his opponents.
• Fur and Loathing: His style off the field.
• The Gambler: Clifford's primary Motifs.
• The Gift: Oh, yes. Since he was gifted with both incredible mental faculties and spectacular physical skills, he definitely counts as having this.
• Groupie Brigade: A pretty large group of girls cheered for Clifford during football games. Bud lamented that Clifford's group of fangirls was larger than his.
• Hidden Depths: Clifford is a major Smug Snake and Jerk Jock, but he's also pretty friendly towards Panther, seemingly having taken him under his wing, helping him ease into the Pentagram and the world of elite football, and entertaining his various requests.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: If Clifford had never looked down on Agon, Agon would never have become so obsessed with trying to take him down, and he would never have teamed up with Sena and Shin in an invincible combo that would lead to Clifford getting sacked for the first time.
• Hope Crusher: Clifford loves to watch his opponents crumble before his overwhelming talent.
• Ice Queen: Clifford is cold, cruel, distant, and aloof.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: Even when he's running at full speed.
• Insufferable Genius: Oh, yes. When you spend your time lecturing Hiruma and looking down on Agon, you are absolutely this trope. Worst thing is, he's completely justified in acting like this.
• Jerkass: Especially towards Bud.
• Jerk Jock: Superior, condescending, and totally convinced of his team's superiority.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Shockingly, yes, to some degree. He offered Sena the chance to play football at Notre Dame, and he's generally pretty friendly towards the rest of the Pentagram.
• The Leader: He and Mr. Don split this role. He took care of the mastermind part, while Don was the charismatic leader who gave Rousing Speeches and held the team together.
• Lean and Mean: Very slender, and definitely mean.
• Manipulative Bastard: Just like Hiruma and Marco before him, Clifford enjoyed screwing around with his adversaries' heads. And occasionally his teammates'.
• The Mentor: Clifford actually served as one to Panther. He helped ease Panther into the larger world of American football, guided him through interactions with important people in their career, and tried — in his own way — to make sure that Panther didn't downplay himself and presented himself in a way that would get him the respect he deserved as an elite player. Considering Clifford's personality, it's actually pretty sweet to see him genuinely wanting to help and mentor Panther.
• Multiple-Choice Past: Did it deliberately, like Hiruma.
• Narcissist: Oh, yes. Clifford thinks very highly of himself, and he expects others to revere and worship him.
• Nonchalant Dodge: Did this to Sena and Agon in quick succession.
• One-Man Army: He's an ace quarterback and running back. With his overwhelming speed, spectacular passes, vast intelligence, and incredible dodging skills, he can simultaneously curb stomp the likes of Agon, Sena, Ikyuu, and Shin, and he pretty much blazes past anyone else who tries to take him down one-on-one. A large number of touchdowns were scored by him simply due to the fact that absolutely nobody could stop him. It's no wonder that he was widely considered the number one American football player in all of America.
• Opposing Sports Team: Like pretty much every other member of the Pentagram, but exaggerated because he manages to be even more smug, arrogant, and unpleasant than any other member of Team USA. Even Tatanka and Mr. Don respected their fellow Pentagram members, but Clifford looked down on anyone who wasn't Mr. Don and outright declared himself to be superior to all of them. His personality was so nasty that he even grated on Agon enough that he decided to cooperate with the rest of Team Japan if it meant he'd have a shot at taking Clifford down.
• The Perfectionist: Clifford is obsessed with being and appearing perfect. He is very quick to remind people that he's (only potentially, although no one would dare say it to his face) the #1 American football player in all of America, and he goes out of his way to display his nigh invincible talent. And whenever anything doesn't go 100% his way, he becomes incredibly disgruntled and becomes even crueler than he usually is.
• Perpetual Frowner: In contrast to Hiruma's manic-ness, Clifford had a perpetual poker face.
• Pet the Dog: Unlike Morgan, Clifford did not have a problem with letting Panther invite Homer to the National Team's try-outs, even noting that they could make use of Homer's long pass. Also, he invited Sena to play at Notre Dame for a semester after the Youth World Cup.
• Playing Card Motifs: All the freaking time. Just look at his quote above.
• Pretty Boy: He's slender and toned, and he has a very pretty face, even with his pointy nose. His fangirls absolutely love him for it.
  • This gets magnified during the actual Japan vs USA game itself. Before the game began, his face was still pretty, but also disconcerting and scary enough to offset a bit of the effect. After the game began, his face became a lot softer and prettier, to the point that he became perhaps the most effeminate-looking player after Kisaragi and Harao.
• Pride: One of his defining traits. The worst thing is, Clifford has every right to be proud. However, his arrogance does occasionally lead to some Hoist by His Own Petard moments.
• Princely Young Man: By virtue of his title as the world's number one quarterback and his fake royal heritage, Clifford certainly embodies this trope. Especially considering the way everyone fawns over him, and how he himself treats everyone around him in a regal, stuck-up, and aloof fashion.
• The Proud Elite: Because of his fake royal status and because of his title as the world's number one quarterback, Clifford absolutely counts as a member of the elite. Furthermore, Clifford embodies literally every feature of this trope: he carries himself with elegance and acts with sophistication; he is in a league of his own when it comes to intelligence and is supremely competent at everything he does; he values rationality and logic and cares little about other people's feelings; views kindness as beneath him; treats everyone around him with open contempt and disdain; and comes off as cold, arrogant, haughty, and uncaring.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Surprisingly enough, yes, to a certain degree. Clifford might lie to his own teammates to further his own self-interest and yell at you for not acting the way he wants, but he doesn't hold his teammates to impossible expectations, forgives them when they fail to do something, and even grants some of their requests if they prove that they're serious about them.
• Serious Business: Gambling is this for him. When he and the rest of the Pentagram saw Gaou and Mr. Don about to fight, Clifford got offended when the others began taking bets on it since the outcome was so obvious that it made the bet boring.
• Shorter Means Smarter: Among the Pentagram at least. Clifford seemed to be the shortest Pentagram member (maybe alongside Panther...) and without a doubt the smartest.
  • If the cover of chapter 319 is to be taken seriously, then it looks like Clifford is actually a whole head shorter than Panther, who is the second shortest member of the Pentagram. To put this into perspective, since a head is roughly nine inches tall and Panther himself is 6'1", this would make Clifford roughly 5'4", easily making him the shortest quarterback in the entire series aside from Karin. This idea seems to be consistently emphasized throughout most of his appearances, with the rest of Team USA positively dwarfing Clifford in height.
• Smug Snake: Clifford mentioned that he did these only to "show a strong spirit". In private, he wasn't really that smug, so he might just be trying to intimidate opponents.
  Kumabukuro: I'm Kumabukuro from the Japanese magazine Monthly American Football. Right now, the two of you (Read: Panther and Clifford) have risen up as the two best runners of America...
  Clifford: Two best...? Mister, in your country, Japan, do they teach you maths starting with the number 2? I, Clifford D. Louis, am the one best.

