Anime News

Eyeshield 21 Increases American Football Popularity
Date: 11/21/2005
Asahi reports Riichirou Inagaki and Yuusuke Murata's Eyeshield 21 manga and the subsequent anime TV series adaptation has generated an incresed interest in the sport of American Football among highschool students in Japan. The manga has reached 16 volumes with about 10 million copies sold. The number of high school students who have signed up to play on American style football teams across Kanto and Kansai equals 3621 people this year. That's a 15% increase from 2004. University student players were about 9915 people last year, an increased by about 10 percent compared with 2001. Secretary-general Maekawa of the Kanto student American Football League cites the effect manga has on generating national intertest in different sports in Japan is quite profound. This has been seen in the past with Slam Dunk (Baketball), Captain Tsubasa (Soccer), Prince Of Tennis and School Wars (rugby).
Source: Anime News Service