Naruto

To be honest, Naruto is the most overhyped show in existence. Everyone goes on and on and on about how great it is; and my expectations for this show was equally high. However, I was really, really let down. Really. This wasn't the best show ever, as I had thought it would be. Don't get me wrong, the show is enjoyable, but it's definitely not among the best shows out there. I hope Shippuden will better than this... much better.

The concept of this show isn't that hard to follow. It's an alternate world in which 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, one of these ninjas, as he grow as a ninja, from being a stupid little prank-playing brat to becoming a fine ninja. Along the way, he interacts with and makes friends with many fellow ninja, fighting his way towards his dream of becoming Hokage (the leader of his village).

The story isn't nearly as good as the concept would indicate. Sure, a lot of the characters has some nice background stories, won't complain about that, but they manage to drag out everything so much. It really annoys me. Some fights take several episodes when they could've been done them just as good in one or two. There's also way too much fighting. The story goes like fight, fight, background story, fight, fight, even more fight, half an episode's worth of resting or journeying, fight, fight, and so on. I mean, it's cool to watch fights, but there are just way too many fights, and they drag most of them out to unnecessary lengths. The only really enjoyable fight was the one between Sasuke and Naruto right before the fillers began. Which brings up another thing...

Fillers! Agh, I normally don't mind fillers, but Naruto had some really, really stupid ones. Sure, there was the occasional diamond among the charcoal, but that doesn't excuse the high amount of bad fillers. I mean, just because they are fillers doesn't mean that they have to make them bad. Several shows have actually made decent and at the same time long fillers (especially Bleach, with its 40-episode long Bount arc), but Naruto failed horribly here.

Also, I feel that Naruto is very silly at times. Silly is usually good, but not when it's immature silly. And guess what+ Naruto is silly in an immature way. It's so dreadfully stupid at times that I had to close my eyes, take a deep breath and wait until it got serious again. Now, it did have some good comical moments, but those were far and wide between.

Another thing I feel like releasing my rage on is the animation. It barely manages to get the description “average” to me. At its best, it's slightly above average. However, a lot of time it's slipshod galore with the animation. I still have many very bad memories from having to watch lots of errors in the animation, and I'm not sure if I'll ever get rid of those memories. While the amount of errors decreased as the episodes passed by, at least every second episode before the 100s had one or more moments of slipshod animation. Wonder if they ever considered firing the animators.

As a side mention, they should do something about Rock Lee - even though I've slightly gotten used to his horrible looks, I still feel a burn in the back of my eye every time I see him.

The music is pretty good, though. A lot of great tunes (especially the sad ones are great), and the first few OPs and EDs were pretty awesome. It has some really bad music parts too, like the tribal voice-ish song, and sometimes they could've used better themes during the fights. As the series progressed, the quality of the OPs and EDs decrease too.

The characters are fairly okay, I guess. Some of them are really annoying, like Naruto, because he's so stupid. Agh, he annoys me to no end! Some other characters are annoying too, because of things like their looks (Gai and Lee), or because they are failed attempts at comical relief (at least in my eyes, you might find them funny), like the all too perverted Jiraiya.

That's the negative about them. However, they have some really nice background stories, some which are elaborated more upon than others. Many of the characters also get fair amounts of screen time, which for some people can seem too much, whilst others will be content with it, because their favorite character from the show gets an episode for him/herself.

I also like the fact that most of them have dreams or aspirations, and motives for what they are doing and how they are acting (usually it's tied together with their background stories). The growing relationships between them is also nice, their maturing, and how Naruto is slowly getting accepted by more and more people through hard work.

Basically, they've portrayed the characters very well, and not too over the top, but some of them act stupid and silly from time to time, which drags the character rating down.

I have some mixed feelings for the show, which kind of drags down on the enjoyability factor of it. Great concept, not as good story, both good and bad music, horrid animation at times, many characters with background stories, some of them great and some not-so-great; it's hard to completely make up my mind, but I believe the ratings I have given shows my feelings towards the different aspects of the show.

Of course, even though there was things I didn't like, I can easily see why this show is so popular as it is; it has humor that the kids may find funny, as well as lots of fights which appeal to the teenagers and adults. I personally didn't like it that much, though. I'm looking forward to Shippuden, because I’ve heard it was much better… I really hope so!

To 'Not Helpful' voters (and you 'Helpful' voters too): Feedback greatly appreciated =)

I began to browse through the reviews of Naruto, and realized something was horribly wrong. All the experienced anime watchers were giving it crappy reviews, and all the first-timers were giving it rave reviews, with reasons that every anime has to back them up. How could this be? Gee, I wonder. For some strange reason, Naruto has become the most popular and well-known anime series ever, and as such, it is usually the first anime seen by anime watchers alike. Why this is, I don't know. Maybe it appeals to a wide variety of young teenagers...

When I was 13 years old, I remember watching and ... loving this anime. I had never seen any other anime shows, and I thought the concept was original and amazing. When I found out that others animes literally had all that Naruto had plus a lot more, I was... bored with all the fillers. At the time the anime was great, but it really does get old.

Then again, the anime is not absolutely horrible. It has the essentials, with a somewhat unique story and art style. The characters are cliche, and enjoyment is there but short and sweet.

What I truly love about Naruto is the great soundtrack. It seems that all the OP and ED are just fabulous, and the music just fits within the series. I would have liked a bit of a change over the course of the show, but hey, it almost never happens.

All in all, it was a good show. Just good. So basically: Shame on those people who watch 10 episodes and immediately come here and write a review. Also shame on people who give this show all 1's because everyone else loves it. It's OK, but ive definitely seen better.

Naruto, yes Naruto. One of the series that has defined the cultural shonen’s of the last generation in the history of anime. This is a series that has changed significantly over the past decade.

What I love bout naruto is the whole “Ninja aspect” of the show. Every technique had substance, quality and all of the training arcs really shown the defining elements of how ninjutsu worked within the naruto universe. These qualities are something I will soon not forget. I know alot of people complain about naruto being a half ass wit that can’t do nothing Or perhaps sakura being useless. But in away ... I look at the series as being a little different, especially in the developing of characters.

Kishimoto did not intend to create the story with a “bad ass” character right from the start, toppling villains one after the other, no. Naruto was set up in a way that much resembles an ordinary life and the tribulations and tests you must go through. Death is at every corner and naruto is a kid that is trying to fit in with the rest of the shinobi and be "recognized" I think that was one of the main defining elements of the original series. Kishi wanted to show here is a character that no one likes because he has a living breathing monster inside of him. You can only wonder what he is thinking, being in his predicament.

Watching him grow up as a monster and trying to be known as a famous shinobi and protect his friends, but realizing that he is in a world fraught with danger at every corner. Watching his friends die before him or getting hurt. The degree of emotion in the series was something I really enjoyed. It was really powerful. I remember hearing people spout nonsense in the discussions boards "omg to much drama, get on with the fighting already" But I actually liked how naruto had that drama, it fit in with the entire theme of the series. It kind of brings a whole different realism to the show compared to other shonen series. I won’t state any names.

