Fans of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations believe Lisa, a member of the 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. One tweet shows Eida striking a pose similar to Lisa’s. Another tweet shows Eida copying Lisa’s mannerisms on the cover of Boruto Vol. 15. 

Mikio Ikemoto is a Japanese illustrator who works on Boruto: Naruto Next Generations. Before working on the 2016 sequel series, Ikemoto was Masashi Kishimoto’s chief assistant for the Naruto manga. Ikemoto worked with Kishimoto on Naruto from 1999 to 2014. At the moment, no official comment from Ikemoto or anyone from the Boruto staff confirms fans’ suspicion that Lisa inspired Eida.

Manga Artists Use Celebrities for Reference

While the connection between Boruto villain Eida and real-life singer Lisa may seem strange, it’s not unheard of for artists to use celebrities as references for their characters. For example, the late Japanese actors Yūsaku Matsuda, Kunie Tanaka and Bunta Sugawara were the basis for the designs of marine admirals Kuzan (Aokiji), Borsalino (Kizaru) and Sakazuki (Akainu) from One Piece. Matsuda’s appearance also inspired the character design of Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star, as well as Spike Spiegel from Cowboy Bebop.

This also isn’t the first time anime and K-Pop communities have collided with each other. After the controversial decision to remove Kim Jiwoo from the girl group LOONA, a fan showed support for the idol by reimagining her as Chainsaw Man. A Bocchi the Rock album outsold real-life K-Pop bands Stray Kids and NCT Dream on the Billboard Japan album charts for Top Downloaded Albums. K-pop also inspired the illustrated work of manga artist Mirei Hiranishi, the creator of The Girl That Can’t Get A Girlfriend.

cr. CBR