Naruto: How to watch the whole series, movies and OVA in order

The Naruto universe is one of the richest and broadest in the history of manga and anime. Masashi Kishimoto’s creation began its journey in Shueisha’s Shonen Jump in November 1999, after wowing the publisher’s editors a few years earlier with a one-shot that would eventually lead to the hero of Hidden Leaf Village. Everything else is history, just like the anime, which is full of episodes, movies, OVAs, and yes, filler. If you’re planning to watch Naruto and Naruto Shippuden and want to know the right order to watch it all, you’ve come to the right place.

Suitable order to watch all Naruto anime, movies and OVA

Naruto has had a total of 11 movies so far (three from the original series, seven from Naruto Shippuden and one from Boruto: Naruto Next Generations). Many of them are filler, so they are not necessary to enjoy the real canon. Not for nothing, there are two exceptions: The Last: Naruto the Movie and Boruto: Naruto the Movie. These two are canon and especially the first one is very important to watch.

If we are watching Naruto Shippuden and we skip over The Last, chances are we won’t quite understand what has been going on between the characters during the last few episodes.

In what order to watch Naruto movies?

In what order to watch Naruto OVA?

In the case of the OVA (Original Video Animation), things are more complicated. They are a kind of short movies of 10 to 30 minutes (approximately) that are released to complement the movies, special episodes of the anime or to celebrate a specific event related to Naruto. Not only are they harder to find, but they are also harder to place because they have little to do with the plot (yes, they are pure filler). We leave you with the most recommended order, but also with their release date, in case you prefer to go by that. Do not take this order as “I must see it after this chapter”, but rather as “I can see it from here”. There is no rush for the OVAs, and the good thing about them is that you only need the penultimate one in the following list (very important, but be careful with the title, it is a spoiler!). Said OVA is canon, you can’t miss it, and we still can’t explain how it wasn’t part of the series, even if it was in Boruto and through a flashback. We leave you with them:

It should be said that as of November 2020, author Masashi Kishimoto has taken the helm of the Boruto manga, so in case anyone had any doubts: the Boruto manga is completely canon. As a result, the anime is canon as well, although that doesn’t stop it from being quite a bit of filler. After its premiere in Weekly Shonen Jump in May 2016, the series about the son of Naruto Uzumaki gained popularity thanks to the work of Ukyo Kodachi and Mikio Ikemoto, who became part of the same publisher’s V Jump magazine in 2019.

Since chapter 52 of the manga, Boruto has been entirely under the direction of Kishimoto. In 2017, TV Tokyo would be responsible for bringing the first episodes of the anime of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations to television, which currently airs every Sunday afternoon in Japan. You can watch the whole series on Crunchyroll.