Naruto

First thing's first, if you're not willing to read a manga that's very very long and drawn out then Naruto most likely isn't for you.
When people say that it's long and drawn out, they mean it. 400+ episodes, 570+ chapters, 50+ volumes later and it's not exactly close to being finished.
However, all those chapters, episodes and volumes give the creator an opportunity to further explain the plot and characters more thoroughly, which is a plus.

The story:
Without spoiling it too much, the story is definitely full of plot twists, some welcomed others absolutely detested, but that makes it all the more interesting. The characters do start to get a little repetitive, i.e. one character in the middle of the manga is a lot like one in the beginning. But it doesn't take much to get over that if you're into the story. Naruto, the main character, in my eyes is pretty static. He pretty much remains the same throughout the whole manga, other than aging 3 years; it might get a little old after a while, but there are many many other characters that are dynamic.

The art:
One word sums up the art for me. Amazing. The manga especially and some of the newer episodes. There's so much detail compared to a lot of other manga, which is awesome. :) Every once in a while, there are a few minor mistakes but those aren't noticeable unless you reread the chapter or have a magnifying glass nearby.

The Characters:
I already touched a little on the characters. There are a TON of characters, especially with the fillers in the anime. All the characters might be a little overwhelming, but you'll either forget the unimportant ones or get used to it. The plot twists occurs the most with the pasts of the main characters especially, sometimes even with supporting ones. Other than the art, the characters are probably the main attraction. They have their own personalities and traits, even if some of them are annoying. ._.

Overall:
Naruto is definitely one of my favorite Manga/Anime. I've been watching/reading it for around 7 years, so it would be hard to just drop it.
Once you get into the story, you'll understand. I will always recommend this manga/anime to anyone who is willing to try it out.

Naruto is one of the three shonen titans. And one of the two that failed miserably. The story (if there is any at all) revolves around an annoying young pariah who dreams of being the most powerful (and most respected) man in the village: the Kage. Now, for reasons unknown to the readers, Naruto wants to become the leader of his village and its people even though they treated him as if he were less than a dog.

The art was fairly decent in the beginning, but as time passed by, it got progressively worse and more confusing. In addition, it seems that the mangaka is losing interest in this story, so the art has become less refined and more simple.

The characters and their development are terrible. S-rank ninjas (the strongest) seemingly lose to genins (bottom of the ladder ninjas). To top it all off, each character is stupidly annoying and has a repertoire of spells reaching approximately 3. Inconsistency seems to be the mangaka's favorite plot device as he literally destroys everyone and rebirths them into some new shape.

However, I do get some kicks from this story. I believe that the only reason I've been reading it for the past several months is to see how much !@#$ the mangaka can pull out of his arse.

I advise reading until the end of the Zab arc, or, if your interest has been piqued after reading said arc, until the end of the Sound5 arc.

Here is my complete review of Naruto and what I feel is good an bad about the series.

Plot - Naruto is the story of a boy who is the container for a demon responsible for destroying his village who is despised by most the village afterward despite the request by the Hokage who died to seal away the demon asking he be a hero. Its obvious from the beginning Naruto is a very lonely kid and acts out to get attention of any sort just to have his existence acknowledged by the villagers he deeply wishes would accept him, so in response to that he decides to aim for Hokage and become acknowledged by everyone as a great ninja.

Theme - The show is very much themed around relationships, friends, family, and that everyone has feelings and wants to be acknowledged and respected. Its a very much similar to Dragonball in some sense which isn't a bad thing at all as in many ways its done better.

Art - I feel the art style is shonen fitting and does its duty to the manga and always displays what is really going on quite well. I have never felt something could've been better done in terms of the art. I don't feel it is nearly as busy as One Piece or as barren as Bleach. It also doesn't do much fan service which some find annoying like Fairy Tail with the anti-gravity boob women and constant almost hentai ecchi moments.

Characters - The characters are all pretty interesting and each have their quirks and things about them that make them noticeable. I feel everyone has personality and points interest. Naruto is a blast to watch grow as a character because he is in many ways the underdog story while at the same time is nostalgic to anyone who grew up with Goku. However I wouldn't call the characterization and development perfect in any way as some of the "Konoha 11" need more time in the spotlight to be called developed such as Shino an TenTen. Alot of the side characters especially are definitely characters who I feel need alot of attention an development compared to Naruto an Sasuke which are very well done. Sasuke is a character that has fans polarized on terms of love or hate. He is also the tragic character of the series and gets a good amount of focus in Part 2 and the end of Part 1. I feel his rise to villainy has been steady and well paced with a few over the top moments where its just over done. However I would say its a minor flaw in a wonderful enjoyable tale with good characters. I also feel the handling of the demon fox has been less than perfect in many cases for a show that is about friends an relationships I felt disappointed that the fox hasn't played a much bigger role. I also found the heroine Sakura to be unimportant, bland, and basically useless which I had hoped to see change at some point. However all an all I think the characterization has been done very well and continues to improve.

Enjoyment/Overall - I love the series alot and have found it to be one of the best mangas I've read. If you're looking for something shounen with a good plot. I'd say Naruto is for you, but its not perfect nor should you expect it to be. To me for a shounen manga this is a very well done one. Part 1 is very humorous an very much the start of the story while Part 2 really is more plot driven and mature without a few humorous moments thrown in now an then.

The story is just for some reason alot better in Manga, I dont know why but it just is...The art is just...mindblowing because you ca see every tiny last detail! The characters are...or do get very annoying and its always the same thing like mutants or something. the enjoyment is great and you never want to let go of the book you always say "One last page!" then "One more page!" You never want to stop! So overall I give this a 10 because its just an amazing Manga to read.

This review contains spoilers up to chapter 435 of the Naruto manga. Read at your own risk.


