It may be hard to believe, but the Naruto anime officially ended almost 10 whole years ago. While the Boruto anime and manga have given fans of the series something to enjoy over the last few years, it's still a real treat to see the original protagonist in his younger years showing up in external material and collaborations. Recently, Masashi Kishimoto, the author of Naruto, has created an illustration of the future Hokage that takes place in a very different world to the one fans are used to, resulting in an image which manages to be both bizarre, but also jaw-dropping to look at.

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By Ewan Lewis

While it's common for manga authors to draw these types of illustrations to pay homage to another series in Shonen Jump, this time around, it's actually to celebrate a live action movie which is hitting Japanese cinemas very soon. Therefore, while nobody could have ever imagined this crossover taking place, Masashi Kishimoto has made it a reality, and in the process, he's produced one of the most stunning illustrations of Naruto seen in recent years.

Nauto Joins Hiccup On A Wild Ride Through The Skies

Gamabunta And Toothless Are Also Along For The Journey

Naruto Hw To Train your Dragon collab illustartion

Kishimoto's latest illustration shows a young Naruto flying through the sky atop his loyal Gamabunta, alongside Hiccup and Toothless, who many people will recognize from the How to Train Your Dragon movies. Despite this seeming like a fairly random crossover, Kishimoto actually went all-in with making this stunning piece of artwork as detailed and eye-catching as possible. One thing that is immediately noticeable is the lens, or 'camera angle', that Kishimoto decided to go for when he began drawing. Being able to see so much of the sky above, and having Toothless and Hiccup be upside down in the frame, really does make it feel like the crew are embarking on an epic journey which they will never forget.

Kishimoto has already had a lot of practice drawing Gamabunta and the other summons within the Naruto story, but dragons are creatures that aren't really associated with the series, so presumably, Toothless would have been a bit more of a challenge. Despite his inexperience, though, Kishimoto managed to nail the fun and quirky design of Toothless, and even paid attention to his size to ensure his wings didn't look too weird or unnatural attached to his body.

It's actually Hiccup himself who looks the most different, considering Kishimoto has a particular style when it comes to drawing humans, but he still does a good job at replicating the lovable protagonist's traditional clothing and exaggerated facial expressions pretty effortlessly. It's also worth mentioning that Kishimoto decided to go with pre-timeskip Naruto for this illustration, which honestly makes a lot of sense considering he's a lot more jovial and expressive than his older counterpart..

Kishimoto Admits His Love For How To Train Your Dragon

And He Believes The Live Action Version Will Be Just As Great

minecraft players build toothless from how to train your dragon

The live-action How To Train Your Dragon drops in Japan in September
Kishimoto admits he sees the oriignal as a 'masterpiece'
This illustartion is to celebrate the big occasion

The main reason Kishimoto decided to draw this image, other than probably thinking it would just be a cool collaboration, was to celebrate the release of the live-action How to Train Your Dragon movie in Japan. While the movie has been out in the US for a few months now, Japanese audiences are still preparing themselves to ride along with Toothless and Hiccup for a second time. As part of the celebration, Kishimoto actually had a few words to say about how much he admires the original movie, alongside his excitement for the live-action re-release.

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He admits that the original animated film was so enjoyable that many cartoonists think of it as a masterpiece. This makes it easy to wonder whether some of Kishimoto's close friends in the manga industry have also expressed their praise for How to Train Your Dragon, but unfortunately, the talented author doesn't give any names away. Though he makes it clear that he's a huge fan of the animated original, Kishimoto goes on to say that he feels the film will be just as entertaining in live-action form.

"The animated How to Train Your Dragon is so entertaining that even cartoonists think of it as a masterpiece. Even as a live-action, it will be just as entertaining! I bet flying on the back of a live-action dragon feels just as exhilarating." - Masashi Kishimoto

To go to the lengths of creating a celebratory illustration a month before the movie even drops demonstrates not just how hyped Kishimoto is, but moviegoers in Japan as a whole for How to Train Your Dragon to swoop into theaters once again. For anime and manga fans though, it does spark an interesting question of whether the live-action format is becoming considered suitable, and even encouraged, when based on anime and manga.

Will Naruto Turn To Live Action?

There Is One Series Which Has Found Great Success As A Live Action Series

Live-action seems to be becoming more of a trend in the anime world
One Piece has had a very successful live-action adaptation
Naruto could work pretty well if it made the move to live-action

It's understandable why so many people enjoy seeing something from an animation or cartoon put into a real-life movie. After all, this can help to give the series a more mature and believable aesthetic, while still retaining some of the sillier elements of the original source material through CG. While live-action and anime weren't really considered to be compatible in the past, it's become much more common in recent years to see fan-favorite animations being made into a live-action movie or TV shows.

By far, the most successful example of this is One Piece, which had a breakout live-action first season which introduced many people who don't even watch anime to one of the world's most popular series. Considering how well-received that first season was, there is every reason to believe that the One Piece live-action show could actually go on for many years, but how well would this translate to Naruto?

"I want to play Luffy for a very long time" - Inaki Godoy

While Naruto might not have quite as many special effects as One Piece, many of the Ninja do still use Jutsu techniques, which might be a little tricky to demonstrate with CG. On the other hand though, the series also involves a lot of high-speed hand-to-hand combat, which would honestly be an absolute joy to see performed by real life practitioners who are cosplaying the characters. It seems though Kishimoto is enjoying a well-earned break from the Naruto series for the moment, but when looking over at what One Piece is doing, he may one day start thinking about going in the live-action direction to introduce his series to a whole new audience.

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