Anime: Naruto

A nice shounen, that do what a loooooot of others series do, it has its moments, but it doesn't manages to surpass the ones that were used to copy their ideas (DB, Hokuto no Ken, Saint Seiya, Samurai X, etc).
Most of the main characters are super annoying, morons who are unable to understand their own feelings and thoughts much less to express them, or even worst some of them like to be "masochistic / slaves"? as Sakura (the blond girl I think that is her name). Although it has some good fighting scenes and techniques, as well as lovable characters as Naruto's two masters.

Story: 5/10

Naruto isn't that good... Why? How many anime have you seen with a main character not giving up to try to be the best? Loads of them, right? Naruto is no exception. How many anime have the same kind of characters as in Naruto? An annoying hothead, a never giving up guy, and a jerk-faced loser. My opinion is not superior to anyone elses. I know alot of people will disagree with me and I'm fine with it. Just don't whine about it and boast that I'm not right. I'm not right or wrong. So why did I give Naruto a 10 you ask? Simply because I enjoyed it.

Art: 6/10

The art is pretty average most of the time. It looks like any other series. The fight scenes were really animated good. Especially Naruto and Sasuke's second fight.

Sound 9/10
The music really sets the mood in Naruto. Let it be joy, anger, sorrow. Especially sorrow and loneliness. Sometimes in my free time I like to listen to some of the beautiful songs in Naruto. "Sadness and Sorrow" for example, pulls at my heart strings whenever they play it. It's good at making you feel for the characters and making you cry.

character 7/10
The flashbacks were always interesting for me. I know lots of you thought the flashbacks were annoying. They were insightful for me. They helped me better understand the characters and feel what they're feeling. As for Sasuke, nobody cares about him so why did they put so much attention on him. I could care less about that little shih tzu. I liked the chunnin exams they were a great introductory on all the characters.

Overall 8/10
If you took out all the fillers in Naruto, it would only be about 132 episodes instead of 220. If there weren't so many fillers it would be rated a 10 and I would definately watch it again. Watching fillers was torture, skip them at ALL COST. Things do drag on for too long. I don't mind it as much. It doesn't feel rushed and you can follow and understand the story at a slower pace.

Critic's Log - Earthdate: July 27, 2012. Review #15: Naruto



ALRIGHT! Let's get right into Naruto!



Naruto Uzamaki is a boy who is feared and loathed by the villagers in
the Hidden Leaf Village. This distrust of the boy is not because of
whom he is, it is because of what is inside him and causes anxiety on
fellow villagers. Before Naruto was born, a great Nine - Tailed demon
fox attacked the Hidden Leaf Village with monstrous fury and power, this
Demon Fox took many lives. The Fourth Hokage arrives, and The Fourth
Hokage was the strongest shinobi in the hidden Leaf village at the time
and he bravely fought the Nine-Tailed Fox and the battle was won by the
Fourth Hokage as he sealed the demon fox in a newborn baby boy after
sacrificing his own life. As Naruto grows, he decides that he wants to
become the village's strongest ninja in an effort to show everyone that
he is not what they perceived him to be; but is a human being worthy of
love and admiration. The road of becoming Hokage however will be a long
and difficult one. It will be a path full of betrayal, pain, and sorrow.
But with hard, Naruto might be able to achieve the title of Hokage.



To be technical, this is a Studio Pierrot production and they have a
pretty good resume if you look up on what animes they have produced past
and since Naruto. This show was a big hit in both Japan and in the US,
although the US had its issues when it first aired. Japan obviously
aired it the way you see it now on DVD, we citizens of the United States
saw it on TV in Edited fashion (Obviously censored so kids can watch
it). I used to watch Naruto's censored version and trust me... it is 10
times better uncut, Believe It! *I get punched in the face for saying
"Believe It"* "OW! What was that for!?... Hello?” Back to the review...
Of all the animes I have seen, Naruto is one of those animes that I have
a hard time reviewing. The show is watchable because its story is ok
for the most part; It is definitely flawed to say the least. Let me just
state my opinion on the story arcs to follow... Here I go.



The Introduction Arc - It's nice for starters



The Land of Waves Arc - Pretty Good



The Chunin Exam Arc - It builds up and starts getting interesting, the fights after are awesome until...



The Invasion of Konoha Arc - The Fights are interrupted, but the
stakes start going through the roof. Naruto and Gaara's fight was great.



