Naruto. The identify is synonymous with anime. It’s nearly unattainable to speak concerning the business and the medium itself with out mentioning the franchise and its principal character. It’s one of many bestselling manga sequence in historical past and one of many longest-running anime ever if you wish to mix it with its varied spinoffs. Because it premiered within the West in 2005 on Toonami, most anime followers of the 2000s have grown to like Naruto, its world, its solid, and its themes. This week marks the sixteenth anniversary of the discharge of Naruto: Shippuden, the sequence that most individuals are likely to affiliate with the franchise. That makes it nearly as good a time as any to look again on the total Naruto sequence, to dissect parts good and unhealthy price inspecting — together with some elements that make me fervently refuse to ever have interaction with the sequence once more.
When you’re unaware of the sequence, Naruto is the story of Naruto Uzumaki, an outcast baby within the village of Konoha. His physique homes a nine-tailed fox demon that not solely destroyed the village but additionally killed his father, the chief of the village (the Hokage), who sacrificed his life to seal the monster inside his personal son’s physique. Since then, Naruto has been hated by the inhabitants, so Naruto needs to attempt to stay as much as his father’s legacy and grow to be not solely accepted by Konoha but additionally the village’s Hokage. So as to take action, he must grow to be a ninja and go on missions together with his fellow friends, practice with varied mentor figures, and combat towards a gaggle of evil ninjas referred to as the Akatsuki, who want to make the most of the monster inside Naruto for their very own evil functions.
In all probability the strongest factor of the sequence is that Naruto himself is a wonderful protagonist. Whereas we’ve seen loads of outcast protagonists in anime earlier than and because the sequence, Naruto has a genuinely constructive persona. He begins off the sequence as an outcast hated by his neighborhood, however because the sequence progresses, the folks slowly settle for him. His progress and acceptance are genuinely shifting, and he by no means lets the circumstances of his existence get him down, oftentimes making an attempt to empathize together with his enemies because of his acknowledgment that, with out the assist he ultimately acquired, he might have turned out like them.
His aim isn’t some nebulous or hard-to-define concept like different shonen protagonists have. It’s simple and attainable, and we see him making progress towards his aim all through the sequence. It’s nice to see Naruto obtain these little victories and achieve the respect of his friends and recognition from those that matter, not simply inside his village, however within the bigger world. By the point the sequence reaches its conclusion and Naruto turns into the Hokage, you consider it since you’ve seen him make the steps essential to get there. It’s the perfect a part of the finale, however the journey to get there was… messy, to say the least.
In idea, there’s so much to love about Naruto that makes it simple to see why followers could be drawn into it. But as time goes on, individuals are extra keen to level out that the sequence has a variety of flaws, particularly compared to its friends. Naruto was a part of an unofficial group of shonen anime on the time referred to as “the Large 3,” consisting of itself, One Piece, and Bleach. These three had been the preferred anime sequence of the mid-to-late 2000s, garnering fan discussions each week with every new chapter or episode launched. In 2023, Bleach and One Piece have managed to grow to be immensely standard whereas Naruto acquired an pointless and critically maligned sequel sequence that has solely emphasised issues that had been current in each the unique sequence and Shippuden.
Whereas I did say that I loved the solid of Naruto and the event of the principal supporting solid, the sequence has a gargantuan solid that comes throughout as underdeveloped and underutilized. For each Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi, and Shikamaru there may be within the story, there are many characters who obtain little, if any, improvement. Many of the feminine characters, excluding Hinata, don’t get an entire lot of improvement, and several other characters who had been framed as being vital early on, like fan favorites Gaara and Rock Lee, floundered within the Naruto: Shippuden period because the sequence started to concentrate on large-scale battle and battles.
It’s in these battles that shonen sequence are both made or damaged. Most shonen titles put the motion on the forefront and generate conditions with a view to drive the characters to combat, whether or not it makes logical sense or not. Naruto: Shippuden presents up an intense setup within the type of the Fourth Nice Shinobi Warfare. It’s truly sort of sensible how creator Masashi Kishimoto created a pure battle with a view to justify the combat scenes. You don’t must create arbitrary eventualities to drive sure events to combat. It’s a struggle. Violence is predicted. Plus, it flows effectively into the present’s themes of the countless cycle of violence and breaking it within the identify of peace.
However the present in the end falls sufferer to the practices of the period, whereby a brand new episode is predicted each single week with out fail. This led to the animation employees at Toei delivering a handful of episodes with wonderful animation and numerous others that present mid-tier, off-model animation that’s overly reliant on nonetheless frames and flashbacks to pad out the story. The sequence’s iconic “Naruto run” is emblematic of it. Did you assume that the Naruto run was launched as a result of it regarded cool? It was launched as a result of it saved on animation. With that run, you don’t must animate any arm actions. It’s a cost-cutting measure, and the sequence took loads of these routes with a view to make these weekly due dates.
This additionally led to an unnaturally excessive quantity of filler inside Naruto and Naruto: Shippuden. Filler, in my view, is a crucial evil within the anime business. Filler principally occurs when an anime sequence will get too near surpassing the manga and must stall for time whereas the creator continues the story, and whereas it’s not often on the identical high quality as the unique story, it might probably a minimum of be entertaining. That is usually the case with Bleach’s filler arcs. But they’re not high-quality in Naruto: Shippuden. A lot of that filler is devoted to unusual, unfunny comedy that ruins the tempo of the unique story. With over 200 filler episodes, that’s a variety of content material that simply isn’t price partaking with.
These are all issues that make it troublesome for me to advocate watching Naruto and Naruto: Shippuden. I might actually advocate its friends Bleach and One Piece over Naruto as Bleach’s motion is a lot better executed and One Piece’s narrative, regardless of its ludicrous dimension, solely continues to enhance. Naruto simply doesn’t evaluate, particularly when its ending feels comparatively rushed with a shock antagonist that undermines what has been established up till that time. It’s not unhealthy, but it surely doesn’t go away an excellent style in my mouth, particularly when the sequence solely simply continues with the way more inferior Boruto.
But I can’t assist however nonetheless look again nostalgically at Naruto. For a lot of, it was the primary anime they noticed and the primary anime that launched them to extra mature themes and concepts. It pioneered how most shonen motion titles would function and would refine the concepts and practices achieved in Naruto. Black Clover’s Asta and My Hero Academia’s Deku are identical to Naruto by way of motivations and targets. The manufacturing system of Naruto was unsustainable, so future shonen sequence choose to take breaks in-between seasons and arcs to ensure that the creator to additional the story and provides the animators time to shine what’s there, one thing that Bleach is benefiting from in spades. Most shonen titles these days, no matter their tone and execution, all have some parts that may be traced again to Naruto and Naruto: Shippuden, for higher or worse.
It’s tough to name one thing iconic since that phrase appears to imply so little at present. To be genuinely iconic, it must be one thing that anybody can take a look at and instantly perceive its significance and significance, for higher or worse. I can simply say that the Naruto franchise is iconic for all the good and ailing that it’s achieved for the business. When it comes to feats, it launched numerous folks to anime, showcased create a likable protagonist, modeled the professionals and cons of weekly anime content material, and set the usual for a way future sequence would function. Sixteen years later, that’s one thing to understand and settle for, no matter whether or not you just like the sequence or not.