One of the things that kishi really focused on in the original was friendship, and bonds. Thats one of the major theme's watching this team 7 grow up together, learning from kakashi and becoming great ninja in the process, learning the ways of the ninja world. This show explores themes of revenge, hate, bonds and sorrow to a very astounding degree.


The characters in this series were in every sense of the word children, growing up in a world full of adults that were much more talented ninja's both skills and combat. That is not to say the show was made for children. Just that kishi wanted to show the younger generation as the main characters of the show and the older generation as the training shinobi. They had to learn the ropes of what being a ninja is like. After their pre training sessions, they were finally put to the test of just how grueling the world is and how they must use every ounce of there being to survive and also protect the people they love.


10 years ago people viewed naruto very different to how people view it today.

I still consider naruto to be one of my favorite quality anime series, regardless of where it’s going. Perhaps maybe its because im very infatuated with ninja's and like the unique way that kishi has created this ninja world. Similar to how i really love pirates in the one piece world. Every arc is something new and fresh so kishi can develop on that and expand upon the show in various different ways. One piece had some of the greatest character back stories and cast I’ve seen in a series, but it did suffer from story progression a bit thankfully naruto does not. It has a pretty solid pace and some of the most ground breaking plot twists.


I guess it’s all a matter of personal preference and what you like to see in a show. I my self im not a huge fan of typical shonene tropes that are used consistently, but i love how the original series gave us a much more powerful emotional impact to the show. In away it felt more humanized as apposed to the more generic super power elements of shipuuden.

I'm sure most, if not all, the people who end up reading this review have seen Naruto before and those who haven't are probably put off by the pure unadulterated hatred this and the more recent Shippuuden garner. Okay, I guess "unadulterated" is a strong word but I digress..

In any case, before starting this review I want to point out that I haven't read the manga so I'm unsure as to what was or wasn't changed during the process of animating this story and I guess it's time to get the show on the road.

*Also, let it be known that the infamous "Filler Arc" ... is not part of this review.

Naruto is the story of a group of rookie ninja from Konoha (Leaf) Village, with particular focus on our title character Naruto Uzumaki and his two friends Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha. The story starts soon after the three of them graduate from there Ninja Academy and are put under the care of Kakashi Hatake who, for the most part, takes on the standard role of the "mentor" who teaches them the value of teamwork and all that jazz.

The main characters can apparently be hit or miss, though I liked them for the most part. Naruto himself seems to follow in the footsteps of Goku from the Dragon Ball franchise, though I personally don't consider him anywhere near as dense and also don't consider him an "idiot" like most people tend to.

Sakura seems to get the most flack from my experience because, for the most part she plays the "useless female" role. The thing is, she herself realizes that and actively tries to change herself which makes for some interesting scenes down the road.

Sasuke is probably the most intriguing of the main characters, simply because he himself admits that he is only training to "kill a certain man" and he and Naruto clash quite a few times over their belief systems, particularly in the oh so excellent final arc.

As far as Kakashi, there isn't a whole lot to say as he reveals very few nuggets of information about himself. He's a cool guy, but he's very much a supporting character during this series.

But, to be honest, the thing that Naruto can be proud of is the excellent cast of supporting characters. From the intelligent, yet lethargic Shikamaru to the Bruce Lee wanna be Rock Lee it's pretty cool to see all these different characters, who usually have a very interesting and unique fighting style, clash with one another.

It also should be mentioned that a certain villain, Orochimaru, who appears rather frequently is a scene stealer and takes part in some of the more memorable moments of this series. It's also when he appears that the show really takes off and gets interesting, as he is the instigator of some of the biggest plot points. His personality and his willingness to use any and all means to further himself and his power is interesting and very often disturbing.

One thing that is important throughout the series is the running theme of revenge and human relations. Every one, from Gaara to Sasuke to Naruto himself has had some sort of bad experience during their childhood and it seems as though "friendship overcoming tragedy" is maybe the predominate theme throughout the show.

Now this series being a shounen, it's obvious it has pacing flaws here and there. For example, many of the fight scenes are dragged out to an annoying degree. And this is very apparent in the first arc when the characters go through two separate fight scenes that both take at the very least three or four episodes each, which isn't a huge problem if you marathon the series like I did. But, it still deserves mentioning as it is annoying.

The plus side is that most fight scenes, particularly during the Chuunin Exam arc and beyond, are very well animated and just overall well done. The aforementioned Shikamaru for example has some of the more noteworthy scenes because he uses his head, instead of any physical abilities, and his fight scenes are always damn good fun.

But, this also highlights one of the issues I do have with the fight scenes and, even though this is a problem with shounen action anime in general, it's especially bothersome here. The characters have a habit of explaining everything they do to their enemy which would be time better spent actually defeating your opponent rather than telling them your skills. I know it's just so the mangaka can flex his thought process and the logic behind the attacks to the viewer but..it's still kind of tiresome and could certainly be implemented better.

I think the music bears mentioning as I thought it was either great, such as most of the music used during the dramatic scenes and some battle scenes, or forgettable, which is pretty much the rest of the fight scene music.

The Japanese voice actors did a great job imo, especially during some of the more serious scenes. But, I especially got to shout out to the multiple voices for Orochimaru. Of which almost all of them are suitably creepy and, even though they sound different, they still manage to pull off the basic speech patterns.

In Summary:

Story: 7
It takes a while for things to really get going, but once it does you'll notice it. Unfortunately for some, the pacing can sometimes be broken by the short training arcs which are actually pretty entertaining and in many cases are segued in nicely with the story arcs. Also, there is only one short filler arc throughout the first 135 episodes.

Art: 8
First off, it should be apparent from our protagonists conspicuous appearance that, in many ways these guys are ninjas in name only. Still, the appearances of the characters throughout the series are so varied that I, at the very least, didn't care. Animation does take a dip occasionally, however.

Sound: 8
Orochimaru is a plus, no doubt about that. And most of the other cast members have good voice acting, though Rock Lee's can sometimes be grating.. The music is pretty good, though occasionally generic.

Character: 8
Depending on how you take to Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura this could be your favorite part of the series, which is the case for me, or your least favorite, and probably game breaking, aspect of the series as it does depend upon these three for the vast majority of the story . But, I'm sure most people will like the supporting characters as almost all of them are developed to a satisfying degree. Unfortunately, all of them fit the tragic past stereotype so...your mileage may vary. You may want to avoid this series if you aren't a fan of melodrama.

Enjoyment: 9
Hell yeah, I enjoyed this series. I won't lie, I loved this series. But, it certainly isn't for everyone and I can understand quite a few people being frustrated by this shows some times slow, often times fast pacing and some of the more dragged out arcs even frustrated me at times. Also, as I said before, enjoyment largely hinges on whether or not you take to the three main characters or not.

Overall: 8
To sum it up, don't go into Naruto expecting to see the tightest script ever written or anything thought provoking. Just go into it for a fun time and, maybe, you'll be surprised by the well developed characters like I was. Make no mistake, Naruto was a great experience for me..especially because I went into the series expecting it to be terrible and, by the time I realized it wasn't, I was enjoying the ride.

