Naruto

I've been reading Naruto for a while, and I really enjoy the series, especially the manga. I've been collecting Naruto books over the past 3 or 4 years, can't really remember, but so far I've gotten all the way to book 46, wich should tell that I think the series is worth the money!

The story is great, and I rated it 9.
The artwork is plain and simple, there's not to many details which make it easy to recognize the characters. I think Masashi's style was better in the first book with the" rough sketch" look, so I rated it 7.

- The Characters are outstanding! They have unique personalities and I would say Masashi has really planned them all. A high score here, 10.
- As said before, I enjoy the series so much that during reading I forgot to get off the buss where I was supposed to on my way home, so another 10 here.

This series is long, and there's a lot of questions yet to be answered, but it's worth reading!

This is my first review here on MAL, so be nice to me.

Story: 7

Naruto follows the story of Uzumaki Naruto, the son of the Fourth Hokage. Naruto, once he was born, had the Ninetales (Kyuubi) sealed in him. Wich lead to the death of his fathers, Minato and Kushina. Because of that, Naruto was rejected by the Konoha village. When he became a Genin, Naruto entered Team 7, with Sasuke and Sakura. And, the team leader, Hatake Kakashi.
Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke and Kakashi have a lot of battles, till the day, Sasuke left the village, in order to gain power. Sasuke trains with Orochimaru, Naruto with Jiraya, and Sakura trains with the fifth Hokage, Tsunade Senju.
After 3 years of hard training, naruto returns to konoha, in order to defeat the Akatsuki, and make sure Sasuke returns to the village. The story goes with Naruto his friends becoming stronger, and fighting the Akatsuki.

I don´t like it that much, there are to many deaths. And this makes them lose their natural impact. Also, in part 2 (Shippuden), the story looks the same thing, over and over. Part 1 was good, and original, but part 2, is extremely Overrated, because of the fights. I mean, the only fight, that was actually that good, was Sasuke Vs. Itachi. The others, were just, meh. Rock Lee vs Gaara, Sasuke Vs naruto in the valley, were much more crazy.

Art: 7

Naruto has a good art, it´s not that bad, and not that good. I heard alot of opinions. Some people say, the original art, of Zabuza arc, and the Chuunin Shiken arc, etc. Was better that the actual Shinobi war arc art. In my opinion, it looks the same.

Character: 6

Naruto is not very good in it´s character set. The only ones, that actually are "good", are Kakashi, Minato and Lee. Naruto is not a good main, imo. His friendship talk, is so annoying, and repetitive.

Enjoyment: 7

Good. It´s a battle shounen Manga, so why not?

Overall: 7

A not that bad manga, but to Overrated.

I'm going to say it: this manga is bad. Shots fired. I'm undoubtedly a minority, seeing as how most people enjoy Naruto a lot, but I stand firmly by my opinion. Let's start from the beginning.

Surprisingly enough, the manga starts out very good. It has an interesting set of characters (with the exception of Sasuke), mixes comedy and drama well, and has an enticing storyline. This manga truly had a lot of potential. This all applies for the first part of the manga. Afterwards, it falls flat on it's a$$. Naruto, perfectly demonstrates the problem with manga that overstay their welcome. It starts resorting to clichéd villains, simplified characters, weak motivation and over-the-top action. What happened? I think the answer is simple: it got crushed under it's own weight. It became too big to handle. Naruto tried to expand it's world but the sheer size of it all became it's own cause for mediocrity. But what really suffered the most was the characters:

SPOILER.

Naruto, who was originally a likable kid, misunderstood by society becomes an obnoxious, preachy brat who grows into a sort of messiah. Gaara, who was one of the most complex and interesting characters in the manga became a bland clone of Sasuke (who in turn became even more bland and pathetic). Kakashi, who was an interesting teacher and badass became a mopey idiot guilt-tripped by Obito. Madara and Obito are the worst, following some half-a$$ed idea that the world sucks just because some person they were close too died. It's not like death happens or anything. But I think the worst part of the manga is the preaching they do while they fight, especially between Naruto/Kakashi and Obito/Madara. It's basically "This world sucks and I hate everything" - "No, it doesn't" - "Yes it does, you'll think like me in the future" - "No, because I have FRIENDS

Naruto was my first manga to read and my second anime "maybe third" to stick to it and watch it with all my heart "along with DBZ and OP" at first it was really enjoyable and had the potential to become one of the best shounen Manga/Anime ever.. but guess what? it self destruct .. you know why? because basically the anime producers are just greedy bastards who wanna milk the anime as hard as they can making the anime consist of 60% fillers and only 40% manga worth material..
But we are here to review the manga not the anime.. so here are my thoughts and first let me say something about it

Art: 7
Not the best art there but it's quite good saying it's a mainstream manga but far lower than "Bleach"

Characters: 7
The characters are what made me stick to this anime.. they had such a diversity and quite few unique ones .. but guess what?? Kishimoto ruined them too and just focused on Naruto and Sasuke "the main cause of the self destruction"

Story: 4 maybe 3
as we start reading this manga it's about a boy who is out cast of his Community/Village due to circumstances that are far from his mistakes and we see him as he struggle throw his days and trying to make friends and making his village accept him.. then we have the typical Rival/Antisocial friend along with other characters some are typical in every shounen anime while others are quite unique.. but what eventually goes wrong?? the cause of the self destruct of this Manga is basically that Kishi decided to only develop Naruto and Sasuke and just forgetting the others.. and just pull new villains out of his anus hole out of no where and saying guess what?? the previous villain was not actually a villain here is the REAL villain.. and in the end who was the real villain actually?? NONE yup that's right every villain was just misunderstood and could be reasoned with eventually .. but you gotta have someone to blame in the end right?? yea will here comes the worst part.. the final villain was so poorly done it felt like a 5 year old kid righting some rubbish to his parents by saying in the end "Yaaaaay I can make a villain in the last 50 chapters that no one ever heard about and no clues was ever said about it.. yup that would make the Manga epic right?"
See what I'm trying to say here is Kishi just extended the manga soooooo faaaar from his capabilities and couldn't handle it in the end.. leading to absolute failure in the ending.

Overall: 4
so should someone read it ?? probably not.. why did I read it till the end?? because I couldn't just leave it and waste all of those years to nothing.

Naruto is one of those series that's adapts really well into an animated format and appeals to kids which is why it became the series that captivated a generation. I think I might like this series more if it didn't get so much praise and didn't have such an undeserving massively mainstream popularity.

