Naruto Forum

The kid ninja with the bleached hair and the metal head band is just DOMINATING. With 50 volumes out and 51 coming this Friday (in Japan), NARUTO’s sales have crossed into the septuple digits with 100,400,000 units . BELIEVE IT! Sheesh… I can't help but think of this picture book I enjoyed as a kid. It would illustrate exactly how high money would stack if you converted it into change. 500 grand worth of nickles might stand up to the top of a building, the same amount in pennies might make it to the top of a skyscaper, and so on. I can’t even fathom how high more than a million copies of Naruto would stack. Maybe to the moon? Anyway, according to ANN, this figure makes Naruto the #5 all-time seller for Shueisha, ranking behind the likes of DRAGON BALL, ONE PIECE and SLAM DUNK.

Ironically, while those 50 NARUTO volumes have been selling so well all over the world (I believe we Americans are only up to #48, though), sales have been receding in the US of A. Borders and Barnes & Noble haven’t been missing significant chunks of the NARUTO catalog in their inventory, reflecting an overall scaling back of manga sales. I’m not going to bore you with all the figures, here, so check them out at ICV2 if you feel so inclined.

The thing I always say when I’m witness to a runaway success is… “I don’t understand why it’s such a hit, but I want to.”   So I’m inviting you lunatics in the Anime Vice - - fans and haters alike - - to break it down for me. What do you like about NARUTO? What do you loathe about it? And why, oh why, do you figure it’s such a smash?

-- Tom Pinchuk is the writer of UNIMAGINABLE for Arcana Comics and HYBRID BASTARDS! for Archaia. Pre-order the HYBRID BASTARDS! hardcover now on Amazon.com.

I love it.  I really fell in love with Naruto when I started noticing characters and themes in the series had ties to Japanese mythology.  The main characters have some decent depth to them.  Love the style of the drawings.  The story is great and Kishimoto has done a great job, recently, of expanding the Narutoverse into a believable world.  And lets face it, ninjas are BADASS! And will always be badass, long after Naruto is done and gone.     
I can see why some people dont like it.  I mean, Im not one of those who thinks my opinion is the only one that matters.  I think many people liked it to start with, but over the years grew out of it.  It happens.  I mean we live in the information and people can be fickle when something new comes along.  But, dont knock it till you've tried, and if you dont like it fine.  Dont be a tool and hate on others that do like it.