Naruto (ナルト) is a 2002 television anime series based on Masashi Kishimoto’s manga series of the same name. The series was adapted by studio Pierrot, and the staff credits include director Hayato Date, series composition writers Katsuyuki Sumisawa & Junki Takegami, character designers Hirofumi Suzuki & Tetsuya Nishio, and music composed by Musashi Project & Toshio Masuda. The anime first aired in Japan on October 2002.
Background:
“Disaster strikes the Village Hidden in the Leaves when Ichiraku Ramen is mysteriously closed! Ayame’s been kidnapped, and if Naruto and Choji want their noodles, they’ll have to save her first! Then, the sea rages with fury as Naruto faces a briny behemoth of epic proportions. Can his ninja training save him? And finally, the action heads to the Village Hidden in the Stars as Naruto and Neji’s team tracks down a legendary item of great power!”
Plot Synopsis via Anime Limited, September 2025.
We have now reached the end of the first Naruto anime series! With the fourth set of Naruto content, we’re in non-canon territory but the final episode return to canon as the series transitions from Part 1 of the story onto the next, which eventually becomes Naruto Shippuden. The main reason it’s primarily non-canon at this point is because the manga was catching up to the source material and studio Pierrot wanted to avoid that happening to maintain that weekly timeslot in Japan. This also means that Naruto Shippuden will start off with a whole bunch of canon content before it had eventually folded into various non-canon content.
The story arcs featured include the remainder of the Cursed Warrior Extermination Mission (eps 166-167), Kaima Capture Mission (eps 169-173), Buried Gold Excavation Mission (eps 175-176), Star Guard Mission (eps 178-183), Peddlers Escort Mission (eps 187-191), Third Great Beast Arc (eps 195-196), Konoha Plans Recapture Mission (eps 197-201), Yakumo Kurama Rescue Mission (eps 203-207), Gantetsu Escort Mission (eps 209-212), Menma Memory Search Mission (eps 213-215) and Sunagakure Support Mission (eps 216-220) with various standalone episodes throughout. The only canon content is from the final episode (220).
Anime Limited have the rights to all of the television episodes for Naruto and Naruto Shippuden for the United Kingdom, but they don’t have the license for the films, OVAs, TV specials and also the Boruto content that were released so far. As mentioned before, the original series was released across four box sets (or eight standard edition volumes) on Blu-ray in its original 4:3 aspect ratio.
Like the previous Anime Limited Naruto releases, the artwork matches the Japanese DVD releases throughout each volume and set. North American distributor Viz Media have already released Naruto on Blu-ray across eight volumes, and are currently working their way through Naruto Shippuden on Blu-ray across 18 volumes.
Collector’s Edition Contents:
This is the fourth and final set of releases for the original Naruto, so the consistency from the previous set continues.
The Set 4 collector’s edition release is presented with a rigid box, two Amaray cases housing the discs, and a 32-page booklet with character designs for another selection of characters from the anime series. If you have bought Set 1 directly through AllTheAnime’s store, you can fit this release inside the outer rigid box that will cover the entirety of the first Naruto series.
The rigid box and amaray artwork are free of any information or BBFC content and the info sheet covers the information and specification like previous Anime Limited releases. The collector’s edition Blu-ray is estimated to be roughly 1000 units printed for an SRP of £99.99, with a standard edition Blu-ray available for retailers at an SRP of £49.99 per part (as a reminder; Set 4 covers the same amount as Volumes 7 & 8).
This release was included as part of their July 2025 early bird pre-order range on their AllTheAnime online store, though I decided to order mine through MVM’s Anime-on-Line store instead which was available for £69.99 + free postage.
Physical Contents:
- Rigid Box with clean artwork
- 2 Amaray cases packaging
- Info sheet for specification and BBFC description
- 36-page Booklet
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: Anime Limited
Released: 29th September 2025
The collector’s edition Set 4 release for Naruto contains episodes 166-220, across eight Blu-ray discs. This edition is pretty much both Volume 7 (Episodes 166-192) and Volume 8 (Episodes 193-220) together if you went with the standard edition volume route.
The discs have been authored and encoded by VDMS, a UK authoring company whom Anime Limited have worked with on a number of their releases including Cardcaptor Sakura, Jujutsu Kaisen and Macross Plus. Rather than opting for Viz Media’s Blu-rays, Anime Limited decided to re-author the original series for the UK.
Audio options available include Japanese with English subtitles and the STUDIOPOLIS, Inc. English dub commissioned by Viz Media.
The white subtitles are locked during playback, and the discs are region locked to players set to B.
Blu-ray Specs:
| Languages | English, Japanese |
| Audio | English Linear PCM 2.0 Japanese Linear PCM 2.0 |
| Video | 1080p High Definition Upscaled format 1.33:1 aspect ratio |
| Region | B |
| Subtitles | English |
| Locked Subtitles | Yes |
| Discs | 8 BD-50s |
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
Disc 4 (Volume 7 Disc 4):
- Clean Openings “Namikaze Satellite (波風サテライト)” (repeated 2 times) & “Re:member”
- Clean Closings “Parade (パレード)” (repeated 3 times) & “Yellow Moon”
Disc 8 (Volume 8 Disc 4):
- Clean Opening “YURA YURA”
- Clean Closings “Pinocchio” & “Scenario”
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
Naruto is available to purchase on Blu-ray by Anime Limited in the UK & Ireland.
The collector’s edition Set 4 Blu-ray release can be bought across different retailers including AllTheAnime Store, Amazon UK, and Anime-on-Line.
The standard edition Volumes 7 & 8 Blu-rays are also available across different retailers including AllTheAnime Store (Volume 7, Volume 8), Amazon UK (Volume 7, Volume 8), and Anime-on-Line (Volume 7, Volume 8).
(Disclaimer: Amazon links are also included when available. They are affiliated so if you decide to order them, I’ll earn a small percentage if they ship which will help me with any hauls or small bills.)
The Normanic Vault 
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