Who knew that the best teachers would turn out to be anime and Photoshop?

Now that Japan has officially entered the period of Reiwa after 30 years in Heisei, world leaders are acknowledging Emperor Naruhito’s ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne. Among them is Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, who offered words of congratulations a few days after the succession with a post on social media Twitter.

▼ Good thing Google-sensei helped us translate Portuguese (translation below).

“May peace and prosperity continue to flourish in Japan in the Reiwa Era, begun with the rise of Emperor Naruhito after the admirable reign of Akihito. And that in this new era the friendship between Brazil and Japan, traditional partners and friends, becomes even greater. BANZAI!”

Perhaps the replies that came in consisted of random anime pictures — netizens showing how anime has influenced their lives — or perhaps Bolsonaro was suddenly made aware of an integral part of Japanese culture he was not familiar with, because the president soon tweeted a bewildered “Animes?”, as if he did not fully grasp the concept.

It was a simple question to be fair, but one that showed a certain lack of pop cultural awareness regarding the country he’d cited as a close ally of Brazil. Brazilian netizens immediately took it upon themselves to educate their president about the world of anime using a plethora of visual aids.

▼ They photoshop-decorated his office with various anime posters…

https://twitter.com/DFG1404/status/1124059352028065794

▼ …and made him best buddies with Goku.

▼ Some painted him as the villainous Light Yagami from Death Note…

https://twitter.com/Geferson_L2/status/1124274486390476801

▼ …since the resemblance with the president’s younger self was simply uncanny.

▼ A few thought he was Akainu from One Piece.

▼ The ladies of K-ON! would certainly teach him everything about anime.

https://twitter.com/Mizumi_Karu/status/1124061484563279882

Bolsonaro eventually did learn a thing or two about Japanese animation, for his next tweet revealed a photoshopped scene out of Naruto where the leader of the same name kept his village safe with a benevolent eye, as if Brazil was the village and him the fabled hero of legends.

▼ “Thank you very much for the homage! Beautiful anime!”

Hardcore anime fans will be pleased with how Bolsonaro accepted his impromptu lessons about Japan’s animation industry provided by netizens, and the way he seems to be embracing anime even as Barack Obama does not care one bit about Pikachu.

Source: Metropoles via Yurukuyaru, My Game News Flash
Featured image: Twitter/Geferson_L2
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!