Captain Tsubasa (1983)

Animation · Comedy · Drama

Tsubasa Ozora loves playing football since he was a little child. After moving to the japanese town of Nankatsu together with his mother, the 11-year-old boy quickly finds friends and joins the local football team of his elementary school. Together with his newly made friends and Brazilian mentor Roberto, Tsubasa starts his exciting journey to chase after his most desired dream - one day winning the FIFA World Cup.

IMDb rating: 7.9 (9,061 votes)
Episode average: 7.0 -0.9 vs IMDb
Seasons: 6
Language: JA
Type: TV series

U-shaped trajectory: strong first and last seasons, a sag between. Rising Shows ranks whole shows by the shape of their rating trend rather than one average score, which is how you find a show that got better rather than a show that started well. See every U-shaped show in the explorer →

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Ratings refreshed Oct 3, 2026 · 6 seasons indexed

Cast

Seasons

Season 1 (1983)

7.34 avg 47 episodes 7.6 → 8.0 24 min avg

Rebound

Season 1 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	The New Soccer Star	7.6	162
2	A Career Begins	7.3	126
3	Kick-Off for the Future	7.0	112
4	The Football Is My Best Friend	7.3	110
5	Where Is the Rival?	7.4	100
6	Blocked Off	7.5	101
7	The Show Must Go On	7.5	100
8	A Perfect Duo	7.6	101
9	The Last Chance	7.5	97
10	A Long Way to Brazil	7.2	94
11	The Provocation	7.4	89
12	No Easy Way	7.5	87
13	Fast Game in the Mud	7.4	86
14	Tsubasa Is Sieged	7.3	87
15	An Unfair Enemy	7.3	83
16	The Verification Test	7.2	82
17	The Youth National Championship	7.3	80
18	Fatal Confrontation	7.5	82
19	The Mighty Shot	7.3	81
20	Soccer Is My Dream	7.3	78
21	No Victory in Semi Final	7.3	78
22	The Brothers Tachibana	7.3	77
23	Ryo Shoots an Own Goal	7.4	78
24	The Fight for the Final	7.1	78
25	The Best Keeper of the Tournament	7.3	78
26	The End of a Career	6.9	82
27	Details of the Challenge	7.0	23
28	A Casual Kick	7.4	23
29	Return of the Tiger	7.5	24
30	The Courage to Try	7.6	25
31	Like a Son	7.3	22
32	Don't Finish Like This	7.2	23
33	The Bitterness of Goodbye	6.8	24
34	Arriving in Italy	8.5	51
35	The Debut	7.3	24
36	An Importnat Game	7.2	24
37	Challenge of the Numbers	7.6	24
38	The Mystery of Japan	7.0	23
39	Road to The World Cup	7.2	23
40	The Awaited Ending	7.2	22
41	The Twins of Goals	7.3	23
42	Final Surprise	7.1	23
43	Together Again	7.1	23
44	Secret Weapon	7.3	23
45	The Real National Squad	7.2	23
46	A Promise of Victory	7.7	26
47	Aim! 2002	8.0	28

Season 2 (1984)

6.97 avg 26 episodes 7.2 → 6.7 24 min avg

Season 2 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Encounters in Semi-Final	7.2	72
2	The Brave Fighters from the North	7.2	66
3	Hard Confrontations	7.0	66
4	A Wounded Prince	7.1	63
5	A Brilliant Fight	7.1	60
6	Tsubasa in the Trap	7.4	65
7	I Can't Play	6.6	61
8	Tsubasa's Resurrection	6.9	61
9	Misogi, Don't Die	7.0	59
10	My Heart Still Beats	7.0	60
11	Mega-Shot	6.9	61
12	A Wise Decision	6.6	60
13	The Finale	7.2	60
14	The Shoting Secret	7.1	60
15	The Duel	7.0	60
16	Roar, Lion	7.0	59
17	Nankatsu in Crisis	7.0	61
18	The Equalizer	7.1	60
19	The Game Without Aces	7.1	58
20	Against Better Knowledge	6.8	57
21	Kojiro's Sign of Winning	6.9	58
22	Unsuccessful Overhead Kick	6.9	58
23	The Fight Continues	6.6	58
24	The Extra Time	6.9	58
25	What's the Result of the Extra Time	6.8	58
26	One New Strategy	6.7	55

