Category: Anime
Grouping Description:
Naruto (ナルト, 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, Who Is 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. VIZ Media Publishes A Translated Version In The American Shonen Jump, And Has Translated Roughly A Third Of The Series. Naruto Has Become VIZ Media's Best-selling Manga Series.

The 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 The Second Began Its First On February 15, 2007.

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 Sasuke Retrieval Arc Ended In The Anime (Episode 135), The Series Was At A Point Where It Was Quickly Gaining On The Manga. At The Conclusion Of This Arc, The Anime Immediately 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, Such As The Fight Between Tenten And Temari. The Filler Arcs, Though Unreferenced In The Manga (Save For A Few Scant Scenes), Deal With The Breaks Between Manga Volumes, Which Covers A Short Period Before The Sasuke Retrieval Arc And Several Months Before The Time Skip. The Filler Arcs Tend To Cover The Supporting Characters, Occasionally Giving Insight Into An Otherwise Rarely Seen Character.

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 Three Movies, Naruto The Movie, Naruto The Movie 2, Naruto The Movie 3, And An As Yet Unnamed Fourth Movie Scheduled To Premiere Sometime In 2007. The First Two Are Available On DVD.