– MEGA Eyeshield 21 is a Japanese manga series written by Riichiro Inagaki and illustrated by Yusuke Murata. The series tells the story of Sena Kobayakawa, a introverted boy who joins an American football club as a secretary, but after being coerced by Hiruma, turns out to play wearing an eyeshield and the number 21, under the pseudonym of “Eyeshield 21”. Inagaki chose American football as a central subject of Eyeshield 21 after realizing that it fit perfectly with his idea for the series. The manga was originally serialized in Shueisha’s Weekly Shōnen Jump from July 2002 to June 2009. The series consists of 333 chapters collected in 37 tankōbon volumes. An anime adaptation consisting of 145 television episodes was directed by Masayoshi Nishida, and co-produced by TV Tokyo, NAS, and Gallop.