*If you want to make any sort of comment, just drop by my profile. Criticism is welcome as this is my first review in quite a while and I went with a different style than I have in the past. Thanks for reading this review, I hope it helps anyone interested in this series.

ok so I've seen like 200+ series and i have to say that this is one pathetic series. i watched up to shippuden 50. im telling you nothing interesting happens, and like 90% of the series is filler anyway.

the plot is seriously lacking and its a pathetic excuse for a slice of life/action-drama type of show. im writing this for people who legitimately haven't seen the show but the series is just NOT worth the acclaim or watching at all.

the characters are even worse. you have your over-zealous,untalented guy who thinks he can do anything if he tries hard enough. . .and he ... just so happens to get increasingly stronger enemies to fight along the way. than you have your emo broody guy who all the fan girls swoon over while he talks about how much he resents his brother and must AVENGE HIS CLAN! get over it already and last you have your naturally talented good girl who has a crush on the bad boy, even though its obvious he hates her and that the other guy would kill to have her. look people this has been done MILLIONS! of times before so please if you haven't seen the series don't watch it. it will waste days of your life away for nothing. . .literally the series will take up 88 hours of your life! thats over 3 and a half DAYS! you could have been doing something WAY more productive. hell, it doesn't even have to be productive. you could probably have a better time watching paint dry! listen to me people, for gods sake i only watched as far as i did out of obligation to finish a series i started but it wasn't worth it! so PLEASE heed my words and never ever watch this series of overrated garbage!

I've heard a lot of people call this the most overrated anime of all time.

So is it really?

Well, that depends on who you ask. Me? I'm one of the guys who loves it. This is the anime that got me into anime in the first place. So why should you read my review as opposed to the hundred others? Because I'll try to show you both what everyone gripes about and what they love about the show. Bear with me on this review, as it will be a little long, but since the anime I'm reviewing is pretty long, I have a lot to cover.

Story ... (10/10) - Ok, a lot of people gripe about the story of Naruto, saying it's cliche, moves too slowly, isn't interesting, or whatever. I have to admit, some of these complaints are well-founded. So why did I give it a 10/10? Because the story is so complex and well-done. A lot of this won't become obvious until Naruto: Shippudden, but this is a review of the original series, so, I digress.

Naruto is set in a fictional universe where Shinobi (Ninja) are basically the entire cast. Most Shinobi aren't mercenaries, but instead, fight to protect their village, and complete missions to earn money for it. The main character is one such Shinobi, name "Naruto" (hence, the name of the series). Naruto is a rebellious, disrespectful, punk, yet he still wants to become a great ninja. He even aspires to become "Hokage" (the lead ninja of his village). While this may sound pretty cliche, you'll quickly realize that Naruto has a long way to go before he has any hope of becoming Hokage.

This series goes through a lot of twists and turns. The story is too complicated to try to explain in this review, but the further along you go, you'll find that Naruto aspirations aren't easy to live up to. In the very first arc, Naruto and his companions are confronted by a powerful Shinobi who wants to kill the man they have been assigned to protect. The battle that ensued is what got me hooked on this show.

The fights in general are nothing short of brilliant. If you like action, this anime is for you! The battles will have you on the edge of your seat, and you won't be able to stop until you see how the fight is concluded. I also enjoy watching the characters learn new moves and apply them in combat situations. You'll see Naruto change from an annoying little punk, to a ninja who people actually start to respect for his perseverance and strength.

Now, for the things people gripe about in this show. Oftentimes, a fight scene will be interrupted by a flashback or monologue, and this can get dull at times. I didn't mind so much the first time around, but it does hurt the rewatch value a bit. The story can move slowly at times, but most of the slowness is because of how complex the story truly is. The further you go, the deeper you'll see things get.

Another thing people gripe about is the length. While it's true that 220 episodes is quite an undertaking, it's really not necessary to watch more than the first 135 episodes. Yes, you heard me correctly friends. The last 85 episodes of the show are nothing but a desolate wasteland, inhabited by nothing but the pile of vomit known as "filler". I only watched the first 40 episodes of filler before I'd had enough, and skipped on to Shippudden. Some of the filler arcs are truly terrible. You'll sit back and wonder how the creators of the show had the audacity to slap the name "Naruto" to the garbage you've been viewing (if you're brave enough to bother watching it). Hence, my review only covers the non-filler portions of the show. Do yourself a favor and skip the filler. It really isn't worth your time.

Art (7/10) - Here the show isn't as strong. While the art is never distinctly poor, it's also not great either. I suppose at times it can't be helped when making a series as long as this one. The animation is often stepped up for fights, or more intense parts of the show, which does help considerably. The art is at least passable, and I was never really bothered by it. Definitely not a show you watch for the eye-popping scenery, though.

Sound (7/10) - I must say that I really did enjoy the music at first. While it tended to use synthesizers a bit more than I cared for, it still distinctly fit the mood of the show. Some of the battle music was catchy, and managed to combine electric guitar with more traditional sounding string or wind instruments. However, the creators of the show didn't seem to think it was necessary to update their musical score once in awhile. This wouldn't have been a problem if the show wasn't 220 episodes long. Music that I had once enjoyed, began to grow a bit overused by the end of the series. It never grew to the point of bothering me, but had the show gone on much longer before the filler started, I might have thought differently. The music is good, just used for a few too many episodes.

The voice acting was easily good enough for me as well. Not outstanding, but never distinctly bad either. Just don't watch the dubbed version. Naruto's voice alone will be enough to drive you insane.

Character (9/10) - Getting to know the cast can be a bit daunting at first. I've never taken the time to count, but there must be at least 30+ characters who get a decent amount of screen time in this show. While this sounds very cumbersome, it actually helps the show quite a bit. each character has their own unique back story and their own battle techniques. While one might think that ninja from a particular village all use the same techniques, this couldn't be further from the truth. The styles of combat are so diverse, that it makes for some VERY interesting fight sequences. Sometimes one character is at a distinct disadvantage, and is forced to out think his opponent in order to win. If it weren't for the brilliantly done fights and interesting characters, this show would lose a lot of it's value.

There is one drawback to all of these characters, though. Sometimes, a somewhat minor character will have a flashback in the middle of a fight. It does help to have some context for why they fight, but it gets old at times, especially if it's a minor character that no one really cares about. Despite this problem, the show does a good job of somehow making you hate a character in the beginning, and totally changing your opinion of them at one point or another. I can think of several examples of this.

Another problem is that some of the main characters (aka Naruto) are kind of annoying. Naruto is honestly a complete moron in the beginning, and you probably won't like him much at first. He gets better as things go along, but you'll still cringe at him a few times early on. Another annoying character is the lead female: Sakura. Sakura spends the entire series being obsessed with Sasuke (the third member of Naruto and Sakura's three-man team) and never really does anything worthwhile. She spends her time sitting on the sidelines of fights and cheering for Naruto and Sasuke (she gets better in Shippudden, but once again, this isn't a Shippudden review). While this didn't bother me at first, it got kind of annoying when all Sakura could do for the entire series was yell "Sasuke, Sasuke!" But anyway, moving right along. Their sensei, Kakashi, is very calm and cool, and helps to balance out this team of knuckleheads. Naruto's an idiot, Sakura's useless, and Sasuke's a child prodigy, yet somehow, Kakashi turns them into a functional ninja team. An impressive feat, if you ask me.

