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Exclusive| Naruto director Hayato Date on the show's fandom: Even I want to know the secret
As he attended the Anime India Mumbai event, Naruto director Hayato Date spoke to HT City about the show's popularity and collaborating with Indian makers
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Japanese anime has become a huge and popular genre in India and it was visible among the crowd that gathered at the Mumbai Anime India event over the weekend. The three-day event held on August 28-30 saw a celebration of the anime culture in India. One of the most distinguished guests at the event was Japanese Anime series Naruto’s director Hayato Date.
Getting in a conversation with HT City, he opens up on the Indian influence in his work. “Even though Naruto is Japanese through-and-through and it’s about ninjas, in the scenery in the background, I do add Indian elements here and there.” The director shares that this is his first visit to India, but until now, he hasn’t been able to explore the city much. “I haven’t gone out much and only seen the city around the hotels. But I want to go to Dhobi Ghat and the CSMT station though. I have come to find and explore more Indian stuff,” he says.
Naruto is based on Masashi Kishimoto's 1999–2014 manga series from the same name. It follows Naruto Uzumaki, a young orphan ninja who seeks recognition from his peers and dreams of becoming the Hokage, the leader of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Date directed Naruto from 2002-2007 and Naruto: Shippuden from 2007-2016. It’s been a decade since he last directed the character, but the global popularity of it continues to grow. Reflecting on the fandom it has accumulated over time, Date tells us, “Even though it’s being seen in 80+ countries, I have been busy with work and creating it. To see it having gone so big across the world, has been surprising. Even I want to know the secret of why it has worked everywhere.”
But does the global popularity of the character adds a responsibility on his shoulders for his future work? “I have already done my responsibility by making it,” he says simply. Ask him if a collaboration with Indian makers is on the cards for him and he says, “If there’s a chance, since we have manpower in Japan, and we could get some help from India, it would be great.”
