anime tattoos top

Japan is known for having an extreme level of distrust and distaste for tattoos, while at the same time churning out some of the most amazing tattoo artwork in the world. There’s no shortage of anime-inspired tattoos either, and we’ve seen everything ranging from Evangelion to Love Live! to Studio Ghibli films.

But perhaps the most impressive belongs to Japanese Twitter user @Sound_mattsun, who last summer showed off the basic outlines of ’80s and ’90s anime tattoos that would fill up his entire back. Now, almost a year later, he’s back with the finished, fully-colored product, and it is truly a sight that would make any Shonen Jump otaku weep with joy.

It turns out that @Sound_mattsun is the bassist for the Japanese rock band SoundWitch, while also being a huge anime otaku. Along with posting pictures of his group’s concerts on Twitter, you also find gems like this:

▼ “Hooray! My Dragon Ball omikuji (fortune) says my power level is 530,000!”

▼ “Captain Tsubasa chocolates! Aw yeah, got some of those!”

▼ “I set my Yahoo! Mail to have a Dragon Ball skin and now it’s all written in Namekian and I can’t read it!”

And to forever memorialize his love of classic Shonen Jump, Mattsun has spent the last year and a total of 30 hours under the needle to produce this giant tattoo on his back:

There’s a lot going on in that picture, so let’s take a look at each part individually.

▼ First up is of course Goku from Dragon Ball. We’re guessing Mattsun spent a lot of time as a kid in front of his TV, screaming along to Saiyans powering up, just like we did.

▼ Then we get Himura Kenshin from Rurouni Kenshin, looking like he’s ready to cut anyone up if they dare call his anime “old.”

▼ Next up is Captain Tsubasa in his non-chocolate form.

▼ Here’s Slam Dunk’s Hanamichi Sakuragi – perhaps the inspiration for Mattsun’s choice of hair color?

▼ Changing it up from the tough guys a bit we get Makibao from Midori no Makibao, the most cow-looking mule I’ve ever seen.

▼ And then Yusuke Urameshi from YuYu Hakusho pointing his spirit gun right at you.

▼ The fairly obscure Magical Taruruto also makes an appearance, showing just how huge a fan Mattsun is of Shonen Jump, that such a small series made such an impact on him.

City Hunter‘s Ryo Saeba looking like he’s ready to kick some ass and get some ladies’ phone numbers.

▼ And last but not least Hell Teacher Nube, equal parts elementary school teacher and possessed Demon’s Hand.

Just looking through the above pictures, you can feel Mattsun’s intense passion for his Shonen Jump idols. His tattoos are truly a work of art and a beautiful way to immortalize the characters that have had such an effect on his life. Now if only we could say the same about some other tattoos we’ve seen before….

Source: Facebook and Twitter via NetLab
Featured/top image: Facebook