Mark it on your calendars, everyone! VIZ Media has announced that for the first time, as the latest episode of Naruto Shippuden (Episode 101) airs in Japan, it will also stream -- for free -- on VIZ's official Naruto website on the same day. (And Canadian fans aren't left out of the fun: they can view it on the Joost.com site.) The simulcast will take place this coming Thursday, March 26, 2009.

Naruto is a co-production of TV Tokyo, Pierrot Co., Ltd., and VIZ's parent company, Shueisha Inc., and has become one of the most popular anime and manga series in the world. VIZ is involved in a push to bring more anime online to a wider audience, and Naruto is one of the jewels among its properties.

Ken Sasaki, Vice President of Strategy & Business Development for VIZ Media, reminds fans that the Naruto website "currently contains nearly 100 full-length Naruto episodes, all offered in high quality streaming video, and is completely free for viewers." He encourages those who haven't yet checked out the Naruto Shippuden story arc to take advantage of these videos, so they can be all caught up by the time the special broadcast happens.

Meanwhile, remember that VIZ is doing some catching up of its own this year, with its accelerated schedule for publication of the Naruto manga (first created by Masashi Kishimoto). Between February and April, the company plans to release eleven new volumes of the manga (Volume 33 to 44), and then return to the regular quarterly schedule with Volume 45 in July. In March and April, the first print-run editions of those manga will include a special bookmark or sticker.

For Naruto fans, 2009 is turning out to be a dream year.

Source: VIZ Media press release, March 19, 2009