Naruto
For many anime fans this was the gateway anime that entered them into this culture. It was flashy, fun, and definitely appealed to a great many with it's over the top action.
Looking back however, it doesn't have the gleam as it once did.
Story: 6
The story has a simple premise in common with many shonen, group of kids with special powers go and defeat the bad guys and save the world or town. Then more bad guys are introduced and true motives are revealed and it starts to become a jumbled mess. In first 6 seasons of the show( minus any filler), the story was clean, simple, and engaging to an extent; come the start of the filler seasons, the story begins to needlessly complicate then come shippuden everything falls apart into a jumbled mess full of plot holes.
Art: 6
The art in Naruto is vibrant (though a little flat at points) and makes good use of color palette and the various villages have pretty interesting designs. The animation though is solid at best and downright pitiful at worst .Shippuden improves on this factor. (Sometimes)
Sound:9
Now this in my opinion is what made Naruto stand out among the other "Big Three" The opening and closing themes are almost always catchy and the background music has a distinctly Japanese feel that always complements the mood.
Character: 6
Now here is definitely the most controversial aspect of Naruto.
Lets start with the main Three
Naruto: He's your typical loudmouth, hyperactive shonen protagonist. Though he does go from being bratty to a more typical hero, there's virtually nothing about him that stands out from other characters, except maybe his fashion sense.
Sasuke: He's the token cool mysterious black-haired character who is rivals with the protagonist. He's not really interesting and his turn to darkness is seen from a mile away. He just gets worse throughout the series. There's really not much to say about his character, he exists to serve as character development and plot. ( And fangirl-bait)
Sakura: She's the absolute worst of the bunch. This character mearly serves the role of being the "girl" on the team and having a crush on the cool kid. Even though she did well on the ninja exams, she shows absolutely zero capability in combat and sits on the sidelines waiting for one of the male leads to rescue her. She has no real character traits other than "Tsundere" until season 5 where she becomes aware of her own uselessness. I blame the author for her lack of character, most of his female characters are atrociously written. That being said, she does develop a personality and becomes extremely useful in Shippuden and actually becomes likable.
For the other characters it's hit or miss, some bring something new to the character archtypes, though most are flat though with little depth. That being said, there is substantial character development with almost all of the characters during Shippuden and 5+ on. Plus, since this anime is so huge by the time you finish it the characters become like family to you.
Enjoyment:5
Naruto's battles are extremely fun to watch the the author gets extremely creative with his ninja abilities and powers. However, with the amount of flashbacks and fillers, you won't be seeing too many exciting moments. The dialog progressively gets better with each season, so you have that to look forward to.
(Gets a solid 10 for nostalgia rewatch value.)
Overall: 6
Naruto is not a terrible anime, but it's certainly not a great one either. Its cliche and stereotyped, but it's enjoyable, goofily bad, and manages to bring fond memories back. If you are the type of person who likes creative powers and rare but memorable fight scenes( and has a ton of time on their hands) this anime is for you.
If you are someone looking for emotionally deep characters and stunning plot, might not be the best choice.