Story:
I give it a 6 because let's be real, it's not the worst but it sure as hell is not the best. The series is very repetitive and there is very little change, there is big bad villain and he comes along and wrecks shit and Naruto changes him with friendship, rinse and repeat and increase the scale a little bit for each arc. I might have given the story a 7-8 but god damn the last arc was so bad it just blew me away so I had to drop it down. Naruto has the problem any long Manga has, lack of direction. The series just kept going on and on and on and there just wasn't a central plot, no big bad guy to kill untill the end where they basically played whack-a-mole with big bad OP villains, kill one and another pops up. Orochimaru could have been the perfect villain but god damn they had to turn him into some useless character at the end and have a completely new character be the final boss, just lame. Also the last chapter practically gave me cancer with all the fail ships, sorry stalker love isn't romantic to me and characters who don't even know each other in the main series being married with children at the end... What a joke. 6/10 and that's being generous.

Art:
The art is solid, pretty consistent throughout the series, it's not amazing art by any means and I thought the generous usage of black at the end was pretty annoying but the rest was solid 8/10.

Character:
All the interesting character get killed off and the main character is basically worthless post time skip. 4/10

Enjoyment:
I give it a 3 because I loved this series and it turned to shit so I basically went from like 9 to -6 which evens out to a 3.

Overall:
It gets a 6. Basically the series stole a template from HxH for the majority of the first half and the more it tried to deva-ate from the path it just got worse and worse. The original was good but it peaked at the chunin exams. I think that a 6 is honestly being generous for this big of a train wreck and I think less of anybody who gave it an 8 or higher.

Note - This is an instant and impulsive review. As this wasn't pre planned or anything, please try to ignore or just point out the typos in it. Sorry for the trouble! Do inform me if you liked/hated my review for what so ever reason! :D


Ah! Naruto, how I look back fondly and remember all the great memories I shared with this manga. This was my first manga and it used to be very dear to me. Before Kishi went insane and ruined it b dragging it till the infinity and beyond!

The Begining -

Naruto started out as a shounen with a potential of being something special. It fulfiled it's potential in the initial arcs, by introducing host of interesting characters, even though the main 4 could be classified in the cliched shounen character type but they were building along well. Setting a benchmark in shounen industry with some nice fights between nice characters with nice powers and appropriate power ups, Naruto was going along well. Why? Because, A - the setting was good, a ninja trying to become hokage is as classy (some might call it stereotyped but oh! WTH) a setting as you'll get. His lonelyness and detachment did create an emotional attachment with many users, the nakama factor was well used at times, and Naruto's way of ninja was an inspiring thing for young readers (me included). Besides all the emotional exaggeration. The main character in itself was a treat to the eyes, right mix of stupidity and rashness. The number one surprising ninja of Konoha, always did something unthinkably stupid that would make you smile and keep your interest in the series. The mysterious sensei was a good card that Kishi played. Kakashi was one of the inspiring figures and turned out to be a fun read. And the other two main charactes even though bit archtyped provided few more dimensions to the team. Specialy the Naruto - Sasuke relationship which later became the main fulcrum of the series was a predictable, but good addition.

Then comes the side characters. Holy Jesus! The side characters! From Haku, Zabuza to Itachi, Jiraiya to Gaara, Lee and Shikamaru. Each character was well crafted and piqued my interest, their personality was such that you'd genuinely like to know more about them, to discover them and love/hate/appreciate them. Their powers were varying and interesting and provided for different tactical battles which often became quite interesting. These characters initial development didn't disapoint at all. In fact, one could wonder if these characters would have been properly explored.

The universe of Naruto, was also a huge plus point in the series. It provided great scope of world building as the main countries were fire, wind, thunder, water and earth countries with the hidden leaf, sand, cloud, mist and rock villages, imagination could have easily run wild on them and there was a lot to built. Even Konoha which was the home town of our protaganist was architectured well. With a hill showing faces of all previous and current village leaders standing tall upon a bit modern village provided a picturesque scenery. Even the head bands and symbols and costumes had and proved to be a great area for merchandizing with much too sale, not only the figurines.

The battles though weren't as tactical as maybe in LoGH but were still more mind consuming than battles in YYH or DB. The tactical play that ninja uses, manipulating environment into shinobi's own benefit provided huge space for creating interesting battles. Which did happen in the first half of manga's tenure (since it's still ongoin it is quite possible to say less than the first half). My favourite ones were between Gaara and Rock Lee ( a fast paced and exciting one) and Shikamaru vs Hidan (more tactical and fun). The battles kept up your attention since they rarely got reptitive, yes the nakama talk was there but it didn't become that forced initialy.

Now -

Now, Naruto is a huge pile of mess. Just a former shadow of it's glorious self. The two protaganist turned into emo douchenozzles with endless rants you'll find in any mediocre emo-punk band. The main fulcrum of the story i.e. relationship between two protaganists became streched out and wiery. In fact, it was turned into a huge pile of turd that completely over shadowed any chance of anything else happening on the side. The pacing became horrendous, good parts being rushed, bad parts are being enlongated to the extent of being cumbersome and mundane. In fact, now I have to force myself to complete one chapter. The pannels are wasted and something out of the blue and completely senseless keeps on happening. The characters death are given either too much time or no time at all that the impact completely vanishes.

The array of side characters (now including Kakashi and Sakura) lie forgotten in deep dark corners of Kishi's mind. The strenuous Naruto-Sasukke relationship has left little time for anything else to be centred around anyone but them or maybe the new baddy of the new arc. Side characters which could have become more supportive and intruging have only become extras in the manga with a rare chapter or two thrown at them in which microscopic level of characterization takes place. Even the two main guys are no good. Naruto who was an unpredictably fun and stupid ninja has become an all time bore, with billions of heart to heart talk and pseudo emotional crap. Sasuke on the other hand has garnered a rather apt treputation for being an all time whiner and ass. Most of the time these characters rant about their nakama or anti-nakam policy. The manga has turned from a battle shounen to a political debate between two very pathetic (in an i-have-got-nothing-new-to-say manner) and extremely stupid parties.

The battles. Oh My God them horrendous battles! They go out in one way and one way only now. Lots of DBZ like, landscape changing action where the super over powered villain fights over powered super heroes. At the end, Naruto, the messiah, sprinkles his few heartbraking ( rather heart-attacking) words of wisdom and the baddy's hear melt and he ends in giving up or killing himself. The tactical foray that Naruto (the manga), used to have scope for, lays all forgotten and dusted along the side of side characters.

