Naruto Review (warning: contain some spoilers)

I still remember the time I first encounter when it was airing back on cartoon network. I was 5 then and I had no idea what anime was at the time. When I first started watching naruto, it completely blew my 5 year old mind. It had everything I wanted as a 5 year old. Action, adventure, drama, demons, ninjas, Naruto had it all. However, I am no longe 5 years old. My tastes in anime/manga have considerably change over the years and my interests have dwindle over the past few 300 or so chapters. Now that the series have ended, I want to at least leave my final thoughts since this was a big part of my childhood.

Story

Naruto starts off big and epic, but become more cliched and contrived as it drags on. Here’s a brief overlook of the major arcs. If you want to know about any specifics, leave a comment on my profile page.

Wave Country: In this arc, we get to learn a bit more about our main characters. Its also the arc we learn about the basics of the Ninja Villages and how cruel the strong can be to the weak.It also featured Haku and Zabuza, 2 relatively interesting villains, who don’t ecome allies or recurring opponents, which is a nice change from the usual shonen anime. It also have some good drama and twists to keep you invested. Overall, a good arc. Score: 8

Chuunin exams: This arc introduce us to the secondary cast. It also shows us the secondary villages and how frail the peace is between them. There is also a conspiracy that threatens the village, which lead to a major character death. there’s are a lot of minor battles that don’t affect the plot that much, but does a good job of fleshing out the secondary characters. The only gist with this arc is that it drags on for a bit too long, but other than that, another good arc. Score: 7

Sasuke retrieval: In this arc, we get to know more about the Uchiha and their demise. Sasuke goes rogue and out protagonists try get him back. There are some interesting info concerning the Akatsuki, but other than that its pretty boring. This arc last too long for its own good. And the new villains, the Akatsuki, are not dealt with and the secondary villains, the 5 Sounds, weren’t very interesting villains. Rather dry in comparison with the previous arcs. Score: 5

After a 3 year timeskip…..

Garra Retrieval: In this arc, we are reintroduced to our characters, now older, as they go out to rescue an old rival. This arc did fleshed out the sand village a bit more. However, the plot drags on too long and there isn’t that much to talk about this arc. The objective is pretty much the same as the last arc and there aren’t any major deaths. Score: 5

Introduction to Sai: In this arc, they introduced a new character into Naruto’s Team named Sai. Nothing much happens in this arc and Sai is a pretty boring character. Score:3

Azuma Avenge: In this arc we get to see Naruto learning a new improved rasengan and an important character needs to be avenged. It was nice how they fleshed out Shikamaru and team 10. But other than that, not too much to say about this arc. Score: 6

Pein Attack: This is where I think Naruto started to fall apart. The leader of the Akatsuki invades the Leaf and kills a bunch of people. Naruto beat villain and he resurrects everyone. Good job ruining all the drama for the entire arc. And also we learn that Naruto is the bloody messiha and that he will be humanity salvation. God damn it Naruto, this isn’t the bible. In the beginning, we were suppose to believe that Naruto got to where he is by his own strength, not some stupid prophecy. If Naruto remained a normal bloke and the people remain dead, this could of been a great finale. Guess I expected too much. Score: 4

Danzo Assassination: Sasuke finds out that some more people were involved of the killing of the Uchiha and set out kill people. Then he kills people….. thats it. Pretty much nothing else happens other than that. Score: 3

The 3rd ninja war: This is where Naruto completely fall apart. First of all, this ridiculously long war that drags out way too long. There are too many minor battles and flashbacks that don’t anything to the main plot. And the war doesn’t even feel like a war. It more like a bunch of skirmishes that are loosely tied together. And basically only one major character died in this huge war that lasted like 200 chapters. The villains for this arc are Obito, Madara, and Kagura. Obito is a lame villain and his motive basically boiled to him destroying the world because he got friendzoned. Mardara is a fun villain even though he is obviously one dimensional, he has enough camp to keep you entertained. Kagura is, though, a boring villain. He powers are pretty boring and lame. Teleporting portal holes in a universe where almost everyone can teleport? Really? Other dimensions? When did Naruto become Dr.Who? The conclusion is forced and pretty unnecessary if you think about it. Pretty bad arc. Score:2
Overall, story gets a 3.


Characters:

This manga has 2 main character. One of them is Naruto. He’s mostly your stereotypical shonen protagonist who “wants to be the best” and when he faces enemies, he throws out cheesy friendship speeches. At first I like him for his character motivation. He suppose to be an outcast and tries to gain acceptance from his peers, a motive anyone can relate to. But then halfway through, his character motive changed from being hokage to saving Sasuke, which makes less sense the more I think about how Naruto only knew him for a few weeks. And then he becomes the bloody messiah which is total BS. In the end, he degrade into another “chosen one” stereotype.

Sasuke is the other main character. He’s mostly a duck head, emo brute who like want to get to get revenge on his evil big brother and killing people…. a lot of people. At first it was ok since he had reasons for being dick he was since he did experience a mass genocide of his own clan by his own brother. But after a while it get quite tiresome and his character get stagnate after a while. And he is still being a bruting emo even after the war end and all the bad guys are dead. Sasuke, lay off all the revenge crap already and get a life.

The rest of the cast is a rather mixed bag. Some characters are really cool and interesting like Orochimaru, Jiraiya and Shikamaru. Others have almost complete rehashes of other characters like Sai and Obito. And others seems to have been victimised by the Piccolo effect and become mostly background characters (approximately half the secondary characters like .For the most part is mostly your standard shonen cast.

Artwork:

The artwork in Naruto is good to say the least. Its doesn’t have the attention to detail like Berserk, were every single detail can be seen, but its still good for a battle shonen. There is a lot of emphasis on making it look cool and unique, from the villages to the handsigns. The battles are nice and tactful since they implied basic tactics, well, for the most part. The problem mostly comes in the latter part in the series where try to make it look “flashy”. It degrade the battles into who could shoot the larger lazerbeam or bigger explosion.

Conclusion
Naruto is a shounen battle series that sometimes break the mold, but sadly falls apart like most other series. Its not a bad shonen by any extent, but it sure not a great one like many people claim.

Scores:
Story:3 ( starts out great but falls apart and become a total trainwreck)
Characters:5 ( mostly your typical shonen cast)
Art: 7( good but nothing impressive)
Enjoyment: 5 ( starts out loving it, but my interest diminished over time)
Score: 4/10
Recommendations:

FMA, Soul Eater, HxH, Rurouni Kenshin, Yu Yu Hakusho