Naruto (TV)

The names of the three Sannin (Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru) were taken from the "Legend of the Gallant Jiraiya" each of whom had a special magic they learned - toad, slug, and snake.

The sword that Orochimaru uses is a sword called "Kusanagi" this means grass cutter and this is from a legend. A god was one day banished from heaven and killed a 8 head snake and out of the snake popped a sword and that was the sword of Kusanagi.

The name Uzumaki means whirlpool, Naruto is named after the whirlpool of the city Naruto. Naruto is also a name for steamed fish-paste cake, sliced to decorate soup which has a spiral design in the middle.

There once was a Japanese priest who supposedly enchanted a teapot to never be empty at a party and was believed to be a tanuki. His name was Shukaku. Gaara's tanuki demon is named Shukaku.

In the anime Gaara's sash is white. In the manga its red

The S-class criminal group AKATSUKI has two meanings. One is "red moon". The other was "daybreak" or "the dawn"

Itachi's doujutsu techniques concerning the Mangekyou Sharingan has coined from the god and the goddess of Japanese Mythology. Tsukiyomi is a moon god and Amaterasu is the sun goddess, literally

talk about the deja vu of Ino-Shika-Cho, The team 10 (Ino-Shika-Cho) has shared the three-member team from their fathers (Inoichi, Shikaku and Chouza), and so are their techniques and their origin came from the card game

Kakashi's means Scarecrow and Hatake means Dry field, or... literally, "a scarecrow on a dry field"

Masashi Kishimoto, creator of Naruto, was a huge fan of Akira Toriyama's Dr. Slump and Dragon Ball. Also he loves all the Dragon Ball stories up until the first appareance of Freeza. His favorite Dragon Ball character is Kuririn, because he has the most "human" feel and because he relates with him a lot.

Masashi Kishimoto says that the world of Naruto doesn't differ very much from our present time. Television, refrigerators and air conditioners exist in the world. The only exceptions are weapons and explosives, which he decided to set in a much earlier era. That's why we don't see firearms in the world of Naruto.

In Naruto, the frog is associated with Naruto and Jiraiya, the snake with Sasuke and orochimaru and the snail with Sakura and Tsunade. The triad of Snake, Snail and Frog is from Japanese mythology. The Snake is more powerful than the frog, the snail is more powerful than the snake, and the frog is more powerful than the snail, making a "paper, rock, scissors" sort of situation. These three are collectively called the Sansukumi.

Haruno Sakura roughly translates to "Cherry Blossom of Spring"

The word "uchiha" literally means "fan".

"Uzumaki" means "spiral" or "whirlpool"; a "naruto" is a small fish cake that usually has a spiral design on it and is often found in ramen - which "happens" to be Naruto's favorite food. The Great Naruto Bridge is an actual bridge built between the Japanese islands Honshu and Shikoku. The Naruto Strait, which it is built across, is also famous for the many whirlpools that appear in it when the tide goes out.

The name "Umino Iruka" can be split into the words "umi no iruka" - and since "iruka" means "dolphin" and "umi" is "sea", his name is literally "dolphin of the sea".

Mitarashi Anko appears multiple times eating dango (rice dumplings on a skewer). This is because her last name, Mitarashi, is a tasty type of dango usually served with a special sauce. Anko is also an ingredient oft used in dango.

The trio of Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji are related through more than just their fathers' names: "ino" means "boar" (hence Sakura's insulting nickname "Ino-pig"), "shika" is "deer" (Shikamaru's family raises deer, and his last name, Nara, is the name of a park in Japan that is famous for its group of free-roaming deer), and "chou" is "butterfly". The trio of "ino-shika-chou" is a hand that can be played in the card game Hanafuda.

Morino Ibiki's name, like Iruka's and Sakura's, can be split into three words - "mori no ibiki". This translates literally to "snoring of the forest" and is thought to refer to his bear-like shape and appearance.

Actually, the nine-tailed demon fox is taken from the legendary tailed demon from Japan.

