Cartoon Network Promo Puts Famous Cartoon Heroes in Naruto Cosplay

With how big of a franchise Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto is these days, it’s quite eye-opening to look back on how everything began. The series now has a huge following in the United States, and a lot of that is due to the anime making its debut on Cartoon Network‘s Toonami block. Above many of the other Toonami offerings of the time, Naruto’s popularity has gone beyond its anime roots and is often considered one of the general cartoon hits for Cartoon Network.

Years later, Cartoon Network is looking back on this success by paying homage to it in a pretty awesome way with a few of its current cartoon hits on the network. Gathering the heroes of series like We Bare Bears and Craig of the Creek and putting them in cosplay for special art, this cool promo got right to the heart of Naruto fans.

In a celebration of a recent Naruto Day, Cartoon Network’s official Twitter account shared this adorable art of several of its protagonists donning special Team 7 outfits. Craig of the Creek‘s Craig takes on the central role of Naruto Uzumaki, Summer Camp Island‘s Susie takes on Sakura Haruno, Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart‘s Mao Mao is taking on Sasuke Uchiha, and We Bare Bears‘ Ice Bear slides into the role of their mentor Kakashi Hatake.

Cartoon Network’s current line up of hits is stronger than ever, and it’s only getting stronger as brand new series are joining the line-up. This hilarious shout out to Naruto is absolutely welcome, and it’s a blast from the past considering that Naruto hasn’t been a part of the official Cartoon Network broadcasts for a while. It’s currently running as part of Adult Swim’s Toonami block, and it’s probably going to be some time before any of these cartoons approach that late night block.

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.