Directed by Hayato Date and produced by Studio Pierrot and TV Tokyo, the
Naruto
anime adaptation premiered in Japan on TV Tokyo October 3, 2002, and ran for 220 episodes until its conclusion on February 8, 2007. The first 135 episodes are adapted from the first twenty-seven volumes of the manga, while the remaining eighty episodes are filler episodes that utilize plot elements not seen in the original manga.
Viz has licensed the anime series for broadcast and distribution in the Region 1 market. The English adaptation of the anime began airing on September 10, 2005. The episodes have been shown on
Cartoon Network's Toonami, YTV's Bionix and Jetix UK's programming blocks. In the American broadcast, references to alcohol, Japanese culture, and even blood and death were sometimes reduced for the broadcast, but left in the DVD editions. Other networks make additional content edits apart from the edits done by Cartoon Network, such as Jetix's more strict censoring of blood, language, smoking and the like.
Naruto: Shippūden (Naruto Shippuden) is the ongoing sequel to the original Naruto anime and covers the Naruto manga from volume twenty-eight on. After training for two and a half years with Jiraiya, Naruto returns to Konohagakure (Hidden Leaf Village), reunites with the friends he left behind, and reforms Team 7, now called Team Kakashi, with Sai replacing Sasuke. All of Naruto's classmates have matured and improved in the ranks, some more than others. Unlike the original series where they only played a minor role, the Akatsuki organization takes on the main antagonistic role in their attempts at world domination.
The TV adaptation of Naruto: Shippūden made its debut in Japan on February 15, 2007 on TV Tokyo, and in the Philippines on January 28, 2008 on ABS-CBN. ABS-CBN is the first international TV network to broadcast Naruto: Shippūden. ABS-CBN has initially aired the first 40 episodes of Naruto: Shippūden until March 19, 2008 since it is still airing in Japan.
