Character designer and animator Kenichi Yoshida provided the cover art and illustrations for the newly released Hoshi Furu Shima no Footballer (The Footballer's Starry Island) novel. The novel is the first written by real-life soccer game announcer Yasuo Kurashiki. Kurashiki has previously penned non-fiction and other books about soccer.

The "fantasy football" story centers on a 15-year-old boy Haru Hoshino, the founder of a football club. Haru founded his club as part of the Milky Way League and aims to pull the best players from the seven islands of his home country in the Atlantic Ocean and travel the world. However, his club is in danger as the owner of the encroaching Scorpius FC is trying to control the league.

Kurashiki previously collaborated with Nichijou manga creator Keiichi Arawi on the two-volume Futari Soccer manga.

Yoshida, an alumni of Studio Ghibli , designed the characters of the original Eureka Seven television anime and the subsequent Eureka Seven: Hi - Evolution films and the Gundam: Reconguista in G television anime.

Publisher Futabasha released Hoshi Furu Shima no Footballer in Japan on Tuesday.

Source: Comic Natalie