Nike released a new video about Zion Williamson's new Naruto-themed Jordans.
In the new promo video, the New Orleans Pelicans power forward discusses his love of the classic ninja anime and why the series means so much to him. "My interest in anime started when I was like fire or six, with Naruto" Williamson said, adding, "I was one of those people there from episode one." The basketball player stated that he relates with the struggles that Naruto had to go through to be accepted by the people of Konohagakure and eventually become one of the heroes of the Fourth Shinobi World War. "I was just always intrigued by this kid that had nobody in his life, yet he never let people not liking him stop him from achieving the goal he wanted to achieve," he said. "He always said "Believe it!" ...You have to first ulimately believe in yourself and everything will take care of itself."
Julian Robertson, a designer for Naruto's English publisher VIZ Media, admitted that they were surprised at how hardcore of a fan Williamson is. "In one of those first meetings, he was quoting the anime," Robertson recalls. "As someone who works on the anime, I could paraphrase those quotes, [but] Zion had them spot on."
In addition to interviews with Williamson, Robertson and Israel Mateo, a footwear designer from Nike's Jordan Special Projects division, the video also offers a new look at the sneakers themselves, including a previously unseen colorway for the Jordan Zion 1s, which features a green color scheme that was inspired by the flak jackets worn by many of Konohagakure's Jonin ranked shinobi, such as Kakashi and Might Guy. "The Jonin in my life represent any of the adults in my life that I've learned something from," Williamson said. Williamson and Mateo also discuss the design philosophy behind the other colorways in the collaboration, including the shoes inspired by Naruto's Sage Mode, a pair inspired by the raw power of Kurama, and finally, a black-and-white design based on the Sage of the Six Paths.
All of the shoes in the Zion 1 x Naruto Collection are scheduled to go on sale sometime within the next few weeks. Each pair of shoes carries a suggested retail price of $130 USD.
Naruto was created by Masashi Kishimoto in 1999. The series is currently the fourth best-selling manga of all time, with over a quarter of a billion copies in circulation around the world. The Naruto and Naruto Shippuden anime are available for streaming on Netflix, Crunchyroll and Funimation, while new episodes of the Boruto sequel series are available on Crunchyroll.