Naruto, apart from being one of the greatest anime of all time, is considered to be one of the most inspiring anime. It revolves around a ninja boy who dreams of becoming the Hokage (village leader). He has to face several threats on his way to fulfill his dream. Masashi Kishimoto, the creator of Naruto, has poured his heart and soul into the anime.
Naruto’s greatness earned it a place among the Big Three of Shonen anime. Masashi Kishimoto has taken inspiration from several people for his magnum opus. Two are Akira Toriyama, Dragon Ball creator, and Yoshihiro Togashi, Hunter x Hunter creator. But there is another person that he was particularly inspired by during his early Naruto days.
Masashi Kishimoto Is Inspired By Quentin Tarantino
Everybody remembers the emotional and awesome fight between Naruto and Sasuke during the Sasuke Revival Mission. People will be surprised to know that many aspects of that fight were inspired by Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill and Reservoir Dogs. Kishimoto is a huge fan of Hollywood movies, especially Quentin Tarantino. He described himself as someone who would easily get influenced by a film.
During his interview in 2008 with the Los Angeles Times, he mentioned getting influenced by Tarantino. Masashi Kishimoto said,
“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 technique…I like the way Quentin Tarantino creates a scene using a series of close-ups or showing very cool images of a person or people walking on some ordinary street in slow motion. I wish I could achieve that kind of slow-motion effect in the manga, but it’s rather difficult to draw; the only things we can play with are tones of black and white.”
Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill and Reservoir Dogs have signature slow-motion walk scenes. The idea of slow motion was used by Masashi Kishimoto in Naruto. To be fair, it worked like a charm for him.
Quentin Tarantino’s Influence On Naruto
Quentin Tarantino is a cinematic genius. Several aspects of his movies influenced Masashi Kishimoto. But people feel that the origin story of O-Ren Ishii, the Queen of the Tokyo Underworld, had quite an influence on Naruto. Lucy Liu portrayed the character with perfection. The fight between Naruto and Sasuke followed this technique, which had the beautiful touch of Tarantino and showcased his knack for violence pretty well.
Not only the fight, but other instances can be found in the manga and anime where it looks like a fight on the surface, but beneath it is an ocean of overflowing emotions. It can be well understood that anime creators, too, get influenced by movie directors. Even though Masashi Kishimoto took a few pages from Quentin Tarantino’s book, he did not forget to add his essence. It is one of the reasons why Naruto became a successful franchise.
Source: Los Angeles Times
