Ranked #267

Naruto (Manga)

Before you read this. If you don't like manga that takes a long time to finish up plots then this manga isn't for you. If you do then keep reading.

First off, the story is very well written, but as I said before, it takes a long time to finish up a plot. There are enough plot twists to keep you guessing, but I wouldn't say there are a bunch of them. Because of this, the story gets a 9/10. If the plots were sped up by a slight bit, it would be perfect.

Next is the art. This style is perfect for a ninja manga. It shows detail to what's important, not just what's in the panel. I've seen many manga detail every last thing in each panel, which looked nice, but it drew attention away from what's really important. The character design is nothing to scoff at either. 10/10

The characters in this manga are very well thought out. Almost every character either has or will have a backstory. One character has no real backstory until you get to the late 300's. Unlike many manga, everyone has a unique look and personality. There are very few exceptions to this i.e. Rock Lee and Gai.

To put it simply. I like this manga for what it is. My only concern is the speed of the storyline. Personally, I'd give it a 9.5/10. I hope you found this review helpful. read more

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. read more

The story is well-written. It's not just the usual shounen manga that's filled with action nonetheless since there are tidbits of angst and drama. Though the target audience of Naruto is usually the male populace, it is not a wonder that it can also captivate the hearts of the females.

Angst, drama and a little bit of romance mixed with action packed adventure is indeed wonderful. No wonder Naruto is sitting at the top spot for years now.

Indeed the story is magnificent since it is unique and captivating. Plus the fact that there are a lot of mysteries waiting to be unveiled makes fans go gaga over it. It's not a wonder how and why this manga has been sitting at the top spot for years now.

The anime is a must-watch while the manga is a must-read. Naruto is, indeed, amazing. read more

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. read more

So this is my first review, So please bare with me and some of the mistakes i make.

STORY:5
So Naruto Starts off with a Boy who had a demon sealed inside of him (Naruto). Narutos dream is to become The Hokage of his village, and by doing so he trains and goes on missions the Hokage assign him too. The series starts off with him meeting his Team. (Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke) So the first arc is the bridge builder arc (i don't know the exact name of the arc) there just trying to keep the bridge builder safe from assassins and what not. Make a long story short. Naruto and Sasuke fought Haku inside some ice prison no one was able to escape from, Sasuke saves Naruto and then Naruto goes berserk. (because he thought Sasuke died but he just fainted from exhaustion) Naruto Punches Haku out of the ice chamber and then Haku and naruto talks for a bit then Haku realizes Zabuza is in trouble so he saves him from Kakashis Chidori then Haku Dies. In a way you felt bad for him. thin with him dead Zabuza attacks the guy who gave him the mission to kill the bridge builder, And then they showed Sakura crying over Sasuke and it made things that much more emotional. but that's just the first arc.

So arc after arc you began to love the series and the characters in it Such as Neji, Gaara, Rock Lee, Shikamaru, Kiba, Sasuke, Temari, Hinata, Sakura and so on. You felt like you were in the story. And this epic arc comes (Rescue Sasuke/Save Sasuke Arc) And it was done so well Many characters got there spot light he didn't half ass any of the fights and it was fun to watch/read. and then the epic showdown between Naruto and Sasuke. this is a pretty was good on so many lvl one of the best in the series if not the best. They Utilized there most if not all of there Techniques and it was brilliant for manga and just the series itself. Then the time Skip came around

With the time Skip I was Hopeing for alot out of it because he gave us such great stuff during the first half of the series. Fast forward to Save Sasuke arc. (again) Naruto Is determine to find Sasuke and bring him back from Orochimarus clutches So they go on this mission with there new found teammate Sai. So they move about finding clues on Sasuke what. So they eventually find him and he attacks them. (tries to kill them is more the word.) then Orochimaru stops him then they part ways. Then after this arc they do an arc with Team 10 which wasn't so bad but i wont be getting into this arc. As soon as team 10 arc ends We get a view of Sasuke & Orochimaru in a battle field and here is were it goes down hill.

The Story becomes wrapped around like Sasuke. and Sasuke only. it was cool to see Him since he hardly got any screen time aside from the fight with the newly found team 7. So now the story is about Sasuke and "REVENGE" literally go read the latest chapters. Sasuke in the center of attention and many other characters we saw a good amount of prior time skip is Basically non existent. and the Narutos new found goal is to bring Sasuke back.

Art: 5
When a mangaka artist forgets to shade stuff in things began to look like a coloring book. There's nothing to over the top, breath taking, Jaw dropping about the art here. its not bad by any means but its not GREAT.

