posted on by Ken Iikura-Gross
Tennis phenom ‘transforms’ when she walks onto court
One of the greatest innovations in manga and anime storytelling was the introduction of the magical girl series. First developed by Fujio Akatsuka‘s Himitsu no Akko-chan in 1962, the genre has seen radical shifts over the years: the battling magical schoolgirls of Naoko Takeuchi‘s Sailor Moon in 1992 and more adult-themed stories with Puella Magi Madoka Magica in 2011. Along the way, it’s no wonder people have been inspired by the genre. One of those is women’s tennis sensation Naomi Osaka, as demonstrated by her outfits for the 2024 U.S. Open.
©Naomi Osaka
Osaka posted an image of herself in an magical girl-inspired outfit on Instagram on August 26. The photo features Osaka in a black frilled dress with an oversized white ribbon on her back. The look is as if the tennis star is channeling characters like Sailor Moon or more recently Cure Yum Yum from Delicious Party Precure.
Osaka’s sponsor Nike posted a press release about her U.S. Open outfit on August 25. In the release, Osaka elaborated about her outfit, saying:
The inspiration that fueled the look for me — and this might be a Japanese term — is feeling like a ‘magical girl’ on the court… There’s a moment of transformation for me when I walk onto the court, and I have a lot of fun playing, so wanting everyone who sees the outfit to connect with that feeling is a really big motivation for me.
The Nike press release only featured Osaka in the black outfit seen in her Instagram post. However, during her August 27 match against 10th seed Jelena Ostapenko, Osaka revealed a light, almost mint, green magical girl dress. The U.S. Open Tennis X (formerly Twitter) account posted a video of her entrance on August 27. The U.S. Open Tennis account also caught a small detail about Osaka’s outfit not mentioned in the Nike press release in a followup post: the bows on the back of Osaka’s shoes.
Bowing to the Queen of Fashion, @naomiosaka 🎀 pic.twitter.com/7ngPZLOFdE
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) August 27, 2024
Evergreen 💚 pic.twitter.com/4QhFwqTAep
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) August 27, 2024
Like the Boston Red Sox and Seattle Mariners after their anime-themed collaborations on August 28, Naomi Osaka also received the anime bump, winning her first-round match at 6-3 and 6-2. However, she lost to Karolína Muchová in the second round on August 29.
Sources: Nike, Noami Osaka’s Instagram, U.S. Open Tournament’s X/Twitter account (link 2), U.S. Open Tournament’s website, Today