Season 3 (1984)

6.88 avg 26 episodes 7.2 → 6.9 25 min avg

Season 3 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Two Are Better Than One	7.2	54
2	The Duel of the Strikers	7.2	53
3	Tears Despite Success	7.4	55
4	Great Departures	7.1	42
5	The New Rival	6.9	42
6	The Shooting of the Hawk	7.0	42
7	Nankatsu vs. Otomo	7.0	42
8	Tsubasa vs. Nitta	6.7	43
9	A Hard Comparison	6.9	41
10	The Challenge	6.8	41
11	Decisions	6.8	41
12	Race Against Time	6.6	41
13	The Journey to Europe	6.8	39
14	The Duel	6.8	38
15	A King Resigns	6.6	39
16	The Letter	6.5	39
17	The National Championship	6.8	39
18	A Strong Enemy	6.9	39
19	The Shot from a Distance	6.9	39
20	The Secret Goal	6.9	39
21	A Rival Does Not Give Up	6.7	39
22	Air Acrobats	6.8	38
23	The Catapult Shot	6.7	39
24	The Acrobats	6.9	39
25	A New Trick	7.0	39
26	The Quarter Final	6.9	38

Season 4 (1985)

6.87 avg 26 episodes 6.6 → 6.9 24 min avg

Season 4 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	An Uneventful Match	6.6	49
2	Tsugito's Trick Box	6.7	48
3	A Falcon with Lame Wings	7.2	48
4	A Special Shot	7.1	48
5	The Fight Continues	6.9	49
6	Teamwork	6.8	47
7	Match Preparations	6.6	47
8	Help Cry to the Substitutes' Bench	6.9	47
9	The Present for the Captain	6.7	47
10	Top Performance	6.6	47
11	The Letter from Europe	6.8	47
12	Who Will Be Chosen	6.7	48
13	Where Love Falls	6.7	47
14	The Attack Headlong	6.7	47
15	Fairness Goes First	6.8	48
16	The Attack	6.8	48
17	A Captain as Hero	6.9	47
18	Bitter Tears	7.1	47
19	Hyuga's Challenge	6.5	48
20	Feverish Ravings	6.8	48
21	Matchwinner Tsubasa	7.9	60
22	Surprise in Field	7.0	50
23	Tsubasa vs. Pierre, a Fair Fight	6.9	48
24	The Might of the Kaiser	7.0	48
25	Unexpected Visit	7.1	49
26	An Impossible Recovery	6.9	48

Season 5 (1985)

6.80 avg 24 episodes 7.0 → 6.8 24 min avg

Season 5 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	The Last Fight Begins	7.0	50
2	The Great Final	7.0	49
3	Nankatsu Is Down	6.9	48
4	Don't Give Up	6.8	47
5	The Tiger Fights Alone	6.8	48
6	A Despair Fight	6.9	49
7	Tsubasa Doesn't Give Up	6.8	48
8	Tsubasa Is Hurt	6.7	48
9	Thrill	6.8	48
10	Keep on Fighting	6.8	48
11	Dream Goal	6.9	48
12	On Knife's Edge	6.9	48
13	With All Power	6.8	48
14	It's Getting Exciting	6.7	48
15	The Unsuccessful Tiger Shot	6.9	48
16	Still Tied	6.6	47
17	To the Last Gasp	6.6	48
18	Just 10 Minutes Left	6.8	48
19	All or Nothing	6.7	48
20	In Last Minute	7.0	48
21	Shared Victory	6.9	49
22	Memories	6.6	48
23	Hoping for Europe	6.4	48
24	The 17 Best	6.8	51

Season 6 (1995)

7.21 avg 12 episodes 7.2 → 7.1

Season 6 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
15	A Ball for Each Friend	7.2	18
16	Fighting Till the End	7.3	19
17	15 Minutes of Happiness	7.0	19
18	Acrobatic Duel	7.4	19
19	The Coach's Speech	7.4	20
20	Never Give Up	7.2	18
21	The New Goalkeeper	7.3	19
22	The Challenge has Begun	7.3	19
23	The Great Jun Misugi	7.0	19
24	Tsubasa's Ilness	7.0	19
25	Heart and Mind	7.3	20
26	It's Important to Participate	7.1	21

Captain Tsubasa (1983)

Cast

Seasons

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