In contrast with optimistic shōnen protagonists, some Japanese popular franchises focus on characters that deal with psychological traumas and despondency. These young protagonists are saddled with responsibilities such as the survival of humankind. They carry out their assumed duties regardless of their mental instability. Even as reversals of fortune keep piling up, they press forward as if they had no other option. They will go as far as to sacrifice themselves for a world they reject. This chapter analyzes these works and explores the reasons why these nihilists with stamina have gained so much traction in the last decades.

Introduction: From zero to (loath) hero

In his study of the ecosystem of Weekly Shōnen Jump, one of the most influential weekly manga magazines since its advent in 1968 and especially since the 1980s, Bryan Hikari Hartzheim argues that although it has become a highly sophisticated publication in terms of production routines adapted to new forms of content consumption, its foundational motto “Friendship, Effort, Victory” continues to be the driving force behind the drafts that circulate at Shueisha offices (2019, 5). This seems logical considering the stable demand for the demographic genre shōnen (manga for boys) since the consolidation of the manga and anime markets in the 1970s. So much so that shōnen is the main culprit for the widespread identification of both Japanese comics and animation with the stories of self-improvement, positive values and happy endings that have dominated the market up to now.

Shōnen stories starring young action heroes have been distributed all over the world, and their sway has been acknowledged by successive Japanese administrations, which have co-opted the genre for cultural diplomacy actions. One of the most memorable moments of such diplomacy on a global scale came at the Rio 2016 Olympics closing ceremony with the brief presentation of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics (postponed to 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic). The inclusion of well-known figures such as Doraemon and supokon stars (a paradigmatic shōnen sub-genre) such as Tsubasa Oozora in the presentation sequence of the Japanese capital alongside athletes and Prime Minister Abe Shinzō is evidence of the extreme popularity of these heroes and their affinity with the Olympic creed: “[T]he most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle.