Thursday, October 16, 2014

THE END OF NARUTO!


Word got 'round a couple weeks ago
that one 
of my favorite ninjas
will be finishing
his adventures soon:


 is one of the most popular manga of all time,
 and after 15 years of continuous publication, 
American publisher Viz Media has announced 
the series will come to an end this November.


The final installment of Naruto will make its appearance in the 
November 10 issue of Weekly Shonen Jump. 
Masashi Kishimoto’s long-running manga first appeared in 
Weekly Shonen Jump in 1999, 
so it makes sense that Naruto will come full circle 
and end its serialization in the same publication.

GAH!
I'm not sure I want to know what life is like without
Uzomaki Naruto
every week!

I read a bit of Naruto
in Japanese way back when,
but I didn't really get into the
ramen loving rascal 
until the American
Shonen Jump came out.


They were woefully behind the 
weekly output of Japan.

I never watched the anime
because it was ahead of the manga.
and I didn't want to spoil anything.
But I spent a lot of time cajoling 
Cartoon Network
into getting the show,
which they eventually did.

But eventually SJ decided to
play catch-up by releasing
something like
3 volumes a month
for 7 months.

WHICH WAS LIKE HAVING
ALL THE 
PEANUT BUTTER ICE CREAM
YOU COULD EAT!


American
Shonen Jump
then went to a
weekly 
all digital format,
which is probably one of the
TOP 17
things that has ever 
happened to me.

What I love about Naruto
is kinda the same thing I love about
One Piece.

It's about friends.
And never giving up on them.


There were plenty of times
I actually cried reading Naruto
because the story was so emotional.

And now it's coming to an end.

To be honest,
like most things that go on for a long time
Naruto has gotten a bit bloated, overwrought and confusing.
(yeeesh, i can't keep track of all those characters 
and the difference between sharingan, rinnegan, blah blah etc!)

But I still love it and 
I'm gonna miss it.

Arigatou gozaimasu, Kishimoto-san!
Naruto no ato de, dou suru ka?!

BONUS FACT:

I used to have a notebook where I would keep
cool poses or character designs
I tore from old comics and magazines.


Naruto had it's fair share
of stuff I ripped out:










1 comment:

BluePrint said...

Wow and I thought I was getting old I can only imagine how you feel about it. The show came out when I was in 5th grade and now im in my second year of college and its hard to think believe it's done.