To sum it up, whatever shortcomings these characters have, you'll still find yourself rooting for them as they are put through fight after fight, trying to protect their village, the people they love, and what they believe in. For every character that annoys you, there will be at least one that you genuinely love. Even though I did a lot of complaining about the three central characters, I still found myself rather attached to them by the end of the series. The characters will do a good job of making you laugh throughout the series, and it helps to lighten the mood when you sometimes least expect it.

As you can see based on the 9/10 I gave the characters, I definitely grew to like them. Despite all the complaints people have, the characters are still very well done.

Enjoyment (10/10) - It's hard to be objective on this part of the review. I enjoyed it tremendously, but there are plenty of people who don't. I'd say give it a chance and see what you think. You'll probably know whether or not you'll like the show after the first arc is finished, which is about 17 episodes.

Overall (10/10)- Were we on a slightly more precise scale, I might give it a 9.5. I've already said that I enjoyed it a lot, but let me try to sum things up for you:

Pros: Lots of action! There are a lot of very well-done fights, which is one of the strongest points of the show. The characters are a good bit better than average, with a few annoying exceptions. The story is long, and complex, but very good.

Cons: It's a long anime. 135 episodes (non-filler) for just the original series is a sizable undertaking. Some of the main characters are a bit on the annoying side, and it takes a few episodes before they grow up a little. The long filler arc at the end also turns people off, especially those who feel compelled to watch an entire anime without skipping the filler.

Hopefully this helps!

Thanks for reading! Feedback appreciated.

Proof that I will watch just about anything, or rather that I once had nothing better to do than watch this crap while waiting for Squidbillies to come on (Unknown Hinson fangirl).

In either case, there are few anime out there that evoke a visceral reaction like Naruto. Sure there is Inuyasha and you can get your eyes clawed out by yaoi fangirls for calling them closet lesbians, but no other anime has started a craze of shut ins wearing orange sweatsuits and headbands to school like Naruto.

See, a uniform code is not just for keeping Crips and Bloods from wearing gang colors to school.

Naruto ... is about a Ninja named Eddie. No, he's named Naruto. He lives in a village where some great Ninja master gave his life to entrap an alien parasite into a carrier queen, I mean a Demon Fox into a baby's body. That baby is Naruto, a completely useless ninja who can summon the great power of the fox within. Think of him like a impish Goku, or maybe Ichigo--I don't know. Anime that go on forever all blend in for me.

What is this all about, well it's the typical drawn out storyboard of characters growing up and becoming ninja. Doing Ninja missions (which are filler episodes) while the story dances around the plot that Sasuke is some talented Ninja with a traitor dick of a brother, some girl called Sakura, some short quiet Rei-clone of a girl whose name escapes me but I keep running into on gelbooru, and a sensei who loves kancho--but in the English dub the delightful Japanese pasttime of poking someone's asshole in a nonsexual way with your index finger is clearly unacceptable and heavily edited.

Honestly there is no plot. Naruto is a loser, but he has a great power and a lot of the show is geared around how he takes a beating but when he unleashes that power, it is maximum. There's some effeminate snake ninja who plots to get revenge on the leaf village, molests Sasuke, gets pwnt only to return over and over again, there's Sakura being split whether to spread her legs for Sasuke or Naruto--but settling for some old woman instead.

This is your typical cliffhanger anime where you watch someone power up or prepare to unleash an ultimate technique for 20 minutes, then are forced to watch a filler episode before you see the obvious, with plot twists usually being mundane like "the ninja training exam has been hijacked, oh noes!" With that said, you'd think with over 200 episodes they could develop the characters, but strangely these kind of anime seem to be unable to do that--instead of relying on stock characters that don't really change over time (well, they can become more moody, evil, or slutty--but that isn't a dramatic and shattering change).

I just have to concede that I don't understand this. And I also have to concede that I don't like this. Good drama and fiction doesn't spread itself so thin, becoming hopelessly lost in itself.

Also, for the love of God, don't dress up as Naruto.

Just don't.

Having watched many different series of anime, I can understand why the "elitest" out there give this series a bad review; however, I can also say they're flat out wrong and biased. Naruto is a fantastic anime that doesn't get due credit where it's deserved.

First off, it's true that the fillers of this anime that take up about the last 1/3 of this Part 1 are flat out terrible. With the exception of the first two arcs (including the amazing Bikouchi retrieval arc) they're probably the worst anime I've ever seen and the fillers in Naruto Shippuden are just as bad. But I think as ... anime watchers, we should recognize fillers when we see them and simply ignore them.

The anime itself is well-done with some of the most memorable tunes you will ever hear. I currently have one of the everyday tunes as my cellphone jingle - it's that catchy. The plot is original and fun, which is why Naruto has taken off to such enormous heights. The characters are all amazing and it's common knowledge that Kakashi and Itachi are two of the most bad-ass characters of all time in any anime. Everyone can find a character to relate to. From the lovable Rock Lee and Hinata to the inpalpable Gaara and Sasuke, we all find something to cheer for or hold onto in this anime, making it addicting.

Those who give this anime a bad review refuse to acknowledge the points that make this one of the greatest and most popular anime of all time. It's their loss. Yu-Gi-Oh was the same way. You accept it or you don't, but if you don't like it, most people will disagree with you, which makes you wrong by consensus.

Try the first 15 episodes and give it an honest try. By the time the Kakashi/Zabuza fight rolls around, you might just get hooked. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Naruto is a hit or miss show. You love it, or you hate it. I mean, how many times have you heard from Narutards calling it "the best anime ever"? How many times have you heard from Naruto haters calling it "the worst anime ever"? Both have ruined the Naruto fan base, so now no one pays attention to Naruto anymore. I hope this review will get at least one person to try Naruto, even if it turns out they don't like it.

The story is basically about the main protagonist, Naruto Uzumaki, and his journey on becoming the greatest ninja in the Hidden Leaf Village. ... No one believes that Naruto can do this, seeing how this is because Naruto is a hooligan due to the loss of his parents at a young age, and how no one is friends with him because Naruto has a kyuubi, or demon fox, sealed inside of him that attacked the Hidden Leaf Village. Naruto isn't officially a ninja yet, so he takes the ninja test. He fails the test by his teacher, Iruka. Later, the other teacher in charge of the Ninja Academy, Mizuki, tells Naruto he can pass the test if he can get the ninja scroll, which is actually a scroll with every ninja jutsu known to man. Mizuki is actually taking the advantage of Naruto to take the scroll and destroy the Hidden Leaf Village. Iruka hears about this, and challenges Mizuki in combat, but is unable to win. Naruto then challenges Mizuki to combat after Iruka loses, even though Mizuki has the advantage, Naruto defeats Mizuki because he studied a technique in the scroll. Naruto is now able to not only clone himself with the jutsu, but able to clone about 100 of himself. Iruka then passes Naruto as a ninja, and is put in squads with Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha, and Kakashi Hatake, the team leader who is the second closest ninja in the whole series. After Naruto is put in squads, the series moves on to arcs, the Zabuza arc, the Chunin Exam arc (which basically every character in the Naruto series is introduced), the Orochimaru arc, the Jiraiya arc, and the Tsunade arc. All those arcs last up to episode 100. Even though Naruto has a basic story, each episode has it's own story to it, making each episode unique in it's own way. I therefore like Naruto's story because of this, which makes episode to episode enjoyable.

