As famous as Naruto is, there are some people who have not gotten into it. Or some who have but still have these questions. So, we went out and gathered all we could about the Naruto manga and Naruto anime, and this is what we found.
In this article, we will be answering:
- What is Naruto Shippuden?
- What chapter Does It Start in The Manga?
- What Episode Does Naruto End In?
- Which Is Better; Naruto or Naruto Shippuden?
- Is it Better to Read or Watch Naruto?
- What Writers can Learn from this?
What is Naruto Shippuden?
Naruto Shippuden is the second half of Naruto anime, and manga, and in the story world, it takes place after the time skip.
If that still confuses you, then you may not understand anime physics. You see, most anime are adaptations of manga source material. And within a lot of manga, it is a common trope for there to be some kind of training time skip. This was popularized by Tokirama’s Dragon Ball. When drawing his hit series’ main character, Toriyama found that he was having trouble drawing the fight scenes because Goku was too short limbed. To fix this, he had Goku go for a training in secret, and returns taller. This did 2 things; firstly, it allowed Goku to be taller, and as a result Tokirama could draw the fight scenes better, and secondly, it set up a trope for millions of manga to follow.
Therefore, Naruto too has a training time skip where he leaves to train, and returns somewhat taller. However, the anime is an adaptation of the manga, and therefore it can take liberties. So it differentiated the second part of Naruto to be Naruto Shippuden. In fact, the same happened with Dragon ball. While the whole Dragon Ball manga, even with grown up Goku, is just called Dragon Ball, the TV version of grown Goku is called Dragon Ball Z.
What Chapter Does It Start in The Manga?
Naruto shippuden starts in chapter 245, volume 28, and in the Kazekage Rescue mission.
Within the story situation, it begins in chapter 245. In this chapter, we watch Naruto interact with his old friends, specifically team 7, and Konohamaru. Then the Hokage, Tsunade. Essentially, team 7 reforms, and we see the quirky sides of the team are not only still prevalent, but they seem to have gotten worse, which is morbidly heartwarming. It ends with Team 7 about to be reformed, if they can pass the bell test that is.
Finally, the arc is the Kazekage Rescue mission. This is the arc we see Naruto meet Gaara again, who has become a Kage. But before the two can meet, Naruto must first confront the Akatsuki, and we see whether his preparation for them over the past 2 years has been fruitful.
What Episode Does Naruto end?
Naruto ends in episode 220 “Departure”, chapter 238 “The Day We Set Off!”, and in the anime, it is in the Sunagakure Support Mission filler arc, while it is in the Sasuke Retrieval Mission Arc in the manga.
In the manga, Naruto concludes his fight with Sasuke, and afterwards, he is returned to Konoha by Kakashi. There, he stays to recover, and after Jiraiya arrives and tries to dissuade him from continuing as a ninja, Naruto’s resolve is tested, but remains unbroken. So Jiraiya agrees to take Naruto, and train him for 2 and a half years. Thus the first part of the series concludes with Naruto walking away, before we go into a mini arc seeing Kakashi’s backstory. However, things are a bit different in the anime.
In the anime, there is a filler arc following the Sasuke Retrieval Mission arc. This is the Sunagakure Support Mission arc, where Naruto and his allies must assist Gaara, and the Suna ninja’s in a mission. Following that mission, the story then sees Naruto return home and decide he needs to go with Jiraiya on the training trip.
Which is Better, Naruto or Naruto Shippuden?
Naruto is better than Naruto Shippuden, because Naruto is a more intimate, easily accessible, and fun story than Naruto Shippuden. But before we get into the explanation of this, we first need to address the surface level meaning of this statement.
1. Fights
The first thing that shows the difference between Naruto and Naruto Shippuden is the fights. The first thing we learn about fights in Naruto is that they are never won through raw strength. Instead, they are won through intelligence, and deception. These are ninjas after all, so make sure you look underneath the underneath if you fight them. This concept is completely lost in Naruto Shippuden.
