Anime Overview: Naruto

Naruto

BELIEVE IT (could't help myself)!

      So Naruto ended this year and I honestly have to say it’s about time. As good as it was in the entirety, I have to think that it really didn’t live up to the potential it set in the first series, but then again what really does? I personally think the high points of the series where Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke fought the Juubi, the death of Jiraya and Itachi, Naruto vs. Gaara/Pein whereas low points seemed to be things involving the low presence of female characters in Shippuden and the reveal of Kaguya. Not to say that there aren’t other weak points and it may seem that I’m just picking on characters like Hinata and Sakura (enough people pick on them as it is) but I know that what I saw I ultimately didn’t like. The series was really strong in it’s first part but it seems with the time skip things kind of went downhill. Ignoring the filler we have a rather straightforward story (and it seems Kishimoto didn’t put a lot of stock in most filler going by the ending). For this review I’ll be going over both Naruto and Naruto Shippuden and the arcs that made them.

-Naruto-

First series Naruto is undeniably the best of the two. The idea was simple in itself, an orphan boy with a Biju (creature of pure Chakra) sealed into this body wants to become Hokage; a title awarded to the strongest ninja in the village. He joins a three man team with the academy prodigy Sasuke Uchiha and the top kunoichi Sakura Haruno with Jounin Kakashi Hatake. The first series does a good job establishing themes of legacy, friendship (which is a big thing in Shonen series). Naruto’s interactions with characters not only influence them but himself and he grows as a result. It sets the stage for Shippuden and the growth of Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura who become our main characters.

-Prologue, Wave Country Arc-

The first couple of episodes actually deal with introducing the audience to our protagonists and the world itself. We don’t get everything, but we get enough to keep us invested. As a series, Naruto is really about a bunch of kids in a military program and sometimes it’s easy to forget that because it is a Shonen manga/anime. Naruto’s isolation is rather downplayed the more you hear about his life as a whole.

Our first arc is relatively solid. Our first adventure has Naruto realizing that the life of a ninja is a rather dangerous and complicated one. Clients can lie, missions can change, there are enemies stronger than your master and younger than yourself and people who you connect with can be your enemy/ally rather easily. Haku will be the first character that will actually parallel Naruto and through those interactions, he creates a philosophy for himself. Haku is a lot like Naruto, someone who grew up alone and found someone who cared about them and in return would do anything for them regardless of how they are treated by that person.

It falls a bit flat with the division of labor (how much work/influence each character puts into a story) and establishes a problem we will see throughout both series which is Sakura. The driving forces of this arc are Naruto, his rival and foil Sasuke, Haku, and the village boy Inari with Sakura largely in the background. People forget that when the Demon Brother attack them early on, she rushes to protect Tazuna while Naruto freezes up (which was a good scene) and she helped Naruto with tree walking. It’s interesting that Sakura is pretty much designed to be the average ninja here, dealing with everything the way a normal ninja would. She doesn’t have the prodigious skills of Sasuke or the drive Naruto has, she just does what she can. She doesn’t do much to drive the plot or the story itself and she becomes easy to forget.

Wave Country takes what little we knew about the characters and the world going into this series and expands on them. We see the Sharingan get used for the first time, we see what Naruto is really capable of as a ninja and as someone who can inspire people. We see our first real ninja battles as well as what having a Biju inside Naruto really means. It’s solid but ultimately leaves some questions in the air the more you learn about the series.

1. Why Kakashi let Sakura stop doing the exercise when she was nearly exhausted after one try, implying a lack of stamina is a mystery. This will be a recurring theme in the story, despite being a team of three, Team 7 will few victories as a whole team.

2. We learn later that the summons Kakashi uses also include a smaller dog that delivers messages so why Kakashi decided to not send Paku to Konoha for support has always been a mystery.

3. What was that feeling Sakura felt when Naruto got his headband back?

4. Why are they just now learning tree walking because it sounds like something they should have learned at the academy (I have serious questions about the Konoha Education system)?

-Chunin Exam Arc-

The Chunin Exams is probably the most popular arc and for good reason, it sets the stage for the series. We got to see the other ninja from the academy, all great characters that show a lot of potential, as well as ninjas from other countries, something that Haku and Zabuza established. It also introduced Orochimaru, an antagonist that feels like he would have been better suited for Fullmetal Alchemist as well as Jiraiya and of course Gaara, another person like Naruto who has Biju inside him from birth.

