Naruto (NARUTO - ナルト -, Naruto?)
is a manga series written and illustrated
by manga artist Masashi Kishimoto
with an anime adaptation. The main character, Naruto Uzumaki, is a
loud, hyperactive,
unpredictable adolescent ninja who
constantly searches for 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 18 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, which features the German dub opening,
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.
//
Plot introduction
- Further information: List of Naruto story arcs
Twelve years before the events at the focus of the series, the nine-tailed demon fox
attacked Konohagakure. Powerful enough to
raise tsunamis and flatten mountains with a swish of one of its tails, it raised
chaos and slaughtered many people, until the leader of the Leaf Village – the Fourth Hokage – sacrificed
his own life to seal the demon inside his newborn son, Naruto Uzumaki. The Fourth Hokage, who was
celebrated as a hero for sealing the demon fox away, wanted Naruto to be
respected in a similar light by being the containment vessel for the demon
fox.
The Leaf Village, however, shunned him, regarding Naruto as if he were the
demon fox itself and mistreated him throughout most of his childhood. A decree
made by the Third Hokage
forbade anyone to discuss or mention the attack of the demon fox to anyone, even
their own children. However, this did not stop them from treating him like an
outcast and as a result he grew up an orphan 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, a technique from a forbidden scroll that he was
tricked into stealing, 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.[4]
The main story 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 an experienced sensei named Kakashi Hatake. Naruto also confides in other
characters that he meets throughout the series as well. 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.
Throughout all of the Naruto plot, strong emphasis on character
development changes the plot, with very few things happening 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, Tsunade, and Jiraiya, as well
as Naruto’s peers in the other teams and villages. Several major villains come
into play as well, the first being Zabuza Momochi, a missing-nin from Kirigakure, and his partner, Haku. Later, in the Chunin
Exams arc, Orochimaru is introduced as an S-Class
missing-nin at the top of Konoha’s most wanted list. Later still, a mysterious
organization called Akatsuki begins to pursue Naruto for the
nine-tailed demon fox inside him.
Characters
-
The
main characters of Squad 7: Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, Naruto Uzumaki and
team leader, Kakashi Hatake
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, junior ninja. 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.
Character names often borrow from Japanese folklore and literature (such as the
names borrowed from the folktale Jiraiya Goketsu Monogatari), or are otherwise
elaborate puns; often there is a noticeable influence of the story behind the
name shouldered by the character.[5]
Anime details
- See also: List of
Naruto episodes, List of Naruto: Shippūden
episodes, and List of Naruto media
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. The first three are available on DVD, while the fourth one was released on August 4th 2007.
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 the US, Naruto maintains a TV-PG rating in every episode. Most
usually are rated TV-PG-V for episodes with heavy violence, while others
(usually associated with Jiraya) are rated TV-PG-D or S.[6] 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.[citation needed]
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. So far, only one episode, the "lost OVA", has received a
TV-Y7-FV rating, but this was likely due to Cartoon Network neglecting to update the rating
for usually in the timeslot that this special ran in TV-Y7-FV programs ran.
Repeated viewings (such as the on August 8, 2007)
have listed the special as TV-PG-V, As did all commercials for the special.
Reception
The series’ length and popularity is comparable to that of Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball, another
popular action-oriented shōnen
manga. 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,[7] there are some that have continued to translate
new Naruto episodes due to the extremely large gap between the English
and Japanese versions.
Although the early part of the series has been called "childish" and "goofy",
with a focus on toilet
humor, "formulaic battles" and a simplistic plot, the series later
develops.[8]
Volume 7 of the manga has recently won a Quill Award for best graphic novel in North
America.[9]
In TV Asahi’s latest top 100 Anime
Ranking, Naruto ranked 17th on the list.[10]
References
