Ok so before anyone calls me an idiot and tell me that Naruto is just one Manga and won't affect Manga and Anime popularity in the West, let me explain what I mean.
I'm talking about attracting a new fanbase, specially the younger generation, Naruto for me is like the ultimate newbie friendly Manga, it has a likeable main charactor with a hard childhood that has you rooting for him, and the art is tasteful without many ecchi moments so you wouldn't have a problem recommending it to your nephew or something. Before Naruto there was DraganBall Z, now Naruto is the manga probably most people read first when they get interested in the genre, I know it was the first Manga I read seriously, and pretty much everyone I know who started reading Manga in the past decade.
While there are still some great manga's out there, I can't think of any new or ongoing manga (or anime) that someone who is new to the genre and still quite young would be able to pick up and enjoy. With One Piece the art at the beginning can put off allot of people, plus as the manga progressed the female charactors wore less and less so it could leave the wrong impression. Same could be argued with Fairy Tail, and even Bleach, and those are the more kid friendly Manga's I can think of, well except maybe Pokemon but that's a anime that you can watch and still not get interested in Manga/Anime, or atleast it was when I was a kid.
So what do you guys think, will the end of Naruto lead to a decline in newcomers getting into Manga? And if not, what manga's do you think will take it's place as the manga/Anime to read/Watch if you are new to the genre?