Naruto is a bit of a paradox in anime. It's pretty rare for a series to be as consistently bashed by experienced anime viewers. However, I doubt that there is another series that has been more commercially successful internationally and has helped grow anime viewership in the west than Naruto. Despite the hatred it receives from the astute critics and connoisseurs of anime, even the majority of today's anime elitists in the west are probably anime fans as a direct or indirect result of this show's influence whether they admit it or not. Further, it still has among the largest and most dedicated fanbases out there. In that sense, it's like the Metallica of anime; hated by the die-hard fans, but extremely commercially popular and the reason most metal fans are metal fans in the first place.
Naruto is set in a universe in which Ninja possess mystical and spiritual powers. It is set primarily in Konoha, or the Hidden Leaf Village, and follows the life of Naruto, a young Leaf Shinobi who is hated by the entire village as he is the vessel for a spiritual monster who once attacked the village, as he seeks to overcome his low social position in the village and turn into an elite ninja, in fact the leader of his village. The plot also focuses on Sasuke, Naruto's best friend and rival, who comes from a prominent family in the village that was killed off by his brother, is widely perceived as the best and most popular student, who seeks revenge on his brother for murdering his clan and (minor spoiler) turns towards the dark side as he seeks his revenge.
Right off the bat, you see the potential for an extremely good plot. We have a bildungsroman in Naruto about overcoming one's social position and starting point in life through free will and hard work, essentially avoiding Sartrean bad faith if you will. Sasuke is used as a foil to Naruto, starting from the opposite position yet is eaten up by hatred and need for revenge. All this set in a compelling universe drawing richly off of Japanese history and mythology with a very large cast of likeable characters.
At least, that's what Naruto could have been. Unfortunately, the great potential for this show's concept is absolutely wasted with poor execution and we are beaten over the head that accomplishes almost nothing thematically or narratively in 220 episodes. Instead of the plot I laid out above, Naruto's main conflict is resolved, or perhaps more accurately dissolved, in the first couple dozen episodes as he's pretty quickly accepted by those around him. Naruto's motivation then becomes becoming stronger because...well, no reason. Instead, all we get is continuous cliche shounen dialogue from Naruto (and almost every other character, for that matter) about how he must "work hard and become stronger" at almost every moment where the show tries (and ultimately fails) to conjure up some meaning and emotion. Naruto’s motivations become almost exactly what was being satarized in the film Rubber: “no reason.” Rather than relating Sasuke's plot to Naruto's main struggle, Sasuke's plight (which, in many ways, is extremely superior to Naruto's) becomes a sort of side plot to Naruto's training.
That said, there are certainly some moments where Naruto lives up to its potential. For example, the climax of the Konoha Crush, particularly the development of Gaara's character, was fairly well done, if dragged out far too long. And the Sasuke Chase arc, particularly the climax battle just before the filler arc, was riveting and developed each of the major characters fairly well. However, just after Sasuke's plot climaxes--the show just completely drops any semblance of plot. For almost 100 episodes, there is absolutely no development (with the possible exception of Gaara in the last serial "Village of Artisans") on any of the threads developed in the first half of the show, it is literally all filler. Normally, I'm quite a fan of shows with a ton of "filler" as it provides room for deeper character development, the introduction of minor characters who may play a role later, an opportunity to develop an aesthetic atmosphere, and a better emotional connection between viewers and characters. Examples of this done very well is the early bits of Fullmetal Alchemist, most of Samuari Champloo, and some of the middle parts of Monster. However, Naruto accomplishes almost none of this in the infamous "filler arc." With few exceptions, almost none of the already lackluster characters are developed further. Far too much time is spent on developing the backstories of side characters who have absolutely no connection to the main plot or, worse yet, on childish comic relief episodes that contribute absolutely nothing at all to the show, and in fact detract from it because they're not only a waste of time but mostly horribly unfunny.
