Koki Inoue, a former champion boxer, spoke about his love for anime and manga in a recent interview with Chanto. Having briefly retired from boxing in 2020, he made an unlikely career pivot to become a professional manga artist. He declared that his 2022 return to the sport was partly motivated by the anime film Bang Dream! Poppin’Dream! which was released early that year.
Inoue made his boxing debut in 2015, quickly climbed the ranks undefeated and took the WBO Asia Pacific light-welterweight title in December of 2019. Inoue has always been open about his otaku passions, frequently using anime theme songs as his entrance music before a bout.
After his win streak was broken the following year, Inoue decided to step away from the ring and pursue his passion for drawing. He self-published an autobiographical manga titled Fight! Kouki-kun on his Twitter (now X) account, later publishing it as a physical volume. The concept behind the title was suggested by Kou Nakamura, the novelist and original creator of the Bang Dream! multimedia franchise, which Inoue was already a fan of before they personally met.
While his decision to return to boxing was partly influenced by encouragement from his friends and family members, including his four-time world champion cousin Naoya, he claims that what finally set him back on the boxer’s path was the aforementioned Bang Dream film. Inoue went to see the film at a theater in Shinjuku with his editor. “The film’s tagline was ‘SAVE the Dream,’ and it told a story about the importance of holding on to your dreams. After the movie, we were talking about what we thought of it. I suddenly felt this surge of emotion, like something pierced my heart, and hot tears began pouring from my eyes. I was reminded of just how important it is to chase your own dreams, and I felt my whole body tingling with excitement. In that moment, I made up my mind that I’d give boxing another shot.”
After his burst of inspiration, Inoue excitedly called his cousin Naoya to let him know he was getting back in the ring. While Naoya was exasperated to learn that an anime film had been more successful at convincing his cousin to return to boxing than he had been, he was ultimately happy to hear the news.
Despite losing again to Daishi Nagata – the same boxer who drove him to retirement – in 2024, Inoue chose to continue boxing for the foreseeable future, having since moved up a weight class to welterweight. He credits support from others as his motivation for continuing. “Whether it’s the world of boxing or anime, it’s that same ‘support’ that enables me to keep doing my very best.”
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