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Interest
Fans and Artists Ring in the New Year with Anime Prayer Plaques

posted on by Bamboo Dong

Throughout the year, and especially at the start of a new one, many visit Shinto shrines to hang ema, wooden plaques that carry the worshippers' prayers or wishes on one side, and colorful illustrations on the other side, typically of the kami who inhabit the shrine, or the new year's zodiac animal.

These days, though, it's not out of place to see ita-ema, basically, ema sporting anime illustrations, especially at Kanda Shrine, located near Akihabara. While some are officially licensed goods (check out the Kanda Shrine Twitter for some of its previous and upcoming anime collaborations), others sport elaborate fan illustrations, some by popular doujinshi and pixiv artists. In the past, anime announcements have even been made on ema.

Fortunately, for those of us who can't make it over, plenty of websites have rounded up Twitter pictures, giving us a small taste of what this year's ita-ema have to offer.

From Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha ViVid mangaka Takuya Fujima:

An ema from Tsukimonogatari character designer Akio Watanabe.

From Lucky Star and Miyakawa-ke no Kūfuku creator Kagami Yoshimizu

[Via Hachima Kikou, Moe Ota-News]


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