Kumamoto Castle may be more than meets the eye. 

No trip to Kumamoto Prefecture on the southern Japanese island of Kyushu is complete without at least one Kumamon sighting and a visit to Kumamoto Castle, known as one of the top three castles in all of Japan. Sadly, the famous landmark sustained heavy damage in the April 2016 Kumamoto earthquakes. Although restoration efforts began just two months later, it’s estimated that it will take decades to fully repair the destruction wreaked by Mother Nature.

Thankfully, Kumamoto Castle’s historical and cultural significance hasn’t been lost despite needing a little makeover. Plenty of tourists still go to visit it, including Japanese Twitter user @NiceGuuuy late last week. Upon seeing the particular state of the scaffolding enveloping the building’s structure, he arrived at a humorous realization–that more than a little, the castle actually resembled a robot in disguise:

▼ “Kumamoto Castle looking like it’s about to transform at any moment. It’s tickling my manly senses.” 

OK, if that’s what the Transformer castle looks like on a more inanimate object-feeling day, what about at night? A second Twitter user followed-up with the photographic evidence:

While Japanese net users were disappointed not to catch the castle in the midst of a transformation, they did leave their various musings in the comments section of the original post.

“The real question is whether it’s an Autobot or a Decepticon.”
“It looks like it would be the final stage of Sasuke [known as Ninja Warrior internationally].”
“I’ve been inside it many times and it’s definitely tough to see it like this. I hope that it’s restored to its original form soon.”

Others got even more in on the fun by drawing parallels to a ’90s Japanese TV show called Ninja Sentai Kakuranger [Ninja Rangers], which included the fused mecha Muteki Shogun (“Invincible General”) whose design drew elements from feudal Japanese castles:

▼ “Is this it?”

▼ “So cool!!”

Here’s one referencing 1988 sci-fi film Mirai Ninja [Cyber Ninja]:

▼ “How about this?”

All Hasbro toy and campy tokusatsu jokes aside, please consider purchasing one of these miniature Kumamoto Castles or a Kumamoto-themed Kit Kat if you would like to help support the reconstruction efforts there.

Source: Twitter/@NiceGuuuy
Featured image: Twitter/@NiceGuuuy