Hayato Akaba

Akaba is the tight end for the Spiders and the team’s captain. He is obsessed with music and often plays his electric guitar and uses musical metaphors to state his opinions. While playing Akaba wears a blue eyeshield and he introduces himself to Sena as “the real Eyeshield 21.”

He was the MVP in the Fall Tournament during the match against Oujou’s Golden Generation. He was offered a place on the Teikoku team, and accepted because of the team’s strength and his father transferring to Kansai. After a confrontation with teammate Kotaro, Akaba changed his mind and decided to return to Bando. Because of the school’s policy, Akaba was forced to sit out for six months from the beginning of the school year so he could not play with the team until the match against the Devil Bats. Instead, Akaba served as an adviser and instructor to his teammates, teaching them the blocking techniques he created through painstaking research.