Score draw Why anime is firing up young sports stars

The Bournemouth footballer Dominic Solanke twice thought he had scored the opening goal in a Premier League game against Brentford last month.

- Lanre Bakare

Each time he wheeled away to celebrate, he put on an orange mask with a spiral pattern and one eyehole before posing in front of the cameras.

The goal was ruled out by VAR but the celebration went viral, as journalists wrote about "masked mayhem" and others wondered what this "bizarre" celebration could mean.

It was the latest in a string of hand gestures and poses that Solanke has struck this season which are inscrutable for the uninitiated but for fans of anime-Japanese animated dramas - it's obvious the mask was a character, Obito Uchiha, from the Naruto series.

With its roots in 80s manga comics and animated films such as the 1988 cyberpunk epic Akira, and a wider history going back even further, anime has become a worldwide phenomenon in the past two decades. It has grown from children's entertainment, covering every genre from historical to sci-fi and romance to humour.

Shows including Dragon Ball Z, One Piece and Naruto have stretched to hundreds of episodes and are watched by millions on streaming platforms, with the whole industry - including comics, video games, merchandise, TV shows and film-worth about $30bn in 2023.