The narutoverse, which as I previously explained, had great scope of world building. However, it has been utterly ignored by Kishi. (surprise! surprise!) Besides, since now Naruto paces everything up but battles, and battles of DBZ proportion mind you, the only thing left of the battle ground is barren wasteland. Any attempts to use ground for advantage, even thinking about it seems laughable.

Summarizing -
Naruto started as a great manga with lot of potential, which it fulfiled initialy. However it ended being a money generating machine for WSJ whose expiry date is long overdue but still WSJ is squeezing money out of it. Adios.

Let me just say I'm not a fan of Naruto, during the time it came out I was reading Ranma 1/2. When I got to read it about 50 chapters out of boredom I just stopped, never thinking that this was going to be well-known. Sadly, I was wrong Naturo had become a hugely favorite manga in the US of A, and i still can't see how. To me, the people reading Naruto are either Young Boys, Teenage boys who have yet to hit puberty or have totally skipped it and teenage girls who all their care about is Sasuke. And that leads me to the characters; The three main characters are unlikable in different ways and intensities. Naruto, is Obnoxious, Rude, and overly unlikeable. Some people would want to defend him about that other village people hate him because he holds a demon in him. People can't hold a grudge about him for that long. No-one feels pity which makes the whole common village people unlikable. And second, what the hell is on his face? they are like cat whiskers or something. The next character on the hate list is Sasuke. The manga and all the fan-boys and fan-girls call him a cool person? What is cool about him? Al he does is stay silent and hold a grudge for killing his family, all the while not showing emotion and dedicating his life to hate. Sakura is ok, for an obsessed and hopeless lover can be.

After reading the first Tankobon. Naruto keeps on turning himself into a naked girl and makes some of the adult's nose bleed. It's like they forgot it is Naruto transforming himself into the girl, Which makes almost all the guys that all for it completely stupid. At one point there is a Fat ninja, which is a complete oxymoron. First, Ninjas in the Naruto world have to be fit for it, then if you are obese you would get forced into training because these ninjas "hide in the shadows". For a bit of reality, Ninjas were peasants and farmers who didn't like the Shogun's rule and their weapons were mainly farming weapons, they did have the stars but theyi were ill-fit for throwing stuff like needles.

The last thing to point out is the character development. Crap, complete and utter crap. Do you know why? The mangaka made a time skip. Making all the characters change. How the hell did they change. Like for instance, Naruto becomes a little more hardworking and a little less obnoxious. How? did he get attacked by the Naruto + Sasuke Yoai Fan-girls and fan-boys? We don't know. basically, the Mangaka ran out of ideas and had no imagination for character development.

In the end there are a couple nice things about it. The artwork is sorta nice, and the Plot line could've been good but only if they actually had different characters than the dull ones now it could've been enjoyable. I'd say read it when your young (like 7-12) than just move on and don't get into the over-hype by the vast amount of stupidity

Naruto is finally over, its had its ups and downs, including a very long list of problems, but is it bad or good? In a sense, it's kind of both:

Naruto had undoubtedly had a great influence on the manga culture, helping spread anime/manga to the west after Dragonball Z and setting up a new generation of readers. 15 years later, it finally finishes. But I've noticed one trend I wished would end already, is it bad because it's too popular? Its a shounen on shounen jump that practically uses shounen elements religiously. Being one of the "big three" its going to get flak for being "too popular" or "overhyped", but I will ignore that and look at it more objectively, or at least, as much as possible.

The Story - 5
The story, progressively, started getting worse. There was too much set up with little to forced pay off. Many plot elements got changed over time, such as Shikaku being the soul of a priest rather than the one tail, so nearing the end of the series, these inconsistencies made the story very hard to follow. The rapid change of main villains also didn't help and ruined the flow of the series. However, in certain arcs, when the pace and flow of the series really got rolling, things were good; but these moments, especially in Shippuden, were easily broken down by flashbacks and exposition periods. There may have been good moments, but the constant changing of lore and plot devices, really screwed the overarching story. Although the ending was satisfactory, to a degree.

Art- 7
The art is probably the best thing going for the series...kind of. There are some inconsistencies; a lot of times, especially late in the series, there are noticeable errors and improper face designs. But the improvement of the art style, when done right, is noteworthy, but stagnated quite a bit about half-way through Shippuden.

Characters-4
This was probably Kishimoto's weakest point, once again, especially in Shippuden. The characters were set up really well in the original series, somethng I noticed when re-reading. They all had their relationships and pasts integrated very well in to their character and the growth was apparent. But, trying to make them mature, was very hard for Kishimoto, especially female characters. Not only that, but with such great build-up, Kishimoto also wasted characters in Shippuden, to the point where no one else mattered besides Naruto and Sasuke. There are a few noteworthy characters: Jiraya, Tsunade, Itachi, Pain, Gaara, etc. but most others were just shounen tropes personified in Shippuden, even more so than in the original series. This also leads to his rushed villains problem and how the main characters change depending on which one their fighting. It's kind of disappointing, because Kishimoto is very good at setting things up but just as infamous in failing the execution.

Enjoyment-8
This is where Naruto shines the most, but only to those knowing what they're getting into. If you know this is a shounen, especially one in Weekly Shounen Jump, then you better expect friendship power-ups and believe in yourself's galore. But just because these elements have been overdone, does not immediately make them bad. You take what you get, this series wasn't fooling you, it practically advertised it. In terms of generating hype for battles, well most of them, Kishimoto is not so bad. Like I said earlier, although there are flashbacks and calm periods, when the pacing gets going, so does the hype. The one thing that many have a problem is that it changed styles and themes when transitioning to Shippuden. It went from being about ninjas to being more about Jesus saving the world things. But even that isn't too bad. They give a decent excuse for it and all things considered, a mangaka can interpret things however they please. If you don't like shounens like this, you'll probably not enjoy this series so well, but I have to say, you NEED to know what you're getting yourself into. I do not recommend it to anyone looking for something different in a shounen, such as FMA or Trigun, this is the Dragonball Z type of shounen with higher trope power levels, and this is what you should be expecting going in.

