Naruto Uzumaki is a mischievous adolescent ninja with one loud ambition: to run his village. That premise launched on TV Tokyo on October 3, 2002, and carried 220 episodes across four seasons before signing off on February 8, 2007. The show is based on Masashi Kishimoto’s manga, which ran from 1999 to 2014, and it is animated by Studio Pierrot, produced by Aniplex and licensed in North America by Viz Media.
Trailer, via animelab.
A Loud Orphan and the Village Hidden in the Leaves
The setup is simple and it holds. Naruto is an orphan who wants recognition from his peers, and he wants to become Hokage, the leader and strongest ninja of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. He is not a prodigy. He is the kid acting out in the back of the room.
Junko Takeuchi voices Naruto, and the part lives or dies on that performance. It lives. Noriaki Sugiyama plays Sasuke Uchiha, the rival with the pedigree Naruto lacks, and Chie Nakamura is Sakura Haruno, the third point of the team. Kazuhiko Inoue’s Kakashi Hatake is the teacher who has to keep them alive.
The supporting cast is deep for a show this long. Hidekatsu Shibata voices Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage. Koichi Tochika is Neji Hyuga. Masashi Ebara is Might Guy. Yōichi Masukawa is Rock Lee, Yukari Tamura is Tenten, Ryoka Yuzuki is Ino Yamanaka, Showtaro Morikubo is Shikamaru Nara and Kentaro Ito is Choji Akimichi.
That roster keeps the middle stretch from sagging.
From TV Tokyo to Cartoon Network
Naruto did not stay in Japan. An English dub produced by Viz Media aired on Cartoon Network and YTV from September 2005 to December 2009, which is how most of its Western audience met it.
| Series | Network | Run | Episodes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Naruto | TV Tokyo | Oct 2002 – Feb 2007 | 220 |
| Naruto (English dub) | Cartoon Network, YTV | Sep 2005 – Dec 2009 | — |
| Naruto: Shippuden | TV Tokyo | Feb 2007 – Mar 2017 | 500 |
| Shippuden (English dub) | Disney XD | Oct 2009 – Nov 2011 | First 98 |
| Shippuden (English dub) | Adult Swim’s Toonami | Jan 2014 – Sep 2024 | From episode 1 |
The sequel, Naruto: Shippuden, is a direct follow-up set during Naruto’s teens, and it also ran on TV Tokyo. It went 500 episodes from February 2007 to March 2017. The dub’s path was messier. Disney XD aired the first 98 episodes, then dropped it. Viz Media started streaming new dubbed episodes on Neon Alley in December 2012 from episode 99, and that service ended in March 2016. Toonami picked it back up in January 2014 and ran to September 2024, starting over from the first episode.
What the Long Run Costs and What It Buys
Four seasons and 220 episodes is a lot of room, and Naruto uses most of it. The early arcs earn their length because the show bothers to build the village as a place with rules, ranks and grudges rather than a backdrop. Naruto’s want is small and specific — recognition — and the series keeps that want in front of you even when the fights get large.
A show this long will stall, and Naruto stalls. But the stalling is the price of the cast it assembles, and that trade is mostly worth it.
What holds up is the central idea. A kid nobody wants to acknowledge decides he will make them.
That is not a complicated pitch, and Naruto never pretends it is. It just commits. The animation and the voice work carry the fights, but the orphan and his loud, unearned confidence carry the show, and that is why it still gets recommended 24 years on.
TMDB’s audience score is 8.4 out of 10, across 6,108 votes.
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