Story – 5
Without discussion of how events unfold in Shippuden, Naruto shows the early stages before the time skip of when 3 ninja have to individually develop their skills and learn the values of teamwork. I must say the story starts off excellent – there’s discussion of the ninja rules, hopeless battles that are turned around by the protagonists through tact, and introductions of characters that build them up to be extremely threatening. The coolest part of the Naruto story is how ninjas are constantly tested by their ability to see through deception. That being said, the Naruto series is almost half filler (I’m not exaggerating) and beats to death the value of friendship, but in a more “telling” way than “showing” way. At the climax of the story, viewers are supposed to feel the tension of a friendship falling apart between Naruto and Sasuke. However, while the two did have fun times, they rarely shared personal moments or really exhibited their friendship towards each other. They only enjoyed each other in a misery-loves-company way because of how they both grew up alone. For me, the strong bond I was supposed to see simply wasn’t there.
Art – 3
The art improves in Shippuden, but the quality of the animation and the jagged uncomfortable drawings of the characters is really off-putting. This is a combination of Kishimoto’s originally slipshod art skills (it gets better) at the beginning of the series and just poor animation. None of the characters look good proportionally, especially the women. The scenery and Konoha itself are really nothing special either, and most of the background is painfully simple in design. Background characters look like almost no effort was put into drawing them. Still, I suppose I have seen worse.
Sound – 6
The music is fitting to the anime, but nothing besides the battle soundtracks are really anything special. Compare the soundtrack of Naruto to masterpiece shows like Attack on Titan, Cowboy Bepop, or Puella Magi. The opening themes are nothing special but do have some very enjoyable tunes with JRock standouts like ROCKS, Yura Yura, Haruka Kanata, and Fighting Dreamers. While fitting, the soundtrack rarely evokes the intense emotion required of the scene. This also improves in Shippuden.
Character – 3
Boy, oh boy, character development is such a disaster on this show I don’t even know where to begin. The show throws a large ensemble cast at you during the Chunin exams, almost ALL of who add nothing to the story and become complete background throughout the series. The series is also the best at building up characters to seem like they are either strong or have significant plot impact only to forget about them entirely. Examples are Sakura, one of the main characters, who doesn’t exhibit a single unique skill throughout the series (and while she gets better in Shippuden skill-wise, she is given almost no screentime) and is in the story because it needs a damsel in distress. The rest of the kunoichi in the series are no better – We don’t even know Tenten’s personality, Hinata’s around for her crush on Naruto and is just a weaker version of Neji, and Ino is the same character as Sakura except with one skill that is extremely difficult to use when fighting on her own. The fifth hokage, Tsunade, is brought in as the strongest ninja in the village, but her skills are rarely showcased either – except that one time she beats up a guy who already had NO ARMS. The same goes for her teammate Jiraiya, another legendary ninja who barely gets a chance to show his stuff, his one time in battle being so drugged by Tsunade he was essentially useless.
Little else is shown about the other characters’ pasts, male or female. We know that Naruto and Sasuke had it rough as orphans and the Hyugas have a complicated family structure, but we are to assume that most of the other characters live normal lives otherwise. There’s no complexity in their pasts, and very little happens to them throughout the show to shape them into better people, unless it’s a villain who miraculously got turned around by Naruto’s words about how friendship is important (if only it was that easy in real life, eh?). The one true gem of Naruto’s cast is Shikamaru, whose sheer intelligence and developed leadership after the chunin exam makes him impressive and exciting to watch. Overall, however, what One Piece accomplishes for over a hundred characters, including a boat, Naruto fails to for a dozen.
Overall – 6
While Naruto is heavily flawed in most ways, looking at it as a whole is quite different. In the same way books like Twilight are page turners, Naruto keeps you on your toes and each arc is genuinely interesting even if the quality of its storytelling is bland. There is plenty of action, maybe so much action that it detracts from all other aspects of the story. Nevertheless, it’s a show about ninjas geared towards teenage boys, and in that respect, it does well. The series presents itself as an amazing gateway anime, and it certainly is still worth watching.
