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Beatman1 Since: Feb, 2014
06/19/2015 07:53:29 •••

Another long runner that falls apart before the end

It seems to be a pattern with a lot of modern day shounen, that viewers are bought in by the initial concept, a strong introduction, and likable characters, then inevitably disappointed when the story collapses under its own weight and the characters are misused, with extra focus usually on the least likable member of the cast. Naruto does all this and more, with an ending that really makes you wonder if the hero accomplished anything.

Nominally, the series is supposed to be about Naruto Uzumaki, the shunned orphan with a demon inside him on a quest to become the greatest ninja the world has ever seen (although in this world a ninja is more akin to a steampunk wizard). However, more and more it seems focused on Naruto's rival and later what the audience (but not the actual manga, more on that in a bit) sees as his archenemy, Sasuke. As the comic progressed, the narrative kept trying to push the idea of a bond between Naruto and Sasuke, that Sasuke wasn't evil, and that the most important thing Naruto had to do was fulfill his "Promise of a Lifetime", the promise to his teammate Sakura (a woman we're repeatedly told Naruto has deep seated feelings for) to bring Sasuke back, alive and unharmed. Except every time we see Sasuke. he is shown to be less and less likable, going from revenge on his brother to revenge on his village to merely wanting to Take Over the World.

And Naruto's quest ends with Sasuke redeemed simply because he said he was sorry. Sakura ignores him completely in favor of the man who tried to kill her repeatedly (cementing her as one of the worst female leads in a manga in quite some time). The supporting cast's screentime is reduced to virtually nothing to push a bond that doesn't exist.

This is a story where the hero can't beat the villain, the villain gets away with all his attempted crimes (but decides he doesn't want to take over the world because reasons) and gets the girl. And once the alleged heroine is done using the hero to get her crush back she tosses him to the side like garbage. And there's no joy, no pathos. Lots of likable characters are tossed to the side and the end result is an unsatisfying mess.

And I haven't even began to talk about the pacing issues or the fact that the next to last battle was against a Giant Space Flea from Nowhere .

XenosHg Since: Oct, 2013
11/12/2014 00:00:00

W Ell, a bit of overanalyzing! First, "Naruto" has a tendency for villains to think that ANY possible problem will be resolved by taking over the world.

Second, Sasuke is in many aspects an author's tract device showing that revenge is a very stupid thing to do. So, the point is that he's good somewhere inside, at least he was before all the family-killing and mind-rape. After that he went to shell-shocked traumatized defensively-sociopathic egocentric loner introvert. And don't misunderstand me, I don't like this character - but I understand what the point is and what originally made him so forked-up. He's the foil, showing the incorrect method of dealing with psychological problems. Let that be in hope he'll understand something.

The Sakura problem is the nicest thing, because one doesn't often go so far as to marry a girl who was his first love when he was 6 years old. She doesn't love him, she's in love with his ..friendemy, she's not entirely likeable a person to be a love interest. And Naruto, who's originally posing as an idiot hero, understands this. So, over time, when she offered herself to Naruto, he just said "Nope, I know you don't love me this way, and I just can't stand what stupid things our common friend does, so I'm going to punch him in the face a couple hundred times and then you can take the body, thank you very much", and it's pretty nice.

aaand all these reflections are much deeper than the actual manga is. :)

JusticEqualsVengeance Since: May, 2014
11/13/2014 00:00:00

I have to agree that the end is frustrating. We don't even get to see Naruto promoted to Hokage, and that was the thing we know he wanted from day one. And Sakura...Ergh. That relationship with Sasuke is just...wrong. It makes me think what the author thinks that a relationship is.

Sasuke in general...He deserved to die. No question about it.

What is anime? Anime is...only a weeaboo way of saying animation, really.
ArcaneAzmadi Since: Jan, 2001
06/19/2015 00:00:00

I don't see how anyone could see Sakura not ending up with Naruto as a flaw. Talking about her "using him and tossing him aside" sounds like guys who complain about being 'Friendzoned'- "I'm nice to this girl, why won't she sleep with me?" Because Sakura never loved Naruto like that. And to be honest, Naruto grew out of it as well. NaruSaku shippers strike me as among the most deluded fanboys in the world (you ever hear the one about how they tried to start a petition to have the Naruto manga legally banned in the US because they couldn't stand the fact that Naruto ended up with Hinata?) because ANYONE who couldn't see that Kishimoto was deliberately writing Hinata and Naruto to be together from at the very LATEST the end of her fight with Neji would have to be literally blind (which makes me wonder what's the point of reading an action manga in braille).

Not saying the Sakura/Sasuke relationship worked, because there was none. It didn't exist. Which makes sense, because Sasuke is a complete asshole incapable of forming an actual "relationship" with anyone. But I still don't see the point in complaining about it replacing the NaruSaku relationship because that was never even in the cards.

Always expect the worst and you can only be pleasantly surprised.
ArcaneAzmadi Since: Jan, 2001
06/19/2015 00:00:00

[ignore]

Always expect the worst and you can only be pleasantly surprised.
marcellX Since: Feb, 2011
06/19/2015 00:00:00

Actually I don't think that up until the end the author knew who Naruto was gonna end up with. Naruto was still trying to pass Sakura as his girlfriend to his father near the very end. Which is even sadder when you think the reason for this might had been that he hadn't decided if Sasuke would had lived or died in the end.

LitleWiggle Since: Feb, 2013
06/19/2015 00:00:00

NONE of the relationships in Naruto made any goddamn sense people, let's just admit it.

But for the actual series? Yeah, everything went to crap right about the point the Pain arc started, at which point the steady decline in quality became a straight up nosedive.

Valiona Since: Mar, 2011
06/19/2015 00:00:00

I may have my bias because I actually liked the series from start to finish, but I found that this review reads like a hateful and angry rant, rather than an attempt to fairly evaluate the series. People thinking about getting started with this series will have no doubts that the author of the review doesn't like it, but they are unlikely to find many useful arguments against it, while the ending is spoiled in the process.

But I do have a response for marcel. When Naruto's father shows up and asks if Sakura is his girlfriend, presumably based on Sakura's similaritis to a young Kushina, Naruto gives an ambivalent response, seeming as though the question caught him off guard (Given everything that's happened, relationships are the last thing on his mind). After Kaguya is defeated and Minato fades away forever, Naruto admits that he doesn't really have a girlfriend, and this is clearly an answer that is close to what he actually feels.

As for Sasuke living or dying, it was ALWAYS clear, with the standard amount of suspense involved, that Sasuke would live and be redeemed to some extent. Redemption and forgiveness are major themes of this work, so I don't have much sympathy for those who complain about Sasuke not being killed in the end, since they were expecting an outcome that had very little chance of happening.


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