Naruto's Legacy

If there is one cartoon or anime, call it what you like, show that my kids and I have shared our interest for the longest time that is Naruto.

More than 10 years back, during their elementary days, my eldest son and daughter introduced me to Naruto during my vacation. I immediately loved the plot and comical young Naruto thus I inquired with my two kids regarding the origin of Naruto since I missed many episodes. My daughter tirelessly narrated to me how the Nine-Tails fox was sealed inside Naruto making him a cast out in Konoha community and so on and so forth.

While following the series, my daughter has evolved into a fanatical follower of Naruto while having a crush with Sasuke at the same time. Aside from having some "Leaf gears" she even joined Fanfiction and wrote a few stories about Naruto. More so, during her college days she also joined an Anime students organization at UP Diliman. I even remembered downloading the latest Naruto episodes from torrent sites while I was on duty in Abu Dhabi City as requested by my daughter. Sometimes during my vacation, with wife in tow, we would search a compilation of Naruto's latest episodes in Quiapo hence; Naruto's 220 episodes is now a part of my DVD collection aside from several Naruto movies. I am in the process of collecting the Shippuden episodes as well.

Years have gone by and unlike other TV characters that refused to grow old, Naruto grew together with my kids. A new series entitled Naruto Shippuden is now on its climax where a teen Naruto together with his shinobi friends and allies are battling Madara Uchiha and the Ten-Tails. The last episode I watched a few weeks back was when Sasuke's group has joined this epic battle. Unfortunately, the net in our worksite couldn't cope up with the speed required to watch Naruto seamlessly thus I have no option but to wait for my vacation where I can have Shippuden marathon.

Going back to my kids, my eldest who is now a law student has decided to shift to Naruto Manga while my daughter eventually lost her interest in watching Naruto due to gory fight scenes. In short, I am the only person in our house who remains addicted to this anime.

I saw this poster at The Venetian Hotel in Macau last year

Some of you might wonder why a Dad like me has made a post about Naruto. There are actually several good reasons and I have mentioned one of them earlier. No doubt I have shared Naruto's legacy with my two kids which we would definitely cherish and remember; they might even retell the story of Naruto to comfort me on my twilight years, LOL. Regrettably, I wasn't able to have this kind of bonding with my parents during the Voltes V era. In addition, I have realized that even a man of my age will always be that little boy who keeps on dreaming of becoming a hero, not necessarily a Hokage, one way or the other.

Lastly and most importantly, it has been announced that Naruto Manga will end on November 10, 2014 while a new movie, The Last: Naruto The Movie, will be released this coming December.

Much as I wanted to continuously watch Naruto I knew that time would come that Naruto will bid goodbye and a new hero will arise.










Update as of 9 November:

My daughter informed me that Naruto and Sasuke's kids both appeared on the final chapter of Naruto Manga while the TV series will continue until 2015. Furthermore, a new Manga series will begin from Spring 2015. Yes! I hope by that time Naruto will eventually become a Hokage after all. new-naruto-manga-announced-naruto-sasukes-kids-shown-final-chapter-current-series/