Summary (TL;DR Version):

Naruto is a manga that showed great promise in the beginning with engaging story, smart and inventive battles that developed characters in the process. However, as the manga got lengthier, the battles became “who has the strongest superpowered attack” rather than skills/tactics, some characters became one note and boring and the same flashback scenes that gave context to fights turned into Naruto’s own downfall by repeating several of them ad nauseum (too many times). It has memorable, yet hit or miss characters that, like everything else, start out interesting and varied but soon become infuriating/one dimensional and quantity soon overpowered quality. The art is good, but doesn’t really improve much after time has gone on. Naruto is a good example of a shounen overstaying it’s welcome and a display of all that genre’s best and worst aspects.

Pros:

+ Initial great combination of characters, narrative and fights to make readers emotionally invested

+ Solid fights in the first half that were exciting and thrilling

+ Respected some characters (Choji) who would otherwise be used to laugh at

Cons:

- Fights drag on FOREVER in the second half and become exponentially tedious and boring

- Flashbacks also become boring and downright repetitive

- Too many characters to care about equally, so many end up forgotten or their development entirely skippable

- Protagonists who become deplorable and unredeemable due to their actions (*cough* Sasuke *cough*)

- Skill is no longer a factor in fights and quickly becomes a showcase of who has the most OP jutsu

- Too many chapters and could have easily be edited down severely to increase enjoyment


Overall: 6/10


Naruto started out with a very strong cohesion between narrative, action and characters. What I mean is that its own narrative enriched fight scenes. The Chunin exams are a great example of this. Tournament events are commonplace in shounen manga and many in it’s genre decided to develop the characters first and then put them through extreme circumstances. Naruto took a unique and strong approach by either introducing characters in said fights and laying foundation to develop them or using effective flashbacks as a method to tie the current and previous narratives of characters. Such techniques were used before and especially after Naruto was being made, but this was a real strong point for the series as it made me care more about the narrative and characters.

This didn’t just give us great fight scenes, it also gave some initial great character development. One concrete example I always use is a fight between a certain mist ninja and the trio of Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura (plus Kakashi). I won’t spoil what happens in the end, but not only did the fight display a good use of tactics, skills and intelligence to fight a stronger enemy, it also made our characters mature and even the enemy in this part became more sympathetic and likeable. It had a big emotional impact on me too, even prompting some tears to be shed. After reading this part, I saw what so many Naruto fans did and started enjoying it a lot more.

The characters are something of a mixed bag, especially as the manga gets longer. I won’t discuss all of them, as there are so many (too many) characters in the manga. I will mainly be discussing the main three and some other notable side characters.

Naruto himself grew on me after an initial bad impression and became a likable and strong point of the manga itself. The main problem I had with his character is that his own message to the reader is slightly contradictory. It’s clear that he is an inspiration to those who feel overwhelmed by their own shortcomings or feelings of incompetence, yet have great potential underneath. The issue here is that his own resource of power/gimmick of a ninetails puts him so far above others that it undercuts the morale his character is trying to convey. He fails tests miserably and rushes head on into fights, yet appears head and shoulders above the rest in pure power so that the exams/battle tactics eventually become meaningless because of how overpowered he is. Which means it might be harder for others to look up to him when Naruto himself has an unrealistic advantage that makes him so powerful.

Sasuke is much less likable. He started out as a good foil and great example of how Naruto could have ended up after his own traumatic past. The problem is that in terms of character, Sasuke became as interesting as beige paint drying on a wall after the first half due to being so one dimensional. Past chapter 400, his character got increasingly onenote, unsympathetic and detestable. More than ever before, Sasuke was being defined by his past and his detestable actions later in the manga don’t help.

Sakura is a character who I liked for her tsundere attitude, but increasingly was shoved to the back multiple times, even when she became useful later on in future arcs. This frustrated me a bit, because I feel like her character could add a lot to the story and events. But she is put on the sidelines and rarely show off her strengths and continue to make her cry in a corner until Naruto or someone else can fix things.

The other side characters are also mixed with some being good (Shikamaru, Tsunade, Jiraiya) and some not so much (Tenten, Killer Bee, Kabuto). I did appreciate and respect how characters like Choji weren’t just comedic foil because of their body size and were given ample respect.

As for antagonists, they were alright but got worse progressively. Orochimaru was a serviceable and interesting villain, having clear motivations and fleshed out characterization. However, future villains like Madara became like those ridiculous final bosses with several health bars and powerful attacks that are downright absurd.

The art is generally good, though nothing groundbreaking. It’s consistent and unlike other mangaka with longer running series, the art never takes serious nosedives and continues to be steady, even when other elements aren’t.

Naruto is a clear example of how more is not always better. The same flashbacks and fights that were so effective early on became tedious and boring, as we get fed the same information multiple times. These 700 chapters could have easily been narrowed down to 500 refined ones without losing that much in the process.

Additionally, some later plot twists and developments seem incredibly forced in order for the current character motivations or plot to make sense, sometimes taking giant leaps of logic that create plotholes.

So how does this all end after 699 chapters of inconsistency? Badly. Again, no spoilers but everything is so hastily rushed that it's clear that they wanted it to end, even at the great expense of more plotholes. It is especially shocking because Naruto took a great length of time developing characters who will and won’t have serious consequences on the plot. This ending felt like a slap in the face to anyone who wanted to see what happened to their favourite characters by dumping a sudden timeskip with little or often no explanation of characters at all. It leaves a really sour taste in my mouth and made me feel dissapointed.

As for recommendations, if you are already a fan of the Shounen genre, you have likely already read this manga. But to those who are newcomers, I would probably just skip it as the hype from fans is mostly undeserved and there are better manga like this nowadays (Boku No Hero Academia is probably the best alternative I can give here).