The defending champions of the third All Japan High School esports Championship in the League of Legends division, team KDG NI of N High School (Okinawa), compete in the semifinals this year on March 14, 2021, in Tokyo's Toshima Ward. Under the team name "N1," N High School has advanced to the quarterfinals in hope of taking the title again. (Mainichi/Kaho Kitayama)

       TOKYO -- The semifinals of the Fortnite division and quarterfinals of the League of Legends division of the All Japan High School esports Championship will be live streamed on YouTube and other platforms on Nov. 20-21 and 23, respectively.

       The Fortnite stream will begin at 12:00 p.m. (3:00 a.m. UTC) on both days. The Nov. 23 live stream for League of Legends will go live from 12:30 p.m. (3:30 a.m. UTC). All three days will be broadcast on the All Japan High School esports Championship's official YouTube, Twitch, and Twitter accounts, and will be archived on YouTube.

       The Fortnite division received applications from 447 teams from 262 schools, from the northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido to the southernmost, Okinawa. The title was added to the championship lineup this year. The winning 92 teams from the Oct. 23 and 24 preliminaries were divided into two groups that will go head-to-head over the two-day semifinals. Two-player teams will work to gain the most points over five games. The top 20 teams in each block will move on to the Dec. 19 final.

       League of Legends, now in its third year as a title in the championship, began with 165 teams from 113 high schools nationwide. Each five-member team will compete in a single one-on-one decisive match to destroy the opposing team's Nexus, while protecting their own one. The finals on Dec. 26 will also be streamed live.

       Defending champion N High School (Okinawa Prefecture) and third-edition finalist Kobe Art College (Hyogo Prefecture) are back for a possible rematch. Renaissance High School Tokyo reached the semifinals during the last tournament, but this year Renaissance High School Osaka will be vying for the title.

       Continuing from the Rocket League division, gaming tournament caster OooDa will MC all three days. For Fortnite, Taiga Kishi, active across several titles in the Japanese esports world, will cover the play-by-play commentary. Top-class gameplay analyst and pro-player Shirasu and former pro KilluA will serve as commentator and analyst, respectively. League of Legends play-by-play will be provided by eyes and commentary by Revol, both top casters for official esports tournaments in Japan. Former pro iSeNN will deliver game analysis. The events will be conducted in Japanese.

       The All Japan High School esports Championship is organized by the Japan High School esports Federation and The Mainichi Newspapers Co. First held in 2018, the competition aims to promote a new esports culture in Japan and foster student growth through teamwork. From the third championship forward, it has been backed by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT).

       The number of participants has grown each year, with roughly 2,400 students in 773 teams hailing from 367 schools competing in the fourth edition of the tournament.

       (By Alina Kordesch, Sports Project Department)

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