      The Chunin Exam Arc brings out the best in all three of our protagonists or rather, it pushes them all to look at themselves differently. Whether it’s Sasuke meeting Orochimaru, Sakura resolving to be stronger, or Naruto seeing Gaara as a dark reflection of himself all have an effect on Team 7. It’s also interesting to see that Naruto’s team isn’t as unique as they appear, the theme of genius, underdog, and feminine touch are all repeated in every other team. It has a lot of the underdogs like Naruto, Rock Lee, and even Hinata Hyuga (a girl who has a crush on Naruto) trying to prove that they themselves are worth something and are important. This arc shows us the many different types of ninjas, those who use weapons, elements, puppets, Kekkai Genkai (abilities pass through a bloodline) and ninja’s with secret family techniques. The Chunin Exam is possibly the biggest arc and best demonstration of how to introduce a lot of characters and give them things to do for the most part. This arc also brings up some interesting questions, and fun things though some only after you’ve watched/read the series for a while.

1. Why did Kakashi and the others recommend their students for the exam so early? Kakashi implies that his own students have gotten a bit lazy and cocky and this is a good way to knock it out of them. Even Gai had his team wait a year before they took their exam. But it seems that they never really want to use other methods to teach them.

2. At times it feel that there is blatant favoritism in the Leaf teams. Kakashi has Sasuke, Gai has Lee, Kurenai has Hinata, and Asuma has Shikamaru. It may seem insignificant at first but at times it does seem that the other students, like Sakura, Tenten, and Chouji get the short end at times.

3. Though never mentioned, Sakura, Tenten, Lee, and Naruto are the only ninja’s that don’t have any clan techniques or abilities to fall back on and for a while it would seem none of them have ninja in their families.

4. It’s never outright stated why Jiraiya, who we later find out is Naruto’s godfather never stayed with Naruto. It’s always been implied that he was managing his and the village’s spy network.

5. Kakashi always seems like a bad teacher, and it might just be that he has trouble teaching multiple people as he later shows capable of teaching Sasuke and Naruto. Sakura never gets a chance to improve her skills at all under him.

6. The Fight with Rock Lee and Gaara is still a popular fight to this day.

7. Orochimaru shows some similarities to Dante from Fullmetal Alchemist and Voldemort from Harry Potter. He has found a form of immortality by taking over the bodies of strong ninja over the years. His desire to make Sasuke his next vessel does somewhat parallel the issue with Harry and Voldemort in Order of the Phoenix though not to the same extent. He represents the darker aspects of the ninja world and reminds me of the period in history where people though Ninja actually were people who dabbled in black magic.

Ultimately what people will remember most about this series was the action, which is of course mandatory for a series like this. The series has always had a knack for getting bigger and bigger each season. Rock Lee vs. Gaara, Naruto vs. Kiba, Naruto vs. Neji, Sasuke vs. Orochimaru, Sarutobi vs. Orochimaru and Naruto vs. Gaara are for the most part always looked back on even today. Each of these fights feels unique and special in their own way and the music is just as great.

Sakura acknowledging that she has never really taken her ninja career seriously and that she has become a burden will ultimately become her last arc as a character for this series and is essentially her story really beginning. The arc shows how much she has grown to appreciate her teammates, going so far as to withdraw from the exam so Naruto will get to later and even berating Sasuke and cheering Naruto on later. The cutting of her hair in the forest does show us exactly how far she has come afterwards in her fight against Ino. We never get a real reason why she is a ninja but we do get a look into her own past when she was younger and her friendship/rivalry with Ino. She really becomes caught in the middle of the two stories of Naruto and Sasuke and it sadly will never really stop.

 Sasuke spends most of this arc coming to terms with his own shortcomings and ultimately being in the same situation Naruto was in the Wave Arc when he froze up. We also see more into his past going back to his brother who murdered their family years ago, leaving only the two of them. Orochimaru gives Sasuke a seal on his neck and states that Sasuke will one day seek him out for great power. We never really get a lot of that later on in this arc but we do see Sasuke on a roll in terms of skills. He has pretty much been unopposed since Wave where he lost to Haku and that memory keeps him wanting more of a challenge, which he gets during the exam when he fights Lee, Orochimaru, and Gaara, all fights he loses. By the time of the preliminaries he has noticed that Naruto has also become much stronger and says he wants to fight him, Sasuke breaks out of his tunnel vision of his brother and kind of opens up more to others, telling Naruto that he doesn’t want to lose him and Sakura to Gaara.

