Nov 16, 2024
This review aims to provide a strong argument for Naruto's exceptional quality, as well as to demistify and debunk most of the popular complaints about the manga. It will feature a list of other posts and online material that help support my viewpoint. But before I delve into the intricacies of Naruto's plot and deeper themes, I first want to talk about Naruto's reputation.
As most of you surely know, Naruto has gotten quite infamous over the years. People often claim that it is a mediocre work, or even poorly written, that it is riddled with plotholes, that the character writing is lacking, that the ending
...
is disappointing etc. And I genuinely believe the consensus surrounding Naruto is incorrect about each and all of these.
Naruto is probably the most cohesively written, thematically solid and profound story among those of its demographic. I truly, wholeheartedly believe this. And I think Naruto is judged harshly by the majority mostly due to a lack of media literacy and critical thinking skills - it is undeniably trendy to hate on Naruto, and most people, even most fans of the manga, simply accept the popular viewpoints without questioning their legitimacy. I know I seem pretentious for claiming this, but I will explain why I believe that to be the case.
It is extremely rare that a long-running shonen manga can 1. introduce major themes and plot points that are to be solved along the story, and conclude them in a satisfying way; 2. feature three-dimensional characters that develop over the story in a cohesive way, and are challenged ideologically with each major arc; and 3. have consistently great world building and character designs that fit within that world. Naruto excels in each of these, unlike any other shonen manga, to my knowledge. Shonen manga are limited by various factors, such as their limited and often uncertain run time, their weekly release schedule, the harsh work ethic that sustains the industry and so on; and yet, Naruto manages to nearly transcend the medium it was created in.
Kishimoto's artistic skills are bizarrely underrated - Naruto's art, to my taste, is yet to be matched by any other weekly manga. Kishimoto's character designs present a unique and cohesive aesthetic that may as well be the most iconic of any Jump work, and his sense of perspective, anatomy and human expression are one of a kind.
Kishimoto's writing skills are similarly disregarded. It is baffling to me how the popular discourse around Naruto's characters seems to focus around minor so-called issues, such as how side character #6 or #7 - who by the way, had one or more fully fleshed out fight scenes, as well as his own character arc - wasn't again the focus of a major arc or something like that. To me, such complaints only speak to the strength of Naruto's characters - each of them is so unique, so interesting and visually appealing that the fanbase got overly attached to them, despite the fact that it was quite clear from the beginning they wouldn't be that relevant in the bigger picture. (By the way, Neji's death is commonly misunderstood, and makes perfect thematic sense. It should be self-evident, but like his father, he chose to sacrifice himself to save (in this case) his friend out of his own volition, not out of a sense of cold, shinobi obligation to his superiors. It's an incredibly powerful and logical conclusion to his character arc, and was obvious to anyone who understood his father's will.)
The writing behind both main characters of the story - Naruto and Sasuke - may be the best of the medium. Sasuke in particular feels to me like a seinen character that happens to be the deuteragonist of a shonen series, which may explain why the average reader does not understand his motivations, his complex emotions and his development very well. Before I move on to talk about some of the most misunderstood characters of Naruto, as well as the thematic and narrative cohesion of the main plot, I highly recommend you watch the video ''The Meaning of Naruto'' by the creator HotBoySpicy, as it is, in my opinion, the very best analysis of the series on the internet. I will avoid writing about what HotBoySpicy has already tackled so gracefully with his work. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X97b0S81cwQ&t=628s)
Naruto's main theme was present in the story from chapter 1 all the way to chapter 700, and the most relevant idea the narrative tackles - the primary source of conflict of Naruto's world, that being the very concept of a Shinobi - was introduced in the Land of Waves arc, and was simply expanded upon as the series went on.
What is a shinobi? A shinobi is a tool. That is the in-universe concept of shinobi we're introduced as we meet Zabuza and Haku. The ideal shinobi is no human being, but a killing machine that follows orders with unmatched loyalty, and is always ready to die for his duty. Of course there is a soft allegory here; a shinobi is, essentially, a soldier. And abolishing the need for child soldiers was what motivated Madara and Hashirama to create the Leaf. Naruto is, primarily, a story about war, and it deals with that theme unexpectedly well.
Itachi is the embodiment of the ideal shinobi, according to the established concept of what a shinobi should be. Once you realize that this is what the story intends to portray with the character of Itachi, he ceases being the source of polemics - Kishimoto intended to deconstruct and redeem the very concept of shinobi with Itachi's character, which is why he becomes so important to the story.
Itachi acted in the shadows, and betrayed his own family for the sake of his duty. Was it a heroic act? Is Itachi a hero? Yes, but also no. He is a victim of the system he was born into. Ever since he was a child, he was trained to be the perfect shinobi, and he was, undeniably, a genius. He is as flawed as a person as the system that raised him. What the story proposes is that Itachi, the individual, is redeemed, and that his actions were a product of his environment, as cruel as they were. Of course that is a complex moral dillema that should not be oversimplified, but once you understand what the story is communicating to the reader, the writing behind Itachi becomes quite clear.