The art from Naruto isn't superb, but this probably because the anime was made in 2002. But this is an excuse, because the anime Fruits Basket was made a year before Naruto, and had superb art. The art looks basic, like One Piece and Bleach's art style. Naruto is a ninja anime, but if you couldn't tell already, none of the characters in Naruto look like ninjas. I mean, orange jumpsuits? Have you ever seen a ninja in an orange jumpsuit? Basically none of the characters wear black and cover their face with a mask, except for Kakashi, but that's his personal preference, not because the creator wanted one character to look like a ninja. Even though the art improved throughout the series, the animation still had plainness to it, so therefore I can't give the animation a great score.

The soundtrack that waws in Naruto was pretty good, and it fits in parts where it needed to be. A lot of people don't really enjoy the soundtrack, but I think the composers did a great job on the upbeat themes for combat and sad music for dramatic moments. And the voice acting was good for each character in both dubbed and subbed versions. Naruto has an arrogant whiny voice, Sakura has a self-sufficient bitchy voice, Sasuke has an assholish angry voice, and Kakashi has a leader-type of voice. I would go more on to voice acting of other characters, but there are too many characters to list.

Now on to the characters. There are a lot of good characters in Naruto, but some characters ruin great parts of the show. Naruto is a great main protagonist, who won't stop until he gets what he wants. Kakashi is a great leader, and always puts others before himself. Both Hinata and Neji Hyuuga are great characters for being strongly developed with the story line and courageous, and Tenten for being the closest of a ninja in the anime. Now some of the characters I don't really like. Sakura is bitchy and whiny, all she does is "ADORE" Sasuke, and is a useless ninja. Ino Yamanaka, because she is the most useless character in almost any anime, and Shikamaru Nara, for being boring. Therefore the characters I didn't like didn't necessarily ruin the series, but it sure didn't improve it.

I'm just going to say it, Naruto is one of my favorite animes, and almost my favorite anime series. Even though I didn't give everything a perfect score, there is one thing I can give a 10- enjoyment. I enjoyed almost every single bit of Naruto, all the way to episode 220. Naruto might not be perfect, but to me it was perfect enjoyment.

This has to be one of the worst anime series I've seen, and I've seen 240 anime series. Now that's saying a lot.

Ok now on to some of the things that made it so bad. First is the so called story that's supposed to take place I guess two hundred years ago. Yet they have tv and radio, so when the heck is this anime supposed to take place. Now as for the story which makes no lick of sense to me revolves around Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke on a journey to become the best ninjas. Which wouldn't have ... been so bad had the creators focused on one type of anime instead of over blowing three of them from comedy, drama, action. Just focus one one and have the other two has secondary. Next lets move on to perhaps the worst part of the the show, the characters. I'll focus on Naruto. He is perhaps the most annoying main character I've seen in a anime series. Every episode I watched, I wanted him to die more and more, I couldn't look past him in the show. The other two main characters weren't nearly as bad as him, I might have given a little better score if they got rid of Naruto and focused on Sakura and Sasuke. Ok moving on to the so called action. First it's ridiculous, not very exciting, and drawn out through 2 to 3 episodes. Finally there's the length of the so called series. There's 240 episodes, plus another series, a few movies and some OVAs. I truly believe the creators and the company that own Naruto are just milking pre-teen and young teenagers of their and their parents money. Now don't get me wrong I know studios are trying to make money, but theirs a difference between making money and ripping people off.

So please don't support this show anymore.

Naruto, a lot of the new generations first favorite anime. It was not my first, I am with the last gen with Sailor Moon, DBZ and others. Naruto I started watching around... when it first came out. It was the first of it's kind, it lost spunk near the end, but it really kept you going for the first 135 episodes.

Story:

It was different then most animes, people don't admit it, but it was. It wasn't always about Naruto though, which sometimes made me wonder why Kishimoto called it Naruto. The story follows mainly Team 7 (Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura) and the journeys they have until ... Sasuke starts to split, then it is about getting Sasuke back. The story is good, but reminds me of DBZ at times; too much talking, so the story takes a bit to be told. Despite that fact, the story still kept me interested until Sasuke finally left and then fillers. Those turned me off a bit, but I still finished it. (By the way, Shippuuden [Naruto part 2] is all about getting Sasuke back, if you didn't like that story, then don't bother watching Naruto Shippuuden)

Art:

A bit plan, but I liked how all the characters looked different. They all had different styles and designs to them. Rock Lee looked different from Orochimaru. Each character had distinct personalites to, but I'll get to that. The backgrounds were okay, but some looked great, like the Valley of The End where Naruto and Sasuke fought. I thought that was very interesting and symbolic.

Sound:

If you think of ninja music what do you think of? The music from Naruto. I think they really matched everything when it came to sound. The sound and music were the best bits from this show. Who ever this composer is, he made something out of himself because the show's music was much to its success as well as everything else.

Characters:

They are all different, I love that. Rock Lee has bushy eye brows, very positive and has simple eyes while Choji is huge, simple minded, and easily angered. Each character is different and that makes Naruto stand out to me. Some characters I didn't like, but every show has that. Naruto's character changes a lot and that bothered me through out this series, but overall, I still loved the characters.

Overall:

I loved this series, if you are going to watch it, watch until at least episode 135 and then, if you want, head to Shippuuden. I don't like Shippuuden very much, but if you gave Naruto all ten's, I highly recommend it.

8/10

Story: Naruto is a fairly decent anime that made quite a bit of mistakes, such as turning over half of the show into fillers, and taking the show into "god" level Dragon Ball Z style of fighting. Naruto starts out as a extremly good Ninja anime during its first season where everything you see is unexpected and the story is rather fresh and interesting, the first season including Zabuza had a perfect pace and the fight scenes felt truly of what ninjas should be.

After the first season however we are left with a quickly declining anime, soon the fights becomes my "special ... move is better then yours" and it doesnt really feel like its a ninja show anymore with everyone pretty much using random attacks, which essentially turns this show into another beat em up. After a couple of seasons they start to follow in the footsteps of Dragon Ball Z.

Art: The characters are well drawn, and the moves are flashy and nicely animated fight sequences.

Sound: While many of the music and songs of the anime are amazing, this show became plagued with... DATTEBAYO! ('Believe it' in english)

Character: A large array of characters with each a rather decent background, however because they wanted each character to have such a rich and fulfilling history, we became flooded with flashbacks. Also only a few characters truly stand out in terms of growth and development such as Gaara, Neji, Shikamaru and a few others.

Enjoyment: I decided to rate the seasons individually and then average them, with Season 1 and 5 recieving highest marks.