Overall - 6.5
When I first read Naruto and got to Shippuden, I actually dropped the series. I didn't give it a chance. I also kinda became a Naruto hater, mainly because I so loved One Piece. But after a friend, a Naruto-fanboy, begged me to give it a chance. I took it. Of course, throughout the experience, I noticed all the problems all the things and I constantly complained..yet I still continued to read. It was something about it that kept me hooked and I didn't know why. But one day, upon re-reading the series again, I had a realization. It was interesting. I wanted to see what Kishimoto would do, I wanted to see his silly plot changes, his uber-shounen-believe it fights, I wanted to complain about his mistakes, hating on Sakura or other characters, the world, the jutsus and different forms. It had a certain charm that made you want to criticize it, dared you to. If you've read a shounen it practically begged you to compare it. This perplexed me in such a way I didn't understand. The series is a mess, but a fun mess for any shounen reader. That is why if you read shounens, you should give Naruto a try. But if you're looking for a masterpiece or something great, look elsewhere.

I gotta say, I've been a fan of ninjas for a really long time. When I stumbled on Naruto I was extremely happy. This is one of those stories that develops over the course of many many issues. So if you're interested, make sure you've got the time (617 manga issues currently).

Summary: It's about a boy who is shunned by society and is trying to find his place in the ninja world. It's about his struggles and triumphs in his journey to "make everyone acknowledge him". Through the course of his journey he learns about life, love, and pain, but most of all, friendship.

Art: The artwork is simply amazing. His style really gets you involved in the action in just the right ways. I love the way action is portrayed, built up, and executed. The pictures are so well drawn that many have taken to coloring them for the www in high res, beautiful pictures.

Character: The depth of each character is so well thought out. You really don't understand until you watch a rather large chunk of the show, and, other than the many filler episodes in season 1, it moves at a respectable rate with good development in each episode for at least one of the cast.

Enjoyment: I cant begin to describe how awesome this will be for ninja fans. The jutsu are fun, the combat is fun, the humor is great. There are very few episodes or issues read that did not have me feeling the emotion or laughing at something that happened. They did happen, but those usually were setting up a necessary situation for the next issues.

Overall: Certainly you probably read what you expected from someone who gave it all 10's, however I hope that I've been able to give you reasons for each of my ratings while also giving you a glimpse of why I thought as much. I tried not to be too much of a fan-boy when writing this. I feel that it's a jewel and if you have the time, a real treat to watch.

Enjoy!

Naruto was the first manga I read and I took to it instantly. The great thing about Naruto is that everyone has a reason for what they do. There is a background story; an explanation for why every character is acting the way he is. This is what is so unique about Naruto: it blurs the distinction between a protagonist: always the ideal person doing things for the good of all; and the antagonist: who enjoys doing bad things just for the fun of it. You feel pity and sympathy even for the antagonists and can relate with them.

So moving on to the ratings
Story: The story moves along and develops quite well. The only problem is the length of the story. There are also lots of twists and turns and it never really leaves you bored.

Art: Nothing to complain about. The characters are well drawn and one can clearly understand what is going on even during fights.

Character: This is where Naruto really shines. As I said above the characters are really well developed and almost each of them have a solid background story, which explains pretty much how the character is and why. Also, the reactions of the characters and the way they evolve through the series is a treat to watch. It deserves more than 10/10 in this regard.

Enjoyment: There is a lot of enjoyment and at the same time many things that one can learn from the characters: Naruto's never-say-die attitude for one thing, and there are many more. At the same time, there is no place where one may feel bored. The end of almost every chapter leaves you gasping.

What I liked about it:
- The portrayal of the characters
- The really strategic and tactical battles (especially the ones of Shikamaru): Almost all fights are decided by the brain as much as by brawn.
- The storyline.

What I did not like:
- A bit long winded.
-The background stories of characters and flashbacks can get a bit repetitive.

Yo yo this is your main man arec. i came to give everyone another relistic review on one of my favourite mangas. naruto is really great because all of the characters are really uniqe and the chicks are really hot. plus ninjas. ninjas are awesome. theres a lot of fighing and action in naruto and its really intense. its like the modst emotional and intense manga ive ever read. its so touching. no other manga can compare in any way. though no homo im no sensitive g man. i keep it reasl, i got a feel for my brotha naruto. my real brotha is zetsu because i think hes really deep and sad inside like i am sometimes. and hes also cool and a cannible thats hardcore. actually im not sure if hes a cannible because i dont know if hes a person. he looks kind of like a plant though it might be because its a costume i dont know. hes maybe just shy like hinata. i love hinata hinata is my wife for reeeelz. she has the greatest tits and her thick body is so curvy and hot if shed take off her jacket more i would be jizzing on my computer screen. hinata alone gives this manga 5 dicks out of 5.
i masturbated alot. sakura was pretty hot too for a chick with no tits or curves, she was still really beatiful. i wish naruto would just hit that already i think he might be a little homo he not making no moves. he my brotha he my brotha. theyres nothing to be ashamed of if you hav a small dick, its not so bad so hit that naruto.tsunade would totally be my bitch if i was a ninja because she has huge tits. i know how to take care of dem. i would tittyfuck that soo hard while shizune slaps her titties in my face. i would hit that bad bitch anko so bad she knows how to keep it real like the hood. i dont live in the hood im in a rich family ladies so dontc worry, so you have all dat money but aa ggangsta at heart. my soul is in the hood with my brothers. killer bee is my man i love his rapp skills. hes poetic like me. tho no homo. i can draw like naruto style so if you want somethin hit me up, ill draw fo you. especially you ladies. ill draw you in naruto style with onlyt some net on. if you want some more ill draw a hot scene between my oc maliyoshi and yours in the leaf village maybe at the ramen place. i love ramen.

Naruto is the best manga i have ever read. The storyline and art are both amazing! Its very different from any other manga and its definitely a manga that you can't put down.

What got me hooked on to it is how traditional looking it is. In Naruto's world, everything is so surprising! Not only does it have groundbreaking action, but also comic relief from all the stress that either the characters already have or has built on them. So I think that giving Naruto a try will be worth it! :)

Introduction:
Hello, and welcome! This is my very first Review, and the first installment of my three hundred part series: Review Rants for Smart People who Read Really Really Fast. I decided to go with the manga Naruto because it was my first exposure to manga ever. This was back in middle school. I had just finished the second season of Naruto (arguably it's best season) and I didn't want to wait to find out what happened next. So I picked up a copy of the latest Naruto manga.

For a kid who's only exposure to comics were Batman and Garfield, Naruto completely blew my mind. It wasn't until many many years later, after becoming more familiar with anime and manga, that I realize Naruto is actually a very bad manga. Why? Well to put it simply, Kishimoto, the author of Naruto, sold out, bad. As the manga progressed, especially past the time skip, Kishi's artwork became lazy, his characters left undeveloped and forgotten, his plots overindulgent, his storyline practically non-existent, and his world left contradicting itself over and over again.

