Gigantor Lives!

I mentioned a long, long time ago that a 60-foot-tall statue of Gigantor was being built in Kobe, Japan — looks like it’s finally been completed.

Designed as a permanent tourist attraction, the Gigantor monument was organized under the NPO Kobe Tetsujin Project to honor the work of the late cartoonist Mitsuteru Yokoyama, a Kobe native and the genius behind such manga classics as Sally the Witch and Giant Robo.

Gigantor is also a symbol of the rebirth of Kobe after it was devastated by the 1995 earthquake that killed more than 6,000 people. January 2010 marks the 15th anniversary of the tragedy.

Ironically, Gigantor was inspired by Yokoyama’s experiences in World War II, specifically the awesome sight of U.S. B-29 Superfortresses flying over Kobe, which was bombed to ashes.

This comes after Japan recently completed a giant Gundam statue — a Gundam statue that actually moves, let me add. Come on, America, we’re falling way behind — there is now a significant giant-robot-statue deficit here!