NARUTO, VOL. 1

VIZ MEDIA
CARTOONIST: Masashi Kishimoto
TRANSLATION: Kaye Bridges
ENGLISH ADAPTATION: Jo Duffy
ISBN: 978-1-56931-900-0; soft cover, Rated "T" for Teen
192 pp., B&W, $7.95

In a world where ninja are the ultimate power, the best ninja live in the village of Konohagakure.  The village may also be the home of the world's most dangerous ninja - a boy who holds within him a terrifying demonic force.

Uzumaki Naruto is a struggling ninja pupil with his eyes on the prize: becoming the Hokage, the village champion, but the people of Konohagakure hate him.  Still, he has the potential to match his youthful arrogance and hotheadedness.  Naruto is also in love with Haruno Sakura, a female ninja pupil.  Sakura, however, hates Naruto and instead loves Naruto's school rival, the class heartthrob, Uchina Sasuke.  When the three of them are assigned to be in the same "cell," for training purposes, the squabbling escalates, but they find their new teacher, Hatake Kakashi, to be a bigger problem to them than they are to each other.

Naruto, Vol. 1 reprints the English language translations of Naruto that appeared Shonen Jump #2-5.  Naruto is a hit Anime (the English dub plays on Cartoon Network, as I'm sure many of you already know), and the comics also generated a hit toy line.  Examining the property's status as a pop culture smash begins with the shounen (comics for teenage boys) Manga.  It's a martial arts comic with big fight scenes and sorcery, but done for young readers.  It's ninja for kids, eschewing the kind of dark, murderous ninja of which many Americans are familiar, such as in comics (Frank Miller's Daredevil), novels (Eric Van Lustbader's The Nicholas Linnear/Ninja Cycle), and films (Menahem Golan's ninja films such as Enter the Ninja).

I don't know if I'd exactly call this a ninja version of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter, but that would be a start.  Like Potter, Naruto has a large cast of colorful characters, both adults and teens.  Set in an environment for supernaturally gifted youngsters, Naruto is heavy on character conflict, including romance, rivalries, and combat.  Like Harry Potter himself, Uzumaki Naruto is a special boy.  American readers identify with the outcast mutants of The Uncanny X-Men, but what put-upon teen doesn't identify with Naruto, hated not for who he is, but what he is, made that way through no choice of his own.

Manga-ka and Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto (who creates the comic with a staff of about four other cartoonists) can flat out draw.  He can cartoon characters, costumes, and sets that look as convincing as artists who draw in a realistic style, which gives this fantastic world a touch of authenticity.  His art pulses with the nervous energy of a kid, the explosive thrust of an epic battle, and even the immediacy of man on man confrontation.  For a martial arts fan like myself, Naruto is the kid's comic that summons the wish fulfillment still in me.

Thanks to barnesandnoble.com for the images.