Naruto or Shippuden?

tsudecimo said:

I love it, more than Naruto. My favorite character in the series in it, Kushina. My favorite arc is in it, Pain Invasion arc. I liked that the ninja world outside of the village is being explored. From the first arc, I was highly impressed by Sakura, and her development, both mentally, and physically. Her relationship with Naruto, was one of the key elements in her development, she started to deeply care for him, even crying at some points, and I appreciated that. Her fight with Chiyo vs Sasori, still remains one of my favorite fights in the series, beautifully choreographed with a great ending (before it, I thought the concept of dolls manipulation to be quite dull)

I like the main antagonists of Shippuden, way more than Orochimaru and the sound. Not only was the Akatsuki much cooler, they had one of the best written antagonists among them, Pain. I liked how the arcs were constructed around them.

There are some characters that I strted liking more in Shippuden. Mainly, Shikamaru, Sasuke, Hinata, Sakura. Hidan and Kakzu arc, was well done, I loved that it was focused on Shikamaru. Felt his development was subtle. The episode where he tells Kurenai was beautifully directed, like you wouldn't even believe this was part of a long running action series, felt like cinematography, very atmospheric.

I found the character development and characterizations to be overall better in Shippuden. While I really liked Sasuke in part 1, I didn't really expect him to become one of my favorite characters later in the story. He is quite possibly the best developed character in any shounen series I've read/watched, quite expansive, unique, and heart wrenching. The plot twist with Itachi, is one of my all time favorites, before it, I liked Itachi but not that much, but I was blown away after it.

I like the thematic narrative more in Shippuden. The theme about the cycle of hatred, really captured my attention, during the Pain arc. Pain's dialogue was quite strong, and memorable.
''You and I are no different. We are both working for our own justice. The justice I have meted out against Konoha, is exactly the same as you are trying to meted out against me. Everyone feels the pain of loss the same. We both know that pain. You are working for your justice and I for mine.''

''Do you understand Pain a little now? If you don't share someone's pain, you can never understand them. But just because you understand them doesn't mean you can come to an agreement.''

His dialogue and interaction with Naruto was really engaging and interesting, possibly more than the actual fight itself.

I like the fights more, I like the animation more, I like the music more, I like the OP/ED more. But more importantly of all I love the emotional moments more, if I have to pick a specific reason, it would definitely have to be this. Naruto meeting Kushina is just my favorite scene and episode in the whole series, and in general, it was legitimately the first time I cried watching fiction, I was just overwhelmed with joy during it. It gave me a sense of satisfaction, that I didn't find in any other work.

I might be missing some stuff, but generally I don't think got worse except the pacing in some arcs (mostly the first two arcs) and I didn't like how Neji and Rock Lee, got neglected, though Gai kinda makes it up for Lee's lack of screen time.

GreenSoap said:
There's a lot more Akatsuki in Shippuden, so Shippuden.