COMICS AND CARTOONS:
Millions Love Soccer Manga and Anime

Forza! Hidemaru is a new soccer anime. (SSU/TX/NAS)

Manga (comics) are very popular in Japan, and readers range from children to office workers. In the mid 1990s, Shukan Shonen Jump, a weekly comic collection published by Shueisha, reached a circulation of 6.5 million. Even Japanese people were surprised at how popular manga had become.

Heroes Withstand Tough Training
Heroic sports players who are put through hard training by coaches to improve their performance are a favorite of story lines in sports manga. These heroes are one of the reasons the comics are so popular. The series Akakichi no irebun (The Dark Red Eleven), created by Ikki Kajiwara, is considered the pioneer of soccer manga. Kajiwara is also famous as the creator of the baseball manga Kyojin no Hoshi (Hoshi of the Giants). Akakichi no irebun appeared in Shukan Shonen King, published by Shonengahosha, in 1970-71 and was made into a TV anime (cartoon) at the same time. The story takes place at a newly established high school in Saitama Prefecture, where the school's soccer team overcome many challenges in their quest to be the best team in Japan. The story is quite realistic, and the team is based on Urawa Minami High School, which won all three of Japan's high-school soccer titles in 1969, the year before the series began.

There were, however, many elements of fiction in the story. For example, the hero was able to score a lot of goals by performing such impossible kicks as the "submarine shot" and the "rocket shot." In any case, this manga certainly helped to boost the popularity of soccer in Japan following the national team's bronze medal in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. And Akakichi no irebun provided the inspiration for the uniform color of the J. League team based in Urawa, the Urawa Reds.

	Captain Tsubasa comics (© Yôichi Takahashi 1982, 2001/Shueisha)

Soccer Comic Book Sells 50 Million Copies
The greatest of all Japanese soccer manga is probably Captain Tsubasa, drawn by Yoichi Takahashi. The hero of the story is Tsubasa Ozora, a young boy who loves soccer. The manga tells the story of him, his friends, and his rivals as they aim to be the best in the world. This manga was made into a TV anime series and a movie.

The Captain Tsubasa comic was carried in Shukan Shonen Jump beginning in 1980. It sold more than 50 million copies when it was released in book form. The series came to an end in 1988, but it was revived in 1994 under the title Captain Tsubasa: World Youth Version. The newest edition is Captain Tsubasa: Road to 2002, which is currently running in Shueisha's Shukan Young Jump and has also been made into an anime for TV. As the World Cup approaches, Captain Tsubasa is enjoying a new lease of life.

Baseball was the most popular sport among kids in the early 1980s, but after Captain Tsubasa first appeared, kids began to kick around soccer balls in Japan's parks and playgrounds. It is even said that Hidetoshi Nakata, a star of the Japanese national team who currently plays for Parma in Italy, practiced bicycle kicks after seeing Captain Tsubasa. There are some who say that soccer in Japan would not be so popular today if it weren't for Captain Tsubasa. Captain Tsubasa is popular overseas as well. Many Japanese might be surprised to learn that it is shown on TV in Tunisia, one of Japan's opponents in the first round of the World Cup.

Since the birth of Captain Tsubasa, there have been a large number of soccer manga in Japan. One of these is Offside, created by Natsuko Heiuchi. Offside, which tells the story of the soccer team at a small, weak high school that goes on to become the nation's top team, ran in Kodansha's Shukan Shonen Magazine in 1987-92, and it is now being shown as an anime series on satellite TV. The renewed interest in Offside is probably a result of the fact that the 2002 World Cup is being held in Japan. Shoot!, a soccer manga created by Tsukasa Oshima that ran for a long time in Shukan Shonen Magazine, was even made into a 1994 movie starring the members of SMAP, one of Japan's most famous pop groups.

New Manga
The titles of soccer manga have been undergoing changes recently. Whereas they once contained English words like "captain" or "eleven," some of the more recent ones are incorporating words from different languages. One example of this is Fantasista!, which was created by Michiteru Kusaba and runs in Shogakukan's Shukan Shonen Sunday. Fantasista is the Italian word for a soccer player who performs great feats of skill and artistry with the ball. These new manga may help further deepen the roots of soccer in Japan.

And a new TV anime program called Forza! Hidemaru began this April and tells the story of a dog named Hidemaru that follows the exploits of Hidetoshi Nakata in Italy. Nakata himself is giving his full cooperation to the project "in the hope that young people will become more familiar with soccer." This program is receiving attention as a new type of soccer anime.