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May 29, 2020
Many watched Naruto as kids and grew up with it. Me on the other hand, I'm one those who discovered this series when it was already done, and I was in my 20s. I had also already watched FMA:B a couple years before. so it wasn't quite my first anime. I was very skeptical of Naruto: its character designs seemed unappealing, and its ninja seemed to have nothing to do with real life ninja. I went into it expecting nothing.
I watched the first episode not even knowing about Naruto's true nature. So I was genuinely wowed by that early plot twist. What surprised me most
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about it was to see a story that at first seemed to just be a show about some troubled kid with a lot yelling suddenly take a turn for something actually quite heavy and and quite heartfelt. It signaled to me that this anime packed something more, and was willing to cover engaging, emotional storylines. It had a heart.
The characters of this story are an odd mix. They all start out pretty annoying, and in the first episodes, the main trio of Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura keep bickering nonstop, and all the other kids are very immature as well. This can easily be plainly annoying. Naruto especially took a long while for me to find likable.
But while we have these seemingly weaker characters, some well fleshed out antagonists are introduced, and when all things are considered, most of the characters in Naruto follow a pattern of starting out pretty one dimensional but then being built upon through the following arcs, so that by the end of the series, I found them to be quite endearing.
The fights are a big part of Naruto, often lasting multiple episodes. They are always very entertaining to watch, with a good element of tension, a wide range of powers showcased and a lot of thought been put in the progression of the fight. The fight also often reflect a mental hurdle or ideological struggle that Naruto faces, which gives them a double value as both exciting and emotional fights.
In short, Naruto is a crowd-pleaser. It has those two essential things, emotion and action, and it is effective at conveying both.
It wouldn't be a complete review without mentioning the filler. This series (the first part of the whole Naruto saga) is different from its sequel Shippuuden in that for the most part there is no filler intertwined into the canon... instead it is all lumped in the second half of the series. This makes it possible to see the whole series without having to do the incessant episode-skipping that Shippuuden requires.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Apr 16, 2020
It's unfortunate that this series was cut short. It had potential. I mean, cyborg samurai riding gigantic robotic beasts with their magical space princesses and wielding soul-powered swords?
It's a very cool concept. And I'm always a big fan of the traditional-futuristic hybrid aesthetic. Undoubtedly, the biggest draw for me was the worldbuilding, which seemed to have had a lot of care put into it, with many setups put in place (that were of course left without a resolution). It felt like we had a whole wild world to explore, akin to some other space opera manga.
The few characters that got the time to have
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one benefited from emotional backstories (of the kind fans of a certain other manga are accustomed to). To me those were the most engaging parts. I was curious about the direction the characterization was going with the two mains, Hachimaru and Ann: I thought the retooling of the uber classic knight-princess dynamic (couple with many cues from the samurai lore) into a sci-fi world was unusual and quite intriguing, and could've made an interesting story if it had had the time to be developed.
Ironically but understandably so, in both art and characterization, as well as some aspects of its story, this series feels a lot more like Naruto than its own sequel, Boruto, does. It would be a lie to say that wasn't one of the reasons I enjoyed it.
This is far from a perfect story however. A major issue the series had throughout was that there is a looot of exposition, to the point a significant proportion of the story was just exposition. Some chapters are literally only an information dump. The pacing was definitively off because of that. Since the manga was just starting, I kept hoping it would become more story-focused later on, but since it's dead now, we'll never know that and so we're left with only this relatively heavy story progression.
Another thing is that the cast of characters accompanying the protagonist on his quest grows pretty large pretty fast. They all end up somehow underdeveloped because of that, and it also contributes to bog the pacing down. The story would probably have benefited from introducing them more slowly, or shedding some of them temporarily to reintroduce them later on. But in retrospect, if this series was on the verge of being cancelled, maybe that's why they were introduced so fast...
Again it's a shame this series was cancelled, I believe it really had the potential to be something epic.
In the end that's what this series is: tons of potential that didn't manage to be realized before it got cancelled. I'd say the author wasn't effective at conveying the story, or who knows, maybe was under too much time constraint with the imminent cancellation.
And that is too bad. The last two chapters hastily tried to wrap the entire story to give it a semblance of an ending, and to me they perfectly showcase all the excitement and cool factor this series could've shown.
So all in all? I think what we got, despite numerous writing issues, and even though it's almost a shadow of what could've been, is still entertaining. But it'll be up to you to see if it does it for you or not.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Apr 16, 2020
One of the most popular manga of this time, Attack on Titan definitively deserves the hype.
The story starts with a strong mystery aspect, that culminates into one of the best plot twists ever made. As the story progresses it becomes grayer and grayer, to a point where no one is truly good or evil, and there is no clear moral path. It takes a very realistic approach to conflict, and its characters are very diverse in ideologies.
When I started this series, in many ways, as someone who has beliefs in some moral principles, I found this manga to be challenging to read. It is
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very cruel to its characters, and more often than not deals with the idea that a cruel iron fist should be preferred to mercy, and that inhumane actions may be the right way to go... an idea that ends being thoroughly, extensively deconstructed without ever being sweetened. And that is pretty outstanding.
