Sena Kobayakawa 


A profile picture showing Sena's smiling face. He's a Japanese teenage boy with a small frame, large eyes and messy hair.
  • Birthday: December 21st
  • Age: 15-16 (series run), 18 (post-series)
  • Height: 5'1" (155cm)
  • Weight: 106 lbs (48kg)
  • Prior Teams: Deimon Devil Bats, Team Japan
  • Current Team: Enma Fires
  • Main Position: running back (RB)
  • Jersey Number: 21
  • 40-yard Dash: 4.2 seconds
  • Benchpress: 99 lbs (45kg)

Sena Kobayakawa is the pint-sized protagonist of Eyeshield 21. For most of the series, he is a first-year student at Deimon High School and running back for the Deimon Devil Bats, an up-and-coming American football team helmed by maniacal upperclassman and quarterback, Youichi Hiruma.

Sena is a timid people-pleaser who has spent most of his life as a gofer for school bullies. As a result, he has developed running speed and nimble reflexes, both far beyond that of a regular human being. Hiruma takes notice of this and forcibly drafts Sena into his team, making him wear a tinted visor over his helmet and use the codename "Eyeshield 21," all so that the other sports clubs can't seek him out.

At first, Sena has the disposition of a nervous greyhound: perpetually wide-eyed, skittish and yelping when frightened. Aside from his spiky hair, speed, and short stature, Sena is a completely ordinary person who doesn't like standing out or leaving his comfort zone. But his circumstances regularly force him to adapt to intense, unpredictable situations, oftentimes where he's physically outclassed by athletes that he's playing against. The more he plays American football alongside his new teammates, the less afraid he becomes in the face of challenges and even possible danger.

Over time, Sena finds himself playing out of his own desire for self-improvement, and not because he was coerced. Although he retains a shy personality and is overly bashful in the face of attention or praise, Sena has fully embraced his new identity as an American football player and strives to become faster and stronger. He also becomes a dependable, supportive friend to his teammates, as well as someone with the courage to speak out and help others when the moment calls for it.

At the end of the series, he is shown as a college freshman at Enma University and a running back for their team, the Enma Fires.