The sports industry ecosystem www.ecosports.cn
Text/Shadow Mountain
Edited by / Mary
No matter how many sports anime I have watched, Volleyball Boy!! " can still make people feel "NB".
4 seasons of animation, Douban score are above 9.5 points, breaking through 50 million comic book circulation, in addition to the bloody arena story, humorous and in-depth character building, relying on these can describe campus sports as a youth memory that makes you want to kill.
From "Soccer Boy" and "Slam Dunk Master" to today's "Volleyball Boy"!! Many young people entered the world of sports through Japanese manga. The influence of Japanese sports comics also makes us want to further explore what kind of sports content we need in the face of "Generation Z"?
01
Volleyball Boy!! Why does it look good?
Japanese sports manga "Volleyball Boy!! Last year, the final serial was launched, ending a comic strip that lasted more than eight years.
Volleyball Boy!! On July 20, the eight-year series officially ended
This juvenile manga work written by Japanese manga artist Haruichi Furukan, the main story line is also simple, still a protagonist with athletic talent but a slightly silly personality, still a team with no absolute strength, but with the ambition to win the championship, from the story development context and character portrayal, it is not much different from the sports story we think.
The work did not attract much attention at first, but just like the "Slam Dunk Master" many years ago, Furuichi Furuki truly restored the process of volleyball training and competition by grasping the details and rhythm, the joys and sorrows of the characters, the right lines, interspersed with laughter in the tense game, readers can truly feel the charm of volleyball teamwork, but also let us recall the youth of the campus again.
Fan Hanagin said "Volleyball Boy!! The success of "" is not only the bloody element of the sports comic itself, but more importantly, the portrayal of the characters is real and delicate, close to our lives. "Not only the protagonist of the story or the team, in the process of pursuing their goals, many stories are deeply moving, and it is still very inspirational to think about it now."
She also mentioned that the depictions of Uno High School and the surrounding environment in the manga are derived from the author's experience and growth environment, and the actual competitions such as the All Japan Junior High School Volleyball Championship and the All Japan Volleyball High School Selection Competition (Harukaka Volleyball Tournament) are also shown in the works.
Hyuga is only in his early 160cm height in his third year of junior high
The protagonist of the story, Hyuga Xiangyang, makes up for the lack of skill and height with talent and athletic ability, and gradually grows into the ace of Uno High School. Another main character, Hideo Shadow Mountain, because of his cold personality and extremely talented physical conditions, also grew into a core member of the team in the "love and killing" with Hyuga Xiangyang.
Just like we see from the manga that the tall Hyuga Xiangyang is practicing his skills hard, honing his tactics with his teammates, and under the strong competitive spirit, he is an ordinary boy who lacks self-confidence. Even if he has excellent bounces, it takes more effort than others to achieve his goals. As well as Toho-asahi, who also lacks self-confidence, Takashi Sugawara, who has no talent but still strives to be self-motivated, and Kazuru Kazuru, who relies on willpower to achieve transcendence. These characters, in addition to their extreme passion for volleyball, he is just like the average of us.
It is these characters with different personalities or flaws who have allowed readers to accompany them together in the days-to-day training games of the team over the years, in the quarrels, and let the readers accompany them to the "god" and complete self that eventually evolved into fans.
As someone commented on "Volleyball Boy!! Success: Whether it is the protagonist or the supporting role, the characters in the play do not have any aura and superior bloodline bonus, everyone has their own problems and obstacles, everyone is trying their best to overcome and surpass, but most importantly, everyone believes that as long as they work hard, they will definitely gain something. The concentration, effort and youthful enthusiasm conveyed by the work is probably the meaning that sports have always had, and this is probably what everyone's youth should look like.
02
Developed school sports, inspired by the creation of Japanese sports manga?
Volleyball Boy!! "" does not have pure feelings and blood, but in the restoration of the real volleyball game, interspersed with light and funny clips to ease the tension of the competitive game, so that the audience can better understand volleyball and enjoy the game.
