Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto is one of the most successful manga and anime franchises to come out of Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump, so all eyes have been on the famous creator to see if lightning would strike twice. Fans have been anxious to get their eyes on Kishimoto’s next series after it was confirmed to be in the works last year, and now fans in the West have gotten their best look yet.
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Viz Media has confirmed they have licensed Samurai 8: The Tale of Hachimaru for an English language release, and will be officially launching the series alongside its Shonen Jump debut in Japan on May 12th. You can check out the announcement trailer for the new manga above.
Details for Samurai 8: The Tale of Hachimaru’s plot is being kept under wraps, but the series will be written by Naruto’s creator Masashi Kishimoto. Though it may come as surprise considering the art looks so much like Kishimoto’s own work, the illustrations for the new series will actually be provided by Kishimoto’s former assistant Akira Okubo.
For those who want an idea of what the full series will be like, Samurai 8: The Tale of Hachimaru has launched an official preview where fans can see the first couple of pages from Kishimoto’s new series. After its official debut on May 12th, new chapters will be released on a weekly basis much like the other Shonen Jump favorites. With a science-fiction world full of samurai, the series is already setting itself apart from Kishimoto’s previous work so there’s no telling where this series will go!
Originally created by Masashi Kishimoto for Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump in 1999, Naruto follows a young ninja, with a sealed demon within him, that wishes to become the leader of his home village. The series ran for 700 chapters overall, and was adapted into an anime series by Studio Pierrot and Aniplex that ran from 2002 to 2017. The series was popular enough to warrant a sequel, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations which is set several years after the events of the original Naruto story and features the children of many of its key characters such as Naruto and Hinata.
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