Manga Naruto — not Just Another Comic Story

Both the manga and anime series have spawned numerous fan sites and forums, with all manner of products available online (screen savers, online games, etc.) and for sale (apparel, DVDs, and more). But what lies behind this popular series is an interesting fact: the story of Naruto is based solidly on traditional Japanese culture.

Author and artist Masashi Kishimoto was born in Japan in 1974 and it is an area very rich in history. Kishimoto won Shonen Jump magazine’s Hop Step Award for new manga artists with his manga Karakuri, but he didn’t stop there. His first Naruto version was a story of fox spirits and the story grew. It fast became a most popular ninja manga, in fact one of the most popular in Japan.

What may have escaped some western Naruto fans is the interesting story of the fox. Fox myths abound in Japanese culture, dating back as far as the fifth century B.C. Stories portray foxes as intelligent beings possessing magical abilities which increase as they age and gain wisdom. One of their tricks is their ability to shape-shift and sometimes they take on the form of a human. Some tales have them tricking others by changing into human form while others describe them as friends or guardians or even wives.

Rumiko Takahashi — Inuyasha Manga Artist

In Shonen Sunday, along with her work, there are also featured comments from the author herself. She has a favorite baseball team which is the Hanshin Tigers, and her favorite music group is Shazna. Sometimes she talks of her childhood. It’s a great way to get to know her.

Studying comic drawing at a Japanese college and working as an assistant to another well-known cartoonist, Kazuo Umezu, she became the original artist that she is in heart, drawing her stories from an unlimited imagination.

Late in 1978, Rumiko worked on her first full-length series entitled Urusei Yatsura. It became one of the most loved manga and anime comedies in Japan. And in 1980, when she began to publish regularly, she began her second major series, Maison Ikkoku This series is now considered to be one of the all-time best manga romances.

Anime and Manga Captivates All Age Groups

Japanese Anime truely is an art, with its wonderful plots and beautifully drawn pictures. Anime is entirely about movement between states of being, whether fast or slow. The ‘being’ of a person, which can be one’s soul, mind, blood-line, weapon, limb or organ, is always caught in various stages of transition.

I love the anime characters and their development, particularly, the way each of them possesses multiple personalities, motivations and attitudes. It creates what comes close to the complexity of true human relationships, very touching and memorable.

Anime provides an escape to a wonderous world so beautiful and amazing you wonder how the artist created such a place and conceived the charaters that capture our hearts and keep us impatiently awaiting the next episode’s release.

Anime is doing what every artistic medium strives to achieve, move you. Anime characters with their spiky hair and huge expressive eyes hold our attention, we cannot help but respond to the language and expression conveyed through their eyes.

How to Draw Manga

To draw manga, one would have to study the characteristics of manga images. Most people who wants to learn how to draw manga are usually attracted to some characters in a manga series. Without knowing it, they’re not only attracted to the physical form of the manga character, they’re also drawn to the personality of the character.

Manga pictures are not hard to draw once you understand its basic characteristics. And here they are.

Firstly, manga characters are adorable looking. This cuteness is defined by extremely large eyes, an almond shaped face, and a very small mouth. In fact, the faces of manga characters can look very similar, and they’re differentiated mostly by their elaborate hair, dressing and accessories.

The manga face is made up of very basic shapes. So there’s very little I can recommend here except to practice, practice, practice. If you can master drawing one manga face well, you’ll be able to draw other manga faces as well.

What are some popular manga?

Just titles of popular manga that I could read….

The shonen big three
Naruto, One Piece, Bleach

Other major shonen titles
Death Note, D Gray Man, Dragonball Z, Yu-Gi-Oh, Slam Dunk, Hikaru no Go, Shaman King, Black Cat, Kurohime, Rosario Vampire

Shoujo Titles
Ouran High School Host Club, Skip Beat, Vampire Knight
Tokyo Crazy Paradise, Nodame Cantabile,

Random Good Ones
Record of a Fallen Vampire, Blood Alone, Inubaka

There’s a lot to read

Some good sites
www.mangaupdates.com
It has soooo much information on manga. I suggest you join, if only to keep track of the manga that you read. They have a handy list feature that does this very nicely.

www.onemanga.com
www.mangafox.com
Manga viewing sites.

www.mangatraders.com
Manga downloading site.

Have fun!

Some popular shoujo manga are currently Fruits Basket, Skip Beat, Vampire Knight, Special A, Wild Ones, and Hana-Kimi.
Some popular shounen manga are currently Death Note, Naruto, and Bleach.

