NARUTO
Reviewed by Dan Peterson |
| Synopsis |
| Naruto is a little orphan ninja boy in Konoha, the hidden ninja village of the leaves. He has been scorned by all those in the village because he carries within him the nine tails demon fox monster that once attacked the village. The village’s leader at the time sealed the monster inside Naruto. Despite being a very poor ninja, Naruto is determined to become the leader of the village and prove his existence to all those around him. He does so while working in a team of three composed of Sasuke, a young genius ninja who is Naruto’s rival; Sakura, Naruto’s love; and, of course, Naruto himself. This team is guided by their mentor Kakashi, and together they complete missions as they try to prove themselves and the value of their village. |
| PLOT: 85% |
| Very good plot development, though the series starts a little slowly. The first few episodes can grow tiresome, but once the team is assembled and they travel to the land of the waves to meet the series’ first villain, Zabuza, the show just becomes spectacular. The fight scenes are very well-done, and the outcome of a battle is rarely clear until the very end. The series just keeps getting better and better, though a number of “antics” episodes and general filler detract from character development and leave a bad taste and the mouth of the viewer. |
| CHARACTERS: 90% |
| Some of the best developed characters in anime history! As time goes on, we are bombarded with scores of ninjas, each with unique personalities and abilities, though we still never meet one that we feel such a connection with as Naruto. Despite his occasional tendency to rant, act stupidly, and be, in general, annoying, Naruto remains undoubtedly the character you will care the most about throughout the entire series. The series is also notable for creating villains that one can sympathize with, most notably Zabuza and Haku in the first arc as well as Gaara of the Sand and his cohorts in the second Chuunin exam arc. Even small characters like Shikamaru are well-developed, making many secondary characters the favorites of many fans. |
| ART: 70% |
| The style and colors are bold, bright, and generally pretty standard-issue anime. There isn’t anything that I found particularly stunning as far as art goes, though the artists do a wonderful job of drawing each character distinctly with his or her own personality. Not the best art I’ve seen, but nothing particularly bad about it either. |
| SOUNDTRACK: 90% |
| What can I say? I love the Naruto soundtrack! Okay, it may not be the most innovative, and they seem to reuse lots of songs over and over again, but it grows on you the more you hear it. The intro song to begin with leaves a lot to be desired, but the four intro songs that come afterwards definitely rank among my favorites in all of anime. |
| CONCLUSION: 84% Overall |
| Definitely worth your time. |
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