Ever since we realized that Michael B. Jordan is a low-key otaku, we have been suspiciously eyeing every celebrity we see, wondering if they stay up late at night bingewatching Dragon Ball Super or reading One Piece scanslations. As it turns out, the celebrity anime superfan is much more common than we realized: Kim Kardashian West is a Darling in the Frankxx fan; Serena Williams has burning questions about Avatar: The Last Airbender (which qualifies as an honorary anime–fight me on it); and John Boyega is such a big Naruto fan that he wants to become the “Hokage of the entertainment world.” We’ve known that the Star Wars and Pacific Rim Uprising star was an anime fan for a while now, but now we know just how deep his otakudom extends. You might have guessed it from his recent reddit AMA, but Boyega nerded out hardcore about anime with us when our ace reporter Erika Ishii sat down with him to talk about his new film, Pacific Rim Uprising.
We’ve already covered why Pacific Rim Uprising looks and feels like a live action anime, but Boyega’s passion for Japanese anime runs so deep that we had to give it its own video. During our interview, Boyega revealed who he would want to play in the American live-action adaptation of Attack on Titan and auditions for it on the spot, considers which of his favorite anime series are ready to make the leap to live action, and which anime character he most identifies with most.
via Giphy
Considering that Boyega’s star is on a meteoric rise in Hollywood right now, hopefully he can help make his top picks for live-action anime a reality unlike so many projects that wilted and died in development hell. If nothing else, we’ll be able to see Boyega living his live-action anime dreams while piloting a giant Jaeger mech in Pacific Rim Uprising when it hits theaters on March 23.
Editor’s note: Nerdist is a subsidiary of Legendary Entertainment
Want more anime goodness?
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- Here’s the real reason Hayao Miyazaki came out of retirement
Why do Jaegers require two brains?
Dan Casey is the senior editor of Nerdist and the author of books about Star Wars and the Avengers. Follow him on Twitter (@DanCasey).
