Naruto Celebrates 25th Anniversary With Blast From the Past Video: Watch

Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto manga first made its debut 25 years ago, and the manga is commemorating the occasion with a special video showing off the series’ biggest moments. Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto manga hit the pages of Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine on September 21, 1999, and it’s been 25 years since the manga went on to become one of the biggest and most influential franchises of all time. Naruto has been such a success for Shueisha since it made its debut that it’s since continued with a full sequel series, which is now even in the midst of its own sequel. 

The anime adaptation for Naruto recently celebrated its own 20th anniversary not long ago, but now the manga has hit another major milestone. While it’s been 25 years since the series first made its debut, it feels just as fresh today as fans are still taking the time to highlight some of the biggest moments that happened over its initial run. Shueisha is using this time to look back as well with a special new video to show off Naruto‘s best moments as the perfect way to kick off this 25th anniversary party. Check it out below: 

What Is Naruto? 

First making its official debut in 1999, Masashi Kishimoto‘s Naruto introduces fans to Naruto Uzumaki, an orphan who has been ostracized from the rest of his home village of ninjas, the Hidden Leaf Village. It turns out that years before, the village had been attacked by a monster known as the Nine-Tailed Beast. His father had sacrificed himself to help take down the monster, and it was then sealed within a baby Naruto to keep it under wraps. Due to having this monster within his body, Naruto’s been forced to live on his own while everyone hates him. 

Despite all of this, Naruto’s dream is to become the leader of the whole village, the Hokage, in order to gain the people’s respect. He doesn’t seem to have any ability to use traditional ninja abilities, and he doesn’t really have the physical skills to do well in school, but Naruto tries anyway. It’s this spirit that pushes him throughout the series as he takes on increasingly deadlier enemies and grows to such a level of power that he eventually becomes the Hokage by the end of it all. 

What’s Next for Naruto? 

Funny enough, that was far from the end of the Naruto series by any means. The timeline has continued with an official sequel series, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations. This manga, written and illustrated by Mikio Ikemoto with Kishimoto overseeing the story, introduced fans to Naruto’s son, Boruto Uzumaki. Boruto deals with his own troubles, and they grow to such an extent that it’s now in the midst of its own sequel series keeping the story going, Boruto: Two Blue Vortex. You can now find it all with either Viz Media’s digital Shonen Jump library or Sheuisha’s MangaPlus service. 

As for Naruto itself, it’s currently still working on its celebration for the anime’s 20th anniversary. With the planned return of the original Naruto anime for four special episodes, this celebration will take Team 7 on a new mission never seen in the franchise before. The manga has yet to announce whether or not it will have any grand plans for this milestone just yet, but given how big this franchise is, this special video is likely far from the only 25th anniversary celebration that Naruto will have for the monumental occasion.