Naruto
NARUTO - ナルト -
(Naruto)
Demographic Shōnen
Genre Action, Drama, Fantasy, Comedy
Manga: Naruto
Authored by Masashi Kishimoto
Publisher Flag of Japan Jump Comics
Original run November 1999 – Ongoing
No. of volumes 38 volumes with 360 chapters
TV anime : Naruto
Directed by Yuuto Date
Studio Studio Pierrot
Original run October 3, 2002 – February 8, 2007
No. of episodes 220
TV anime : Naruto Shippūden
Directed by Yuuto Date
Studio Studio Pierrot
Network Flag of Japan Animax, TV Tokyo
Original run February 15, 2007 – Ongoing
No. of episodes 18
Related works
* Jump Festa 2003: Find the Crimson Four-Leaf Clover (OVA)
* Jump Festa 2004: Battle at Hidden Falls. I am the Hero! (OVA)
* Finally a clash! Jonin VS Genin!! Indiscriminate grand melee tournament
meeting!! (OVA)
* Naruto the Movie OVA: Konoha Annual Sports Festival (OVA)
* Naruto the Movie: Snow Princess' Book of Ninja Arts
* Naruto the Movie 2: Great Clash! The Illusionary Ruins at the Depths of
the Earth
* Naruto the Movie 3: The Animal Riot of Crescent Moon Island
* Naruto: Shippūden the Movie (Currently in production)
* Naruto video games
Naruto (ナルト, Naruto? romanized as NARUTO in Japan) is a manga by Masashi
Kishimoto with an anime TV series adaptation. Its main character, Naruto
Uzumaki, is a loud, hyperactive, adolescent ninja who constantly searches
for approval and recognition, as well as to become Hokage, acknowledged as
the leader and strongest of all ninja in the village.
The manga was first published by Shueisha in 1999 in the 43rd issue of
Japan's Shonen Jump magazine. As of volume 36, the manga has sold over 71
million copies in Japan.[1] VIZ Media publishes a translated version in the
American Shonen Jump magazine. Naruto has become VIZ's best-selling manga
series.[2] To date, the first fourteen volumes are available. In order to
catch up to the translated anime, VIZ plans to release volumes 16 to 27
three at a time over the months of September to December 2007.[3]
The first of two anime series, produced by Studio Pierrot and Aniplex,
premiered across Japan on the terrestrial TV Tokyo network and the anime
satellite television network Animax on October 3, 2002, and is still being
aired. Viz also licensed the anime for North American production. Naruto
debuted in the United States on Cartoon Network's Toonami programming block
on September 10, 2005, and in Canada on YTV's Bionix on September 16, 2005.
Naruto began showing in the UK on Jetix on July 22, 2006. It began showing
on Toasted TV on January 12, 2007 in Australia, although it could be watched
on Cartoon Network in 2006. The first series lasted nine seasons, while
Naruto: Shippūden began its first on February 15, 2007.
Growth and popularity
The series' length and popularity is comparable to that of Akira Toriyama's
Dragon Ball, another popular action-oriented shōnen manga. Since its
creation, Naruto has spawned a large number of fansites that contain
detailed information, guides, and active forums. Some of the first and most
popular sites targeted at English speaking audiences were established
shortly after the first English manga volume was released in August 2003.
Like many other manga and anime titles, Naruto has also spawned its own
collectible card game.
Prior to the anime's North American debut in 2005, several scanlation and
fansub groups translated the series and made it available for free download
on the internet. Despite North American companies' perceived tendency to
prosecute fansubbing groups more frequently than Japanese companies,[4]
there are some that have continued to translate new Naruto episodes due to
the extremely large gap between the English and Japanese versions.
Volume 7 of the manga has recently won a Quill Award for best graphic novel
in North America.[5] In TV Asahi's latest top 100 Anime Ranking, Naruto
ranked 17th on the list.[6]
Anime details
Even though it debuted some time after the manga, the anime quickly caught
up, since one anime episode usually covers one or two manga chapters. To
prevent overlapping, the anime's producers tend to organize content from the
manga chapters into long, uneventful sections followed by short bursts of
action, sometimes adding filler content in between. By the time the last
canonical arc of the anime concluded, it was quickly gaining on the manga
and consequently switched to anime-only filler episodes to allow the manga
to broaden the gap once more. Most of the filler episodes are stand-alone
stories, with a few being part of arcs that are several episodes long. The
filler episodes lasted for 85 episodes, the duration of the first series.