Episode 100 features a slight pun on the Rock-Paper-Scissors game, AKA Jan-Ken-Pon in Japanese. Gai and Kakashi begin the chant, "Jan-Ken--" and the scene immediately cuts to Gai tapping Lee on the shoulder, the sound of which is rendered in manga as "pon," thereby "completing" the chant.

At the end of episode 168 (Burning Pot! Mix it, Stir it and Boil it!) you can see among the crowd waiting in line to try out the new diet ramen (popular with the ladies) Sasame from the filler arc, Temari, Ten Ten, Ino, Hinata, Anko and Kurenai. While inside Moegi can be seen eating the new diet dish.

Kabuto's team are names of ninja gear. Kabuto is Helmet, Yoroi is Armor, Tsurugi is Sword

In order to promote the third Naruto Movie, starting from episode 197 to 199, the production team replaced the scenes from the opening "Re:member" (by FLOW) and closing "Pinnochio" (by Ore Ska Band) with scenes from Movie 3.

The kanji character on Gaara's forhead is "ai" which translates as "love".

The 'ahou' crow cried makes a cameo in episodes 101, 161 and 168. Consistently for other wacky filler arcs.

Most of the Japanese voice cast of Naruto also works in the Japanese dub of "24"

The name "Hagane" means steel or "full metal" and "Kotetsu" means "Little steel."

In various episodes a crow flies past (usually when someone says or does something stupid or awkward) and makes a sound resembling the japanese word "aho" which means "idiot" or "fool".

Konohamaru, Udon and Moegi make a guest appearance in the american cartoon Ben Ten in the final 2 minutes of episode 30 "Merry Christmas".

At the end of the dubbed version of "A Cry on Deaf Ears," when there's the preview for the next episode, the title is misspelled: "Brothers: Distance Among the Uchicha." "Uchiha" should be without the extra "c."

Itachi's eye techniques (Tsuyokomi/Amaterasu) are related to the mythologic story of a god washing his eyes and nose out in the river. His right eye became the god of the moon (Tsuyokomi) and his left eye became the goddes of the sun (Amaterasu). The nose became Susano'o.

In the episode 109, one can find Uchiha Sasuke's lips twitch before he said "Thank you" to Haruno Sakura. This is seen at around [19:46] to [19:48] in the episode.

In Polish dubbed version of the series name of one of the main characters Sasuke is frequently mispronounced without "voiceless" u. Literally it should be pronounced "Saske".

In episode 6 when Kakashi is explaining about the five Kages, the Mizukage is wearing a blue hat and the Kazekage is wearing a green hat. However later in the series the Kazekage's hat color becomes blue.

In episode 20 when Naruto wakes up and leaves his room, the key used to lock the door has a small keychain of a miniture Pakkun.

In episode 82, just after you see Maito Gai intercepting Hoshigaki Kisame's lunge, in the time between 18:15 and 18:18, you see a close-up on Hatake Kakashi's face without the scar on his left eye.

In Episode 102 when Sakura is looking at the stand (aprox. 16:00) she looks over a set of Keychains. They are, in order from top to bottom, left to right, Manda, Pakkun, Gamakichi, Tonton, Katsuyu, and Gamabunta. Sakura then picks up the Gamabunta keychain and comments on the price.

In episode 161, the one with the Gai and Lee imposters, at one scene where Naruto tries to talk the fake Gai and Lee into bringing him along on their training you can see Sasuke standing idly in the background (as well as Anko).

Also in episode 161, when the false Gai and Lee first search through the village, they pass a variety of characters visiting from other arcs, including Inari and Tsunami from the Country of the Wave Arc, Ibiki from the Chuunin Exam, and more recently, Sasame and Sanshou-baasan from the Filler Arcs. These are just a few of the examples. Such a technique was used for the Naruto Sports Festival mini-movie for most of the background, especially the line going to the background, where you can obviously see Itachi and Kisame waiting in line.

In episode 194, the 2nd name from the left that appears on the contract scroll for summoning the creature is Kishimoto Masashi, the name of the author of Naruto. This is seen at around [19:02] in the episode.

In episode 213, the ninja with the sword who gets killed by Menma, can also be seen in episode 19, right after Gatoo gets killed.