Speaking of lackluster characters, Naruto falls apart in this department. For a plot that tries to be a bildungsroman, Naruto himself is absolutely static, flat, one-dimensional, and is perhaps the worst character in the entire series. Almost every character is identical thematically; they have experienced some major loss of a loved one in the past that is explained far too slowly in a series of long-wound out flashbacks or far too quickly through contrived dialogue in the middle of battle (because when one is fighting, it's obvious that everyone tells their entire life story), and all their motivations and behaviors are completely traced back to this one incident. Almost every major character is a clone of Naruto in terms of motivation, just wanting to be the "strongest" for no apparent reason. Additionally, almost every major character is just a cliche copy of your typical Shounen stock characters. Finally, the antagonists--especially the main antagonist, Orochimaru--are simply awful; their motivations are either explained by a backstory that is identical to every other, or not explained at all.
There are three main exceptions, Gaara, Sasuke, and Neji. Let me explain why, though I might have some minor, vague spoilers in my justification. Those characters are all fairly dynamic, thematically engaging, and have motivations that actually have something to do with their backstories beyond "I just lost someone I love." In Gaara's case, we find someone who learns human empathy and acts (or at least would act if they did a better job with Naruto) as a foil to Naruto's demon within in connection to a back story in which his concept of human empathy is destroyed by the blind hatred and loss of the person he loves the most. In Neji's case, we see someone who learns the value of free will in connection to his backstory revolving around his place in a rigid social hierarchy, with also somewhat of a foil to Naruto. And in Sasuke's case, a character who slowly turns darker and darker in his quest for revenge (although, as I mentioned, his characterization is ultimately dropped and left incomplete), though despite his prominence in the main plot is far too thematically disconnected from Naruto. Those three characters have really good depth and showcase the best of what Naruto has to offer. There’s also one minor exception: Menma, who is arguably the best character in the entire series, a character who has an entirely different type of backstory and who appears only in three episodes at the very end of the series, but I will not explain more in the interest of avoiding spoilers.
Despite how poorly the characters are written, for some reason almost all of the major cast is very likable and addicting to watch. Even though the characters are poor in a literary sense, there is some reason I just can't quite explain why I can't completely dismiss Naruto's characters. There's a sense in which one has a sense of nostalgia for characters like Shikamaru, Hinata, Shino, and Rock Lee when they aren't on screen, even if they aren't the best-written characters. Maybe it's in the way their movements are animated, or the fact that they are just similar enough that they remind you of better-written characters in other animes in subtle ways without being too cliche, or maybe because they do have fairly entertaining personalities and various idiosyncrasies. However, even the poorly written characters add to the enjoyability of the series.
Arguably other than the poorly executed and clunkily prolongated plot, the art is the worst feature of this anime. I do not mean necessarily the animation, though I will have more to say about this below, I am talking about the cinematography: directing style, dialogue, camera angles, and other artistic decisions that can often make or break a series. Even though the plot is so poorly executed and I've given it a lower score than the art (I consider cinematography a part of the art score even though most people think art refers primarily to animation, I think MAL should have a directing score), I would venture to say that the cinematography is the thing that primarily destroys Naruto's quality. It features all the standard tropes of mediocre Shounen anime that makes mediocre Shounens, well, mediocre: long-drawn out battles that are so slowly progressed they're tedious; unrealistic dialogue in the middle of fighting; poor, childish attempts at comedy thrown in at the worst times; repetitious jokes that became unfunny about the third time they were told (we get it, Jariaya’s a pervert, Koji is fat, and Kakashi likes romance novels); cliche camera angles like zooming in on a character’s eye randomly during an emotional moment, zooming in on the face during a thought/aside, or doing an angled pan shot over a battle scene during an unnecessary bit of dialogue; and extremely long flashbacks either to another identical tragic backstory to a trivial character or to events that literally happened two or three episodes ago.
Speaking of dialogue, Naruto is almost laughably bad in this respect. If you hate your liver, take a shot every time some character's only line is the name of another character for no good reason, or every time someone says some variation of "I'll train harder"/"I need to become stronger;" or anytime someone screams out the name of whatever fighting move they're using, or every time there's some variation of "I'm going to beat you"/"I'm gonna bring you down"/"There's no way you can beat me"/another similar cliche line that a dumb jock would utter during a sporting event. But the worst aspect of dialogue, which is more generally a problem in most shounen anime, is the way every single battle tactic is spoon-fed to the viewer through unrealistic dialogue thrown in the middle of a battle, the same way that every character's motivation is completely spoon-fed to the viewer--down to the point that if there's any tension in relationship to a character, five minutes are wasted on a flashback to scenes we've already seen before. I would expect a show about ninja to convey an atmosphere of mystery; but instead, you're continually patronized by contrived, spoon-fed explanations and dialogue.
