Dominic Solanke's anime-inspired passion

‘Every setback is an opportunity to come back stronger’ was the tagline of Dominic Solanke’s very own anime short film released earlier this year.

What started out as a hobby has, in his own words, changed his life and evolved into something more: a passion.

The England and Tottenham Hotspur makes no secret of his love for anime – Japanese-themed animation movies and series.

And whether it be cartoon-inspired celebrations or something to pass the long hours en route to a game, anime has slowly intertwined itself with football. The likes of Kylian Mbappé, Neymar, Paul Pogba and David de Gea also have a vested interest in anime.

“Anime has played a big part of my life,” he explained. “It means a lot to me. I think a lot of these days as well people are starting to reveal their hobbies a bit more.

“I got into it probably around COVID times. A lot of my friends watch it and they were nagging me to get into it fully for a while, but I was always like, ‘nah, I'm not really interested’.

“Then I started watching and my first one was Naruto that I watched from start to finish. I loved it so much. I was so addicted, watching it over and over. Since then, I just started reeling them off.”

The 28 year old’s enthusiasm shines through. From his custom made shinpads – which he showed off on England camp – decorated with artwork of his favourite character Zoro, to starring in his own animated film in cartoon form and getting involved with cosplaying, his two worlds often find a way to collide.

And his tastes vary, from action-adventure fantasy series such as One Piece to psychological thrillers like Death Note and everything in between.

“A lot of it helps me in day-to-day stuff – a lot of lessons,” he continued. “You see a lot of the characters, some of them start young, some of them start weak and they go through a lot of challenges.

“It's obviously not real and it's only an anime but it's still the same principles of life that you can take from it.

“You see them going from weak to strong and I've just seen their journeys and a lot of it is inspirational.”

As fate would have it, the Three Lions face Japan on Tuesday 31 March (7.45pm BST kick-off) at Wembley Stadium, with Solanke part of Thomas Tuchel’s squad for this month’s Send-Off Series.

And it’s no surprise that the avid anime fan has visited the country of its origin before, quickly becoming one of his favourite travel destinations.

“I actually went two of three years ago now,” he recalled. “It was definitely one of the best places I've been in my life.

“I loved it a lot just. Not even just anime but the culture and the scenes and stuff there. I visited the temples and learned a bit about that sort of stuff.

“Like I said, the culture is so different. I think over this side of the world, Europe, you go to places and it's all quite similar but over there, it's so different.”

And naturally, he had to make a special stop on his trip.

“I went to a studio out there and they showed me how it actually works and how they make it so that was interesting to see because I didn’t realise how long it actually takes to make one episode,” he explained.

“It can take months and months just for a 20-minute episode, so to see all of the effort behind that made me appreciate it even more.

“When I was in Korea in the summer, I went to a studio and they made a little clip of me and they animated me myself.

“That was quite cool going there and I actually did the voiceover which I was a bit nervous about. It was a bit crazy! But seeing myself in animated films was really cool."

And Wembley Stadium could see a Solanke special, anime-inspired celebration this week should he ripple the net against Japan.