The original creator of Naruto, along with anime rights holder TV Tokyo, has officially given their seal of approval to a new release for the franchise. Naruto fans can now play Naruto: Ninja Cards, an officially licensed collectible cards app.
In an interview with Variety, Samy Therain, co-founder and CEO of the indie studio publishing Naruto: Ninja Cards, talked about the level of commitment going into the new “gamified card-collecting experience” and how it’s all built on the trust of TV Tokyo.
“We spent a year and a half in Japan convincing the IP’s owners to trust us, and became the first foreign studio ever licensed to build this,” Therain said. “We’re giving our soul to this project. Half a million fans felt it, and showed up before we ever asked. Today’s launch is theirs.”
New Naruto Ninja Cards Game Arrives With Hand-Drawn & Exclusive Artwork
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Image via Naruto: Ninja Cards -
Image via Naruto: Ninja Cards -
Image via Naruto: Ninja Cards
Naruto: Ninja Cards has been five years in the making, and a lot of the effort behind the scenes has come from actual Naruto fans. The game’s website boasts hand-drawn and exclusive artwork for collectors, with more than 90% of cards curated by artists around the globe who have been Naruto fans since the first manga chapter was released.
Per the game’s site, Naruto: Ninja Cards allows fans to collect cards to build their “dream squad” and dive into real-time ninja strategy on mobile. The licensed app is targeted at both longtime fans and curious newcomers, giving everyone the chance to make their own Shinobi story.
The team’s love for Naruto is arguably one of the reasons why TV Tokyo gave it the green light. “The Sekai team’s genuine passion for Naruto is what truly resonates with fans worldwide,” TV Tokyo’s head of global distribution Hiroaki Saiki said. “I trust that their care, patience, and deep understanding of the series’ core spirit will drive the success of this product!”
Sekai revealed that, since the game’s soft launch back in February, it has been downloaded over 500,000 times — 93% of which came from organic search. They attribute that success to the never-before-seen hand-drawn artwork and other Easter eggs hidden inside the cards for those who have been fans of Naruto for years. Updates to the game have also been shaped by fan feedback, which has helped retention.
Naruto: Ninja Cards Creator Battled for Masashi Kishimoto’s Approval
The new Naruto collectible card game may already be proving successful with fans of the anime franchise, but it almost failed to get the approval of the story’s mangaka, Masashi Kishimoto. Therain talked about how the deal with TV Tokyo almost fell through, but his passion for Naruto ultimately saved the day.
After learning that the deal was going to “fade away” because Kishimoto had not signed off on it, Therain made a final plea for Naruto: Ninja Cards. “[O]ur motto as a company was ‘Live your own shonen adventure’ or ‘Live like a shonen,’ which literally means when something goes bad, just fight for it,'” Therain shared.
“I just went home, and I wrote a letter to the author of Naruto, not knowing if he would get it or read it or anything, I just put it on paper,” he continued. “I wrote on paper what Naruto meant to me, every reason why I loved him, and how he changed my life, how he was there all the time, every time.” After the letter was sent to TV Tokyo, the deal eventually earned Kishimoto’s approval.
Naruto: Ninja Cards is now available for download on Google Play and the App Store.
- Video Game(s)
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Naruto Ninja Council 3, Naruto: Rise Of A Ninja, Naruto: Path Of The Ninja, Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm, Naruto x Boruto: Ninja Voltage, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Impact
- First TV Show
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Naruto
- Cast
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Junko Takeuchi, Maile Flanagan, Noriaki Sugiyama, Yuri Lowenthal, Chie Nakamura, Kazuhiko Inoue, Dave Wittenberg
- Created by
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Masashi Kishimoto
