Manga Artists Imagine National Flags As Anime Characters

With the 2020 Olympics edging into our peripherals faster and faster, its no wonder the manga [...]

By Evan Valentine

With the 2020 Olympics edging into our peripherals faster and faster, its no wonder the manga artists would be itching to create entirely new characters based off of nation's flags. While not officially linked to next year's summer festivities, artists took it upon themselves to create 32 samurai draped in armor representing the flags of the world. Though we don't foresee these characters uniting in an anime or manga franchise any time soon, its still pretty neat to see these new representations of the world take life.

Sora News 24 posted the compilation on their Twitter Account, diving into the samurai who wear their nations on their sleeves:

The official website for this project is looking to do the following with this new endeavor:

"introduce the flags of the world and some information about them using cool Japanese traditional clothes (samurai, firefighter, Japanese monk etc)!"

America
(Photo: Toei Animation)

There have been quite a few representations of "America" in anime, with the most recent being that of the character of All Might from My Hero Academia. All Might brandishes a costume that seems to take the colors of America's flag and wrap them around his hulking frame and has several attacks that incite the United States on several occasions. His ultimate punch is even called "The United States of Smash", which he used in putting down his ultimate arch-rival, All For One. His young disciple Midoriya has even taken on some of the names from his mentor, delivering a "Delaware Smash" to the villainous Muscular.

There's also the ridiculous representation of America in "Bandit Keith" from the Yu-Gi-Oh! series who wore a US flag as a bandana whenever he was dueling opponents. Ultimately, Keith is banished the Shadow Realm, yet his body still fights under the employ of some sinister duelists later in the franchise. Lady Liberty wept!

We'll keep an eye out to see if these samurai end up making any additional appearances in the future, but it certainly gets us excited to see next year's Summer Olympics!

What's your favorite samurai pictured here among these 32 nations? What nations would you like to see added here that didn't get the chance to be given their own ronin? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics and anime!

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