  Morgan: Stop messing around, my cute Chihuahua Clifford! Since we're both strong-minded fellows, shouldn't we understand each other?
  Clifford: ... Strong-minded fellows? My strong attitude is a tool for competition. If I can make opponent think "This guy is a fool who won't withdraw!" I will push him out of the way. So I'd like not to be put into the same class as you, a vulgar guy self-conceited about America.

• The Stoic: A poker face was Clifford's default expression.
  • Not So Stoic: When he was tackled to the ground by Shin, Clifford started to lose his cool. It was part of a trick to fool Team Japan, though.
• Straight Man: Sometimes. Mostly when he interacted with cute dorky Panther.Occasionally, Panther has to play the Straight Man to Clifford, where he reacts with the shock a normal person would have whenever the latter performed some of his more audacious feats of arrogance and smugness, such as when Clifford directly insulted an NFL superstar to his face.
• The Strategist: Could outsmart even Hiruma.
• Trash Talk: Clifford seems practically addicted to insulting not only his opponents, but even famous NFL superstars and his own teammates.
• Troll: He pretended to go along with Bud's grand entrance idea, only to play him for a fool at the very last second for kicks.
• Villainous Friendship: With the rest of the Pentagram, in particular Panther and Mr. Don. For some reason, Clifford avoided this with Bud, much to the latter's displeasure.
• Weak, but Skilled: Not quite weak, per se, but he's quite a bit physically weaker than the vast majority of the other football players in America, as well as a large number of players in Japan. He crumpled like a sack of bricks when Shin sacked him, and it seems like he's not powerful enough to throw a long pass without the aid of his light-speed run. That being said, he's insanely skilled when it comes to literally everything else.

