Fans have been blessed this year with numerous trailers and teasers for the Naruto franchise, with a recent one celebrating where it all started for the beloved anime character on his Oct. 10 birthday.
The special trailer from Weekly Shonen Jump's YouTube channel featured iconic lines and scenes from the anime, such as "I'll surpass the Hokage! I'll make everyone acknowledge my existence!" when he first introduced himself to Sasuke, Sakura and Kakashi-sensei, as well as one of the first times that Team 7 truly came together. As fans remember, Naruto's journey wasn't plain-sailing, with the trailer also showcasing the opening rift between Naruto and Sasuke, but also in Naruto Shippuden where his feats and charisma finally earned him the acceptance he'd sought from the first chapter, which at least on the surface was the reverse of Sasuke's story. A short message attached to the trailer reads, "A special PV was released on October 10th, Naruto Uzumaki's birthday."
Arguably, the biggest drop that fans were expecting this year was the four new remastered Naruto episodes. A nearly 10-minute trailer was released last October, building up excitement for the already-crisp production. These were delayed indefinitely in a statement by Naruto's production committee, citing further improvements to the quality were necessary. With fights like Naruto and Sasuke vs. Momoshiki ranking in many top 10 fights of the last decade lists, fans were largely disappointed at the announcement but remained expectant.
New, official birthday columns from the Naruto website delve deeper into core moments from the manga and "celebrate the birthday and achievements of everyone's favorite ninja!" Revealing that Naruto is a Libra star sign, and that alongside the iconic Ichiraku ramen, Naruto's favorite food is oshiruko (red bean soup with mochi), it describes the column event with, "Today we'll be reminiscing about the boy once famous for his failures who doggedly pursued his shinobi way and became the Seventh Hokage: Naruto Uzumaki!"
After reading the columns, the site encourages readers to check out the manga from the beginning. Viz Media holds the license for North America, describing the Naruto series as follows: "Twelve years ago the Village Hidden in the Leaves was attacked by a fearsome threat. A nine-tailed fox spirit claimed the life of the village leader, the Hokage, and many others. Today, the village is at peace and a troublemaking kid named Naruto is struggling to graduate from Ninja Academy. His goal may be to become the next Hokage, but his true destiny will be much more complicated. The adventure begins now!"
Source: Shonen Jump Official YouTube
