Naruto has had a long battle with censorship. The body horror from the manga has been made more tame in the anime, and some extremely horrifying scenes have been edited to make them feel less jarring. However, the anime also censored one habit that Masashi Kishimoto gave Shikamaru.
After the death of Asuma, Shikamaru had picked up a nasty habit of smoking. However, this action had a huge amount of emotional symbolism behind it, and Masashi Kishimoto was afraid he would never be able to include it in the manga. But while he won the battle with editors, he lost to anime censorship.
Naruto censored Shikamaru’s smoking habit
Asuma was a chain smoker in Naruto. Shikamaru was extremely fond of his sensei and saw him die in his arms. He was haunted by memories of his sensei back when he trained the team. Before he died, Asuma asked Shikamaru for one last smoke, but passed away before the cigarette had burned. That was when Shikamaru picked up the lit cigarette and took a puff even though he hated it.
Ever since then, Shikamaru has picked up the habit of smoking. He began the bait as a way of coping with Asuma’s death. However, Shikamaru was underage at the time, which caused a lot of problems in the production procedure. Thus, once the anime aired, Shikamaru’s smoking habit was completely removed. Instead, it was replaced with Asuma’s lighter.
While Shikamaru is seen smoking in the manga, in the anime, he is only seen tinkering away with Asuma’s lighter. Every time a significant scene rose with Shikamaru smoking, it was replaced with a lighter. However, it is a symbolic way for Shikamaru to deal with Asuma’s death, and the impact of the scene has become somewhat diminished due to the censorship.
Masashi Kishimoto didn’t even expect his manga editors to allow the scene
Masashi Kishimoto and Kobayashi sat for an interview in which they discussed Shikamaru’s smoking habits. The scene in which Shikamaru first took up smoking is extremely important and an emotional moment. Kobayashi described that the scene gave off the feeling of a boy who has finally become an adult.
From that moment forth, Shikamaru swore to avenge his sensei and carried through his words. Once he had successfully trapped Hidan, the killer of Asuma, he lit Asuma’s cigarette and tossed it at the culprit, who was ensnared in explosives. Thus, Shikamaru’s habit became a tool of his revenge as well.
However, Masashi Kishimoto was unsure if the scene would get greenlit since Shikamaru was underage at the time. He even had a meeting with his editor to decide if the scene needed to be changed. But at the end of the day, his editor let him try it despite the extremely strict manga regulations.
Naruto anime is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
