This show gets a lot of hate and a lot of praise; rarely anything in between. I can understand both sides, if we're being honest here. This show is WAY overhyped, I will admit. Do I hate it? No. Do I love it? Almost ashamed to admit it.
I think this show was the first show I actually watched the American premier and stuck with it after all these years. At first, I preferred the American version to the Japanese because I hated reading subtitles, but now I prefer the Japanese, only because some characters' voices are "slightly" less irritating. But both are fine.
Character-wise: Wow, where to begin? The characters in this show are ridiculously dramatic: tragic pasts, bad choices because of them, familial issues, blah blah blah. But despite their bitter attitudes, the main character, Uzumaki Naruto, somehow manages to change people's points of view almost every time without fail with his famous "speeches". Now I, personally, have never been in a fight, but I'm not sure any super villains will just stand around and watch you make a speech while wallowing in your own self-pity. Everyone eventually becomes obsessed with Naruto and after all those years of Naruto wishing everyone would like him, he ends up not giving a flying *$&^! Wanna know why? Uchiha Sasuke.
Plot-wise: Yikes, Masashi Kishimoto, what have you done to Naruto? To your fans? To yourself? I think Kishimoto has enough plot holes to use as graves for every single Naruto character ever. But do fans turn the other cheek? Always. Why? Because we're so deep into this thing, why question anything now? Just shrug it off and wait for the next eye-roller he dishes out.
The worst thing about this show? You guessed it! FILLERS ON FILLERS ON FILLERS ON FILLERS ON... Well, you get it. Need I say more?
Yes, I'm bashing the ever-living daylight out of this show, but as I said before, I don't hate it. To be honest, I'll always hold a special place in my heart for Naruto. Yeah, yeah, corny, I know. Would I recommend it? I'd be too ashamed to. I'd tell you to run the other way immediately before you get sucked it.
And still, I rate it a 7. I've been with it from the beginning and I saw it through the end.