Wow... I look back and realize how painfully mediocre Naruto is compared to all the Anime I have watched recently... Its a shonen series, but it isnt really special... Just another addition to the "boredom-inducing-fillertastic" pile of anime in the end. It seems that many people have overrated this series because it was one of their first series, and they havent really watched many series anyways... -just a thought (All you hardcore fans keep reading, I explain myself)

Overall: Naruto had the setup to be something epic, though the length and the way they tell the story completely destroyed what chance they had at becoming epic. ... They dragged out the story to include useless extra stuff, and though the characters had some depth, they kept trying to add more depth and not really adding much at all, just wasting time. The whole of Naruto is filled with episodes where you dont really get anywhere both in character development and story development, even the non-filler episodes did not do that well in developing the series in general. I admit, I liked watching Naruto at first, when I didnt really have much experience with much anime, now I look back and man does it look like crap compared to things like Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion or Tengen Toppan Gurren Lagann, or even Black Lagoon, I can understand why people that are fresh into anime are easily turned into "Narutards" now, just like the "Pokemaniacs" back in the day. This series is on a path that leads to a "Inuyasha" kind of standing.

Story: Kid wants to be mayor of ninja town, ok thats nice, but has he REALLY gotten much further to ACTUALLY becoming "Hokage" in the last 200+ eps of this roundabout story? fillers killed what little naruto had in story. The way they stretched the story to encompass EVERY LITTLE THING is its main flaw, little side stories are nice and everything, but if you overdo it, you are just adding a giant mass of fat to the bone, no meat. If they just made Naruto something like a 2 season shot or something less then 50 episodes, then there might have been an epic anime that is worthy of being in the group of truly great anime.

Art: meh... its not anywhere near as impressive as Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex with its 30million yen budget per episode, but it at least doesnt have any major flaws, though the art seems pretty bland sometimes, other times, the art is overly complex for what they are trying to show, but usually there isnt much of a problem in art.

Sound: i never really liked the kind of atmosphere that the background music made me feel, it wasnt epic, the background music didnt really fit the situations very well, for example the overpowering flute in most of the bmg and the apparent manly "HUA!" that is overused do not really set much of a mood, I understand that there is a theme towards more traditional Japanese type of music, but it doesnt work well in many cases, there are way too many times where it just wont set the mood right and they beat the crap out of the dead horse, its hard to explain very well, Im raising my score to a 5 because AKFG and Sambomaster sang openings for it and they worked well with the anime.

Character: There is a very large cast in Naruto, though its usually a bad thing, they made it work somewhat. Even though the characters are somewhat deep, they all consist of cliched stereotypical shonen characters and do not have much to set them apart from the giant mass of other shonen story characters, also nothing EVER changes in the personality of the main character, Naruto, though he is cheerful, optimistic and energetic, he never realizes the reality he lives in and due to a lot of dumb luck and his gift of insane power he passes all his trials and tribulations, he is so naive that it is painful to watch, he almost never has a mature or realistic look on things, EXCEPT FOR HIS FEUD WITH SASUKE, even then he still does not have a mature attitude in many situations. His development is like Arika in "Mai-Otome", painfully naive, though he doesnt even advance as far as Arika in maturing, at least she somewhat matured throughout the story. There are good characters in the mix, for example, Shikamaru and Garaa are pretty well developed characters that have promise. However with all that said, Naruto kills EVERYTHING in character, its amazing how dumb he is sometimes, dumb to the point where he should get himself checked for mild autism, unfortunately he usually blocks out the possibility of good mature side characters with his obnoxiousness. I guess there was more then one reason people tended to stay away from Naruto, besides the fact he has a fire fox's spirit sealed within him.

Enjoyment: it was enjoyable when I started watching it and it stayed that way for about 100 episodes, then it just tanked... now I have no intention of taking this up again. The amount of entertainment is not enough to keep me interested, nothing like Detective Conan, which nearly only uses its entertainment value to keep me interested.

The mighty roar of a Kyubei vibrated throughout the area as a crowd of ninja from Konoha try their hardest to bring it to its knees. All the fighting is for naught until one person steps up and sacrifices himself to seal the Kyubei away. That man was known as the Fourth Hokage. Years later, a young orphan named Naruto causes much vandalism and trouble, just to get the attention he craves each day. His life goal is to become the next Hokage.

Kishimoto Masashi has brought us a very long series of action, drama, and comedy about a young ninja in training known as Naruto. ... This particular series focuses on the trials and tribulations of the young shounen who has only one life goal in mind: To become the greatest Hokage in Konoha village. Along with Naruto, he has a few friends who he has earned respect from. One such colleague is more of a mentor than a friend, and that certain person is Umino Iruka-sensei. Someone who was similar to Naruto when he was growing up, so he is the first person to understand what Naruto goes through. The next few are Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura, along with their sensei Hatake Kakashi.

Now, onto the review of this long, magnificent-until-the-filler-starts series.

The animation of the show gets better by season, especially the opening sequence. The only qualm I have about the animation is the fighting sequences. More action, less stalemates, please. A stalemate is good now and then for a dramatic effect, but for nearly every fight starts to become tedious and boring. But I can work with it. It’s crisp and clear, and the designs of the scenery are refreshing because the structures of the villages are unique to their elemental area. Although the best designed character in my humble opinion has to be Temari and Shikamaru. Sure it is a bit of bias, but that’s only because those two are my favorite characters. Seriously, though. I like the thought of including a character such as Rock Lee to pay semi-homage to Bruce Lee.

Although I don’t personally like the first opening song, it is a good theme for that season’s setting. The beat and rhythm of the song go well with the atmosphere, which is why it is a good pick by the Naruto crew. However I’ve listened to it too much and I don’t like it as much as when I had first heard it when I first started watching the show. I totally love the second opening song by my favorite J-Rock band Asian Kung-fu Generation. Again, it goes perfect with the atmosphere of the season and with the opening video animation. The third song is a good choice, however the singer is too high pitched to set the right mood of the song. It doesn’t mean I don’t like the song, though. I like it just fine. The singer is just too high pitched, is all. The rest of the songs are mostly J-Rock and their beats are very nice to follow. Fighting Dreamers, the fourth season opener is easy to sing along to, and that’s pretty nice. I won’t go into every single opener, so I’ll just move along to the actual soundtrack. The fighting music is good and gets you into the mood of the fight. Especially the fights Naruto participates in. That music theme is the most catchy that I have heard. But the most depressing fighting music is the theme that plays when the Hyuuga siblings duke it out in the Chuunin exams. It’s a touching match and the song really gets to you when you’re rooting for Hinata, or Neji, if you’re not fond of Hinata.

Ah, the story. It is a magnificent story to follow a young ninja warrior’s adventures to becoming Hokage and fulfilling various missions with his group. The most compelling story is the Missing Nin arc featuring Haku and Zabuza. Ah, shounen-ai; Just kidding. These two had a really strong bond with one another except Zabuza didn’t realize it until it was too late. This arc is also the arc where we first see a glimpse of Kyubei Naruto in his first form. Although there isn’t much to say about the main story because the filler takes up most of the series. 135-215, Eesh. That’s a lot of filler. I do have to say that the first few seasons are worth purchasing, though not to purchase the fillers.

Ah, the ever various and unique cast of Naruto. There is a character for everyone since the cast of Naruto is so vast; a character that eats a lot, to a lazy character who is a genius tactician. As I mentioned earlier, my favorite characters are Shikamaru and Temari, although Temari is from the Sand Village.

