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Masashi Kishimoto (岸本 斉史, Kishimoto Masashi, born 8 November 1974) is a Japanese manga artist, well known for creating the manga series Naruto. His younger twin brother, Seishi Kishimoto, is also a manga artist and creator of the manga series O-Parts Hunter (666 Satan) and Blazer Drive. Two of his former assistants, Osamu Kajisa (Tattoo Hearts) and Yuuichi Itakura (Hand's), have also gone on to moderate success following their work on Naruto.

Works

Kishimoto's first work as a manga artist was Karakuri (カラクリ), which he submitted to Shueisha in 1995. This earned him the Weekly Shōnen Jump's monthly "Hop Step Award" in 1996, granted to promising new manga artists. This was followed in 1997 by a pilot version of Naruto (NARUTO－ナルト－), published in Akamaru Jump Summer. In 1998, Kishimoto premiered as a Weekly Shōnen Jump artist with a serialized version of Karakuri in Weekly Shōnen Jump, but it proved unpopular and was canceled soon after. In 1999, a serialized version of Naruto began publication in Weekly Shōnen Jump and quickly became a hit. Naruto is still ongoing, with more than 52 volumes and just over 50 released in English, and has sold over 100 million copies in Japan and over 4 million copies were sold in the US followed by over 93 million copies worldwide (outside Japan and United States) as of volume 36, also being adapted into two successful anime series. The creator releases one chapter every single week and readers are still enjoying the ninja world stories. He has made of 532 chapters, people from 5 to 50 read and watch Naruto. The Naruto manga series has become one of Viz Media's top properties, accounting for nearly 10% of all manga sales in 2006. The seventh volume of Viz's release became the first manga to ever win a Quill Award when it claimed the award for "Best Graphic Novel" in 2006. In 2009, Kishimoto designed an extra costume for the video game character Lars Alexandersson for Tekken 6, and in 2010 this character appeared in Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 as part of a special cross-promotion. In 2010, Kishimoto also produced a one-shot baseball manga, Bench (ベンチ, Benchi), as part of Jump's "Top of the Super Legend" project, a series of six one-shot manga by famed Weekly Shōnen Jump artists, also including Sorachi Hideaki, Konomi Takeshi, Usuta Kyosuke, Akimoto Osamu, and Akira Toriyama.

Influences

When Kishimoto was originally creating the Naruto series, he looked to other shōnen manga for influences while attempting to make his characters as unique as possible. Kishimoto cites Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball series as one of these influences, noting that Son Goku, the protagonist of Dragon Ball, was a key factor when creating Naruto Uzumaki due to his energetic and mischievous personality. To complement the character Naruto, Kishimoto worked on creating a rival that was a "cool genius", as he believed this was "the archetypal rival character". After reviewing different manga for ideas, he ultimately developed Sasuke Uchiha. When creating the primary heroine, Kishimoto admitted, "I don't have a definite image of what a heroine should be". He eventually created Sakura Haruno, emphasizing "her energy and flirtatious spirit" as her primary characteristics. These three characters would be the mold for the other three main Naruto teams. For Kishimoto, Sasuke remains the most difficult character for him to draw. While drawing, errors and mishaps commonly result in Sasuke's youthful appearance being lost, a result of Kishimoto's inexperience in drawing characters mature beyond their years. Despite the time and energy Kishimoto spends drawing Sasuke, Sasuke has become his favorite character to draw.

When drawing the characters, Kishimoto follows a five-step process that he consistently follows: concept and rough sketch, drafting, inking, shading, and coloring. These steps are followed when he is drawing the actual manga and making the color illustrations that commonly adorn the cover of tankōbon, the cover of Weekly Shōnen Jump, or other media, but the toolkit he utilizes occasionally changes. For instance, he utilized an airbrush for one illustration for a Weekly Shōnen Jump cover, but decided not to use it for future drawings largely due to the cleanup required.

When Kishimoto was creating the setting of the Naruto manga, he initially concentrated on the designs for the village of Konohagakure, the primary setting of the series. Kishimoto asserts that his design for Konohagakure was created "pretty spontaneously without much thought", but admits that the scenery is based on his home in Okayama Prefecture. Kishimoto created Konohagakure without specifying a specific era or location in the real world, noting that the village is "just a place in head". Without a specific time period, Kishimoto included modern elements in the series such as convenience stores, but specifically excluded projectile weapons and vehicles from the storyline. For reference materials, Kishimoto performs his own research into Japanese culture and alludes to it in his work. In an interview, he commented that he "often visits Japanese gardens and to Kabuki performances" for reference material.

