Danica Davidson
May 23, 2023 
Michael B. Jordan, the actor and director of Creed III, has been open about his love of anime and how it influenced the movie. Creed III is about to hit Japanese theaters, and while he’s in the country stumping for the release, he’s gotten to do some pretty cool otaku activities. And he’s gotten some one-of-a-kind merchandise.
For starters, he stopped by Studio Pierrot, which fans know is the company that produced Naruto. He was surely excited by seeing the studio, and the studio was excited to have him stop by. SoraNews24 provides the following translation for Pierrot’s tweet: “Actor Michael B. Jordan, who’s known as a big Naruto fan, came to visit us at Pierrot! Naruto character designer Tetsuya Nishio presented him with a shikishi.”
大の #NARUTO 好きで知られる俳優のマイケル・B・ジョーダンさんがぴえろに遊びに来られました！
NARUTOのキャラクターデザイナー・西尾鉄也氏の色紙をプレゼント！ pic.twitter.com/aXi7xAPrr6— 株式会社ぴえろ (@studiopierrot) May 22, 2023
He wasn’t done after getting the shikishi, though. He also went to a JUMP store, and you can see him standing with Naruto, standing in front of the store, and checking out My Hero Academia stickers.
https://twitter.com/warnerjp/status/1659146464042565633
During an interview with IGN Fan Fest, Jordan previously said about the anime influences in Creed III: “Without nerding out too much…You’ve seen so many fights throughout the Rocky and Creed franchise, and I really wanted to put my spin on it, you know? How to make these fights different, and you know, from Hajime no Ippo, to MEGALOBOX, to Naruto, to My Hero Academia, all of those different anime that I watched growing up, there’s an inherent spirit to them in how they fight.”
Jordan has also been plugging the fact that in Japan, moviegoers will get to see a special extra anime at the end. Not much is known about it yet, but several people from MEGALOBOX’s crew are involved.
“My passion just grew over the years, and I found myself being an avid anime fan,” Jordan said in 2019.
Source: SoraNews24
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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, plus its sequel, Manga Art for Everyone, and the first-of-its-kind manga chalk book Chalk Art Manga, both illustrated by professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.
