Summary
The creator ofNaruto,Masashi Kishimoto, renewed fans' hopes of seeing another manga from the author in a new interview with his colleague and co-author onBoruto, Mikio Ikemoto. Although it wasn’t an explicit confirmation, it still opens up the exciting possibility of his return.
Kishimoto and Ikemoto were invited to an interview by Naruto’s French publisher, Kana, and multiple events, such as a re-screening of theBorutomovie, a press conference, and a meet-and-greet, were planned. The two shared a lot of information, but Kishimoto’s plans for the future were the most interesting.
Kishimoto said that as of now, he is focusing on spending time with his family andlooking for motivation from fans to create a new manga. A new series is definitely in his vision and although it might be a while before it is made official, fans ofNarutocan look forward to Kishimoto’s new series in the future.
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Kishimoto’s Return To The Manga World Has Been Met With Excitement
Fans ofNarutoandBorutoare rushing to translate the interview and share it online. Although much is still unknown, Kishimoto isinterested in a manga unrelated toNarutoand hopes for a new one instead. He already made one titledSamurai 8, a sci-fi series, that was unfortunatelycanceled byShonen Jumpdue to low sales. It has been years since, and after working on the Minato one-shot, a short story that was met with positive reviews, it seems his passion for manga-making has been reignited once more. The first time he mentioned anything aboutSamurai 8was in 2014, and it wasn’t until 5 years later it started serializing, so the same could very well happen for his new title.
A potential direction he could take isfleshing out his one-shot titledMario, a mafia series set in New York. While it was fast-paced, which is usual for a one-shot, it had a good reception due to the focus on the relationship between Mario and Saori instead of the action that comes with being a mafia hitman. Interestingly, Kishimoto sketched Mario in aNarutocharacter sheet back in 1998, meaning this was something he had been planning for a long time. This adult and violent series will be a different and much-welcomed addition to Kishimoto’s portfolio which is mostly battle shonen series.
A point of concern for fans is whether he will handle the art himself as well as the writing, as he only handed the story for bothSamurai 8andBoruto. As Kishimoto said, his main priority at the moment is spending time with his family, a luxury he wasn’t afforded in the years he was makingNaruto. After yesterday’s press conference where he was met with loud cheers and a standing ovation that almost led him to tears, finding motivation from fans will definitely not be hard forMasashi Kishimoto.