Bud Walker

"Yeah. Something like a draw... It's like kissing your own sister."

A highschool action movie star and top athlete. Bud was a showy young man who loved to entertain his audience, whether if he's on a film set or football field. Always eager to turn up the mood, Bud was the first Pentagram member to greet Team Japan upon the latter's making to the finals of the Youth World Cup. He instantly developed a rivalry with the wide receivers of Team Japan, especially Monta, and vowed to take them down.

• Position: Wide Receiver / Cornerback
• Jersey: 31
• 40-yard Dash: 4.4 seconds
• Bench Press: 150 kg (330 lbs)
• Nickname: The Wild Guy From Hollywood

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• Affably Evil: Bud's a well-mannered guy... and won't hesitate to tell his opponents that he's going to wipe the floor with them (and he'll probably proceed to do so as well).
  Bud (To Monta): Raimon, you're the closest man to the Pentagram, the top of the world. So, I, Bud Walker of the Pentagram, will personally tear off your wings.
• Always Second Best: He often lost against Clifford, be it popularity with girls or ratings during the Japan vs USA game. Naturally, this annoyed Bud to no end.
• Best Friend: Bud wanted to be this with Clifford...
• Butt-Monkey: ... But this was how Clifford treated him.
• Chick Magnet: Given that he's an action movie star and top athlete, it's no surprise that he had a large group of fangirls.
• Combat Pragmatist: The only Pentagram member to advocate cheating.
• Combo Platter Powers: We didn't see too much of Bud, but he could apparently catch like Ikkyu and Taka, and was, as a wide receiver, more powerful than Tetsuma. Lastly, his bumps seemed to be stronger than Kamaguruma's.
• Evil Counterpart: A competitive wide receiver eager to fight players who shared his specialty? Loves showing off and attention from ladies? Bud sounded like Monta, Taki and a standard Jerk Jock mixed together.
• Friendly Rivalry: Quickly developed one with Monta. See Affably Evil above.
• Groupie Brigade: Bud had an army of fangirls cheering for him during football games.
• Improbable Age: Highschool-aged movie star? Not that unusual. Highschool-aged action movie star? That's a little less likely.
• Jerk Jock: He amplified the "love showing off" part.
• Large Ham: You know, Bud... you didn't really need a helicopter to greet your opponents. Surely there were easier (and less dramatic) ways to do it?
• Lightning Bruiser: Bud had the most well-balanced stats out of the whole Pentagram, and by the standards of his position was very fast, very strong, and highly skilled technically, making him a huge problem for the more slightly built Monta.
• Nice Guy: Probably the nicest Pentagram member, other than Panther. Bud was definitely more pleasant than Mr. Don, Clifford and Tatanka.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Of Johnny Depp.
• Out of Focus: Compared to Clifford, Mr. Don and Panther, Bud got less screentime. This may be due to the fact that all of the other wide receivers (i.e., Monta, Ikkyu, Tetsuma...) had finished their growth already, so Bud didn't really have much to do.
• Pet the Dog: After the World Cup, he offered Taki a chance to become a Hollywood actor.
• The Protagonist: In the movie he starred in.
• Second Place Is for Losers: So were ties, which Bud described as the equivalent of kissing your sister, which is a real slang for a tied football game in America.
• Signature Move: The only one of the Pentagram to have one, an incredibly close and powerful bump called the Kung-Fu Bump.
• Smug Super: Not as annoyingly so as Clifford or Tatanka, though.
• Spirited Competitor: He was fighting all of Team Japan's wide receivers throughout the Japan vs USA game, although he focused on Monta.
• Tall, Dark, and Handsome
• Villainous Friendship: He tried to be this with Clifford, but failed. He seemed to have little trouble with Panther and Tatanka, however.
• Younger Than They Look: You can mistake him for a man in his early thirties.

