Captain Tsubasa

• 1. Introduction

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  Captain Tsubasa, a Japanese football manga by Yōichi Takahashi, once reached children in Iraq by way of a sticker. In 2004, Japan's Self-Defense Forces were providing humanitarian assistance in Samawah. Pictures of the manga's characters were posted on twenty-six water wagons, and local children came to know them. The episode was later cited as a small example of what Japanese pop culture could do for cultural diplomacy.

  The scale behind those stickers is large. By 2023, the series had over 90 million copies in circulation worldwide, which places it among the best-selling manga of all time. Its hero is a schoolboy who dreams of winning the World Cup for Japan.

  How did a comic about a sport that was not yet popular in Japan travel so far? Why did its publisher hesitate over it for years? And what happens to a story whose hero's teams always win?

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• 2. A Boy and His Ball

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  Tsubasa Oozora is eleven years old when the story opens, and he wants to win the FIFA World Cup for Japan. He lives with his mother while his father, a seafaring captain, sails around the world. In the series he carries the nickname Soccer no Moshigo, which means heaven-sent child of football. Even as a toddler he showed speed, stamina, dribbling skill and shooting power that astonished everyone who watched him.

  When Tsubasa was almost a year old, a rushing bus nearly ran him over as he played with a ball. He held the ball out in front of him, and it cushioned most of the impact. The bump blew him backward, but he managed to right himself with the ball still his. From that comes his motto, "The ball is my friend". His mother concludes that he was born only to play football.

  Nankatsu, a fictional town in Shizuoka Prefecture, is where mother and son settle. The town is famous for its talented elementary school teams. There Tsubasa meets Ryo Ishizaki, who slips away from chores at his mother's public bath houses to play. He meets Sanae Nakazawa, nicknamed Anego, a keen girl who cheers on the Nankatsu high school team. And he meets the gifted young goalkeeper Genzo Wakabayashi, whom he challenges to a game at Nankatsu's annual sports festival.

  Roberto Hongo is the arrival who shapes everything. One of the best Brazilian footballers in the world, he is a friend of Tsubasa's father and moves in to train the boy. He persuades Tsubasa to join Nankatsu Elementary School and its fledgling football team. Roberto later coaches that team, passing his techniques on through Tsubasa.

  Taro Misaki, whose father's job has taken the family around Japan, soon joins Nankatsu as well. He and Tsubasa become best friends on the pitch and off it. Their partnership earns the names Golden Duo and Dynamic Duo. As Nankatsu meets the best elementary school sides, rivals appear. Kojiro Hyuga and Ken Wakashimazu come from Toho Academy, Jun Misugi from the Musashi school, and Hikaru Matsuyama from the Furano school in Hokkaido.

  Nankatsu wins numerous youth national championships, and then Tsubasa wins the FIFA U-16 World Championship for Japan. Italy, with goalkeeper Gino Hernandez, loses 2-1. Argentina, with Juan Diaz and Alan Pascal, is beaten 5-4 in the group stage. France, with Elle Sid Pierre, battles to a 4-4 semifinal. The final is a 3-2 victory over West Germany and its rising European star Karl-Heinz Schneider. After that triumph, Tsubasa leaves Japan to play in Brazil.

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• 3. Takahashi's Gamble

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  The 1978 FIFA World Cup changed the course of Yōichi Takahashi's career. Watching the matches, the players and the fans' love for the sport, he fell for association football and wanted to draw a manga about it. He liked it better than baseball, because he felt footballers enjoy more freedom during a match.

  Getting approval took between 2 and 3 years. Football was not popular in Japan, and the publisher Shueisha was weighing a first manga from an unknown author. Takahashi still wanted to bring the sport to the general public. He chose children as his heroes rather than professionals, hoping readers would see themselves in the cast. Even so, he planned from the start for those children to grow up and turn professional.

  Jun Misugi, one of Tsubasa's early rivals, shows how Takahashi thought about his cast. He designed many characters with different traits, each one an obstacle for Tsubasa to overcome. Because there were so many, he took care over their designs and gave each a recognizable feature. Misugi was written with skills that surpassed the hero's. To even out their matches, Takahashi gave him a heart condition.

