There are many reasons why this is the anime series i hate the most, this is an list of someone who tried more than once to like this godforsaken story, but unfortunately in the end it served of nothing, the only redeemable valor is the soundtrack and a few fights, and that's it, and that cannot hold an series.
That aside let's start this rather long list
1.Main characters, the characters in naruto are the very definition of cliche, especially Sasuke, the guy is screams cliche every time a word come out of his mouth, characters in naruto are really badly developed, aside naruto and and maybe shikamaru, gaara, hinata and itachi, all others are mostly throw in the thrash can without a decent development or even a decent fight, also, my god sakura and ino motivation, is that what they want? date an prick who treats everyone like shit and think is dark and badass?'''oh i want to kill my brother'' that's arguably one of the worst motivations in an anime, and people say Sakura and Ino are good characters, not even in hell they are, they were always terrible, no wonder as the series went on hinata started to become more and more popular, because the girl always had an objective despite liking naruto, these two became so notorious even the most die hard fans of naruto often hate especially sakura who is useless, people are tired of this princess stereotype of female characters that can't do jack shit and that's why often you see people who prefer the villains over the main characters(this includes myself).
2.Villains, the villains on the counterpart, are actually more interesting than the main characters, especially Zabuza, Haku, Orochimaru, Kimimaro, Itachi, Kisame, Kakuzu and hidan(the best duo)etc however they are just like a lot of the main characters thrown in the thrash, they have great potential but are poorly used and are defeated by some of the most outrageous plot armor in an anime ever, especially Kimimaro, which had big potential, this same feat will repeat in shippuden with characters like, sasori, deidara, kakuzu and hidan(my two favorites), the entire akatsuki, they could have been the main characters not the villains easily since they are leagues more interesting than the main characters, hell imagine how cool would it be if konan was the main ''heroine'' instead of generic and boring character that sakura is?
3. World/Lore, the world in naruto was never well explored or well used, there are other villages but in the end is all about konoha, clichemoto tries to make the series have an deeper world and lore and etc, but he fails every time because he doesn't know what to do with it, the characters only mention other places and villages, but its never shown, and to tell the truth the other villages from what is commented are a lot more interesting, but mostly pointless, the only interesting thing on its lore is the bijuu like kurama/kyuubi and shukaku and a few others that appear on shippuden, and that's it, it doesn't explore beyond that, and even that he finds and way to screw it up by making bijuus except kyuubi useless for the most part except awaking the 10 tails.
4.Bad logics and plot armor, ever since naruto started, it was clear clichemoto doesn't know how to make character power levels, because it makes no fucking sense, and kid who trained idk for like only months be able to beat and war veteran and born to battle enemies who knows a lot more about fighting and still loses, this is ridiculous, this is an example of bad logic and use of plot armor, and this happens from starts to finish and it manages to become worse in naruto shippuden where the restrictions are thrown in the garbage and everyone starts to become chakra gods.
5.The animation, well the naruto animation always had an bad legacy, it has a lot of flaws and just plain errors that can be noticed if you pause while watching, some even say not to pause naruto while watching if you want to avoid it, the worst part, is because there are other animes from pierrot like bleach, and bleach has nowhere near the same problem naruto had, which makes you question why the fuck it's animations are bad for the most part and feel cheap, there are other animes from that same decade that don't look as cheap as naruto, and don't think the manga is way better because clichemoto is not that good in drawing, occasionally rising above average but not that much
6.Soundtrack, the soundtrack in the series is perhaps one of the few solid points of it, it has soundtracks that unfortunately marked an generation, but aren't necessarily good nor bad, it only served more to please the naruto fanboys so they can keep living in their forever nostalgia, sure there good soundtracks, but i would say there are better ones out there, hell bleach has an even better soundtrack, shiro sagisou did an better job in bleach compared to naruto soundtrack, also the openings, well the only one i consider good is the last opening, which is not an j-rock opening we have seen a million times, it also demonstrates martial arts better than the anime, and unfortunately almost all of the other openings are j-rocks that are nostalgia driven, and aren't really that good, also fuck you asian kung fu generation for making one of the most overrated openings in the planet that relies on nostalgia, also known as haruka kanata
7. Fillers, naruto is already notorious along with bleach and even one piece for it's fillers, it's one of the reasons a lot of people(like me) hate the series, the fillers really made the quantity of episodes bigger than it should, naruto shippuden ended with 500 episodes thanks to it's god forsaken fillers, and classic naruto is no different, the series were stretched out thanks to them, and that's not a good thing, plainly made for greedy reasons to keep the money flowing and also give time for clichemoto to create more cliche chapters.
