Michael B. Jordan Explains the Power of Naruto, Dragon Ball

Michael B. Jordan is no stranger to the world of 'nerddom', having appeared in sci-fi thrillers [...]

By Evan Valentine

Michael B. Jordan is no stranger to the world of "nerddom", having appeared in sci-fi thrillers such as Chronicle, along with starring roles in superhero films like Fantastic Four and Black Panther. Wearing his love of anime on his sleeve, Jordan is starting a clothing line with the company Coach, specifically featuring the most popular ninja anime franchise around: Naruto. Recently, in an interview with the publication of High Snobiety, Michael opened up about his love of both Naruto and Dragon Ball and broke down both franchises significance to the world.

The interview can be found here, with Jordan going into detail about his love of anime and the impact it has had on his life overall:

Jordan noted how the introduction of both Dragon Ball and Naruto were so important for some kids growing up, finding the ability to "see themselves" in the characters of the popular anime series:

"There's a whole community lying dormant that has a thirst for seeing themselves in anime, and having characters that represent them so they don't have to imagine that hard. I think as anime starts to become more and more popular, you'll start to see that thirst and desire for these characters that look more like the world that we live in."

Dragon Ball Z and Naruto have managed to cultivate a huge audience around the world, but specifically in the United States when both were shown on Cartoon Network's Toonami block.

What do you think of Michael B Jordan's love of all things anime? Which anime character would you like to see Jordan portray some day? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, Dragon Ball, and the Hidden Leaf Village!

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.

Dragon Ball Super currently airs its English dub on Adult Swim during the Toonami programming block on Saturday evenings, and is also available to stream on Funimation and Amazon Video. The Japanese-language release of the series is complete, and available to stream on FunimationNOW and Crunchyroll. The manga has chapters that can currently be read for free thanks to Viz Media, and Dragon Ball Super's big movie, Dragon Ball Super: Broly, is now available on Blu-ray and DVD.

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