For the first time in over a decade, Naruto will be receiving an official trading card game from Bandai Card Games. Announced this week, the game will officially launch globally in 2027, with preview sessions held at upcoming conventions. The reveal was coupled with an original illustration from creator Masashi Kishimoto, showing rivals Naruto and Sasuke locked in an intense match.
“I hope these cards can make their way into all of your hands and hearts,” wrote Kishimoto in a statement. “The world of Naruto continues to grow.”
The launch will coincide with the 25th anniversary of the Naruto TV series, which adapted Kishimoto’s 1999 manga in 2002 to immediate international fame. The original Naruto TCG, also from Bandai, had a respectable seven year run between 2006 and 2013. Far longer than most cross-media pop offs generally receive.
It’s shocking to think an anime as popular as Naruto has gone so long without a formal presence in the card shop, beyond t-shirts and headbands worn by competitors. Its absence reveals the intense ebbs and flows of the TGC world. The frenzy around collectibles, especially around Magic: The Gathering and Pokémon, has hit a fever pitch since the COVID pandemic, with collection circles seeing increased interest, inflated values and viral stunts across the board. The trend has been especially kind to other hit Jump series like One Piece and Yu-Gi-Oh.
If executed correctly, a new Naruto TCG could be a hit. Despite the current mania around cards and collectibles, it’ll likely get a fairer shake now than in eras when the saturation of these games were somehow worse. Like, you had to be there. They were giving these things to Austin Powers. Maybe we’ll get the Austin Powers TCG back if they make that new movie too.
A preview for the new Naruto TCG will be given in late July at the tabletop-focused Gen Con in Indianapolis.