The creator of Naruto believes that the success of his work owes much to Quentin Tarantino and Michael Bay.
The mythical Naruto Shippuden is one of the most popular manga and anime works in history that was released for the first time more than two decades ago. However, something that many of the followers of Naruto may not know, is that its creator Masashi Kishimoto is a fan of Quentin Tarantino and Michael Bay and that even his films inspired him to create the corn hair ninja.
In an old 2008 interview for the Los Angeles Times (via Critical Hits ), Kishimoto revealed long ago that as a good fan of foreign cinema he was inspired by many of the images created by directors such as Quentin Tarantino and Michael Bay to carry out the Naruto manga.
Of course, as Kishimoto himself pointed out, recreating or trying to capture the same effects of the cinema in the manga is not only complicated but impossible; however, he said that he once managed to adapt a technique from Outrage director Takeshi Kitano, which consists of “shooting objects from a great distance to stifle emotion in the scene.”
“I watch a lot of movies and I tend to be influenced by scenes that intrigue me, that make me want to use the same effects or techniques, ” Kishimoto explained. “ I like the way Quentin Tarantino creates a scene using a series of close-ups or showing slow-motion images of people walking down a common street. I would like to get that kind of slow-motion effect in the manga, but it is quite difficult to draw. I also like Michael Bay’s technique of shooting a scene against the light. I would like to try this in the manga, but again, it would be very difficult, ” revealed the artist.
At that time the creator of Naruto also accepted that he never believed that his work could exceed the limits of borders but attributed its success to his influences outside of Japan. ” All the people who have influenced me have been very successful in other countries,” he said. “Naruto owes a lot to these artists who have gained acceptance and popularity abroad,” he concluded.
The Naruto manga was first published in 1999 and the rest is history.
