Masashi Kishimoto
Following the conclusion of "Naruto", Kishimoto became involved in the "Start of a New Era Project" commemorating the manga's conclusion and 15th anniversary. On the last page of the final chapter, "Weekly Shonen Jump" announced that a spin-off miniseries, also authored by Kishimoto, would be released in 2015. The series, "", ran from April to July 2015. Beyond this, Kishimoto was also heavily involved with two canonical movies, "" and "", as he personally supervised both movies, and illustrated several light novels. When asked by Boruto Uzumaki's voice actress Yūko Sanpei to continue making "Naruto" movies, Kishimoto stated that he was taking a break and could not physically do so.
Naruto
The "Naruto" anime was listed as the 38th best animated show in IGN's Top 100 Animated Series. In September 2005, Japanese television network TV Asahi broadcast a popularity poll based on a nationwide survey in which "Naruto" placed 17th. Mike Hale of "The New York Times" described the series as much better than American animation aimed at children, but the animation received some criticism from both the T.H.E.M. Anime Reviews critics: Christina Carpenter felt Kishimoto's artistic style translated poorly into animation, and Derrick Tucker was also negative, though he felt that at their best, the depictions "[left] little to be desired". As with the manga, some reviewers, such as Martin Theron of ANN, along with Tucker, felt there were too many fight scenes, though Justin Rich argued that the fight scenes were the most important and enjoyable element of the show. Carpenter also commented positively on the characters, though she felt that most were fairly stereotypical.