Naruto (NARUTO - ナルト -? romanized as NARUTO in Japan) is an ongoing Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto with an anime adaptation. The plot tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, a loud, hyperactive, unpredictable, 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 from a one-shot that Kishimoto first authored in the August 1997 issue of Akamaru Jump.
Naruto premiered in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine in 1999. The first 238 chapters are known as Part I, and constitute the first part of the Naruto storyline. Manga chapters 239 to 244 comprise a gaiden series focusing on the background of the character Kakashi Hatake. All subsequent chapters belong to Part II, which continues the storyline in Part I after a two and a half year time jump. The English adaptation of the Naruto manga is licensed by Viz and serialized in Viz's version of Shonen Jump. In order to compensate for the gap between the Japanese and English adaptations of the manga, Viz announced its "Naruto Nation" campaign, where it would release three volumes a month in the last four months of 2007 in order to close said gap. Cammie Allen, Viz Media's product manager, commented that, "Our main reason [for the accelerated schedule] was to catch up to the Japanese release schedule to give our readers a similar experience to that of our readers in Japan."
As of May 2008, 42 tankōbon have been released by Shueisha in Japan, with the first twenty-seven tankōbon containing Part I, and the remaining fifteen belonging to Part II. The first tankōbon was released on March 3, 2000, with the forty-second released on May 2, 2008. In addition, four tankōbon, each containing ani-manga based one of the first four Naruto movies, have been released by Shueisha. Viz has released 30 volumes of the English adaptation of the manga.
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Отредактировано snupper (AugСр2008 16:05:21)