Soccer Player, the pinnacle of soccer manga and a world-renowned novel, came to an end in the magazine released on April 4, ending its 43-year serialization.
The author, Yoichi Takahashi, said in an interview that he has finished the last episode of the series, can finally live a life without a deadline, and now he will officially retire from his role as a manga artist. At the same time, Yoichi Takahashi revealed that he will continue to create "Football Player" on the website in the form of pencil drawings in the future.
Yoichi Takahashi revealed in an interview that there are two main reasons why he chose to end the serialization. One is that his age can no longer keep up with the pace of updating, and now at the age of 63, his creative speed is only half of that of his youth. Second, the change in the creative environment is also an important reason why he decided to end the serialization.
The serialization of "Football Players" began in 1981 in "Weekly Teenagers", which is based on the growth experience of the protagonist Okong Tsubasa, and tells the story of the growth of a group of young and promising football players. Including "Elementary School", "Junior High School", "World Youth", "Europe", "Road To 2002", "Golden-23 Olympics", "Overseas Fierce Fight", "Rising Sun" and so on.
As an anime with football as the theme, "Football Player" not only drove the development of Japanese football, but also made many people fall in love with football, which can be said to have deeply influenced most people in the 80s, 90s and even 00s.
Translated into more than 50 languages, the Soccer Kid comic has been distributed worldwide, with a total circulation of more than 90 million copies.