What’s the Story?
Dragon Ball Z’s Son Goku has been selected as the ambassador of the 2020 Olympics to be held in Tokyo, according to reports in Konbini. It has been in the knowing that the next Olympic Games will be held in Japan and the host country has found a good opportunity to show off its culture.
Goku is a world renowned character and the Olympic committee has decided that he is well worth investing in at the biggest sporting event in the world. Goku will feature alongside the likes of Naruto, Mario, Sailor Moon and others.
In case you didn’t know…
Japan is hosting the Olympic Games for the first time in over 60 years (it was 1964 when it last hosted the Games). The 1940 Olympic Games were supposed to be hosted by Japan. However, because of the World War II, and with Japan invading China at that time, Helsinki was given the honour of hosting the Games. Of course, it never really took place because of the war.
The heart of the matter
Of the many, many mangas and anime shows coming out of Japan, Dragon Ball and its sequel series are one of the longest-running and most popular ones. It was written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama and was originally serialised in Weekly Shonen Jump from 1984 to 1995.
The show has been recently dubbed in English and there were two full-length feature films which were given stand-alone theatrical releases in Japan. Goku is one of the most dedicated athletes in the manga universe as he spends a majority of his life training in martial arts. Hence, perhaps, he is one of the best choices for the ambassador of the country that could be used at the 2020 Games.
At the closing ceremony of the Rio Olympics last year, the Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, had announced that a fundamental part of the Olympics in 2020 would be nation’s culture. He had even emerged out of a green tube in a Super Mario attire.
What’s next?
The Games will take place in another three years from now and every anime and manga fan will be on the lookout for some of your favourite characters. A variety of other Olympic ambassadors has been based on the very popular manga and anime characters. Naruto Uzumaki of Naruto, Sailor Moon from the eponymous series, Astro Boy, Monkey D. Luffy from One Piece, among others have been selected as ambassadors as well.
Sportskeeda’s take
This move will certainly help in catching the eye of the younger audience. Sports is for everyone and the organisers of the biggest sporting saga of the world will hope to bring everyone together, young and old.
