Naruto1A common topic amongst comics pundits is how Marvel and DC flood racks with tie-ins and sequels and prequels and so on. Well, it seems Viz is taking a page from that playbook, but this time with the #1 comic around the world, the mighty, unstoppable Naruto. Viz will be releasing THREE new Naruto books a month from September to December. The move allows the American releases to catch up to the Japanese schedule. The move will be accompanied by a significant marketing campaign.

More from the PR:

The new publishing schedule will carry the series up to Volume 27, after which there is a significant break in the story arc: Two and a half years pass, and we find Naruto taller, older, and wiser. To support NARUTO NATION, VIZ Media’s SHONEN JUMP magazine will continue to serialize the NARUTO series, will provide in-depth background information for fans about the developments in the accelerated manga, and will begin to feature the new adventures of the older Naruto beginning in the January 2008 issue (estimated in stores December 4, 2007).

The specific manga release schedule is as follows:

September 2007: NARUTO Vols. 16-18
October 2007: NARUTO Vols. 19-21
November 2007: NARUTO Vols. 22-24
December 2007: NARUTO Vols. 25-27

Complementing the increased manga momentum, VIZ Media will expand the catalog of other related NARUTO offerings with a variety of releases this fall and winter. September will see the release of the NARUTO ANIME PROFILES: Hiden Shippu Emaki, and the launch of the full-color Ani-Manga series that will depict the storyline of NARUTO THE MOVIE: NINJA CLASH IN THE LAND OF SNOW, which is also set for a special theatrical engagement this summer. In October VIZ Media will publish a gorgeous UZUMAKI: ART OF NARUTO edition that will be a must-have for any collector and also NARUTO MISSION: PROTECT THE WATERFALL VILLAGE!, the latest addition to the collection of NARUTO novels under the VIZ Fiction imprint. A fourth edition of the NARUTO COLLECTOR magazine will be released this fall, focusing on the manga and on the release of the first NARUTO game for the Xbox 360.



NARUTO has become one of VIZ Media’s most successful manga properties in terms of sales. The series, by creator Masashi Kishimoto, depicts the adventures of a young boy who trains to become a ninja, and has sold more than 72 million copies in Japan since Shueisha Inc. began publishing the manga in 1999.

NARUTO has emerged as one of the best selling and most popular manga series throughout North America, regularly placing in both Graphic Novel and Overall General Fiction categories on noted literary sales rosters including BookScan and the USA Today Top 150. It was also the first manga to ever win a noted Quill Award in 2006. Momentum for the property has continued to grow significantly as the NARUTO anime counterpart (also distributed by VIZ Media) continues to captivate millions of viewers on Cartoon Network.

“We are excited to launch NARUTO NATION as a bold publishing campaign to give NARUTO fans what they want – more NARUTO and a similar experience to NARUTO readers in Japan!” says Cammie Allen, Product Manager, Publishing, VIZ Media. “The tremendous success of the NARUTO brand now includes manga, DVDs, novels and features in magazines like SHONEN JUMP. This campaign is not just an accelerated publishing program — NARUTO NATION is a highly-anticipated event, where for the first time, a publisher will offer three new volumes of a single ongoing graphic novel series every month. VIZ Media also plans a variety of captivating in-store displays, signage, and even a few special exclusive items that we will announce shortly.”

11 COMMENTS

  1. This is making me scratch my head a little. The trades were moving in lock-step with the cartoons on Cartoon Network. However, in Japan the Cartoon went through about a year where the cartoon out-paced the manga, and there’s about 70 episodes that are labeled as “filler.” It’s not until about episde 200 that they go to the Three Years Later storyline (which predates DC’s OYL idea, and actually changed everything by moving the story forward).
    CN would be smart to skip the 70 filler episodes, as some are in the really, really bad department. But even if they speed up to Volume 27, they’re still behind the japanese manga by about a half year. I guess this is a little spin control, as the complaint is always that Japan is so far ahead of us on the story.
    The other posibility is that Viz finally figured out that the glacial pace wasn’t making for more sales of Jump. Instead, it was making people download the comics translated by netizens.

  2. For all the heaps of Naruto books and cards and other merchandise we sell, we only sell Shonen Jump when there’s a Yu-Gi-Oh! promo card in it. The sales just aren’t translating,

  3. Darren, it may be true that the released from Cartoon network are in lockstep with the bound volumes, but I know for a fact that every one of the junior highers I work with have watched the show far beyond where the books have currently traced the story. It’s always a struggle to coerce them to refrain from giving away things that won’t happen for six more volumes. My wife and I will be happy to finally have caught up to anything remotely current. Chalk it up to YouTube maybe, but all those kids have seen all kinds of animated episodes beyond where the books are currently stalled – and I for one am jealous.

  4. This could really backfire on them and the kids don’t want to try to ready 12 volumes of Manga in four months. I could be wrong about this. It may be a good realization. I do wish Shonen Jump sold more, but I am a little bit old to be reading most Manga (29) and Shonen Jump.

  5. Heh. It goes way beyond the episodes, which are known as Naruto: Shippuden now. Within a day of the release of the manga, the ‘net has subtitled pages set to music up on youtube. And you’ll find if you start watching the subtitled episodes with the japanese voice actors online, some of the American voices will really, really grate on you after.

  6. Oh, I believe it. I watched Laputa a few months back and we went about ten minutes in English (since we had some sub-haters in the crowd) before everyone unanimously decided Japanese was better.

    I think my wife will be happy to lift the moratorium on Naruto-talk in her classroom. Her students are always trying to ask her, “Oh! Have you gotten to the part where…?” It’s always pretty frustrating for the kids when she threatens to behead them if they give anything away.

Comments are closed.