Source: Yoshiyuki Harada (@yohar1144) - image reproduced with permission

“It’s Sailor Moon!” Viral photo of Tokyo Skytree elicits comparisons with anime heroine’s wand

Gorgeous photos of Tokyo Skytree and the crescent moon

Japanese photographer Yoshiyuki Harada (@yohar1114) specializes in nightscape photography. He mainly focuses on the Tokyo area and his gorgeous photos have been recognized several times by the Tokyo Camera Club.

Last weekend, Harada trained his camera and his full attention on Tokyo Skytree. It was a beautiful evening with hardly any clouds and the crescent moon shone brightly in the night sky.

The photos he took that night captured the Tokyo monument in beautiful detail and color, at just the right angle so that it was superimposed on the crescent moon, creating a stunning composition.

After Harada posted two of his favorite photos from the evening on his Twitter account, the post quickly went viral, with over 121,000 likes and 22,000 retweets at the time of writing.

"When Tokyo Skytree and the crescent moon overlap"

Reproduced with permission from Yoshiyuki Harada (@yohar1114)

Reproduced with permission from Yoshiyuki Harada (@yohar1114)

Considering the quality of the images, it's not difficult to imagine why the post would be popular, but the photos' viral appeal was aided by the fact that they instantly reminded many Twitter users of a certain famous anime heroine and her magic stick (not to mention other characters from anime, games and tokusatsu shows).

Some of the comments were:

  • "It's like Sailor Moon!"
  • "It looks like a scene from Sailor Moon"
  • "Rather than Sailor Moon, it looks like a scene where Tuxedo Mask might appear!"
  • "So magical! I was reminded of Sailor Moon
  • "Alexa play Moonlight Densetsu"

Reminiscent of Sailor Moon

In response to all the comments he received, Harada conducted a poll two days later, and as you can see from the results, over 73% of the nearly 4,800 people who voted responded with "Sailor Moon," but there were other contenders as well:

"(...) Please vote on what this reminded you of!"

  • Sailor Moon
  • Date Masamune 1
  • Zambot 3 2
  • others

In case you're curious, some other suggestions were:

  • Tartarus, Thanatos Tower, in the PlayStation game Revelations: Persona
  • Blue-Eyes White Dragon in the Yu-Gi-Oh! trading card game
  • Kamen Rider Gaim

Other photos from Yoshiyuki Harada

If you enjoyed those photos, Harada has many other amazing photographs for you to enjoy. For example, look at these stunning shots taken at a location where it's possible to see Tokyo Tower and Tokyo Skytree overlapping:

Or this breathtaking view of the climactic moment at the Nagaoka Fireworks Festival in Niigata Prefecture:

Social media links

If you'd like to enjoy more of Yoshiyuki Harada's excellent nightscape photography, follow him on one of the social media accounts below:

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Notes:

1. Date Masamune 伊達政宗 (1567-1636) was a legendary warrior and regional ruler known for his crescent-moon helmet.
2. Zambot 3 is the titular robot in the 1977 anime Invincible Super Man Zambot 3 無敵超人ザンボット3, which also has a crescent-moon emblem on its head.

By - Ben K.

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