Ask John: Will the Cartoon Network Air All of the Naruto Episodes?

Question:
In Japan, the Naruto series have reverted back to the manga chapters with the name of Naruto Shippuden. I saw in some boards a question that many fans have been asking. Will the Naruto fillers be air here in the US? Some are positive that Viz Media will skip them because otherwise the Naruto series will lose popularity, ratings, and most likely be cancel. But I, in the other hand, think that they’re more likely to be air. So, do you think that the fillers of Naruto will be air here in the US? Or do you think that there’s a small chance of Viz Media skipping some or all?

Answer:
Honestly, there’s no way that I can provide a definitive answer to this question, but it comes up often enough that I feel some responsibility to address it. Only Viz Media and The Cartoon Network know what their plans for Naruto are. Since I’m not privy to the inner workings of either, I can only speculate. Contrary to the impression that many American Naruto fans seem to have, I don’t think that there’s any reason for Toonami not to broadcast every Naruto television episode. However, based on the current broadcast schedule in relation to announced Viz Media plans and statements, there may be evidence of plans to abbreviate the American television broadcast.

The Naruto television series aired “filler” story episodes – episodes not directly adapted from Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto manga – for close to two years in Japan. During that time countless American fans complained about the quality and integrity of those episodes, and many American fans refused to watch those episodes. But the popularity of the Naruto franchise didn’t appear to suffer at all in Japan, suggesting that Japanese viewers weren’t nearly as perturbed by the “filler” episodes as American fans were. Similarly, Toonami is available in over 87 million American homes, so presumably millions of American viewers watch the American Naruto TV broadcasts. Even if all of America’s hardcore Naruto fans suddenly stopped watching the national American TV broadcast, there would still be probably more than enough casual and mainstream viewers to keep the program successfully on the air.

I’m sure that the Cartoon Network is interested in having plenty of Naruto episodes available for broadcast. The series is popular and successful, so doubtlessly Toonami would prefer to have a surplus of episodes available for broadcast rather than a deficit. Considering Naruto’s success, I suspect that Toonami is more interested in keeping the program on the air and continuing to attract viewers than concerned with the quality of the episodes themselves. In other words, it’s probably in the best interest of the Cartoon Network to continue broadcasting new Naruto episodes. From the Cartoon Network’s perspective, more is better than less. There’s very little reason for Toonami to consider withholding episodes of one of its most popular titles.

Logically, the Cartoon Network may wish to air all of the Naruto episodes it has access to. But Viz Media may have other plans. In an early June interview with Viz Media’s Vice President of Sales Gonzalo Ferreyra, conducted by ICv2, Ferreyra stated that the Naruto Shippuden anime would reach America, “Within six months to a year.” The Naruto television series has aired on The Cartoon Network for nearly two years and has reached just over a hundred televised episodes. At that pace, if Toonami does broadcast the “filler” episodes, it will take more than another year for Naruto Shippuden to reach America.

Beginning this fall, Viz Media will be beginning an aggressive Naruto manga marketing blitz in America designed to catch up the American release to near the Japanese release. There’s been no word on whether or not this strategy will also be implemented with the anime, but I there does seem to be a possibility of that occurring. Skipping the American broadcast, or the American release of a large portion of the Naruto anime would allow the American release to draw close to contemporary with the Japanese release.

In effect, I can’t predict what will happen. Broadcasting the entire Naruto TV series may be in the best interest of The Cartoon Network while Viz Media seems to want to quickly catch-up the American release to the Japanese release. In both cases, however, I don’t believe that either Toonami or Viz is expressly concerned with losing a significant viewing audience because of the quality of the Naruto “filler episodes.”