Goals and Motivation: Inspiration from Sports Manga (Captain Tsubasa/Slam Dunk)
When I was a child, I used to read a lot of comics and watch a lot of animations, both Japanese and American, as these were (still are) the two biggest, most popular brands in the world. In particular, I liked many Japanese comics and re-made animations about sport, one such was Slam Dunk, which is about high school basketball. Slam Dunk is an absolute classic, and the characters in it are all so rich and full of life. The story follows the adolescence of a first year high school student named Sakuragi Hanamichi (櫻木花道), a red-haired teenager who happens to have a towering presence as well as an innate athleticism. He has a crush on a beautiful girl called Akagi Haruko (赤木晴子), who introduces him to the high school basketball team whose captain, Akagi Takenori (赤木剛憲), is her big brother. There Hanamichi meets all the members of the basketball team, namely vice-captain Kogure (木暮公延), point guard Miyagi (宮城良田), former MVP superstar Mitsui (三井壽) and, of course, Hanamichi’s rival, Rukawa (流川楓). This team of formidable young players form a bond on the basketball court and conquer their way through the qualifying rounds as they defeat team after team, including some very strong ones in the praefecture, namely Shoyo, the second best team in the region led by the immensely talented Fujima (藤真健司) and Hanagata (花形透), Kainan, traditionally and historically the best team with the best players in the praefecture like Maki (牧绅一), and Ryonan, Shohoku’s nemesis, which has some amazing players like Uozumi (魚住純), Fukuda (福田吉兆) and the hugely talented and charismatic Sendo (仙道彰). The anime ends with the praefectual qualifiers in which Shohoku obtain qualification to participate in the national competition, the most prestigious high school competition in Japan, while the comic goes further into Shohoku’s performance at the national competition and contains another unforgettable and epic match with Sannoh (山王工業), the best team in the country by a mile, from which Shohoku emerge as victors in a truly epic fashion.
Slam Dunk is one of my favourite animes. I recently watched it again as a form of procrastination (!), and watching it now as an adult gave me a somewhat different perspective. I remember being in awe of all of these characters and their respective sporting adventures when I watched this for the first time. They all seemed so big and mature to me, and what they were doing (namely playing advanced level basketball) seemed so amazing to me. I also found them to be mentally very tough, as they were all fighting in a very competitive environment, something which I greatly applaud. watching it now, however, has made me realise that these are merely high school students taking part in an inter-school competition. In fact, they look very much like kids to me now, not only in terms of their status since they are indeed high school pre-adults but also in their speech and behaviour, like the way Hanamichi’s friends would take the mick out of him whenever he did something stupid, how all the girls fell in love with Rukawa and cheered him on whenever he did something heroic, Mitsui’s re-discovered passion for basketball, the cheerleading for all the school teams involved etc, all of which strikes me as being a bit immature. With no disrespect to them, and indeed the level of baskeetball displayed in the series is very high (some of which seem almost humanly impossible, which is clearly due to comic/dramatic exaggeration), these kids are just competing in a school sporting event, something which I myself did when I was at school many years ago. Many of the things I see on Slam Dunk remind me of my days at school, which is very refreshing, but at the same time it all seems a bit juvenile to me now, since I have long since moved on. What seemed so heroic and romantic to me when I was a child suddenly looks somewhat outdated, as I am so far past that stage of my life. It is funny how one’s perspectives on the same things can change and evolve in accordance with one’s experience in life, as I have commented before on Tetris twice. Nonetheless, watching this animation again did make me feel young again, since it reminded me of my childhood days of watching animation as well as my schooldays of representing my school in competitions and pursuing my goals as a student. So nice re-visiting old things.
I mentioned before that I am a fan of comics, especially Japanese manga. Some of my favourites deal with sports, like Slam Dunk, which I mentioned last time, and, of course, Captain Tsubasa, a classic comic about football, my favourite sport. I mentioned last time that my impression and appreciation of Slam Dunk had changed quite radically from when I watched as a child to re-watching it as an adult many years later. My assessment is essentially negative, which I feel sorry saying but the fact is that the whole story about high school basketball and teenage drama seem a bit juvenile for me now, since I am so far beyond my adolescence that none of that excites me anymore. I still enjoy the comics and anime immensely, but my change in perspective is a mark of my personal development over the years from a young boy to a young adult. I recently picked up Captain Tsubasa and reading it again has also given me a different perspective from when I watched/read it as a child, though this time my assessment is positive in that I think I appreciate it even more now than before, which I never thought possible given how obsessed I was with Captain Tsubasa (and football in general) when I was a child.