Naruto is currently one of the leading titans of the anime industry, and probably the biggest thing to hit it off stateside since Dragonball Z. At first glance, you would think it is completely deserved, and rightly so. After all, this series has all the components of a major success. Nice art? Check. Interesting-looking characters? Check. Unique and clever fighting styles? Why yes. And don't forget the ninjas. After all, what's cooler than ninjas?

Unfortunately, none of that means jack squat if it isn't executed correctly. This is where Naruto falls flat on its face.

The story is typical shonen fare, a young boy hated by his peers sets off to prove himself useful. I won't go into detail as to why, since MAL's Naruto page covers that quite nicely. The problem here is that said boy is set up as almost instantly unlikeable. He's a juvenile delinquent with low motivations, low intelligence, low skill and pie-in-the-sky dreams. Soon after the start of the series, he gets teamed up with Sasuke Uchiha, a mildly interesting lad with murderous feelings toward his own brother, Sakura Haruno, whose personality can best be described as "only there to be a gushing Sasuke fangirl," and Kakashi Hatake, their adult leader who is cool, lazy and just about the only interesting thing about this group.

I will admit that the first few arcs are actually kind of neat. Pretty darn enjoyable, actually. Masashi Kishimoto had talent back in those days, and it shows. the Zabuza arc, for example, is going to grab you and take you along for the ride all the way through. Most of the others after that are also kind of fun, up until after the Chuunin exams.

One of the best parts about this series early on is its wide, diverse and interesting cast of minor supporting characters. They all have their own hopes and dreams, and every single one of them has an interesting fighting style. For example, there's Rock Lee, a martial artist and the only ninja in the village who has no need for fireballs and shuriken, Neji Hyuuga, a child prodigy who aims for the weak spots, Kiba Inuzuka, who teams up with his pet dog in battle, Gaara, who controls and manipulates sand in battle, and Tenten, who....

Oh, damn. What does she do? Something to do with weapons.

Oh, well. She's basically a throwaway character. Kishimoto invented her to keep the "two guys and a girl" status quo he had going. She barely gets any screentime and says all of three or so lines in the entire series, which is a damn shame. She has a very neat character design.

Anyway, most of the side characters are fantastic, and they all get some screentime to show off their unique abilities.

Until after the Chuunin exams.

Now to be a little more fair, there is an arc right after the Chuunin exams that gets them all an excuse to play around with their powers and provides a decent amount of entertainment. Unfortunately, I have to call that the beginning of the rot anyway, because that is the point where the series takes a gigantic nosedive. And that nosedive's name is Sasuke.

Yes, Sasuke. The mildly interesting young fellow goes from being kind of cool to being an overpowered wristcutter with all the personality of a chunk of cardboard. In his quest for power, which he plans to use to murder his own sibling, he enters the tutelage of a fifty-something Michael Jackson impersonator with a bizarre snake affinity, betrays his friends, and generally acts like an utter moron. Worse yet, the story shifts its focus from a balance of all the fantastic side characters to this emo Mary Sue punk. At certain points, you might as well just call the series Sasuke. At one point, he manages to actually kill his brother, only to find out that Itachi threw the match. What's more, Itachi was dying anyway and only ever had the best intentions at heart, giving his life to protect his home. Sasuke then immediately decides to destroy said village, which makes no sense no matter how you look at it.

Compounding on that dilemma is the story's pacing, which more or less comes to a grinding halt. Fights suddenly begin to drag on chapter after chapter, villains become dull and unmotivated, and characters become dumber and dumber as the plot demands.

The most recent arc involves Naruto's final showdown with Pein, an elite warlord superninja with six individually sentient bodies and a knack for showy, destructive rampages. Though there were quite a few clever developments, such as Naruto's most recent powerups and development from whiny brat to competent, clever tactician, this arc suffers greatly from many side character-related flaws. Kishimoto has begun to kill off Naruto's mentors left and right for no apparent reason and in completely embarrassing ways. For example, Kakashi, the coolest thing this series had going for it since the Zabuza Arc, recently died of exaustion after failing to do any significant damage to one of Pein's bodies. Meanwhile, halfway across town, a young, weak Naruto wannabe named Konohamaru knocks out another of Pein's bodies in one blow. What's more, people began to acknowledge Naruto as their only chance for salvation long before he arrived at the village, despite the fact that he had previously done absolutely nothing to deserve that kind of respect. As of the current chapter, the minor characters who were once so clever, imaginative and fun to watch are basically sitting around muttering about how they'll only get in the way of this person that's fighting the ultimate enemy of their entire village, despite the fact that said person was until very recently regarded as the village idiot.

These ratings are generous due to the beginning of the series. Back then Charactes would have gotten a perfect ten. Now they barely deserve a two thanks to all the derailment. The story, once at least an eight, has now puttered down to no more than a one. The enjoyment rating is only as high as it is because this series is almost fun to read if only to laugh at Kishimoto's desperate attempts to motivate a character that's already got more than enough motivation, thanks, and to observe how very, very tired of this series he obviously is. The only reason I can fathom for him to continue is because his editor wants to milk this franchise for all it's worth, rather than risk starting over with a newer, more interesting franchise. I only continue it in the shallow hope that it may one day become half as great as it once was.

In conclusion, Naruto starts out great, but crashes like Michael Scott from The Office on sugar. It hasn't regained its boundless energy yet, and it's likely to keep sleeping for a while. There is much, much better out there, people. Please try to broaden your horizons.

Naruto is currently one of the most popular shounen beasts in the manga market today, and since I have verbally abused its companions I believe its Naruto's turn to be reviwed.

