Japan’s First Manga About Vietnamese Football Published

"Son, Goal!", the first manga series about Vietnamese football produced by a Japanese publisher, made debut in Vietnam on July 28. The series is produced and published by Kadokawa JSC of Japan in coordination with the Kim Dong Publishing House of Vietnam.

"Son, Goal!", the first manga series about Vietnamese football produced by a Japanese publisher, made debut in Vietnam on July 28. Photo: hanoimoi.

Nguyen Vo Huyen Duong, a representative of the Vietnam Football Federation in Japan and also the one connecting Kadokawa with Kim Dong, said the Vietnamese version of this manga will be released on July 29 while the Japanese version is expected to be available in early 2023.

“Son, Goal!”, as reported by The World & Vietnam, illustrated by Baba Tamio, is about the journey of a boy named Son whose father is a Brazilian and mother, a Vietnamese. His family moved to Vietnam when his father took up a job in the country. Here, Son met and made friends with a group of teenagers, and helped their football team become stronger.

Aoyagi Masayuki, Publishing Director of Kadokawa, told Vietnam News Agency that his company took part in a festival of Japanese manga publishers in Asia in 2018. Coming to Vietnam, they realised that Japanese manga is popular among local children. At that time, though Vietnam did not win an Asian youth football tournament (the AFC U23 Asian Cup), people still streamed down the streets to congratulate the team.

Kadokawa JSC of Japan introduces a comic series about Vietnamese football. (Photo: VNA)

Seeing that happiness and enthusiasm, according to vietnamplus, the company came to the idea of creating this manga series with the hope of inspiring the football love among the Vietnamese youth, he noted, expressing his hope that the manga will be welcomed by not only children but also adults as its content suits readers of all ages.

Kadokawa plans to produce more manga series for the Vietnamese market in the future and also wants to try the novel and animation areas, he added.

Previously, at a meeting on March with Vietnamese Ambassador to Japan Vu Hong Nam, Aoyagi Masayuki - Publishing Director of Kadokawa said with the support of the Kim Dong Publishing House of Vietnam, Kadokawa developed the manga series with the hope to help children of the two countries find joy in sports and understand more about teamwork.

Through famous landscapes of Vietnam mentioned in the series such as Dragon Bridge or My Khe beach, the manga is hoped to help foreigners, including Japanese understand more about Vietnam and its people, Kadokawa said.

Aoyagi Masayuki, Publishing Director of Kadokawa JSC, gives an interview to Vietnam News Agency. (Photo: VNA)

According to Masayuki, the publisher wants to present 1,000 books to Vietnamese children through the Vietnamese Embassy in Japan.

For his part, Ambassador Nam thanked Kadokawa JSC for its idea to publish the manga comic book, stressing that this is a meaningful event when Vietnam and Japan are preparing to celebrate the 50th founding anniversary of their diplomatic relations.

Representing the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) in Japan, Nguyen Vo Huyen Duong, who connects Kadokawa and Vietnamese partners, said "Son Goal" is slated to make debut in Vietnam May this year. In addition to "Son Goal", Masayuki said Kadokawa planned to cooperate with the Hanoi University of Industrial Fine Arts and publishers in Vietnam to produce other manga series, which will be written and illustrated by Vietnamese people.

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