Nov 22, 2012
In this review, I ignore ALL filler episodes, and I strongly recommend that anyone watching this do the same. If I didn't, this anime would get a 6 at best, which does not do justice to the episodes that are faithful to the source material.
Naruto has the most intelligent fighting in all of anime, a varied and powerful soundtrack that never fails to compliment the scenes, intriguing villains and likable protagonists, an addictive nature, a semi-realistic art style that noticeably evolves and improves over time, and a satisfying plot, despite being a bit slow.
The problem is that all of this is basically there to
...
justify the fight scenes. If those scenes were not there, or if they were not as good as they are, Naruto becomes meh. I would estimate that more than half of Naruto is spent in fighting scenes. This huge dependence on something that, in other anime, merely adds spice to an already awesome package prevents me from ranking this up with the best of the best.
On the other hand, those fight scenes are the best I've seen. In particular, characters will set up multi-step plans more or less right before your eyes, without you realizing it. They will then blow you away with the checkmate, and you get an explanation of exactly what they were doing before and why. This makes for intense, thrilling action that culminates in 'OH, SNAP!' climaxes. Intelligence, and not last minute powerups or brute force, wins the day in Naruto. Furthermore, abilities in Naruto always have disadvantages, limitations, or risks, which are made clear to the viewer. There are no random asspulls. Even with those restrictions, abilities are basically always used in unexpected and creative ways. The same trick never works twice. Naruto also knows when a simple, emotionally charged beat down is called for, and delivers them. In summary, Naruto is the Death Note of fighting. If that's what you want, definitely watch this anime.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