  Asked why Tsubasa's teams always win, Takahashi gave a practical answer. He wanted the manga to run long, and a defeat would shorten it. He described honor as the series' main theme, something he meant to stand above money, which people tend to value more.

  Takahashi aimed the series at children at first. He was surprised to see adults reading it over the years, and surprised again by what it did for football in Japan. On the 31st of March 1981, the first chapter appeared in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump.

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• 4. Brazil and the World

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  São Paulo is where Tsubasa begins his professional career, with Roberto as his manager. The anime calls the club FC Brancos. It plays in Brazil's top division, the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, and Tsubasa wins the final against Flamengo 4-3. Flamengo appears as FC Domingos in the anime. In Brazil he befriends his teammate and roommate Pepe, who comes from a humble background. He also meets Flamengo's striker Carlos Santana, a prodigious talent who shows no emotion.

  Shingo Aoi, an enthusiastic youngster Tsubasa once played against at the high school nationals, heads to Italy with big hopes. A man promises to get him selected by an Italian team. He leads Shingo to a badly furnished field and runs off with all his money. Shingo takes jobs such as shoe-shining to get it back. His enthusiasm catches the eye of a coach at Inter Milan, who signs him as an attacking midfielder.

  Japan's youth side begins the AFC Youth Championship without Taro Misaki, Makoto Soda, Hiroshi Jito, Shun Nitta, Kojiro Hyuga and the Tachibana brothers Masao and Kazuo. After Tsubasa, Wakabayashi and Shingo arrive, Japan beats Thailand 5-4 from 4-1 down. The second phase brings wins over Uzbekistan 8-1, China 6-3 and Saudi Arabia 4-1. Iraq falls 3-0 in the semifinals. Japan takes the Asia Youth title by beating South Korea 2-0, which qualifies the team for the FIFA World Youth Championship.

  At the World Youth Championship, the group stage pairs Japan with arrogant goalkeeper Ricardo Espadas' Mexico, which loses 2-1. Skillful striker Ramon Victorino's Uruguay falls 6-5, and Italy loses 4-0. In the quarterfinals Japan edges the nihilistic striker Stefan Levin's Sweden 1-0. The Netherlands also loses 1-0 in the semifinal, repaying a harsh friendly defeat from months earlier.

  The Great Final against Brazil ends 3-2 to Japan after extra time. Tsubasa scores a hat-trick and the golden goal. Brazil brought on a new player in extra time named Natureza. He became the third person to score on Wakabayashi from outside the goal area, after Schneider and Xiao Jungguang of China.

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• 5. Barcelona's Real Faces

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  Sanae, Tsubasa's childhood friend, goes with him to Spain as his wife. He had asked her out before leaving for Brazil, and they kept up a long-distance relationship. He proposed after the World Youth Championship. Their destination is FC Barcelona in La Liga, which the anime calls FC Catalunya. Takahashi admired European football for its competitive level, and so he sent Tsubasa there at the age of 21.

  In 1998, Takahashi traveled to Barcelona and enjoyed the Camp Nou stadium so much that he made the club Tsubasa's future team. He insisted the choice was random. He joked that Tsubasa would have joined Real Madrid had he visited the Santiago Bernabéu instead.

  From this stage on, Takahashi began to use professional players inspired by real football stars. Rivaul, inspired by Rivaldo, mentors Tsubasa, whose adult debut leaves him inexperienced. The Dutch coach Van Saal, called Edward in the anime, is inspired by Louis van Gaal, who coached Barcelona at the time. Van Saal demotes Tsubasa to FC Barcelona B, the reserve side in the second division. Tsubasa and Rivaul cannot play together while Rivaul holds the key playmaking role. The move also gives Tsubasa experience of Spanish football.

  Elsewhere in Europe, Kojiro Hyuga plays his first match for Juventus against Parma. Parma defender Thoram, inspired by Lilian Thuram, exposes Hyuga's physical imbalance. Coach Carlo Monetti replaces him with David Trezeguet, who scores the winner in a 1-0 victory. In Germany, Wakabayashi's Hamburger SV faces Bayern Munich, led by Karl-Heinz Schneider. Against his coach's wish for a draw, Wakabayashi leaves his goal to take a late free kick. It is stopped, Bayern counterattacks on an empty net and wins 2-1.

