Naruto (NARUTO—ナルト—?, romanized as 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 aspires to become a
Hokage, the ninja in his village that is acknowledged as the leader and the strongest of all. The series is based on a
one-shot comic by Kishimoto that was published 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 with fifty-one
tankōbon volumes 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 six 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 indidividual 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.
The manga has sold over 100 million copies in Japan. 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 11 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.
