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Monster's Urasawa Draws Poster for Osaka Women's Marathon
posted on by Lynzee Loveridge
Manga creator Naoki Urasawa designed and drew the poster for the upcoming 2020 Osaka International Women's Marathon. This is the second time the artist, best known for his manga series 20th Century Boys, monster, Pluto, and more, has designed a poster for the race.
The 42-kilometer marathon starts and ends at the Yanmar Nagai Stadium, taking runners past prominent landmarks in Japan's third largest city. The race is also part of the Marathon Grand Championship (MGC) Final Challenge, a qualifier with a spot in the Olympics on the line. If the winner beats the national standard time for women of 2:22:22, she'll win a spot on the women's national marathon team in the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Urasawa watched last year's tournament and plans to tune in again to see the results.
Kansai Television Sports' producer Junji Sawata said that the poster expressed "a female runner who is desperately trying to grab the last spot in the Tokyo Olympics." He also hoped that the picture showed a runner who just wants to participate in the Olympics. "The venue of the Tokyo Olympic Marathon was moved from Tokyo to Sapporo, forcing the participants who were preparing into a difficult situation. I hope the visual conveys the thoughts of the runners among who them who thought, 'Tokyo or Sapporo is fine! I just want to run in the Olympics!'"
The visual will be on display at the Kansai Television building beginning in mid-December followed by banner flags along Midosuji street at the beginning of January. The marathon itself will begin on January 26.
Source: Comic Natalie, Japan Times (KAZ NAGATSUKA)