In Naruto, the characters used a lot of their own weapons, and all ninjutsu complimented these weapons. As a result it always felt like any character can beat another character if they were smart enough. Furthermore, any one just watching the series for the first time could keep up with the logic, and they could see that these were ninja’s, which is something that is appealing to a lot of people.
Not so in Naruto Shippuden.
It does not matter how smart Neji is, he could never beat Ootsusuki Madara, who could just drop meteorites on him till he is dead. And also, it could be hard for people to get into the story, as they would see all these flying beings and (rightfully) assume they are watching a show about gods instead of ninjas.
2. World building
The second difference between Naruto and Naruto Shippuden was the world opening up. In Naruto, the story took place mostly in Konoha, and the villages that were visited for the missions. In Naruto Shippuden, the story followed characters living outside of Konoha, whose actions could drastically alter the plot. This was good in that it allowed the world to open up. But, that close nit feeling of Naruto was somewhat lost. “Masashi talking about Naruto coming back to Konoha” Which leads us to the next point.
3. Character Development
The final, and most drastic difference between Naruto and Naruto Shippuden is that Naruto is a story about a boy learning to be a ninja, while Naruto Shippuden is a story about a ninja learning to be a savior. Naruto is a story about a boy becoming a ninja. Naruto Shippuden is a story about a ninja learning to be a savior of the world. Story 1 told us this world has problems, and story 2 watches our lead character chase after the methods of fixing these problems. As a result, we see that Naruto is a much more intimate story, as it is worried about the coming of age story of the character, meaning victory or defeat is confirmed through immediate rewards to the character. For example, when Naruto and Neji fight, the story rewards Naruto by showing him he is worthy of being a ninja.
“Naruto is a story about a boy learning to be a ninja, while Naruto Shippuden is a story about a ninja learning to be a savior of the world.”
MASTERING~MASTERY
However, Naruto Shippuden tries to figure out the answers of the world. Victory or defeat in a fight does not satisfy this goal. As a result, the story does not reward the character immediately, instead it rewards the world. Naruto learns this. That’s why in Naruto’s most engaging fight, the Pein fight, it is almost anti-climatic, as he knew he would not receive any reward for winning this fight. So he stops fighting, and starts a dialogue with Pein, and is finally rewarded, but only at the very end of the story, when he builds the utopia.
Is It Better to Read or Watch Naruto?
It is better to read the Naruto manga than to watch the anime.
When you read the story, you are reading the story directly. It is a tighter story, and the authors hand is felt directly. In contrast, when you watch the anime, you have to watch a lot of fillers, and additions that may divert the story line, and character progress.
When you read the manga, you also support the manga directly. The author does not make money from the anime, just the merchandise the anime sells, and the likes. So supporting the manga helps.
Finally, it is a lot faster to read the manga. You can cover a lot of distance, and then you can sit back and be satisfied with yourself. You could probably finish the story in under 2 weeks, granted you don’t have anything else to do.
What Writers Can Learn From this?
Are you losing the core of the story, or are you building on it?
What writers can learn from Naruto is that sometimes it is hard to tell whether you are building on the core principle of the story or you are losing it. Masashi Kishimoto (the creator of Naruto) clearly intended Naruto to end with him being a savior of the world, but first, he had to introduce the viewers to the world. He did this through slowly unfolding the story as it went along. This can be a problem.
As a writer, you may be aware of how things connect, but keep in mind that the readers may not entirely be aware of where things are going, and later, they may start to feel like the story has lost its core appeal when in fact the beginning was just building to that climatic idea you had in the end.
How can you avoid this? Simple, just show where the story will end.
Show where you intend on taking the story. It does not have to be a deep thing, just a small preview showing that you are aware of the later elements of the story. For example, Masashi did a great job of showing Madara and Hashirama’s statues at the beginning, but it would have benefitted a lot more if he had shown the existence of the Sage of Sixth paths earlier. Preferably in the first few chapters.
So look at your story and ask yourself, would anyone who reads the first few chapters realize they are reading the same story if they were to read the last?