The “Storming of Area 51” event may have been canceled, but the spirit of this ridiculous spectacle lives on. With the famed “Naruto Runner” dashing his way past a live broadcast, scores of fans across the world have decided to add this moment to their collection of memes. Aside from simply basking in the wake of Elia Elixir, the Konoha sprinter, those who spectated this one in a lifetime moment have diced a petition on Change.org in order to try to have a statue erected in this young man’s honor. Whether or not the statue itself will manage to forge a relationship between Earth and extraterrestrials is a question for the future.
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The petition as of this moment has over 2500 signatures, looking to hit its goal of 5000 on the popular petition website. Even should the goal be reached, it’s still anyone’s guess if an actual statue will be created for Elia and where it will be stationed. We doubt it will be placed in front of, or anywhere near, the mysterious government installation of Area 51, but maybe it should be.
When the Area 51 event first began, it gained a ton of notoriety thanks to the sheer humor involved. Celebrities across the world such as Keanu Reeves pledged their support for the march to discover Area 51, with participants wrapping up the popular Naruto franchise into the mix by stating that they would be able to “outrun bullets fired at them by running like Naruto”. So intense did the build up become that even the government had to brief their employees on just what the “Naruto run” was, making the entire event all the more unbelievable!
Though ultimately, only dozens appeared at the event in an attempt to discover if Area 51 harbored extraterrestrial life, it’s clear that the events that took place as part of this spectacle will not soon be forgotten.
Do you think a statue should be erected for the now legendary Naruto runner who was a part of the Area 51 event? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, Naruto, and Area 51!
Originally created by Masashi Kishimoto for Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump in 1999, Naruto follows a young ninja, with a sealed demon within him, that wishes to become the leader of his home village. The series ran for 700 chapters overall, and was adapted into an anime series by Studio Pierrot and Aniplex that ran from 2002 to 2017. The series was popular enough to warrant a sequel, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations which is set several years after the events of the original Naruto story and features the children of many of its key characters such as Naruto and Hinata.