STORY: 6/10
I'm not going to pretend that anybody reading this review doesn't already know the basic story of Naruto so no summary this time. The length is a turn off. Some of the fights tend to drag on a little bit further then what seems realalistic. I call this the Bleach effect. While the fights in Naruto don't drag on nearly as long as the Bleach fights, they do show the symptoms. The plot is extremely standard with a fair amount of plot twists thrown in here and there. It just barely crawls out of mediocrity.

ART: 9/10
It has the same quality of art as One Piece without the absurdly stupid looking designs. Backgrounds exist in Naruto so its mountains better than Bleach's sorry excuse for art. There is a large amount of detail put into almost every aspect of every panel. it truely is something to marvel at, at times. Although i have caught a few absolutely terrible backgrounds thrown in there. I mean a 4 year old could litteraly draw them. Heck the mangaka of Bleach could probably draw them...nah, thats unfair to the 4 year olds. But there have only been one or two random terrible backgrounds, and overall the art is simply great.

CHARACTER: 8/10
To start off there are about fifty of them, maybe more. They all have names, faces, most have a back story (tenten?), and they're all uniquely drawn. I do hate a large amount of the characters, and characters would recieve a fairly low grade if it wasn't for Shikimaru. He is like a genious gem in a sea of stupid coal. I have also found out, that Tenten has become one of my favorite characters. Why? you ask. Well, she is so obviously hated by the mangaka. She fought two times. In her first fight she got knocked unconcious before she could even touch her opponent. And her second fight was a draw...because she was fighting a clone of herself. She is halariously left out of every major event that ever happens. Hell, its possible she could have been dead for the past 100 chapters, and the other characters didn't even notice. She contributes nothing to the characters, but i just thought i would mention her because it entertains me.

*cough* Back on track. Shikimaru alone, saves the characters from getting a failing grade. Shikimaru puts the characters on his back and wins them an 8. Good job Shikimaru. Now go teach Tenten how to make cookies. Maybe then she'll be a bit more useful.

ENJOYMENT: 9/10
Aside from the enjoyment i get from mocking Tenten, the fights are actually pretty well done...most of the time. Recently they've begun to show signs of the Bleach effect. The first half was all solid fight scenes all the time. But I think when Shippuuden started Bleach became contagious, and Naruto caught some of the bad. It's a good thing Shikimaru has some really good fight scenes (Zombie v Shikimaru = smile), and once again he saves the enjoyment from getting a lower score then it would have without him. So for enjoyment i give Shikimaru a 9. You can give that to your friends Shikimaru.

OVERALL: 8/10
A meh story, great art, bad charact-SHIKIMARU, and Decent enjo-SHIKIMARU!!!, gives Naruto an okay 6...but Shikimaru alone boots the manga to an 8! woah. First time i've ever done that. If this manga was called Shikimaru, and was focused on Shikimaru all the time, it would probably be even higher, but sadly Naruto is the main character in Naruto so its an 8.

*bites cookie* GAH! GO TO HELL TENTEN, YOU BURNT MY COOKIES!!!

Masashi Kishimoto is in my opinion one of the more refreshing writers on the manga scene. Though may I say at first, that yes while this is my favourite manga, and I along with many others find the story rather captivating and original in many ways (despite drawing from many common, and rather cliché themes), this manga is not necessarily for you, the reader, who is sitting comfortably at their computer screen wondering 'what good manga should I read next?' and has decided to let peoples' reviews sway them towards or away many possibly magnificent reads.

That is not the purpose of this review. As a fan, I'm standing here saying that this is not a manga to pass the time, this, like a good book will take time, and when you catch up to it, you'll be sitting at your desk waiting as impatiently as any fan to read the next chapter; like a hungry beast impatiently awaiting it's next meal. This is not a quick paced manga, nor is it all too slow. Kishimoto has found a rather acceptable pace, at which his story moves, but, if you are the kind of person with the attention-span of a teaspoon, this manga is not for you. Though, despite my last comment, if you are still reading this, you clearly are not; and so this manga is something you might enjoy.

The story is a classic one, of two friends, who, over time become further apart, and one betrays the other. Any more, and this would ruin the twists and turns that makes it so unique. A lot of the time you are patiently wondering, 'what will happen next?' even though you have a perfectly good idea. And this, makes the story one I would put up at the same level as any good book I have read in the past, thus the previous analogies. However, I am in no way comparing Kishimoto to Orwell, this is no Nineteen-Eighty-Four. This is not a world changing story, this is more of a Harry Potter, a famous franchise with many fans, and a fantasy world that people love to escape into. 9/10

The art work is good, but nothing original. If like me, you are reading and love Seishi Kishimoto's 666 Satan, the stylistic themes of this manga will be so similar that you will be pained at times to continue reading. Though despite this, Naruto's art work is still appealing to the eyes, and has some rather cool characters, and the fights are drawn out in such a way, that there is no challenge in following them. 7/10

The characters of this manga are what makes it so enjoyable however. Each has their own little quirks, and amusing traits. While you won't love them all, even the bit parts are more than the 2-dimensional characters you'll see in a lower caliber manga. From small characters like Teuchi, the owner of Ichiraku Ramen bar, to supporting roles like Gaara and Shikamaru Nara, each character will make you desperate to see more of them. And of course, the greatest achievement of this manga is that, despite how much people hate, or love Naruto, the manga's protagonist, you will always see yourself cheering him on, and his unachievable goals and dreams, as they slowly appear more and more realistic. 10/10

Overall - 9/10

The world of Naruto is probably the most interesting aspect of the show. Despite being a show about ninja, the soldiers in this manga are really ninja in name only. They're actually much more reminiscent of modern soldiers with flashy ninja magic than mysterious, stealthy ninja.

There characters are a rather nice aspect of the show. Many of them are archetypes, but I find them entertaining regardless. I also feel like the characters that are around Naruto's age (teenagers) have realistic personalities. They're teenagers, and they act like teenagers. That's one of the reasons I like them. Many would disagree with me, so it's really a matter of taste and perspective.

