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Nov 6, 2014
Mod Edit: This review may contain spoilers.
Coming up with precise numbers to essentially give a value to a series that spans 700 chapters and well over a decade in production is not an easy thing. Much has changed over the years of publication, but I guess overall I would give the series a "very good".
Like many other people, the Naruto anime was my introduction to the world of anime--something that literally changed the course of my life. The storyline of a young boy who had the courage (or more like the gall) to always stay confident and continue smiling despite growing up alone in a
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community that openly detested him is heartwarming to say the least. I liked that the series also introduced a wide range of characters--Kishimoto really succeeded in creating not just a village, but an entire world within his story.
STORYLINE:
As one would expect from a 700 chapter-long series, the series has its highs and its lows. For me, the peak was pretty early in the series throughout the Chunin exam arc, so it was a little bit of a disappointment that the series never really made it back to that high later on. Then again, the main trio of Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke weren't nearly my favourite characters, so maybe my problem was that I didn't care about the people who mattered the most. Having said that, the fact that I was still interested enough to keep reading should speak for the story's quality. The chapters are relatively short (compared to monthly publications) and almost all of them end with some sort of cliffhanger, so I ended up stopping at points to save up for longer reading sessions.
CHARACTERS:
On the topic of characters, I would have to argue that they are far from perfect. He did a good job of creating diversity in his characters and strong, complex personalities in many, but there were many characters who were sadly quite shafted and remained static throughout the series (I'm looking at Tenten and Shino). I wouldn't say that ALL his female characters are always weak, submissive and useless, but the series is a far cry from gender-equal. In part I can accept that this is because the manga's intended audience was for young boys who probably don't care if there's gender equality and all that stuff, but still.
ART:
The art... is good. It's definitely improved over time from both experience and technological advancements. I like many of the character designs and I like that they change as the characters mature. Personally I cared more for the social interactions within the story than the fight scenes, so sometimes some chapters of endless fighting were a bit difficult to follow/envision.
ENDING: (contains no specific spoilers, but discussion of overall flow)
Personally I did not like the ending, but I didn't HATE it. When the whole shinobi war started to drag out and literally EVERY CHARACTER WHO WAS EVER SLIGHTLY SIGNIFICANT made an appearance even if they had to defy reality (AND DEATH) to do so, I started looking forward to an end. The ending I got wasn't everything that I wanted, but it was an end. I'm happy that Kishimoto had the guts to see his story to completion including establishing finality with his character relationships (rather than leaving things ambiguous and inconclusive as is the style of most Shonen manga), but I also feel like he crossed the line and forced the pairings too far. I'm also not a fan of the introduction of children (AT ALL.) to imply the relationship of the parents, but at the same time I can't imagine Kishimoto showing us the depth of their relationships in any other way (hand holding, hugging, walking together maybe. Beyond that? No, not even kissing). Regardless, I felt like I had to read the final chapter because "OCD, I have to finish this!" (not to mention my OTP), and did so knowing that I probably wouldn't like much of it. If you don't care for pairings or mentions of children, I'd recommend stopping at 699.
So there you have it, my review that took me 40 mins. I expect most people will have already tl;dr and left this massive review, but if you're still reading it, thank you =) It's a review for myself as much as for anyone else anyways because... it's done. It's over. Naruto's ended. My childhood just ended with it. Huh.
Time to move on with life and keep telling myself that I will NOT be reading the sequel about the children. I won't do it. I won't. (...The lies... I'll cave, I know it. >_>)
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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May 24, 2010
They say that you can't judge a book by its cover. Although I think that hardly relates to the matter at hand (ie: watching an anime series), in some ways I was surprised to find that the principle still works.
Unlike many other series I've seen, I felt this strong aversion to the anime having already read the manga and been satisfied with it. When I started watching the series, for the first time ever, I actually wanted to drop it rather than to continue watch the panel zoom to Kei's face as his eyes widen when he gets "caught off guard" by Hikari's comments 7+
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times every episode and then see that trippy white-with-glowing-colored-lights-background at each romantic moment. Way to ruin what I thought was a great manga.
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STORY AND CHARACTERS:
Okay, my comments so far haven't been very favorable for this anime, but I don't think here is the place it gets better. I was disappointed in the anime particularly in the earlier storyline because I felt that it cut most of the points which I found made this series so much better than the rest. The manga depicted Kei as a cool and collected guy who is prepared for anything (mostly to appeal to those bishonen lovers out there who like that "distant" feel... but whatever) yet if he's really like that, why is it that he's caught off-guard by every stupid remark Hikari makes that seems mildly intelligent?
Wait, moreover, why are all of Hikari's comments so dumbed down in the first place? Like Kei's character, I feel that Hikari's character changed from what it was in the manga as well. At least in the manga she seemed to be a "rival" to Kei. She could stand up for herself more often and didn't end up blushing and crying for every little thing. The anime depicted her as much more of the typical good-for-nothing-but-talking female lead. It was mainly due to Hikari and Kei's personalities that annoyed me enough to consider dropping the series.
In the end though, I decided to go through with it and simply skip those long, boring and very pointless staring contests that Hikari and Kei seemed to enjoy having. I figured it would be pitiful and I would get tired of skipping over half the episode in this way eventually. To my surprise (yes, I was surprised though I'm sure you who reads this review won't be) the episodes really did get better. It spent more time focusing on the rest of the Special A members (even elaborating on things that weren't covered in the manga) rather than on the main couple which I found a refreshing change. In the latter half of the series I found it much more difficult to skip any scenes because they were all pretty good.