After the series moved back into manga-adapted episodes, it was renamed
Naruto: Shippūden (疾風伝, Naruto: Shippūden? lit. Hurricane Chronicles). The
new series premiered on February 15, 2007.
The anime generally remains true to the manga, usually changing only minor
details (causes of death, loss of limbs, and other injuries have been
lessened in the anime) or expanding on parts skipped by the manga. The
filler arcs, though unreferenced in the manga (save for a few scant scenes),
deal with the breaks between story arcs, most prominently the period between
the mission to retrieve Sasuke and Naruto's departure from Leaf Village at
the end of the original series. The filler arcs also often shine the
spotlight on minor characters that have received little narrative attention
otherwise.
New episodes, animated by Studio Pierrot, air weekly on TV Tokyo in Japan
during the Golden Time slot (Japan's equivalent of prime time in the US). As
of October 5, 2006, it shows on Thursday nights. The series has also spawned
four movies, Naruto the Movie, Naruto the Movie 2, Naruto the Movie 3, and
Naruto: Shippūden the Movie scheduled to premiere on August 4, 2007. The
first three are available on DVD.
English-language broadcast
On September 10, 2005, Naruto had its hour-long premiere in the U.S. on
Cartoon Network's Toonami. The first episode of Naruto premiered in Canada
on YTV on September 16, 2005. In the United Kingdom, Naruto premiered on
Jetix on July 22, 2006. In Australia and New Zealand it premiered on Cartoon
Network on September 27, 2006. It also began showing on Toasted TV on
January 12, 2007, in Australia.
In its English anime release, Naruto was aired with a TV-PG rating in the US
and a PG rating in Canada. More explicit episodes, such as Jiraiya's debut
and the battle with Zabuza, have been given a TV-PG-DS or a TV-PG-V
rating[7]. References to alcohol, Japanese cultural differences, mild
language, mild sexual situations, and even blood and death remain in the
English version, though reduced in some instances.[8] Other networks make
additional content edits apart from the edits done by Cartoon Network, such
as Jetix's more strict censoring of blood, language, smoking and the like.
Plot overview
Twelve years before the events at the focus of the series, the nine-tailed
demon fox attacked Konohagakure. It was a powerful demon indeed; a single
swing of one of its nine tails would raise tsunamis and flatten mountains.
It raised chaos and slaughtered many people, until the leader of the Leaf
Village – the Fourth Hokage – defeated it by sacrificing his own life to
seal the demon inside a newly-born child, whose origins are as yet unknown.
That child's name was Naruto Uzumaki.
The Fourth Hokage was celebrated as a hero for sealing the demon fox away.
He wanted Naruto to be respected in a similar light by being the containment
vessel for the demon fox. The village he grew up in, however, mostly shunned
Naruto; they regarded him as if he were the demon fox itself and mistreated
him throughout most of his childhood.
A decree made by the Third Hokage made it so that the other villagers were
forbidden to mention the event to anyone, even to their own children.
However, this did not stop them from treating Naruto like an outcast.
Although their children did not specifically know why their parents treated
Naruto the way they did, they learned through example to despise the boy. As
a result, Naruto grew up as an orphan in a lonesome atmosphere without
friends, family, or acknowledgment. He could not force people to befriend
him, so he sought acknowledgment and attention the only way he knew –
through pranks and mischief. However, that soon changed after Naruto
graduated from the Ninja Academy by using his Multiple Shadow Clone
Technique to save his teacher, Iruka Umino, from the renegade ninja Mizuki.
That encounter gave Naruto two insights: that he was the container of the
demon fox, and that there was someone besides the Third Hokage who actually
cared for and acknowledged him. His graduation from the academy opened a
gateway to the events and people that would change and define his world,
including his way of the ninja for the rest of his life.
Naruto maintains a balance between drama and comedy, with plenty of action
interspersed. It follows Naruto and his friends' personal growth and
development as ninja, and emphasizes their interactions with each other and
the influence of their backgrounds on their personalities. Naruto finds two
friends and comrades in Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno, two fellow young
ninja who are assigned with him to form a three-person team under a very
experienced sensei named Kakashi Hatake. Naruto also confides in other
characters as well that he has met through the Chunin Exam. They learn new
abilities, get to know each other and other villagers better, and experience
a coming-of-age journey as Naruto dreams of becoming the Hokage of the Leaf
Village.