The action scenes are rather exciting, but there certainly is better out there. The characters have a variety of different ways in which they do battle, and some styles are very entertaining. Others seems utterly ridiculous and completely out of place in a manga that's trying to be serious.

Now, while the series certainly has it's good aspects, the overall series is something worse than the sum of its parts. In fact, while Kishimoto clearly knows what he's doing from an artistic standpoint, his lack of story-telling skills shows through. He spends far too much time putting focus on minor characters. There ends up being so little focus on Naruto himself that it's almost impossible to feel any attachment toward him. I also find him to be rather annoying, which makes it even more difficult to feel for him.

Furthermore, he only focuses on one character at a time. He seems incapable of putting the focus on a group of characters, as he should. Even when the characters are together, they only seem to speak to one another when necessary, never saying much more than what's needed. So while the characters themselves are decent, the character interactions are not very well done.

The story also seems to get side-tracked quite often. Some story arcs have very little to do with the main story at all. Now, that wouldn't be such a problem, but a few of these story arcs each span over a few volumes. A lot of the time, it feels like a waste of time.

The art is quite good, but Kishimoto actually has a tendancy to show too much detail. He shows far more than what's necessary, taking up panels, taking up pages, and slowing down the progress of the manga.

The slow progress is the final nail in the coffin. The longer the series goes, the more it's flaws stand out. The series is good, but not good enough to justify the long, tedious progression of events.

Personally, I love this series. However, I have to admit that, looking at it from a critical standpoint, most aspects of this manga are so utterly mediocre that the series ends up looking even worse than it is.

On a final note, I'd like to say that when I read the manga in graphic novel format, as opposed to the one chapter per week format it's released in Japan and on the internet, I found the series to be much more enjoyable. This makes the series far less tedious, since many events are experienced in one sitting, since an entire chapter can--and often does--revolve around one minute event. Even the English release in the American Shonen Jump, which is released monthly, four chapters are released all at once, making it a much more satisfying read.

So, I would suggest either buying the graphic novels or Shonen Jump, or just waiting for the chapters online to build up, and read them about once a month instead of reading the latest one every week. This will make for a much more enjoyable reading experience.

*THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS*

It's hard writing this review straight after finishing the manga but I wanted to do it when It's all fresh in my mind. Naruto is a story manga and anime fans over the world know, hate or love, It is easily the most detested manga of all time but yet one of the most popular. The story is about a young boy called Naruto Uzumaki, with his entire village despising and fearing him he is practically alone in the village and because of that he as a character values friendship more than the comman man and that leads to him going above and beyond to bring his best friend Sasuke back. With many arcs and a monumental timeskip Naruto is a long story and not for people who don't have any patience, the land of waves arc, the chunin exams arc, the invasion of konoha arc, the search for tsunade arc and the sasuke retrieval arc comprised was part 1 and the flow of the arcs was great, it had practically no slow points and the emotion is high.

With the land of the waves being the arc that fans usually remember as the arc that hooked them to Naruto with the crazy techiques and really showed of what a ninja is. The chunin exams is a favorite to many and is my favorite arc with crazy battles and learning about many tragic past to characters it is easily the arc that develops more characters than any. The Invasion of konoha arc is something that could of waited till a certain part in the story was concluded but as it was it was an amazing part in the manga and it did bring tears and epic fighting, still could of been handled differently. The search for Tsunade arc is simply the calm before the storm arc, Naruto gets training from Jiraiya and learns the infamous Rasengan while looking for the next Hokage, the dynamics between Naruto, Jiraiya and Tsunade is very well done and the ending of the arc is a pinnacle point in the series. The final arc of part 1 is outstanding to say the least, the battles in this arc are probably the biggest in part 1 and in the series and the final fight is full of emotion which Kishi is well at, overall the arc changed the story but opened up the story for different possibilities.

Each arc focuses on something new and trhat's what I liked about part 1 and how it was starting to build upon the ninja world. Then in part 2 the focus of the story shifted a bit from being a boy who wants to become Hokage to a boy who wants to bring his friend back before he becomes Hokage. Now the idea of that seems great but it did bring allot of complications to the story. In part 2 the arcs were structured not as well but the character dynamic was excellent but did seem more slow at times. The kazekage rescue arc was a good opening as I expected te be fair but then it went downhill with the sai and sasuke arc which is easily the worst arc in the series, the only good thing about it really was Naruto Vs Orochimaru. Moving on the Kakuzu and Hidan arc was an arc which used different characters like ino, shikamaru and Choji, the depth and the meaning of that arc was very well written. The Itachi pursuit arc is possibly the arc with the most emotion, Kishimoto sensei may of changed the story to more character focused than story building focus but that didn't change him still being able to deliver and with 3 huge deaths, 2 massive ones this arc stands out very much so. The nest arc is the Invasion of pain arc which to me is one of the best. I would prefer for certain things to of changed but as Kishimoto sensei did it, I couldn't call it bad writing. The atmosphere in this arc is very dark, it's the most suspenseful in the story so far and the fear of death looms over every character and I like it and the ending was a real changing point in the series and very much developed Naruto's character.

Moving to the more recent arcs the Five Kage summit was something that was needed, we needed for the kages to interact and to show that the shinobi world wasn't perfect and the dynamic between them all proved that the world still needed to change. Events happened in the arc which led to a big change, something that would start a beggining of a new era, overall a great arc. The confining the jinchuriki arc was an interesting one which focused on characters we don't get to see much and going more in depth with them as well as learning more about the past. The 4th shinobi world war arc was slow and the fighting wasn't that good but the ending proved it not to be the worst in the story. The ten tails revival arc was much better as we learn a truth about a certain person and the stakes really are higher, this is one of the best arcs and especially when read in a sitting instead of once a week for 3 years like some. Next is the final arc which could be seen as the best arc in the series as it focused on a select number of characters and it had very shocking moments and overall it concluded the story well and I didn't know if Kishimoto sensei could do it but he did, he concluded it perfectly.

