Anyone who has been interested in anime and manga in the last decade or so will be very familiar with Masashi Kishimoto, the immensely talented author of Naruto. However, while Kishimoto is the mind behind the Naruto series and its characters, he did also have an assistant to help him plan out sections of the story every now and again when the series was still being published in Shonen Jump, and that man was Mikio Ikemoto.
Ikemoto worked alongside Kishimoto from beginning to end, to the point where he would be lucky enough to be appointed as an illustrator and writer for the Boruto spinoff series that started after Naruto's journey to become Hokage finally wrapped up. Outside of his stylish artwork, there's not actually a lot known about Ikemoto as a person, though considering how long Kishimoto has known him for, the author has been willing to spill some juicy details on not only how Ikemoto got his start in drawing, but also what encouraged him to enter the manga industry once he grew older.
Kishimoto And His Assistant Are Lifelong Friends
Ikemoto Was There From The Very Beginning Of Naruto's Run
- Ikemoto was by Kishimoto's side for all of Naruto
- He was rewarded by being given a major role in the Boruto manga
It's not uncommon for manga authors to have an assistant to provide some input every so often to ensure they don't get too carried away when writing their own series. With that being said though, most editors and assistants will leave their post to move onto other projects at some point or another, but this wasn't the case with Ikemoto. Ikemoto was there to help out with the series for all 15 years of Naruto's serialization, with him and Kishimoto becoming very close friends throughout that time.
"You always say you have to protect everyone in the village...you really mean it, don't you?" - Boruto to Naruto
When acknowledging this, it starts to make a lot of sense why Ikemoto was given the lofty task of managing the Boruto manga, since if there was anyone who would know what truly makes Naruto as a series so fun and engaging, it would have to be him. In fact, Kishimoto has gushed about his former assistant's artistry many times over the years, including in the interview that this article is focusing on today, where he prefaces that Ikemoto is an artist who deserves to be taken seriously.
Still, every artist needs to get their start somewhere, and while some origin stories might come across as a little flat or uninteresting, that certainly can't be said for Ikemoto. The man himself has remained shrouded in mystery for a long time, but Kishimoto has been willing to let fans into a personal story about why Boruto's illustrator started taking pride in his own work, which eventually led him to become involved with the Naruto series not long after,
Ikemoto's Strange Origin Story
Kishimoto Remembers Exactly What Lit A Fire In A Young Ikemoto
Back in 2016, just 2 years after the Naruto manga officially ended, Kishimoto sat down to partake in an interview with Viz Media. Most of the time, these types of casual conversations will be entirely based on the author and their own personal views about their series, but considering how much Kishimoto respects the man who stood by his side throughout Naruto's lengthy publication run, it was inevitable that he would bring Ikemoto up at some point or another.
At roughly the halfway point of the interview, Kishimoto is asked whether he was a talented author when he was still a young boy in school. Not someone to brag about his own artistry too much in front of others, Kishimoto deflected the question and instead told an interesting story about Ikemoto, which goes a long way in explaining why he decided to become an illustrator in his younger years. According to Naruto's author, when Ikemoto was still in school, he was unable to afford Bikkuriman stickers, which are essentially flashy and vibrant anime-style decorations that are very popular among kids. As a result, he would instead decide to draw his own, but once word started to spread around the school of how amazing his drawings were, he actually started selling them among his friends.
"When he was a kid, he couldn’t afford the Bikkuriman stickers, so he would draw his own. Then his friends would buy them from him. That’s when he started to think that his art had value. [laughs]" - Masashi Kishimoto
It's a rather bizarre origin story, but one which still demonstrates just how far Ikemoto has come since he was a youngster. What's interesting is there are many manga authors who similarly only started appreciating their own art once it was acknowledged by others, such as Kohei Horikoshi, for example, the author of My Hero Academia, who began pursuing a career in manga after his mother complemented his artistry. Anyone who reads the Boruto manga will know that Ikemoto's art style has come a very long way since the first few chapters, though it's definitely a lot different from the aesthetic seen in Naruto, which has honestly made it a little divisive among the fans.
Is Ikemoto's Art Style Better Than Kishimoto's?
It's Debatable, But There's Definitely A Huge Difference Between Them
- Ikemoto's designs are a lot more stylish and modern
- Kishimoto tends to go with a more tradtionalist look for his characters
- The Boruto character designs have been divisive, especially since the timeskip
Ikemoto may be very familiar with the characters and story of Naruto, but his art style is entirely different from Kishimoto's. The main aspect that separates the two aesthetics is how much focus each artist places on style. For Kishimoto, he tends to go for a more traditionalist look which almost feeds into the realm of fantasy, but still feels grounded enough to be believable. As a result, many of his characters will wear fairly basic jumpsuits, cloaks, and jackets which are usually decorated with ninja iconography that will have historical or spiritual references for fans to look out for.
Ikemoto, on the other hand, is clearly more interested in creating characters who look as stylish as possible. This can be seen most clearly on the volume covers of Boruto, where many of the key individuals are dressed in flashy and over-the-top outfits that are a lot more cool and edgy than Kishimoto. In a sense, his art style is much more reminiscent of Bleach, while Kishimoto's artwork leans more towards Dragon Ball and older manga art styles.
This has resulted in Boruto's illustrations and overall style being a little divisive. Some fans preferred the more gritty and grounded depiction that Kishimoto would focus on when creating his designs, but there are also many Boruto fans that enjoy this fresh take on the ninja world, especially since it allows the story to feel more modern and youthful. Needless to say, every fan of the Naruto franchise will have their own opinion on the look and feel of Boruto, but despite that, it's still incredibly interesting to learn how drawing a few random stickers in school led Ikemoto to become one of the most well-known manga authors in recent memory.
Source: VIZ
- Release Date
- 2017 - 2023-00-00
- Network
- TV Tokyo
- Directors
- Yusuke Onoda, Tazumi Mukaiyama, Michita Shiraishi, Youichirou Aoki, Shigetaka Ikeda, Taiki Nishimura, Rokou Ogiwara, Mitsuo Hashimoto, Hikaru Sato, Akira Shimizu, Norihiko Nagahama, Takashi Asami, Hodaka Kuramoto, Kiyomu Fukuda, Yoji Sato, Masatoyo Takada, Hazuki Mizumoto, Natsumi Yasue, Hideaki Ōba, Masaaki Kumagai, Mihiro Yamaguchi, Shigenori Kageyama, Nanako Shimazaki
Cast
-
Yuko SanpeiUzumaki Boruto (voice) -
Cocoro KikuchiUchiha Sarada (voice)
WHERE TO WATCH
- Writers
- Masaya Honda, Atsushi Nishiyama, Hideto Tanaka, Touko Machida, Kyōko Katsuya, Kiyomune Miwa, Ukyo Kodachi, Masahiro Okubo
- Franchise(s)
- Naruto
- Creator(s)
- Masashi Kishimoto
