Elon Musk is an influential entrepreneur who boasts a vast following on social media platforms. The CEO of Space X and owner of Twitter often converses with his followers on various political, geographical, and social issues. However, in 2018, he surprised everyone with his love for anime.
Musk’s fascination for animated films and shows stems from the field he works in. Given that he supports the advancement of technology and artificial intelligence, the businessman has high regard for anime because it experiments with tech creativity and invention. Many believe that he may even buy a popular animation studio to dabble in that industry.
Elon Musk Wanted To Create A Mecha After His Obsession With Anime
Considered to be a ‘weeaboo’, Elon Musk once declared on the messaging platform X (formerly Twitter) that he planned to bring anime to life by creating a mecha. Mechas are giant mechanized robots that are piloted by an individual inside the structure. These ‘technological innovations’ have been heavily featured in Japanese anime culture over the years.
Mechas have inspired robot structures and even designs for movies such as that of Mecha-King Godzilla in the Godzilla franchise. Taking a liking to them, Elon Musk tweeted in October 2016, that “it is time to create a mecha” after having revealed his love for anime. The post gained over 200,000 likes and over 50,000 retweets in a few weeks.
It is time to create a mecha
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 14, 2018
Mechas do exist in the real world. However, their distribution is limited to industry owners or tech researchers because of their highly mechanized nature. Most of the blueprints are inspired by Gundam from the Mobile Suit Gundam anime that was released in 1979, although the mecha genre in manga was started by Mitsuteru Yokoyama in1956 with his work Tetsujin 28 (Ironman #28).
Prior to the aforementioned tweet, Musk had also claimed that he adored the 2016 anime called ‘Your Name.’ With a runtime of 107 minutes, the romance drama features Mitsuha Miyamizu and Taki Tachibana’s love story. The two soulmates have the ability to intermittently switch their bodies.
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What Anime Does Elon Musk Like?
After revealing his love for Your Name, Elon Musk’s followers on Twitter asked him about his other favorite works. He has been a fan of many notable anime, including Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke which were written and directed by the award-winning mangaka Hayao Miyazaki. Miyazaki set the bar for upcoming animations as he explored tragic topics, depicted lush landscapes of Tokyo, and enhanced them with his direction style.
Great. Also love Princess Mononoke.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 14, 2018
Elon Musk’s anime watchlist also includes DeathNote and Evangelion. DeathNote tells the story of Light Yagami and how he finds a book belonging to a Soul Reaper that could make him instantly kill a person after writing his/her name. The only limitation was that Light, who deemed himself the ‘God of the New World’, needed a name and a face to commit the crime.
Speaking of Evangelion, Musk is a fan of NERV, a special organization in the anime that is responsible for creating Evangelions that counter the threat of Angels. It is directly under the control of the fictional United Nations and thus wields tremendous power – much like SpaceX and Tesla.
