Expresso -
Naruto
Naruto is a Japanese series written and illustrated by . It tells the story of , a young who seeks recognition from his peers and dreams of becoming the Hokage, the leader of his village. The story is told in two parts – the first set in Naruto's pre-teen years, and the second in his teens. The series is based on two by Kishimoto: Karakuri (1995), which earned Kishimoto an honorable mention in 's monthly Hop Step Award the following year, and Naruto (1997). Naruto was serialized in Shueisha's magazine, from 1999 to 2014, and released in (book) form in 72 volumes. The manga was adapted into an television series produced by and , which broadcast 220 episodes in Japan from 2002 to 2007; the English of the series aired on and from 2005 to 2009. , a sequel to the original series, premiered in Japan in 2007, and ended in 2017, after 500 episodes. The English dub was broadcast on from 2009 to 2011, airing the first 98 episodes, and then switched over to 's programming block in January 2014, starting over from the first episode. The English dub is still airing weekly on Adult Swim to this day. Viz Media began streaming the anime series on their streaming service in December 2012 on 99 episodes, and ended in March 2016, after 338 episodes. Besides the anime series, Pierrot has developed eleven movies and twelve (OVAs). Other Naruto-related merchandise includes , video games, and trading cards developed by several companies. licensed the manga and anime for North American production and serialized Naruto in their digital magazine. The anime series began airing in the United States and Canada in 2005, and in the United Kingdom and Australia in 2006 and 2007, respectively. The films and most OVAs from the series were also released by Viz, with the first film premiering in movie theaters. The story of Naruto continues with Naruto's son, , in : Boruto wishes to create his own ninja way instead of following his father's. Naruto is one of the in history having 250 million copies in circulation worldwide in 47 countries and regions, with 153 million copies in Japan alone and remaining 97 million copies elsewhere. It has become one of Viz Media's best-selling manga series; their English translations of the volumes have appeared on and bestseller list several times, and the seventh volume won a in 2006. Reviewers praised the manga's character development, strong storylines, and well-executed fight scenes, though some felt the fight scenes slowed the story down. Critics noted that the manga, which has a theme, makes use of cultural references from and .
