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.
40 kunai thrown »Obviously an April fools stunt. Nice try Leafninja ;)
Alan
... too bad it was a joke
ReplyDelete