(Warning: Spoilers ahead)

Characters: 6 (Fair)
Let's start with the good. Before the time jump, Naruto's strongest feature was its undeniably charming character development. From Shikamaru to Zabuzza, each of the characters were given unique personalities and trials to face. The best example of this is Rock Lee. Rock Lee is a recurring character in Naruto. However, unlike the rest of his peers, Rock Lee is the only character who cannot use ninjutsu or genjutsu, essentially magic attacks. Thus, Rock Lee spent every minute of life devoted to honing his physical abilities, to the point where he could go toe to toe with some of the strongest characters in the story. However, a mere 50 chapters later, Rock faced an opponent so strong that despite his best efforts, he was crippled by his opponent's attacks, never able to use his physical prowess again. This concept of losing the only gift you were born with, something you spent your entire life honing, was exactly the type of risk-taking plot-line that made this manga so captivating and endearing. Prior to the time skip, Naruto was chalk full of characters and side-stories like Rock's.

Now for the bad. Despite it's plethora of interesting characters prior to the time skip, after the time skip, the story focused only on 2 characters - Naruto and Sasuke, arguably the two worst characters of the story. Let's start with our Heroine. Naruto is your typical wild-child main character, which is fine. But the thing I hate the most about Naruto is that his life makes absolutely no sense. His goal in life is to become the Hokage (sort of like a prime minister). Of course, since it's a shōnen, everyone has to make fun of him for it and claim he's not good enough - prompting the proverbial "I'll show you!" from Naruto. Well, it's not until later in the story that it's revealed that Naruto is the son of the previous Hokage. Now, let me ask you - have you ever heard of a celebrity's kid who wasn't overhyped? Basketball fans, do you remember how everyone was saying Michael Jordan's kids were going to be the next MJ? As it turns out, they weren't even good enough to play basketball at the college level. That's what happens in real life. Celebrity kids fail to live up to expectations. Naruto is the complete opposite. Naruto has no expectations from anyone to the point of being downright disrespected as a person. This make absolutely no sense, yet it's a pivotal aspect of the story that is touched upon over and over and over and over again. Similarly, everyone starts off hating Naruto because he has the power of the Fox. However, later in the story, it's revealed that Naruto's father saved the village by preserving the powers of the fox in Naruto's body - another point that makes no sense in retrospect. Would you hate the kid who who's protecting you and your family from a giant fox monster, who's only crime was occasional vandalism? Let's move on. Sasuke is the prototypical "genius" character. However he's only a genius in the sense that Kishi is constantly reminding us that Sasuke is a genius through the thought bubbles of his other characters - namely Kakashi-sensei. In actuality, Sasuke is nothing more than a very serious idiot. For example, in the most recent arc (which is the fight between Naruto/Sasuke and Kaguya, the mother of ninjutsu), Sasuke's only notable contribution to the battle was running into a sword, which would have killed him had it not been for Kishi pulling the old deux ex machina switcheroo on us, promptly reviving him for no reason. The rampant use of deux ex machina completely kills the the sense of urgency that's necessary for reasonable character development in the second half of the manga. Characters need to develop with time and care, learning from their mistakes for better or for worse, not randomly just to meet the writer's goal of ending the manga at a cool 700 chapters. Along those lines, my biggest pet peeve in anime is being told that a character is smart rather than shown that a character is smart. Naruto is all about telling, not showing when it comes to its main characters.

Art: 8 (Very Good)
The art, for the most part, was good. It's not Berserk, in that, the art isn't at the level of detailing every stick-bug on every tree. But the character designs are very original - based on a unique blend of modern and Sengoku styles. The fighting was especially ahead of it's time. From the character running with their arms behind their back to the use of hand seals, there were a lot of elements to Naruto's artwork that has been reshaped and regurgitated all over the anime/manga-verse. For example, it's not a stretch to think that without Naruto's implementation of hand seals, we wouldn't have the clap used by Alphonse Elrik, of Fullmetal Alchemist, every time he uses of Alchemy. (But of course some people might point out that Cloud's spell animation in 1997's Final Fantasy VII actually came first) Regardless, Naruto's art style became a lynchpin in modern anime in a lot of ways. However, as the manga progressed, especially after the midway mark, the art simply took a nosedive. While the art became more clearly drawn, and fancier, Kishimoto lost a lot of the charming creativity that made him so captivating in the first place. Taking a look at the fight scenes, one could say that Kishi just got lazier and lazier. In the past, he made it so that each of his character fought with a unique style that fit their personality. For example, Sasuke, the "genius" used a move called the Lion's combo, that required a handful of acrobatic moves performed in midair. The Lion's combo didn't do as much damages as Rock Lee's Reverse Lotus, or Naruto's physical attack, the Naruto Combo. But unlike Rock's attack, the Lions combo didn't hurt the user, and unlike Naruto's attack, the Lions combo didn't cost any chakra (inner energy). It was a move that made sense for a genius to do. Since the time skip, the fight scenes have essentially become who's energy beam is bigger, and what kind of cool animal shape your energy blast can it take on. Basically, Naruto became Dragon Ball Z, but with a worse story.

Story: 1 (Pathetic)
Speaking of story, Naruto's main plot is one of the dumbest things you'll ever hear. To sum it up, it's - Naruto is a ninja kid that no one likes. He strives to become the Hokage by beating up people who want to take over the world, and making them change their point of view by teaching them the power of friendship. That is some kindergarten material right there. As I mentioned above, Naruto's story makes no sense, on top of the fact that it goes nowhere. The only thing that allows the story to progress is Sasuke, Naruto's best friend, who wants to leave the village to seek his own destiny of hunting down a wanted criminal, which sounds perfectly fine to me. But Naruto and friends seem to take extreme offense to this act of betrayal(?) and they try to hunt him down and bring him back for the high treason crime of deserting the village. Ok... So essentially the the village is a military base? Well, not quite, because Naruto was actually AWOL for practically the same amount of time that Sasuke was. In fact, he seems to leave the village whenever he wants, often visiting other towns with his perverted teacher, Jiraiya, for the sole purpose of spying on naked girls taking baths. The side stories are significantly better than the main story. In particular, the Shikamaru v. Hidan arc was very well done. The aforementioned Gaara v. Rock Lee arc was very well done. The Kakashi & Obito backstory was pretty good. The Haku & Zabuzza story concluded very well. And the Naruto & Sasuke rivalry at the beginning of the story was not bad, and the way in which it ended made sense. In general, most of the storylines (outside of the main plot) prior to the second half of the manga were very good. However, afterwards, like I mentioned before, Kishi sold out. What do I mean? Basically, he stopped taking risks. Let's take the Haku and & Zabuzza arc for example. There's no way Kishimoto would ever write another arc like that again. Simply put, the Zabuzza arc was violent, it was blood-thirsty, it was gritty, it was cold, it was heartfelt, it was edge of your seat action, it was friendship, it was love, it was loss, it was despair, it was hatred, it took us out of our world, Kishi even touched a little upon homosexuality (but not Yaoi) that was everpresent during the Sengoku period, especially amongst ninja clans. Nowadays, Naruto is all about Naruto changing the world by punching people until they understand the power of friendship. If that's not selling out to the mainstream, I don't know what is. Because of this extreme example of selling out, I'm going to negate all the good traits Naruto ever had, and leave it's story with a score of 1, aka straight up Pathetic.

