Naruto Creator Praises My Hero Academia Following Art Exhibit Debut

Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto had some major praise for My Hero Academia series creator Kohei Horikoshi following the debut of the hero series' first art exhibit in Japan! The franchise is currently celebrating the fifth anniversary of its anime now that the series is airing new episodes in Japan as part of the Spring 2021 anime season. It's a big anniversary for a number of reasons, and one of which is a new exhibit opening in Japan featuring new art from series creator Kohei Horikoshi himself.

Part of this celebration featuring a number of comments from fellow Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine creators offering their words of praise for Horikoshi in the big event. Creators such as One Piece's Eiichiro Oda, Black Clover's Yuki Tabata, Jujutsu Kaisen's Gege Akutami and more are a part of this, and one comment comes from Naruto's creator Masashi Kishimoto as well.

Kishimoto's comment for Horikoshi (as spotted and translated by @aitaikimochi on Twitter) begins as such, "Horikoshi's art is simple, but he hones excellent drawing skills, which always makes his art stand out. His style is comprised of details so fine-tuned that it must take a lot of time to draw. I greatly respect his art because it allows his characters to have a multitude of expressions..."

Continuing further, Kishimoto continued praising Horikoshi's work as such, "[H]e can either choose to draw from either a wide angle to an extreme close up, allowing him to be very versatile. For me, any manga artist who can draw hands and eyes well are usually very skilled, but Horikoshi's skill is beyond that - he's so top class that I'm actually jealous!"

Kishimoto and Horikoshi have showed their respect for one another's work in the past. This includes some cool sketches of Naruto's creator from Horikoshi, and a full and official crossover between the two series illustrated by Kishimoto. The two franchises have a core connection between the two as they feature a hero possessed by a foreign power they can't control, but in the years since its debut My Hero Academia has evolved into its own kind of realm.

But what do you think? How do you compare Naruto to My Hero Academia? Is it even possible to compare the two series or are they just too different? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or you can even reach out to me directly about all things animated and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!