Kishimoto added that, as Naruto takes place in a "Japanese fantasy world," the creator has to "set certain rules, in a systematic way" so that he could easily "convey the story". Kishimoto wanted to "draw on" the Chinese zodiac tradition, which had a long-standing presence in Japan; the zodiac hand signs originate from this. Regarding technology Kishimoto said that Naruto would not have any firearms. He said he may include automobiles, aircraft, and "low-processing" computers; Kishimoto specified the computers would "maybe" be eight-bit and that they would "definitely not" be sixteen-bit.

Manga

• Karakuri one-shot (1996, Hop Step Award winner, published in Hop Step Award Selection 18 ('95~'96) (1996), Akamaru Jump Winter (1997), and Naruto: The Official Premium Fanbook (2009))
• Naruto pilot (1997, published in Akamaru Jump Summer (1997) and Naruto: The Official Fanbook (2002))
• Karakuri (April 1998 – May 1998, serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump)
• Naruto (November 1999 – ongoing, serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump)
• Bench one-shot (October 2010, published in Weekly Shōnen Jump)

Books

• Naruto: First Official Data Book (NARUTO―ナルト―キャラクターオフィシャルデータBOOK, Naruto Hiden: Rin no Sho Kyarakutā Ofisharu Dēta Book, lit. "Naruto Character Official Data Book")

• Naruto: The Official Fanbook (NARUTO―ナルト―オフォシャルファンBOOK, Naruto Hiden: Hyō no Sho Ofisharu Fan Book, lit. "Naruto Official Fan Book")

• The Art of Naruto: Uzumaki (岸本斉史画集 UZUMAKI, Kishimoto Masashi Gashū: Uzumaki, lit. "The Art of Masashi Kishimoto: Uzumaki")

• Naruto: Second Official Data Book (NARUTO―ナルト―キャラクターオフィシャルデータBOOK, Naruto Hiden: Tō no Sho Kyarakutā Ofisharu Dēta Book, lit. "Naruto Character Official Data Book")

• Paint Jump: Art of Naruto (PAINT JUMP Art of NARUTO－ナルト－)

• Naruto: Third Official Data Book (NARUTO―ナルト―キャラクターオフィシャルデータBOOK, Naruto Hiden: Sha no Sho Kyarakutā Ofisharu Dēta Book, lit. "Naruto Character Official Data Book")

• The Art of Naruto: Naruto (NARUTO―ナルト―イラスト集 NARUTO, Naruto Irasuto-shū: Naruto, lit. "Naruto Illustration Collection: Naruto")

• Naruto: The Official Premium Fanbook (NARUTO―ナルト―オフィシャルプレミアムファンBOOK, Naruto Hiden: Kai no Sho Ofisharu Puremiamu Fan Book, lit. "Naruto Official Premium Fan Book")

Other

• Tekken 6 (2009, guest character designer)

