A new generation, a new destiny. (From right to left: Naruto, Kakashi, and Sakura)
In a world rife with
Ninja, one boy seeks to become the
greatest ninja there ever was. That boy is Naruto Uzumaki, a twelve-year old ninja-in-training who tries to make up for his lack of talent and intellect with enthusiasm and sheer determination.
However, Naruto's cheerful disposition hides a dark secret: when he was but a baby, his hometown of Konohagakure ("The Village Hidden In the Leaves") was attacked by a monstrous demon known as the Kyubi ("Nine-Tailed Fox"). The beast was eventually subdued, but not before it had killed many of the strongest ninja of the village. Furthermore, the beast had to be contained in the infant Naruto's body, and the boy has had to grow up with the stigma of basically being a
living prison for a demonic monster.
But like any good
Shōnen protagonist, Naruto doesn't let this slow him down. He continues to pursue his ambition of becoming the next Hokage ("Flame Shadow", a title for the head ninja of his village). The manga
Naruto, written by
Masashi Kishimoto, follows the story of his pursuit of greatness, with the help of his teammates (Angst-ridden
Anti-Hero Sasuke and hot-headed love-interest Sakura), and eventually moves to encompass their struggles against
Big Bad Orochimaru, ruthless leader of the rival village of Otogakure ("Village Hidden in the Sound"), and the S-Class criminal organisation Akatsuki.
On February 8, 2007, the original series ended after 220 episodes, of which 96 were filler and 85 of those were infamously consecutive. The continuation,
Naruto: Shippuden, debuted on February 15, 2007. It focuses on the further adventures of the now-16-year-old Naruto. For American viewers, the subtitled version of this series of Naruto is available free on
Hulu
. For everyone else,
Crunchyroll
also has them (if you're a member).
The English dub ran on
Toonami in the US. When the news first spread that
Naruto was hitting the States, despite the fanbase's fears,
4Kids had little, if any interest. But
Viz Media had plenty of interest, since they scooped up the license and dubbed it for the US audiences. At first, it seemed like it would be marketed as a kiddie show with blood -
Never Say "Die" was in full effect - but the Wave Country arc onwards saw free usage of the words "kill", "die", etc.
Also notable is that as of January 2009, an official English subtitled version of the anime will be available for a subscription fee as little as
an hour after the Japanese broadcast on and available subtitled
for free on
this site
which started with the beginning of
Shippuden and has since caught up. For American users, the television site
Hulu
features the episodes for free a week after they're aired, catching up at the same rate. Which is good, considering
Cartoon Network stopped airing the show when there were only 11 episodes of filler left (though luckily episodes in either language are still available on iTunes and coming out on DVD). If, like many of us, you don't live in the US you can also watch Naruto for free within an hour of it being broadcast in Japan at
Crunchyroll
.
Dubbed episodes of
Shippuden are now airing
on
Disney XD as of October 28, 2009. The broadcast dub is about as edited
Cartoon Network version give or take a degree. Uncut dubbed episodes are available on iTunes, usually released before the TV broadcast.
In case you hadn't gathered yet,
Naruto has been
THE most popular manga/anime in America for the past few years. It currently outsells every other series, although general anime and manga sales have been decreasing. It doesn't do that badly outside of America either, but inside Japan (and taking into account the world at large), it's not nearly as popular as
some other series (though, that said, it has consistently remained in second place since 2008).
There are many story arcs, not including filler:
- Introduction Arc (Volumes 1-2), (Episodes 1-5)
- Land of Waves Arc (Volumes 2-4), (Episodes 6-19)
- Chunin Exam Arc (Volumes 4-13), (Episodes 20-67)
- Invasion of Konoha Arc (Volumes 13-16), (Episodes 68-80)
- Search for Tsunade Arc (Volumes 16-19), (Episodes 81-100)
- Sasuke Retrieval Arc (Volumes 20-27), (Episodes 107-135)
- Kakashi Gaiden (Volume 27), (Shippuden 119-120)
- Kazekage Rescue Arc (Volumes 28-32), (Shippuden 1-32)
- Sasuke and Sai Arc (Volumes 32-35), (Shippuden 33-53)
- Hidan and Kakuzu Arc (Volumes 35-38), (Shippuden 72-89)
- Itachi Pursuit Arc (Volumes 38-43), (Shippuden 113-118, 121-143)
- Invasion of Pain Arc (Volumes 44-48), (Shippuden 152-175)
- Five Kage Summit Arc (Volumes 48-52), (Shippuden 197-219)
- Confronting the Jinchuriki Arc (Volumes 52-54), (Shippuden 220-222)
- Shinobi World War Arc (Volumes 55-Present)
For a look at the (
many) characters, take a look at the
character sheets—all
15 of them.
Several licensed games have been made, such as
Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 and the
Naruto: Clash of Ninja series. A spinoff series called
Rock Lee's Springtime of Youth was also made.
Not to be
confused with
the series with the similar-looking name. And
DEFINITELY not to be confused with the terrifying horror manga that is
Uzumaki.