Naruto places strong emphasis on character development. Almost all outcomes
are a result of decisions, character, and personality; very few things
happen just because of chance. At first, emphasis is placed on Naruto,
Sasuke, and Sakura, who are the members of Team 7. However, other characters
are developed, such as Kakashi, Guy, and Jiraiya, as well as Naruto's peers
in the other Genin teams and other villages.
Several major villains came into play as well, the first being Zabuza
Momochi, a missing-nin from Kirigakure, and his partner, Haku. Later, in the
Chunin Exam arc, Orochimaru is introduced as an S-Class missing-nin at the
top of Konoha's most wanted list. Later, a mysterious organization called
Akatsuki begins to pursue Naruto in order to take the demon fox inside him
and harness its power.
Characters
Naruto has a large and colorful cast of characters, running a gamut of
detailed histories and complex personalities, and allowing many of them
their fair share in the spotlight; they are also seen to grow and mature
with the series, as it spans several years. As fitting for a coming-of-age
saga, Naruto's world constantly expands and thickens, and his social
relations are no exception – during his introduction he has only his teacher
and the village's leader for sympathetic figures, but as the story
progresses, more and more people become a part of his story.
The students at the Ninja Academy, where the story begins, are split up into
squads of three after their graduation and become Genin. Each squad is
assigned an experienced sensei. These core squads form a basis for the
characters' interactions later in the series, where characters are chosen
for missions for their team's strength and complementary skills; Naruto's
squad 7 becomes the social frame where Naruto is acquainted with Sasuke
Uchiha and Sakura Haruno, and their sensei Kakashi Hatake, forming the core
of his world-in-the-making. The other three-man teams of his former
classmates form another such layer, as Naruto connects with them to various
degrees, learning of their motives, vulnerabilities, and aspirations, often
relating them to his own. The groups of three are not limited to the
comrades Naruto's age – groups in the story in general come in threes and
multiples of three with very few exceptions.
Sensei-student relationships play a significant role in the series; Naruto
has a number of mentors with whom he trains and learns, most notably Iruka
Umino, the first ninja to recognize Naruto's existence, Kakashi Hatake, his
team leader, and Jiraiya, and there are often running threads of tradition
and tutelage binding together several generations. These role models provide
guidance for their students not only in the ninja arts but also in a number
of Japanese aesthetics and philosophical ideals. Techniques, ideals, and
mentalities noticeably run in families, Naruto often being exposed to the
abilities and traditions of generation-old clans in his village when friends
from his own age group demonstrate them, or even achieve improvements of
their own; it is poignantly noted that Naruto's generation is particularly
talented.
Many of the greater lingering mysteries of the series are questions of
character motives and identity. The legacy of Naruto's parents, the goals
that guide Kabuto Yakushi, the identity of the mysterious Akatsuki leader –
these are only a few of the fundamental unanswered questions of "who" and,
by proxy, "why" currently at the core of the series. The story is remarkably
character-driven; the theme of causality runs inherently throughout the
series as characters reciprocate for their past actions and relationships.
In this respect, characters' respective destinies are very much intertwined,
and large emphasis is placed on comradeship and 'bonds' between the
community or individual.
Character names often borrow from Japanese mythology, folklore and
literature (such as the names borrowed from the folk-tale Jiraiya Goketsu
Monogatari), or are otherwise elaborate puns; often there is a noticeable
influence of the story behind the name shouldered by the character.[9]
References
1. ^ Comi Press (March 6, 2007). The Rise and Fall of Weekly Shonen Jump: A
Look at the Circulation of Weekly Jump. Press release.
2. ^ VIZ Media (March 7, 2006). USA Today's Top 150 Best Seller list
features VIZ Media's Shonen Jump's Naruto manga at number 29. Press release.
3. ^ VIZ Media's Naruto Nation campaign. Retrieved on 2007-04-26.
4. ^ Licensed Anime @ AnimeSuki. Retrieved on 2006-10-31.
5. ^ Nominees for the Graphic Novel category. Retrieved on 2006-08-27.
6. ^ Japan's Favorite TV Anime. Retrieved on 2006-12-22.
7. ^ American-Naruto: Episode Guide and Rating. Retrieved on 2007-05-05.
8. ^ Anime-Editz - Naruto Editz Guide. Retrieved on 2006-04-14.
9. ^ Naruto names' origins and meanings. Retrieved on 2006-04-14.
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