I'll say some points about the art, characters, my enjoyment and why I gave the manga a 9/10 overall. Well the art I rate an 8/10, for a weekly manga it is rare to find one with superb art every chapter and the Naruto series has allot of great art but then it can be very shabby as well. Characters I would rate them as 9/10, in part 1 it would be 10/10 but because of shippuden and less characters got development I think a 9 is suitable becuase still characters like Naruto, Gaara, Sasuke, Itachi and Shikamaru etc have great development. My enjoyment wise a 10/10, no less, I love Naruto the series, It's my favorite manga and i can look pass the not so good bits because it has everything I look for in a shounen manga. Overall I give it a 9/10, in reality it's something between an 8.5-9/10 but I think I will just give it a 9 instead of an 8. The story is really an amazing jouney and I always wanted my first review to be Naruto when it finished and here it is ... the story of a boy and his dream!

WARNING SPOILERS BELOW

I can't believe this... I really can't believe this...

Naruto is a manga that has been running for 15 years, I still remember catching up with the first seasons of the anime back when I was 12, I remember skipping the dreadful filler second half from the original series and going straight to Shippuuden, I remember ALL of it and it is suddenly over. Wow... feels like an entire era ending.

Anyway, Naruto was one of the first anime series I have ever watched (Dragon Ball being my first), and even though I had lost my interest and enjoyment in it for a very long time (I dropped it REALLY early when I had just started Shippuuden, it just wasn't doing it for me anymore), I still made an attempt at catching up with the manga because people told me it was ending and I wanted to see my late childhood fall apart just like that.

As for the actual review, Naruto started out as a fairly decent shounen manga, it told the story of a ninja called Naruto that was treated like shit by everyone else in the Hidden Leaf Village because he had the Nine-Tailed Fox sealed inside him. At first, he's completely useless and kinda annoying, all he really did at first was yelling "I'M GONNA BECOME THE HOKAGE" like if there was no tomorrow. And for those wondering, the Hokage is the ruler of the village.

He later teams up with two other classmates alongside a more experienced ninja and form a team that does the jobs assigned to them, while at the same time, each character has its own goals and intentions. The most notable, other than Naruto, is Sasuke, an old childhood rival that had lost his family when he was younger, eventually leading to him carefully planning to take revenge on the person behind it. At first, they do some stuff as a team and it is a fairly enjoyable story that does its job in a decent manner. Nothing too special, but also something that I could watch and still get a kick out of. Yes, Naruto was a bit annoying as a character, but that didn't keep him from being likeable, and the same goes for all the other characters.... at least for a while...

Eventually, Sasuke runs away and the story goes on a timeskip, which wasn't really a good idea as the story kinda jumped the shark at that point. Filled with asspulls such as the 99 different forms of the Rasengan and the treatment given to side characters, the story past the time skip had a MAJOR drop in quality, which caused me to eventually lose my interest in the series. Not to mention the treatment they gave to Sasuke, which initially was a character full of potential, only for it to be turned into the most despicable one of the cast that SOMEHOW still does a 180 on his mood. One second he is planning to destroy the village, the other he simply agrees to help Naruto defeat the big bad because.... crap, I don't even know anymore, I really think not even Kishimoto enjoyed what he was doing anymore at that point, just dragging the story more than it needed for the hell of it.

And Naruto himself did not get any better too, he was turned into one hell of a Mary Sue that just pulled random powers out of his arse because he had to defeat the evil villain at the end of the day. For crying out loud, even the worst Fairy Tail asspull is not as big as a lot of stuff I've seen here. I don't even think this was about bloody ninjas anymore because, as far as I'm aware, ninjas wouldn't just summon meteorites in a Final Fantasy manner. Eventually, even Naruto's iconic "I'M GONNA BECOME THE HOKAGE" was toned down and that's when I realized that these characters were no longer what they used to be. What about the rest of them? Pffffft, they were thrown to the side after the so notorious timeskip, it's like they weren't even there.

Another thing I have to point out is that the story simply couldn't keep one consistent bad guy. The timeskip arrives and we are left with Sasuke running away to eventually become a bad guy, a psychotic ninja that wants to achieve immortality and a secret society dedicated to capturing the Tailed Beasts such as Naruto's Nine-Tailed Fox. Wanna guess which one was the real big baddie? NONE OF THEM! Sasuke? He becomes a good guy after a while. Orochimaru? Same thing. Pain, the leader of Akatsuki? Turns out he was a puppet after all. Tobi, the guy behind him? Same thing, a puppet as well. Madara? Not this one either. Black Zetsu, the guy that never had any spotlight? Nope, also a puppet! As it turns out (And here comes a big spoiler), the real big bad just so happened to be the entity that created the energy force they use in their battles? How, because she was somehow resurrected...

Overall, Naruto is a manga that does a fair job on the first part, but completely blows it near the end. If you wanna know if it's worth reading? Not really, unless you are planning to stop just before the timeskip begins

Mod Edit: This review may contain spoilers.

Coming up with precise numbers to essentially give a value to a series that spans 700 chapters and well over a decade in production is not an easy thing. Much has changed over the years of publication, but I guess overall I would give the series a "very good".

Like many other people, the Naruto anime was my introduction to the world of anime--something that literally changed the course of my life. The storyline of a young boy who had the courage (or more like the gall) to always stay confident and continue smiling despite growing up alone in a community that openly detested him is heartwarming to say the least. I liked that the series also introduced a wide range of characters--Kishimoto really succeeded in creating not just a village, but an entire world within his story.

