Captain Tsubasa

Captain Tsubasa (Japanese: キャプテン翼, Hepburn: Kyaputen Tsubasa) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yōichi Takahashi. The series mainly revolves around the sport of association football focusing on Tsubasa Oozora and his relationship with his friends, rivalries with his opponents, training, competition, and the action and outcome of each football match. Across the multiple Captain Tsubasa series, the plot shows Tsubasa's and his friends' growth as they face new rivals. The Captain Tsubasa manga series was originally serialized in Shueisha's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump between 1981 and 1988, with the chapters collected in 37 tankōbon volumes. It was followed by various manga sequels. The original manga series was adapted into an anime television series by Tsuchida Production and broadcast on TV Tokyo from 1983 to 1986. Numerous movies and television series have followed with the latest one airing between 2018 and 2019; a second season premiered in 2023. By 2023, the overall manga had over 90 million copies in circulation worldwide, making it one of the best-selling manga series of all time. Captain Tsubasa became one of the most popular manga and anime series worldwide, most notably in Japan due to how it popularized association football. Multiple real life players have been inspired to become professionals after seeing the series. In a poll conducted by TV Asahi in 2005, the Captain Tsubasa anime series ranked 41st in a list of top 100 anime series.