JuJu Smith-Schuster is seated by his locker at the Chiefs’ practice facility one afternoon in early December, nodding along to a reporter’s opening line of inquiry: Given his well-documented passion for anime—as a rookie in 2017, he celebrated a touchdown catch by mimicking a Dragon Ball Z attack move—to which of his favorite character ensembles would Smith-Schuster compare himself and his fellow Kansas City wide receivers?
It takes less than two seconds of thought before his eyes light up. “Ooh, ooh, we’ll be the Akatsuki clan. They’re these rogue ninjas who all have their own superpower, and they all left their own villages to become part of this group, the baddest of the baddest group. And nobody’s messing with them.”
In the classic Japanese manga Naruto, later developed into a TV show and film franchise, among the world’s most fearsome outfits was an elite syndicate of shinobi that called itself Akatsuki, which literally means “Daybreak” but also—if read as the sum of its parts, “Aka” and “Tsuki”—can translate to “Red Moon.” Both images were reflected by the logo affixed to each ninja’s uniform, resembling a foreboding, blood-crimson cloud. Or, if the imagination stretches a bit, an upside-down football helmet.
