A Golden Statue Of Mikey Being Worshipped In Japan
Tokyo Revengers was the most well-received anime in 2021, not only in Japan but in other countries as well. The anime viewership broke many records and the manga counterpart ruled the sales chart with an overwhelming 30 million copies in a single year. And, now to commemorate the success of the franchise a Tokyo Revengers Exhibition is being held in Japan.
During the exhibition, the makers of the series revealed a big golden statue of Sano Manjiro aka ‘Mikey’ who is erected in a reclining position. At the time of the event, a prayer ceremony was also held in front of the Mikey statue to pray for the success and safety of the event.
Mikey serves as the deuteragonist (second major character) of the series and plays an important role in the current storyline of Tokyo Revengers. However, the newly erected golden statue of him is similar to the holy reclining statue of Buddha who is worshipped by Buddhists as a sign of respect.
In ancient writing, a reclining Buddha is an image that represents Buddha lying down and is a major iconographic theme in Buddhist art. It represents the historical Buddha during his last illness. So, it can be a little contrasting for a few fans, “Why Mikey is being treated as some kind of God?”
Statues of characters from anime like One Piece and Attack On Titan has also been established in the past but they all were meant to be for public display and didn’t imply any signs of religion & culture. Maybe, the Mikey golden statue was built keeping in mind the ‘Swastika’ sign of Tokyo Manji Gang which is a symbol of divinity & spirituality in religions like Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.
Apart from it, the Tokyo Revengers Exhibition is going to be a long event as it will be held from Jan 29 – Feb 14, 2022, in Tokyo, Japan. Special goods & products will be on sale during the event and people also can win exciting prizes in a lucky draw specially organized by the management. More details are enlisted on the official website of the exhibition.
So, if you’re in Japan then make sure to give a visit to the Tokyo Revengers Exhibition and don’t forget to share this article with your fellow otaku friends so that we can come up with more fresh and exciting articles like this one.
