Author: Greg Lozano
To say that Noah Lyles is a fan of anime pop culture would be selling it short. The anime connoisseur was seen at the Tokyo Olympics acting out a kamehameha so it came as no surprise that something similar would make its appearance in the future of his success. To much excitement over his 9.92 second win in the 100 meter, Lyles pulled out a Blue Eyes White Dragon from the famed Yu-Gi-Oh! series.
For those that are unfamiliar with Yu-Gi-Oh! Series, the Blue Eyes White Dragon was considered one of the rarest cards in the anime, with only four known to be in existence. The antagonist of the series held three, and attacked the protagonist’s grandfather to destroy the 4th. For card game players, the Blue Eyes wasn’t exactly as rare, with starter packs at the time coming with a Blue Eyes, but the specific one that Lyles flashed was definitely more on the rarer side. While not a first edition, the Blue Eyes that he showed came from the very first starter pack. Ultra rare cards (which the Blue Eyes was) were a 1 in 12 pull, and with a total of 10 ultra rare cards, as well as not knowing exactly how many specific ultra rare prints there were of each card, it is difficult to find the probability of this card coming up.
The chances that Lyles purchased this second edition from a shop seems a lot more likely, as he mentioned that during the press conference, “It depends which version you want. Not all of them are expensive,” said Lyles. “Some of them you can find for, you know, 15, 30 dollars. Some of them you could pay easily 500 dollars for, depending on which ones you’re looking for.” In no way does this discredit his level of nerdiness and love to anime, because he knew exactly to which crowd he was showing his love to. Anyone could have purchased any card, but to pull the Blue Eyes specifically showed not only was he a fan of the card game, but the anime series as well.
So, why exactly did the Blue Eyes come out and more recently The Head of Exodia before running a 9.8 second race to advance him to the finals? It started with a bet with world champion shot-putter and friend Chase Ealey in wanting to see her reenact a famous scene from the Naruto series. He explained, “She said if I pull out Yu-Gi-Oh! cards each round, she’ll wear the Rock Lee weighted shoes and drop weights during her finals. So, I gotta live up to my part of the deal so she lives up to her part of the deal.” The scene is best observed rather than described, and seeing as that was one of the most exciting fights at the time, fans will surely be as excited to see the love of anime culture be spread even further.
Anime has been a large inspiration for individuals in the 90s to now. Be it getting Disney’s attention, to anime inspired workouts, to storytelling, to musicians, the list has no real shortage of applications. It is exciting to see a culture explode with so much enthusiasm that it reaches sports from across the globe. Are there real life moments in your experience that have been heightened by anime?