Road of Naruto

When I was a little boy, I remember turning on the TV one night and as I was skipping the channels, I saw an episode where two girls were fighting each other at a chunin exam. Behind that screen, I felt strong and intense emotions, but also a strange, somewhat overwhelming atmosphere that I had never felt before with any series. Since then, I've sat down in front of the TV every night trying to not miss a single episode and watch Naruto on his journey full of obstacles, ups, downs and sad but also happy moments. But Naruto wasn't the only one moving forward ... - I learned, felt and grew with him and suddenly I realized it wasn't just his journey. It was mine, as well. And so time went on, Naruto grew taller and older and his old humor and childishness were slowly leaving him, all the while he was getting closer to reaching his goal. Though I wasn't holding back either. And then he finally made it - oh and what emotion that was!

But of course there is no need to wear those rose-tinted nostalgia glasses. To be honest, Naruto never was a perfect franchise, and there were many things that proved it - for example, the inconsistent endlessly long plot, the constantly recycled ideas and thoughts, the generic storylines, and last but not least, the fillers, which made many people decide to quit that journey, and even I was left in doubt for a while. And though I still loved to think about those old days, despite knowing that there was no other fictional character (and maybe not even a real person) who helped me learn more than this cheerful, energetic and always positive blond guy, I left him.

And now, 20 years after the first episode was aired, this surprise called Road of Naruto has come out of the blue like a true miracle. And I'm so thankful that it happened. In a nutshell, it's a short but emotional summarization of Naruto's entire journey, capturing all the important (well, at least the most essential) moments, accompanied by old well-known songs. It's all stuffed into 9 minutes of cut time, so it understandably doesn't come with a strong enough catharsis, but eventually, watching all those old familiar moments, I got that very well known feeling - along with the heartwarming memories of that one great era.

Sure, there are things I could complain about, but there is no place for objective criticism - I can only say one last word.
Thank you, Naruto.

In celebration of 20 years of Naruto, Studio Pierrot posted an anniversary PV on their YouTube channel.

Road of Naruto is a compilation of scenes from both Naruto and Naruto Shippuden completely redrawn in the newer artstyle. Any fan of Naruto should watch this masterpiece of an anniversary PV. Studio Pierrot gave their all to create this and it shows. The songs accompanied with the redrawn scenes are: Haruka Kanata, GO!! & Seishun Kyousoukyoku from the original Naruto series and Blue Bird, Sign & Silhouette from Naruto Shippuden.

You should only watch this if you have watched or read Naruto beforehand because it includes a ... lot of spoilers throughout the Naruto story!!!

In celebration of the 20th anniversary of the anime's premier, Pierrot has released a compilation AMV of the highlight moments from Naruto and Shippuuden, with all of the scenes redrawn to modern day quality (regardless of the lack of quality from Boruto). And boy is it nice to see the series again after finishing the series a long time ago.

Having touched up all the scenes, along with the much faster pacing and with my recollection of everything that happened in Naruto, it's safe to say that many of the fights in this video are better than what they were in the actual show.

The animation is ... obviously much better. Hearing the openings again is nostalgic and great. And re-living the events of the show makes me appreciative of all the time that I spent binge watching the show.

I find it really convenient that they left out all the anime filler, makes the whole experience of this video better and less dreadful compared to all 720 episodes.

7/10