To summarize briefly, Captain Tsubasa deals with the life of this football wonderkid Ōzora Tsubasa (大空翼) who dreams of winning the biggest prize in football (World Cup) with his native Japan, something which has always been considered ludicrous given that football is not Japan’s main strength in the arena of world sport. Tsubasa, however, persists in his pursuit of his dream and conquers all obstacles that come his way, winning game after game against tough opponents and accumulating trophies and medals one after another. His is an illustrious football career, which is aided not only by his innate talent in football, as he is a football prodigy, but also his sheer passion and will in achieving what he wants. There are countless memorable matches, moments and tournaments in the series, but one of my favourite (and also widely regarded as the most dramatic) episodes has got to be the Junior High National Tournament, Tsubasa’s last football competition in Japan before leaving for Brazil to ply his trade professionally. Tsubasa and his team (南葛 Nangatsu) are aiming for an unprecedented treble as they strive to win the national tournament three years in a row and maintain a perfect unbeaten record throughout their Junior High School years. The third year is the most difficult, since they face steep competition from all the best football players in the country. The situation is also complicated by the fact that Tsubasa, captain and talisman of the team, gets himself very badly injured and can barely stand, let alone play football, by the time he reaches the final where he faces his ultimate and strongest opponent in Japan, Hyuga Kojiro (日向小次郎). That is a very dramatic match where we see an injured Tsubasa and a rejuvenated and vastly improved Kojiro go toe-to-toe with all they have and fight it out on the pitch like gladiators and wrestlers. It is truly a brutal match, and one feels for Tsubasa’s ordeal as he is barely alive in this game and gets targeted (naturally) and tackled by all the opposing players. He gets knocked down time and time again but still manages to get back up once more and fight till the very end of extra-time. He manages to draw with Hyuga, who has a story of his own (which is also very beautiful and motivational- another time for this), and they eventually settle for a joint national championship, which makes Tsubasa and his teammates end their Junior High School years on a high with an unprecedented and untoppable perfect record in national football. Then follows the Junior European tournament, which is another exciting story- let’s talk about that some other time.
When I was a child, I was in awe of all the footballing skills and dramatic details in the comics, some of which have been scientifically proven to be humanly impossible (!) but nonetheless the whole story is very well crafted and presented by the author Takahashi Yoichi (高橋陽一). Reading it again now, however, I am more drawn by the motivational message behind these football episodes, which is indeed very moving and spiritually uplifting. It is no secret that the author aims to motivate people through his football story, and Captain Tsubasa is an immensely popular comic brand not only in Asia but also worldwide. I have been surprised by how many people in the world have read it and been affected by it, including some world-famous footballers e.g. Francesco Totti, Alessandro Del Piero, Roberto Baggio, Fernando Torres, and many Japanese professional footballers who have credited Captain Tsubasa as the reason why they decided to become professional footballers (some even confessed that they modelled their style of play on certain characters e.g. Del Piero, who allegedly was a fan of Tsubasa’s signature shoot ‘Drive shoot’ and would practise curved shots from early childhood, which made him a free-kick master for Juventus and Italy (!)). However, the motivational message of Captain Tsubasa is so universal and moving that it is clearly applicable to people in every walk of life, since we all suffer setbacks and face difficulties in our professional careers (or life in general) yet Tsubasa’s moving tale (and that of his many companions, friends and foes) can be seen as an example for all of us in our pursuit and fulfillment of our dreams, even if they seem totally ludicrous like winning the World Cup for Japan (with all due respect). Just as Tsubasa displays undying strength (mental and physical), unbending will and unquenchable passion for the sport that he loves, we should also be inspired to pursue our dreams as fiercely and passionately as he does. This is a very powerful message, and one which I appreciate much more now than when I was a child, which is also testament to my personal growth throughout the years, since years of hard work in the real world have made me experience many difficulties in life, which has led me to appreciate the meaning and value of it all. It is interesting how my perception and reaction to Captain Tsubasa is totally different from that to Slam Dunk, both classic Japanese comics. Japanese manga really is a fantastic artistic/creative medium. They really are the best in the world when it comes to that.