Naruto really came into his own here. He doesn’t go through a big revelation in the forest like Sakura but instead he proves to a lot of his detractors that he is a capable ninja. He shows he has the resolve and the skills to be a Chunin to an extent. He found a lot of unique parallels to him in the form of Rock Lee (someone who believed in hard work over talent), Neji Hyuga (a person who feels trapped under something he can’t control), and most importantly Gaara of the Sand (someone with a very similar situation to Naruto but raised differently). Naruto sees what he could have been when he and Gaara talk at the hospital and he comes to terms with it during his fight to save Sakura. We really do see that Naruto has learned and grown from Haku during the Wave Arc.

-Search for Tsunade Arc-

      The Search for Tsunade Arc was a kind of intermission arc within the first series, it didn’t introduce a lot of characters but rather built on characters that had just been introduced previously. It picked up where the Chuunin Exams/Invasion arc left off and pushed the ideas previously set further. We see the return of Itachi, the reveal of the group Akatsuki and their goals, and the next Hokage; Tsunade. Where the Exams were more about Team 7 as a whole, the Tsunade Arc was more focused at first a little at Sasuke, then Tsunade with Naruto and bigger story being established throughout.

The arc is easy to watch and I feel a nice cool down from how action and idea packed the previous one was but at the same takes itself very seriously. Tsunade, like Jiraiya and Orochimaru also serve as unique parallels to our protagonists and like the latter two will play a big role in the series. I think that because Naruto is a Shonen series, we never really got the full feel of the invasion as the aftermath. While we have a funeral for the Third Hokage, it feels like only his death is one that mattered and we never see any more than that, the war was pretty low and this may be because I watched Basilisk, another series about ninjas that took itself more seriously. But we do get more of a look at the consequences of war in Tsunade, a person who lost family and loved ones in war and is essentially a shell of who she really is. We see that Naruto can inspire anyone to be better and to believe in him in the form of Tsunade.

     This was also the arc that brought up the issue of Naruto being the Fourth Hokage’s legacy. There was a sort of “mystery” to exactly what that meant, when it is first said it is from Itachi who is hunting Naruto because he carries a biju inside him, the Kyuubi no Yokko (Nine Tailed Fox) which was sealed inside him by the Fourth Hokage. When we see a picture of the Fourth Hokage we notice how much he looks like Naruto but Tsunade says he looks like her deceased brother. Jiraiya says that Naruto looks like the Fourth Hokage, who he himself had taught and says this is one of the reasons that he (Jiraiya) is teaching Naruto. This explanation doesn’t quite explain why he let Naruto sign the Toad Contract and why he taught him the Rasengan (things the Fourth Hokage knew). The connection between the two will be something that fans will debate until the issue is settled in the second arc. Some people thought Naruto was his son, some thought he actually WAS the Fourth Hokage, and it kept going. There weren’t a lot of questions in this arc left in the air.

1. The issue with Sakura finding that Naruto saved her from Gaara is never really mentioned again. It is worth noting that despite how loud and brash Naruto is, he never brags about his victories; he just says he’s awesome. It should also be noted that a lot of what Naruto does for Sakura goes unknown by Sakura.

2. Kakashi said that he would teach Naruto Chidori if he learned an equally good jutsu. Maybe it’s so Naruto will then learn the Rasengan from Jiraiya who Kakashi knows is teaching Naruto but we later find out that Kakashi knows the Rasengan. Without the knowledge of Kakashi knowing Jiraiya’s involvement, he comes off a bad teacher…… again.

3.  We don’t know it now, but Itachi will be a much bigger player in the series. When we find out that Akatsuki is taking “Jinchuriki” in a specific order it brings up the issue as to why he and Kisame went after Naruto then when they didn’t until later on. It’s speculated by fans even then that Itachi was checking on Sasuke and informing Jiraiya of Akatsuki.

4. The necklace that Tsunade gave Naruto will play a much bigger role than I think anyone thought possible.

-Sasuke Retrieval Arc-

      The last canon arc of the first series can be considered the end of innocence for the seires. The whole thing makes the series very Star Wars in a way. Like the Tsunade Arc it is very straightforward with Sasuke leaving the village to join with Orochimaru to master his Curse Mark and become strong enough to kill his brother. This is also the first mission of newly appointed Chunin Shikamaru and the mission makes him take himself and his new job more seriously. Naruto and Sakura come to terms with their failure to get Sasuke back and their resolutions to get stronger to bring him home.

