Naomi Osaka, protagonist of a Japanese manga

The Japanese tennis player Naomi Osaka has inspired a manga that will begin to be published in the issue of the Japanese magazine “Nakayoshi” which will be released on December 28 and has been supervised by his older sister, also a tennis player, Mari Osaka.

The work is called “Unrivaled Naomi Tenka-ichi” (Naomi without equal) and is carried out by the Kamikita twins (Futago Kamikita), cartoonists and designers of characters especially known for their adaptations to the manga format of the “Pretty Cure” franchise.

“Growing up reading manga and watching 'anime' is something that brought my sister and me together immensely, so this is really exciting for both of us,” she wrote the recent winner of the United States Open and number three in the world on her Twitter profile by sharing the announcement of the aforementioned magazine from the Kodansha publishing house.

Born to a Haitian-American father and a Japanese mother, Osaka is a sensation in Japan for his sporting achievements and it is the image of several brands in the Asian country.

Among them is the instant noodle company Nissin Foods, which in 2019 already immortalized the tennis player in the form of animation along with fellow tennis player Kei Nishikori, in YouTube ads who had to be removed from the platform after the characterization of the player caused controversy for being racist.

The image of Osaka, which was carried out by the author Takeshi Konomi (“The Prince of Tennis”), received numerous criticisms from Internet users for not reflecting the miscegenation of Osaka and portray her as a prototype character, with bleached skin, in a country where cultural and racial homogeneity predominates.

The former number one of the WTA has been publicly active in the fight against racial discrimination in the United States and his commitment to the Black Lives Matter movement.

The initiative to wear masks with the names of African American citizens killed by the US police during the recent US Open. it gave him if possible more popularity.