Kishimoto Masashi 岸本斉史

Naruto
ＮＡＲＵＴＯ−ナルト−
serialized on Shounen Jump,
19 volumes @ Y390
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Popular ninja manga series, starring the boy Uzumaki Naruto, a young ninja trainee, who has the hidden powers of the nine-tailed fox demon. He acquired those when the monster attacked the Hokage ninja clan and was beaten by sealing it in the body of the new-born baby he was then. Therefore many people avoid him, but Naruto wants to get acknowledged by the people of his village. Though he's good-hearted, he's rebellious, something that becomes immediately apparent on the first page of the manga: Naruto writes graffiti on the memorial monument for the Hokage. Naruto isn't a good student either and gets mocked for this by his fellow classmates. Still, he soon proves that he has the potential of becoming a good ninja.

We follow Naruto and his companions on their road to become a true ninja. After the exam to become a low level ninja, which Naruto barely passes, they get divided into groups of three and get an assigned tutor under who's authority they carry out missions. Meanwhile, competing with ninja apprentices from neighboring countries, they try to raise their ninja grades.

Naruto is an excellent manga. The series is centered around fighting and competing, but not exclusively so (as was DBZ for instance). The author succeeds in building a great deal of mystery around the abilities of the different ninja clans. This amounts into multiple storylines that captivate the reader. The mystery around Sasuke (Naruto's rival), the evil forces that try to capture Sasuke, the extent to which Naruto's potential fox-demon powers reach, the Hokage, the Sand-ninja, it's this complex mixture that distinguishes Naruto from the classical fight, fight, fight manga. {PVH}