This ‘Baahubali’ mania in Japan is a must-read

With both the editions of 'Baahubali' releasing in Japan and catching the imagination of a vast section of filmgoers, Baahubalian fan art has become quite an interesting facet of the movies' popularity in that country.  We may not have seen much drawing of Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Sathyaraj, Anushka, and Tamannah in India.  (See Pics).

One of the reasons the two editions of the magnum opus have impressed the Japanese is because the "the central plot of the 'Baahubali' films is not too different from the myth of the Kishuryuritan in Japanese literature and mythology."

Onodera, a well-known Japanese film critic, has reportedly written that "Rajamouli has inherited the spirit of Akira Kurosawa and George Lucas".  Onodera has also noted that the Jakkanna's films are "similar to Kurosawa’s 'Yojimbo' and 'The Hidden Fortress' and Lucas’s 'Star Wars' movies".