Search for Tsunade Arc - The mini arc which involves Itachi's
return was fascinating. This arc is building up to the next arc. This
arc has some nice moments.

The 101st Episode is a filler episode, but the episode was meant to
be over the top, it's the "Kakashi Mask" episode. It is so silly. It's
even silly that they show a horse taking a dump and the horse appears to
be laughing while a 4th wall break ensues. Yeah, It's that over the
top.



Land of Tea arc - okay, but not memorable

Sasuke Retrieval Arc - This is a pretty good arc, but has its
flaws. It does give promising expectation for the sequel series that
follows after.



Every single filler arc after the "Sasuke Retrieval" Arc - BULLSHIT!
And a waste of time. Some are funny, some are stupid, some are tedious,
and some are just flat-out boring and unneeded.





Even if the story is plausible and even though the direction by
Hayato Date may be a little mixed at times... the 85 episode streak of
fillers is the show's biggest weakness. I have good news for you about
these fillers. These fillers are after the main story, unless you are a
masochist, skip the fillers and jump right into Shippuden, you aren't
missing anything after Episode 135.



The animation is pretty good, but it is slightly dated. It does look
better in later arcs. I find it odd that the animation does look better
in certain episodes. But there are some episodes that look fluid but
less exact than the rest of the show, should I say that the animation is
slightly hit and miss? I'll leave this up for you to debate. The one
thing that does get repetitive is the use of flashbacks. I am damn
serious. This show overkills on the flashbacks. I know it's used to have
the character remember certain memories from those characters’ pasts,
but it could have been reduced to a certain amount of scenes.



The music by Toshio Masuda and... Musashi Project (a band?) is...
fitting for the show in some areas, , but I guess there are some
noteworthy songs in the show that are fine without the show. I will give
the show some props that it does have a a couple good openings to get
pumped up for the episode to start. Some closing themes are good too



I guess the characters are another thing to mention. Some of these
characters are deemed as one-dimensional characters *I get punched in
the face again for saying* "OW! Damn It, Who's doing that!?... Hello? I
said some, not all of them" okay, there are some really good characters
in this show. The one thing that some people have criticized the
characters for is that some of these characters are a bit stereotypical
and can be deemed insulting in some way... This show does have too many
characters. There are too many supporting characters, too many minor
villains, too many minor characters. There are hundreds of characters.
Much less if you skip the filler at least. There will be more added when
you see Naruto Shippuden.



The voice acting on both sides does need to be commented on...



The Japanese cast is pretty good and listenable, The English Dub on
the other hand isn't bad either *A bunch of masked Ninja appear and all
of them have weapons near me ready to kill* "Ok, ok, hear me out, hear
me out" The dub is a bit rocky at first and if you remember your first
memory of the dub, you got used to it and it got better later on. What I
think saved the dub was Steve Blum's performance as Zabuza. (He had a
lot of fun as Orochimaru, I can guarantee you that). But the dub has its
flaws. Some characters have their voices changed because of certain
characters fighting each other that could have ended up played by the
same voice (Viz Media obviously didn't read the manga to find out who
would fight who) some of these voice changes were made for the better.
*The Ninja put away their weapons and they leave*

Junko Takeuchi and Maile Flanagan are very well known for their roles
as Naruto, Even though Naruto may have been annoying at first in the
dub, Naruto's English voice is just as fitting as the subbed version,
even though they sound a little different. Sakura's Seiyuu and English
voice actress are okay, Noriaki Sugimiya and Yuri Lowenthal are terrific
as Sasuke. There are other cast members for both Japanese and English
that have their spotlight, but there are so many cast members to
mention. Look them up if you want to...



I guess the real question is... Why do a lot of people like this
anime so much, is it the action? is it the themes? Is it the characters?
well there are a lot of reasons that a lot of people like this anime.
There are some people that find this anime extremely overrated. I may
kindly say that I really did like this show in the past. I had a lot of
fun watching it. It is super popular that the manga has caught up
quickly to catch up with the Japanese serialization. The 7th volume of
the manga won a Quill Award in the US (Some award for books I guess) The
anime and the manga is one of Viz Media's bestselling titles in the US.



