Kenji Sato, 68, once inked frames for the battle between Naruto and Sasuke at the Valley of the End (episode 133 of the original series). He hasn't watched an episode since. But his 14-year-old granddaughter, Mika, is binge-watching the entire franchise for the first time—and she's kept a journal.
Kenji walks to her room. She’s watching Boruto episode 220—the final episode of the first Boruto series. On screen, an older Naruto watches his son fight. Kenji sits down. naruto episode amount
"720 wasn't the limit," Mika says softly. "It was just the first season." Kenji Sato, 68, once inked frames for the
Kenji doesn't answer. Instead, he picks up a pencil and starts drawing—not ninjas, but her. Frame by frame. Because episode counts aren't numbers. They're measures of time you chose to spend on one story instead of your own. Kenji walks to her room
The last page: Episode 500 of Shippūden ("The Message"). Mika wrote: "720 episodes. Grandpa worked on 42 of them. Each one was 23 minutes. That's 16.1 hours of his hands. I watched all 276 hours. It took me 8 months. But he lived it over 15 years. No wonder he never talks about it."