STORYLINE:
As one would expect from a 700 chapter-long series, the series has its highs and its lows. For me, the peak was pretty early in the series throughout the Chunin exam arc, so it was a little bit of a disappointment that the series never really made it back to that high later on. Then again, the main trio of Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke weren't nearly my favourite characters, so maybe my problem was that I didn't care about the people who mattered the most. Having said that, the fact that I was still interested enough to keep reading should speak for the story's quality. The chapters are relatively short (compared to monthly publications) and almost all of them end with some sort of cliffhanger, so I ended up stopping at points to save up for longer reading sessions.

CHARACTERS:
On the topic of characters, I would have to argue that they are far from perfect. He did a good job of creating diversity in his characters and strong, complex personalities in many, but there were many characters who were sadly quite shafted and remained static throughout the series (I'm looking at Tenten and Shino). I wouldn't say that ALL his female characters are always weak, submissive and useless, but the series is a far cry from gender-equal. In part I can accept that this is because the manga's intended audience was for young boys who probably don't care if there's gender equality and all that stuff, but still.

ART:
The art... is good. It's definitely improved over time from both experience and technological advancements. I like many of the character designs and I like that they change as the characters mature. Personally I cared more for the social interactions within the story than the fight scenes, so sometimes some chapters of endless fighting were a bit difficult to follow/envision.

ENDING: (contains no specific spoilers, but discussion of overall flow)
Personally I did not like the ending, but I didn't HATE it. When the whole shinobi war started to drag out and literally EVERY CHARACTER WHO WAS EVER SLIGHTLY SIGNIFICANT made an appearance even if they had to defy reality (AND DEATH) to do so, I started looking forward to an end. The ending I got wasn't everything that I wanted, but it was an end. I'm happy that Kishimoto had the guts to see his story to completion including establishing finality with his character relationships (rather than leaving things ambiguous and inconclusive as is the style of most Shonen manga), but I also feel like he crossed the line and forced the pairings too far. I'm also not a fan of the introduction of children (AT ALL.) to imply the relationship of the parents, but at the same time I can't imagine Kishimoto showing us the depth of their relationships in any other way (hand holding, hugging, walking together maybe. Beyond that? No, not even kissing). Regardless, I felt like I had to read the final chapter because "OCD, I have to finish this!" (not to mention my OTP), and did so knowing that I probably wouldn't like much of it. If you don't care for pairings or mentions of children, I'd recommend stopping at 699.

So there you have it, my review that took me 40 mins. I expect most people will have already tl;dr and left this massive review, but if you're still reading it, thank you =) It's a review for myself as much as for anyone else anyways because... it's done. It's over. Naruto's ended. My childhood just ended with it. Huh.

Time to move on with life and keep telling myself that I will NOT be reading the sequel about the children. I won't do it. I won't. (...The lies... I'll cave, I know it. >_>)

It's done! The end of Naruto marks the end of an 15-year period, about half of which I spent waiting for weekly updates for the manga that was my very first.

Was it worth it? Maybe. I have a gut feeling that Naruto is going to be one of those manga that took great benefit from having a long-ass run time, and that a lot of the attraction towards Naruto was the fact that, well, "everyone else was reading it too." Reading Naruto was as much of a social exercise as it was a reading one, since it's mega popularity ensured that there would always be one or two people that you know that would be following it as well.

As far as the actual writing is concerned, I'd have to liken it to Harry Potter: ultimately flawed, but relatable. The themes of believing in yourself and the Power of Friendship™ have been explored numerous times before (and in a much better fashion by other manga/anime), and Naruto itself is a manga that I'm pretty sure could have been written in 200-300 chapters as opposed to the monstrous 700 that have presented over its 15 year run. Many, many, many characters are introduced, given their time in the limelight, and then thrown away because ultimately, it's all about Naruto. Kishimoto doesn't understand how to use scale to properly create climactic moments, and by the end, Naruto's supreme dominance over any of the other characters makes their attempts to seem relevant laughable and almost pitiable. The fact of the matter is, there are so many "oh, but this isn't my final form!" moments in the manga that reading the damn thing became a chore near the end due to the fact that Kishimoto isn't a very creative writer.

So why did I read all 700 chapters of what seems to be a quite mediocre effort? Well, Naruto was my first manga. Arguably, this fact combined with its existence as a social phenomenon made Naruto quite enjoyable to read (see my enjoyment score) despite its glaring flaws. It was fun to discuss the manga's weekly happenings with other people through its ups and downs--the experience was similar to that of following a sports team with other fans.

So, should you read Naruto? Probably not, unless you really, really like shounen's. It's a stunningly middle-of-the-road affair with little original thematic content that was made enjoyable to read due to the fact that it was mega-popular.

Story 4, Art 5, Character 2, Enjoyment 8, Overall: 5 (4.75).

Naruto Manga is long manga and follows the life of a ninja. Not like other series where the story is focused on goal like finding a stone for example. So if dont plan on reading something long dont bother with Naruto.
But its the long story wich makes it intresting and special.

Naruto is currently divided into 2 parts Part 1 and Part 2.

Part 1 is the beginging. It feels like it is just a ground for part 2.
You get introduced to all the characher and certin events happen and charachers devolep. When part 1 has ended you pretty much know backgrounds for the entire new generation. (The new ninjas like Naruto)

Part2 is When they are older like 15/16.
Very much charachter development and you get to know more things and some sick plot twists. Currently it feels like it will be part 3.

Thats just a very short summary realley. The art is amazing and manga at part 2 is the best manga i have read.
Death, Misery and happines are some of many elements that make Naruto manga awsome. If youre looking for a long serie with high quality, you want to read Naruto.

