Anime's emergence in the mainstream in the latter stages of the 2010s going into the 2020s has been an interesting development in global popular culture. Nowadays, people of interest in various fields talk a lot about their love for the medium, so the overlap between interests once seen as contrary to or completely different from anime is increasing.Sports fans and athletes themselves have gravitated towards anime, particularly shonen anime, for some of its values concerning self-belief, discipline and community, but this Liverpool soccer player has taken his love for anime to the pitch with his anime-styled goal celebrations!Ibrahima "Ibou" Konate is Liverpool's jersey number 5, his position being centre-back. This defensive role obviously doesn't see as many opportunities to score as some other outfield positions, so when one does it's definitely a treat, but this Liverpool man elevates that by celebrating his goals with clear nods to some of his favourite anime and manga. Recently, the player's sharpshooting has earned Liverpool F.C. a place in the FA Cup Final. The Parisian soccer player opened scoring for Liverpool in the April 16th 4-0 thumping of Manchester United at Wembley, celebrating his headed goal with the iconic fist-over-heart salute from Attack on Titan. The 22-year-old soccer player later shared images of his goal celebration to social media platforms like Twitter, where he captioned the pictures "Shinzou wo Sasageyo" ("Dedicate your heart"), the iconic phrase from Attack on Titan that often accompanies the salute. He also expressed his pleasure at Liverpool's advancement in to the final with a GIF of Dragon Ball Super's Son Goku transforming into his Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan (Super Saiyan Blue) form.
The French defender has become rather famous for his anime-themed post-match reactions on social media, most of which are based on his love for Attack on Titan. On March 5, Konaté posted a reaction to Liverpool's important victory over West Ham in which he used a GIF of the fight between Eren and Annie in the first season of Attack on Titan to express his pleasure at helping his team win. Fans of the series and of Liverpool F.C. will be looking forward to Konaté's reactions to the F.A. Cup Final where his side will be facing off against Chelsea. His use of Attack on Titan reactions also has the added hilarity of contextual relevance as a Liverpool soccer player because club manager Jurgen Klopp looks eerily similar to the series' antagonist Zeke Jaeger.
The Attack on Titan anime began airing in September 2013, and it is set in a world where humanity has been driven to the brink of extinction by ravenous humanoid giants called Titans. The series has run for four seasons, the last of which, titled Attack on Titan: The Final Season, has been split into what was initially assumed to be two parts, but the third part set for release in 2023 was announced after the end of the final episode of the most recently-aired season. Production of Attack on Titan was initially done by Wit Studio for the first three seasons, with MAPPA taking over for the post time-skip story arc spread over three parts. The most recent iteration from the series is Attack on Titan The Final Season Part 2, which aired from January to April 2022. All 87 episodes can be found on streaming platforms such as Crunchyroll.