Yes, what follows was our April Fools joke for this year. No need to worry! The series is still in good hands!
Shonen Jump Fires Kishimoto + New Series Artist
Crazy news coming out of Japan today via AFJapan, due to the declining fan ratings of the Naruto series, Shonen Jump gave Naruto series author Masashi Kishimoto 10 chapters to wrap the series up. After declaring that he could not finish the series in such a short time frame, he spoke with the current Editor in Chief of the magazine. The two men got into a loud verbal disagreement, resulting in Kishimoto being escorted from the building by security. Just hours later, Shonen Jump released an official statement saying he’s no longer employed by the company:
On Friday we gave notice to Masashi Kishimoto that we would be terminating his employment with Shonen Jump magazines. Kishimoto leaves Shonen Jump after 12 years with the company. Due to a contract disgreement, Shonen Jump and Kishimoto have terminated their relationship. We appreciate his contributions to our organization and wish him all the best in his future endeavors. Shonen Jump’s Naruto will continue to run weekly with a scheduled end date in chapter 550.
Shonen Jump is happy to announce that through a joint promotion with Kodansha Limited, Blazer Drive mangaka Seishi Kishimoto will take over for his twin brother for the remaining issues. Naruto will go on a temporary hiatus to allow for the new artist team to settle in to the series and resolve existing plots using outlines and notes left by original series author Masashi Kishimoto. New series author Seishi Kishimoto has released the following statement: “To all the fans of the series, I’m sorry to see my brother go, but I will make him proud and give the series the ending it deserves! The story of Uzumaki Naruto is not over yet, you’ll love what final surprises there are in store for Naruto and his friends!”
Frankly this sounds horrible, at least they’ve given them 17 chapters to resolve the story rather than the 10 Masashi Kishimoto was originally limited to. I have to think the different final numbers (10 versus 17 chapters) comes from having to get a new team in place to finish things out or that the initial leaked news of only 10 was incorrect. It could also be that Kishimoto already has the next 7 chapters already drawn. I’m also not the biggest fan of Seishi Kishimoto, but at least his art style is similar enough to Masashi’s that it shouldn’t be too jolting a change.
News Archives:
April 2nd, 2011 at 8:59 am
When I first read it I wasn’t sure if I should beleive it or not; so I decided to check here the next day, and lo and behold it was a prank 🙂 Nice one though, you had me reeling until I relized it could be a prank!
April 2nd, 2011 at 10:35 am
Way to kill people… =_=* I was gonna have a heart attack and choke on my drink…Shikamaru…>.> Not good at all!!!!
April 2nd, 2011 at 11:13 am
I literaly cried and screamed as my heart broke but then i saw the april fools and taped my heart back together
April 2nd, 2011 at 11:39 am
Hate you, you scared me half to death
April 2nd, 2011 at 12:18 pm
wow 2 comments didnt go through, good job leafninja hate your guts
April 2nd, 2011 at 12:18 pm
my 2 comments were both like essays
April 2nd, 2011 at 9:27 pm
Omg great April Fool’s Trick!! 🙂 I can’t believe I fell for it! haha
April 2nd, 2011 at 9:50 pm
I thought i lost my best friend there for a minute. Amazin simply amizan
April 3rd, 2011 at 3:12 am
wow!! not funny…i was genuinely upset. Oh well @ least we’re back in business. Good one 🙂
April 3rd, 2011 at 5:22 pm
i am NOT believing that
April 3rd, 2011 at 11:04 pm
(Whips out giant energy cannon)
SHIKAMARU! You pull something like this AGAIN and you WILL have a nice little CHAT with my friend here. GOT IT?!
April 3rd, 2011 at 11:16 pm
When I saw that title, I did an actual double-take. I never knew you could do that. Well done, Shikamaru. ^_^
April 4th, 2011 at 11:23 pm
this suck i wish this is just a prank. and if its true the plot of the story will change
April 5th, 2011 at 9:25 am
the story will change why
April 5th, 2011 at 10:17 am
one thing that gave you off was seishi kishimoto.. kishimoto is the name of the creator of naruto.. masashi is the his last name.. shud have been masashi seishi
April 5th, 2011 at 10:26 am
one thing that gave u off was the name.. masashi is the last name not kishimoto.. shud hav been masashi seishi
April 5th, 2011 at 11:34 am
haHa, nice prank
April 5th, 2011 at 3:50 pm
Jibster, Seishi Kishimoto and Masashi Kishimoto ARE actual twins. Masashi Kishimoto’s first name is Masashi, not Kishimoto. You have it backwards. >_>
April 5th, 2011 at 4:27 pm
This is BS Naruto rules why end it know only 17 chapters left and Naruto isn’t even Hokage yet. WTF seriously and why fire him at the last second when you knew the seriously knew that the series was coming to an end?
April 5th, 2011 at 6:43 pm
this is not good…
April 5th, 2011 at 7:36 pm
EVERYONE, NARUTO IS NOT CANCELLED. THIS WAS AN APRIL FOOL’S JOKE. Maybe Shikamaru should make the part about it being a joke in bold so people will stop freaking out.
April 6th, 2011 at 7:55 am
in japan their last name comes in first right? like uzumaki naruto? son gokou? son gohan? son gotenk? so masashi is his last name
April 7th, 2011 at 12:29 am
Jibster, it is a FACT that Masashi Kishimoto’s last name is Kishimoto. Most English sites just switch it around so that it’s read the way most English names are; his name is read as “Kishimoto Masashi” over in Japan. Besides, he really does have a twin brother named Seishi. He’s the author of the series “Blazer Drive” and “O-Parts Hunter” (“666 Satan” in Japan).
If you don’t believe me, Seishi Kishimoto has a profile on AnimeNewsNetwork you can check out. There’s even an article there explaining that he and Masashi have similar art styles because they grew up drawing manga together. If Masashi Kishimoto’s last name was Masashi, then he and Seishi couldn’t be twins because then they’d both have different last names and the same first name.
April 7th, 2011 at 10:19 am
I return to this post to see what’s been going on and see it’s spiralled out quite a bit.
April 8th, 2011 at 12:03 pm
I lol’d at “The series is still in GOOD HANDS!” Kishi being fired and having a more capable storyteller take over Naruto would be the best thing ever
April 11th, 2011 at 8:55 pm
WHAT?!?!?!
This is just…WTF are they thinking?!?!?!
I’m sorry but right now I’m so furious that typing is a little difficult.
This is bull.