Paris (AFP)

Playing the Olympic Games in Japan offers a strong symbol to a generation of athletes bathed in manga, a universe of Japanese comics closely linked to the world of sport through the values ​​of its characters.

Whether in paper version or in an animated series, the children of the 1990s were able to grow up with manga, boosted by the internet, such as the great success "One Piece", a series in progress since 1997 which has sold more than 480 million copies. around the world, according to the specialized site mangazenkan.com.

Many athletes expected in Tokyo from July 23 to August 8, and not just the Japanese, are big fans of the genre.

"+ One Piece + it's the most incredible story, it changed my life. I read the new chapter every week", gets carried away the 2017 world champion of the 800m, the French Pierre-Ambroise Bosse, who regularly calls his compatriots Jimmy Vicaut (co-European record holder in the 100m) and Dimitri Bascou (Olympic bronze medalist in the 110m hurdles) to discuss his weekly reading.

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The American star Noah Lyles, world champion in the 200m, likes to salute his passion: in 2019 during the US selections for the World Athletics Championships, he dyed his hair in tribute to Goku, hero of the great classic "Dragon Ball ".

"I would stay up at night to read from 9:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m. when I was in college," he recounts during a live Instagram with swimmer Katie Ledecky.

- "The inner power" -

The interest of manga for sport seems reciprocal, the two universes nourishing each other, especially in the sub-genre of "shonen", the most widespread.

"The Shonen Jump (reference magazine) is sold in several million copies per week. Its motto has long been + friendship, victory and perseverance +", explains Julien Bouvard, lecturer at the University of Lyon and specialist in the field .

"In the 1990s especially, the classic pattern is a hero or a heroine whose evolution we see from early childhood to adulthood, to follow the evolution of the readership. He trains to become stronger and fighting enemies that will gradually become stronger too. Compared to a life of an athlete, that makes sense. "

"I was rocked in the world of shonen, abounds Pierre-Ambroise Bosse. A hero who died and who gradually progressed before being respected, it is the evolution of the character which I liked".

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"The inner power is stronger than anything, it's like in athletics, you have to tap into yourself, several times I have felt myself caught in this in training. The heroes get beaten before defeating the boss. . It's the same in athletics, you lose more than you win. The important thing is never to give up. Win when no one is expecting you, manga has given me that ", adds -it in a nod to his surprise world title of 2017.

Luffy from One Piece or Naruto from the eponymous work, two heroes of great adventure stories, in fact rise tirelessly, apostles of perseverance, mirror of the high-level athlete.

"The manga are nice to read because the heroes have an offbeat appreciation of pain, they manage to hurt themselves, to go beyond their limits. I take an example in there, I know that I will + shit + at the Olympics. visualize in this different universe ", develops the world record holder of the decathlon Kevin Mayer, another fan of Japanese comics.

- USA, "the boss to beat" -

The link is sometimes direct with the many sports manga, "a long tradition that began before the war, then exploded in the 1950s with baseball, basketball and martial arts manga, the latter previously banned by the GHQ, the American occupation ", explains Mr. Bouvard.

"In the 1960s, the Supokon genre was created, series in which young athletes showed enormous determination, to the point of giving up their health, sometimes their lives, with fights that became almost existential. The Tokyo Olympics in 1964 acted as amplifiers of the genre. "

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"In some manga we are witnessing oppositions between countries, the pinnacle being the Olympic Games, the confrontation with the United States, often the + boss + to beat, for a deep revenge on the humiliation of the American occupation", explains the academic.

"They correspond to a different conception of sport in Japan where training is not a rational way to improve physically but to strengthen your mind, a kind of meditation, which allows you to beat a stronger opponent with your mind. . "

Values ​​to be implemented by the 11,000 very real "heroes" expected in Tokyo.

© 2021 AFP