Once, a nine-tailed demon fox attacked Konoha, the Hidden Village of the Leaf. Many brave ninjas lost their lives defending their home. Finally, the demon was sealed by the Fourth Hokage into the body of a human boy. Several years later, that boy, Naruto Uzumaki, struggles to gain the acceptance and acknowledgement of the villagers, many of whom still hate him because of the demon inside him. So, Naruto strives to become the Hokage, the strongest ninja in the village, so that the villagers will acknowledge him. Along the way, he gains many new friends, and faces many life-threatening situations.
Synopsis: destati
Story & Characters
There are many ninjutsu/martial arts oriented anime on the market, but none has captivated the imaginations of animé
lovers like Naruto. Naruto is an underdog story. It's the story of how an underdog rises to the top, (and at the
time of this writing, is still on the rise). It captures the many struggles, failures, joys, fears, tears, loves and
successes of a lonely kid ninja with a magnificent gift he was created with. Everybody loves an underdog story, and this
is what makes Naruto absolutely fabulous.
The story is based in the hidden leaf village of Konoha; one of many hidden villages in this realm where politics,
trade, commerce and international relations are all decided by the skill of ninjas in each village. Each hidden village
represents a particular element of nature. Each village has its own idiosyncrasies which make it different and special
in its own way. Add to that a myriad of extremely fascinating characters, each with their own strengths, skills,
weaknesses and motivations and you have a story so rich and full of culture and direction, that even after this series
ends (if it ever actually ends) there will be loads of back elements in the story that will be exploited to no end by
its massively growing fan base and an infinite number of spin offs.
What really makes Naruto great is its characters. Some good people go bad, and some bad people turn to the light. All of
them are driven by very real human tenacities and emotions. All of them are driven by some kind of conflict. All the
characters have a back story. No character is created on a whim. All characters have some driving force behind their
actions. Nothing happens without a very good explanation. Everything that happens is explained to death by the many back
trackings. Few anime series contain this level of depth and richness in content. As if the jutsu system wasn't
deeply complex enough (giving a new twist to the Ninjutsu anime genre), Naruto offers a story that could quite possibly
outdo even Dragon Ball Z as the next top Anime of all time in terms of fan base. Indeed, this is fast becoming the case.
Start at the first episode, and you are guaranteed to be hooked right up to the current 10x+ episode.
The storyline in Naruto is THAT Good.
Rating: 10
Art
Naruto doesn't try hard to wow audiences with its artwork. For the most part, there is a great deal of anime
clicheism infused in the many character depictions used here. The main character has your typical spiky japanimé blonde
haired, blue-eyed countenance. All the other characters are likewise infused with the sometimes over-emphasized (and
over simplified) animé japsploitation.
The really skilled ninjas are easy to pick out, because almost all of them have:
- Spiky hair with unnatural colours
- Eye patches, head-bands and or handkerchief wrappings around heads or limbs
- Scars on the face somewhere
- Trench-coat clothed
- Otherwise loosely dressed in what appears to be Japanese animators stereo typified impression of what a western bad
boy appearance would look like
For the female characters, there is adequate:
- Revealing clothing, such as mesh vests/blouses/kickers, short skirts, close fitting, shape accentuating tights
- Your typical blonde/purple/blue/pink/[insert exotic colour here] hair colouring
- Some of the above mentioned bad-boy imaging proportionately appropriated for the female cast
However, either way, one cannot deny that the characters look ridiculously cute (in some cases, sexy) - sometimes too
cute for believability - then again, the strong storyline makes one forget about that rather quickly.
The animation is not exactly top notch either. Just sufficient to get the idea across. Either way the artwork does add
some new texture to the otherwise atypical ninja dress code, and it's a very nice touch, I must admit. At the end
of the day however, I've seen some anime series with far superior artwork. So while Naruto's artwork is very
different, it's not particularly special.
Rating: 6
Sound
Naruto has got what has to be the very best musical and vocal soundtrack accompaniment I have ever heard for any series.
Period. There are a great number of selections of really good J-Pop/Rock and a beautiful fusion of traditional Japanese
music with the more up beat sound of the grungy riffs of heavy metal guitars and upbeat pacing. The following tracks
have by far really uplifted the Naruto musical experience:
Akeboshi - Wind: This is the only english-speaking track featured in the series and is arguably the very best ED music
ever used. It is featured in the very first season of Naruto. This is a ballad by all descriptions, and is a beautiful
fusion of J-Pop and traditional Japanese music, featuring some beautiful wind sequences by the ukulele.
