This is the first collection of official Naruto Shippuden slippers, sold by Mizuno.
The successful manga and anime Naruto Shippuden concluded in the year 2017, however, its popularity continues around the world and has given rise to many artists to create fanarts, different tributes to the series and collaborations, among others. This iconic series has left us with a multitude of elements that fans could recognize anywhere. For example, the signs that ninjas make with their hands or the unsurpassed technique of the Thousand Years of Death. Even if nothing has been able to overcome the mark that Naruto’s famous career left on the public, the one in which he runs at full speed with his arms stretched out behind his back and that we have all imitated at least once.
In fact, some professional runners have discussed the theory that this peculiar way of running improves speed, but without reaching clear enough conclusions, for now they will have the opportunity to test this theory, or failing that, disprove it, while wearing put Naruto’s first line of sneakers.
The unisex collection “Contender Naruto” is a collaboration with Japanese sporting goods retailer Mizuno and consists of three pairs of running shoes, with an exclusive design in homage to Team 7 of Konohagakure, or Team Kakashi, as it is also known. In them are the protagonist of the series, Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, his antagonist, and Sakura Haruno, also of the protagonists. The most immediate visual relationship for each character is that each pair of shoes has the colors with which the characters are associated, or, the color of their respective clothes throughout the series.
Here are some photos of the collection “Contender Naruto”:
From left to right: Sakura Haruno (pink, white, and red), Naruto Shippuden (black, orange, and gray), and Sasuke Uchina (navy, purple, and gray).
At first glance we only see the colors that distinguish the protagonists of this collection, but if we take a closer look at the back of the shoes, we find some embroidered symbols that indicate family ties of each of the characters:
The first, which corresponds to Sakura, is the circle on the back of her main outfit; the second, is the shield of the swirl of the Uzumaki clan of Naruto; and the last one, representing Sasuke, is the fan shield of the Uchiha clan.
Another curiosity that the brand has retaken is that, in reference to Sasuke’s departure of the village for a large part of the series, we see that his symbol has a gash through it, as well as the protector that he has on his forehead. With this, this cold antagonist has been remembered as a key moment in the series.
But that is not the only detail that these fantastic sneakers bring. By observing them more closely, we can appreciate the symbol of a leaf on the tabs, in this case, the Naruto-themed slippers. This symbol appears on the forehead guards of the ninjas from Konohagakure, or the “Hidden Village in the Leaves”:
Finally, here we have a part of the tribute to Naruto that we could not see in the first photos. And it is that on the sides of each pair of shoes appears Mizuno’s signature RunBird logo, made with a fabric that distinguishes it by a peculiarity in its placement. The fabric found in Naruto’s slippers is designed to have a toad skin appearance, a clear reference to his training in the Land of the Toads, and of course to the toad summoning jutsu:
Just like Naruto’s, Sasuke themed sneakers also have their own logo characteristic made by Mizuno. In this case, the fabric is snakeskin, another reference to the ties he had with Orochimaru and the snake summoning jutsu.
The “Contender Naruto” slippers can now be purchased at the Mizuno online store, as well as some Mizuno outlets or distributors, and even in the Shonen Jump stores since last January 8. Each pair sells for 13,200 yen (approximately $ 114) and is available in sizes between 23 to 28 centimeters (9.1 to 11 inches).
Related topics: Naruto
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