[Image: シネマトゥデイ]
The Naruto manga is finished. The Naruto anime is finished. He is sticking around in his son Boruto’s spin-off series, but it sounds like creator Masashi Kishimoto wouldn’t mind if a ubiquitous Naruto character was killed off.
Kishimoto isn’t doing the Boruto manga or the anime himself, but he certainly has things to say about both.
In a recent Jump interview (via 2ch), he talked about the spin-off’s furture, saying, “I think it’s ok if it [Boruto] isn’t really bound to Naruto. The time period is different and because various original elements are mixed in with the setting… I think I’d like it done with freedom. Because it’s Naruto, I think it’s also ok if this character that’s always been around died [in Boruto].”
There are couple things to keep in mind: Previously, there’s been speculation that Naruto will die. Kishimoto doesn’t come out an explicitly this. Moreover, the way the original interview is written, “Naruto” has brackets called nijuukagikakko, which are the Japanese version of the double quote.
In short, they’re like italics and are referring to the entire series. Online in Japan, however, people are taking this to mean this quote refers to the actual character and not simply a Naruto character.
Continuing, Kishimoto added, “Having the character gain weight or trying to lose it would also things that could be played with for Boruto.” The point that Kishimoto was making is that by doing things like this and not feeling constrained by Naruto, Boruto can become even more interesting. He wasn’t putting a hit on Naruto.
“However,” Kishimoto added with a chuckle, “it would be somewhat of a problem if the character was shot with a stray bullet or died in an explosion.”
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6 responses to “Sounds Like Naruto’s Creator Just Talked About Killing Off A Character”
Does anyone actually care about what happens in Bort at this point though?
I enjoyed the adventures of Naruto. That said my biggest complaint with Naruto was in a world without dragonballs Kishimoto still managed to lead us to believe characters were dead a number of times only to do a bait and switch, then there were the times that characters straight up died but somehow came back for reasons. It really took the edge off how high the stakes were supposed to be. Naruto had a huge cast and in the end and you can count on one hand with about four fingers to spare how many of his classmates died despite being just about to die all the bloody time.
Considering only the most old and feeble characters were fair game in Naruto I guess that means its more likely someone from the old generation will go before someone in the new generation does. Good luck to Boruto readers!
Who ever died of the main cast and came straight back?
kakashi died and came back via pain
But that was in conjunction with several hundred other people coming back to life from the same cause of death so it wasn’t something special.
One of the big things I remember about the manga, and it may have just been a translation issue, was that it constantly had characters say their last words or dive in front of an attack then die, only for it to be revealed a dozen issues down the track that they were still alive.