The anime series "Crayon Shin-chan" features a cartoon version of the Japanese basketball star in an episode named "The Adventures of Buri Buri Zaemon: Space Dunk Edition," which provides insight into the details of Hachimura's heroic effort.
With over 1,000 episodes broadcast since its 1992 premiere, the popular Japanese show features Hachimura's special voice for his character.
Hachimura said, "My family and I are big fans of Crayon Shin-chan," in a statement that was uploaded to the TV Asahi website in Japanese. "It was a lot of fun."
Some photos from the episode were shared by the official X account for "Crayon Shin-chan." The cartoon version of Hachimura covering the characters Shinnosuke (a mischievous 5-year-old named Shin-chan) and Buri Buri Zaemon (a talking pig).
Videos of the real-life Hachimura, 25 year-old, posing with a person dressed as Shin-chan and recording his voiceovers in a studio were also shared on the show's account.
In Hachimura's "Crayon Shin-chan" episode, the animated character keeps practicing basketball for 8 days continuously without food, and the city looks like Los Angeles. He thus goes to eat hamburgers with Shin-chan and Buri Buri Zaemon, only to get the news about the earth's imminent doom.
What will be the end result? When the episode releases on TV Asahi in the city of Tokyo and its connected stations countrywide on Saturday afternoon, fans in Japan will find out. Unfortunately, there isn't a plan set up at this time to stream or broadcast the episode in the United States.