The first volume of Viz's Naruto DVD made it to #3 on the Neilson Video Scan list of anime best-sellers in its first week of release.  The Cartoon Network English-dubbed version of Naruto only trailed two recently released anime features, Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle and My Neighbor Totoro, which means that Naruto was the highest ranking episodic anime release.  Viz's TV advertising campaign for Naruto hit the airwaves during the DVD's second week of release and a Viz spokesperson told ICv2 that initial orders for the second Naruto DVD (due out on May 30th) were higher than they were for the first disk.

Viz has also announced that subscribers to Shonen Jump will receive a free DVD containing the first episode of the 'uncut' Naruto anime with the July issue of Shonen Jump.  Viz will release an uncut version of Naruto on July 4th in a Box Set (MSRP $49.98) containing the first 13 episodes of the series with both English and Japanese (with optional English subtitles) soundtracks.  The uncut box set will also include storyboards booklet, which will compare storyboards to the finished animation.  In addition Viz will release a Special Edition of the Uncut Naruto Box Set (MSRP $69.98) that will contain a Naruto headband and wrist cuff.