Jordan Peele's Nope Features Major Anime Reference

By Evan Valentine

Nope is the latest entry from director Jordan Peele, who made two ground-breaking horror movies in Get Out and Us, with this story of unidentified flying objects rounding out the trilogy. While this movie is a blend of horror and spectacle, Nope also had a wild anime reference within its run time which also references a project that never materialized that would have had the prolific director diving into the world of Neo-Tokyo.

Towards the film's finale, Keke Palmer's character is seen sliding her motorcycle in a scene that looks torn straight from the legendary anime movie, Akira. Interestingly enough, Warner Bros had previously offered Peele a live-action Akira movie to helm, though he ultimately turned it down. Still, it seems that the director was more than happy to share this wild reference to the film. 

A previous preview for Jordan Peele's Nope highlighted the Akira slide, with a number of Twitter Users taking note of the major anime reference:

Our own Nathaniel Brail reviewed Nope and found the movie to be outstanding and a worthy entry in the roster of Jordan Peele's expanding horror library:

"Jordan Peele has had a significantly successful career since the finale of Key & Peele, with the comedian choosing to begin making films. Peele started off his filmmaking journey with a huge cultural impact, directing Get Out, one of the biggest films of the past 10 years. When Get Out was released, no one knew what to expect from Peele, and he did more than deliver. The film touched on themes that most directors wouldn't even dream of putting on screen, and he did it masterfully." 

"Peele would then go on to direct the horror film Us next, and some labeled it "the greatest horror film of all time." Us wasn't as fine-tuned as Get Out was, but it definitely showed that the director was a force to be reckoned with. After the release of Us, Peele would take a break from directing the film and move his focus to producing until he was ready to announce his next project. Some fans were wondering if the director would be able to pull off another great film, and now that I've seen his third film, Nope, I can safely say that the film is one of the greatest takes on the sci-fi genre."

Akira's creator, Katsuhiro Otomo, had previously announced that a new anime series was in the works for the legendary franchise, though it's been years since the original announcement was made and no news has been revealed. 

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