The Tokyo 2020 Olympics May Have A Full-On Anime Parade

The Summer Olympics will be making their way to Japan in 2020 – and they might be inspiring a rather unique celebration along the way.

Yoshiro Mori, former Japanese Prime Minister and the chairman of The Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, recently revealed his early ideas for the country’s opening and closing ceremonies.

“We shouldn’t do anything too unusual.” Mori explained. “For example, even if we did kabuki or sumo wresting, the people of the world wouldn’t understand them. What they’ll understand most is anime and manga.”

So what characters from the wide array of anime and manga properties would that possibly include? Mori quickly elaborated, throwing a few suggestions out there.

“Doraemon, Hello Kitty, and Astro Boy.” Mori hinted. “A manga parade. Something like that would be good.”

This possibility is sure to come as a pleasant surprise to many anime fans, as its certainly an unconventional choice on paper. But it wouldn’t be the first time that Japan would display a pop culture influence on the Olympic stage. At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made headlines for jumping out of a pipe in a Super Mario cosplay.

While Mori’s idea of an anime-inspired Olympic parade is in a fairly early stage, it certainly isn’t out of the realm of possibility.

Early merchandise for the Tokyo games features a multitude of anime characters, including Sailor Moon, Astro Boy, Dragon Ball‘s Son Goku, One Piece‘s Luffy, Naruto, Crayon Shin-chan, some magical girls from Pretty Cure, and Yo-Kai Watch‘s Jibanyan. These characters were later dubbed ‘Olympics Ambassadors’ – possibly hinting that a larger, anime-influenced celebration could be on the way.

[h/t: RocketNews24]