Traced and Laced: Anime and Sneaker Culture

I enjoy anime. It’s fun, and is more an art form than a genre, which is what I first assumed. Anime has no boundaries, and there’s a show for nearly every subject. The ones I personally enjoy, having only watched a handful of shows to completion, are fighting anime and sports anime. One thing I noticed after watching shows in these genres, is that anime artists are really into sneakers. Aside from Asics, which is one of the more predominant sports brands in Japan and was founded there as well, sneakers of all brands and styles appear. In Slam Dunk, Jordan 6 ‘Bulls’ are worn by the main character, Sakuragi, who bought them for only 30 yen. Another scene in the series takes place in a sneaker shop, where an avid sneakerhead explains to the salesman that he’s not going to wear them, he just collects Jordans. One of the most memed shows of all time, Yu-Gi-Oh!, had a character rocking a pair of Air Muscles, fictional shoes based on Nike Air Max 95s. One of my favorite shows (although I still have to finish it) is Haikyu!, a volleyball anime about a high school v-ball team. Nearly every single character in that show is wearing a pair of Asics. The series doesn’t have a brand deal or anything, but Asics sponsors the Japanese National Team, so naturally the amateur players would be following in their (footwear) footsteps. It’s not a bad look at all though, because the style of Asics shoes perfectly matches the simplistic style of Haikyu!’s animation. Regardless of whether a character is playing a sport or not, Anime seems to have a fondness for footwear that I find fascinating, and wanted to write a short piece on how cool that is.

One final note, I couldn’t decide if the title is clever or makes zero sense, but I kept it because I liked the way it sounds. I would explain it but that would prove it’s a bad title.