Why do naruto fans like hinata so much?

i dont know if im missing anything here, but does it have to do with her liking naruto? Hinata is cute and all, but she and naruto dont spend much time together. People say that naruto and hinata would make a cute couple and that opposites attract, but are those the only reasons why people like her so much? oh yea, one more thing ive been hearing she dies, is this true? I agree, they don’t spend much time together. I’ve noticed that people tend to disregard the boys feeling when it comes to pairings. It’s like if a girl likes a boy he automatically has to like her back. …. I’m rambling. D: Anyways! People like her for the Naruto and Hinata pairing, yes, but those aren’t the only reasons people like her. She has a great personality. She got a lot of her fans during the preliminaries when she fought her cousin. It was revealed that she isn’t dead as of yet, but she seems to be badly injured. Near the end of chapter 348 Sakura talks about getting over to help her. So yeah, she isn’t dead yet but theres still a chance if they don’t get to her in time.

i may sound crazy but i love hinata. she is my favourite character. yes she is cute and all. but i like her becuase of her personality. the way she forced and worked extremely hard despite the constant negative remarks from her dad and neji. u know? and naruto helped her achieved that he talked no shouted some sense into her and believed in her. i know she is ficitonal but her character can motivated some one who feels worthless. the last chapter surprised me when she finally confessed to naruto that she loves him and that is true bravery especially for one like her. thats why i love hinata.

we don’t know if she is dead

good question she is popular not because of her telling naruto that she loves him but because she is still the heir to the main branch family so if she dies who will be the leader

she plays an important role not to naruto but to her family

Which Manga chapter is the one after episode 85 of Naruto Shippuuden?

Hey guys!

I want to read the Manga of Naruto Shippuuden, so I’ll like to know which chapter is it after episode 85?

If you could provide me with a link, that would be awesome. Thanks!

It should be Chapter 336 “Reverse Predicament”. You can read it here:

naruto shipuden Ch.333

How do I learn how to draw manga?

I really want to learn how to draw Manga but I can never find any websights. And youtube wasn’t any help at all. And I have no money to buy any books. Any suggestions?

There are some typical features in a manga style character’s body and face.

In manga style some body parts are exaggerated and some parts are represented using very simple hint-lines. Like, eyes are drawn bigger and expressive and for nose and mouth small lines are used.

Girl’s eyes are larger than boy’s eyes Body is drawn taller than normal. Limbs are generally thin and long.

When drawing hair you have more than one option –you can draw lots of individual lines to represent hair, or you can use volume hair as if hairs formed a number of thick tubular structures. Both the styles are popular, use which suits your temperament and your characters mood.

Few precautions: when drawing head start with an oval shape and draw the eyes at the half way from the top if you draw the eyes above that level you run risk of ending up with a character with flat looking scalp.

While drawing exaggerated eyes make sure eyes do not cross the cheekbone this is a mistake beginners often make

you could try:
howtodrawmanga.com or…
mangatutorials.com

well thats all i got to say!!

hope this helps

What is some good manga for my little brother?

My 11 year old brother is interested in reading manga. He asked if he could read my manga but I read a lot of shojo and that probably isn’t the kind he would like. He also doesn’t want anything with too much gore and violence in it. Any suggestions?

I suggest he tries the ff :

Bleach – A good manga for ages 10 and above

xxxHolic – A good manga that does not involve much blood.

Hayate no Gotoku – A very funny manga which will definitely be liked by your little brother.

and Katekyo Hitman Reborn – Not much blood but very funny and exciting.

The way you explained your detail would mean that you buy your mangas. Try online reading it. ( www.onemanga.com ) Also let him read shoujo mangas, he might like it. I hope this helps, thank you.

Here’s some sports mangas. I liked them even though I’m not a big sports fan.

Area no Kishi (about soccer)
Prince of Tennis
Eyeshield 21 (about American football)
Fight no Akatsuki (about basketball)

How does someone become a manga writer in Japan?

Japan has a number of manga digests with various stories from different authors. How does the submission process work for most manga publishers, and is it a different process from US or UK publishers? Do these companies accept new writers or do they require a writer with a track record? Do the majority accept finished stories from a writer/artist group or do some have an in-house artist that works with submitted scripts? Are there any guides on the subject of being published in the manga industry?

hmm good question have been wondering the same thing… but usually at Anime Conventions you can ask and sometimes promote your own work there! Look at shoujobeat.com too for suggestions! Good luck! ^-^

I’m not sure if this will help at all, but Tokyopop, one of the biggest manga publishers, has contact information on their website (www.tokyopop.com) where you could send an email to their Associate Publisher. They might have some more detailed information about submissions and submission guidelines that you could read/peruse. They also have a publication called “The Rising Stars of Manga” that may have been developed from their online pool of members — I know the Tokyopop website has a lot of fan art and fan fiction, so that might be a place to start.