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Heroes' Masi Oka Acknowledges Anime, Manga Influences

In the May 15 issue of Wired magazine, Masi Oka, the actor playing Hiro Nakamura in NBC's Heroes, mentions that he drew inspiration for the character from Dragonball. Oka also hopes that the series will include more specific references to anime and manga. According to the article, Heroes creator Tim Kring agrees, particularly because this will help expand the show's appeal to the Asian market. Two episodes have already included Mazinger Z toy cameos, and Oka, a professed Naoki Urasawa and Shonen Jump "geek," has said in previous interviews that he helps translate and rewrite some of Heroes' Japanese dialogue.