For the rare ones who claim Attack on Titan promotes a fascist ideology, I believe it is not the case, you just have to see how the events of the series are depicted suggest.
An incredibly gray story, with many fascist elements either evoked or used but subverted. An incredible plot twist. And gray, very human characters. It's an intense read at times, but it is one of the best stories I know.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Apr 16, 2020
The greatest strength of Naruto is its characters's stories. As a series with such a long runtime, Naruto has the chance to introduce and flesh out numerous characters, and because it is so long, I ended being quite attached to them. One of the strengths of this author is creating strong emotional backstories for his characters, and this was by far the best aspect of Shippuuden for me. The never-give-up attitude of Naruto is a staple of the shonen protagonist, but I feel Naruto owns and embodies this quality so well in a world filled with people who have given up in one way or
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another that it becomes his own.
The infamous talk-no jutsu, the tendency of fights in Naruto to include an actual argument between Naruto and his opponent, is in my eyes one of the strengths of the series, because it made all those conflicts more than power struggles; they were also ideological conflicts. I am not claiming that the ideological struggles in question were deep necessarily but it does give them more meaning.
One thing that impressed me with Naruto in general and is reflected in Shippuuden is that even though the story went on for so long and in some ways it's clear more than one retcon happened over its run, the world it constructed was remarkably well-rounded and all the dots were connected. For me this was never more clear than during the double episode revealing the circumstances of Naruto's birth, which managed to explain everything we knew from the first series and link to everything we learned afterwards, even though I'm willing to bet it wasn't how Kishimoto had imagined it would have gone when he began this story.
There are some big weaknesses to Shipuuden.
The most obvious one is the incredible amount of filler. While some arcs could be worth watching, overall they should be skipped. Some of them are so nonsensical that they can be fun to watch as basically a self-made parody of the show.
A sore spot that stands out for me is its female characters. I wouldn't say Sakura is as useless as the meme says, but it highlights how overall, the author has a really hard time giving them a story where they have agency, even if said female character is part of the main cast. There are still a few gems, mostly Tsunade.
Also the third arc is the weakest of them, despite having many epic moments and great characters, the way they are all bundled is pretty weak story-wise (notably a certain problem about masterminds in the shadows on repeat).
Nonetheless, when all is taken into account, this series is undoubtedly one of my all-time favorites. Its worldbuilding, fights and characters are just so memorable. It's not the best anime by any measure, superior entries exist in almost all regards. But Naruto has a way to make you care about its characters and get invested in their story that excuses all the filler in the world.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Apr 16, 2020
I honestly think this series is great. It is very much an Isekai, but its main feature and selling point is how it takes the normal tropes of the genre and ends up subverting them in favor of something darker.
There are several core themes of this anime that I think give it a solid story.
Subversion of the genre is something all modern Isekai are striving to do in various way. While I feel most successful Isekai are parodies of the genre, Re:Zero is a dark retelling, which is by itself already earns it points in my book.
But I believe it goes a bit deeper than
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just being dark. The way the tropes are subverted enables to tell a different story than usual that is more character-focused. A major theme is that nothing is ever as it seems, as through his multiple reliving of the same situations, Subaru discovers dramatically different sides of those around him, largely because of how he approaches them. In a way there is a mystery aspect to this series, and it greatly helps with enjoyment. This exploration of personality and character, and the way it pertains to Subaru's own development, is what sold me on this anime.
Subaru himself is very interesting because of how human he is. At first you wouldn't think he is, as he has the trappings of a typical Shounen protagonist. But when these traits ends up causing his doom more than a few times, it becomes clear that, in line with this trend of subverting the tropes, the flip-side of his bravado will not be ignored. Subaru is not living in a world made for him or where he is the best person in the world. And even if he can resurrect, his deaths take a toll on him. Therein lies one of the best things about this series, which culminates in a very emotional exchange in the second part of the season.
I realize I have used the word subversion several times here. Nonetheless, I want to stress that in my eyes, Re:Zero is enjoyable for more than just subverting tropes, otherwise it wouldn't go as far. The subversions are clear when comparing it to the typical tropes, but if we ignore that for a moment, by itself we have a story about a flawed young man who faces a world largely unknown to him and has to find the mental fortitude and the humility to go through this struggle.
Character-wise, let me say that I love the character designs. Roswaal's household has a distinctive slightly medieval, slightly gothic style that I liked a lot.
I think Ram and Rem alone are worth taking the time to watch this anime. I like well-made sibling pairs in anime, and these two really surprised me with how different they end up being from what they seemed on their first appearance. And despite being twins they're both fully fleshed out characters on their own. I think Rem deserves her spot as one of the best liked "best girls" there is, and not for shallow reasons.
Regarding animation and music, I am not particularly critical of either unless they stand out a lot and I didn't notice anything particular. There are some delightfully creepy tracks on the soundtrack, but other than that it didn't stand out to me. The animation is good, the art is very nice.
The story has a tone that is alternatively colorful and very dark. Coupled with the characters, mystery feel, and the struggles of the main character, this is what made me thoroughly enjoy this anime.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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