It was at the 1978 World Cup in Argentina that Yo Takahashi first witnessed the passion of soccer. Since then, the fire of soccer has been kindled in his heart, and he aspires to spread the charm of soccer to every corner of Japan in the form of manga. At that time, the status of soccer in Japan was minimal, and in the 1982 World Cup qualifying match, the Japanese team was defeated by the Chinese team, which had a dismal record. The Chinese team had a weak soccer foundation, and it was difficult to find a decent stadium and coach. Japanese player Ramos Zhu Wei once jokingly said, "If the level of Japanese soccer is like that of an elementary school student, then I am a doctor." Nonetheless, high school students of Yoh Takahashi's age are attracted to soccer, thanks to the solid foundation of school sports in Japan. However, after the World Cup, few high school students aspired to become professional players for one simple reason - they were not wanted by professional teams. Yang Takahashi knows that it is crucial for people to realize the true meaning of soccer. In Shizuoka Prefecture, soccer was becoming popular with adults and children alike, and this inspired Yo Takahashi. He fictionalized the city of Minami-Katsushika in Shizuoka Prefecture and his hometown of Katsushika-ku, Tokyo, as the backdrop for the story.
Before Jiji Press decided to publish Soccer Boys, Yang Takahashi suffered repeated setbacks. Many Japanese publishers were not interested in the work because baseball was more popular at the time. A poll was conducted by Tiburon asking the public which of Tiburon's works was their favorite. As a result, Baseball Heroes of the Elementary School Hall received the highest number of votes, which made Tibunsha determined to publish Soccer Boys. However, Yo Takahashi did not follow all of Tiben's requirements in his creative process. While JBS wanted his manga to show youth and fervor, Yo Takahashi wanted the story of the main character, Okaeki, to begin with his love of soccer. He hoped that Oko Wing's growth would help the rise of Japanese soccer. Years later, Takahashi lamented that the growth of Oko Wing was also the growth of Japanese soccer. In the early days of his work, Takahashi lacked a dedicated editor and couldn't afford an assistant, which led to questions about the quality of the soccer boys' drawings. Problems such as imbalanced character proportions, one-dimensional expressions, simple hairstyles, and clashing faces were common. However, with its excellent storytelling, it quickly became a star work for Jiji Press and became popular. When the anime version was released, it also set a record for TV Tokyo with the highest ratings of 21.2%.
Soccer Boys is also popular because many of its characters are based on topical players of the time, giving readers a strong sense of immersion. For example, Roberto Hongo, the retired Japanese-Brazilian footballer in the book, is based on Saikio Echigo and George, two Japanese-Brazilians who contributed greatly to the professionalization of Japanese soccer. In the book, Omakasu always seeks to become Japan's No. 1, but his relationship with his rivals is never antagonistic; instead, he develops a deep friendship. Yang Takahashi describes each character's experience in detail. For example, Cape Taro's story was later made into a collection of short stories. As for players from rival teams such as Kojiro Hyuga, Kin Ken Wakashima, and Jun Mitsurugi, they also left a deep impression on the readers. Among them, Jun Misugi had been more popular than Tsubasa Okurayama. In this way, readers understood that soccer is a team sport and unity and cooperation is its soul.
In the 2019 serial, Jun Mitsurugi is almost kicked to death by Germany's Schneider in order to steal the spotlight.In the mid-1980s, Yo Takahashi began shifting the setting of the stories from Japan to foreign countries, and the goal of Omikazu and the others shifted from being number one in Japan to being number one in the world. As a result, many foreign characters joined the story, and they were modeled accordingly. In addition to Schneider, France's Louis Napoleon was modeled after Platini, Sweden's Li-Yun was modeled after Brolin (who was also in the Swedish manga but had no corresponding archetype), and China's Xiao Junkuang was said to be modeled after Jia Xiuquan (since Jia was playing soccer in Japan at the time). Yo Takahashi spends a lot of time giving Japanese readers an idea of what international soccer really looks like and the real gap between Japan and the top level of soccer.
With the wind of the World Cup in Korea and Japan, the animated version of Soccer Boy-2001 was released in 2002. Since Soccer Boy's comic books were not synchronized in time in China, Soccer Boy-2002 became the last impression of Chinese fans. For the next ten years, Chinese readers knew almost nothing about the updated progress of the soccer players. From today's aesthetic point of view, the plot of Soccer Junior does have many problems. For example, some characters are added to the story based on active players, making it impossible to remove old characters, and a player modeled after Rummenigge and a player modeled after Carlos may be in the same game. It's hard not to get a sense of dissonance with this Guan Gong on the battlefield. Then again, it's a bit of a cliché that the soccer boys' storyline is always behind the team and then reverses to victory thanks to the efforts of Wings Okoi.
In fact, Soccer Boys did bring victory to Japanese soccer. Back in the late 1980s, after Soccer Junior became popular, many children dreamed of becoming the next Omakasu. To this day, there are still children who harbor such dreams. Saburo Kawabuchi, the godfather of Japanese soccer and former president of the Japan Football Association (JFA), also said during the development of the JFA program, "Soccer Boys also reflect the real expectations of the Japanese people for the level of Japanese soccer. What do we need to do to fulfill their expectations? How can we really make Big Sky emerge?"
Soccer boys portray a bright future for all Japanese. For decades, generations of Japanese soccer players have worked hard for this future. Only through the belief that "Success may not be in me, but success will be in me," can Japanese soccer continue to grow and progress. A few years ago, Yoichi Takahashi built a team called "Team Nango" in Tokyo based on the manga. At the time, many people said that Yoichi Takahashi had broken the dimensional wall. Today, Japan's victory over Germany is no longer just an anime scene, but a reality. The world line in Soccer Boys and the current world line is ending at an alarming rate, not even keeping up with the progress of the Japanese men's soccer team. The 100-year plan has been in effect, and the 14 seconds in Rostov made the Japanese suffer for four years. With work ethic, humility, world class business development, everything the average person thinks should be there and not necessary, shouldn't such a Japanese team, win Germany?
