Welcome to
Konoha
Lego fans!
Team Seven just finished another 'D' mission and they are celebrating it at
Ichiraku Ramen Shop
. Come and join Naruto and his teammates in this set designed by and for
Naruto
fans, dattebayo!
As truly fans of Naruto we didn't understand why there was not any set dedicated to this popular manga and anime. So, we decided that this had to change and we started to design a Lego set for this saga.
When one thinks about Naruto and all of its huge universe (72 manga volumes and around 720 anime episodes), it is very difficult to select which part or scenario of the series would be the more appropriate for a Lego set. That was the first thing we had to deal with. The scenario had to be easily recognizable by all Naruto fans, but also interesting for non Naruto followers. It had to be a place that awakens happiness and makes you remember good and emotional moments of the saga. So, along all the possible buildings and scenarios, we selected "
Ichiraku Ramen Shop
".
With around
1600 pieces
(not optimized) and a size of 22 x 24 studs, this set reproduces with an extraordinary level of detail
Ichiraku Ramen Shop
, one of the most iconic buildings of Konoha. This place was really perfect! After every mission Naruto and his teammates went to Ichiraku Ramen Shop to have dinner. It is also the place where Naruto received the encouragement from his academy teacher to start his Path of the Ninja, the beginning of an extraordinary adventure.
There are slightly different versions of this building depending on the progress of the Naruto series. We have based our design in the version that takes place during the "
Land of Waves
" arc of Naruto's original series, just before the "
Chunnin exams
" arc. You can even see a reference of these exams in the set, reproducing the flags of several of the hidden villages around a promotional announcement.
The building itself is quite small and has an unassuming appearance. The main floor contains the kitchen and the restaurant (just a bar with 4 seats). As the upper part of the building has been never shown in the anime, we have converted it in Teuchi's apartment, with a little bedroom and a bathroom. It can be accessed through the stairs at the back side of the building.
We have designed a lot of custom art and a total of
7
minifigures
for the set, including:
-
Naruto Uzumaki
-
Sasuke Uchiha
-
Sakura Haruno
-
Kakashi Hatake
-
Teuchi Ichiraku
-
Ayame Ichiraku
-
Iruka Umino
All the minifigures have
two faces with different expressions
and all of them include
personalized accessories
.
If you are a Naruto fan, you love Ramen or you simply like this set, we would appreciate a lot your support. Only you can make this real!
Naruto series is an
extremely popularly worldwide manga
(1999-2014) by
Masashi Kishimoto
that was adapted later into an anime television series (2002-2017). The saga includes
72 manga volumes
and the anime is split in two parts:
Naruto
, with
220 episodes
and
Naruto Shippuden
, a sequel to the original series with
500 episodes
.
If this is the first time you hear about Naruto, this Lego Idea may help you to discover the incredible and epic adventure of Naruto, a young ninja who seeks to gain recognition from his peers and dreams of becoming the leader of his village. No matter what challenges life throws at him, he always finds the way to reach his dream. It is a story full of emotions, determination, friendship and encouragement. Naruto is the clear example of never giving up when facing problems and adversity.
Naruto is celebrating his
20th anniversary
since September 2019, as the first manga volume was published 20 years ago. Furthermore, the celebrations are extended since the anime will hit 20 years in 2022!
We don't want to write a deep speech about Ramen, but as it is a key element of the set it deserves to be mentioned here. To be brief and as many of you know, the Ramen is a
Japanese soup of noddles
dished up with meat or fish broth. It can be flavored with miso or soy sauce and is served with different toppings such as menma, egg, pork, nori, scallions and of course, naruto!
This food was originated in China and introduced later in Japan around 1859. It has become now one of the most popular Japanese food around all the world, it has even surpassed sushi. Needless to say that it is the favorite Naruto's dining food!
There is not just one reason, but hundreds of them! When we designed this set, we meditated a lot about it and the infinite possibilities it would bring. Here are some of the reasons that led us to create the project and why we think it should become real:
-
This would be the
first Lego set based on a manga and anime EVER
. The momentum is good and we think it is about time! There is a huge unexplored market by Lego in here and this would be an amazing starting point. Manga and anime fans are growing at a dizzying pace day by day!
-
The set is perfect for display but also to
play with with it.
You can
recreate different scenes
of the series with the minifigs and play with the accessories they include. There is
no limit for the imagination
and kids would love to revive epic adventures with their favorite heroes! Just look at the project updates!
-
Naruto is not only Ichiraku Ramen Shop, there are hundreds of locations, characters and an
infinite universe
around this IP. Who knows, it could be even be the start of a new playtheme!
-
Naruto numbers are just overwhelming:
-
4th best-selling manga EVER
with more than
250 million copies
sold in
45 different countries
-
21 years
of manga history (20th anniversary was 2019)
-
72 manga
volumes
-
18 years
of anime history (20th anniversary will be in 2022)
-
720 anime
episodes
-
10 anime movies
-
1 real-action movie
produced in
Hollywood
is on the way!
-
An in progress
sequel
of the saga:
Boruto
-
Thousands
of different merchandising products and a wide catalog of videogames
-
Millions
of fans around the world
-
The
20th anniversary
(manga and anime) would be a key differentiation, and this would fit just in time!
-
Ramen
is the other key element of the set. We wanted to highlight it because, as for today, there is not any official Lego set around this incredibly famous food (loved by millions of people around the world). Non Naruto fans may find this set interesting just because of the
Ramen
!
-
The
architecture
of the set fits perfectly with other ninja related Lego themes such as Ninjago and the new Monkie Kid. Also, it has the perfect size to be included in any Lego city collection. Non Naruto fans may find it interesting just because of the building!
-
We love Naruto and would absolutely buy it
. We designed something that we would love to buy and have displayed in our shelf.
-
All the colors used in the set are official. We selected them because we loved the contrast of the set. If any color is not available in some bricks, there is not any problem on changing it (we don't know which bricks are available in which color)
-
Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura hairs have been chosen from the hairs catalog of Bricklink Studio tool. However, there could be other hairs not available in the tool that fit better for them (maybe from the new Overwatch, Hidden Side or Monkie Kid themes)
-
Teuchi's hair are 2 separated pieces, the hat just lies on the hair. The set could include both pieces and use any of them indistinctly.
-
Ayame's hair are 2 separated pieces, the white visor (making the role of the scarf) fits on the hair. If that is a problem, just remove the visor from the set.
-
Prior to the last edition of the project, we suggested some new pieces for the hairs and ninja weapons of the minifigs. However, we finally decided to use existing bricks for all of them. We updated most of the screenshots, but some of them may still display remains of the suggested pieces. The main screenshots of the minifigs display the correct look and feel.
If you have reached this point, we want to
thank you so much for your time
and support, dattebayo!