Characters: 6
When you first start the series you grow attached to the characters some more than others but when you actually notice what the author is doing there's nothing great about these characters. there just the same or very one dimensional example an isolated child feels alone in the world its a good idea if done correctly with one or two characters in the entire show, but many of the characters has the same past in this manga either everyone made fun of them there entire village was destroyed or a combination of the two. Naurto: Made fun of as a kid and no one liked him and now he wants to give everyone the finger by proving he's the best. Gaara Made fun of as a child no one wanted to be around him and had no friends. i think you get the point. and the reason for Sakura and Ino becoming rivals is just nonsense they like the same boy so now they must compete.

Enjoyment: 6
The First part of Naruto is whats saving this score from being a 5. Though I'm not sure if i would ever rate anything under a 5.

Overall: 6
This series could of been so much more Cool characters Cool concepts Like Special eye abilities & the tailed beast which should of played a bigger role in the story. This story could of been much better if he thought about some things instead of just throwing out chapter after chapter.

There's more things i want to talk about but this review has went on long enough.

Thanks for reading XD read more

I got hooked on this manga when I was 10. It had been recomended to me by some of my friends who liked it alot. Anyways, I thought that it was very detailed for a manga(it isnt really, BTW) I loved it when I first saw it. I was obsessed with it. I mean, I had never seen any kind of anime or manga before, so it was so great and original to me. I loved the series until I was around 12 and a half. Since then, I have been begining to discover that Naruto isnt all that great and many manga and anime have all that it has and more, and am only now begining to read different ones. Anyways, The concept of this show isn't that hard to follow. It's an alternate world where ninjas live. The ninjas fight by using various skills, and they have this power flowing inside of them called chakra. Chakra is used to perform powerful attacks which (usually) belongs to either of the five traditional elements of earth, fire, water, air and lightning. Of course, since they are ninjas, they fight with weapons like shuriken and kunai as well as hand-to-hand combat. As expected of this kind of world, there's evil people, having different goals and reasons behind their evil. The story follows Naruto, a ninja in training who carries the Kyuubi and hopes to earn the respect of the villagers some day. It was a concept that interested me, alot. But...the story wasent really as great as the concept. Sure, I felt for some of the characters, some of them had some really sad and well thought out backgrounds. But that started to annoy me when they kept repeated it over and over(like with Sasuke and his dream to kill Itachi). And then they didnt know what to do to keep the series going, so we were introduced to the world of filler. And they were the most ridiculous fillers. I mean, some animes can have good fillers but these were just stupid and pointless. And by now, Im starting to get a little disapointed. read more

Note: This review was created for the recently released Vol. 1-27 box set. I'm posting it here because, as you can probably guess by its length, it covers more than just a brief description of the box and what's inside. :)

Note 2: 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.

Now, as a Naruto fan, I'm sure you can imagine my joy a few weeks ago when I discovered a new Naruto Vol. 1-27 box set was just around the corner, it containing all the chapters I hadn't read. After being impressed with the box art images, I was fast to order when I saw that a store were selling it for £60; £2.23 per volume AND with a box to hold all 27 volumes - A bargain if there ever was one for an American import.

When it arrived a few days after ordering my initial reaction wasn't pure joy. The box my set was packaged in (which had been used for both the journey from America and to me) had some damage to a corner and, sure enough, one of the corners of the set inside had taken a nasty knock. My anger was cooled by the store I purchased it from offering me a £18 refund on the day the set arrived, which I was quick to accept when the damage wasn't THAT bad and the volumes inside hadn't been damaged. I suppose it's hard not for such a heavy set to get damaged in some way when it travels such a long way...

Forgetting about the damage, the box looks fantastic. On the front is a large image of Naruto (green background), on the right side is an odd(ish) looking image of Sasuke (orange background), on the left is a cute image of Sakura (yellow background) and the back of the box has a cool looking shot of a huge chunk of the cast together. Although it would've been nice to see the Vol. 26-27 cover art used instead, I can't see any Naruto fan disliking the box art; most I'm sure would be very satisfied. It's also worth mentioning that the set has a small handle on the top that allows you to move it around with ease.

The box opens by pulling the right-hand side, that side being held by three velcro circles. Once inside, the 27 volumes are stacked on two blue shelves, with a small double-sided poster and booklet also included. Let me tell you, it's very pleasing on the eye for a Naruto fan to open the box and see the spines of 27 volumes, knowing they contain the best section of the Naruto story.

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.

Overall, this set is truly wonderful and was created for fans who want to own the first half of the series in style. The only problem is the risk of it arriving damaged. You'd have to be a pretty damn lucky person for it not to have received at least some damage along the way.

