Naruto: The Tests of the Ninja

Naruto, volume 1: The Tests of the Ninja
by Masashi Kishimoto
Viz Media, 2007

Genre: Manga, Adventure

Honors:

• Wilson's Senior High School 10/01/07

Review: From the Shonen Jump manga collection comes a translation of Kishimoto's manga series, Naruto, originally published in Japan in 1998. With a blend of fast-paced comic strip depictions of action and ridiculous slapstick humor, Kishimoto illustrates the story of an orphan ninja-in-training named Naruto, the butt of every joke in his village. Appealing to the only person in town who has any faith in him, his teacher, Naruto trains to be accepted by the Ninja school and earn the respect of the townsfolk who have shunned him--until the day a rival student reveals an evil secret about Naruto's past that threatens to shatter Naruto's dream and uncover a demon that should never be released from its prison.

Opinion: I was excited to finally get a chance to get into the manga. I'd heard about it many years ago, from the anime, and at the time I was into other shows and didn't get around to it. Then I took a long break from mangas. But for the purpose of this class I am giving them another go and finding they are one of my favorite formats to read. I can see why tweens and teens would get into mangas so easily: they are shorter reads than novels, they have imaginative and artful drawings and depictions of action sequences, and sometimes the facial stills capture emotion and convey unspoken words in a way that written language can't. So far there is nothing that flags my attention that this series would be more appropriate for one age or other: I know of many nine- and ten-year-olds who enjoy comics and cartoons and would like the style present in Naruto, as well as thirteen- and fourteen-year-olds who like anime and graphic novels of all types and who most likely will have already heard of this one.

Ideas: As I have witnessed in my work in public schools, many tweens love books that teach you how to draw anime and manga characters. Naruto would serve as a good model  as the characters are not very complex in appearance. I'm betting a manga workshop for tweens would be a real crowd pleaser and would draw in many young adults interested in learning how to draw comics in the manga style.