Junji Ito Discusses the Possibility of a Naruto x Uzumaki Crossover

Junji Ito was one of the many big guests slotted for Comic-Con at Home weekend, and during his special panel with Viz Media the famous horror creator discussed the hilarious possibility of a crossover between Uzumaki and another famous Uzumaki, Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki is one of the most famous action heroes from the pages of Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine, and although it has had its fair share of scary moments, the series is far and away from what you would classify as a traditional horror story. Now that could change with someone with intimate knowledge of the genre, Junji Ito.

Unfortunately for fans who might have liked to see such a hilarious crossover, Ito wouldn't even entertain the notion. When jokingly asked whether or not there ever were plans for a potential crossover between Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto and Junji Ito's Uzumaki world, Ito had the following to say, "So I'm not sure if it's just gossip that's out there, but there is no Naruto Uzumaki crossover planned. However, in the past I have collaborated with fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto and I think we'll be collaborating again in the future."

There might not be an official Uzumaki x Uzumaki crossover in our future, but at the end of the day it's alright as we will soon be getting a full anime adaptation of the famous story. Produced by Adult Swim and Production I.G., the new Uzumaki anime currently does not have a concrete release date as of this writing. We have gotten several details since it was initially announced last year, however, including the full cast for the Japanese language version.

Uzumaki's Japanese voice cast includes Uke Satake as Kirie Goshima, Shin-ichiro Miki as Shuichi Saito, Toshio Furukawa as Kirie's father, Takashi Matsuyama as Shuichi's father, Mika Doi as Yukie Saito, Mariya Ise as Azami Kurotami, Katsutoshi Matsuzaki as Katayama, Wataru Hatano as Okada, Tatsumaru Tachibana as Tsumura, and Koichi Tochika as Yokota. Unfortunately, the cast for the English dub release of the series has yet to be confirmed as of this writing.

Would you check out Junji Ito's take on Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto? How well do you think the two franchises could blend together in a crossover? Are you excited for the upcoming Uzumaki anime? 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!