Tatanka

"You shouldn't get the wrong idea. This tournament isn't a game. It's just a slaughter show for America."

The tallest player in the whole World Cup, Tatanka was well-known for being "The Human Dome", using his great height and long limbs to stop all of his opponents' passes. He idolized Mr. Don and had a firm belief in the superiority of Team USA over other national teams.

• Position: Linebacker
• Jersey: 47
• 40-yard Dash: Unspecified
• Bench Press: Unspecified
• Height: 210 cm (7' 0")
• Nickname: The Human Dome

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• Badass Native: And the only native american in the whole series, no less.
• Break the Haughty: When Takami and Sakuraba got past his interceptions.
• The Brute: Tall and strong, but not exactly bright.
• Combo Platter Powers: He had long limbs like Habashira and even greater height than Kakei.
• Dumb Muscle: He's slow enough that after studying to learn multiple languages, his English skills somehow decreased.
• Evil Counterpart: A linebacker who has long limbs, is ridiculously tall, and idolizes another football player? Kakei, is that you disguised as a native american?
• Genius Ditz: His Japanese appeared to be good enough that Team Japan could understand him, despite his problems with the other languages.
• The Giant: Thanks to his height. His stats were balanced and being tall was pretty much his main selling point.
• Hero Worship: Tatanka idolized Mr. Don.
• Honor Before Reason: Not to the same degree as Mr. Don, but he still had some shades of this. His main reason for entering football was that "He respected Mr. Don very much", for instance. Also, he said that he's attracted to women with "pure hearts".
• Jerk Jock: Here, watch this.
  Tatanka (Addressing players of Team Japan): You shouldn't get the wrong idea. This tournament isn't a game. It's just a slaughter show for America. For you, who are physically inferior to us, the World Cup is not an arena where you could compete to begin with.
• Mighty Glacier: Big but not quick. His long reach, however, made him an interception machine.
• Out of Focus: Along with Bud, Tatanka had rather little screentime compared to Mr. Don, Panther and Clifford. We still haven't learnt why he idolized Mr. Don.
• Pet the Dog: Despite coming off as an arrogant Jerk Jock, Tatanka helped train Sena along with Mr. Don and Clifford when Sena was invited to Notre Dame for a semester.
• Smug Snake: Towards the other national teams. Tatanka was nonetheless respectful towards the other members of the Pentagram. This contrasted him against Clifford, who's smug towards everyone except for Mr. Don.
• Smug Super: As filled with smug as he's superhuman as a linebacker.
• The Stoic: The only other Pentagram member to rival Clifford in lack of emotions.
  • Not So Stoic: See Villainous Breakdown below.
• Tattooed Crook
• Token Minority: More so than Panther. While we had multiple black characters in this series (i.e., Morgan, Panther's grandma), Tatanka was the only native american we've ever seen.
• Villainous Breakdown: The stoic Tatanka grew increasingly nervous over the course of the Japan vs USA game, as the other Pentagram members were taken down one by one.
  Tatanka (Sweating heavily; Mr. Don and Clifford were down): There's no way we will break down! The five men of America's Pentagram... are the strongest players in the world!

Donald "Mr. Don" Oberman

"Yeah, it's better this way. This is how a king should be like."

An unstoppable goliath, Donald Oberman, aka "Mr. Don", was hailed as the best highschool-level lineman in the entire world. He was the official captain of Team USA, and a very charismatic leader who was regularly giving Rousing Speeches that energized his team and the spectators alike. He was also the son of Arnold Oberman, President of the United States. Mr. Don held a firm belief in the superiority of individuals who were naturally born talented and regarded these people (himself included) as "Those chosen by God". This brought him into conflict with Takeru Yamato from Team Japan, when the latter was playing at Notre Dame. Yamato trying to become The Ace by calling himself "Eyeshield 21" despite being less gifted than Panther earned him the disdain of Mr. Don, who had him expelled from Notre Dame in no time.

