Naruto Michi: 20 Facts You Probably Didn’t Know About Kishimoto

We were able to obtain the Naruto Exhibition only book titled “Michi” and inside it contains some small tidbits on Kishimoto that you may not have known about. For example did you know he went to his wife to ask how Kushina should have felt after giving birth to Naruto? Or that he forgot characters’ names at one point?

We’ve compiled a list of the bits of information for your viewing pleasure.

1) In Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #43, Naruto’s first serial appearance, Kishmoto had the following to say: “Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve always dreamed of having my own action hero comic in Jump!” (Year: 1999)

2) “As many movies started becoming available in DVD, Kishimoto, an avowed movie lover, rejoiced at the chance to use the DVD player he’d bought before starting work on the series! However, he had no time to watch movies due to the pressures of writing a weekly comic.” (Year: 2000)

3) “Kishimoto attends his first post-recording session for the anime adaptation. Seeing the dedication of the voice actors, director, and production staff inspires him to work even harder.” (Year: 2002)

4) “Naruto celebrates its 4th anniversary. Kishimoto worries about how the structure of manga is too restrictive because of the way the dialogue bubbles must be arranged from the top right to the bottom left.” (Year: 2003)

5) “Kishimoto gets married! Thanking everyone who attended his wedding ceremony, he expresses a renewed commitment to work harder than ever on the manga.” (Year: 2003)

6) “Volume 24 of the Jump Comics edition of Naruto hits the shelves. Once again, the comic hearkens back to Kishimoto’s youth as an avid fan of Dragon Ball, motivating him to make Naruto the best it can be.” (Year: 2004) 

7) “Kishimoto’s favorite time of the day is the refreshing hour between 10:00 and 11:00 a.m. However, with the intense demands of his workload, those hours eventually become a valuable source of sleep for Kishimoto.” (Year: 2006)

8) “Everyone at the office is talking about the eagerly anticipated Final Fantasy XII. To Kishimoto’s chagrin, he is too busy to play it or even share much in the excitement.” (Year: 2006)

9) “Kishimoto witnesses two stray cats fighting in the street. Gripped by the spectacle, he finds he can’t run away.” (Year: 2007)

10) “Though he’s devoted several long years to writing a manga about ninja, Kishimoto reflects that “recently, it feels less like what you’d expect a ninja manga to be.” (Year: 2008)

11) “Kishimoto says that around this time he started getting very forgetful, often misspelling words and characters’ names” (Year: 2008) 

12) “The new Naruto movie debuts, featuring Naruto, Kakashi, Shikamaru, and all of the Konoha characters in the same story! Kishimoto is excited beyond words!” (Year: 2009)

13) “Kishimoto sleeps through the World Baseball Classic. His assistants were very enthusiastic, but he could not join in the conversation.” (Year: 2009)

14) “Kishimoto stumbles upon an elementary school student reading a book on the theory of relativity at the library. He is astounded and deeply impressed.” (Year: 2010)

15) “Kishimoto asks his wife for help depicting what Kushina must have felt when she gave birth to Naruto.” (Year: 2010)

16) “On the title page of every Jump Comics edition, Kishimoto includes an illustration of all the characters featured in that volume. He mentions that it was a tough year when he wrote volumes 55 and 56, because the main characters were all old men.” (Year: 2011) 

17) “Kishimoto hits upon great ideas while taking baths. He wants to write them down, but he forgets them by the time he gets out the tub….” (Year: 2012)

18) “After a hard days work, Kishimoto takes his colleagues out to eat and leads them in a toast. It’s always the same: “Thank you for all your hard work today.” Although, one gets the feeling his assistants wish he would say just a little more… (Year: 2013)

19) “Kishimoto tries to sing the movie’s theme song at karaoke. But it’s a bit out of his range, and the performance leaves a bit to be desired!” (Year: 2014)

20) “Kishimoto poses for a family portrait. The photographer praises his ability to be completely still for long periods of time!” (Year: 2014)