Ignore the hype, be it bad or good.

Written by ShadowsCall on February 16, 2011 at 7:50 PM

Unfortunately, this is one of those anime that people either love or hate, many before even watching it or reading the manga. Let's level with one another: If you've read the manga, you know the anime is no where near as good. The things they add in, not to mention the dreaded fillers, kill much of the lead characters' growth and leave us with insipid characters who can't stand on their own. It's such a huge shame, because the characters and their development is one of the most alluring aspects of Naruto.

If you haven't read the manga, don't listen to any of these reviews. Naruto is simply a show that you should look objectively at; don't enjoy it or hate it because its popular, keep an open mind. It has wonderful action sequences, most of the time the art is nicely done, and the story itself is very enjoyable. While of course it has story arcs devoted to certain themes/problems, each story adds to the general plot as well as reveals more about the history. There are the typical evil villains, but also the more sympathetic villains which have reasons of their own, or people to protect, that make the series less one-sided or flat. Even if a few of the main characters can be occasionally annoying (they're twelve, even ninjas at that age are annoying), there's a warmth and depth that leaves you fond of the oddest people.

There are some fans who can over look the more bothersome aspects to the anime, and personally there were only a few times which I had to stop watching out of annoyance, most of it can be ignored. It isn't hard to look up where the fillers are online, and if you take ten minutes to make sure not to watch these then most of the annoyances can be over looked for manga fans or new viewers. Take the time to watch this show and either you'll shrug it off, or be happily surprised despite what has been said about this series.