Naruto creator took inspiration from one of Keanu Reeves’ most iconic roles to design this important character

Throughout the Naruto animated and manga series, we find dozens of key characters who accompanied the Konoha ninja during his adventures or faced him in epic battles that make you want to see them again and again. We could say that Masashi Kishimoto, the author of the work, has a great imagination to invent so many characters, but the most curious thing is Where does the inspiration for the design of one of these come from? .

To do this, we have to go back to September 1999, the same year when the first issue of the manga was released. This moment is therefore key because a few months earlier The Matrix was released on the big screen, a great film for science fiction movie fans and which starred Keanu Reeves in the role of Neo.

In fact, you could say it became one of the most iconic and important roles of his entire career. So much so that for Kishimoto, his performance did not go unnoticed, which triggered a trigger in his mind to decide that he wanted to pay homage to these films in a special way. This led him to design some characters inspired by Neo’s appearance, mainly in Gaara’s case .

The creator of Naruto has never hidden being a big fan of the saga Matrix this is why he was inspired by the artistic direction of these films for the creations of Naruto Shippuden as happened with the Kazekage of the Hidden Sand Village due to the clothes he wears, since they are clearly based on the ones Keanu Reeves uses in those films.

Additionally, Kishimoto made it clear that the homage had to be perfect, so I had no problem delaying the release of the manga , despite publishing a weekly issue in Shonen Jump. And Gaara’s clothes weren’t easy for him to draw, so it took a little more time due to all the details they have, but for him it was worth the effort.