Naruto

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This pilot gave me a whole new appreciation for Naruto. Why? Because, I still dislike it, but it could have been so much worse. I thought Naruto had too much immature comedy, but in this pilot there are two instances of scatological humor within the first two pages.The art is just awful and the character designs are absolutely butchered. Naruto is not only annoying, as he was in the eventual main series, but he is also a complete dickbag. The "power of friendship" is promoted from one of the main themes to being the entire freakin point. All of the characters are idiots. They're also ... one-dimensional, but I guess that goes without saying. Anyway, the Hokage (NINJA MASTER BELIEVE IT) spares a clear homicidal threat, police officers assume that a murderer would take a nap at a crime scene, they let criminals switch-out who's going to jail, and some dude trusts a weird fox-boy's sense of smell enough to try to kill him. To make matters worse, the redeeming world-building in Naruto is absent here and Ninja shit is clumsily mixed with a more modern setting. Needless to say, it was not enjoyable for me, and it would be even less enjoyable or productive for actual fans of the series.


Do you want to see Naruto chase art thieves and pee on people instead of have a crush on his creepy emo friend? Then this one-shot is for you, I guess. Weirdo... It was horrible, though, to the extent where even Naruto fanboys hate it and I, the biggest hater ever, was forced to raise my score of Naruto by two points.

This is a very different story compared to the Naruto we all know and i agree with SaintsKoi, I like the changes in the current one compared to the story this presents. Naruto is the same goofball as ever but he's a demon's child instead of a child with a demon suppressed inside. The Kage is a Chief and his design is terrible compared to the mainstream manga.

Art is visually similar to the mainstream manga and the characters are pretty similar as well so they get an average score from me. If you're a Naruto fan this is one chapter you must read.

Story:
Naruto's prototype is very barren but still quite enjoyable. It's a stand-alone work with no credence to the actual narrative of Naruto but it's a fun way to see what could have been. What if Naruto was more modern? What if not everyone was a ninja? What if demons and humans lived together? There's definitely some tropes here that could have gone into detail that aren't primarily used in Naruto's standard narrative, and that's okay. This work is it's own body, and it's actually pretty decent.

The pacing of each page and the paneling of everything is pretty solid, but the narrative itself is just a ... simple mystery story that doesn't get into very much detail. There isn't anything big about the end 'surprise,' and the characters themselves are just enough to help do the job needed. 'Sufficient' is a great word to describe how this prototype functions. It did its job in giving the mangaka somewhere to start, and I'd argue that this is a really great start.


Art:
I'm a sucker for hand-drawn work, and as a one-shot prototype, this looks pretty great. I was impressed by some of the landscape panels and disappointed when the manga become mostly indoors. I understand it takes a lot of time to draw out certain aspects of a world and setting, but it doesn't mean it can't be done. Some panels don't even have backgrounds, reserving themselves to cross-hatched shading. There are a lot of manga that forsake backgrounds to certain panels but when things are indoors, I don't see why a simple table and chair in the background couldn't have been implemented.

The characters look pretty good and their expressions look believable. There isn't any uncanny valley junk going on, but you can tell there wasn't much done when it came to editing. Some lines looked a little off here and there and it made some scenes look bulbous for a few characters, to say the least.


Character:
I think I mentioned this briefly in the story section but I'll say it again: The characters are the bare minimum. They do their job, and I felt they did it well. I was connected in so far as I needed to be to get the point across, and I think that made things pretty fun. It's very short so that in itself meant it had to do just enough to make it worth your time, and I feel it did just that.


Enjoyment:
Actually, really quite enjoyable. I didn't realize I was at the end when I got to the last page. Not out of surprise, but because time went by so fast. I was pretty focused on the story as it were, and that made things go by very swiftly. I also find it super fun to see where a mangaka was when things first started out. I'm a huge fan of the cutting-room floor, and seeing what gets in and gets out when a work is complete is very exciting to me. It's like opening a time-capsule for a story except this capsule is from an alternate, unfinished dimension. Pretty neat.


((If you liked this review, check out my other reviews by going to my profile and clicking the 'reviews' tab. I review virtually all anime and manga I find!))

Alright, this also my first review so yeah... here I GO! I see not many people actually like this one-shot, haha I enjoyed very much!

Story 6/10

The story is meh, him being the child of the Demon fox makes sense but it just doesn't sit right with me.

I like friendship lesson and how it got trust involved.

Also HOLY S*** THERE ARE GUNS IN THIS THING?!

... Art 6/10

I can't be too harsh on Kishi... He was only starting out so of course so his character designs and backgrounds will not be clear.

He knew how to do perspective which was great but there is too much white going on and his lines are not crisp... not sure if it was done due to the age of the one-shot or the scan I have here but the backgrounds look rushed.

Character design is till a little bit sloppy, Naruto the main character looked out of place compared to the rest of the characters in the mountain (Konoha/ MT. Onari) and the city... Yeah, I don't like the city concept either I prefer the village for sure.

Character 9/10

It may be because I love asshole characters BUT! If Naruto was going to be a rebel... why not go full out on it? His swearing and making chaos in the village because of his mischief tendencies, I would love for shonen to somewhat unlikeable at the beginning but also seeing their point of view on the world.

Him effortlessly shapeshifting also makes sense, since he was in this Pilot a Kitsune and used his shapeshifting for evil deeds.

Him learning about friend-ship... in my opinion, it could be better done but it's a good concept instead of him to have this natural ability of making friends naturally.

Enjoyment 8/10

I like immature jokes what can I say? it fit his character in the one-shot and the underage drinking? Hell, why not?! Maybe not the greatest example but he wasn't a great example in the first place so pushing these boundaries was a good idea in my opinion... (This version of the manga would not have survived in the modern-day but it sure would be f****** fun hue hue maybe it would have been more of a Seinen then a Shōnen)

I guess it's my guilty pleasure? I love asshole characters and this Naruto was just great and as you know the jokes but then it comes the one 'so bad is so good' aspect. The art is kinda iffy to the point it's actually funny to look at because of how the anatomy is WACK and this sorta invested me in the story which the middle part was kinda boring its self and the ending serves as a wake-up call.

Overall 7/10

There are some amazing concepts and I especially like his character but as I said he would only work for a different manga with the immature jokes, definitely not Shonen.

But I liked it, I loved seeing one of favourite mangaka's work and how he started.