No. of episodes 48 | ||
The second season from the anime series Naruto is directed by Hayato Date, and produced by Studio Pierrot and TV Tokyo. Based on Masashi Kishimoto's manga series, the season follows Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno attempting to pass the Chūnin Exams at the Leaf Village, while the snake ninja Orochimaru brings an invasion against the village using the army of Sand and Sound.
The second season aired from June 2003 to May 2004 on TV Tokyo. It also aired from June 2006 to April 2007 in both Cartoon Network's Toonami and YTV's Bionix programming blocks. Sony Pictures Entertainment collected the episodes in a total of twelve DVD volumes under the name "2nd Stage", between January and December 1, 2004. Episodes from this season were released on by Viz Media between the ninth and twenty-first DVD volumes from the series, while several uncut DVD boxes have also been released.
Nine pieces of theme music are used for the episodes; three opening themes and three closing themes in the Japanese episodes and two opening themes and an ending theme in the English ones. The first opening theme is "Haruka Kanata" (遥か彼方, lit. Far Away) by Asian Kung-Fu Generation, which is used until episode 53 where it is replaced by Little By Little's "Kanashimi o Yasashisa ni" (悲しみをやさしさに, lit. Sadness into Kindness), used for the first twenty-four episodes, and "Go!!!" by Flow for the remaining episodes. The three closing themes are "Harmonia" by Rythem, which is used until episode 51, "Viva Rock" by Orange Range, used for the first thirteen episodes, Raico's "Alive" for the next thirteen episodes, "Ima Made Nando mo" (今まで何度も, lit. Many Times Before) by The Mass Missile for the rest of the episodes. The opening and ending theme for the English airing is "Rise" by Jeremy Sweet and Ian Nickus, with an instrumental version played as the closing theme. "Haruka Kanata" replaces "Rise" in episode 52, and is then replaced by "Go" in the same way as the Japanese version.