To make one’s own work stand out takes a lot of precisional understanding with it. Masashi Kishimoto made one of the biggest Shonen works in the world. Being part of the Big 3 is no small feat and Naruto has made its mark on the world time and again. The series helped not just establish many different tropes but also inspired some of the biggest works to come later in the future.
Works like Kagurabachi and Hell’s Paradise share their love for the series as do the fans. To make something of such a grand scale, there has to be a certain amount of risks being taken that help it grow manifolds. The interest is to be sprouted in many ways and there also has to be an attempt to make it stand out, something Kishimoto understood early on.
Orange is the New Black
During an interview with Anime News Network, Masashi Kishimoto explained the details through which Naruto became such a unique manga despite following the story of ninjas. A story about ninjas was not uncommon when the mangaka started his journey but he knew it wasn’t enough to classify his magnum opus as a shonen manga.
A realistic ninja is someone who wears all black with only the eyes visible, kind of lurks in the shadows, and they are assassins. That’s cool in its own way, but it’s not necessarily appropriate or really makes up for a shonen manga series. That kind of story, it would be a different genre.
So I was thinking about what would be appropriate for not only a shonen manga series, but a Jump shonen manga series. I figured I wanted to take a polar opposite approach, and portray this character who wears orange.
The key to an assassin and a ninja is their stealth and agility. Their clothes always signify who they are and the weapons they use too commonly. Were Kishimoto to put all of these in his manga, it would have been just another ninja story. For Naruto to classify as a Shonen manga, it needed to stand out in a way.
To make it different from the rest of it, Kishimoto gave the titular character an orange outfit as compared to a black one. The decision was drastic, considering that he would call for expected backlash, but it was one he needed to take nonetheless.
Masashi Kishimoto Redefined Ninja Tropes
Masashi Kishimoto wasn’t oblivious to the hatred he would get if he changed Naruto’s clothing from a subtle black to a jarring orange. It was a change that made his being a ninja almost rudimentary. For someone who personified stealth, Naruto could be seen coming from a mile away. However, the mangaka wasn’t one to be thrown off by it.
It’s an orange jumpsuit, and Naruto goes ‘Hey, I’m here!’ Which is totally opposite of how a ninja should behave! It’s a paradox. But I figured, ‘Why not make this another type of real ninja?’ Of course, I had some hardcore ninja fans who were like, ‘Dude, get lost.’ They were really upset because this is not how ninjas are supposed to be!
He instead made it a mission to redefine tropes concurring to ninjas and making it his own. He kept going no matter what, setting in stone the new idea of not just what being a ninja means but what it can mean. While it did classify as a Shonen manga in the end, the risk he took significantly impacted the fans who wanted a simpler story.
However, it may not be too far-fetched to assume that they too came around eventually, seeing how the story grew rapidly. The impact that the story had was undeniably massive, so to assume that his decision to play with already popular tropes wasn’t a wrong one.
Naruto is available to watch on Netflix.
