Gaara's initial attire, along with the costumes of his siblings, was difficult for Kishimoto to draw on a weekly basis. Because of this, Kishimoto gave the three of them simpler costumes towards the end of Part I; Gaara received an outfit with an upright collar. In addition to being easier to draw, it was used to demonstrate the change in relationship between Gaara and Naruto following their previous fight. Kishimoto cites "The Matrix", one of his favorite movies, as an inspiration for Gaara's new costume, and he considers it to be his favorite costume of the three siblings. For Part II, there was a scene where an antagonist Deidara was sitting on Gaara's body. This shot was inspired by "Akira", a manga by Katsuhiro Otomo that Kishimoto was a fan of.