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I've recently noticed that I see a lot of "Crosses" in manga and anime. I
thought it was just because Japan has a lot of Christians as I remember my
history teacher telling me how Japanese people once really liked the Bible
when Europeans came to explore, until the Shogun or someone of great power
closed the gates of Japan and essentially isolated Japan from the outside
world.

Some of the more popular characters that I currently remember are Asuna Yuuki
(SAO) in the real world when meeting Kirito and Dracule Hawkeye (One Piece).

After further investigation, I realized Japan was only 1 percent Christian.

**Is there another meaning to the Cross in Japan?**


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culture
Why are crosses so popular in anime and manga?


It's not that commom the crosses, I think it's just a coincidence because the
genre of anime you like. One Piece has a lot of cultures involved, so it's not
that surprising to have some crosses, or a Bible like Bartholomew Kuma, and in
the case of Mihawk it's more a reference to vapires. Asuna was part of a guild
that have a holy symbol, the cross that she have remember the guild's symbol,
crosses like that it's commom in medieval themes and in RPG games, like Sword
Art Online. Most of medieval animes or animes that have magic use the western
culture, so a lot of crosses and "sisters" appear. And I think is not because
of the crosses, just the western culture it's more popular in this genre of
anime and has more variety of things.

If you search, most of the animes are not related to crosses or to
christianism, just a few, and because that I say again, it's just the genres
of anime that you like xD


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One possible explanation could be that it looks foriegn or exotic, or
"western". In _Neon Genesis Evangelion_ , which uses [the cross symbol pretty
rampantly](http://wiki.evageeks.org/Cross), one of the creators gave this
explanation (from the [Q&A "Amusing Himself to Death" with
Tsurumaki](http://wiki.evageeks.org/Statements_by_Evangelion_Staff#Kazuya_Tsurumaki:_Q.26A_from_.22Amusing_Himself_to_Death.22)):

> **Can you explain the symbolism of the cross in Evangelion?**
>
> KT: There are a lot of giant robot shows in Japan, and we did want our story
> to have a religious theme to help distinguish us. Because _Christianity is
> an uncommon religion in Japan we thought it would be mysterious_. None of
> the staff who worked on Eva are Christians. There is no actual Christian
> meaning to the show, we just thought _the visual symbols of Christianity
> look cool_. If we had known the show would get distributed in the US and
> Europe we might have rethought that choice.

(Emphasis is mine)

So it may not be that the cross means something different in Japan (most
weddings take place in a Christian church, [I
believe](http://www.seiyaku.com/seiyaku/en/western-wedding.html)), but that
because it has an air of the exotic or mysterious.


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Hideaki Anno is notorious for stating the crosses in Evangeline are pointless.
Well I personally believe that EVA is trying to use existing themes to get its
point across, the show is also filled with Buddhism references. For instance
when Shinji is running away he is sitting under a statue of Hariti
Goddess/Demon for protection of children.

The main use of crosses in EVA is simply that it looks cool and to a mainly
atheist country with a history of Buddhism; it looks interesting and stands
out.

I do believe that since the USA has a history with Christianity we are all
guilty of putting emphasis on certain symbols. Its similar to how most
Americans perceive the majority of anime characters as being white.


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