The episodes for the twelfth season of the anime television series Naruto: Shippuden is based on Part II of Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto manga series. The season was directed by Hayato Date, and produced by Pierrot and TV Tokyo. The season follows Naruto Uzumaki controlling the power of the Nine-Tails's chakra with the help of Killer Bee at the start of the Fourth Shinobi World War; Episodes 257 to 260 serve as a summary recap focusing on Naruto and Sasuke from the Part I storyline. The season aired from January 5 to August 16, 2012.
The English dub of the season aired for Neon Alley on May 24, 2014 to January 3, 2015. The season would make its English television broadcast debut on Adult Swim's Toonami programming block and air from March 31 to November 17, 2019.
The DVD collection was released on October 3, 2012 under the title . Episodes 248 and 249 were released together under the title on August 1. Episodes 257 to 260 were released on September 5, under the title .
The season contains five songs between two openings and three endings. The first opening theme, "Newsong" performed by Tacica, is used from episodes 243 to 256. The second opening theme, performed by The Cro-Magnons, is used from episodes 257 to 275. The first ending theme, performed by Hemenway, is used from episodes 243 to 256. The second ending theme, performed by Unlimits, is used from episodes 257 to 268. The third ending theme, performed by Aisha featuring Chehon, is used from episodes 269 to 275. The sixth feature film, Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie, was released on July 28, 2012. The broadcast versions of episodes 271 to 275 includes scenes from the film in the opening themes, while retaining the music "Totsugeki Rock". __TOC__
Episodes
Home media release Japanese Volume Date Discs Episodes Reference 1 October 3, 2012 1 243–247 2 November 7, 2012 1 250–253 3 December 5, 2012 1 254–256, 261 4 January 9, 2013 1 262–265 5 February 6, 2013 1 266–270 6 March 6, 2013 1 271–275
English + Viz Media (North America – Region 1/A) Box set Date Discs Episodes Reference 19 July 8, 2014 2 232–244 20 October 14, 2014 2 245–257 21 January 20, 2015 2 258–270 22 April 21, 2015 2 271–283
+ Manga Entertainment (United Kingdom and Ireland – Region 2/B) Volume Date Discs Episodes Reference 19 October 13, 2014 2 232–244 20 February 9, 2015 2 245–257 21 August 10, 2015 2 258–270 22 September 14, 2015 2 271–283
+ Madman Entertainment (Australia and New Zealand – Region 4/B) Collection Date Discs Episodes Reference 19 August 20, 2014 2 232–244 20 January 7, 2015 2 245–257 21 March 11, 2015 2 258–270 22 June 10, 2015 2 271–283
Notes
References General
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