August 1, 2012
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SERIES REVIEW: Naruto (2002-2007)
220 Episodes
GENRE: Japanese Comedy-Martial Arts Anime
SUMMARY: The brash and bull-headed orphan shinobi of the Leaf Village Naruto charges into his ninja training and missions despite his long history of failure. With the power of friendship and the spirit demon sealed within him, Naruto seeks to overcome any obstacle in his way and become the greatest ninja who ever lived.
REVIEW: Finally finished this damn series. It wasn't anything special, but not bad either. It was more of a typical Saturday morning anime. The art was anywhere from fantastic at times when they must have hired special artists for important scenes to mediocre-standard. I liked some of the music and the characters could be cool at times. The biggest flaw in the show was the pacing. It was freaking HORRIBLE. Fight scenes would last episode after episode drawn out by long monologues and flashbacks to add emotional context to those fighting. It got to the point that it would ruin episodes. Sometimes I would skip an episode or skim it because the whole thing was flashbacks and speeches. Some show such as Tokyo Majin are all action and lack story and emotional context, but Naruto completely overdid it in the opposite direction. The fights do get more interesting as the series goes on and you get strategic characters such as Shikamaru (one of my favorite characters along with Rock Lee) who have to come up with creative ways to defeat enemies with seemingly invincible powers. Conversely, Naruto's strategy of continuously rushing in would get to the point of me yelling things at the TV phrases such as "oh come on Naruto!" or "you f***ing idiot! Get a plan!". Overall an alright show, but easily forgettable. I had to break it up with various other shows to tolerate the full 220 episodes. Beware that the plot doesn't resolve itself in this series. There is a whole other series that continues the adventures of the gang when they are a little older. Netflix also only has the Japanese dub which makes it difficult to watch in the background since you need to watch the subtitles though I'd often ignore them and watch when the action picked up.
ART: 6/10
STORYTELLING & PLOT:4/10
CHARACTERS: 7/10
OVERALL: 5.5/10