Ask John: Why Isn’t There More Sports Anime?

Question:
Besides Battle Athletes and Princess Nine, I am wondering why there isn’t more sports anime? Is it because it isn’t popular in Japan or there’s not much demand for it?

Answer:
There are actually quite a few anime series based on sports, including at least three being broadcast on Japanese television right now. Most of these shows, however, have never made it to America and are little known by most American anime fans. Two of the most influential sports anime ever created are 1970’s Ashita no Joe (Tomorrow’s Joe) boxing anime and the 1973 Ace O Narae (Aim for the Ace) tennis series. The image of Joe Yabuki slumped against the ropes, sitting on a stool in his corner of a boxing ring is one of the most enduring single images in the history of anime. The character design of Izawa from Ike! Inachu Ping Pong Club, and a part of Izawa’s personality, is an intentional parody of Ashita no Joe’s Joe Yabuki. The third episode of the Di-Gi-Charat TV series also includes a brief sight-gag combining Ashita no Joe with Tetsujin 28. Aim for the Ace is revered as one of the all time classic sports/shoujo shows and is acknowledged as the origin of the “girl’s training school” subgenre that includes series such as Princess Nine, D4 Princess and Gunbuster. In fact, the full title of Gunbuster, “Top O Nerae: Gunbuster” (Aim for the Top: Gunbuster) is a direct homage to the classic Ace O Narae.

Other tremendously popular sports anime include the long running soccer anime Captain Tsubasa, which premiered in 1983 and is running a new TV series on Japanese television right now, and other soccer anime series including Ganbare! Kickers, Ashita E Free-Kick, Iron Leaguer, the just concluded Offside, and Kick Off 2002 which premiers on Japanese television later this month. Baseball gets its coverage from Princess Nine, H2, Touch, and Slow Step. Basketball is adequately covered by the immensely popular and long running Slam Dunk. Martial arts anime include Fashionable Judo Girl Yawara, Metal Fighter Miku, Wanna-Be’s, Ayane-chan’s High Kick and the popular recent Grappler Baki TV series. Tennis anime include the classic Aim for the Ace and the current Prince of Tennis. The hentai anime Angels in the Court centers on a girls’ volleyball team. Inachu Ping Pong Club is loosely based on ping pong, of course. The currently broadcast Hajime no Ippo is a “realistic” show about professional boxing. And I’m sure that there are other sports anime that I either don’t know of or have forgotten about.

So it’s not a case of sports anime being unpopular in Japan, as there are anime series based on just about every sport imaginable. With anime fandom still growing in North America, most American anime fans have simply not yet discovered this genre of anime and simply aren’t aware that so many anime based on sports exist.