One of the best manga out there, and getting deserved praise and attention!!!
Many people somewhat consider it overrated or point out flaws which basically, aren't flaws in my opinion, so let's get it to pieces (Review by the way follows up to chapter 571)

Story (9/10) | Characters (10/10) from me:
Okay naruto is a shounen manga, with basic shounen ideas, but the world naruto himself lives in, is thought out pretty well, very interesting, with it's own history and culture, political affairs etc.
Naruto starts off about a seemingly annoying little brat who has this need to do bad stuff to get attention and honestly I didn't like him at first, but as the manga goes on, his past is explained, his courage and bravery is shown you start to fall in love with this character... Naruto is not a fairy tale (not a manga lol, just expression) either, it tells a story about a harsh, ignorant society, which hates something it created itself... it's a story about two lonely guys, who are complete opposites but become friends afterwords, only to turn into each others enemies due to many factors...
but this is not Manga just about Naruto and Sasuke, it has a lot of characters in Part I who develop and have their own stories, very interesting ones as well, so here comes the first flaw everybody is talking about - the fact that they're ignored in Part II...
now let's take One Piece for example (love that one as well for the record) when in One Piece they move from one island to another, they leave crap load of characters behind, who rarely appear afterwords, but nobody complains because it's an adventure... something like that happens in Naruto as well, you should consider that author has told everything he wanted about the characters in Part I, that's why he's not using them in Part II, but many people have hard time dealing with this... this after all, doesn't mean Naruto has no more good characters, but rather Kishimoto moves to another group of new complex and interesting characters, a group named Akatsuki and tells about them for a long time in Part II... for me these new characters are way more interesting... and some old ones are involved too, but not everyone, you could say by this point only 2 or 3 out of Konoha 11 have actual development and screen time... and just like that, when Kishimoto is done with most of the Akatsuki, he moves to another group of new characters (to other Kage's and his guardians, to their history and tales)... so story is progressing and offering many new characters, I think author is doing right not to stick with ones he introduced in first part.
Apart from characters, story is getting more and more complex, and darker as well, not many PG-13 shounen mangas, would dare to give one of the side-characters chance for revenge, which he will take without any kind of hesitation and destroy his enemy completely without "Revenge is a bad thing" type of talk (Reference to Shikamaru vs Hidan), or rarely you would see that one of the main characters (Uchiha Sasuke) which you're driven to like for first 200 chapters, turns into a villain and enemy of Naruto... in this sense Naruto is very good...
Now the reason story doesn't get 10 is because this manga had it's own downfalls, one of them being first part of ongoing war, but apparently it's getting better with every chapter!

Art (9/10)
Now one thing everybody has to give Naruto credit for, is it's art and style, everything is detailed and very believable, I love Kshimoto's drawing and the reason why it gets 9 is well because there are other mangas out there with way better art, and it's the most original one as well, good, but nothing phenomenal

Enjoyment 10/10 for me, even with it's flaws in story telling sometimes, for me - it's always about the message author is trying to give us, and it's pretty much always smart enough... I love Naruto, it has a nice balance of humor, action, smartness or philosophy in it... you can just sit and enjoy Reading/ Watching it (though if you're gonna watch, find out about fillers first, you'll need to skip all of them, their number is too damn high)

Overall, as one of my favorite manga alongside One Piece, it gets 10 from me, because even though it has flows, you can't expect it to be Perfect since it's way too big and long to not mistakes... it's about idea and interesting world, tactics and characters depth... Naruto is truly a titan in this industry and it deserves fanbase it has... :)

P.S: if you're gonna read/watch it, know, you should only if you're ready for a LONG, very LONG ride...

Naruto is an excellent series about a 12 year old boy named Naruto Uzumaki who wants to become Hokage, leader of Konaha the Hidden Leaf Village of the Fire Country. The problem for him is, first he is horrible at ninjutsu and has failed the final exam at the ninja academy 3 times which if was not bad enough he is the Jinchuriki (a human vessel), of the Kyuubi, the 9 tails demon fox, that was sealed within him at birth by Minato, who was the 4th Hokage. For this reason he is tormented by the villagers, his classmates and even his teachers. They blame him for the death of their beloved leader. Things change for him in the first episode after Iruka, his sensei at the ninja academy, saves him and shows that he is cared about, and to top things off makes him a ninja.

The first thing I'll mention first about the series is, that its long and feels like it takes forever to answer questions at times. But on a good note, at least unlike some series the many posed questions throughout the series get answered.

There's nothing I hate more in a series than when the characters obtain powers with no explanation. At least you do not have to worry about this in Naruto cause the powers of ninjutsu are almost all explained in the 1st season except for change of nature and elements which is focused on in the 3rd season of part 2.

Character development is great for all the main and main-supports in part 1, but in part 2 it mainly focuses on Naruto and his rival and best friend Sasuke Uchiha. In my opinion I like this in one way cause to be truthfully honest some characters are boring and will never go anywhere. But on the other side some characters I really enjoyed from part one like Neji, Lee, and Chouji are rarely shown in part 2.

The artwork is fairly good. It definately gets better throughout the chapters. Though sometimes I find that later on in part 2 there seems to be some inconsistency problems. The excellent writing though takes this problem away.

Overall I really enjoy reading this manga and would reccommend it to anyone whether you're not into the genre of action or fantasy or even if you're not into manga/anime all that much, because the messages within the story are so inspirational and you can really connect with the characters.

I overall would give this a 9/10.

I don't know why, there's a lot who sees Naruto as a bad manga.. This is my first review as there's so many bad reviews about it.. I actually thought it's one of the best manga, in fact, I thought it's underrated..

