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Sunday, July 13, 2008


When developing the original Naruto manga, Masashi Kishimoto had not initially intended to create Sasuke. After speaking with his editor about the future of the series, he was advised to create a rival character for the series' protagonist, Naruto Uzumaki, resulting in Sasuke's creation.[5] To learn more about creating an effective rivalry, Kishimoto read a variety of manga to gather ideas on what constituted such a rivalry, and he coalesced these ideal elements into one relationship. Because Sasuke is intended to be Naruto's opposite, Kishimoto is always careful to make sure Sasuke is never too emotional. With Sasuke's character being that of a "cool genius," Kishimoto feels he has created the ideal rivalry.[13]

Sasuke's design gave Kishimoto a number of problems, making him the most difficult character he had to create. Because he lacked a proper idea of what Sasuke's face should look like, initial drafts of Sasuke appeared too old or mature for a character the same age as Naruto.[14] Once settling on a proper face, Kishimoto worked on Sasuke's attire. Original designs of Sasuke had a number of necklaces and ties around his arms and legs, a result of Kishimoto's habit of giving characters as much ornamentation as possible. Realizing he could not draw such a complex character on a weekly basis, Kishimoto simplified the design to a basic contrast of Naruto's costume.[6]

For Kishimoto, Sasuke remains the most difficult character for him to draw. While drawing, errors and mishaps commonly result in Sasuke's youthful appearance being lost, a result of Kishimoto's inexperience in drawing characters mature beyond their years.[6] Sasuke's hair, originally kept short to save Kishimoto time, has slowly gotten longer as the series has progressed, increasing the amount of time needed to draw Sasuke.[14] Midway through Part I of the series Kishimoto drew a new costume for Sasuke that featured a number of belts strapped around his arms and legs. Because of the time needed to draw a costume of this design, Kishimoto returned Sasuke to his original costume.

AH HAH! If it weren't for Kishimoto, YOU WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN CREATED! MWAHAHAHAHAHA!

Um, you don't like drawing smart people???

When creating Naruto, Kishimoto incorporated into the character a number of traits he felt made an ideal hero: a straightforward way of thinking, a mischievous side, and many of the attributes possessed by Son Goku from the Dragon Ball franchise. He also made sure to keep Naruto "simple and stupid," since he does not like smart characters. Naruto himself is not modeled after anyone in particular, being conceived as childlike with somewhat of a dark side as a result of his harsh past. Despite this, he is always positive, making him unique in Kishimoto's eyes.[5]

Naruto's wardrobe is based on clothing Kishimoto wore when he was younger; according to Kishimoto, using a pre-existing design would not have made Naruto unique whereas something original would have made him stand out too much.[11] The orange coloring of his costume is used to make Naruto "pop," with blues often being used to complement the orange.[12] Because Naruto is associated with spirals, swirl patterns are incorporated into his costume.[13] Initial illustrations of Naruto had him wearing boots, but Kishimoto substituted these for sandals, because he likes drawing toes.[14] The goggles that Naruto used to wear were also replaced with a forehead protector, because the goggles themselves were too time consuming to draw.[15] Kishimoto said that he felt glad that his character had blond hair and blue eyes. The editor of Shonen Jump in the United States added that he implied that the traits may have led the character to appeal to a Western audience. Kishimoto said that he most identifies with Naruto out of all of the Naruto characters. When asked why Naruto's favorite food is ramen instead of kitsune udon Kishimoto said that he personally liked eating ramen.[16][17]

In the Japanese versions of Naruto, Naruto often ends his sentences with the addendum "-ttebayo" (which gives a similar effect to ending a sentence with "you know?"). Kishimoto wanted to give Naruto a childlike catch phrase, and "dattebayo" came to mind. It complements Naruto's character, and serves as a verbal tic that shows him to be somewhat of a brat.[11] Throughout the beginning of the English anime, the dub replaced "dattebayo" and "-ttebayo" with the phrase "Believe it!" to mirror the effect, as well as to match the character's lip movements.[18]

The producers of the English-language anime stated that of all of the characters Naruto was the most difficult character to cast for; they added that Maile Flanagan "has Naruto down, from the mischievous side, that precocious 12-year old we learn to love, to the serious side."[19]


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