I've followed Naruto for over a decade and enjoyed the ride. I’m only now getting around to writing a review. It's a series that holds a special place in my heart. That being said, I still think you can enjoy something and criticize it.
There are three main problems with Naruto: Too many characters fighting for screen time, too many fake out deaths, and the abysmal pacing. The author emotionally manipulates the audience by pretending there are stakes and then undoes any of the consequences later - almost always without an explanation. This robs the story of any rewatch value as these moments boil down to the author lying to the audience.
It's these three reasons that I'm not sure I can really recommend this series. If you do read Naruto, I HIGHLY recommend you read the manga and avoid the anime, as the anime is 44% filler. Hell, maybe it will be a lot more enjoyable if you binge-read Naruto - that way you won’t have time to really think about the problems.
If I was reading Naruto for the first time as an adult, I don't think I would enjoy it. I would probably give it a 5, but nostalgia boosts the score.
***Spoiler Section***
While I love this series, too many people dismiss the dumb shit and chalk it up to needing a massive IQ to truly appreciate.
The author loves to depict every character as a victim. It worked very well in the Pain arc, but the author beat this dead horse into a bloody paste. Nobody is the bad guy. First Orochimaru is the bad guy, then it’s Itachi, but the REAL bad guy is Pain, but the real REAL bad guy is Obito. You absolute fool, the real bad guy was Madara. Are you an imbecile? It’s actually Black Zetsu, er actually this albino chick. Everything is her fault I guess.
The fake out deaths are absolutely absurd. We have characters get cut in half horizontally and crushed vertically, but both of those characters are just fine. The author really just can't help himself.
We have Choji tell us "If I use THAT technique.. I'll die!". He uses the technique, and then we have a proper send off. He'll reflect on his life and think of all the great people he's friends with. Then he'll clutch his chest and we'll see the image of a flower losing its last pedal. Shikamaru then "senses" his friend's demise. Skip a few chapters ahead and Choji is completely fine. Fuck me I guess.
To make the Pain arc seem more suspenseful, the author kills off a bunch of fan-favorite characters and then brings them back later. Apparently this universe has Dragon Balls.
The author introduces many new characters right before the war arc. I kind of expected a few named characters to die, but ironically more characters come back from the dead. Even when I was reading Naruto week by week, I never felt any suspense during the war arc, especially when Naruto and Sasuke were on the brink of death.
Most of the characters pre-time skip don't matter at all, which is an unfortunate side effect of the author writing the story by the seat of his pants. They might get their token sentence of dialogue per 50 chapters but they really don't matter anymore. We have one-off contrived moments like with the 10-tails splitting its body giving other characters a chance to get an attack in, or with the friendship Rasengan vs Obito. The side characters appear more in the opening and closing than they do in the show. The author took a fan favorite character, Rock Lee, and did fuck-all with him. There are so many characters being juggled around that the author completely forgets some plot threads towards the end of the story (Hashirama teaching Sasuke THAT technique, Guy and Lee w/ the sacred tools).
Obito. This is officially the point where the fake out deaths become too stupid to be forgiven. There are two main issues to be addressed to make Obito a feasible villain:
1. How he survived
2. His motivation
Obito was crushed vertically by a boulder so a bit of an explanation is needed. If he was shot in the head and his gray matter splattered all over the wall, he'd be far more likely to survive. Let me walk you through people's defense of this.
> Obito survived because of his Mangekyo ability
Obito didn't have his Mangekyo yet
> Obito is just special so he can still use the ability
Fine. Obito confirms he is being crushed by the boulder as he is being crushed by the boulder. Obito's right side is clearly crushed when Madara rehabilitates him.
> That’s because he was crushed.
How did his Sharigan survive if he was crushed? How did HE survive if he was crushed?
> Because he slipped through.
You can't have it both ways and flip flop at your convenience.
The author glosses over this crucial plot point with a vague "it's almost like you slipped through" and doesn’t want you to think about it further. The fact of the matter is the author wanted to have a big reveal but also didn't want it to be predictable so he sacrificed logic for shock value - which is unfortunately a problem throughout the story.
The author isn't even remotely close to being done bending over for Obito. Obito has the 10-tails ripped out of him which should've killed him, but no he's fine. Obito uses "THAT" technique to sacrifice himself to revive Madara, and he just fucking walks it off (Naruto casually mentions “reviving” him like it’s no biggy and no other explanation is given). Even when he finally dies he comes back 5 seconds later (it's only temporary but still). This insufferable character’s plot armor is unreal.
Before Obito dies for the first time, he’s depicted as a self-sacrificing individual. To go from that to world-domination warrants a bit of an explanation. The author assures us Obito’s motivation is not because of Rin. The author then shows us a flashback of Rin dying, which causes Obito to go full John Wick and he concludes “This world is HELL”. So basically, his motivation is 100% because of Rin. Obito had a crush on a 12 year old, in an occupation with a high mortality rate in which she dies, and then decided the next logical step is to murder everyone he cares about and brainwash the world to be with said 12 year old. Obito’s rationale would make a bit more sense if he and Rin were in a long-standing relationship where she was his rock in life, but that’s simply not the case at all.
But no worries! Madara explains away Obito’s character assassination by saying “those that stand tall must cast a longer shadow” - which is an elegant way of saying “don’t fucking worry about it bro”. If anyone thinks this is acceptable writing, they have no business complaining about Sasuke’s character arc.
