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Sports manga (Japanese:スポーツ漫画) is a genre of Japanesemanga andanime that focuses on stories involvingsports and other athletic and competitive pursuits. Though Japanese animated works depicting sports were released as early as the 1920s, sports manga did not emerge as a discrete category until the early 1950s. The genre achieved prominence in the context of thepost-war occupation of Japan, and gained significant visibility during and subsequent to the1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Noted as among the most popular genres of manga and anime, sports manga is credited with introducing new sports to Japan, and popularizing existing sports.
The core element of a sports manga series is a depiction of a specific sport. The genre is inclusive of a breadth of sports that are both Japanese and non-Japanese in origin,[1] including sports with mainstream popularity (e.g.baseball,association football,boxing,cycling), comparably niche and esoteric sports (e.g.street racing,rhythmic gymnastics,table tennis,wheelchair basketball), and other broadly competitive activities and pursuits (e.g.billiards,shogi,mahjong,go).[2]
A popular formula for sports manga stories isspo-kon (ja:スポ根), a portmanteau ofsports andkonjō (根性;lit. 'guts' or 'determination').[3] In these stories, a hero from an often tragic background resolves as a child to become the "best in the world" at a sport, and trains themselves to increase their aptitude.[3][4] The hero often seeks to emulate their father, or achieve a goal that their father was unable to accomplish.[4] Often, the hero trains under the tutelage of a coach or father figure who is harsh and unforgiving in his training methods; the "oni coach" or "devil coach" is a common stock character in such stories.[3] Other common story formulas includeunderdog characters who achieve success in the face of staggering odds,[5][6] and amateurs who unexpectedly discover that they are naturally gifted at a sport.[5]
Sports manga is a popular genre among young readers, particularly readers ofshōnen manga (boys' comics). The typical structure of a sports manga story is one that is readily understood by younger audiences:conflict is sublimated into a sporting event, aclimax is generated through the action of the sport, and the conflict ends with a literal or metaphorical finish line.[6][7] WriterPaul Gravett notes that "in the end, a sports manga hero is bound to win, or lose well, so the thrill comes from reading how he overcomes all challenges with determination and honesty".[5]
InManga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics, authorFrederik L. Schodt argues that sports manga are distinguished from American and European sports comics in their focus onbushido-inspired themes and subject material that use sports as "a metaphor for human endeavor and testing of the spirit".[8] Common themes in sports manga include friendship and camaraderie, teamwork and selflessness, steadfastness and determination, prevailing over hardships, andsupokon-kei (a contraction ofsupōtsu-konjō-kei, which translates literally to 'willpower in-sports-genre').[9]
The genre is additionally noted for its highly stylized depictions of the action of sports, such as jarring layouts,speed lines, sound effects, blurred and foreshortened figures, and cinematic-style framing.[5][9] The 1968 television anime adaptation ofStar of the Giants is credited with pioneering many "special effects" now common in anime, such as time stops, slowdowns, extreme closeups, and the narrowing of the screen in moments of heightened drama.[10][11]
Decompression is a common storytelling technique used in sports manga to heighten drama and suspense, with individual games or events frequently lasting hundreds of pages or multiple episodes.[4][5] The manga seriesSlam Dunk, for example, is noted for presenting a four-month high-school basketball season over the course of six years' worth of weekly serialized stories.[9]
Animal Olympic Games, a 1928 animatedshort film directed byYasuji Murata, is regarded by critics as the first sportsanime.[12] The film was inspired by the1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam[6] and was indicative of a western influence on sports that would come to shape the genre, as in the subsequent short animated filmsOur Baseball Game (1930) also directed by Murata andBaseball in the Forest (1934) directed by Siichi Harada.[6]
Though western sports have been played in Japan since theMeiji era,[1] American forces during theoccupation of Japan took an active role in encouraging the adoption of sports such asbaseball,boxing, andwrestling.[3] Traditional Japanese sports such asjudo,karate, andkendo were banned from Japanese school curriculums[13] as part of a broader effort to suppress activities that were seen as promoting belligerence or aggression.[5] The ban was lifted in 1950 by GeneralDouglas MacArthur, leading to a boom in popularity for both sports in general and sports manga.[5][13]
