BACKGROUND NARUTO

BACKGROUND NARUTO

Naruto is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto . It tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki , an adolescent ninja who constantly searches for recognition and dreams to become Hokage , the ninja in his village that is acknowledged as the leader and the strongest of all . The series is based on one - shot manga by Kishimoto that was published in the August 1997 issue of Akamaru Jump .

Naruto was first published by Shueisha in 1999 in the 43rd issue of Japanese magazine Weekly Shonen Jump . Currently , the manga is still serialized chapters were collected in six -eight tankōbon volumes so far . The manga was later adapted into a television anime , which was produced by Studio Pierrot and Aniplex . It premiered across Japan on the terrestrial TV Tokyo and other TX Network stations 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 . Besides the anime series , Studio Pierrot has developed eight movies 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 . Naruto Viz is serialization in Weekly Shonen Jump magazine on their digital , as well as publishing 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 29 September 2009 , began to broadcast on Disney XD in October of the same year on Adult Swim and Toonami block in January 2014 Viz Media began streaming the second series on their streaming services Neon Alley in December 2012 .

Naruto is one of the best-selling manga series in history , having sold over 130 million copies in Japan alone . It is also one of the best-selling North American manga publisher Viz Media . Their English adaptation of the series has appeared in the USA Today Booklist several times and volume ₩ 7 the Quill Award in 2006 . Reviewers from the series have praised the balance between fighting and comedy scenes , as well as the personality of the character , but criticized it for using standard plot elements of shonen manga .