Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto: A bildungsroman hero

Bildungsroman is a literary genre that shows the main character's journey of development. In this genre, the journeys of the main characters in line with their goals are usually shown. As a result of overcoming the obstacles faced by the main character during these journeys, the character achieves success and completes his or her journey. In addition, in this type of narrations, apart from the main character's heroic journey and development, there are also aims to educate the reader and depict the socio-cultural atmosphere. Naruto (1999-2014) is a Japanese manga (comic strip) written by Masashi Kishimoto (1974-). This manga was later adapted into an anime and introduced to audiences. Naruto, the main protagonist of this story, embarks on a journey of development in order to attain the title of hokage, which is given to the strongest in the village. The difficulties he experiences during this journey help him to become even stronger. He eventually completes his journey and becomes a hokage and a successful bildungsroman hero. In this thesis, the journey of the main character in Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto to achieve his goal is analyzed in connection with the literary genre of bildungsroman.