Gothic Sports
Encyclopedia
Gothic Sports is a German
manga
-styled book created by Anike Hage. It focuses on a young girl named Anya, who is adjusting to her new school. When she tries to join various sports teams, she's rejected. After, she forms her own soccer team, thus creating the first Gothic Lolita soccer
team. It has been licensed by Tokyopop
for English
distribution with the first volume being released 1 July 2007. Volume 2 was released on October first and volume 3 was released on January 8, 2008. Volume 4 was released in January 2010. Volume 5 was released in German in April 2010. It will be released in Spain by Dreamers.
, but is rejected by the coaches and other students because of her lack of height. Anya then decides to join the soccer team. There, she discovers Julia, who is already a member of the team, but she never gets to play any games. This is because the school team is one of the best, and the coach is worried that having girls in the team would make the team worse.
This discrimination inspires her to go to the Principal of the school, who agrees to let her form her own team on the condition that her team has to have a test match against the school's official team. Anya, with help from her friends forms a team consisting of the "Misfits" of the school. She starts with Luise (known as Loo), whom she has known since elementary school, and Felicitas (commonly called Filiz) who is known for her Gothic Lolita style of dress. Filiz's style gets the team noticed, especially when she designs the team uniforms which have a clear Gothic Lolita style - mostly black with a dark maroon stripe down one side, with a smaller stripe crossing it along the top. The boys in the team have similar red stripes on their shorts, while the girls wear skirts with the red stripes, as well as striped stockings with lace
. The girls also wear lace collars.
The team eventually attracts the 11 members needed to form a team. The side consists of Delia, who acts as the coach of the team, and has a close personal relationship with the coach of the official school team (in the third book he is revealed to be her ex-boyfriend); Leon, who Anya has hated since elementary ever since he accidentally killed her hamster
; Kevin, a musician known for his temper; Non-identical twins
Alexia and Hannes, who joined out of support after Anya was denied the chance to join the basketball team; Ellis, who is not as strong as the other players and Olga, who likes Renaissance
fashion.
In the graphic novels there appears to be a small group (chiefly three of them) of students, presumably from another school who are interested in facing Anya's team in a match. These characters have been seen watching, taking pictures of, and discussing the fledgling team. Their identities have not yet been revealed as of this date.
The books follow the side, named "Gothic Sports" as they train up and try to battle out against other school football teams, including Lucrece High School's official team.
No further volumes have been released since this date.
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
-styled book created by Anike Hage. It focuses on a young girl named Anya, who is adjusting to her new school. When she tries to join various sports teams, she's rejected. After, she forms her own soccer team, thus creating the first Gothic Lolita soccer
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
team. It has been licensed by Tokyopop
Tokyopop
Tokyopop, styled TOKYOPOP, and formerly known as Mixx, is a distributor, licensor, and publisher of anime, manga, manhwa, and Western manga-style works. The existing German publishing division produces German translations of licensed Japanese properties and original English-language manga, as well...
for English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
distribution with the first volume being released 1 July 2007. Volume 2 was released on October first and volume 3 was released on January 8, 2008. Volume 4 was released in January 2010. Volume 5 was released in German in April 2010. It will be released in Spain by Dreamers.
Plot
Anya arrives at Lucrece High School on her first day hoping to play for one of the sports teams. She first tries to play basketballBasketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
, but is rejected by the coaches and other students because of her lack of height. Anya then decides to join the soccer team. There, she discovers Julia, who is already a member of the team, but she never gets to play any games. This is because the school team is one of the best, and the coach is worried that having girls in the team would make the team worse.
This discrimination inspires her to go to the Principal of the school, who agrees to let her form her own team on the condition that her team has to have a test match against the school's official team. Anya, with help from her friends forms a team consisting of the "Misfits" of the school. She starts with Luise (known as Loo), whom she has known since elementary school, and Felicitas (commonly called Filiz) who is known for her Gothic Lolita style of dress. Filiz's style gets the team noticed, especially when she designs the team uniforms which have a clear Gothic Lolita style - mostly black with a dark maroon stripe down one side, with a smaller stripe crossing it along the top. The boys in the team have similar red stripes on their shorts, while the girls wear skirts with the red stripes, as well as striped stockings with lace
Lace
Lace is an openwork fabric, patterned with open holes in the work, made by machine or by hand. The holes can be formed via removal of threads or cloth from a previously woven fabric, but more often open spaces are created as part of the lace fabric. Lace-making is an ancient craft. True lace was...
. The girls also wear lace collars.
The team eventually attracts the 11 members needed to form a team. The side consists of Delia, who acts as the coach of the team, and has a close personal relationship with the coach of the official school team (in the third book he is revealed to be her ex-boyfriend); Leon, who Anya has hated since elementary ever since he accidentally killed her hamster
Hamster
Hamsters are rodents belonging to the subfamily Cricetinae. The subfamily contains about 25 species, classified in six or seven genera....
; Kevin, a musician known for his temper; Non-identical twins
Twin
A twin is one of two offspring produced in the same pregnancy. Twins can either be monozygotic , meaning that they develop from one zygote that splits and forms two embryos, or dizygotic because they develop from two separate eggs that are fertilized by two separate sperm.In contrast, a fetus...
Alexia and Hannes, who joined out of support after Anya was denied the chance to join the basketball team; Ellis, who is not as strong as the other players and Olga, who likes Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
fashion.
In the graphic novels there appears to be a small group (chiefly three of them) of students, presumably from another school who are interested in facing Anya's team in a match. These characters have been seen watching, taking pictures of, and discussing the fledgling team. Their identities have not yet been revealed as of this date.
The books follow the side, named "Gothic Sports" as they train up and try to battle out against other school football teams, including Lucrece High School's official team.
No further volumes have been released since this date.