sotyfan16: Sports anime/manga: good, bad, or just plain ugly?
This is quite timely as I just recently perused the first volume of DIAMOND GIRL, a manga about a teen whose base-ballin’ skills are out of this world. I honestly haven’t read any other sports manga outside of that. I was always puzzled by SLAM DUNK when I was living in Asia, and I still don’t quite grasp how it’s continued to be such a smash hit (or should that be a cross-court 3-pointer?) for as long as it has. I know that’s a testament to manga being diverse enough to encompass every genre and every kind of story, and I shouldn’t be surprised when sports stories are so common at the movies. But still, I just can’t shake how… odd it is to see a comic about a basketball team.
How popular is the sport in Japan? Do any of you lunatics know? Is basketball exotic to the Japanese?
I have something of an unusual interest in sports in general. I did football, wrestling and baseball in high school, I practiced MMA in college and I play pick-up b-ball games every weekend… but I have next-to-no interest in watching sports. I get bored almost immediately. I feel like I’m sitting on my hands. Seriously, I don’t have any favorite teams, I’m not counting the days until the World Series and I didn’t even know that the NFL’s season started until my room mate woke up early yesterday to watch the Packers game. It’s just not my thing.
That being said, I love plenty of sports movies. BAD NEWS BEARS (the original), MAJOR LEAGUE, ROCKY, ANY GIVEN SUNDAY, MIGHTY DUCKS, THE KARATE KID, THE LONGEST YARD… hell, even SPACE JAM. But I’m always a little leary of this genre because it typically goes for schmaltzy platitudes. I’ve rarely seen stories that have accurately reflected my experience of what it’s like to be on a team. So I generally prefer stuff that injects sports with some fantasy and absurdity.
Maybe sports manga/anime is the answer, then? As I've said, the medium takes stories farther than they're usually allowed to go in Western entertainment. Maybe what I've been looking for has been here all along?Maybe you Anime Vice lunatics could recommend some titles I need to check out.
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it was super popular in Mexico and of course Japan so i would recommend it =)
I know some people like this year's Giant Killing (about soccer), Prince of Tennis (about tennis, duh), and Major (about baseball and has been running for a number of years now). Very few that I know of like Eyeshield 21 (about football but not exactly). Personally, I don't have interest in sports anime/manga (unless is has to do with fighting (I like the manga Shamo)) because the ones that I know of have to do with soccer, baseball, basketball, or football and my preferred sport is hockey (I do NOT want to see one about hockey).
From what I can tell, sports anime/manga caters to exactly that niche of fans. While some of them have a good story and animation they end up boiling down to being known but not really watched or read. This subject isn't talked about much but it's one of those sub-genres that does it's job.
Would fighting tournaments be considered sport? Dragonball had a lot of those.
I think this is a cultural thing the Japanese put all there effort into what they do this includes free time. If a Japanese salaryman likes baseball he's going to devote allot of his time to baseball that includes what he reads. I'm not saying it's exclusive is that group but thats how the Japanese work, play, and live, there devoted if nothing else.
Thats why you find such manga as Slam Dunk odd it's just a cultural difference.
If you want some proof watch the crowd at a Hanshin Tigers game, you think Americans are intense sports fans; keep in mind this is being done by the vary proper and polite Japanese.
Eyeshield 21 is amazing. I'm English, and it got ME into American Football. That's how good it is.
I usually don't have much time for sports manga, but if it's good, it's GOOD.
the recent ones seems to aim at the market of fujoshi/yaoi fandom
all they have is pretty looking guys playing some kind of sport and it feels kinda lame :/
Lots of comments on Crunchyroll are the opposite: people like Giant Killing for the story, and for the fact that you do not have to be a soccer fan to enjoy it. All you need to know about soccer to enjoy Giant Killing is that goals are a big deal ... and someone who knew nothing about soccer would pick that up pretty fast.
@titoxiv: Aguante Steve Hyuga y el Tiro del Tigre!
Never had a chance to read any sports manga but can't say I'm very interested about it. I'm not very much into sports. Watching who kicks or throws the ball best feels to me pretty boring but ofcourse manga & anime have a way to turn pretty much anything into good entertainment by exaggerating things a little bit.
if something have surpassed the international tournament , and proceed to win it without being famous in that category then our suspension are broken.....
If the feat is ridicoulously stupid and we got this really talented non training guy, stupid, unless accompanied with fictional condition
Which probably explains a lot of their appeal? It's less about the sport and more about the youthful, sweating examples of male testosterone. Boys want to be like them and girls want to be with them (damn jocks...). Which could also explain its lack of appeal to the less couch potato-ey examples of our species.
Two asides:
(PS: It's great to be able to use every WM site now without having to make different accounts!)
going to have to go with just plain ugly. None of them have every worked in America and honestly since manga attracts the intellectual crowd here rather than the athletic one mostly shouldn't suprise anyone. I have never read one that I liked, and yes I expect basketball is exotic to the Japanese as it is exotic to most non-american countries. Much like soccor used to be exotic to us.