ART:
Now that my long rant about the storyline is over, time to revert to my minor comments. The art seemed quite good to me. Although I'm no pro, I prefer anime art styles such as this one which involves simple yet defined colors to distinguish the characters from the backgrounds. At first the extremely long figures annoyed me (and greatly reminded me of CLAMP's work, Tsubasa Chronicles) but as time went on I think I adjusted to it.
SOUND:
Again, I'm no expert with sound but I found it to be pretty good. I liked the opening and ending songs and (with the exception of maybe Kei) I found that the voice actor choices fit the characters pretty well.
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All in all, I think that this anime is worth being recommended to watch. It's not perfect, but perfection is quite difficult to come by anyways. If you do watch this anime I recommend doing as I did and skipping through the pointless scenes if you lose interest because the later episodes ARE worth watching.
This is late to be saying this but, of course, this is a shoujo anime with a mix of romance and comedy so I recommend it for those interested in that. The setup of the storyline made me relate this anime to other manga such as Hana Yori Dango, Hana ni Arashi, Kaichou wa Maid-sama and such, so if you liked those it may be worth a try. I think that's about it then. Enjoy~
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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May 20, 2010
***Contains spoilers from the first few chapters***
(but no worries about ending spoilers. I haven't gotten there yet ^-^)
For me this series started out like a ton of other manga that I've read before. A highly skilled and well-rounded female character out to compete with the one person she can never defeat: the flawless bishonen who can do anything better than she can with little to no effort. Having recently read Kaichou wa Maid-sama in particular (yes I know which one was published first but that doesn't change the order in which I read them) I can see so many parallels and typical cliches that made
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me think that there was little point in reading the series.
Story (7): All my prejudices aside, I started reading the series anyways. For the most part I'd have to say that the storyline so far is pretty typical-- which isn't necessarily a bad thing. For shoujo manga lovers out there I'm pretty sure that this series would provide all those sweet and romantic moments of interest. In my opinion the storyline isn't anything special that would make me scream my approval of it. One thing that I will acknowledge though (spoiler ahead) is the moment when Hikari jumped in to protect Sui from danger. When Sui ran off looking for help I figured: "Oh great, the damsel in distress needs to get beaten up for her prince to save her." Needless to say I was pleased when that proved NOT to be the case. Thank goodness this mangaka can give her female characters a backbone of their own.
Art (8): The art is pretty standard shoujo stuff I guess. I think it's pretty decent considering when it was published. The drawings are good and neat but I don't think the character designs would particularly stand out from other manga I've read.
Character (7): I was torn between rating the characters up or down for awhile, particularly when thinking about Kei and Hikari. Even though they are the main characters of the series I feel that there's nothing special about them. They're just another simple manga couple. As I'd mentioned earlier I was grateful that the mangaka gave Hikari a backbone to defend herself. Likewise I'm glad that Akira, Hikari's female friend, also has a defined and independent personality, but other than that I don't feel anything amazing about the characters. Hikari's clueless traits towards Kei is typical and, quite frankly, I find more annoying than amusing.
Overall I think that this seems to be a pretty good, if not slightly overdone, series (8). The plot doesn't seem to be anything very original, but I found myself enjoying it nonetheless (9). I would recommend it for shoujo manga lovers looking for a good series involving romance, particularly since it is already complete (because the last thing anyone wants to do is wait a month for a suspenseful moment to end).
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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May 19, 2010
It's wonderful... It's spectacular! It's... it's... it's seventeen pages long (sixteen if you don't count the cover). Yes that's right, an entire shoujo story with the pangs of a teenage girl's most difficult struggle with her greatest enemy, love, in sixteen pages.
All joking aside (I WAS being sarcastic if you didn't quite catch that), I would still have to comment that this is a quite decent oneshot for anyone who wants a short and sweet love story.
The story is good but fairly cliched (8), the art is slightly above average (9), and the characters are simple but shallow (8) and yet I still felt that
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somehow the mangaka did a pretty decent job overall. It took me awhile to realize, but the story is logical and coherent and actually covers quite a range of events in sixteen pages. I felt that it showed the skill of the mangaka to present her story while aware of her restraints in regards to the depth of the characters' relationship. I respect where she left off rather than creating an overly superficial ending (to say any more would bring spoilers).
If you plan to read this oneshot you should realize that you won't find any in-depth discussion on the meaning of life and love but... if you're looking for a quick story that will just make you say "aww" give this chapter a look.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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May 19, 2010
The shoujo-lover in me really wanted to believe that this would be an amazing Manga. I like the art style and find that the mangaka has done a good job with drawings... but the way-too-cliched storyline and overly shallow characters really takes away from it.
Storyline: The storyline, as mentioned, is very cliched. There's a girl and a guy, the guy treats the girl as his slave, the slave falls in love with his kind side. It's been done. To death. I found almost no originality in this plot or any of the situations.
Characters: They're unbelievably shallow. Granted that the mangaka was doing her best to
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give a good storyline in 3 chapters she should have given the main character, Sawa, at least a little more depth. How shallow can the girl be if she fully has the capabilities to fight for herself, yet plays the helpless damsel in distress part for the entire series? This series offended me as a female because it's as if the message was that perfect women are damsels in distress that should never show their own potential and wait for their princes to arrive. What the hell?
Overall I think that the only reason I found to read the series to the end was my appreciation of Aikawa Saki's art-- and boredom. I don't recommend the series for those who want a really moving storyline with interesting characters and such. ... maybe I'm being pessimistic? If all you're looking for is another romantic series to add to your list maybe this is worthwhile reading? It's not deep but the story is still there.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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