Naruto Anime Returns After 17 Years with New Episodes for 20th Anniversary; Deets Here

The popular Naruto is set to return, finally getting a release window for the four new episodes produced for the series' 20th anniversary.

Published on May 28, 2024  |  07:44 PM IST |  55.1K
Studio Pierrot
Naruto (PC: Studio Pierrot)

The original Naruto anime series, which ended 17 years ago, is set to return in the next fiscal year, following its sequels Naruto Shippuden and Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, according to a report from a Q&A session with TV Tokyo Financial Results President and Representative Director Ichiro Ishikawa.

Naruto's 20th anniversary anime episodes could be releasing soon according to an update from a new report! As part of the celebrating of the 20th anniversary of the Naruto anime's first premiere in Japan last year, the franchise returned for a massive celebration.

Original creator Masashi Kishimoto not only returned to the series to share a new one-shot manga story all about Naruto's father Minato Namikaze, but the Naruto anime shared all sorts of cool promos and other material showcasing the classic episodes in a whole new way.

When will the Naruto anime return? 

In July 2023, the official X account for Naruto announced four new episodes of the original anime series, intended to celebrate the show's 20th anniversary. However, on August 29, 2023, the four episodes were delayed due to production quality issues.

Despite no further news on the status of the new episodes, the emergence of this report is welcome news for franchise fans who have been waiting for an end to the seemingly indefinite hiatus.

Naruto (Studio Pierrot)

In the TV Tokyo report, Ichiro Ishikawa noted about the franchise: "The new Boruto series is currently on hiatus, but a new Naruto TV anime is scheduled to air this fiscal year to commemorate its 20th anniversary. As for distribution, we are expanding worldwide, and we are also working in Latin America and the Middle East, with Eastern Europe remaining. We are in the final stages of discussions to find a good partner to handle related business."

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If aired according to this schedule, it would give the new episodes of Naruto a release window of any time from now until the end of the current fiscal year that is March, 2025.

Naruto’s four special anniversary episodes were initially teased on the official website, alongside a first visual, as follows, "The pre-Shippuden Team 7 members—Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and Kakashi—appear in the teaser visual! What kind of story will be told in this completely new NARUTO animation?! Stay tuned!"

A brief about Naruto 

The first Naruto anime series, directed by Hayato Date and produced by Studio Pierrot and TV Tokyo, premiered in Japan on October 3, 2002, and concluded on February 8, 2007, after 220 episodes. The first 135 episodes were adapted from Part I of the manga; the remaining 85 episodes are original and use plot elements that are not in the manga.

Tetsuya Nishio was the character designer for Naruto when the manga was adapted into an anime series; Kishimoto had requested that Nishio be given this role. Beginning on April 29, 2009, the original Naruto anime began a rerun on Wednesdays and Thursdays until the fourth week of September 2009 when it changed to only Wednesdays. It was remastered in HD, with new 2D and 3D effects, under the name Naruto: Shōnen Hen.

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Naruto (Studio Pierrot)

Viz licensed the anime series for broadcast and distribution in the Region 1 market. The English dub of the anime began airing on September 10, 2005, and concluded on January 31, 2009, with 209 episodes aired on Cartoon Network's Toonami in the United States.

The episodes were also broadcast on YTV's Bionix (Canada), Jetix (United Kingdom) and SABC 2's (South Africa) programming blocks, and were released on DVD on March 28, 2006. On August 25, 2017, Starz announced that they would be offering episodes of the series for their Video on Demand service starting September 1, 2017.

The first 26 volumes contain four episodes; later DVD volumes have five episodes. Uncut editions were released in DVD box sets, each containing 12–15 episodes, with some variation based on story arcs. In the American broadcast, references to alcohol, Japanese culture, sexual innuendo, and the appearance of blood and death were sometimes edited but remained in the DVD editions.

One of the censored scenes was the accidental kiss between Naruto and Sasuke, fitting in the long trend of removing content that alludes to homosexual relationships. The series was also licensed to Hulu, Joost, and Crunchyroll, which aired the episodes online with the original Japanese audio tracks and English subtitles.

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On June 1, 2017, it was announced that an HD remaster version of the original Naruto television anime series would debut on Japanese TV on June 24, starting with the show's first episode. Anime Limited will release the series in a Collector's Blu-ray edition in the United Kingdom and Ireland this year.

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