"Captain Tsubasa" illustration of Roberto Hongo from his time as a Brazilian national team player revealed

An illustration of Roberto Hongo, a character from Yoichi Takahashi's popular soccer manga series "Captain Tsubasa," depicting him as a player for the Brazilian national team has been released. Takahashi has drawn "Roberto as an active player," a character who has been mentioned in the manga but never clearly depicted. A reproduction of the original illustration will be exhibited at the "Roberto Hongo's Brazil Festival," a pre-match event for the Nankatsu SC home game to be held on July 26th at the Okuto Sports Center Athletics Stadium (Katsushika Ward, Tokyo).

On the day of the event, reproductions of the original artwork will be on display, and there will be booths where you can experience Brazilian food culture, music, and more.

Nankatsu SC is a soccer club where Takahashi is the owner and CEO. With the slogan "From Katsushika to the J-League," the club is in the Kanto Soccer League Division 1. The women's team, Nankatsu SC WINGS, has been promoted to the Nadeshiko League Division 2 of the national league.

"Captain Tsubasa" is a manga that depicts the growth of the genius soccer boy Ozora Tsubasa as he battles against unique rivals. A one-shot story was published in "Weekly Shonen Jump" (Shueisha) in 1980, and the series began serialization in the same magazine in 1981, sparking a soccer boom. A sequel was also written, and the manga came to an end in April 2024 after about 43 years of serialization. It has continued to be serialized in storyboard format since then, and the latest work, "Captain Tsubasa Rising Sun FINALS", is being serialized on the portal site "Captain Tsubasa WORLD".