Anime that are medal worthy!

The Tokyo Olympics are finally here, after a long, llooonnngggg wait. At last the celebration, ceremony, and sports have come to our TVs to drown our senses in hours upon hours of international sporting glee. Except when your preferred team didn’t win, then it’s an epic injustice and I’m sure the judges/referees/stop watches were just blind and didn’t know what they were talking about. In this explosion of sport euphoria I’m sure many anime characters are eager participate in the Olympic games and many fans are spectator hopefuls too. The Olympics are all about being inclusive to all kinds of people of all regions and countries, so I’m sure the Olympics would welcome two dimensional animated characters with open arms!

So, on behave of the Anime Olympic Committee (a fictitious committee that only exists in my mind) I present to you the Tokyo 2020 anime athletes!

colorful interlocking rings with smiley faces in them — The rings are ready to compete!

These anime and characters were selected for their competitive themes or their focus on physical skill and training. They don’t necessarily have to be “Sports” anime or characters. In fact, I specifically selected anime that had the thrill and competition of a sports series but, would still be appealing to people that maybe don’t really like Sports anime.

First in our line up in swimming is Haruka Nanase from Free!- Iwatobi swim club. — Drama and sportsmanship were on display in the pool tonight as Haruka Nanase swims in the 400 meter freestyle. Having an swift start, Nanase quickly takes the lead. After taking his first turn, Nanase’s pace slows and Australia is quick to take the lead from him. Team mates on the sidelines are distressed, it seems Nanase has lost his will to compete! In a stunning display of sportsmanship, team mate Rin Matsuoka leaps into the pool, sharing the lane, and swimming along side Nanase. This seems to greatly encourage Nanase on to come in with the fastest personal time! With such an amazing time, Nanase would have won the gold medal, unfortunately there are no “doubles” in swimming, so both Nanase and Matsuoka were disqualified from the competition.

Free! Iwatobi Swim Club characters in a pool — Iwatobi swim team

Next up is the cool headed precision of pistol shooting with Vash (the stampede) from Trigun. — Everybody in the Olympic village loves the friendly, red clad, sharp shooter Vash. Mr. Vash told reporters before the competition that his training breakfast consisted of 47 pancakes and a bottle of whiskey. Vash did well in the competition, getting a bullseye for all of his own stationary targets along with three of his opponents targets. Unfortunately the competition had to be called off before completion and there will not be any medals issued due to the arena where the event was being held imploding. Many spectators and coaches were injured, and the building was a complete loss, but miraculously, there were no fatalities.

Vash from Trigun smiling — Vash, seen after the arena implosion

This morning we saw rhythmic gymnastics featuring Sora Naegino from Kaleido Star. — The rookie gymnast has been wowing audiences for months leading up to the competition, and the energetic young athlete has not disappointed in her first showing on the Olympic stage. Unfortunately, drama has plagued this lovable team since the first days of the Olympics with a team member switching teams mid competition, a betrayal from their own coach, and the injury of their team leader Layla Hamilton, this has forced the inspiring new team to have to pull out of the competition before the finals. So we will not be seeing the rookie Naegino on the podium today.

In karate we have Hikari Hanazono from SA. — The fiery Hikari Hanazono came out kicking during the first rounds of the Olympic karate competition! Hanazono is widely known for her blazing kicks and hot temper during the competition. Coming in at number two in the preliminaries, Hanazono looked to be a shoe-in for winning the silver. Unfortunately, before the finals Hanazono seemed to have confused one of the tournament judges for a burglar and kicked him to within an inch of his life and he had to be airlifted from the stadium. Hanazono seemed to be quite distraught when she learned of her mistake and her disqualification due to misconduct, thankfully a close friend (Mr. Kei Takishima) was there to console her.

Skateboarder boy with green eyes — competitor from Olympic first skateboarding competition.

And to finish up our sports line up we have Misaki Yata from K project, competing in the Olympics newly added sport of skateboarding! — Yata did well in the preliminaries, preforming multiple kick-flips in a row and gaining a lot of points in the first moments of the competition. Just seconds into Yata’s first round, fencing competitor Saruhiko Fushimi could be heard loudly cheering Yata on with a very clear Mi! Sa! Ki! echoing through the arena. This oddly enough enraged Yata, who later was disqualified and removed from the competition by security after he attacked Fushimi with his skateboard.

The Anime Olympic Committee would like to give an honorable mention to Yuri from Yuri on Ice. Unfortunately Yuri came to the wrong Olympics, there is no figure skating in the Summer Olympics.