No. of episodes 54 | ||
The fourth season of the Naruto anime series, titled "4th Stage" in Japan, 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 and friends assigning on different missions without Sasuke Uchiha. After twenty-seven volumes on the manga series were adapted to the rest of most anime episodes, all eighty-five utilizing the plot elements are not based on the manga.
The season aired from April 2005 to May 2006 on TV Tokyo. It was also released with the English version from January to August 2008. It was shown on Cartoon Network's Toonami and YTV's Bionix programming blocks. Sony Pictures Entertainment collected the episodes in a total of twelve DVD volumes, each containing four episodes, between January 1 and December 6, 2006. Only the first three episodes were released by Viz Media in DVD volumes, leaving to DVD boxes that collected the entire series.
Eight pieces of theme music are used in the episodes; three opening themes and five ending themes. The three opening themes Stance Punks' "No Boy No Cry" (ノーボーイ·ノークライ, Nō bōi - Nō kurai), used until episode 153, "Namikaze Satellite" (波風サテライト, lit. "Discord Sateraito") by Japanese rock band Snowkel, used for the first twenty-two episodes, Flow's "Re:member" for the remaining episodes. The ending themes are No Regret Life's "Nakushita Kotoba" (失くした言葉, lit. "Lost Words"), utilized until episode 141, "Speed" by Analog Fish for the next twelve episodes, "Soba ni Iru Kara" (そばにいるから, lit. I'm Always by Your Side") by Amadori for the next nine episodes, J-pop band Chaba's "Parade" (パレード, Parēdo) for the next thirteen episodes, and Japanese singer Akeboshi's "Yellow Moon," used for the subsequent episodes. The English episodes use the same openings, and an instrumental version of "Rise" by Jeremy Sweet and Ian Nickus as the closing theme.