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Naruto Wallpaper Naruto
(ナルト, Naruto? romanized as NARUTO in Japan) is a manga by Masashi Kishimoto with
an anime TV series adaptation. Its main character, Naruto Uzumaki, is a loud,
hyperactive, adolescent ninja who constantly searches for approval and
recognition, as well as to become Hokage, acknowledged as the leader and
strongest of all ninja in the village.
The manga was first published by Shueisha in 1999 in the 43rd issue of Japan's
Shonen Jump magazine. VIZ Media publishes a translated version in the American
Shonen Jump, and has translated roughly a third of the series. Naruto has become
VIZ Media's best-selling manga series.
The anime series, produced by Studio Pierrot and Aniplex, premiered across Japan
on the terrestrial TV Tokyo network and the anime satellite television network
Animax on October 3, 2002, and is still being aired. Viz also licensed the anime
for North American production. Naruto debuted in the United States on Cartoon
Network's Toonami programming block on September 10, 2005, and in Canada on
YTV's Bionix on September 16, 2005. Naruto began showing in the UK on Jetix on
July 22, 2006. It began showing on Toasted TV on January 12, 2007 in Australia,
although it could be watched on Cartoon Network in 2006. The first series lasted
nine seasons, while the second began its first on February 15, 2007.
In March 2007 it was announced that Naruto The Movie would be released in the
USA.
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The series' length and popularity is comparable to that of Akira Toriyama's
Dragon Ball, another popular action-oriented shōnen manga. Since its creation,
Naruto has spawned a large number of fansites that contain detailed information,
guides, and active forums. Some of the first and most popular sites targeted at
English speaking audiences were established shortly after the first English
manga volume was released in August of 2003. Like many other manga and anime
titles, Naruto has also spawned its own collectible card game.
Prior to the anime's North American debut in 2005, several scanlation and fansub
groups translated the series and made it available for free download on the
internet. Despite North American companies' perceived tendency to prosecute
fansubbing groups more frequently than Japanese companies, there are some
that have continued to translate new Naruto episodes due to the extremely large
gap between the English and Japanese versions.
Volume 7 of the manga has recently won a Quill Award for best graphic novel in
North America. In TV Asahi's latest top 100 Anime Ranking, Naruto ranked 17th on
the list.
Naruto was named as "Best Full-Length Animated Program" on the recently
concluded 3rd USTv Students' Choice Awards. The awarding ceremonies were held on
February 20, 2007 at the UST Medicine Auditorium. The awards are given by the
35,000-strong student body of the University of Santo Tomas (Philippines). | |
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