The anime world continues to permeate the world of sports. Whether it be through Dragon Ball Z visors making their way into Sunday Night Football games or tattoos for specific franchises making their way into basketball games, it’s clear that anime is making its mark on the sporting events of the western world. Now, Israel Adesanya, a popular UFC fighter, has decided to enter the fray by giving homage to both the Naruto and Death Note franchises as he enters the ring. What exactly did Israel do to make himself not only a ninja of Konoha, but a wielder of the powers of the Shinigami?
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Reddit and Twitter Users managed to find the introductions for Israel when he was introduced prior to his fights, mimicking the hand signs of the village of Konoha and writing out names within a fictional Death Note as if he were none other than Light Yagami himself:
📝 @Stylebender‘s #UFC243 To-Do List:
– Stop the Reaper 💀
— UFC Europe (@UFCEurope) October 6, 2019
– Unify the championships 🏆
– Move to 1️⃣8️⃣-0️⃣ pic.twitter.com/E7oYrKxYqj
You could not find two series that are as different from one another as Naruto and Death Note, with the former focusing on Shonen battles in the setting of a ninja fueled chakra fest and the latter focusing on a battle of wits between an investigator and a brilliant high schooler who happens to hold the powers of a grim reaper. Still, the two franchises hold something in common in that they are both insanely popular and though Death Note has not continued past its initial handful of episodes, it still remains in the minds and hearts of numerous anime fans.
What do you think of Israel Adesanya incorporating the worlds of Naruto and Death Note into his fights? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, Light Yagami, 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.
Originally created by Tsugumi Ohba with illustrations provided by Takeshi Obata for Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump in 2003, Death Note has since inspired an anime series, several video games, an animated film, a novel, and most infamously, a live-action film on Netflix. Though the film wasn’t too well received by fans, it’s not the only live-action adaptation as there were several produced in Japan.
