To mark the Japan national team’s huge win at the World Baseball Classic (WBC), several renowned manga creators released special artwork that celebrated the championship.
After Japan’s surprisingly good showing at last year’s World Cup, Japan has once again taken over the sporting world with their win at the 2023 WBC.
Specifically, Japan took home the trophy in dramatic fashion as they defeated the US 3-2.
What made it even more impressive is that the ninth inning saw an anticipated face-off between Los Angeles Angels teammates, Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout.
Japan Wins the World Baseball Classic 2023
While baseball is known as America’s pastime, the sport is also incredibly huge in Japan.
Because of US influence in the late 1800s, Japan has become enamored with baseball, making it arguably the most popular sport in the country.
On top of its popularity, Japanese player Shohei Ohtani is also representing his country in WBC, the premier international baseball tournament.
This is huge as Ohtani is one of the world’s best players, and his talent at both pitching and batting is unprecedented.
Ohtani was joined by other renowned players from both the US’ MLB and Japan’s NPB.
Because of this, Japan was considered one of the favorites, and they did not disappoint as they reached the finals against the US.
The final match was one for the books as it saw Ohtani on the mound facing off against Angels teammate Mike Trout (who is also one of the world’s best players) at-bat with the game on the line.
In the end, Ohtani led Japan to victory, earning himself the WBC 2023 MVP award.
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Manga Artists Celebrate Japan’s Epic Win
Much like what happened with Japan’s 2022 World Cup group stage wins, Twitter was filled with celebratory posts about Japan’s big win.
Along with fan reactions, several manga creators, including Pop Team Epic creator Bkub Okawa and Rent-A-Girlfriend author Reiji Miyajima shared special celebratory artworks that commemorate Japan’s win.
Along with these special artworks, Shogakukan announced that its baseball manga Major will be available for free on its Sunday Webry app, but only for 24 hours. This is done as part of the WBC celebrations.
Given Japan’s win, it’s likely that we’ll see a renewed interest in baseball manga, both in Japan and internationally.
After all, that was the case with Blue Lock, which saw a huge increase in sales after the World Cup.
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