• Position: Centre / Defensive Tackle
• Jersey: 69
• 40-yard Dash: Unspecified
• Bench Press: Unspecified
• Nicknames: "Mr. Don", The Man Who Controls Everything

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• Affably Evil: Mr. Don was the Big Bad and physically monstrous, but all these didn't stop him from being a charismatic bastard.
• The Alcoholic: Even though he's supposed to be highschooler.
  • When he's asked what truly made him sad, Mr. Don replied that it was his doctor telling him to watch his blood sugar levels upon seeing the amount of alcohol he consumed.
• Authority Equals Asskicking: The son of a President and arguably the biggest badass in a series already filled with outlandish badassery.
• Avengingthe Villain: Mr. Don took Shin (in a triple combo with Sena and Agon) being the first person to ever successfully sack Clifford very poorly. Shortly afterwards, he crushed Shin in order to avenge Clifford.
• Badass in a Nice Suit: What he is off the field.
• Baddie Flattery: The first one of the pentagram to agree with Panther that Sena was a truly talented running back. He admitted that hard work does lead to good results... It's just that he still thought it's not enough for facing pure talents like the Pentagram.
• Beard of Evil: Which made him look even less human.
• Big Bad: He's The Captain of Team USA, and a tremendous problem for Team Japan in the final game.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: At times, he and Clifford seemed to form one, given the independence that the latter had and the fact that most of the plans were his. Clifford was the mastermind and field leader (especially during offense), while Mr. Don was the charismatic leadership.
• Blood Knight: Downplayed, but Mr. Don said that he loved american football because he enjoyed "hunting alongside other chosen men" (read: the other Pentagram members).
• Brains and Brawn: With Clifford. Whilst Mr. Don's no dummy, Clifford was in a league of his own in terms of intellect, so Don usually left the heavy thinking to him.
• Break the Haughty: When Gaou and Yamato gave him a blue sky.
• The Captain: One of the few in the series that was also a de facto leader.
• Catchphrase: "It makes me sad..."
• Chick Magnet: Though for some unknown reason, Mr. Don didn't have a Groupie Brigade, unlike Clifford and Bud.
• Combo Platter Powers: Mr. Don equals Gaou's muscles plus Yamato's implacability and Banba's combo of strength and brains. Oh, he could do Swim and Delinquent Death Blow as well.
• Cultured Badass: He combined his badassery with a fine taste in liquors and clothes.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Notably inflicted this on Gaou and Yamato at the same time.
• Cutting the Knot: His plan for Hiruma was to simply blitz him in the first play to stop the latter from scheming and show Team Japan that they just couldn't stop him. Fortunately, Kurita would have none of that.
• Defeating the Undefeatable: More than any other opponent Sena & co. faced, Mr. Don's played like this. Nobody had ever moved him before, much less knocked him down. When Gaou and Yamato finally pulled it off, everyone, including Mr. Don himself, was totally stunned because it'd honestly never happened.
• The Dreaded: Mr. Don managed to put the fear of God into Agon, of all people. In fact, the only characters who weren't frightened of Mr. Don on some level were Clifford, Tatanka, Gaou and of course, Hiruma (who seemed to be missing the fear gene anyway).
• Even Evil Has Standards: When Panther refused to cheat, despite Bud's urges to the contrary, Mr. Don agreed that it's better this way. After all, you don't prove anything if you win by breaking the rules.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Downplayed, but Kurita growing stronger as he protected more people surprised Mr. Don. To be fair, it wasn't that he did not get it as much as he was shocked it actually worked.
• Evil Counterpart: Okay, here's the recipe: Get Gaou, use hair dyes or skin bleach or whatever to turn him into a blonde white guy, inject more excess testosterone into him to crank all his tropes up, and you will get Mr. Don.
• Eviler than Thou: Gaou might have broken a bunch of arms due to his lust for challenges, but at least he respected people who had guts. Mr. Don was just saddened at the sight of people he judged inferior and did things Agon wished he had enough influence to do, like not only stopping somebody from being in a football players' dream school, but expelling and erasing any proof of the said person's having been at the school.
• Evil Is Bigger: He was Big Bad, and towered over nearly everyone.
• Evil Is Hammy: Also packaged Large Ham with his Big Bad status.
• The Face: A charismatic leader for Team USA.
