Naruto (NARUTO—ナルト— NARUTO)
is an ongoing Japanese manga
series written and illustrated by
Masashi Kishimoto. The plot tells
the story of Naruto Uzumaki, an
adolescent ninja who constantly
searches for recognition and
dreams to become the Hokage, the
ninja in his village who is
acknowledged as the leader and
the strongest of all. The series is
based on a one-shot comic by
Kishimoto that was publis
hed in
the August 1997 issue of Akamaru
Jump. The manga was first published by
Shueisha in 1999 in the 43rd issue
of Japan's Weekly Shōnen Jump
magazine. Currently, the manga is
still being serialized; sixty-three
tankōbon volumes have been
released so far. The manga was
later adapted into an anime, which
was produced by Studio Pierrot
and Aniplex. It premiered across
Japan on the terrestrial TV Tokyo
network and the anime satellite
television network Animax on
October 3, 2002. The first series
lasted 220 episodes, while Naruto:
Shippuden, a sequel to the original
series, has been airing since
February 15, 2007. In addition to
the anime series, Studio Pierrot has
developed eight movies for the
series and several original video
animations (OVAs). Other types of
merchandise include light novels,
video games and trading cards
developed by several companies. Viz Media has licensed the manga
and anime for North American
production. Viz has been
publishing the series in their
Shonen Jump magazine, and as
well as the individual volumes. The
anime series began airing in the
United States and Canada in 2005,
and later in the United Kingdom
and Australia in 2006 and 2007,
respectively. The films, as well as
most OVAs from the series, have
also been released by Viz, with the
first film premiering in cinemas. The first DVD volume of Naruto:
Shippuden was released by Viz in
North America on September 29,
2009, and it started broadcast on
Disney XD in October of the same
year. Viz Media will begin
streaming both series on their
upcoming streaming service Neon
Alley this fall. Naruto is one of the best-selling
manga series of all time having
sold more than 126.5 million
copies in Japan alone. Serialized in
Viz's Shonen Jump magazine,
Naruto has become one of the
company's best-selling manga
series. The English adaptation of
the series has also appeared in the
USA Today Booklist several times
and volume 7 won the Quil Award
in 2006. Reviewers from the series
have praised the balance between
fighting and comedy scenes, as
well as the characters'
personalities, but have criticized it
for using standard shōnen plot
elements
