New Naruto Manga Series ‘Boruto’ To Premiere In Spring 2016

There was a suspicious countdown on a website affiliated with Weekly Shonen Jump that had something to do with Naruto. In particular, this site was titled “countdown to the next generation.” We didn’t know what it meant when it was first revealed but now that the countdown has finished, Naruto fans should be happy to know that the story will continue.

A new manga series set in the Naruto universe has been revealed and will be titled “Boruto” after Naruto’s son. But series creator, Masashi Kishimoto will not be helming this new endeavor but instead Mikio Ikemoto will be drawing the Boruto manga with Kishimoto overseeing its development.

Ukyō Kodachi (Naruto – Gaara Hiden: Sajingensō novel, Boruto -Naruto the Movie-screenplay cooperation) will write the manga’s script.

Ikemoto worked as an assistant under Kishimoto so he is familiar with Kishimoto’s drawing style.

According to Anime News Network , the new Boruto will focus on the titular character and the next generation of ninja — obviously — and will run in Weekly Shonen Jump starting in Spring 2016.

However, it won’t be a weekly series but a monthly manga.

Kishimoto has said in the past that he was done with the Naruto franchise after the summer was over. The summer of 2015 saw the miniseries Naruto: The Seventh Hokage and the Scarlet Spring and the Boruto movie, which Kishimoto wrote the entire screenplay for.

It was also announced at the Jump Festa event in Japan that Kishimoto will actually do a Boruto one-shot story in Spring 2016 for Weekly Shonen Jump. No more details were given.

Both the Boruto series and the Kishimoto one-shot will be published via Viz Media outside of Japan at the same time it debuts in Japan.

The legendary creator has said he wants to move on to another project after some time off and Kishimoto himself has teased a sci-fi manga. That manga, however, has yet to be announced.

Outside of those projects, other creators have had their try at the characters in the Naruto universe in the form of novels that focus on particular characters like Kakashi and Gaara. So this won’t be the first time a Naruto property will be drawn/written without Kishimoto.

So what do you think of the Naruto series continuing? Do you think the Naruto franchise can be done without Kishimoto’s direct involvement? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.