The manga first published in 1981 in the Japanese weekly Shonen Jump and its anime adaptation have enjoyed worldwide success, also inspiring video games and even statues in the Tokyo ward where its author, Yoichi is from. Takahashi.

His hero, the young football prodigy Tsubasa Ozora, counted among his fans children who would become sports legends like Zinédine Zidane, Kylian Mbappé or Lionel Messi.

But the mangaka is about to close the series to devote himself to another project: to try to raise his football team to the J-League, the Japanese professional championship.

"I can do something new with this," he told AFP in his studio in Tokyo, decorated with shirts signed by prestigious readers like Andres Iniesta or Fernando Torres.

The next arc of the manga will therefore be the last he will draw, even if his characters will continue to live on other media.

Takahashi says he's happy to say goodbye to the pressure of having to turn in new boards every week.

"That doesn't mean I'm stopping creative work completely. I'd like to start something new while I still have energy."

Nankatsu SC, come to win

He himself became addicted to football while watching the 1978 World Cup on television, organized and won by Argentina.

Drawing of Tsubasa Ozora, the main character of the famous football manga "Captain Tsubasa" at the entrance to a manga exhibition in Tokyo on May 5, 2002 © TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA / AFP/Archives

By creating Captain Tsubasa, he wanted to popularize the sport in Japan, where the J-League was only established in 1993, unaware that manga volumes would sell over 80 million copies.

He now dreams that his club, Nankatsu SC, of ​​which he became president in 2013 and owner in 2019, will climb the ladder of the Japanese football pyramid, while it currently plays in the fifth division.

"In Europe, it is quite natural to support your local club, but we did not have this culture in Japan", notes the mangaka, adding: "I did not have a local club, so I wanted to create one myself".

The name of the club is a tribute to the one where manga heroes Tsubasa Ozora and Genzo Wakabayashi (Olivier Atton and Thomas Price in the French version of the cartoon) evolved.

At the top of the Japanese football hierarchy are the three divisions of the J-League.

Launched in 1993 with just 10 clubs, the national professional league will begin its 30th season this month and now has 60 teams.

Nankatsu SC have recruited big-name players to help their promotion efforts, signing former Japan internationals Junichi Inamoto and Yasuyuki Konno.

"Captain Tsubasa Stadium"

And last month, the Tokyo borough where the club trains announced it would buy land to build a new stadium - a condition of J-League promotion - which could be called "Captain Tsubasa Stadium", slide the mangaka.

It is planned to include a museum dedicated to the characters of his work, in order to attract tourists from all over the world.

Owning a club is "sometimes fun, but more often than not difficult", admits Takahashi.

"With a manga you can lock yourself in and draw whatever you want, but when you're an owner you have to meet a lot of people and strategize."

The mangaka thinks football can develop further in Japan, which he believes is capable of winning the World Cup in his lifetime, saying he sees similarities between young striker Takefusa Kubo and his character Tsubasa Ozora.

Delighted to have been able to attend the World Cup final in Qatar in December and see Messi lift the trophy he has coveted for so long, the entertainer believes Captain Tsubasa has the ability to inspire "beyond the superstars".

Yoichi Takahashi, the author of the famous football manga "Captain Tsubasa", drawing under the eye of Neymar during a meeting with the PSG team in Tokyo on July 19, 2022 © TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA, Toshifumi KITAMURA / AFP

"Manga is, basically, for kids," he says.

"If a manga can have a positive impact on them at this point in their life, that makes me very happy."

© 2023 AFP