Naruto Director Hayato Date Says the Anime's Pacing Now Feels Slow
Date ties the series' deliberate pacing to Kabuki theatre's use of pauses, a style he says he would keep in any new project even as he concedes the old episodes now feel slow.
Reporting from 1 source: Animehunch.
Naruto director Hayato Date told a panel audience at the Anime India event in Mumbai that he now finds the pacing of Naruto and Naruto: Shippuden slow by modern standards. He said Japanese animation has become much faster in the 20 years since, and that a new project from him would carry better pacing, though not as fast as today's titles.
Date traced his reluctance to speed up to Kabuki theatre, whose use of pauses, or ma, he said is naturally ingrained in him. "I am still Japanese after all. I think traditional Japanese pacing, like the use of pauses (ma) in Kabuki, is naturally ingrained in me. So even if I were to create something new, while I wouldn't make it as slow as before, I don't think I would make it as fast as things are now."
He called the pause a chance for viewers to breathe during non-stop action, and said final timing came down to editing he supervised himself. He also said he made the series with only Japanese viewers in mind. The Mumbai visit was his first to India. The Naruto anime marks its 25th anniversary in 2027, with new releases in development.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.