Board Thread:Naruto Discussions/@comment-12509038-20141124214040/@comment-26023629-20150119220929

I just made this account because I saw this and wanted to share how I felt about this series. I hope I'm not intruding somehow.

I'm going to do these a bit out of order, just to get the easy stuff out of the way.

Art: The characters manage to all be distinct from one another, for the most part, making them easily recognizable and iconic. The art is pretty damn good, though some of the later character designs get ridiculous. Seriously, Kumo, white and red? Have you ever even heard of stealth?

Action: I liked the action in the series, though I felt it was strongest when people were acting at least slightly like ninjas. Going to be honest: I hate the rasengan, the chidori, tailed beast bombs, most of the stuff the mangekyo sharingan and rinnegan did... and especially the edo tensei. If there were just a couple of these chakra nukes, and they had been used much, much, much more sparingly, more as a plot device than as part of the action, I'd be more ok with them, but as is stands, these sorts of things just became the norm towards the end. I understand the need for the characters to grow in power, but these things just sucked all the intrigue and strategy out of the fights and made them all about getting close enough to spam chakra balls until the other guy stopped fighting.

Plot: My favorite parts of the series come from part 1. I can understand other's appreciation for the theme of love conquering hatred, but the everything past pain's introduction muddles that message with all of the sage of six paths and ten tails stuff. Part I approached the ideas of hatred and war in such a mature and real way that it feels so strange that the final battle was just another "chosen hero vs. ultimate evil" fight that is ultimately the same thing we've all seen before. My favorite arc has to be the chunin exams, as it gave an idea as to the sort of tension there was between the shinobi nations, and how everything they did was to measure their strength against each other. The stories from characters like Kakashi, the Sannin, and the Third built up this world of hatred and misunderstanding in such a real way. When part II rolled around and had them all unite against some evil goddess it just felt wrong, and the way that all their animosity just magically vanished afterwards was so painfully forced. It feels like so much of part I was hand-waved out of existence so Naruto could solve all the world's problems at once.

Characters: Let's talk about Naruto. I'm sure that this is an unpopular opinion, especially on this site, but I feel he's one of the weakest characters. First, there's this whole conflict over his loneliness. It's an interesting idea: how do people react to a human nuclear bomb? The problem, though, is that practically all of the problems being a jinchuriki caused for him are basically resolved at the start of the series when Iruka stands up for him. From that moment on he just gets more and more friends and more and more respect. We know that this affected him, but we only get to see what it was like in flashbacks, most of which are more metaphorical images than depictions of actual events. Then there's his whole work ethic: hard work and determination allow anyone to overcome a naturally talented genius, right? Yes, well, that, and being from the Uzumaki clan and thereby having way more chakra than the majority of people by default. Oh, and being the son of the ridiculously talented genius fourth Hokage. And being the reincarnation of one of the most powerful people in history. And having a super powerful chakra deus ex machina living inside of you for your whole life. Do you remember how Neji was all on about fate and predetermination in part I, and how Naruto denied that? Turns out, Neji was right! Just, it was Naruto who was fated to save the world. Because he's special. Then, there's the whole thing with Sasuke: think about it. Naruto's perspective on Sasuke never changes in any lasting way past the start of the Sasuke retrieval arc. At the beginning: he wants to save Sasuke from hatred and bring him home. At the end: he wants to save Sasuke from hatred and bring him home. I really just felt more for people like Tsunade, Kakashi, and later on, Shikamaru (to some extent). These were the people who had to experience war, and the loss of a loved one in conflict. They had to deal with what it is to be a combatant, what it means to be responsible for others, and fight and kill others- even when that might be wrong. It wouldn't be so annoying if Naruto's naive approach to all these problems didn't always work because of plot. If Naruto had ever been forced to truly consider abandoning some of his principles at some point; but, that never really happens, and everything just decides to work out exactly the way he wants it.

Don't get me wrong, I love the series. Mostly, I love the world, or more specifically, the world before the rinnegan and hagoromo started to get involved. Before all of these primordial superpowers showed up, the legends were all about shinobi: the Kages, the shinobi world wars, etc. It felt like a real place, like how life might be if chakra and super-ninjutsu existed. The whole concept of chakra and the ways it is applied is my favorite thing about the series, and is what, in my opinion, makes it good. I loved the chunin exam arc in part because it showcased all the myriad ways people use chakra to their advantage, and showcased techniques that felt ninja-like, aside from all the fights involving Naruto, mostly because they basically amounted to bijuu = win. Again, Neji was totally right about predetermination; he was just wrong about Naruto's destiny.

Mostly, I feel like the series had a lot of promise but focused on the wrong things. I love to talk about it and think about all the facsinating things that could be done with its premise. Had it handled the ideas of war, loss, vengeance and hatred in a more mature way, with more true-to-life conflicts, it could have been much better than it was. In my opinion anyway.