      As much as you try to look at it any other way, this story is primarily Sasuke’s (and it will happen more than once). Sasuke feels that he isn’t at the level he wants to be at, he keeps thinking back to the rapid progress Naruto has made as well as his lost to his brother. He tries to prove to himself that he is better than Naruto but it only leaves him more frustrated. Sasuke also feels that if he does stay in the village that he will forget his desire for vengeance which he doesn’t want. He doesn’t want anything more than that and anything that threatens that has to go. His actions and character can come off as a bit like that of Anakin Skywalker in the Star Wars franchise but I equate it to being a poorly handled version of Haseo from .Hack G.U. (both Haseo and Sasuke have the same English voice actor too).

   This arc also gives us some of the best fight scenes with fan favorite Rock Lee returning to fight Kimmiaro, the Sasuke Retrieval Squad/Sand Team vs. Sound Four (some of Orochimaru’s elite fighters), and Naruto vs. Sasuke. Everyone is giving their all to win their fights and get back to their team to help get Sasuke back, not knowing that he left on his own. The battle between Naruto and Sasuke is a battle ironically of friendship. The both of them view each other as friends but Sasuke wants to throw it away and is willing to let Orochimaru do what he wants with him so long as he gets to kill Itachi and Naruto doesn’t want his best friend to become a tool for Orochimaru. The two friends clash and it is pretty awesome, easily the best fight of the first arc with an ending that is still debated to this day as to who won.

      The end of the arc places our characters moving on to new things. Our protagonists are aware that due to the injuries Orochimaru suffered at the hands of the Third Hokage he had to take a new body earlier than he wanted. With this knowledge Jiraiya says they have three years before Orochimaru will take over Sasuke’s body, enough time to train Naruto strong enough to save Sasuke and fight off Akatsuki. Naruto leaves the village with a resolve to get strong while Sakura becomes apprenticed to Tsunade in order to learn medical jutsu and become strong enough to help Naruto. Not a lot of questions for this arc but some fun information (at least I thought so).

1.It’s revealed earlier that Orochimaru also turned his back on the village, finding it too restricting for his own goals.

   2.How did Sasuke leave the village without anyone seeing him? I get that he left at night but does no one guard the village at night?

   3.The place Naruto and Sasuke fight is the Valley of the end, where the first Hokage fought the head of the Uchiha Clan, that symbolism will become more apparent as the story goes on.

   4. I find it hard to believe that Tsunade could only spare one Chunnin (a field commander) and a group of Genin (rookie level ninja) to go rescue Sasuke.

   5. When Tsunade goes over the team records as Hokage, she mentions that the Third Hokage was trying to repeat the success of the last batch of students. As the series went on, fans questioned the logic behind Team 7 considering it parallels many teams in the past, those teams were either make or break teams.

   6.With Sakura training under Tsunade, Sasuke under Orochimaru, and Naruto under Jiraiya, the series has set our protagonists to parallel their teachers in both temperament and desire.

Final Thoughts

       What have we learned about the first series? Well we see a series that relies heavily on the interactions of characters and what drives them. We see a world that is shrouded in mystery and death that contrasts the bright colors people like to wear. It deals heavily with the use of parallels and legacy, especially with Team 7 which shares certain traits with teams both past and present. That is an excellent way to start a series because it offers the story potential and mystery in a very fluid matter. You can see why certain characters take in interest in others in terms of teaching. An example of this is how a lot of Naruto's teachers do seem to have something in common with him, whether it be Iruka who was a class clown or Jiraya who was also looked down on as ninja in his youth.

"I never go back on my word, that's my Ninja Way!"

     Naruto as a character is interesting enough, a character who wants to be Hokage and learns that there is more to being a ninja and even Hokage than he thought. He is a typical Shonen character and draws from Goku but also from Yusuke Urameshi, he is on the surface simplistic but there are layers to his character. Because of the Third Hokage's law preventing anyone from speaking of what Naruto carries, people avoid him not knowing the truth and they spread that to their children. So Naruto grew up not only without parents, but friends his own age. We never really see a lot of that isolation outside of the first two chapters. Naruto's pranks and probably even clothes are designed to make people look and acknowledge him and his desire to be Hokage also is for acknowledgment. Later on he grew to wanting to be Hokage to protect the people important to him, he no longer needs the approval of thousands but will settle for the few friends he has.
     If anyone grew the most out of the series it would be Naruto. he goes into the ninja program and a team not really knowing what he's getting into, like when he froze up when his team engaged in a real battle. As the series progresses we see him come into his own. One thing I like about him how he never seems to brag as much you'd think. All he really says is he's awesome but he never goes into details. When he saves Sakura from Gaara, despite him being in love with her (I KNOW, I'LL GET TO IT LATER!) he never tells her about it. He puts a lot of emphasis on how his friends have made his life better, making life easier for him.

