September was supposed to be huge for Naruto fans as the original series will get new episodes as part of the anime’s 20th-anniversary celebration. Sadly, that won’t be the case any longer as the original Naruto anime special has been delayed.
Previously, it was announced that there will be four new Naruto episodes that will air this September that will take place in the pre-Shippuden timeline.
Now though, it seems that the show’s staff needs more time to work on the series to meet the production committee’s standards.
This isn’t too surprising when you consider how many anime have gotten delayed in the ongoing Summer 23 season.
Yet Another Anime Gets Delayed in the Summer 23 Season
2023 opened with the Winter season which saw lots of shows get delayed. While it seemed that the industry has mostly emerged from this, that did not turn out to be the case.
The Summer 23 season also saw some major delays for selected titles. For starters, Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 entered a weeks-long hiatus following the fifth episode’s broadcast.
At least the hiatus had a good reason. Instead of production issues, it was announced in advance that the show would go on a short break given that the next arc will be a huge one.
Then there’s Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead, an anime that has suffered the most delays this season.
What began as a 24-hour streaming delay for its fourth episode soon ballooned into full-blown schedule changes.
Specifically, the show’s fifth and sixth episodes were delayed by a week. Then the other episodes were also moved, with the final three episodes currently having no set release dates.
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Original Naruto Anime’s Return Gets Delayed
The latest show to be affected is Naruto. It’s technically not a Summer 23 anime as it’s only a 4-episode special, but it’s still another highly anticipated show that didn’t meet its target release date.
Originally, the show was set to air beginning on September 3 in Japan. But in a recent post on the official Boruto X (formerly Twitter) account, it was revealed that the episodes have been delayed indefinitely.
There was no cause given for the delay, but it was mentioned that the postponement was decided to ensure the anime’s quality.
During the special’s broadcast slots, selected Boruto anime episodes will be aired instead.
While fans will need to wait a bit longer for the new episodes, they can at least look forward to Boruto: Two Blue Vortex as the manga finally returned this month.
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