Tom Cruise and Eren Yeager: A Surprising Yet Perfect Match

Tom Cruise. What a character, right? Not necessarily in a flattering way, but more like the reaction you’d have when encountering a mythical creature or a legendary figure.

Like many, I find it hard to truly dislike him. Every time Cruise pulls off something impressive, whether it’s taking jabs at AI or passionately calling out crew members for not adhering to COVID protocols, I have to remind myself that this is the same guy who went on that bizarre anti-psychiatry rant back in 2005, not to mention his ties to Scientology.

Once again, I feel the pull of his incredibly skilled PR team, especially after watching his visit to the MAPPA EXPO for the 15th anniversary of Jujutsu Kaisen and Chainsaw Man about four times now.

For some context—trust me, everyone who has seen this needed it at some point—Cruise and director Alejandro G. Iñárritu showed up at the Expo as part of the promotional tour for the film Digger.

I’m not entirely sure how this visit connects to Digger, since, like most people on the planet (except for a few), I haven’t seen the movie. Whatever the PR angle was, it clearly worked, because here I am discussing it.

It’s a strange experience, almost like watching a Victorian child’s TikTok review of a bag of Flamin’ Hot Doritos, which might explain the internet’s mixed but amused reaction to the clips of Cruise’s MAPPA tour.

It also helps that Cruise’s admiration for the talented animators at MAPPA seems heartfelt and genuinely charming. The tour wraps up with him pleading with character designer Tadashi Hiramatsu to let him come back and watch the team in action. And maybe it’s because he’s such a great actor, but I really believe he means it.

Regardless of how Digger performs at the box office, the $200 million loss was totally worth it for that priceless shot of Tom Cruise facing off against Eren Yeager’s End Titan form. It’s funny how much chemistry there seems to be between them, considering I always thought Cruise’s ideal partner would be Chainsaw Man’s Makima.