Naruto is available from Viz Media; the manga adaptation by Masashi
Kishimoto is also available by Viz Media. Two light novels are probably
available by Viz Media, an OVA called "Protect the Waterfall Village" is
the one of the only two OVAs available by Viz Media while the others
were never licensed. The Leaf Village sports festival OVA came with the
first movie, The three movies "Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow", "Legend
of The Stone Gelel", and "Guardians of The Crescent Moon Kingdom" are
also available by Viz Media. There's also several video games released
by other companies but there are too many to tell and there really isn't
a point to tell them all. Same goes with the trading card game... Also,
Naruto Shippuden (the sequel to Naruto) is obviously available from Viz
Media



With that said, Naruto may not be everyone's cup of tea. But it is a
very entertaining show that has some really interesting themes. Before I
finish my review of Naruto. I will give this show two ratings. One
rating for the beginning till the filler streak and one rating for the
show as a whole (from Episode 1-220)



I give Naruto a 7.5 out of 10 without the filler streak. It is GOOD!



For the show as a whole though, I give Naruto a 6.5 out of 10, it is DECENT!





Feel free to comment below and pursue your dreams.

Naruto started as a wonderful thriller but eventually bogged down into filler-land with no real plot and endless side adventures. The first few arcs are awesome and will get watchers hooked but the fillers that eventually take over the series just ruins it. Once they start you might as well jump over to Shippuden.

Animation:
Animation is pretty good but I don't like how some of the character's eyes are drawn and I think more detail in general could be used by the characters. Colors are nice and FX are done quite well but overall the animation quality is medium-medium high.

Sound:
There are a lot of OPs/EDs and most are so so while some are pretty good. BGM in Naruto is pretty unique though I would say the quality is average. Voice acting is pretty good (Naruto must have been quite a bit of work...) so sound in general isn't bad.

Story:
If they had ended the series before the fillers, this would have been an easy 10. The first few arcs in Naruto are very intense in both plot and action, and occasionally humor. The anime pulls the trick of always having a plot twist near the end of the episode so the watcher can't help but chain.

However, once you get past the juice, you end up dry. All that's left are fillers where new pointless characters are introduced and disappear as rapidly as they are introduced. I watched all the fillers in hope that there was some meat eventually but was greatly disappointed. As for conclusion, it continues into Shippuden so there isn't really a need for a conclusion.

Character:
The character are all interesting in their own way but there are so many of them that at certain points the watcher won't see a main character for a dozen or so episodes. Thus there isn't too much development in terms of the characters once the Chuunin exam arc is past, with the occasional exception of a new move. However, certain characters are quite vibrant and serve to keep this anime above others in this category. Wait for Shippuden for much more dramatic character development.

Value:
This show could have ended 100 episodes earlier. Thus I don't have the storage room nor do I have the desire to collect this. If you haven't my main point yet, this show is GOOD for the first few arcs. It's very entertaining at first but then runs dry later on. Overall, this is definitely going to be like a classic, and forms a necessary background for the intense Shippuden sequel.

The writers pull abilities out of nowhere and then spend the episode explaining them! Seriously the characters stare at each other and monologue about tactics for episodes at a time. For a compounding effect its impossible to actually understand what technique or tactic is better. Even if you try to follow who is winning the fight the writers will pull a twist. Then again the outcomes of most fights are obvious from the beginning often counter to any sense or purpose except how awesome the main characters are. Ninjas never run away or even seem to plan on it.

Naruto and co go out on life threatening missions, never die, never talk or act like they may die, do better than people three times their age and don't get hazard pay. Over the course of the show they have probably killed a couple thousand mook ninjas.

On the plus side later shippuden episodes addresses a few of these issue only to turn out boring in a harder to pin down way. Btw i actually like naruto the character so long as he isn't fighting anyone.

The writers pull abilities out of nowhere and then spend the episode explaining them! Seriously the characters stare at each other and monologue about tactics for episodes at a time. For a compounding effect its impossible to actually understand what technique or tactic is better. Even if you try to follow who is winning the fight the writers will pull a twist. Then again the outcomes of most fights are obvious from the beginning often counter to any sense or purpose except how awesome the main characters are. Ninjas never run away or even seem to plan on it.

Naruto and co go out on life threatening missions, never die, never talk or act like they may die, do better than people three times their age and don't get hazard pay. Over the course of the show they have probably killed a couple thousand mook ninjas.

On the plus side later shippuden episodes addresses a few of these issue only to turn out boring in a harder to pin down way. Btw i actually like naruto the character so long as he isn't fighting anyone.