8. Story, the story in naruto can be noticed to be very scripted and filled with some of the most boring cliches ever, this is why when the fourth ninja war happened and it went downhill and consequently screwed naruto reputation(for me a good thing, finally people woke the fuck up that it has never been this amazing story to begin with), because the story revolves on the same classic idea of good x evil, sometimes trying to blur the lines of good and evil along with a bit of philosophy, but it doesn't hold up it's cliches nor it saves, it just makes you crave when something new happens, only to be filled with cliches again and again as if they were new and ''good'', and people use naruto story as an compare meter to other animes, which is pathetic, this story has never been that good to begin with, starts slow and weak, gains a bit of strength, goes downhill, it's not like bleach and one piece, were bleach starts really strong, one of the best shounens starts ever and then loses a bit of steam but manages to get back, or one piece where it starts really weak but then BOOM especially in the alabasta and marine ford arc, also this is another problem, there is no marine ford arc level on naruto, which just shows how clichemoto doesn't know what to do sometimes
This is perhaps naruto biggest flaw, some of you will agree others might just some insane logic to try justify it, but it's still an flaw, and it never got better in the series, especially in the fillers, and it's one of the reasons i hate naruto because it shits on this pre-idealized idea for some generic designs and the final and biggest flaw is..
9.The characters don't fucking LOOK LIKE NINJAS TO BEGIN WITH, This is pretty much an flaw of naruto that breaks immersion and makes you see the characters as anything else like monks, mages etc anything but ninjas, clichemoto character designs for the most part sucks, and it shits on the idea of ninjas, you know stealth oriented warriors that are completely in black, and are deadly and kill without hesitation, which is something 90% of the characters lack, the only two characters in this entire fucking series that look like an ninja and act like an ninja or close to it, is Kakuzu and Haku, BOTH WERE SO BADLY USED AND DEFEATED BY PLOT ARMOR THAT IS OUTRAGEOUS, WHY THE ONLY FUCKING 2 CHARACTERS THAT LOOK LIKE NINJA IN THE SERIES, WERE THROWN IN THE GARBAGE, WHILE CHARACTERS LIKE NARUTO HIMSELF,KIBA, INO, SAKURA, SASUKE, CHOUJI, TENTEN, ROCK LEE, KANKURU, TEMARI,KONOHAMARU AND HIS FRIENDS, SHIKAMARU, GAARA ETC DON'T LOOK LIKE NINJAS ARE STILL IN THE SERIES, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, NO STUPID THEORY OR JACK SHIT WILL JUSTIFY THIS, NARUTO IS THE WORST THING TO HAVE EVER HAPPEN TO CONCEPT OF NINJAS AND IT ALSO MANAGED TO DETURPATE IT, WHY THE FUCK PEOPLE TURN AN BLIND EYE TO IT? ''oh but is clichemoto interpretation of ninjas'' NO ONE ASKED FOR HIS INTERPRETATION OF NINJAS, THE GUY NEVER HAD AN CLUE OF WHAT AN NINJA LOOKS LIKE FROM IT'S HINTED ON HIS CHARACTERS DESIGNS AND HE SUCKS, IF YOU COMPARE TO D-GRAY MAN CHARACTER DESIGNS, NARUTO IS ANEMIC ON THAT ASPECT.
And perhaps this is it, all the reasons why this series sucks and is overrated, it's an series that has finally fucking finished,(at least until boruto shows up ZzZzZz) being stretched up to 500 episodes thanks to its fillers, and perhaps something better will come to take it's place, from which i deeply hope, this series is an testament of how people let their nostalgia a lot of time speak bigger and ignore flaws, flaws from which made naruto lose a lot of popularity especially in the future fourth ninja war, like i said i tried more than once to like it, but i's like banging my head against the wall for something not worthwhile, i hope clichemoto(yes i call him this way after my friend called him that) at least learn something from all of his mistakes, and please god stay away from any other ethnic group and don't try to deturpate it, this review is huge but i wanted to stay clear all the reasons, not just some empty hater who just hates it because it's popular, no i hate it because it was never that great to begin with, only have popularity, thank you and have a nice day watching better animes.