"I plan to restore my clan and to that I have to kill a certain someone."

      Sasuke was a difficult character to like but when it comes to characters like him in manga/anime, there is usually some chip on his shoulder and it’s treated very oddly. Sasuke is one of the last surviving members of one of the oldest most powerful clans in the village so a lot is expected of him and he expects certain things from himself. When you add the fact that his brother Itachi killed their family and left him alone, you kind of see that Sasuke may have been a ticking bomb waiting to go off. He does seem to outwardly change the most, willing to save Naruto from Haku at the cost of his life and later shows he is aware of his teammate's strengths to an extent. Sasuke's problem comes from him not being able to accept that people can be stronger than him. He doesn't adjust to surprises well, the idea that his strategy and skill won't be enough causes him to break down more. He doesn't handle his loss to Lee well and in the face of Orochimaru he crumbles where Naruto rises to the occasion. By the end of the exams, Sasuke sees himself as weaker to Naruto which when combined with his loss to Itachi, makes the decision to join Orochimaru, turning away from the bonds he's made. His decision to leave actually is reminiscent of Vegeta joining Babidi in Dragonball Z, both characters see themselves as not being as strong as they want to be and believe it is the life they have now. Sasuke ultimately chooses his desire for revenge and power over his new friends and it ultimately starts a new story for him and Team 7.

"Next time, we'll do it together."

      Sakura was a bit of an enigma throughout the first half of the series and it does come down to a problem Kishimoto has admitted when it comes to writing women. For the most part she is largely in the background but her story is just as interesting and as I said in the Wave Country arc, more real. We never know why Sakura wants to be a ninja but we see that she is smart and capable but lacks the drive that other characters have, something seen in a lot of other characters like Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji (though they come from ninja families). At the academy, she was the smartest student of her year but as Iruka pointed out during the exams, she lacked the physical discipline needed. She does resolve to get stronger during the Chunin Exams and does showcase what she can do during a fight but after the preliminaries she is still largely in the background and doesn’t make any active steps until the end of the first series. It’s because of this that Sakura is often called “useless” by a lot of fans but I view useless as a character incapable of doing things; Sakura's problem was she was never given anything to prove she was incapable.

Ultimately Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura make up a trio somewhat reminiscent of Ventus, Terra, and Aqua in Birth By Sleep. though in a less perfect sense. The three of them are different parts of a much bigger story and ultimately that theme kind of plays in the Sannin as well.

      The thing holding this series back, if anything is that it is bound by a Shonen structure so it really downplays certain elements. Naruto is ignored by people in the village because people think he actually is the nine tailed fox that attacked the village. This is really only shown in two episodes and it’s never brought up when in reality, the resentment the villagers would have for Naruto would be more like Haku’s life before Zabuza. Kishimoto seems to use the people Naruto encounters to show how dark life could have been for Naruto. Sasuke, Haku, Neji, and Gaara are all examples of what Naruto could be in a darker more grounded series. I said earlier that the invasion was really downplayed as to exactly what was happening. Having Kabuto go out of his way to put civilians to sleep when they want to destroy the village made no sense and there is little done to show the aftermath. If you want to destroy the village, keeping the villagers awake forces the Leaf nin to divide their focus between fighting and keeping civilias safe. It removes the chaos and personal issue of the invasion. The series doesn’t really acknowledge that the series is about children in a military program though characters like Neji, Shino, and Temari seem more realistic and focused. To me the invasion should have been like the Battle for Trost in Attack on Titan, an event that pushed a lot of characters to their emotional limit. But Kishimoto goes the other way around by having us see the consequences of war in Tsunade, a person damaged by the loss of loved ones during war. When Sasuke leaves the village, it is through Jiraiya’s own flashback of Orochimaru leaving that we understand the pain that Naruto must be going through emotionally. Orochimaru serves a parallel to Sasuke, someone who seeks personal strength by leaving the village and willing to sacrifices his soul for power with his Curse Mark. Tsunade is the same for Sakura, someone who finds herself unable to help or save the people close to her and ultimately loses them in the end.

      Overall, Naruto as a series proved to be fun and enjoyable. It had interesting and diverse characters to an extent, a solid story, a creative and fun world, and really did paint ninjas as fun characters. As much as I think it could have been better to take it in a slightly more serious direction, I can’t help but admit to liking it as it is though there are things I would change. Next time we will be going over the first series’ filler and the follow up series Naruto Shippuden.

*Images are property of Viz Media, Shonen Jump, and Masashi Kishimoto*