• Fangs Are Evil: Like Hiruma, he had got quite the set of teeth.
• Genius Bruiser: Multilingual, a solid leader, and a totally unstoppable goliath.
• The Giant: Don isn't as tall as Tatanka, but he is far bulkier. It was shown that he could use more than just power and size, but he never did because it wasn't what people want to see him do, nor was it necessary.
• Hero Killer: He's only mentioned in whispers and his face was kept shadowed even after the rest of his team had been revealed. In his first appearance, he destroyed Gaou and terrified Agon. During the actual match, he steamrollered over Kurita, Gaou, Banba, Agon, Yamato, and Shin in rapid succession, scared Sena half to death, and worried even Hiruma.
• Heroic Lineage: The son of President of the United States.
• Honor Before Reason: Surprisingly, yes. For all of his other flaws, Mr. Don had no desire to win through cheating.
  • Moreover, Mr. Don even chose to engage Gaou in a power contest when it was impossible for him to take the Delta Dynamite, just because if he simply avoided the hit it would affect the morale of Team USA. That ended up giving him a blue sky and Team Japan a touchdown.
• Implacable Man: Even Gaou's Delta Dynamite merely made Mr. Don fall backward. Much of the Japan vs USA game consisted of Team Japan's backs trying not to be touched by him.
  Tatanka: Even if you push him (Mr. Don) back, he'll always stand up and get back into position in 0.01 seconds! That's why you'll never take him down! That's the proof he is a top-class lineman!!
• Jerk Jock: Finished with the ultimate "Rich dad who gets him out of trouble".
• The Juggernaut: He was this even compared to Gaou or Kurita.
• A Lady on Each Arm: Almost every time he appeared with women, he was doing this.
• Large and in Charge: The largest character in the series, and leading Team USA.
• Large Ham: Called for a timeout mid-game just to "apologize to the American audience for having not wiped the floor with Team Japan yet and giving Team Japan false hope".
  Mr. Don (Addressing the spectators): WE KNOW!! What did the men and women in this coliseum come to see!? They came to see the men chosen by God as they easily and gallantly hunt down a tiger! I have to apologize for this disappointing match! And also... (Turned towards Team Japan) For making you see a fleeting dream, I also have to apologize to you guys.
  Riku, Taka and Hiruma (Not agitated): ...
  Monta, Ikkyu and Achilles (Boiling in anger): ...
• Laser-Guided Karma: Gaou, whom he used like a punching bag, and Yamato, whom he ran out of Notre Dame, were the two who ended up sending him falling face-up for the first time.
• The Leader: Mr. Don and Clifford split this role. Mr. Don took care of the headstrong and charismatic part and left the mastermind part to Clifford. Also see The Man Behind the Man below.
• Lightning Bruiser: He was the strongest man in the world, but he's also fast.
• The Man Behind the Man: An extra material revealed that Mr. Don would sometimes order his President father around and thus had influence over American politics.
• Man of Wealth and Taste: Off the field, Mr. Don tended to be quite well-dressed, and he enjoyed tasting wine with his friends during leisure. He's the son of a President, after all...
• Noble Demon: Mr. Don was a very flawed person, but he still had a code of conduct he held himself to. For instance, he did not like insulting his opponents by withholding his own strength in football games.
  Mr. Don (Addressing a kid who idolized him): Young man, remember that If you are someone who's chosen, you will understand too, one day... As long as you draw your sword on the battlefield, you have to kill your opponent with all your strength. This is the manner of those who stand at the top.
• Noble Male, Roguish Male: The classy, charismatic Noble Male to Gaou's Roguish Male.
• Obviously Evil: He sported a ridiculously spiky hairdo, a sharp set of teeth, tattoo, and monstrous physique. Seriously, every single thing on him was screaming "Villain!"
  • Basically, if Hiruma is a vampire, Mr. Don is a werewolf.
• Omniglot: Upon first meeting Gaou, Mr. Don spoke in fluent Mandarin Chinese and Korean, before realizing Gaou's ethnicity and switching to Japanese. This implied that, including English, he knew at least four languages at working level, despite (supposedly) being just 18.
• Pet the Dog: Stopped a stampeding crowd of fans so he could sign a little kid's football and gave him a speech about what it meant to be an athlete. He passed up on the opportunity to hit on a very attractive girl in the process, and it wasn't so he can showboat - the kid was honestly first in line, and that mattered to Mr. Don.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: He was racist towards the Japanese, although not towards Panther or Tatanka. He may be more of a Patriotically Incorrect Villain - every time he referred to the Japanese as inferior, it was comparing them to Americans, but not any particular race.
