Apr 1, 2016
I'm partial to Naruto, given the nostalgia that surrounds it, but in all honesty it's not impressive. However, a generation was moved by the story and experience. In my personal opinion, if something is that powerful to that many people, it must have done something right, even if it was an accident.
Naruto in general is very good at harnessing the anticipation of progression. It's skill isn't as refined as others, and it tends to be rough around the edges, but throughout the series (so long as you aren't too sceptical) you'll generally be hanging on the edge of your seat. Unfortunately, it does suffer from
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a severe issue with length. The series is tough to enjoy if you aren't going through it at a blistering pace, and it's held back by the fact that each episode needs to be twenty minutes, and you can't move any faster than that.
The series is also good at delivery, at least in the first half. Each arc has a sense of motion, and each has a thing to teach the main protagonist. Unfortunately, a little more than halfway through the series it cuts into a long chain of filler episodes, and it doesn't resume canon until the sequel series Naruto: Shippuden. This wouldn't be that bad, except for most of the filler episodes the quality is drastically lowered, and there isn't much story progression. That alone lowers the score of this review.
The story itself was creative for its time, and it definitely is an interesting direction for a setting to travel in. This is less indicative of Naruto than it is a trend in long-runners themselves. In general the longest running series will have the best world building by virtue of inertia. Naruto stands out in that it immerses you in the premise within the span of a single episode, allowing you to better enjoy what is to come. However, by not having a slow burn like Bleach, it leaves the main circle of characters unattached. It isn't until about 60 episodes in, when the second real arc ends, that you finally get to know all of the major characters involved in the series, and it isn't until the very last arcs that they are really utilized to their fullest. Even if all of the characters have unique and interesting personalities, without introducing the audience to them, the audience will never learn to like them.
By far the best aspect of the show is its music and voice acting. A lot of big names in the industry got their start or were involved in Naruto as of it's original run, dubbed and in the original Japanese, including people like Nana Mizuki or Yuri Lowenthal. On the music side of things, most of the songs are classic. I consider the soundtrack of Naruto to be great considering they only had about 40 songs to work with for about three times as many episodes. That's not including the openings, though, which were hit and miss.
I enjoyed it a lot when I watched it as a kid. It doesn't hold up to that nostalgia as well as it could, but it's far from awful, and I think if you're not used to casting a critical eye on things, it could be the kind of show for you. Even if you are critical, I've seen some recuts that fix pacing issues and such - the show may not be all that bad if you watch it with the intent of skipping flashbacks or filler.
Either way, your enjoyment is up to you.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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