Gothic Sports
Gothic Sports is a manga-style comic by the German illustrator Anike Hage . The work is about the founding of an unusual football team at a high school and can be classified in the drama genre .
action
The 16-year-old Anya, who is enthusiastic about sports, is switching from secondary school to Lucrece-Gymnasium, which promotes particularly athletic talents and is home to many renowned teams. In her class, Anya meets her childhood friend Luise, known as Loo, and becomes friends with the outsider Filiz. But otherwise she hardly finds any connection. She is not accepted into the basketball team because team boss Marie doesn't like her. She is also not happy with football because the coach doesn't trust her as a girl and just lets her watch.
Therefore she decides together with Loo, Filiz and Julia, who was also ignored by the coach, to found her own football team. After Filiz has designed jerseys for them in Gothic design , they also get the necessary attention and soon have enough players together. Among them, however, is Leon, whom Anya hates because he accidentally killed her hamster in elementary school. The team also includes the spirited Kevin, the unequal twins Alexia and Hannes, Ellis, Delia and Olga.
In order for the team to be able to persist permanently, they must now also play a game against the school team. When this succeeds, the team is officially approved by the director. Over the autumn holidays, everyone is going to a practice camp in the Bavarian mountains.
Emergence
Anike Hage chose the school location because she was still going to school at the time it was created and was able to write directly from her own experience. However, none of the characters correspond to a person from their circle of acquaintances, all are fictitious. She also wanted action in the story and since she plays soccer herself, formerly also in school teams, she chose this sport.
The drawings were made with pencil, crayons, grid foil and without a computer. Wolfenbüttel , home town of the draftsman, often served as a model for the background . It took Anike Hage eight months to write the first volume.
Style and concept
The characters are slim, with googly eyes and small noses. The contours are soft. There are also full-page illustrations and some color pages. In addition to football, the work also focuses on everyday school problems such as bullying.
Publications
The comic was published by Tokyopop in February 2006 . The fifth volume was published in March 2010. Tokyopop recommends the comic from 13 years of age. In November 2007 a calendar with motifs from the comic was published. Other merchandising items such as stationery and T-shirts were also sold. Together with Jamba , Tokyopop is bringing out the manga in 2009 for mobile phones.
Since 2006, three volumes have been published by Soleil Productions in France, from 2007 the Tokyo comic was also published in English in the USA. A publication in Spain is planned.
The company eBookJapan published all three previously published volumes as Japanese-language e-books for download under the title Gothic Sports - Kessei! Goth Loli ・ Soccer-bu ( ゴ シ ッ ク ・ ス ポ ー ツ ～ 結成！ ゴ ス ロ リ ・ サ ッ カ ー 部 ～ , Goshikku Supōtsu ~ Kessei! Gosu Rori ・ Sakkā-bu , dt. "Gothic Sports - founding! [Of a] Goth [ic ] -Football Club [s] ").
reception
In 2007 the comic received the Sondermann Prize in the Manga - Self-Publication (National) category and the AnimaniA Award for Best Manga National .
According to Kultur-Spiegel, the series is one of the most popular and successful German manga-style comics. Anike Hage combines a Japanese narrative style with a plot that takes place in everyday German life. The stories are familiar to most of the readers and told with esprit and empathy for the characters. The drawings are elegant and sleek and the jerseys are original. Anike Hage achieved something extraordinary with a soccer comic for young girls.
The specialist magazine AnimaniA writes of "good reading fun, pleasant reading speed and lovable characters." The reader can identify with the characters and situations, whether he is still going to school or not. Overall, the drawings were successful, especially the colored artworks are highlighted. Patterns, colors and shapes always harmonized and looked cheeky and youthful. In addition, not only were the jerseys in the Gothic style, but also the everyday clothing could be seen. Together with the effective panel division, this would give a coherent overall picture.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Interview with Anike Hage in the CIL forum (comics-in-leipzig.de) on April 7, 2007
- ↑ a b c d AnimaniA 01-02 / 2006 p. 36 f.
- ↑ Anime no Tomodachi Newsletter No. 425, 28-09
- ↑ dreamers.com on the Spanish publication
- ↑ Download page of the Japanese e-books ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Kultur-Spiegel Online on the award of the Sondermann Prize 2007
- ↑ AnimeY on the presentation of the AnimaniA Awards 2007
- ^ Kultur-Spiegel Online about comics, by Jörg Böckern