(EDIT) I reread the manga following Kishi's conclusion to Naruto in Chapter 700, and I was able to pinpoint Chapter 401 (a mere 50 chapters past the mid-way mark) as the exact moment Naruto turned to complete and utter garbage. At this point in time, Kishi could have easily wrapped up the manga and done the world a HUGE favor because Chapters 402-693 are completely worthless. By the time Kishi got to Chapter 401, all of the prior major story-lines wrapped up in a meaningful way except one - Naruto and Sasuke. Coincidentally, between Chapters 400-700, the only meaningful thing that happened was Naruto's final battle with Sasuke which started on chapter 694. Everything else was completely irrelevant and unnecessary manga filler. In fact, for the sake of your own enjoyment (and sanity), I highly recommend to anyone reading Naruto for the first time to read from chapters 1 to 401, then skip all the way to chapter 694 and read to the end (chapter 700). The characters will gain a few new attacks and abilities, but you won't have missed any meaningful story progression whatsoever. If anything, you've saved yourself a lot of time and headaches, and by doing so Kishi will actually seem like somewhat of a genius, as opposed to an idiot to all of us, who's memory of chapters 402-693 is still fresh in our minds. I'll even go as far as to say that skipping those chapters would raise the "Story" score from a 1 to a very respectable 7. That's how bad those 292 chapters were (yet they take up nearly half the manga). As for the conclusion of the manga, I think that its best not to give away any hard spoilers because it's one of those things that's most enjoyable the first time you see it. However, I'll tell you that it was something that Kishi had been planning for a long long time, and therefore, there's a very noticeable change in quality between chapters 402-693 and chapters 694-700. Because it wasn't what I call "manga filler," it contained a lot of what we love about Kishi and Naruto. It becomes immediately obvious starting from the first page of chapter 694 the old (non-sellout) Kishi was back. From the art style, to the story, to the carefully crafted dialogue, everything was fulfilling. Even the resolution was pretty fun and entertaining. It doesn't make up for the ~300 chapters of absolute garbage that proceeded it, but it was a nice consolation prize at the end of a long long marathon. If you're ever interested in discussing the ending of Naruto, feel free to shoot me a message.

Enjoyment: 7 (Good)
As far as enjoyment goes, Naruto is a very easy story to begin, very hard to continue because the story just gets worse and worse. After a while, the characters even start blending together until they all become one big blob, and you have trouble telling them apart. Sasuke's the best example of this (Gaara's another example) - with his transition from genius to borderline mental patient - and now he wants to become the Hokage too. Anyways, despite essentially becoming DBZ, Naruto still has very unique artwork, and is wildly popular. So by following it, it can enhance your enjoyment of other mediums that carry the Naruto name. For example, video games. There are a lot of Naruto video games that are probably more fun if you actually read or watch the manga/anime. Sasuke in Jump Ultimate Stars is pretty good, for example, lol.

Comparison to the anime:
The first three or four seasons of the anime are very good, and you should watch it, if not just for the music. It boasts some of the best opening and closing scores out there, including Wind by Akeboshi, the first closing song that matches perfectly with the theme of the story, Go! by Flow, which was the best Naruto opening in my opinion, and Haruka Kanata, the song that really put Asian Kungfu Generation on the international scene. The story of the anime follows the manga up to that point. Afterwards, I would quit the anime entirely and switch to the manga. Naruto is not good enough of a show to warrant spending all that time watching. It's faster to read manga, and most importantly, there are no fillers. The Naruto fillers are even worse than trash. (nerd laugh)

Comparisons to similar anime:
I'm going to compare Naruto to One Piece here, since they're alike in a lot of ways, with One Piece being about pirates and Naruto being about ninjas. However, the most important reason I wanted to compare Naruto to One Piece is to contrast each of the author's overindulgence in their own story. Naruto, especially after the time skip, falls into the cliche of stories that over-indulge in themselves. It's always about this guy trying to destroy the world, or this guy trying to enslave everyone, or this genius and that genius. Everything is way too hyped up, yet always end the same way - with Naruto beating them up. Naruto started out as a show about ninjas (ninjai?) and eventually turned into DBZ. You would think that a show about ninjas would show more discretion than to turn every scenario into a gaudy battle. One Piece on the other hand, despite being more more wild and unincumbered in what they can show because of their unrefined style, tempers it's readers interest by touching upon things that people can actually relate to. Luffy, the main character of One Piece, is out to make friends. He values freedom above all else. And even though he wants to become the Pirate King, he's not constantly out to save the world - he merely conquers it one island at a time. Saving the world is overdone and not cool. Freedom - that's cool.

Conclusion: 6/10 (Fair)
Naruto is an alright manga that is meteorically popular. You should read it if you have the chance. The artwork is good and the side stories can be pretty interesting. And that sums it up folks. I know, I know, I'm awesome. Becoming a great reviewer doesn't happen overnight, you know. I had to kill my best friend in order to gain this power of awesome ranting. Muahaha! Ahem...er thanks for reading.

Naruto gets a bad rap a lot just because it's popular but I've loved it. The story is inthralling and the characters are entertaining, even though I really don't like some of them. But that's what makes it great! I love some characters and "dislike" others! That's a great thing in a manga when you come to have distinct feelings to each character. As you read, the story will have its ups and downs but don't give up! It keeps getting better and it'll have you guessing around every chapter turn!

Why Naruto is good? And Why so many people dislike the show either?

