Masashi Kishimoto is one of the many artists to be inspired by highly popular manga/anime series Dragon Ball, like the other two of the "Big Three"; Bleach and One Piece. Dragon Ball is one of the most influental anime series ever created, a story of a boy named Son Goku who wants to be strong and be there for his friends while defeating the baddies with peserverance, courage,& a sufficent amount of training, simple yet incredibly groundbreak. So here, I'll compare Naruto to Dragon Ball.
Story- Naruto follows a very similar formula of those of Dragon Ball Z(as well the same pacing), though one thing should be known, the concept isn't very original: "A pucky, young boy who longs to become the best ninja there is by becoming the next Hokage, & doing their job better than they've ever dreamed to". That concept has been used so many times on a Shonen, so Naruto is another coming-of-age anime,& the biggest question, does it deliever? You bet, it may not be too out-of-the-box or defining, but it does give us good settings,& nice built-up though it has many pointless flashbacks, it balances in the themes of friendship, trust, batrial, vengenase,& never giving up very well, like the way Team 7 worked together and truimphed through their missions was something to behold.....but all that takes a backseat after Sasuke disbands from the squad and the series no longer feels like the very entertaining coming-of-age series we used to know but became more like a shallow and boring sob-story.
Art and Animation- Nothing to brag about here, the character designs are poorly-drawn, have poor palleting, there's so many errors(but hey, atleast Naruto looks cool),& they're very generic, but it's quite different for the manga as it looks infinitly better,& back on topic: The animation is very choppy, one moment it's fluid but in another it's cheap(compare Naruto vs. Kiba(cheap) to Lee vs. Gaara(fluid)) , it's not the same to say for Dragon Ball as it was well-animated for it's time period although some scenes in there looked cheap. The Opening and Ending sequences look fantastic though.
Sound- Top-notch here, top-notch. The voice-actings fit the character's personality very well, DUB AND SUB, but one character's voice-actor I'd like to complain about and that's Sasuke's, the guys who voice him are atleast in their 30's, when Sasuke is 12-years old, Junko Takeuchi(who voices Naruto Uzumaki in the Japanese version ) might have been more fitting for his 12-year old body than Noriaki Sugiyama,& the dialogue is unnatural at times. Othere than that, I applaud the performance. As for the soundtrack, it's one of the best I've ever heard in an anime, they enhance the events,& really fit the atmosphere of the show, really worthy of importing. This is one category Naruto handles better than Dragon Ball.
Characters- Well not being as likable or well-defined as Dragon Ball characters, they are still very-well developed(for the most parts), the characterization is handled much like Dragon Ball as they grow physically and mentally. Though a lot of people find them annoying, I don't mind most of them really but I don't agree they're one of the deepest and most well-characterized. One character I feel is complete waste and shouldn't be around is Sakura Haruno, she's the Krillin of Naruto but not as memorial, although she does vouch to be more helpful but she does not fullfill that prophecy untill Shippuden,& she's generally extremely annoying,& she's unbearable to look at. The characters are your typical Shonen archetypes: Naruto is the hyper-active kid yearning to be the best of the best, Sasuke is a rival of Naruto,& Sakura....she's a b!tch and doesn't do much more than lust for the rival.
Enjoyable- I'm not gonna lie, I really did enjoy this series, granted it's not even close to being one of the best animes out there, I don't think it's even a candidant for it. The first 100 or so episode are amazing, it has amazing fight choreography, atlmost on par with what you've seen with DBZ, but the rest...not so much, that's where all the fun stops, I'll admit the comedy filler episodes were a breath of fresh air but still.
Positives:
+ Decent story
+ Stunning Opening and Ending Sequences
+ Top-notch voice-acting
+ Top-notch music
+ Well-defined Characters
+ Easy to get into
+ Cool Fight Scenes
Negatives:
- Overall weak Art and Animation
- Not original
- Filler Episodes
- Overabundant Flash-back scenes
- Sakura Haruno
Final Verdict:
Without the filler episodes, it may have gotten an 8 or 9, but the series is perfect if you wanna get into anime as it's not hard to follow. And if you like Shonens(primarly action-packed ones like DBZ and Yu Yu Hakusho), defintely watch it. Trust me, you won't be disappointed. :)
