'Naruto' Creator Masashi Kishimoto to Have a New Series Soon
Masashi Kishimoto, the creator for the widely successful and incredibly popular "Naruto" franchise, will have a new serialized work in the near future.
According to a report by the Anime News Network, Hiroyuki Nakano, the editor-in-chief if Shonen Weekly Jump, the magazine that "Naruto" was published in, confirmed last Monday that Kishimoto's new project will be a serialization and that he has already started working on it.
News regarding Kishimoto's next work first began to surface in 2015. During an interview published at that time, Kishimoto expressed interest in writing science-fiction.
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"I've already decided what I'm going to write about in my next work. I'm thinking of writing a science-fiction work," he said in an interview with Entermix magazine.
At the time, the writer was still uncertain when he would debut his next project but, with this new piece of news, it seems that Kishimoto's return to the industry is drawing closer and closer.
While it may seem odd that Kishimoto would suddenly want to write science fiction after 15 years of writing about "Naruto," those that followed his earlier works should recognize that he already has some experience in the genre.
One of Kishimoto's first published works was a one-shot called "Karakuri" that won the Hop Step Award in 1996. "Karakuri" takes place in a world where humans have implanted technology into their bodies to combat a deadly virus.
However, over time, people began to abuse these implants and started to create human weapons called Androids. All in all, it had the core elements of a science fiction thriller story and was one of Kishimoto's earliest titles.
Now, 22 years later, it seems Kishimoto may want to go back to his roots and try again with another sci-fi story that, he hopes, will be as popular as "Naruto" was.
Despite the conclusion of "Naruto" in 2014, the franchise continues to grow as author Mikio Ikemoto launched a sequel titled "Boruto" in 2016 with Kishimoto acting as supervisor. This manga was later then adapted into an anime that premiered last year.
