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Naruto Series' 'Narutop 99' Character Poll Winner Minato Gets One-Shot Manga by Original Creator Masashi Kishimoto
posted on by Alex Mateo
The official YouTube channel for Shueisha's Jump Comics streamed on Thursday the results of the "Narutop 99" worldwide character popularity poll that was held in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Naruto franchise. The franchise's original creator Masashi Kishimoto will draw an original short manga following the winner of the poll, Minato Namikaze the Fourth Hokage.
Kishimoto drew a visual featuring the top 22 characters. He stated that he wanted to add Kurama, who placed in 22nd, so he included #21 and #22 in the illustration.
The poll's top 99 characters are pictured below:
Kishimoto also shared comments regarding the poll:
The poll received an estimated 4,600,000 votes between December 21-January 31. The winner Minato received 792,257 votes. Information on the upcoming one-shot featuring Minato will be revealed at a later date.
Fans could vote for their character of choice on the "Narutop 99" website and place one vote every day. This was the first time a character poll for the franchise was held worldwide.
Kishimoto ended his main Naruto manga after 15 years of serialization in Weekly Shonen Jump in November 2014. He then wrote the one-volume sequel manga Naruto: The Seventh Hokage and the Scarlet Spring. Kishimoto also worked on the script and character designs, and served as the chief production supervisor on the Boruto -Naruto the Movie- film sequel.
The Naruto television anime will air four "brand-new" episodes starting in September to celebrate its 20th anniversary. Studio Pierrot began streaming a "Road of Naruto" video, which condenses 20 years of Naruto anime history into 10 minutes, in October. The video features brand new animation footage.
Mikie Ikemoto and Ukyō Kodachi launched the Boruto sequel manga in Weekly Shonen Jump in May 2016. The manga moved to Shueisha's V Jump magazine in July 2019. Masashi Kishimoto took over for Kodachi as writer starting with the manga's 52nd chapter in November 2020.
The Boruto: Naruto Next Generations television anime based on the manga premiered in April 2017. Viz Media simulcasted the anime on Hulu as it aired in Japan, and Crunchyroll streamed the anime. The anime began airing on Adult Swim's Toonami block in September 2018. Viz Media is releasing the anime on home video. The anime's Part I ended on March 26, with a Part II green-lit for production.
Source: Jump Comics' YouTube channel
