Some have said the shonen protagonist is subversive to the genre. Others would say Naruto is just short.
Naruto was released in Shonen Jump from 1999 to 2014 and remains one of the most popular and successful manga of all time. The series follows Naruto Uzumaki, a young ninja who yearns to become his village’s Hokage. Artist and writer Masashi Kishimoto notably draws on childhood influences like Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira) and Akira Toriyama (Dragon Ball) in his art style and storytelling, which has since gained international acclaim and built a notable following.
Today, Naruto remains one of the most popular anime of all time. But how tall is the series’ protagonist? Well, let’s break out the measuring stick and find out for sure.
The many versions of Naruto
Naruto shows Naruto Uzumaki’s life during two separate stages: as a pre-teen, and as a teenager. In part one of the manga and anime, Naruto is illustrated at just four feet and nine inches. By part two, he is five feet and six inches.
These both coincide with Naruto’s age. When the series begins, Naruto is just 12 years old. When the series finishes, Naruto is 17.
For many manga and anime fans in the West, Naruto was their introduction to the shonen genre — if not the medium as a whole. While the anime’s first part originally premiered in Japan from 2002 to 2007, Adult Swim’s Toonami broadcasted a dubbed version of the series from September 2005 to January 2009. The anime’s second part broadcasted from February 2007 to March 2017 in Japan, whereas new English language episodes are still being released today.
Outside of its ongoing English rollout, Naruto continues today in the sequel series Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, featuring Naruto’s son Boruto. Since 2016, the work has been published as a manga, and in 2017, anime and film adaptations began releasing alongside it.
In Boruto, Naruto is 32 years old and five feet, 11 inches tall.
