I just re-watched this show two months ago, so I'd thought I should review it.
When I first watched it years ago, I remember gradually falling in love with it. Asides from Yu Yu Hakusho, this was the second anime that grabbed my attention. I really did not like it at first. I thought it was boring, sexy/harem- jutsu annoyed me, and Haku's gender confused me! I think what grabbed me to this show was Zabuza's final speech. That whole scene was brilliantly emotional, and I automatically became hooked.
That being said, it takes a while to fall in love with this show (it starts off really good though), and then it takes another while to fall out of love with it. But do I recommend this anime? Yes, that is considering you have the time to watch, you are patient, and realize that there is another series (Part II) after this. The show does not really end.
The soundtrack for this anime is amazing! In my opinion it's unique, not classical, and better than what you expect! That's all I can say about it.
The art gets better as the story progresses especially the fighting sequence. Unfortunately, I cannot say this about Shippuden (Naruto: Part II).
As for the characters, after you watch a lot of anime, you realize how unoriginal they are. There is nothing special about them. However, when I first watched it, I remember having a very difficult time deciding who my favorite character was going to be because I thought all of them were amazing. Now, I cannot stand most of the characters.
Naruto: the main character is alright. His perseverance is very admirable. The only problem I have with him is that he is dull-witted; but even that is a gateway to bring humor into the show. I’m glad he is the hero of this series because he does bring the good emotional side of everyone.
Sasuke: He is the reason why I hate characters that are so emotional. That "cool-dark" vibe does not appeal to me. It is over used! He is the definition of a psychotic masochistic-emotional loser! I just want to slap him. It gets worse as the episode goes on. I did even not understand how all the girls love him. Speaking of the girls, how come they are all ridiculously vacuous?
Saukura: If she is the smartest out of her classmate, there is something really wrong with the people there. All she does is love Sasuke. She is mean to everyone else. Furthermore, there are moments that she does have character development, BUT right afterward she is just annoying again: A FAIL of a heroine.
Haku- he is not a main character, but I remember having an argument with my family about whether he was girl or a boy. It really did start a riot in my house. It was a mind boggling moment in my life. I swear! This was before I realized that Japanese anime always has at least one male character that speaks and looks like a girl. However, it is still surprising that the English dub kept the female voice.
As for the other characters such as: Neji, Hinata, Kakashi, Gaara, Lee, Choji, (and so many more!)are developed really nicely. I love them! All of them have similar traits to Naruto, but they are different and beautiful
Lastly, I want to speak about Shikamaru! The laziest character of ‘em all. To be honest, I had never seen a character like him before when I started watching, so he fascinated me (now I know, there are so many of them). I feel like out of all the characters, he had the best character development even though he was not a part of all the episodes. It was done perfectly as well. The laziness still lived on, but the maturity starts revealing itself. He is what you call intelligent, not Sakura
Lets just say, as cliche as the characters are, their (heartbreaking) storyline makes the show.
What do I hate about Naruto?
It doesn't end. There are so many fillers (pointless episodes that do not relate to the storyline). A person can only watch so much! I must have been really stupid, because when I started this show, I LOVED the filler. However, it took so much out of me that I could not even watch Shippuden.
If you are going to watch the show, do not watch the fillers! DO NOT WATCH IT!
The only fillers that you should watch are the ones that you like. Research the episodes before you begin. I loved episode 101: Kakashi's real face. It was a question I was thinking about since the beginning of the anime, so it was interesting to know that the characters thought about it too! And the Neji's curry episode was funny as well.
If you are a Hinata, Neji, Sjhikamura, Kiba, Ino, (or whoever), there are specific episodes related to them, so just watch those only, nothing more. There are more than 100 fillers I believe, soo..... don't. watch. all of them.
Overall, this is only a review for Part I.. believe me, if I had to talk about the manga or Shippuden, the rage would ooze out of your computer screen. Okay, not really, but I would have more negative things to say even though I like it.
