Sinners Star Michael B. Jordan Excited for Black Clover Season 2, Previously Teased Chance of Directing Some Live-Action Anime

Sinners star Michael B. Jordan recently reacted to the announcement of Black Clover Season 2 on Crunchyroll with a simple starry-eyed emoji (🤩), but that only reaffirmed his long-documented connection to anime.

Following the success of Sinners, a psychological thriller released in Spring 2025 in which Jordan portrayed twin brothers Elijah “Smoke” Moore and Elias “Stack” Moore, he was interviewed by New York Magazine in June and asked about what’s next for him. He discussed upcoming projects and said he’s directing the 2027 remake of The Thomas Crown Affair, in which he’ll also star alongside Taylor Russell. He then noted potential interest in working within the anime space as well:

“Maybe find an anime, you know, maybe do a live-action version of that… I love animation and anime. So maybe something around that space to kind of cleanse the palette.”

He also mentioned watching the latest season of Fire Force and praised Fate/stay night for its animation and action.

When asked by the BBC about his “go-to anime,” Jordan gave himself away as a shonen fan and named ONE PIECE, Dragon Ball, Naruto BLEACH, and Hunter x HUNTER as the first five. In April  2025, during the airing of Solo Leveling Season 2, a TikTok exchange via user @quepeks had Jordan asked, “What’s your favorite anime?” He replied:

“Right now, Solo Leveling.”

On follow‑up, “What’s your favorite shadow?” he answered:

“Igris.”

Previously Documented Fandom and Influence

Jordan has spoken on multiple occasions about anime’s role in shaping his creative outlook. During promotion for Creed III, he cited anime as a reference point for the film’s storytelling. Around the premiere of Creed III, he spoke about taking inspiration from anime like Naruto, Hajime no Ippo, Megalo Box, and My Hero Academia as fight‑scene inspirations. He also said the following about live-action anime adaptations in the same clip:

“You know, anime hasn’t really been adapted in live action well, so I think I tried to find the right balance. To make it not cheesy.” (*Note: This was in March 2023, before the release of the ONE PIECE live-action which came out in August 2023 and possibly changed his mind).

In interviews with Deadline and Variety (both March 2023), he explained how anime influenced the design of the film’s final fight sequence, specifically the stylized “void” scene meant to express emotional conflict between characters through visuals and choreography alone.

“That ‘void’ scene came from my love of Japanese animation… There was a moment where there was subtitles in the void, and we were like, no audio. Just subtitles and them punching…” (Deadline)

“I’m looking at anime every day… This is the essence of what we’re trying to pull from.” (Variety)

Cinematographer Kramer Morgenthau, who worked closely with Jordan on Creed III, added:

“We took that anime language and integrated it in a way that was 100% MBJ’s vision.” (Variety)

Jordan’s favorite series include Naruto Shippuden, which he named in a 2018 GQ appearance. At the time, he said he’d followed it since age 12 or 13, adding:

“I’ve literally seen Sasuke and Naruto grow up. At the end of it, it was pretty sad. I dropped a couple tears.”

He also confirmed he was a fan of Samurai Champloo, though noted he wasn’t familiar with FLCL at the time.

In a 2019 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he noted how anime’s combination of action and emotional storytelling drew him in:

Action sequences? Yeah, for sure. I think the action and the story. A lot of the stories and the character development on these anime series are incredible. They are so underrated. I really dove into a lot of the emotional beats of these characters. I remember dropping a tear or two. I’ve definitely cried little man tears over anime before.

THR: Dragon Ball Z‘s Goku can do that to you.

Not just Goku, though. I think I dropped a tear or two toward the end of the series. I can admit that.

We’re looking forward to seeing Michael B. Jordan and his future projects, and it’ll definitely be interesting if he works on a live-action anime adaptation.

Source: Crunchyroll Instagram
Featured image: Sinners © 2025 Warner Bros. Pictures
Black Clover ©YUKI TABATA/SHUEISHA,TV TOKYO,BLACK CLOVER PROJECT