Eyeshield 21 (Season 1)

Eyeshield 21 (2005) is a 145-episode sports anime from Toei Animation you can watch online on iFILM. Based on the manga by Riichiro Inagaki and Yusuke Murata, serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump from 2002 onward.

Sena Kobayakawa spent his childhood outrunning bullies, and the habit turned him into the fastest kid at his new high school. The team's terrifying quarterback Hiruma clocks the speed and forces Sena onto the Deimon Devil Bats — hiding him behind a visor and the alias "Eyeshield 21" so rival teams can't recruit him away. The squad starts at three members and a dog named Cerberus, with the national Christmas Bowl as a long-shot destination. Miyu Irino voices Sena across the full run.

The show takes American football — a sport most Japanese students had never played — and uses it to build a classic underdog story. Stream Eyeshield 21 online on iFILM.