Moving on, with my brief Naruto history and box description covered, I'm going to try to quickly describe the actual story and express my feelings about it a little more.

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 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! read more

The legendary Naruto. Naruto is the famous manga (including the anime adaption), probably the most famous on in the world at the moment. I heard aobut Naruto from my friend, and I first started watching anime. When I catched up with anime (that was about 60th episode of Shippuuden at that moment), I've read all of the manga in just few days, and now I'm up to date with manga wince chapter 400 or something.

--- Story --- 7 ---
The main story, all the thing about Jinchuuriki, Bijus, Akatuski, is pretty decent story itself. However, looks like Kishimoto (the writer of the Naruto manga) felt the glory of hving the most popular manga in the world, and now he doesn't want to end the story, he keeps more and more complicated things coming, more enemies, more plot twists... Which isn't the best idea. 460+ chapters is way too much for anybody. To be honest, I'm not really fan of Naruto anymore, but I'd simply feel bad dropping Naruto because I've watched and read so much that if I dropped it, then my effort to read so much would be meaningless. Naruto is dragging away from the story and I don't like it. But, as I said, it's good concept, so I'm giving it seven outta ten.

--- Art --- 10 ---
Kishimoto's done some pretty good job with art, I must tell that. Though it was kinda crappy at some chapters, it's pretty good. Though I'd give him advice to draw fighing scenes and action scenes a bit better, too much actionish likes all arond the frame and all over the characters are making it be kinda fussy, and, to be honest, I never really understand the fighting scenes all that well, but it's not much to pay attention, right?

--- Character --- 7 ---
Too. Much. Charactes. I guess Characters and Story are pretty linked with each other and I can't separate them. Longer story is, more characters there are and it's hard to pay attention to each character separatelly, which means very weak character development. However, I enjoyed looking and comparing characters before and after the time skip. (Anime production screwed up with anime, separating it into two animes, "Naruto" and "Naruto Shippuuden" - it's all freakin' one anime).

-- Enjoyment --- 6 ---
If Kishi could put the story in 300 chapters, I would adore the manga. 460+ chapters is a killer. How can I enjoy the manga which I m going to read as 80-year-old geezer with stick, running around the hose with Naruto's cosplay and doing Rasengans at neighbour's dog?

--- Overall --- 6 ---
Even if the Art was awesome, that's not increasing my opinion about the manga at all. Manga is overrated, that's for sure. The fact it's incrediblly long doesn't mean the story is awesome at all. I feel bad for telling this about pretty good manga, but if there was an end for the manga, I would adore it.

Kishimoto, end the manga already before it becoms too late. read more

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. read more

Years and years ago a magazine called Shounen Jump came out in America. A lot of kids went wild over so many manga in one place, it was like a dream of sorts. Many interesting manga were in Shounen Jump like Yu-Gi-Oh and Dragon Ball Z which was put on air in America so there was some familiar faces and hopefully more to add to the memories. One manga that caught my eye was a little manga by the name of Naruto.

At first Naruto seemed like a very interesting manga. I mean what more could you want? It's got Ninjas! But as the story progressed I realized that not even ninjas could save a dieing storyline.

In the beginning Naruto had some promise of an interesting story. An ambitious ninja who wanted nothing more then to be the head of the village. It would be no easy walk in the park so he would have to train hard and learn lots of new moves to be on top of the game.

As the story progressed I noticed that the protagonist had really only learned a few basic moves after long periods of training. I also noticed that there were far more interesting characters who deserved spotlight. Rock Lee: A determined young martial artist who trained day in and out trying to keep up with a natural born genius of the Hyuuga clan who fought against what potently are magicians with his bare hands. How cool is that! Nara Shikamaru: A overall pure genius that is to lazy to give a damn that he is a genius. Aburame Shino: A mysterious young man who uses bugs to fight.

Just like in the manga and I quote "Your not the kind of person that could be the main character in a manga Naruto". They should have stuck with that in the rough draft of the story.

In my eyes story of Naruto tries to tell us to stay determined and if we work hard enough we can achieve anything. I do believe that is a good message, but all I have learned from the character Naruto is that if I tap into my dark side I won't have to do any real work.

The manga itself was good up until the naruto shippuden where things just started to get worse.

Not that I care for looks but the artwork did get somewhat less detailed later on in the story. To some this is a critical aspect of the manga.

The storyline from there only started to got sillier as the manga revolved around Naruto and Naruto alone.

I would like to say more but I want to make this a quick little review with as little spoilers as possible. Long story short: Naruto needs a new main character and more spotlight on the support characters.

overall rating
7/10 read more