Naruto is a shonen manga based in ninjas( in your own way).But a simple phrase like that was just the "start".

Naruto's story show us in the first chapter a boy hated by all your village, without any friends and without any parents and with a hidden power.
We don't have something new here too , I suppose.
But this simple story grew in something full of the better feelings to work in a Shonen.The story was filled with friendship, courage, revenge, faith, hard-work,-self-confidence...Oh yeah, here are a great story

The caracter are unique and attractive They don't just live and wish power here,almost everyone have your motivations.
And these characters and scenario presented are helped with a great art too.
No one can say : "Naruto has bad characters" or "Naruto's character are generic." This is just a lie.
While is true say : "Kishimoto could explore more the secundary characters after the time-skip", he could.


With great art, great characters and a story full of hard emotions Naruto find your bigger Strength in something all must like in a Shonen > BATTLES.

The figths in Naruto are outstanding.In my opnion, Naruto are now the better manga in this aspect.And because that too, so many people dislike the show.
Naruto gives a great space in your manga for the actions scene.
We have comedy, we have excelent emotional chapters but the plote are main focused in two things :

"Naruto and Sasuke lifes and your friendship/rivalry"
And in battles.

So if you want to involve yourself in a exciting story and be fascined by great characters, Naruto is great for you. Here you have when "cry"(or not), and
laugh.But be aware that : You will problably want see the action part.Remember this is a Shonen, and you will find no regrets.

But be careful.Nothing is completely perfect.Some powers are not so good explained how it deserves. Sometimes you will really expect more writting about the secundary.And for NOW, we have REALLY POWERFULL people and that diference of power have potential to give a final rasengan in the secundary's story.


Overall :
+ Great Story (focudes in the main char)
+ Great Characters(could be better explored)
+ Awesome Battles(REALLY awesome)

- Huge and sometimes slow plote (You will want a bigger week manga).
- Power-ups sometimes just APPEAR (Why SO POWERFULL? )
- Two of the MAIN characters are going to stay behind, and this is frustrating.


Please, don't be ridiculous to just listen the story fall or Kishimoto lose your way.The story is always changing but is always AT LEAST ENJOYABLE.
Give it a chance.

Huh huh the first manga i have ever read. The only manga that cant make u bored. Fantastic~~~~~. My childhood filled with Doraemon and Naruto, at first i just see this as a joy,so i dropped in 1st season. But when i'm older and got interested in manga and anime,i started to read this back, because i have plenty of money so i spent all in buying all 72 eps of Naruto :3 and i will never regret that even though it's kind of a pain to use so much money like that in this kind of thing. Hey,but its a fair price for the manga has taken me to this world.

*Disclaimer: Before I get on with my review, let me first say, that I never finished reading this series. SPOILERS BELOW. The TLDR is at the bottom.*


Now there will be no confusion over my perspective as a reader. I tried reading Naruto. I got about two thirds of the way through the series before I lost interest completely. Still, I struggled on for another couple dozen chapters before my efforts as a fan, and a completionist, were not enough to get me through the rest. Ultimately, I gave up. At the time, the manga was still ongoing, and with no end in sight, I was completely unmotivated to finish a shonen that had disappointed me so much.

So, why am I writing this review? I never finished the series, I don't have a complete perspective on this shonen as a whole. I don't know everything there is to know about the Naruto universe. I don't know all the characters or plot twists. I know that. I can't offer anyone a review based on that information. What I can offer, however, is my perspective as a fan and long-time reader, as well as my reasons for abandoning the series so late in its run.

If you're a reader and lover of manga, Naruto is absolutely worth the time and effort to read. At least, that's what I used to tell people. I still feel that way, to a degree. If you're confused, that's completely understandable. If you're not, you've likely read the series, at least partially. Allow me to explain.

Naruto is broken into two parts: Naruto (or Naruto Beginnings) and Naruto (Shippuuden). Why? Masashi Kishimoto (Naruto's creator and mangaka) started the series as a light-hearted, action-packed shonen aimed towards a younger audience. Naruto, the character, starts out as a twelve-year-old shinobi (ninja). The reader follows Naruto and his ninja team as they overcome trials as they discover their hidden power as young ninja. The beginnings of Naruto are summarized in 27 volumes, and conclude nicely as its own story.

After Naruto beginnings, there is a significant time jump into Shippuuden. Naruto and his peers have aged three years, and the series as a whole has a darker atmosphere. Within the first arc, Kishimoto kills off several characters, some minor, some major. This theme continues throughout the series. Shippuuden starts out promising. It promises maturity, loss, character development, suffering, difficult choices and hard goodbyes. It does a good job of continuing and delivering on this promise for the next couple arcs. Naruto remains interesting and coherent for many chapters.

That being said, there was definitely something missing. In Naruto (beginnings), the story's young protagonist has a clear goal: to become Hokage (the ninja leader of his village) and be respected and loved by his community. The story is simple and fluid. It offers development and insight into the lives of many characters and it shows their separate struggles and desires. There are believable and achievable landmarks within the first block (the Chunin exams, the five man squad, training with Jiraiya, etc). Everything makes sense and feels natural. The same cannot be said of Shippuuden.

After the time jump, Naruto's goals are blurry. It's unclear to the reader if his goal is to become Hokage, or not. He becomes obsessed with finding Sasuke (his former teammate who disappeared at the end of Naruto beginnings). This shift in his goals seem less organic than I would have liked. Naruto makes poor decisions, and allowances in areas where Sasuke is concerned. Other characters also, without motivation, do the same. Characters that had been shown in the beginning of the story to be level-headed, morally guided, logical characters, ignore Sasuke's crimes (which include sabotage, assault, thievery, terrorism and even murder).

At this point in the series, it becomes apparent that the story's focus is no longer what it used to be. The story's focus is entirely centered on Sasuke's redemption. This is where the manga started to lose me. For me, it was completely unbelievable that any character would be forgiven, especially by strangers, for the crimes Sasuke commits over the course of the series. Here, is where Kishimoto starts to have main character bias (a bias that authors and mangaka fall into that provides protection to a character, simply because they are a main character).

From this point on, the manga loses its original charm. It loses its original simplicity. It loses its original focus. Now, that's not to say that characters and stories have to remain fixed. That's not to say that stories or characters have to keep their original goals. I understand growth is to be expected in any decent story. Characters change. Directions change. That's normal. What isn't normal, is for characters to do or act in ways that go against their development. When a character acts out of character to move the plot forward, the story loses its believability. In Shippuuden, characters slip constantly.

