In a much awaited update, it has been revealed that the new Naruto anime, which will comprise of 4 episodes, will release this fiscal year, i.e., anytime between now and March 2025.
This announcement was made during TV Tokyo’s FY2024 Annual Results Briefing, which was released on May 23, 2024.
“While the new series of ‘BORUTO’ is currently on hiatus, we are planning to broadcast new episodes [of Naruto] to commemorate the 20th anniversary this fiscal year. For distribution, we have been expanding to Central and South America and the Middle East in addition to worldwide distribution, and the remaining region is Eastern Europe. We are in the final stages of negotiations to find a good partner to handle peripheral businesses.“
The anime was supposed to release on Sep 3, 2023. However, it was delayed to further enhance the quality of the series.
The brand new Naruto episodes, which are being produced for the first time in about 6 years and 5 months, are being released as a part of its 20th anniversary celebration.
The renowned Japanese rock band, FLOW, will be performing both the opening and ending theme songs for the 4 new episodes.
The opening theme will feature a special 20th-anniversary version of their hit song, “GO!!!,” while the ending theme will be a captivating cover of “Viva★Rock” by ORANGE RANGE, as interpreted by FLOW.
Based on the manga series of the same name by Masashi Kishimoto, Naruto anime began airing on Oct 3, 2002. Produced by Studio Pierrot and Aniplex, the first part of Naruto anime aired from 2002 to 2007 with 220 episodes. A sequel titled Naruto: Shippuden began airing the same year, and continued till 2017 before ending.
Naruto: Shippuden aired for a total of 500 episodes.
The main story then continued, focusing on the younger generation, with Naruto’s son Boruto, playing the titular character in Boruto: Naruto Next Generations.
The manga was serialized in Shueisha’s shonen manga magazine Weekly Shonen Jump from 1999 to 2014, with its chapters collected in 72 tankobon volumes.
The series is based on two one-shot manga by Kishimoto: Karakuri (1995), which earned Kishimoto an honorable mention in Shueisha’s monthly Hop Step Award the following year, and Naruto (1997).