The Myth of Striving and the Season of Shonen Culture Symbolized by Otoko Do Aho Koshien, 1970-1975

The Myth of Striving and the Season of Shonen Culture Symbolized by Otoko Do Aho Koshien, 1970-1975
Shinji Mizushima's "Otoko Do Ahou Koshien" was a baseball manga that stood at the center of boys' magazine culture in the 1970s, and its popularity went beyond mere entertainment to serve as a mirror reflecting the values of the times. At a time when Japan's society was reeling from the end of its rapid economic growth and the impact of the oil shocks, people were torn between the postwar belief that "if you work hard, you will find a way," and a new anxiety that "even if you work hard, you may not be rewarded. Against this backdrop, the story of Koshien, set in the Koshien Stadium, offered a tale of hope in a shaky era, maintaining the upbeat values of hard work, perseverance, and friendship, while at the same time providing a realistic sense of frustration and conflict.
In postwar Japan, Koshien was more than a sporting event; it was a symbolic event. With the spread of television broadcasts throughout the country, Koshien became a stage for rebuilding a sense of community and took on the meaning of a rite of passage for youth. Baseball in Mizushima's works was deeply rooted in this mythologized Koshien and easily resonated with readers' dreams and aspirations. In addition, around 1975, professional baseball was still overwhelmingly popular, as the era of Nagashima and Oh of the Giants was passing and a new crop of star players was emerging. This booming reality boosted the popularity of manga.
Shōnen Sunday and other boys' magazines were at their peak, with circulation exceeding one million copies, and baseball manga had become a surrogate expression of social values and ideals. The world of the manga in which hard work is rewarded was a great comfort to children and young people who were becoming increasingly anxious about their future, and at the same time, it reflected the aspirations of adult society. Thus, "Otoko Do Ahou Koshien" occupied an important position as one of the final forms of the myth of hard work and as a symbol of the youth culture of the 1970s as a whole.