  Back in Spain, Tsubasa plays three matches for Barcelona B and records 12 goals and 11 assists. An injury to Rivaul and a disastrous run of one point from four matches bring him into the first team. His first big match is the Súper Clásico against Real Madrid, who have just bought Natureza. Tsubasa finishes with three goals and three assists, and Barcelona wins 6-5.

  A rematch with Real Madrid came in February 2010, when a one-shot began to celebrate the series' 30th anniversary. Seven more chapters followed, in which the referee rejects Barcelona's first two goals. Natureza scores ten minutes from the end. Tsubasa answers with a flying drive shot in added time, and the match ends 2-2.

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• 6. Olympic Dreams

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  Twenty-three players make up Japan's U-22 squad, nicknamed the Golden-23, called up for friendlies against Denmark and Nigeria before the Summer Olympics. Two futsal players, Kazami and Furukawa, previously played for Japan's national futsal team. They join the squad and score twice in a training match. Minato Gamo, the former U-20 coach, tries and fails to win over Soga, a Japanese player at Vasco da Gama in Brazil. Meanwhile, Sanae tells Tsubasa that she is pregnant.

  Wakabayashi's relationship with Hamburger SV coach Zeeman breaks down, and he is left out of the lineup. Rumors spread that he will leave. Fiorentina, Roma, Bayern Munich and Werder Bremen all show interest. He joins the national team. Gamo also persuades Gakuto Igawa, who can play as goalkeeper, defender, midfielder or forward.

  Japan beats Denmark 4-2. Nigeria is tougher, with Ochado of Paris SG, based on Jay-Jay Okocha, and Bobang, who plays with Shingo Aoi at Albese. Wakabayashi stops a Nigerian penalty and sets up Ken Wakashimazu for an overhead kick. Nigeria leads 2-1 at the break, and Misaki equalizes in injury time. The match ends 2-2. A 3-0 win over Paraguay follows.

  In the Asian qualifiers, Japan beats Malaysia 6-0 and 5-0, Thailand 2-0 and 3-0, and Bahrain 3-0 and 5-0. In the third round, Vietnam loses 5-0, Saudi Arabia draws 1-1 and Australia wins 3-1. Only the group winner reaches the Olympics. Before the last day, Australia has 13 points and Japan 10. A three-goal win would send Japan straight through, and a two-goal win would force a playoff.

  The Tachibana brothers give Japan the first goal against Australia, then leave injured. Wakashimazu and Nitta replace them, and Nitta scores a second. Australia pulls one back in the second half, but Igawa and Misaki score for Japan. The 4-1 win qualifies the team for the Olympics.

  Rising Sun picks up the story after Tsubasa celebrates his Spanish League title with Barcelona. He returns briefly to Japan with Sanae, who is nearing childbirth, and then heads to a training camp in Mexico. After friendlies against New Zealand and Mexico, Coach Kira names the final 23-man squad for the tournament in Madrid. Japan is drawn with the Netherlands, Argentina and Nigeria, and wins all three matches. In the quarterfinals Japan beats Germany in the second period of extra time. Brazil, led by Rivaul, reaches the final by beating France. The winner of Japan against Spain would meet them, but the series is left unfinished.

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• 7. Pages, Screens and Consoles

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  The first run of Captain Tsubasa ended in the Weekly Shōnen Jump issue of the 9th of May 1988. Its 37 volumes were released from the 9th of January 1982 to the 10th of March 1989. Sequels followed. World Youth ran from 1994 to 1997 in 18 volumes. Road to 2002 ran from 2000 to 2004 in Weekly Young Jump, filling 15 volumes. Golden-23 ran from 2005 to 2008 in 12 volumes, and Kaigai Gekitō-hen from 2009 to 2012 in 8 volumes. Rising Sun ran from 2013 to 2023 in 20 volumes. A trilogy of light novels by Hitomi Wada, titled Captain Tsubasa Mirai Bunko, retold the first story arc in 2013-2014.

  In January 2024, Takahashi announced that he would retire from serializing manga. The final part, Rising Sun - The Final, ended on the 4th of April 2024. That same month came word that the story would continue as storyboards on the Captain Tsubasa World website, under the title Rising Sun Finals. The site opened on the 23rd of July 2024 with the first four chapters at once, and it updates every Tuesday. On the 25th of May 2026, it was announced that the manga would go on hiatus after its 100th chapter.

