There’s a lot to like about Overwatch’s newest hero, Moira. She looks like David Bowie. She fires energy beams out of her hands like Goku. Tragically, however, she also runs like Naruto.
Naruto, a demon-possessed orange crayon best known for being Boruto’s dad, runs like he hasn’t a care (or spinal cord) in the world. His run is so notorious that people have taken to organizing events where they all just run around with their arms flailing in the wind behind them. So, why does Moira follow in his extremely cool and definitely not impossibly dorky footsteps?
“One thing I would say broadly, the development team, the artists, we’re all big anime fans,” Overwatch lead writer Michael Chu said in an interview with PCGamesN. “I certainly could not deny some of the references in her sprays and stuff.”
But there’s actually a lot more to it than that. It’s very important that Overwatch characters are immediately recognizable from a distance, so that players can get an at-a-glance idea of what they’re up against. And well, nothing’s more recognizable than a Naruto run.
“We thought that with the cloth and the hip panels she has, having her have some of these exaggerated movements really looked good and also helped her be distinct and identifiable on the battlefield,” said Chu. “There’s no question, when you’re playing Overwatch and Moira’s running around, that you have seen Moira.”