Therefore, in the volleyball game in the comic, all the characters' technical actions and the team's techniques and tactics are real, all based on the team's clear technical tactics, tacit cooperation and focus on the attitude of fighting hard. There are traces to follow in real sports competitions, and there is no departure from the laws of volleyball, nor are there mistakes that violate the common sense of sports, and so on.
Adapted from Volleyball Boy!! " eponymous stage play
Comics are always communicating that there is no impeccable message, and only by going all out can we spell out opportunities and win games.
This also truly describes the essence of sportsmanship: only by tenacious struggle and continuous grinding can we make progress. It also speaks to the cruelty of sports: it is impossible to win with talent and short-term efforts alone, but only by hard training day after day, year after year and firm belief.
This manga series that vividly shows the sport of volleyball has been serialized since 2012, and the manga has sold tens of millions of copies so far, and the TV animation has been produced and broadcast by Production I.G. At the same time, the stage plays based on the original work have been performed in Tokyo, Osaka, Japan, and other places since 2015.
Eight years, without a doubt, Volleyball Boy!! The artistic value and status of "" are no less than those of other sports anime works.
We can see that it is not only "Volleyball Boy!! From "Soccer Boy" to "Slam Dunk Master", to "Baseball Hero", "Ping Pong", "Chess Soul", etc., the content of Japanese sports manga involves various sports fields.
Behind these well-known sports manga IP is Japan's developed campus sports as a creative soil.
Just like the "Koshien" we are familiar with, as An annual high school baseball competition in Japan, more than 4,000 schools across Japan participate in the selection tournament, and finally 56 regional teams can enter the "Hanshin Koshien" stadium in Hyogo Prefecture for the final round of competition, which is now a major event of concern to Japanese school sports and even the global sports community every year. The rich campus competitions also give comic content creation the most immersive material for readers.
Importantly, many students participate in sports clubs, not only for hobbies and physical fitness, but also to maintain training to win honors for the school, and even to achieve self-worth, and even to enter professional sports. The personal experience of teenagers also makes sports comic works connect their campus memories and bring resonance.
Nowadays, China attaches more and more importance to the integration of sports and education, and all parties have realized the importance of sports for the growth of young people, after all, spilling blood on the sports field should not be our precious youth memories?
03
What kind of sports content do we need for Gen Z?
We can see, Volleyball Boy!! "Not only depicts the story of volleyball, but also brings us entertaining enjoyment and the absorption of Japanese school sports culture, spreading and popularizing sports, and also creating many subcultures.
But in the past few years, capital, traffic and commercial success have become the mainstream narrative of the domestic sports scene. With the rapid development of China's sports market, what kind of sports content should we produce? But it has been forgotten by many people.
Domestic capital and sports practitioners think that young people are only interested in "new" and "hunting", but they did not think that "Generation Z" is also innovating and improving the "spirit of women's volleyball", processing the flyer Liu Xiang... With a language system and aesthetic tastes that conform to the personality of young people, it conveys the spirit of sportsmanship and integrates sports into life.
We are envious of Volleyball Boy!! When it is influential and successful, it also remembers the excellent sports content created by the golden age of the past, which has nourished and guided the vigorous development of the sports market for a long time.
Only at present, the post-90s and post-00s have increasingly become the main force of production and consumption, and this part of the young group emphasizes the realization of self-worth and the liberation of temperament, and is picky about sports content and service consumption, while emphasizing the subversive innovation and creative experience of the spirit of entertainment.
This actually dooms the future of sports content and the connection of Generation Z to be important, and the integration of traditional sports with the Internet has finally begun a long-standing collision.
"Yesterday's losers, who are you today?"
This is Volleyball Boy!! A very famous line in " . In sports comics featuring blood, failures are often deliberately ignored, but this volleyball game has found the audience's resonance through this.
Although this group of volleyball teenagers finally made it to the top 8 of the Japanese Spring High School Volleyball League, we at least remember that they once worked hard for volleyball.
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