One Piece, Sailor Moon Creators Release New Illustrations for Tokyo Olympics

After numerous delays, the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo are set to begin on July 23, and many of Japan's top manga artists, including the creators of One Piece and Sailor Moon, are helping to promote the event.

Kadokawa unveiled the official program guide for the 2020 Olympic Games on July 13, and manga fans quickly discovered new illustrations from the likes of One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda, Sailor Moon creator Naoko Takeuchi, Attack on Titan's Hajime Isayama, and Mobile Suit Gundam The Origin designer and director Yoshikazu Yasuhiko. Each manga artist created an original illustration depicting one of the sports that will be featured at this year's Olympic games. Naoko Takeuchi created an illustration depicting skateboarding, which is one of the five new sports that were added to the Olympics in 2020, while Eiichiro Oda depicted surfing. Takeuchi and Oda's illustrations were released to the internet by the Manga Mogura Twitter account.

In addition to the new illustrations, the guide also features commentary from many Japanese celebrities, including Academy Award-nominated anime director Mamoru Hosoda, whose new film Belle is scheduled to debut at the Cannes Film Festival on July 15. The opening ceremony for the games is said to spotlight Japan's contributions to technology and modern pop culture. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe previously wore a Mario hat during the hand over ceremony at the end of the previous Olympics games, leading many to believe that Nintendo may also be one of the Japanese entertainment icons to be involved in the promotion of the event.

The guide book is available for purchase from multiple Japanese retailers, and will also be released in English and sold internationally sometime before the Olympic Games officially begin. The Tokyo Olympics are still scheduled to begin on July 23, despite Japan entering a new state of emergency due to the on-going COVID-19 pandemic.

Source: Crunchyroll, Twitter