Obito could’ve been an exceptional character, but the author loves to have his Sasuke-Naruto-Sakura dynamic on almost every team. As such, Obito is supposed to be Naruto and we’re meant to believe that the only difference between Obito and Naruto is “one bad day” (Naruto, want to know how I got these scars?). If Sakura was killed in front of Naruto, I don’t believe for a nanosecond that he’d be like “welp, better kill my friends, sensei, and the villagers”. In summary, Obito is a giga-simp with plot armor that rivals Naruto and Sasuke combined - but at least one of them is named after the show.
I also want to address how horribly written the female characters are in this show, to the point where I’m not certain the author has ever seen a woman. When we’re first introduced to the Leaf Village dozen almost every character has something to prove or has some compelling story. Of course, the only thing the female characters care about are boys. It’s nearly the first thing out of Sakura, Ino, and Hinata’s mouths. Hinata at least has a bit more to her character, but Sakura’s and Ino’s tragic backstory is that they like the same emo boy he hates everyone else.
Sakura suffers the brunt of the poor writing. Sakura simps for Sasuke because “he’s cool” - that’s it, don’t expect any other reason. Sasuke verbally and physically assaults Sakura, and attempts to kill her multiple times. Sakura never gives up or takes Sasuke’s multiple “noes” as an answer. Good thing the genders aren’t reversed otherwise the police might get involved. Sakura’s love for Sasuke is depicted as a tragic burden, but her love for Sasuke is near "Mikasa" level ridiculous.
Pre-time skip Sakura does very little. I can’t tell you how excited I was when I learned Sakura became a useful character post-time skip. Unfortunately her relevance is short lived, and the credit for Sakura’s improved abilities is given to Granny Chio, who fuckin’ dies a few chapters later. Sakura sits on the side lines but when the author wants to have his Legendary Trio Deadlock she’ll jump in and say “I’ve finally caught up to those two” for the 100th time, but these moments feel unearned. When the author wants to focus on the Naruto-Sasuke rivalry, Sakura will become an emotional mess (remember guys, she’s a woman!) and curse her helplessness. The author simply wants to have his cake and eat it too.
Sakura’s stupidity dials up to 11 post-Pain. Her 500 IQ ploy is to emotionally manipulate Naruto by pretending to like him back. Why is Sakura's character entirely defined by who she's attracted to? Sakura thinks Naruto is only trying to save Sasuke because of their promise, and is flabbergasted to learn that Naruto actually WANTS to save Sasuke. Sakura comes off like a condescending moron. Sakura’s stupidity dials up to 12 as her next 5000 IQ plan is to try the exact same thing on Sasuke, ya know, the person it’s never ever worked on. What makes this even worse is the author sabotages this perfect opportunity to make use of some under-utilized side characters. Why did she even bother to recruit back-up if she was just going to roofie them?
Sasuke is also somewhat inconsistent. He goes full Light Yagami after killing Danzo. He attempts to kill Karin, Sakura (x2), Kakashi, and vows to destroy the Leaf village. He meets up with Itachi, takes a chill pill, and everyone looks past his “turning point” like it never happened. I do like Sasuke’s conclusion to follow in his brother’s footsteps by becoming the “greater evil” for the sake of peace, as he’s seen it work by both Itachi and the 4th ninja war. Sasuke would’ve been a much better character to assist Madara than Obito. Honestly that would be amazing.
My last criticism is with Naruto. Naruto is meant to be the no-talent loser who is able to stand up to a genius like Sasuke with hard work. While this is an inspirational message, this couldn’t be more false. Naruto is the product of destiny and nepotism. Naruto is the son of the 4th Hokage, disciple of the 6th Hokage, personally trained by one of the Legendary Sanin, and the fucking reincarnation of one of the sons of the creator of all ninjutsu. To top it all off, Naruto has the 9-tails which serves as a crutch any time Naruto’s back is against the wall. Pre-time skip this happens a lot and the author depicts these moments as proof of “Naruto’s growth”. I saw the Neji vs Naruto fight when I was in middle school, and I still recognized it was disingenuous to attribute Naruto’s win as “hard work beats geniuses”. In short, the story treats Naruto like he’s Rock Lee. Also the whole “world peace” theme kinda got swapped over to Sasuke at the end.
To be somewhat constructive after ranting like a mad man, I’ll suggest some fixes. The first and second issue with this manga are each others’ solution. Choji should’ve died. Either erase Obito from the story, or depict him as a mentally fragile loner who was in a loving relationship with Rin. Explicitly state that having the 10-tails is unique and having it ripped out of you won’t kill you. Kill Obito when he revives Madara. All of the Kage, with the exception of Garra, should’ve died against Madara (most of them retire anyway and do nothing after they miraculously survive). Orochimaru stays dead. Tone down Sakura’s crying, give her techniques beyond punching and healing (do we even know her Chakra nature?), and have her actually do shit. Sakura doesn’t roofie her Sasuke hit squad. A couple of other named characters should’ve died in the war as well even if they’re not from the Leaf Village. Completely axe the reincarnation thing for Naruto and Sasuke.
Believe it or not, the only reason I put so much effort into this review is because I’m passionate about this story.