• Pride: He made a speech to apologize for not living up to the crowd's expectations as God's chosen players... and his team was still winning with a good gap when he said that. It also caused his first blue sky, because Don tried to show Gaou that he could take his Delta Dynamite head-on, which he did... but right after that, it opened him to Yamato's charge.
• Religious Bruiser: Perhaps implied. Mr. Don seemed to believe in God. In fact, he was the only one in the series to so actively refer to the Abrahamic God. All other characters merely talked of God in football slangs or gods outside the Abrahamic one.
  • Although, like Taki, it is always to refer himself and his team as "God's gift", so it might just be theatrics.
  • But if we consider that American Presidents and their families tend to be Christians...
• Rousing Speech: Gave one to his team and the crowd when the game started going against the Americans. See Large Ham above for what he'd said.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: He's the son of President of the United States. He can do whatever he wants. Like having someone expelled from Notre Dame, for instance.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: The suit he wore off-field was quite classy.
• Smug Snake: He's on par with Clifford.
  (They were at a strip club.)
  Panther: Wait, whaaat!? Isn't it already time for the drawing!? (Turned to Mr. Don) Err... shouldn't we go (meet up other national teams) soon, Mr. Don...?
  Mr. Don (Surrounded by pretty women): Pantheeeer... It makes me sad... I'm saddened by the weakness in your heart. There's no need for the king to thoughtlessly run around. Embrace both calm and girls. Just watch the ants crawling up, Panther.
• Smug Super: Every bit as super as he's made of smug.
• Spikes of Villainy: Mr. Don's hairdo is as gravity-defying as he's villainous.
• Spiky Hair: His hairdo is so spiky it doesn't look human, like the rest of him.
• Super-Strength: This series tended to be realistic (when it came to football techniques, anyway), but Mr. Don's strength really bordered on supernatural. He could crush Gaou, Yamato and Kurita without effort as though it's a walk in the park. And we never learnt what his bench press record exactly was. Putting all of these together, the entire logic of his power seemed to be that "Mr. Don was just stronger than everybody else combined". Not helping was that Don looked even more brutal and could put out of commission Gaou, who's already stretching the strength realism.
• Tattooed Crook: He sports tribal tatoo on his face.
• Testosterone Poisoning: The biggest offender in this series. Ridiculously strong, sharply dressed, have women falling for him with zero effort, invited his team to a strip club while drinking fancy booze and a beastly beard.
• Troperiffic: Right after Hiruma and Agon.
• Unnecessary Roughness: He's as bad as or worse than Gaou in this regard. During the Japan vs USA match, he was basically using Gaou as a punching bag. He also called a timeout to vow to "kill" Shin in front of the spectators, and he proceeded to do so (figuratively).
• Villainous Friendship: He and Clifford genuinely appeared to be friends, which might be part of why they were such an effective Big Bad Duumvirate.
  • Mr. Don holds Clifford in very high regard. Whenever Clifford spoke or made predictions, Mr. Don immediately believed him because he had full faith in Clifford's intelligence. Likewise, when Clifford was playing poker against Hiruma, Mr. Don bet absurd amounts of money on Clifford since he genuinely believed that Clifford could not possibly lose. And Mr. Don took Shin sacking Clifford very poorly, suffering a minor Villainous BSoD and promising to kill Shin in retaliation.
• Villain Respect: Team Japan's sheer determination eventually won them the respect of Mr. Don, who came to discard his better-than-thou attitude.
• Willfully Weak: Defied. No matter how weak his opponents are, Mr. Don will go all-out to destroy them as a gesture of respect.
• World's Strongest Man: Explicitly referred to as the strongest lineman in their age group. Mght as well be person given his feats.
• Worthy Opponent: How Gaou saw him. Over the course of the final match, Mr. Don began to see Team Japan in the same light as they challenged his view on natural talents.
• Younger Than They Look: An 18-year-old who... looked older then his father. Then again, he barely looked human, so this wasn't much of a surprise.