I'll start out with some of the cons of this show. As many other reviews have already stated, Naruto is loaded with filler episodes and this can't be any more true. At times the fillers can be funny and interesting, but most of the time you are just impatiently waiting for the show to get back to the real story line. There were tons of flashbacks and honestly they show the same scenes from the past multiple times. The story can be rushed, and at other times it feels like it's been the same battle for like 5 episodes. The artwork in the battle scenes can vary from good to not so great. But even with it's many faults, I still gave this show a 10/10. ( honestly if you hate fillers that much, just skip around)
I don't know where to start with all the great things that this anime has to offer. I'll start off with the characters. The character development was great for the main characters and even some of the sides characters. I think that the show did an excellent job in giving each character a unique personality and they really made sure that you knew all the characters and their backgrounds. The development of the characters was so great that I was constantly questioning who my favorite character really was. At the beginning I honestly thought that Naruto was annoying and ignorant, but the growth and development of Naruto really grew on me and he began to become one of my favorites. Okay next is the story line. The plot was pretty interesting, but very long. While it did seem like the story was at a standstill for a while in the show, the writers did a good job at subtly setting everything up. Little things that happened in random episodes sometimes came up later as being important. The plot was like a puzzle at times, where I would try to put the pieces together. I actually really enjoyed how they set it up like that. Like Naruto and his friends grew, the story grew as well. In this sense I mean the vibe and mood of the show. It starts off more as a fun action comedy, but as the story goes on, it gets more dark, emotional, and the maturity level of the anime just increases. I'm not kidding when I say that this show can actually teach you life lessons.
I highly recommend watching this whole anime. Even though it is loaded with fillers, by the time you get to the last few episodes, you'll start to feel emotional and sad that it's come to an end. While this isn't Your Lie in April or Clannad, this show still will definitely hit the feels. The end will have you feeling nostalgic, sad, happy, you'll honestly be feeling so many different emotions. This anime may be 500 episodes, but it is totally worth it and in the end you won't regret it.
