Not Ikemoto but Pierrot is to blame for Naruto's controversial time-skip design

Modified Jul 01, 2024 17:00 GMT

Not Ikemoto but Pierrot is to blame for Naruto — Naruto as seen in the Boruto manga and anime (Image via Shueisha, Studio Pierrot)

While Naruto Uzumaki is a fan-favorite character amongst anime and manga fans, the character's character design is highly criticized when it comes to the franchise's sequel series, Boruto anime.

Fans have criticized the character design from the very beginning, blaming its creators for ruining the former protagonist's appearance. However, that's seemingly not the case.

While fans were blaming the series' manga artist Mikio Ikemoto for the Seventh Hokage's poor character design, it was never his fault but that of the animation studio, Pierrot.

Why do fans criticize Naruto's character design for the Boruto anime?

Naruto as seen in the Boruto manga and anime (Image via Shueisha, Studio Pierrot)

Fans often criticize Naruto's character design in Boruto anime because it is unlike what they had hoped from the series. Many fans had even come up with fanarts of how the Seventh Hokage could look as an adult. Unfortunately, the reality was far off.

While it was completely okay for the anime to take a different direction from what fans had hoped for, they believed that the character design in the anime was really poor as it abandoned the former protagonist's iconic hair and went with something that was unrecognizable.

The Seventh Hokage as seen in the manga (Image via Shueisha)

Upon seeing this, many fans began criticizing manga artist Mikio Ikemoto stating that he was at fault for the poor character design. However, if one were to look at the manga, it is clear that the series' animation team at Studio Pierrot are the ones who are at fault for ruining the former protagonist's character design.

That said, it was not just the hair that the anime altered but also his attire as the Seventh Hokage was meant to wear a black shirt instead of the orange shirt as seen in the anime.

How fans reacted to Naruto's hair in the Boruto series

The Seventh Hokage as seen in the Boruto manga (Image via Shueisha)

Upon realizing what the former protagonist's hair looked like in the manga, fans immediately began backing up the series' manga artist Mikio Ikemoto's art style. While it wasn't similar to the character designs fans had thought up, it was still majestic compared to its anime counterpart.

"I don't trust ANYONE who says Naruto is ugly in Ikemoto's style, he's majestic asf," one fan said.

"Boruto's Naruto if they followed Kishimoto's original design more accurately," another fan said.

"Manga Naruto is hot though, idk wth is happening in the anime... the hair really isn't the problem," another added.

People realized that the character's poor design had nothing to do with the manga series and everything to do with the animation studio.

The Seventh Hokage as seen in the Boruto anime (Image via Studio Pierrot)

Moreover, if one were to take a closer look at the Seventh Hokage's character design for the anime, it becomes very evident that his hair alone wasn't at fault but the entire design was poorly created.

"Aye if DB can make trunks’ hair blue in the anime like it canonically always has been (apparently). There’s no reason Boruto can’t give Naruto his damn manga fit," other fan said.

Another fan hoped that the anime would canonically change the character design if and when it would return. Toei Animation had previously changed Trunks's hair color from purple to blue in the Dragon Ball Super anime, stating that it was supposed to be blue in the first place and was mistakenly made purple. Similarly, Studio Pierrot could make changes to the design after looking at fans' criticisms.