Thejudo manga seriesIgaguri-kun [jp] byEiichi Fukui, first published in the manga magazineBōken'ō in 1952, is noted byFrederik L. Schodt as the first sports manga series.[13] Baseball became the most popular sport in the genre[8] through titles such asDokaben andStar of the Giants, the former of which has sold over 48 million copies.[14] Real-life sporting events that could be filmed by a single unmoving camera (such aspro wrestling orsumo) became popular televised sports, which discouraged anime and manga creators from attempting to adapt them;Jonathan Clements andHelen McCarthy note that creators realized the genre's "true potential lay in showing audiences [...] things they would not get so easily from live action".[6]
The1964 Summer Olympics inTokyo prompted a boom in the popularity of sports manga and anime.[1][3][6][15] Japan'sgold medal in women's volleyball at these games saw an increase in the popularity ofwomen's sports in Japan, and a corresponding increase in the popularity of sports manga in theshōjo (girls' manga) andjosei (women's manga) demographics. The popularity ofshōjo sports manga series such asAttack No. 1 – the first sports anime for a female audience – are credited with introducing a greater diversity of sports into the genre, includingballet andtennis.[16][17] The 1960s also saw the melodrama ofspo-kon stories decline in favor of comedic stories andfour-panel comics,[3] as well as the first anime adaptation of a sports manga withStar of the Giants in 1968.[10]
In the 1970s,merchandising became a major sales driver for anime, leading to a proliferation of series such asSpeed Racer that had potential as toys; baseball would also re-emerge as a popular subject for the genre.[18] The 1980s saw a decline in the popularity of sports manga, assci-fi andfantasy emerged as the medium's dominant genres.[18] The majority of sports manga released during the 1980s wereone-shots[18] or only broadly gestured at sports; manga series such asMitsuru Adachi'sTouch, first published in 1981, foregrounded romance and a suburban setting that reflected Japan's growing middle class.[3] Conversely, some 1980s sports manga such asCaptain Tsubasa gained popularity on the basis of foreign sales potential;[18] the series has been translated for international audiences in Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Italian.[10]
The 1990s saw the genre expand into esoteric sports such asfishing andboat racing, while the 2000s saw increasing popularity of sports manga with fantasy elements (Eyeshield 21) or that focus on sedentary activities such asgo orgin rummy.[18]Spo-kon stories with stylized action and scrappy protagonists enjoyed a resurgence of popularity in the 2010s, as typified by series such asPing Pong the Animation andKuroko's Basketball.[19][20] Sports manga has remained popular into the 2020s, even asromantic comedy,isekai, and battle manga have ascended to become the dominant genres ofshōnen manga. Moe Tsuchiya, editor-in-chief of the sports manga magazineComic Bull, hypothesized that this shift can be attributed to changing readership tastes, citing the generally slower pace of sports manga relative to these other genres.[21]
Sports manga is among the most popular genres of manga and anime.[13] It has been noted as "a vital part of the medium since its earliest days"[6] and helped pioneer manga narratives where protagonists "struggle to succeed", a common trope in contemporaryshōnen manga.[3] Patrick Drazen notes inAnime Explosion! that sports manga is the best example of a manga genre where heroes "strive for perfection" in an attempt to "do one's best".[1]
Outside of the small specialtygolf manga magazinesGolf Comic andGolf Comic Athlete, there are no manga magazines dedicated exclusively to sports manga, as the genre is ubiquitous in mainstream publications.[3] In 2010, sports manga composed 33.3% of manga series inWeekly Shōnen Magazine, and 10.5% of manga series inWeekly Shōnen Jump.[22]
Sports manga is credited with introducing new sports to Japan, and popularizing existing sports.[9]Association football became popular in Japan throughCaptain Tsubasa,[5] with members of theJapan national football team at the2002 FIFA World Cup citing the series as among their influences.[5] In 2017,NHK broadcastBokura wa Manga de Tsuyokunatta (We Became Strong Through Manga), a documentary series about athletes who overcame hardships after being inspired by sports manga.[23] TheOlympic Museum scheduled[a] an exhibition on sports manga for 2020 in advance of the2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, calling the genre "a perfect tool to understand the evolution of sport in post-War Japan".[25]
Titles in the sports genre are frequently influenced by major sporting events, or are timed to release concurrently with major sporting events. Notable examples includeAttack on Tomorrow, which launched in 1977 to capitalize on Japan's victory in the1977 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Cup;[17] the anime film adaptation ofYawara!, which was timed to release with the1996 Summer Olympics;[18] and the anime remake ofAttacker You!, which was timed to release with the2008 Summer Olympics.[26]
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