(Review from chap 49x) - Spoiler ahead

Story - It's true that Naruto has quite a "normal" plot, that's "rescue his friend" that has been overused in anime (I still find it nice though, lolx - exception for Bleach which used this twice..).. But it has maintained this ever since Sasuke was kidnapped.. What I meant was Naruto has never been out of the plot as he's been trying to bring back Sasuke to Konoha.. Yet they manage to make it interesting with sub arcs related to it.. Like beating with Sasori getting the whereabouts of Orochi.. Then learnt Futon Rasen during Hidan/Kaku's arc to beat Sasuke etc..

Art - I'm not a person who is into art or animation.. But Naruto's art is AT LEAST good, I assure..

Character - Isn't it interesting that you learn Naruto's name comes from Jiraiya's book which based on Nagato (It's like telling you Naruto isn't thaaat main character in the story)? Or maybe why Naruto is wearing orange colour shirt all this while? Isn't it cool that Itachi sacrificed so much for his brother? There's tons of character development still in the manga..

Enjoyment - Since the Hidan/Kaku's arc.. I have always thought Naruto's battle has become more interesting and strategic for JUMP style.. The battles are never boring then.. Then, Kishi even inserted some comedy or heart-warming stuff in between arcs.. It's also such a creative manga, like how the 1-9 tail beasts actually come from the 10-tailed.. It's truly an entertaining manga..

Overall - 10

Note: The 9/10 score is for Vol. 1-27 only. In my opinion, the series drops in quality by a huge amount in the last half and we'd be talking 6-7/10 if I rated Vol. 28 onwards. Naruto is difficult to rate when I love the first half so much...

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Naruto is a name that brings lots of memories to the front of my mind. Many years ago, when I was 14-15 and hadn't watched anime for very long, I was told about this hugely popular title. Being new to anime at the time, discovering I had 60-80 episodes to watch before I'd catch up wasn't a worry; discovering Naruto's a lengthy story actually made me even more eager to catch up. I caught up within a week, finding myself addicted to it, the weekly episodes working as a sort of drug that kept me going until the next episode aired.

...But, sadly, nothing in life lasts forever. The Naruto anime eventually ended up becoming a joke after the first 135 episodes due to the anime evil known as 'filler'; original stories the animation studio come up with when they run out of manga material to animate. Older Naruto anime fans had to endure nearly two years of soul destroying stories, involving cooking ninja, postmen ninja and a Tony the Tiger lookalike. And when the anime finally started to follow the real plot again, a combination of budget cuts and laziness meant it just wasn't enjoyable to watch any more.

After enduring so much, I decided that reading black and white pages to finish the story would be far more enjoyable than continuing to watch the anime adaptation. From that point onwards I've followed the manga instead of the anime weekly, starting from the point where the proper anime story restarted after the two year filler hell. I didn't read the first 250 or so chapters that came before because I already knew the story and reading all those pages would've taken a long, long time.

The volumes themselves are great. For a weekly manga, the art is top class and, unlike in certain other series, it's very easy to follow the action. There are even some pages in-between the chapters used for Kishimoto's (the manga author) personal thoughts, including some interesting information such as who his favourite character is, what manga attempts he made before Naruto, how he let a plant die by doing something silly, etc. His comments are great for Naruto fans who want to know more about the man who created what they love

Naruto's a relatively simple story that steals from other famous shounen (young boy) series, namely Dragon Ball. In Naruto we, the readers, follow a young ninja called Naruto who has a big dream: he wants to become the Hokage; the champion/leader of his ninja village. This dream is not a very likely one when Naruto happens to have the lowest grade his class and be better known for being a trouble maker than being a skilled ninja.

But, unknown even to Naruto, he has something special hidden inside him that sets him apart: Kyuubi (9-tails); the most deadly creature in existence that was sealed inside his newly born body as a last resort by the previous Hokage (at the cost of his life) when the Kyuubi attacked his ninja village (Konoha). Although a law was made preventing any of the adults revealing this afterwards, the adults hated Naruto because they saw him as the Kyuubi in a human form, and their hatred of him spread to their children even without them revealing the reasoning behind their feelings. This resulted in Naruto wanting to be respected, fuelling his dream to become the Hokage.

Using that plot as its base, the story goes on from there, quickly developing by putting Naruto in a team with two other rookie ninja: Uchiha Sasuke (Naruto's skilled rival) and Sakura (the brightest girl ninja, who just so happens to have a crush on Sasuke and hates Naruto). All three are distinctive characters that keep the series interesting with their differences, the dialogue between the three never being dull.

One last plot related matter worth mentioning is the manga/anime differences...or rather, the lack of. Some filler additions and less blood/gore aside, the story you see in Vol. 1-27 (excluding Kakashi Gaiden) and EP1-135 is practically identical. There wouldn't be much point seeing both if you wanted to see changes.

Finally: My overall thoughts about Naruto...

Aside from Naruto having some of the best fights ever, what makes it stand out from the crowd is the diverse cast of likeable characters and absorbing world. All too often with stories you find yourself disconnected, not caring about the supporting cast or surrounding world very much, but Kishimoto somehow managed to create a huge amount of characters and make most enjoyable to pass time watching. The length of the story obviously helped, with Kishimoto having a lot of time to develop the cast, but it was more to do with his ability to create charming characters than anything else.

One of the accusations many throw at Naruto due to its worldwide popularity is that it's too simple. Sure, its story is simplistic and aimed at young/teenage boys, but that doesn't mean it isn't worth the time of adults when the characters receive excellent development and there are adult themes used constantly (Naruto is, after all, set in a world where ninja kill other ninjas). Lots of grown men in their 20s admit to loving Naruto, and that's because it's the sort of story everyone can enjoy. Don't make the mistake of assuming that what's aimed at young boys in Japan is what's aimed at young boys elsewhere in the world - the Japanese aren't as overly protective as people in most other countries.

...Well, I think that's about it. I hope this wall of text helps at least someone!