References

1. Kishimoto, Masashi (2002-10-04). NARUTO―ナルト―オフォシャルファンBOOK (in Japanese). Japan: Shueisha. p. 205. ISBN 4-08-873321-5.
2. SHONEN JUMP talks with NARUTO creator MASASHI KISHIMOTO: The Hokage Speaks, American Shonen Jump (May 2006)
3. Naruto Vol. 24, p. 169.
4. Naruto vol. 6, p. 66.
5. "The Origin of Naruto - Naruto Shippuden - Official U.S Site" (Press release). Vizmedia/Shueisha. 11 August 2009.
6. "USA Today's Top 150 Best Seller list features Viz Media's Shonen Jump's Naruto manga at number 29" (Press release). Viz Media. 7 March 2006.
7. ^ "Naruto Nabs Quill Award". ICv2. 2006-10-12. Retrieved 2008-04-07.
8. Ciolek, Todd (5 August 2009). "The X Button Guilty Motivation". Anime News Network. Retrieved 7 August 2009.
9. Kishimoto, Masashi (2007). Uzumaki: the Art of Naruto. Viz Media. p. 138. ISBN 1-4215-1407-9.
10. Kishimoto, Masashi (2007). Uzumaki: the Art of Naruto. Viz Media. p. 139. ISBN 1-4215-1407-9.
11. Kishimoto, Masashi (2007). Uzumaki: the Art of Naruto. Viz Media. p. 140. ISBN 1-4215-1407-9.
12. ^ Kishimoto, Masashi (2004). Naruto, Volume 3. Viz Media. p. 26. ISBN 1-59116-187-8.
13. Kishimoto, Masashi (2007). Uzumaki: the Art of Naruto. Viz Media. pp. 112–114. ISBN 1-4215-1407-9.
14. Kishimoto, Masashi (2007). Uzumaki: the Art of Naruto. Viz Media. p. 118. ISBN 1-4215-1407-9.
15. Kishimoto, Masashi (2007). Uzumaki: the Art of Naruto. Viz Media. p. 145. ISBN 1-4215-1407-9.
16. Shonen Jump #33 Volume 3, Issue 9 September 2005. Viz Media. p. 8.
17. Kishimoto, Masashi (4 July 2002). NARUTO―ナルト―キャラクターオフィシャルデータBOOK. Naruto (in Japanese). Japan: Shueisha. ISBN 4-08-873288-X.
18. Kishimoto, Masashi (4 October 2002). NARUTO―ナルト―オフォシャルファンBOOK. Naruto (in Japanese). Japan: Shueisha. ISBN 4-08-873321-5.
19. Kishimoto, Masashi (2 July 2004). NARUTO―ナルト―　岸本斉史画集　UZUMAKI. Naruto (in Japanese). Japan: Shueisha. ISBN 4-08-873706-7.
20. Kishimoto, Masashi (4 April 2005). NARUTO―ナルト―キャラクターオフィシャルデータBOOK. Naruto (in Japanese). Japan: Shueisha. ISBN 4-08-873734-2.
21. Kishimoto, Masashi (4 April 2008). PAINT　JUMP　Art　of　NARUTO－ナルト－. Naruto (in Japanese). Japan: Shueisha. ISBN 978-4-08-782168-0.
22. Kishimoto, Masashi (4 September 2008). NARUTO―ナルト―キャラクターオフィシャルデータBOOK. Naruto (in Japanese). Japan: Shueisha. ISBN 978-4-08-874247-2.
23. Kishimoto, Masashi (8 July 2009). NARUTO―ナルト―イラスト集　NARUTO. Naruto (in Japanese). Japan: Shueisha. ISBN 978-4-08-874823-8.
24. Kishimoto, Masashi (4 December 2009). NARUTO―ナルト―オフィシャルプレミアムファンBOOK. Naruto (in Japanese). Japan: Shueisha. ISBN 978-4-08-874834-4.

External links

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• Masashi Kishimoto at Anime News Network's encyclopedia

v t e Naruto by Masashi Kishimoto
Media	Manga Volumes Part I Part II, volumes 28–48 Part II, volumes 49–72 Naruto: The Seventh Hokage and the Scarlet Spring Boruto chapters Anime Naruto episodes Season 1 2 3 4 5 Naruto: Shippuden episodes Season 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Rock Lee & His Ninja Pals episodes Boruto: Naruto Next Generations episodes List 1 2 3 4 5 6 Films Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow Legend of the Stone of Gelel Guardians of the Crescent Moon Kingdom Naruto Shippuden the Movie Bonds The Will of Fire The Lost Tower Blood Prison Road to Ninja The Last Boruto Video games Clash of Ninja series I Ninja Council series 2 The New Era Ultimate Ninja series Heroes Heroes 2: The Phantom Fortress Storm 1 Storm 2 Storm Generations Storm 3 Storm Revolution Storm 4 Uzumaki Chronicles series Rise of a Ninja The Broken Bond Related Jump Super Stars Jump Ultimate Stars Battle Stadium D.O.N J-Stars Victory VS Jump Force Songs "Baton Road" "Blood Circulator" "Closer" "Dareka ga" "Diver" (Kana-Boon) "Diver" (Nico Touches the Walls) "Give Lee Give Lee Rock Lee" "Go" "If" "Re:member" "Sign" "Silhouette" "Shukuen" "Sore dewa, Mata Ashita"
Characters	Naruto Uzumaki Sasuke Uchiha Sakura Haruno Kakashi Hatake Gaara Rock Lee Shikamaru Nara Hinata Hyuga Orochimaru Jiraiya Itachi Uchiha Obito Uchiha Nagato Madara Uchiha Boruto Uzumaki Sarada Uchiha Mitsuki Momoshiki Otsutsuki Kawaki
Category

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• 1974 births
• Japanese illustrators
• Living people
• Manga artists
• Twin people from Japan
• People from Okayama Prefecture