One could get a lot of value from this series; especially rewatch value as it is a very long series of 220 episodes. Well, less if you skip the filler, which is highly recommended you do if you rewatch the series, unless you find a filler arc you enjoy, then more power to you.

I enjoyed this series, although to be honest I haven’t completed the 220 as of now, I still have 15 to watch to complete this 220 episode anime. That’s all for now.

Naruto, who doesn't know about it? It's a wildly popular series that is controversial-- oh, almost every worldwide-known series is like that. First of all, i just don't get how people keep on complaining about this series. Like, those who gave this series a one-two-three ratings, i wonder what is wrong with them? They better came up with acceptable reasons. And oh-- maybe most of them thought that they're some sort of experts just because they've seen so many other animes besides this (even though they seriously can't make any better show-- note, MAKE-- than this show). I dislike those kinds of ppl that keeps ... on complaining due to some unclear reasons. And i know that this review might get me hated somehow, but whatever. Here are my thoughts.

The story is your stereotypical shounen-ish, capturing a parallel Ninja world, where almost everybody is a ninja and they have some cool superpowers (that's what i call), and there's this weak and stupid main character that eventually grows along the story. To me, the story is a masterpiece. Like, this is one of the first ninja shows at that time, and it pretty much introduced to us how are ninjas like. The main plot itself is unbelievably good (to me, dunno how everyone else feels), a boy that holds some kind of massive power inside of him that remains hidden, but at some moments it will come out. And i also love the idea of making 1-tailed, 2-tailed until 9-tailed monsters, that really got me. Aaand also the awesome techniques and awesome creatures. Until this point, i like almost everything from the story. It quickly catches our attention and it easily makes everyone to sit back and enjoy the show. I watched this show for the first time when i was 10, and like all kids, i instantly got hooked. Indeed, it has some undeniable flaws, like its cliche and guessable story, and maybe some spots of gary stu, to say. But, isn't that all shounen series all about? How the main character who was nothing in the beginning, began to grow and finally becomes something? It was okay enough for me. The fights themselves were also fun and made me eager to watch, and it's even okay to watch it again and again. It's never boring and to me, the story never grows old. Well, Naruto is one of my childhood memories so i might sounded a little bit biased. But that is to me.

The characters are-- god, there were like tons of them. Besides the main characters there were absolutely lots of supporting characters that appeared just in some stories and later never showed up again. I absolutely love the way they designed the characters with their unique traits, and note that the design has lots of varieties and i was never bored to see some new characters appearing because they're not the same, they're different. I sometimes thought how could ppl design so many people (because in my case, it's so hard to draw even 10 different faces). Well, Kishimoto looked really professional on designing the characters. Lots of different types of hairstyles (from the normal one until the absurd one), clothes (this one is definitely amusing), and so on. The animation itself is pretty colorful to me, and fight scenes (which is the soul of this series) were drawn neatly. And the sound effects--- for god's sake, i love the BGMs!! There are dozens-- or maybe more-- of sound effects, background musics, and opening-ending song in this anime. 220 episodes is not a short one, and they definitely made it not boring with the music. I could note some songs that i really like coming from Naruto. Toshiro Masuda really, really gave me the thrills with his awesome BGMs whenever we're watching some scenes and then dramatic BGMs that absolutely fits the story begins to play. Music is one of the best aspects in this series, tho. I even downloaded some of them to escort me on doing things. Yeah right.

Naruto... is a really enjoyable series. Indeed, as i stated before, it's not perfect. No series are perfect. The best series ever known also came up with some minor flaws. And so is Naruto. Maybe you guys are irritated with the characters, or maybe the typical storyline, or maybe the absurd length of this series, you guys have your own opinions. I'm not a professional or whatsoever, i'm just an ordinary kid who enjoys watching animes. And these are my opinions.

Naruto has to be the most over rated anime in existance. Every kid who has never seen anything else besides pokemon and dragon ball Z all give it rave reveiws, but all the experienced anime watchers know better. SOme people describe it as Dragon ball z with ninjas, i think that is quite and accurate description.

Story: 5

I gave this a five just because of the filler nightmare and lack of a functioning plot.


Art: 8
As much as i hate to admit it, the anime has really good art. But it has been put to waste by everything else.

... Sound: 5

Whats the word? Cliche action sounds.

Character: 3

The character is horrible, there just doesnt seem to be anybody that interesting in the anime. And alot of useless characters such as sakura.

Enjoyment: 3

It was torture but every sad i had to watch it.

Overall: 2

Worst anime ever.

Naruto was the first anime I ever watched. And I'm glad it was. Because if I had watched for example Death Note, I think I wouldn't still be watching anime. Why is that? Naruto isn't a 'hardcore' anime. It is just plain fun and everyone can understand the storyline. While some other animes may be confusing when you first watch them, Naruto is just clear.

Very soon I realised what the power of Naruto was. It isn't the story, which is quite cool too, but it are the characters! Everyone has their own story and their own way of thinking. Their own powers and their ... own weaknesses. This isn't something new in an anime, but Naruto does it in such a great way! It is really touching when someone is about to die, and you feel really glad if one of the main characters won a battle.

What too is a great thing, is the whole world. The town feels realistic, although it is in a fantasy world. What I mean is that everything just feels natural and right. All the ninja ranks and how people treat eachother, it feels like a real but different world. The enviroment is beautiful too and is perfect for the battles which will take place there.

I have been very, very positive untill now. The negative aspect of Naruto is that there are a lot of fillers. Sometimes they are just plain fun, but I really got annoyed when I found out that the episodes 120 untill about 200 are all just fillers! I quit watching and started Naruto Shippuden without missing anything of the plot.

I would recommend this to anyone one who loves action-based animes. It is fun and probably one of the most ass-kicking animes!

Hm... Naruto as a series is a difficult one to review. It's almost 'cool' and 'accepted' to say this mainstream anime is overhyped and cliche. If one were to gush about Naruto one would immediately jump to the conclusion that they are a child, naive, or just new to anime.

Naruto is a story about a orphan kid who becomes a ninja. If you look at Naruto's story objectively it's actually pretty good. It has all the stuff you would likely want in a story; rivalries, fighting, ninjas, friendship, philosophical moralizing etc... What ultimately makes this shounen different ... from say a DBZ or a Bleach is that all these things are all woven better into the story making a better cohesive story. There aren't any real devastating plot twists that come from nowhere in Naruto. The most important things that happen are foreshadowed a good deal throughout. Each arc ultimately ties into the next unlike a DBZ and the degradation in story isnt as quick as a Bleach. The story is woven and complete (IMO) throughout the 100+ episodes.

The characters in the show is another huge plus. Sure the titular character, Naruto, is irritating but the real strength here is the wealth of background characters in Naruto. Each of them through the series (manga related episodes) are given, for lack of better words, their time to shine. The themes related to each character also makes for interesting dialogue between them. Which brings me to dialogue which is another standout. The tone shifts quite abit through the 150ish episodes but the humor, dramatic scenes, or moralizing/psuedo-philosophical stuff all come off reasonably natural.

