“Naruto” (2002- ) is a Japanese television show about Naruto, a 13-year boy with yellow hair, who is going to ninja school. He hopes one day to become Hokage, the leader of all the ninjas, but right now he has little idea of what is going on and is just learning. Deep inside his body is a demon, the Nine-Tailed Fox.
“Naruto” was created by Masashi Kishimoto. It first appeared in a manga magazine in 1997. In 2002 it became a television show in Japan. It was brought to North America in 2005 and appears on Cartoon Network. It came to Britain in 2006 and to Australia and Brazil in 2007. As of 2007 they were still making new shows.
“Naruto” looks like it takes place long ago in Japan, but it is not Japan at all but another world. Most of the action takes place in the Land of Fire. They do not have guns or cars but they do have television, cameras, telephones, electricity and glass windows.
On this world everyone has a force inside him called chakra. Ninjas are trained to use this chakra to fight others. It is their main weapon. They use it to do things like making dragons out of water, creating balls of light that can kill, making themselves into giants and jumping from tree to tree.
There are also samurais on this world. They fight in the army using ordinary weapons like swords. Ninjas do not fight in the army except when needed. They mostly fight for themselves or for those who hire them.
The main characters:
Naruto: the hero. He often does not know what is going on, but he is brave and faithful.
Sakura: a schoolmate with pink hair. Naruto likes her but she does not care for him.
Sasuke: another schoolmate. He has black hair and is much better than Naruto. Sakura likes him but he does not care for her.
Kakashi: their sensei or teacher who teaches them the way of the ninja.
“Naruto” sounds almost like “Nar’to” and Sasuke like “Soss’kay”.
See also:
October 17th 2008 – Japan will have a seat on the United Nations Security Council for the next two years. It will be joined by Turkey, Austria, Mexico and Uganda. Iran tried for a seat, but it is out of favour because it is suspected of secretly building an atom bomb. Iceland also tried for a seat but failed.