  Tsuchida Production made the first anime, which aired on TV Tokyo from the 10th of October 1983 to the 27th of March 1986. It adapts the first 25 volumes. Four animated movies followed between 1985 and 1986. In 1989, Shin Captain Tsubasa arrived as 13 original video animations, covering volumes 25 to 36. Captain Tsubasa J ran for 47 episodes on Fuji TV from the 21st of October 1994 to the 22nd of December 1995. A third adaptation, Road to 2002, aired on TV Tokyo in 2001-2002 and earned high ratings.

  In 2017, a new series was announced from David Production, directed by Toshiyuki Kato. It aired from the 2nd of April 2018 to the 1st of April 2019. A second season, Junior Youth Arc, was directed by Katsumi Ono at Studio Kai and aired from 2023 to 2024.

  Tecmo released the first Captain Tsubasa video game for the Famicom in 1988, with role-playing elements. It reached the West in 1992 as Tecmo Cup Soccer Game, without the Captain Tsubasa license, so its graphics were completely redrawn. About twenty games have followed on consoles from the Super Famicom to the PlayStation 4. They also include mobile titles such as Captain Tsubasa Dream Team in 2017 and Rise of New Champions in 2020. In 2024, the game eFootball staged a collaboration with the series.

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• 8. Beyond Japan

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  Obada Kassoumah, a Syrian man who began studying at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies in 2012, translated Captain Tsubasa into Arabic. He had loved the anime as a child. The publisher Kinokuniya selected him, and sales began in the United Arab Emirates in 2017. To handle regional differences in Arabic, he consulted speakers of other varieties. He aimed for language every Arabic speaker could follow, without stiff Modern Standard Arabic. Explicit depictions of alcohol could not be published in various majority Muslim countries, so he made them ambiguous. Kinokuniya donated a third of the first print run to Syrian refugee children.

  Arabic-speaking viewers first knew the anime as Captain Majid, in which the hero became an Arab boy named Majid. During the occupation of Iraq, the Japan Foundation gave an Arabic-dubbed season to the largest television station for free.

  By 2010, the manga had been translated into French, Italian, German and Spanish, but no official English version existed. Shueisha released a bilingual Japanese-English edition in 2020. The anime went wider. Animax broadcast every version across its networks in Asia and beyond. Viz Media licensed the 2018-2024 anime, and an English dub began airing on Primo TV in the United States on the 4th of August 2018. In April 2025, Shueisha put the manga on its Manga Plus platform, with each new chapter free for one week.

  By 2008, the manga had a circulation of 70 million volumes within Japan, and by 2018 it had reached 82 million copies worldwide. In 2001, the anime ranked 49th in the Animages Top 100. In 2005, TV Asahi's poll placed it 41st online and thirtieth in a nationwide survey. In 2006, it ranked 16th on the network's Celebrity List.

  Hidetoshi Nakata, Alessandro Del Piero, Fernando Torres, Zinedine Zidane, Lionel Messi, Alexis Sánchez and Andrés Iniesta have all been named among the footballers inspired to play and make it their career. The series also influenced Stephen Chow's 2001 film Shaolin Soccer and a line of Adidas running shoes. Masaya Tsunamoto's manga Giant Killing owes it a debt. In The Imperial Sportive, Sandra Collins names Captain Tsubasa and Slam Dunk as the manga that helped popularize football and basketball in Japan.

  Spring 2013 brought a bronze statue of Tsubasa Oozora to a neighborhood in Katsushika, Tokyo. At the closing ceremony of the 2016 Summer Olympics, Tsubasa and Misaki appeared in the Tokyo 2020 video, performing their twin shot and his signature overhead kick. At a 2018 FIFA World Cup match, Japanese fans held up a tifo showing a manga illustration with messages of support.

  In late 2018, Katsushika organized the Captain Tsubasa Cup, Gotta Win! campaign during its yearly Junior Soccer Tournament. The aim was to bring tourists to the city and keep young men active. The city also gave Takahashi its Honorary Citizen Award for the manga's positive impact.

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