Comic books

Japan tennis ace Naomi Osaka to star in comic book series

Agence France-Presse

This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

Japan tennis ace Naomi Osaka to star in comic book series
From majors to manga! Tennis player Naomi Osaka's new manga character will be part of a magazine aimed at teenage girls

Japan’s major-winning tennis player Naomi Osaka has welcomed a new manga comic-book series where she will star as a cartoon character in a magazine aimed at teenage girls.

Unrivaled Naomi Tenka-ichi, which will run in Nakayosi magazine from late December, was produced with the help of Osaka’s older sister, Mari. “Tenka-ichi” means “world number one” in Japanese.

“Growing up reading manga/watching anime was something that bonded me and my sister immensely so this is really exciting for both of us,” the three-time Grand Slam champion tweeted Sunday.

The new character, which depicts a doe-eyed Osaka with pink and purple hair and wearing a yellow visor, follows a storm of controversy over a sponsor’s cartoon image of her last year.

Noodle-maker Nissin apologized and withdrew the image, which showed Osaka with pale skin and light brown hair, after being accused of “white-washing” the Japanese-Haitian player.

Osaka, who has dislodged Serena Williams to be rated as the world’s highest earning female athlete, is a household name in Japan where she is the face of several leading brands. – Rappler.com

Add a comment

Sort by

There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.

Summarize this article with AI

How does this make you feel?

Loading
Download the Rappler App!