Feature Watch: Bye (For Now), Naruto

Otaku USA Staff February 10, 2015

The cover story of the latest issue of Otaku USA magazine is, what else, but Naruto! It’s a fitting time to return to the orange-clad ninja as our cover boy, what with Masashi Kishimoto’s manga having recently ended its run. But there’s still more on the horizon for the series, and Daryl Surat looks back on what made it work and how one ninja revolutionized the world in his feature.

Here’s an excerpt on some of what we can take away from Naruto:

Like so many great shonen battle series before, the lesson of Naruto was that self-confidence alone is nothing if you don’t then also put forth the hard work, and even then you can’t do it alone. The difference between Naruto and Sasuke was never really a question of spirit animals, special eyes, or who had the most chakra behind their punches. It was that Naruto was willing to be supported and taught along the way by multiple mentors, some of whom weren’t all that willing to help at first until Naruto demonstrated his desire to learn. Sasuke may have the allure of a “bad boy loner” but we know he’s lost his way, first from a desire for revenge and ultimately from his concluding that “if you can never completely eliminate evil and the only way that people work together is to stop a common foe, it’s best to contain the evil in one place and have that place be me.”

Read more of the Naruto cover story in the pages of the latest Otaku USA Magazine. For more great anime features, pick up the April 2015 issue of Otaku USA at your local bookstore, order it from our online store, or subscribe to get every issue!