Life is hard. I think everyone agrees on this. Those who think that life is an easy pass are either extremely lucky in having things go their way too many times or they have extraordinarily low standards and are too easily satisfied with the outcomes of their pursuits. For most people, life offers more disappointments than gratification, and for this reason, living through life requires a huge amount of mental strength which is needed to propel us through the many rough corners and dark periods of our lives. Yet it is clearly impossible to be motivated all the time, since even the most powerful engines stall from time to time, and the human body is not to be treated like a piece of machinery. There are many pieces of motivational advice offered by professional psychologists and motivational speakers. I am no professional in this field and can only glean from what other people have to say. That said, I can mention something that has often worked for me in terms of dusting myself off and getting myself going.
Comfort zone has been widely cited as an impediment to personal growth and development, since while it is tempting to stay in one’s zone of familiarity and security, it is usually where one feels uncomfortable and insecure that one is forced to seek improvement, learn new skills and expand one’s horizons (another paradox of life). The way I think about this is that I usually visualise myself on the football field (for I am a football fan), and although my favourite position is defender, I often try to put myself in the shoes of one of my favourite characters in Takahashi Yoichi’s (高橋洋一) classic Captain Tsubasa, Wakashimazu Ken (若島津健, aka 健威 in Hong Kong). Wakashimazu has often come under the shadow of another legendary Japanese goalkeeper, Wakabayashi Genzo (若林源三), though he does have many moments of glory throughout the series, most lately where he has been deployed as an attacker to showcase his versatility and attacking skills (which is why he is often dubbed as an attacking goalkeeper which is a contrast to Wakabayashi’s more defensive style). One of the most epic matches in the whole of the Captain Tsubasa series is the National Junior Competition Final between Toho (東邦) and Nangatsu (南葛), which is also the culmination of the rivalry between the main character, Tsubasa (大空翼, aka 戴志偉), and his childhood archrival, Hyuga Kojiro (日向小次郎, aka 小志強). It is a gruesome battle between Tsubasa who enters the final match of his footballing career in Japan with numerous horrific injuries and Hyuga who is determined to defeat his biggest rival for the first time ever. It is also a wonderful display of their footballing skills, as they have mastered two new techniques, namely Drive Shot (衝力射球) and Tiger Shot (猛虎射球) respectively. Hyuga’s Tiger Shot is simply unstoppable for Nangatsu’s defense who struggle throughout the match to stop him from scoring, while Tsubasa’s Drive Shot presents the perfect challenge for Wakashimazu, goalkeeper of Toho and the then indisputable number one goalkeeper in Japan in Wakabayashi’s absence as he is on leave in Germany. Tsubasa’s Drive Shot is a form of curved banana shot which is formidable and unparalleled at Junior level (12–15 years old), and throughout the match Wakabayashi makes some very intelligent moves in trying to stop it. In the first attempt he tries to synchronise with the speed and curvature of the shot and narrowly misses it (though to be fair Tsubasa’s Drive Shot hits the post which ends up bursting the ball), and his second attempt sees him actually catching the ball only to be pushed back by its tremendous force which results in a goal as well as injury to his left shoulder. He then makes more and better attempts in reacting to the trajectory and power of the shot until finally he manages to save it with his own Karate technique, even if he gets repelled by its huge force and hits the post himself which further exacerbates his shoulder injury. He eventually masters the various steps in stopping Tsubasa’s Drive Shot which he also uses in halting Argentina’s Diaz’ identical technique in the International Junior Competition. For the rest of the story, Drive Shot (or Hyuga’s Tiger Shot) poses no challenge for Wakashimazu as he regularly saves it in training and in matches and he ends up learning a new and valuable skill.
This is what I think about whenever I am facing big challenges in my professional life, as I gain inspiration from Wakashimazu’s various attempts in stopping the Drive Shot. It is a daunting and uphill challenge for any goalkeeper, yet Wakashimazu, already tremendously talented and atheltic due to his traditional training in Karate, faces the challenge head-on and makes incremental progress through repeated and successive attempts. He does not flinch from the challenge or crouch in fear as the ball comes curving into his goal. Rather, he uses his athleticism to reach for the great heights of the Drive Shot and tries to counter its rotating force with all the power that he has. This is a fantastic motivational story, and one which has continually inspired me to get out of my comfort zone and get stretched by all the new challenges in the world. Throughout the franchise we see Wakashimazu being challenged by all kinds of different shots by all the best players in the world. He is a bit hit-and-miss, like when he gets injured by Germany’s Schneider’s Fire Shot (火焰射球) or when he gets scored past five times by Uruguay and Hino Ryuma’s (火野龍馬) Hurricane Shot (龍捲風射球) in the Junior World Cup Final, but his determination and resilience certainly get him an A for effort. I would not like to face all the bullet shots that he faces but I do want to get going with my own work. Time to rise to the challenges and face up to them!
