Overtime Is Bringing Sports and Young Anime Fans Together

The idea that dorky hobbies and media are niche and ridiculed by more mainstream culture persists in the public consciousness despite there being a growing number of examples to the contrary. Olympic 100-meter dash gold medalist Noah Lyles went viral in 2024 during the U.S. Olympic Qualifiers when he pulled out a Blue-Eyes White Dragon Yu-Gi-Oh! card before his trial run. Pokémon GO was a global phenomenon when it was released in 2016, and the 2020 COVID pandemic got enough people into the Pokémon TCG that there was a global card shortage. Even back in 2012, more than half the kids on my podunk high school's football team were playing and talking openly about Skyrim.

While more obscure subcultures obviously still exist, there's no divide between nerd stuff and “normal” hobbies for anyone middle-aged and under anymore. In terms of both industry and cultural impact, this way of thinking about media and society has largely become a distinction without a difference. The disruptive new sports network, Overtime is aware of this new media landscape and seeks to retool sports broadcasts for the young people living in it.

Founded in 2016 by Dan Porter and Zack Weiner, Overtime was originally conceived as a way to deliver existing sports content to a younger, more social media-oriented audience. Today, though, Overtime operates numerous high school-aged sports leagues, including the Overtime Elite basketball league. Beyond repackaging basketball games and events in a way that aligns better with Gen Z media consumption habits, Overtime Elite has proved to be a successful development pipeline for young people interested in playing sports professionally. This is more than evident in Overtime Elite alum Amen and Ausar Thompson both being top 10 draft picks heading into the 2023 NBA season.

A part of Overtime's continued efforts to meet Gen Z where they're at in their league promotion takes the form of the Overtime Elite webcomic. Launched in October of 2024 and created by Brandon Chen, Laurel Pursuit (a webcomic studio founded by Taro Nakagawa), and Inuupen; the comic follows a young man named Omari as he enters a fictionalized version of Overtime Elite Academy. Here, young players compete in basketball-related challenges bolstered by advanced VR technology, to create the world's next great basketball player. Not only does Omari see Overtime Elite Academy as a means of fulfilling his dream of playing basketball professionally, but he also hopes to use it to bring himself and his family out of poverty.

Both fans of basketball, Chen and Nakagawa were approached by Overtime to create this webcomic. “We felt inspired by what Overtime was doing in the sports space, and the positive impact that they're having on the next generation,” Nakagawa illuminated when asked how this project came to be. “We hoped that by joining forces with writer Brandon Chen, we could help bring an inspiring series to WEBTOON's audience, and also introduce Overtime's audience to the exciting medium of digital comics.”

Webcomics largely being independent or small team affairs, Nakagawa also shared insight into the production process for this series. “Laurel Pursuit is mainly responsible for the art production of the WEBTOON, and Brandon Chen is the series' writer. The overall process has been collaborative with Overtime's team, who know their audience so well and have incredible expertise on basketball and creating content in general—they've offered lots of insights that help us push for the best every step of the way.”

While basketball, and sports stories more broadly, are still relatively niche within the modern webcomic boom, they've been a central part of shonen anime and manga since the genre's inception. When asked about the difficulties in creating a new basketball story in the face of giants like Slam Dunk and Kuroko's Basketball, Chen said, “There's actually a ton of basketball series outside of those two manga IPs specifically and I try not to have the mentality that one or two stories can dominate a genre or concept. If that were the case, then isekai, system fantasy or other genres such as mecha would've stopped with one or two big titles. Instead, the reality is that once there is a proven audience for a genre or concept, the market will create similar concepts that take on a new perspective on that genre.” Chen would further note that, “I think Slam Dunk and Kuroko no Basket are proof that there is an audience for this type of series. The goal, of course, is to create a new title that feels familiar to audiences who enjoy those series, but also fresh—where they can see Overtime Elite tackling a new path in basketball shonen.”

When asked if Overtime Elite was conceived as a way to get fans of manga and webcomics into sports media or vice versa, Chen said, “Working with Overtime, the goal was really both. On one hand, some anime fans don't necessarily care about the sports they watch. Sometimes, an anime will convince a viewer to pick up a sport. A good example for me is Haikyuu!!, where I knew nothing about volleyball, but only took an interest after watching the anime. For Overtime, because they have an existing audience, the goal was to create a concept that would resonate with their fans. But, in addition, I know that anime/manga fans can enjoy sports series without actually being a fan of the sport. So, there was certainly a balanced consideration when crafting the narrative.”

This more inclusive approach is shared by Overtime CEO Dan Porter, who thinks there is something in Overtime's offerings for people belonging to seemingly disparate fandoms. “We broadly cover sports and culture. We have a gaming account. We have an extremely large sneakers account (overtimekicks). And we leverage humor, creators, and more. So many fans might find us through more broad content but then start to go deeper into the sports content from there,” Porter said. Porter also hopes to foster a distinct culture as Overtime's sports leagues become more popular among young people, saying, “The next generation of OTE fans is extremely passionate. Their fandom brings them together - especially outside of the major cities where young people might not have the network or peer group of other young people who share their interests. We had fans from over 100 countries who not only watched our finals but actually commented on our streams.”

This idea of fans of a specific media coming together thanks to digital spaces will, of course, sound familiar to anime fans of a certain age. The Western anime fandom benefited tremendously from internet access becoming more common in the late 90s and early 2000s, with many today still viewing it as a mostly online hobby with conventions acting as opportunities for in-person meet-ups. As digital spaces become increasingly present in our everyday lives, it would seem that the anime fandom is not only bleeding into those other spaces but that those other communities are beginning to more closely resemble the structure of the global anime fan community.

In their closing remarks, Chen and Porter offered advice and encouragement to prospective webcomic artists and fans of the medium. “As I always say, try to create something fresh and familiar. Familiar, because if you go too far off the deep end with a new concept, then you might not find an audience. Fresh, because if you create something extremely derivative, then you will live in another story's shadow. You want your story to stand out and feel like a new experience in the market, without taking too massive of a risk where you create a story that might not resonate with anyone. This advice is not saying to be risk averse entirely but to build and ship a manga or WEBTOON can take years. So, to make those years of effort worth it, it's often good practice to balance your risk by knowing there is an audience for your work,” said Chen when asked if he had any advice for hopeful webcomic creators.

“If you are a Manga or Webtoons fan I'd encourage you to check out Overtime Elite,” said Porter. “It's pretty unique that it's based on something real and if you like the story we hope you'll watch a game too. I knew there was a crossover between sports and anime but I was surprised by how many readers also knew OTE and mentioned it. And finally, we read every single comment so if you have feedback or story ideas leave a comment on the WEBTOON and we will definitely see it!”

While it's ultimately people and not corporations that determine how culture disseminates and how cultural institutions intermingle, Overtime's recognition of webcomics as a means to reach young people speaks to the growth of the broader anime fan community. While there are plenty of examples of corporations that try and fail to advertise to anime fans—or, more egregiously, anime rights holders who don't believe in the value of their product—the Overtime Elite webcomic signals the end of that ignorance. While it won't ever make sense for all corporations to court anime fans, it's becoming increasingly clear that the businesses that can find overlap with the anime community can no longer afford to ignore it.