The first of four episodes celebrating Naruto’s 20th anniversary has been delayed from its premiere on September 3, and there is no word on a new release date.
On X (formerly Twitter), the Naruto anime production committee announced that the first special episode made to celebrate the series’ 20th anniversary will be delayed. According to the official statement, the decision to postpone the screening of the new Naruto special episode was made in order to “increase the quality” of the episodes. Instead, the Boruto: Naruto Next Generations synopsis will air on September 3.
Currently, there is no set date for the Naruto 20th anniversary special chapter. The official Naruto X account says a new date will be announced via the series’ official social media channels at a later date. This four-episode special takes place in the original anime series, where Naruto Uzumaki and his friends are still future ninjas.
While details about the story and characters are scarce, the Naruto 20th anniversary special features the return of Japanese rock band FLOW performing the opening and ending theme songs. . FLOW’s opening theme was chosen as the 20th anniversary version of the song “GO!!!” Theirs, the fourth prologue to the original Naruto television series. The ending song will be a cover of ORANGE RANGE’s “Viva☆Rock”, which was used as the third season ending theme for the Naruto anime.
Despite the sudden delay, the Naruto fan community still has a lot to look forward to. The first chapter of Boruto: Two Blue Vortex, the time-travelling sequel to Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, is now available to read online from British publisher Viz Media. Season 1 of the Boruto anime ended in March prompting some employees to jump to rival studios. Masaya Honda, the author of the series, wrote an emotional message thanking everyone who has followed the series for the past six years.
The 2002 Naruto anime series and its sequel, Naruto: Shippuden, are available on Crunchyroll and Hulu. Boruto: Naruto Next Generations is also available to stream. There is currently no official announcement about the Boruto Part 2 anime adaptation.
In addition to Naruto, anime projects such as Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead and Studio Ponoc’s The Imaginary were also delayed due to production issues.
Source: X