High level college sports is quintessentially American

College women aren’t taboo.

I would guess the average manga consumer isn’t into sports.

I’m no expert on this, but in addition to the other factors people mentioned, I would say that people in Japan seem to pay a lot more attention to high school sports. The Koshien Stadium and the high school baseball tournaments name after it are very famous. I’m not even interested in sports, but I know about them and often notice friends talking about them online. I know absolutely nothing about the college baseball tournaments or where they’re held.

Why children in general. I hate it. Just make everyone be 18+ and you can have your pervy moments and not be a pedo (not talking to you op, just frustration at the pedo problem in anime and manga)

I have also been wondering. I doubt there is any satisfying answers to this. It’s most likely just a symptom of the entertainment industry in Japan favoring works that have that setting. Similar things happen all over the world, Hollywood goes through phases of churning out media that plays in to pop culture. It’s not necessarily nefarious or bad, humans just kinda be in hive mind mode sometimes

Tangent: Any recommendations for sports in a professional setting? Hajime no Ippo is great, but looking for others as well.