Despite my problems with the cinemetography and writing, the reason why I still don't think the art deserves a lower score is because the animation is not all bad. There are a couple slipshod moments early on in the series, and it's certainly nothing to write home about, but it's far from the worst animation I've seen. I'm generally not a fan of Studio Pierrot's style (see how they ruined the second season of Legend of Korra), but something about it is fitting for Naruto's atmosphere.
The sound is also adequate in Naruto. The Japanese cast is mostly fairly good, though a few of them sound somewhat cliche. I'm ashamed to admit I watched most of this show in the English dub (simply because it's so long and I wanted to multitask a little while watching); though it's far from the worst dub out there, in fact I'd say the acting is fairly decent (maybe not the translations, I’ll defer to Japanese speakers on that), it's not as good as what I've seen from the sub. The soundtrack is also fairly nice; there are a few tracks, particularly the tribal sounding one and some of the more J-pop sounding ones, that are campy and cliche, but it generally enhances OST generally enhances the anime fairly well. Like most anime of this length, it could have benefited from more tracks on the OST as it gets fairly repetitive and predictable near the end. However, there are quite a few brilliant sounding tracks in this OST; particularly some of the softer variations of the main theme.
With as many deep, deep flaws that I've pointed out, one would expect me to say I did not enjoy this series at all and would not recommend it. But this is not the case. Despite it's flaws aesthetically and even though I intellectually bash it as a critic, as a simple fan there's something deeply enjoyable about Naruto. I'll admit this was my first exposure to anime as a child as I watched the dub come out as it was released in the States, but there's something more to my enjoyment of this anime than childhood nostalgia. Though there are too many battles and they are far too long-drawn out, something should be said for Naruto's battle scenes in that they are effectively used as a storytelling mechanism rather than a device to accomplish as much action as possible, as happens all to often in Shounen anime (eg., Code Geass R2). Additionally, sometimes the strategy involved in the battles is fascinating, especially if Shikamaru's involved. The plot in the first half also isn't a complete loss as it is at least entertaining, if poorly executed.
Even the much-bashed filler arc is still enjoyable to watch; there are quite a few standout serials that do develop the characters well, such as Hinata in the search for the Beatle, Kurenai-sensai in Yakumo's serial, and Gaara in the Village of Painters. There are also a few serials that stand out as just being plain good stories, such as the Gosunkugi, the Star Village mission, and the search for Menma's memory (which was my favorite part of the entire series). There's also something to be said, at least in some of the serials, for the atmosphere created by the episodic nature of the filler arc. Some of my favorite anime are episodic atmospheric series such as Mushishi and there's a sense in which Naruto's filler arc is similar, if vastly inferior in quality. In fact, I'm the first to defend an anime that lets plot take the back seat and focuses on character development and atmosphere, such as Mushishi, Hotarubi no Mori E, Hotaru no Haka, or Sword of the Stranger. This style is an accurate reflection of the Noh tradition in Japanese theater and a refreshing escape from the over-domination of plot in western storytelling that we've inherited from Aristotle. If Naruto had been episodic from the beginning and had executed its atmosphere better, the filler arc would've been fine and even completely enjoyable; but it was ultimately a letdown after the first half which was extremely plot-based and was ruined by poor attempts at humor.
To sum up, despite all its flaws, it is easy to see why Naruto is among the most popular anime out there, especially among younger viewers and I still thoroughly enjoy it. It's an easy watch, highly entertaining, fairly easy to pick up in the middle (which makes it perfect for Cartoon Network's clientele), and the characters are very likable if bad in a literary sense. If you have the time to dedicate to it (and at 220 episodes, it is quite an investment) I'd say it's worth watching. And everybody should watch the three-episode Menma serial if nothing else, which works great as a stand alone. But definitely, don't expect anything profound or stellar out of this anime, and be prepared to be vexed by its campy dialogue and awful cinematography.
Overview:
Story: 1/10
Art: 3/10
Sound: 6/10
Character: 5/10
Enjoyment: 8/10
Overall: 5/10
