LILLE, France : Pop culture fan costumes have been a feature in the stands at the Olympic basketball in Lille, but on Friday the better-known Japanese ‘Slam Dunk’ manga outfits were upstaged by an unexpected Latin American homage: the ‘Brazilian chapulines’.
The Brazilians crushed Japan 102-84 in men’s Group B to end the Asian side’s Olympic dreams thanks to a stellar performance from forward Bruno Caboclo, whose 33 points on court delighted his compatriots in the stands.
Among the most vocal were eight fans wearing unitards in the style of Mexico’s hapless superhero ‘Chapulin Colorado’ – the Red Grasshopper – but restyled in Brazilian blue and yellow.
The 1970s television parody, created by Mexican comedian Roberto Gomez Bolano, was hugely popular across Latin America.
“We first got together at the Panamerican Games in Guadalajara in 2011, it was an idea we thought of to rope in the Mexicans to root for Brazil,” said one of the group, Gustavo Cardozo.
“It was so successful that we thought, why don’t we continue?”
Since then the group have worn their body suits at several major sporting events, earning them – and the Brazilian athletes they root for – a growing following back home.
For Japanese fans, the costume of choice varied from homages to Dragon Ball Z and Naruto or a simple red and white jersey but whatever they were wearing, they all united to sing the theme song to the ‘Slam Dunk’ anime show to their beaten players.
“That’s kind of a theme in Japan,” said Japan centre Josh Hawkinson.
“Obviously basketball hadn’t been as popular, then the Slam Dunk manga came out, then it became an anime, and then into a movie this past year.”
The 31-tome manga comic series, first published in the 1990s, follows a high school delinquent who discovers his love for basketball after a girl he has a crush on suggests he try the sport.
“We drew a lot of inspiration from that, and then we had a really good showing at the World Cup, and from then the fans just exploded in growth,” Hawkinson added.
“Japan has a really big sports culture, starting from soccer and others sports, but now it’s expanding into basketball so that’s really fun to see, and I’m really proud to be a part of the growth of that.”
