Boruto fans believe that Lisa of K-Pop girl group BLACKPINK inspired the character design of Eida, the series’ cyborg villain.
Kodoani.com – Fans Boruto: Naruto Next Generations believes that Lisa, a member of K-Pop girl group BLACKPINK, inspired the character design for Eida.
Per Anime Senpai, Boruto fans are posting comparisons between the cyborg villain and the Thai K-Pop singer all over social media. A tweet shows Eida posing like Lisa. Another tweet shows Eida copying Lisa’s style on the cover of Boruto Vol. 15. There are more tweets showing how Eida looks like Lisa.
Mikio Ikemoto is a Japanese illustrator working on Boruto: Naruto Next Generations. Prior to making the 2016 sequel series, Ikemoto was Masashi Kishimoto’s main assistant for the Naruto manga. Ikemoto worked with Kishimoto on Naruto from 1999 to 2014. Currently, there is no official comment from Ikemoto or anyone from the Boruto staff confirming fans’ suspicions that Lisa inspired the cast. Eida.
#BORUTO
Can’t believe boruto got his life ruined by Lisa from BLACKPINK????????♂️ pic.twitter.com/KcV069gbpH
— Youngwiz (@YoungwiMn) March 27, 2023
It escaped me that Lisa is used as a reference for Eida in Boruto???? pic.twitter.com/H1KCAAk2fw
— M1M1 rest (@M_M_3_27) February 13, 2023
#eida character in #boruto is inspired from #BLACKPINK ‘S #LISA #eida x #LISA ???? pic.twitter.com/aHXYmZxhy9
— Adithya (@_Adithya_77) April 7, 2023
It was revealed recently that Ikemoto uses K-pop singer Lisa as a reference for Eida in Boruto. I definitely 100% see it now. pic.twitter.com/3crf1aMrCo
— Michael Madlock (@_MichaelMadlock) December 20, 2022
While the connection between villain Boruto Eida and real-life singer Lisa may seem odd, it’s not unheard of for artists to use celebrities as references for their characters. Have. For example, the late Japanese actors Yūsaku Matsuda, Kunie Tanaka, and Bunta Sugawara were the basis for the designs of naval admirals Kuzan (Aokiji), Borsalino (Kizaru) and Sakazuki (Akainu) from One Piece. Matsuda’s appearance also inspired Kenshiro’s character designs from Fist of the North Star, as well as Spike Spiegel from Cowboy Bebop.
This is not the first time that the anime and K-Pop communities have clashed with each other. After the controversial decision to remove Kim Jiwoo from girl group LOONA, a fan showed support for the idol by re-imagining her as Chainsaw Man. An album by Bocchi the Rock outsold real-life K-Pop bands Stray Kids and NCT Dream on the Billboard Japan album chart for Top Downloaded Albums. K-pop also inspired illustrations by manga artist Mirei Hiranishi.