I like ball games, chiefly football (soccer), though I also have a basic understanding of basketball. I have mentioned before how one of my favourite characters in Takahashi Yoichi’s (高橋洋一) classic Captain Tsubasa, Wakashimazu Ken (若島津健), inspires me to get out of my comfort zone in his numerous attempts at saving all kinds of complex, hypersonic shots fired by many prominent attackers in the comic, one of whom is, of course, the main character, Ozora Tsubasa (太空翼), whose signature shot ‘Drive Shot’ (衝力射球) poses an almost insurmountable challenge for Wakashimazu in the National Junior Competition (and similarly in the International Junior Competition where Argentina’s Diaz uses the same technique on him). In another iconic comic franchise, Slam Dunk, one of my favourite characters is Mitsui Hisashi (三井壽), who is known for his long-distance three-pointers (as well as his bittersweet lifestory of being a former basketball superstar who has had to live through injury and a chequered past and his appearances are frequently accompanied by the beautiful theme song Sekai ga owaru madewa). He and another three-pointer shooter, Kainan’s (海南) Jin Soichiro (神宗一郎), are popular for their numerous long-distance shots which curve through the air above all the defenders and form a perfect arc straight into the middle of the ring. It is exhilarating to watch, but also technically very difficult, as admitted by the characters themselves who, natural talent notwithstanding, profess to having practised this hundreds of times. Yet they do not give up, nor do they flinch from the difficulty of making the perfect shot, one which arches through the air and heads beautifully into the ring. Many fans remember Mitsui’s heroic performance in the match against Shoyo (翔陽), one of the best teams in the county, where he is deadmarked by one of the opposite defenders, and even though he is suffering from fitness issues and is struggling for breath, he nonetheless shoots consecutive three-pointers which are instrumental to his team Shohoku’s (湘北) victory. I, however, root for his performance in the amazing match against Sannoh (山王), the best team in the country and consecutive national champions, where Mitsui begins the match scoring three consecutive three-pointers, and even as his physical condition dies within him, he still manages to grind his teeth and score many three-pointers which prove fatal to Sannoh’s otherwise perfect defence. Wakashimazu and Mitsui are both inspiring characters for me since, although they stand on different sides of goal (the former being a goalkeeper who is trying desperately to save difficult shots while the latter a shooter who is aiming for the ring at a distance), they both symbolise the human endeavour of aiming higher and reaching for new heights in the game, whether it be blocking hypersonic shots in the case of Wakashimazu or shooting them in the case of Mitsui. This is what I visualise myself doing whenever I am handling a difficult task, that is striving harder and reaching higher for whatever goal or standard is required of me, and the higher the bar the more it excites me to jump and try to reach it. I usually miss the target in my first attempts, but after a million times trying I can often get closer and closer to it until when I finally reach it. I then try to stabilise my bar mark and make sure that I hit it every single time, after which I may be able to even overcome and improve on this standard, like a slow and arduous process, but one which motivates me nonetheless. Maybe I should start watching long- and high-jumps from now on, whenever I get bored of football and basketball (!).
I am a professional linguist and I do research in theoretical linguistics, mainly formal syntax and historical/comparative linguistics. I am also a simultaneous translator/interpreter and a language teacher, and my language specialisations include Indo-European, Latin, Greek, Romance (especially Spanish) and East Asian, namely Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese). I am also interested in history and politics, especially the development of western political philosophy, which is the result of my education in the humanities (literature, history, philosophy, philology) at the University of Oxford (Balliol College). My favourite sport is football (soccer) and I am a long-term die-hard supporter of ACFiorentina in Italy: Batistuta, Baggio, Rui Costa, Toldo from the 1990s/2000s will always be in my heart, as they were my childhood heroes. For more information about me, please visit my website: https://www.keithtselinguist.com. 組合與位置，構造和意思 Numbers and words. #keithtselinguist #humanlinguist 檢視「keithtselinguist」的全部文章
Originally published at http://keithtselinguist.wordpress.com on September 29, 2019.