Next the music is reasonably good. It has a nice feel to the music and it fits the scene pretty well. The theme 'Sadness and Sorrow' is a nice piece but tends to be overplayed in the dramatic places.

By now you probably realized that I really liked Naruto, I watched it years ago but I still enjoy watching an episode here and there. I was a little discouraged when people my age were beginning to shut out Naruto for more 'edgier' animes. I dont think someone should put down Naruto because it's a kid show. Sure it's a little silly here and there but ultimately watching it makes a dam good time. I've watched a good share of animes but I have to say Naruto is still the most fun (doesn't mean its the best). Rejecting the things that were important in your youth seems almost natural but in this case it's unwarranted. Watch, enjoy. Rewatch, enjoy more.

**This is a review of the ep1- the last manga arc of Naruto disregarding the fillers and Shippuden (which I have not seen- more proof that I'm not just a fanboy... maybe) **

I laughed, i cried and i was excited. In other words there were everything in this anime what necessary to a long anime like Naruto :) As i was watching it i didn't feel that it was waste i watched such a long anime.

I liked Naruto's character so much. Naruto is a freaky, dumb and unlucky person who was always outcasted by the people in the village. However later he became a careful, strong guy who passes everyone's expection and surprise them. He's been helped by his friends and he's able to move forward by their assistance. He thinks Sasuke as a friend during ... the whole time what they spend together in the Team 7 it's (maybe) because Sasuke is also lonely after he lost his parents. I've learnt a lot from this anime.

The voice actors were great. Even though i was surprised that Takeuchi Junko is Naruto's voice still i think she is the best for Naruto.
The opening and ending songs fitted to the anime very well. Especially the FLOW songs. I liked almost all of the soundtracks in it.

I like its grafic. I suppose it's unique.

To sum up i gave 9/10 to it.

First to say: I decided to write a review for one of my favorite animes even though there are more than enough reviews. My anime addiction is indebted to this series because this was the one that invited me to the otaku world...

Story (7/10)

Naruto's story revolved around a obnoxious kid named Naruto, if you don't like him, then it's not very likely that you'll love the series.

The plot is a bit shallow and a bit of a cliche; a stupid main character who wants to attempt the impossible and has a hidden power behind his sadness having stereotypical nakamas to protect. Simply to ... say it is the journey of Naruto to become the best; however, he has to face conflicts within himself, with others and with the world as well.

Don't expect psychology, deep philosophy, and thought provoking issues here because Naruto was made for the general audience and tackles drama within the character's personal lives as teenage ninjas, there are almost no societal issue here and war and politics are not a prominent figure. The story is about lives. The life of a ninja here is portrayed in a comedic and adventurous way in the eyes of mostly innocent youths who in time, will be able to learn about its darkness.

But what made Naruto so lovable? It is the universe it created. The villages, the clans and the people's lifestyle are so fun to learn about, they are so fun to be in. Plot twists are plentiful and the characters' interactions are very exciting.

But the heart of Naruto fandom is the ACTION; loved characters fighting with their well loved skills. Each of them has unique attributes coming from their bloodline or they developed personally. Most of the time, they think while they fight resulting into exciting clashes of logic and tactics. Their powers also have 'scientific explanations' from the make-up science in this show giving room for countless forums and fan speculations where their strengths and weaknesses are discussed; example is "who will win if..."

However, I was displeased with the development of the series; it started out really good but after episode 140 or so the anime was filled with useless fillers, totally useless and unenjoyable.They really ruined the show; It was a real disappointment to fans that the transition to Naruto Shippudden was a total disgrace.

Overall the story is very addictive and will keep you glued to the screen until the fillers came.


Art (7/10)

The character designs are very simple yet memorable, no character looked alike and each other and each has trademark outfits, which were not very detailed. Eyes, noses, mouths and hair are nothing special making Naruto characters one of the easiest to draw.I also loved the use of symbols, such as the Konoha leaf and Naruto's spiral, they leave a considerable amount of impression to viewers.

The houses, shops, fashion, and art in general in Naruto are both landlord era and modern anime style inspired.

Yet the animation was very inconsistent; there are times when faces are so ugly and the action scenes, which are excellent, are poorly drawn (especially at the fillers).

Sound (8/10)

What I can say about the music of Naruto is that it is appropriate. The music was heavily Japanese themed and gives you a "ninja" feel. Though not exceptional it is not disappointing; if the scene is sad, the music will make you even sadder, and when there is action, the music will pump up your adrenalin. The opening and ending themes are quite enjoyable and addictive, making them highly anticipated.

But the length of the series made the music overly used and lacking in variation.

Character(7/10)

This part is very debatable...It is also the part that made Naruto hated by many, the main characters and also some secondary characters) are cliches:

A boy who has a hidden power triggered if his nakama is in danger and wins over strong opponents by willpower

A rival who is smart with looks better than the main character, fan-girled too much and has some dark undertone.

A girl obsessed with the 'rival' who is liked by the unliked main character whom she constantly bullies

Mostly the characters are a bit shallow but they are worthy to be loved. Some of them are inspiring, some irritating, some cute, some has psychotic attributes and some are cool depending on a person's preference: a very good formula for a shonen anime. They are not mediocre and their role in the story is noteworthy as many of them develops significantly as the series progresses, whereas each has his or own internal or external conflict.

Naruto promotes many important values such as friendship, family, hardwork and maturity with its characters.I find it inspirational and heartwarming. I also loved its concept of having a "home"and to belong to and having a "dream" to work hard for. Overall the atmosphere is positive here.

HOWEVER, the fillers made room for too many cheap, sissy dramas and trying-hard-to-be-deep- characters who are very unnecessary. The plentiful unnecessary flashbacks also ruin some climatic parts and made the drama bland.

But Naruto isn't very shallow at all. One can see it's unforced efforts to bring symbolism; a character living in bloodshed was associated to the pureness of snow, the blooming of flower as a metaphor for growth, and the leaves of the village compared to the next generation or the progression of time.

Angst and sadness is plentiful here but they are viewed from the eyes of pre-teens and pre-teens are mostly shallow no matter how deep they think they are. But it doesn't mean that the drama is shallow, it was just portrayed naturally from the characters' point of view.

Naruto, though he is a typical shonen hero, has a different effect on people and has an amazing power to impact both the characters of the show and audiences alike. His development is superb: from a naughty, proud and idiotic outcast kid he strove hard to be recognized by following his way of a ninja to become an inspiration to everybody.

Enjoyment (9/10)

I loved it so much...I've been addicted to it for three years. Even though I watch new series, Naruto still remain in my top list. My experience in watching this is very different from other shonens, and conversing with fans alike will make you feel very welcomed in loving this series.I can extract endless fun information from the series and fansites. It is just that the fillers really ruined the mood...

Naruto is not exceptional in every aspect(except action and comedy perhaps) if you compare it to very artistically done animes but it may be the best in one thing: earning people with unconditonal fandom despite its weaknesses. Isn't it a very rare attribute?

"It's just popular but not really good." Then why is it popular in the first place? It is because the majority loved it and don't care about its flaws. Naruto is very age-friendly and gender friendly, and a very well composed shonen.

So heed my final words: exposure to this material may cause long term addiction

OVERALL: 7/10