As Spider-Man: Brand New Day looks to set all types of box office records after its first weekend in theaters, eagle-eyed anime fans are spotting something interesting in the film.
Following the death of Aunt May in Spider-Man: No Way Home and his closest friends forgetting him in the wake of Doctor Strange's spell, Tom Holland's Peter Parker is now living alone in NYC and spending all of his time as the wall-crawler, with little time for close, personal relationships.
While his bachelor pad apartment is dark and dreary, his former best friend Ned Leeds is living a normal life in the Big Apple as a fresh MIT grad looking for a job.
It seems that when he's not job searching or throwing host-warming parties, Leeds spends his free time on his Crunchyroll account (which Sony owns) to watch Naruto and Solo Leveling.
Keep in mind that Brand New Day and Shang-Chi director Destin Daniel Cretton is a longtime anime fan and is currently planning to direct a live-action Naruto film for Lionsgate. It's likely that the Naruto poster is just a subtle nod to his potential next project.
Previously, Cretton stated, "Naruto's trajectory, his feelings of being an outsider, the feeling of having an ugliness or a monster or some part of you that you’re ashamed of, and then coming to realize that’s the part that makes you unique, that gives you your power."
An argument can be made that Solo Leveling is the most popular, ongoing anime right now, aside from One Piece. Up next for the series is an anime film continuation which will effectively serve as season 3, and a live-action adaptation from Netflix.
Confirmed cast members for the Netflix series include Byeon Woo-seok (Record of Youth, Strong Girl Nam-soon) as Sung Jin-woo and Ahn So-hee (Train to Busan) as Cha Hae-in. Additionally, K-drama star Kang You-seok (Start-Up, When Life Gives You Tangerine, Resident Playbook) will portray Jinho.
Solo Leveling aka Only I Level Up was created in 2016 by web novel writer Chugong. A webtoon adaptation followed in 2018, with artist Jang Sung-rak (Dubu) serializing Chugong's creation in KakaoPage.
The series follows E-rank hunter Jinwoo Sung, known as the Weakest Hunter of All Mankind, who regularly puts his life on the line in dungeons to make money for his mother's medical bills and his sister's school tuition. However, when a double dungeon occurs, the danger skyrockets but also provides Jinwoo with a chance to change his rank.