I got through the first third or half of Shippuuden before I could no longer forgive its plot holes and tiresome character slips. I stopped reading at this point, and can now only comment on the series, from this point forward, as an outsider. Like I said earlier, I didn't finish. I didn't finish, but I did check in once in a while to see how the series was developing. I'd read a chapter here or there, and whenever I did, it would only confirm my disappointment. I had always hoped there would be a chapter so interesting, I'd be compelled to pick up the series from where I left off.

That never happened. Whenever I checked in, it was only a sad reminder of why I dropped the series in the first place. Naruto had turned into a collection of power-ups, end-game villains and explosions. It was suffering from all the shonen pitfalls imaginable. Character development was non-existent, and had been replaced with pointless, visually boring battles. I started wondering if Kishimoto was simply making it up as he went along. It certainly felt that way. I certainly didn't think it would end. So, when I had heard that it finally ended, I had to check in for a final time to say goodbye and give the manga I once loved, a last chance to draw me in.

It would be an understatement to call the series' end "disappointing". Naruto ended in the messiest, laziest, most hurried (somehow) way imaginable. I won't go into any details, in case some of you are still interested in reading the series (I strongly caution against it). As endings go, it was almost insulting. As a former fan of the series, it felt like a huge insult to the time and energy I dedicated to Kishimoto as a storyteller.

Any reader of this series, former or otherwise, will have to admit that the Naruto universe is devoid of relationship development in any way. Any development between any two characters is often done off-page. Masashi Kishimoto had even said in past interviews that he wasn't comfortable drawing or writing about romantic relationships. This is one of the major failings of the series. I don't believe for one second that an entire universe would remain platonic and sexless. This complaint is, however, a simple annoyance, rather than an outright write-off of the series as a whole. I can accept that a writer would wish to avoid focusing on romantic development. I can accept that a person would be uncomfortable writing romantic interactions. I can accept that the story is about friendship and personal growth, not romantic interest. I get that.

As a reader, I pretty much gave up on romantic development being a possibility within the story a long time ago. There was very little, if any, development on page for any characters. I had already come to terms with the probability of Naruto ending without any resolution in this regard. That's why I was completely shocked that the last chapter of Naruto (chapter 700) focused entirely on the aftermath of the off-page romantic development of Konaha's (Naruto's home village) ninja.

Kishimoto ended the series by indiscriminately pairing his characters together, without any development or chemistry at all. I would have accepted an ending that left the relationship development up to interpretation. I would have respected the ending, and Kishimoto more for an open-ended finale. Instead, he threw characters together for the sake of appeasing his fans. He went with popular pairings that had absolutely no chemistry or development whatsoever, simply to appeal to the crowd. I am convinced that he did this as a last-ditch effort to remain popular with the most number of people within his fan base as possible. This rushed, forced ending left me feeling what can only be described as "anticipointment": disappointment from something you eagerly anticipated.

With that, this review, like Naruto, is finally over. I have nothing else to say about the series.

TLDR:

Story -3
Art -6
Character -3
Enjoyment -4
Overall -4

This manga is one of the most popular manga series ever, and it's obvious why. It's because the main character always does the right thing. It's always about Naruto: he can do the impossible, and no other character in the story has the right to be better. This is what the reader should believe.
I began watching the anime when I was ten, dropped it after moving to a different country and losing the access to a cable TV in a language I understand, but three years ago I started reading the manga. What I really liked about it is the variety of characters. The main one, Naruto, is the just neutral because nobody wonders what he'll do next (it will be the right thing to do, anyway!), but there are plenty of wonderful secondary characters you can write fanfics about!
In the beginning, the manga has no plot. Nope, none at all. And then it begins about thirty chapters too late, and is nothing special. By now the Naruto sank to the same place where most of the shounen manga series end et at some point: a collection of useless scenes without a real plot, pointless battles and a villain who decided to wait until fiftieth volume to reveal his plans of taking over the world. The author ran out of ideas, and now even the humor is gone.
As for the art... IT SUCKS. Seriously. The battle scenes aren't clear enough, and there are always ink splashes everywhere. The character design is very basic, and the backgrounds rarely include anything more complicated than tree silhouettes. If it was a random fan-work on the internet I would've said that it's awesome, but for a professional work it's just lame.
So why do I keep reading it? Because some of my friends write wonderful fanfiction stories for Naruto, so I have to stay up to date.

This was one of the very first manga I ever read. I've fallen a bit behind in the chapters but I still think it's a really good shounen manga. I do think it was much stronger in the first 15 volumes or so with Naruto and his classmates training to take the entrance exam and all those friendships and fighting skills that are forged then. Vols 3-4 with the Haku arc actually made me cry ;__;. And I don't care what anyone says about him being a crazy person running around in a prison suit, I LOVE Naruto. I just love his confidence in himself like "NEVER underestimate me! I will NEVER back down!"

I think it sort of fizzled a bit when it became alll about Sasuke, which annoyed me a little because this manga is titled "Naruto" not "Sasuke" (plus there are other awesome characters I'd want to see more of like ROCK LEE more please), but the newer chapters seem like we're gonna get back to Naruto and the earlier stuff that made it so good.

Most of the supporting characters are great. I'm a big fan of Kakashi, Rock Lee, Shikamaru, Gaara, etc. The fight scenes can go on and on for volumes which may be a turn off for some people but Kishimoto can really draw those fight scenes and most of them are enjoyable (especially in the earlier volumes where they actually had really good fights rather than people just owning each other).

Still great. 9/10!

When the series started i really enjoyed it, i loved the first part of naruto, especially the Chunin exams and Sasuke retrieval arc. The second part was for the most part pretty good, though not at the same level anymore. Problems were already starting at the beginning when the writer: Masashi Kishimoto started ignoring almost all his characters to focus on the main team which consists of Naruto, Kakashi, Sasuke and Sakura, which btw isnt a smart move since all the main characters aint likeable at all, but the side characters are. He started ignoring the entire Hyuuga clan and gave insane boosts to the rival dojutsu clan: the Uchiha clan. Then in the final arc the writer made stupid decision after stupid decision. ***SPOILERS**** After Sasuke started becoming a goodguy for some stupid reason after naruto ran after him for the entire series, and the new main villain only keeps on crying it got worse and worse. The entire war people got bullshit powerups and as always everyone besides our main team suddenly couldnt do anything besides stare at the main guys.******/spoilers The main problem overall is focusing on the worst characters of the series while he has such awesome characters in it.