Naruto is one of the most popular anime of all time. Its popularity helped save Shonen Jump from bankruptcy in the early 2000s, and many fans began their anime-loving journey with Naruto. Even anime fans who have never seen the series can easily recognize the characters. However, even hardcore fans of Naruto don’t know a lot about the creator of the manga, Masashi Kishimoto.
Kishimoto is a well-respected manga artist who has inspired tons of other artists. Jujutsu Kaisen, for example, is heavily inspired by Naruto. Kishimoto’s art style has had a huge impact on modern anime, which makes the commonly unknown facts about his career as a manga artist even more interesting.
It’s not shocking when celebrities have siblings, but it’s always a surprise when fans learn their favorite celebrity has an identical twin. Not only does Kishimoto have a twin brother, but his brother, Seishi Kishimoto, is also a popular manga artist.
Seishi Kishimoto is best known for his series 666 Satan, which follows Ruby, who wishes to become a treasure hunter. Comparing the two manga artist’s styles, it’s obvious they grew up drawing together. Their styles are so similar that they’ve even been accused of copying each other.
It’s obvious Kishimoto has a soft spot for Hinata. Besides Naruto, she has one of the most interesting backstories, and she’s the one Naruto eventually falls for. Considering Hinata is based on Kishimoto’s wife, the favoritism makes complete sense.
The events of The Last: Naruto the Movie are partially inspired by Kishimoto’s relationship with his wife. She made a scarf and gifted it to Kishimoto in real life, which inspired Hinata’s gift to Naruto. Apparently, all the animators knew where the scarf gift came from and liked to joke about it while the movie was being made.
Most people would assume the creators of Naruto and One Piece are rivals. They are both part of the Big Three, and anime fans often fight over which of these two series are better. However, Kishimoto and One Piece creator Oda aren’t rivals — they’re really good friends.
Oda and Kishimoto like to reference each other’s work, and they even feature each other’s characters in their manga. Naruto has appeared in One Piece eating with Luffy, and Kishimoto has drawn One Piece in his own style. It’s obvious they greatly admire each other’s work, and they have even inspired each other’s stories.
Kishimoto’s most successful manga is Naruto, but it wasn’t his first published work. He is also the creator of a manga called Karakuri, which appeared in Weekly Shonen Jump in 1998. Unfortunately, Karakuri wasn’t a successful series, so it was canceled soon after it was first published.
Despite the setback, it’s obvious Kishimoto took a lot of inspiration from his first series when he was creating Naruto. The protagonist shares similarities with Sasuke, who would become one of Kishimoto’s best characters, and a lot of the powers are similar to what is shown in Naruto. It’s thanks to Karakuri that Naruto even exists.
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Naruto is known for being the world’s greatest ninja, but when Kishimoto was first creating the series, it wasn’t about ninjas at all. Naruto was originally supposed to be an apprentice ramen chef, which explains the character’s name and his obsession with ramen.
It’s hard to believe what Naruto would look like if it had been a cooking show instead of an action-packed shonen. It’s likely the series wouldn’t have had such a massive impact on the anime community, so fans can’t help but feel grateful that Kishimoto changed his mind and created one of the best ninja stories of all time.
The world of Naruto is well-thought-out and detailed, so it’s hard to believe that Kishimoto didn’t plan most of the story. Kishimoto has stated that he didn’t plan the romance aspect of the series until later, which is why Hinata and Naruto don’t interact for a large chunk of the story.
However, it wasn’t just the romance that Kishimoto came up with as he was creating the story. Orochimaru was supposed to be the main villain, but that changed when the Akatsuki and Madara Uchiha were created. The only thing Kishimoto had planned from the beginning was the final battle between Sasuke and Naruto, which is how he wanted the series to end.
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