Asian Kungfu Generation - Haruka Kanata:
If you love rock music, this Jap-rock adaptation will probably blow your mind. Many jap-culture purists argue that this
has got to be one of the very best rock/alternative pieces ever created outside of the US. This second season OP really
put the series into high gear.
Orange Range - Viva Rock:
Yet another top contender for best rock/alternative accompaniment to an animated series. Personally I prefer Orange
Range over AKG, as their music employs more humor and melodic rock riffs. This is my personal second favourite rock
track from the series. Perhaps one of the best ED tracks ever used.
Little by Little - Kanashimi wo yasashisa ni:
This is my favourite Naruto OP track and my all time favourite Anime track ever. This song actually motivated me to take
my japanese to the next level (I loved it that much). It's a wickedly melodic alternative track with a powerful
bass line and lots of great accompaniment. Some dislike the track because of it's kid-like vocals - but this is
hardly a reason to not give it a good listen.
Rythem - Harmonia:
I loved this track because of it's beautiful harmonizing vocals. It also accompanies what has to be the best
closing sequence for the Naruto series ever. A cute chibi Sakura and Ino lip-sync the vocals to this ballad in a rather
extremely cute closing sequence. This track is definitely a keeper.
Tia - Ryuusei:
Yet another great J-Pop track featuring some fantastic female vocals, and what has to arguably be, next to
'Harmonia' and 'Wind' one of the best closing tracks featured in the series.
As if the music wasn't fantastic enough, the voice acting and sound effects are absolutely fabulous. I didn't
have any difficulty buying into the emotional straits the seiyuus took their audience throughout the series. I had a
hard time believing that the seiyuu for Naruto was actually a woman - Interesting, especially since the voice actor for
Bart Simpson is also a woman. This is just to attest to the true brilliance of the voice acting. Very well done.
Rating: 10
Presentation
Naruto is definitely one of the most fascinating anime series to come out in a loooong time. As I had said before, it
provides a fresh new take on the ninjutsu genre of anime. We have long been bombarded with Samurai / Ninja anime
series/movies with the same recurrent themes of revenge and reluctant heroes. Naruto completely redefines this genre in
a way that would make it suitable for many kinds of entertainment adaptations. The reasons for this are because of its
originality. However, some entertainment elements draw too close a similarity to another epic anime series such as
Dragon Ball Z. Consider the pros and cons of the elements of this anime to get a better understanding of this point of
view:
PROs:
- These ninjas apparently do not use swords (and defy many of the known conventions of ninjutsu as well)
- There is heavy emphasis on a multiplicity of ways to channel the inner force (chakra)
- There are a multiplicity of techniques with detailed strengths, weaknesses, applications & side-effects
- Bloodline limits are used wantonly, but even the most powerful users are not invincible, very good balance.
- The depth of the story elements is utterly mind-boggling - every micro fragment has a detailed back-story
- Truly great gut-busting humor (when it happens)
CONs:
- Many of the "ninjas" here are more like wizards than martial arts experts - like the Hokages &
Jounins
- If there were no martial arts elements to the story, it'd make a good Japanese Harry Potter Spinoff
- Many of the battles are dragged out mercilessly, sometimes for up to 5 and 6 episodes at a time
- Some episodes contain only "pointless" banter about what the characters intend to do during a fight
- Some back stories are so long and deep, one forgets where the starting point actually was.
- There are points in the series where things lag significantly, to the point where boredom sometimes sets in
But when there is a climactic battle, it usually blows the mind in ways the audience least expects. Naruto employs a LOT
of buildup during battles - painfully lengthy buildups. However, watching the series a second time is always ten times
more fun than watching it the first time. This is because the first time around you are held at the edge of your seat
for what seems like forever. The second time around, you appreciate the buildup, because you know exactly what's
about to happen.
That's part of what makes Naruto so fantastic to watch many times over and over again. It's great replay
value. However, anime lovers coming out of the DBZ universe many easily tire of some of the elements of this series -
even though they stick around for the long haul anyway because of its irresistibility.
Naruto is a truly great anime. Definitely one of the top 5 out there right now.
Rating: 8
Final Verdict
8.6667 (very good)
Reviewed by Xenjin, Oct 20, 2004
