Naruto debuted on Cartoon Network in September 2005. Conveniently almost exactly 2 years ago. They are currently on episode 104, meaning they air about 51 episodes a year or one new episode per week. A continuous run as you said. Naruto Shippuuden is currently at the equivalent 250 (220 Naruto episodes plus 30 Naruto Shippuuden episodes). 250 - 104 = 146. 146/50 = about 3 years. My mistake. So yeah, we are 3 years behind in plot in America. Of course it will actually take 5 years to catch up because it's not like they are going to stop running Shippuuden episodes while they wait for us to play catchup.
Why on earth would Cartoon Network skip 100 filler episodes and go straight to Shippuuden? You realize that they are marketing the show to kids who have no idea what a filler episode is right? That's 2 years of free ratings basically. So it will be awhile before America's plotline is close to where Japan's is right now.
Legend, the Naruto IP is owned entirely by Jump. All you have to do is pay a small fee to use it in Japan. That's why every company from Nintendo to Activision has published a game in Japan with Naruto behind it. The reason they didn't pay that fee is because it would sell like crap. Why spend money selling an American based game on an American based system to a country that buys neither?
Good to hear they have an option for the original Japanese voice actors though. Naruto is annoying in both as WoW said, but he's still much less annoying when he's saying "dattebayo" instead of "believe it." Thankfully in Shippuuden he drops the use of the phrase "dattebayo" almost completely.
Edit: just so you know I haven't slept in some 30+ hours (all night cramfest for Anatomy test) so that's why I'm not being as tactful as usual. I would go to sleep, but I'm drugged up on caffeine.
