No. of episodes 35 | ||
The fifth and final season of the Naruto anime series, titled "5th Stage" in Japan, is directed by Hayato Date, produced by Studio Pierrot and TV Tokyo, and based on Masashi Kishimoto's manga series. The season follows Naruto and friends completing every assigned missions. The sequel television series Naruto: Shippuden, aired on February 15, 2007.
The season aired from May 2006 to February 2007 on TV Tokyo. Sony Pictures Entertainment collected the episodes in a total of ten DVD volumes, each containing four episodes between January 1 and July 4, 2007. Viz Media's English adaptation of the series was collected in several DVD boxes from the series.
The season uses five musical themes for the Japanese version with two openings and three closings. The two opening themes are Flow's "Re:member" which is replaced in episode 203 by "Yurayura" (ユラユラ, lit. Swaying) by Hearts Grow for the remaining episodes. The three closing themes are Japanese singer Akeboshi's "Yellow Moon," used for the first five episodes, "Pinocchio" (ピノキオ, Pinokio) by Ore Ska Band for the following thirteen episodes, and lastly, "Scenario" (シナリオ, Shinario) by Saboten for the remaining episodes. The English episodes use the same openings, and an instrumental version of "Rise" by Jeremy Sweet and Ian Nickus as the closing theme.
It was the last season to air on Cartoon Network's Toonami, before it moved in October 2008. The final ten episodes never aired on television in the United States, after the series was cancelled.