Anime Review: Naruto

Naruto was my first official anime, so I thought it would only be right if it was the first anime I reviewed. I hope you enjoy it!

For a video version of this review go here.

Anime: Naruto/Naruto Shippuden
Genre: Action (w/ ninjas!), Adventure, Magic
Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

General Setup: Naruto, the main character is just beginning his training to become a ninja of the Hidden Leaf Village. Ten years beforehand a giant fox attacked the village. The village leader, or Hokage, sealed the fox inside Naruto as a baby to protect the village. Because Naruto has the fox sealed inside him he is ostracized by the other villagers. Naruto's dream is to become the Hokage so he will be the strongest ninja in the village and everyone will respect him.

Characters: Naruto starts out as a slightly immature middle school-age boy, but he matures more as the show progresses. Some characters in this anime have really strong arcs, others not so much. Due to the sheer amount of characters I am just going to go over the more important main characters. Iruka is Naruto’s teacher and mentor. He is Naruto’s surrogate big brother. I think I can say that without Iruka Naruto would not have grown into the individual he is. Kakashi also teaches Naruto's along with two other young ninjas that make up Team 7. Kakashi has an air of mystery about him. He always wears a mask, so we never get to see his face. He also consistently arrives late to everything. Sasuke and Sakura are Naruto’s teammates. Sasuke is moody and vengeful (he says his goal in life is, ‘to kill a certain someone,’), but he and Naruto eventually become rivals. Naruto considers Sasuke his brother. Sakura is an interesting character in that you either love her or hate her. She starts out weak, but slowly turns into a stellar ninja.

Plot: This series takes a while, but everything connects in the end. This is my favorite thing about this anime. There is a lot of unknown history that affects things. Flashbacks are used commonly and almost in excess. 

It all goes back to the bell training!

Ending: A fitting ending to a long saga. I can't say too much because I don't want to spoil it.

Things to watch for: Some of Naruto's humor can be a little crude, but the humor is mostly clean. Naruto's mentor is a little perverted (Naruto's nickname for him is Pervy Sage). Blood and gore are kept to a minimum until Shippuden. This is partly because more characters die in the second season. (Note: The original season of Naruto is rated TV-7 for ages and up. Shippuden is rated TV-14 or even M for older teenagers.)

Humor: Like I said, Naruto can be a little crude. However, this anime has its fair share of solid jokes.

Sights and Sounds: The animation is fun to watch and the battles scenes can be really epic. Be forewarned, Naruto’s voice actor for the dubbed version can get annoying fast. I thought the sub voice actors all did a nice job (Fun fact: the voice actors who provide the voice for Naruto in both seasons are girls). The music is cool because at first it just sounds like modern music with a little funky twist, but then you realize that it has all these traditional Japanese sounds stuck in. They blend together surprisingly well. (Another fun fact: The creators of the music purposely used traditional Japanese instruments along with modern instruments because even in the planning stage, Naruto was supposed to be dubbed in English. That is why they blend together so well.) Most of the opening and ending songs are really good. The animation that accompanies these are interesting too.

Moral Lessons: Depend on those around you. Decide on your own path and stick to it. Friends are worth sacrificing everything for. Real life is better than a perfect dream.

Other Media: There is a manga and several movies out. The anime follows the manga pretty well (aside from fillers). The movies mostly follow the plot of the anime (think extended filler arcs).

Fillers: Fillers are abundant in Naruto. 40% of the anime is fillers. Some of the fillers are solid, but their abundance is probably one of the few cons of this anime. You can easily find a guide on the internet that will tell you which episodes are fillers. This will cut down on the length of the anime.

Length: The first ‘season’ of Naruto is 220 episodes long, but 89 of those episodes are fillers (that means 139 canon episodes). Shippuden has a similar episode to filler ratio, with 441 episodes total and 183 filler episodes. Many people don't want to get into Naruto just because it is so long (600+ episodes including fillers). I can see where they are coming from. But! It can be done - just ask my brother! It also helps if you don’t watch the fillers. I would recommend watching the first 20 episodes of the original series (that is just plain Naruto, not Naruto Shippuden), just so you can get a feel for it. If you are not interested by then that's fine, but you may be sucked in for the long haul!

Where to Watch: You can watch Naruto on Crunchyroll if you have a premium membership. Shippuden is also available on Crunchyroll for free. Both seasons are available for free on Hulu. Naruto and Naruto Shippuuden is on the Viz site for free as well. Also, if you have Netflix you can watch the first three seasons of the original season.