Is it just me or are there more young men in anime wearing tracksuits?

So Tower of God’s Shibisu made me think that I am seeing more and more young men in anime show up in tracksuits. Besides Shibisu, recent tracksuit characters in recent years include Kazuma from Konosuba, and Subaru from Re:Zero. Is there a reason for this trend over the traditional school uniform? Is there a special meaning or message they are trying to send by lining up characters in tracksuits? Are they the new fashion choice for adventure anime or isekai? And more importantly are we going to keep getting young men in tracksuits?

There are plenty of questions to explore with the newest tracksuit trend. First defining the tracksuit is important, because  the item has its own meaning besides the obvious fashion statement. The fashion statement being that I want to wear something comfortable for in  home use and could be worn outside as well. The tracksuit provides the flexibility to wear something warm for the colder days, and being able to take the top and bottom off if it’s too warm. It’s all around great comfort and commonplace fashion.

The tracksuit was designed to keep the athlete warm. For those who aren’t athletically inclined wearing the track suit helps get the blood pumping and is worn intentionally to quickly raise body temperature and heart rate. By warming the muscles it makes your body able to reduce the risk of injury and increase muscle performance. It makes warming up for a main event at a track meet very easy, this is spoken from personal experience. I too have worn track suits for athletic reasons, but I generally change out of it after the event. As fun as a track suit is to wear, I like wearing jeans and a t-shirt more but that is just my fashion choice for the everyday. But why are more young men showing up in tracksuits?

In the cases of Subaru and Kazuma, I feel the choice of the tracksuit is the fashion statement aspect. Neither is particularly athletic beyond what you would expect of the average high school student. They don’t give me the athletic vibe. At some point Subaru mentions that he has some sword strength grip, indicating he might have studied kendo or something similar at some point. And Subaru at some point does actually use a sword to fight mabeasts, but is by no means a sword master. Kazuma seems to hold himself well in a fight too, he at least understands some of the basics. Specifically what both Kazuma and Subaru have in common is that they haven’t been training for any in particular that would have prepared them for an isekai adventure. They are both thrown into the adventure without forewarning and have to make due with what skills and abilities they already have.

Shibisu, on the other hand, chose to wear a tracksuit into the tower.  This is a decision that has to be made more than just for fashion. Climbing the tower seems to result in death for most that dare the attempt. Why the tracksuit? Especially over wearing armor? Or something of a defensive nature? Well the tower is a strange place where most people just stroll around in normal attire, so armor probably doesn’t matter much. Shibisu wearing the tracksuit sends the message that he is ready for whatever is coming his way. He is keeping his body ready for the next challenge, though Shibisu is more of a brainy guy.

I find the tracksuit trend to be fascinating, and I wonder if we are going to see more people in the future wear them seemingly randomly.

Agree? Disagree? What are your thoughts? I want to know!

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