Despite all of that, Itachi was not perfect as a shinobi. He spared his brother, Sasuke - which is also why Sasuke is central to the narrative. He is the product of an unjust system that festers a cycle of hatred. Sasuke's redemption may as well be the most important and final message of the story - and Naruto (the character) is merely the one to explore and deliver it to us.
People often repeat the false information that Itachi got retconned into a 'good guy'. This is blatantly incorrect, as stated by Kishimoto himself (the twist was blatantly foreshadowed by the manga in a couple instances, such as Kakashi plainly stating Itachi could've killed him if he wanted to, and Kisame thinking it was weird that Itachi acted in the way he did), and all who say that do not understand Itachi's character nor his vision for Sasuke. Itachi wanted Sasuke to inherit his legacy, to become an even greater shinobi than him. He tortured Sasuke and deeply hurt him mentally to fuel with hatred and dessensitize him into becoming the perfect tool - a shinobi capable of defeating Madara. This is directly stated in the story, though people often fail to tie that information to the greater narrative and themes. Itachi essentially MKUltra'd Sasuke with the intention of creating the one Uchiha to surpass him and Madara. It's not too different from what the Mist did with Zabuza. But the point is that ultimately the human spirit is indomitable, and so a human can never become the ideal shinobi.
(https://youtu.be/_a66vb9Q5JE)
Sasuke's ideology at the final battle with Naruto presents to us the culmination of the ideals behind the creation of the shinobi. He desired to become a true shadow, a perfect, almighty soldier who bears all of the hatred of the world alone, and is bound by his duty to the bitter end.
The creation of the shinobi was out of necessity. Mankind was always at conflict with the world, and with itself. The morality of Naruto's world is not black and white, but grey. The very world is cursed with hatred and division from its inception. Cursed with duality. As Madara puts it in one of the most brilliant speeches of any manga,
''Wake up to reality! Nothing ever goes as planned in this accursed world. The longer you live, the more you realize that the only things that exist in this reality are merely pain. suffering and futility. Listen, everywhere you look in this world, wherever there is light, there will always be shadows to be found as well. As long as there is a concept of victors, the vanquished will also exist. The selfish intent of wanting to preserve peace, initiates war. and hatred is born in order to protect love. There are nexuses causal relationships that cannot be separated.
I want to sever the fate of this world. A world of only victors. A world of only peace. A world of only love. I will create such a world.
For truly this reality... is a hell.''
Which is why Kaguya exists (narratively speaking).
Kaguya represents the Demiurge (her design and characterization even align with the common descriptor of 'Blind/Stupid God' proposed by Gnostic sects), the vengeful and jealous God of the Old Testament, as well as the Original Sin; and the story could not be fully concluded without the issue that is at the root of it all (pun intended) being dealt with. Her Chakra Tree is the mechanism with which she extracts the life energy (literally what chakra is) of men, and it represents both the Tree of Knowledge, in this instance, as well as the Tree of Death. Think of Berserk's World Tree and Elden Ring's Erdtree for other examples of such symbolism in Japanese media. Her using the Moon as a tool for her life-energy extraction is also significant; Kishimoto most certainly is a student of western mythology and theology (not to mention eastern mythology and religion as well, of course), and knows of many esoteric secrets of Kabbalah. The Naruto = Jesus comparisons are in fact very well founded; the story is full of christian and occult symbolism. Naruto represents the reestructuring of the old world; the bearer of the ideology of the New Testament, the messiah, the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ himself.
Madara and Obito realized that the very world is flawed, and instead of painstakingly redeeming and fixing it, they intended to abandon it for the sake of a dream, a Matrix, a false reality. They intended to sacrifice the future of humanity for a short-therm solution through the creation of a dream world. Madara in particular was a master manipulator with a huge ego; it was only fitting he'd be betrayed by the only being in the entire world he perceived as trustworthy - Black Zetsu, 'his' shadow, who was actually an inhuman agent of the Demiurge, the actual perfect shinobi who tricked all of humanity. Think about it. Black Zetsu embodies the archetype of the ideal shinobi to a tea - he is designed to look like a literal shadow; a plant-like, non-human tool, an artificial creation born to serve his master. Madara's downfall was, in fact, not only foreshadowed, but also predictable for those who payed attention to what the story was saying through its text, subtext and visuals. The same is true for Kaguya's arrival.
To conclude this section, I want to highlight a great thread by user Deus3nity. This thread deals with the 'destiny and hard work' themes of Naruto.
(https://www.reddit.com/r/CharacterRant/comments/1dkichp/people_completely_misunderstand_narutos_character/)
Kishimoto is masterful with foreshadowing. In fact, if Naruto were any other manga, I assure you people would glaze over how incredible it all is, and would make threads about chinese numerology, symbolism, parallels and so on. But unfortunately Naruto is a story that is very unexplored by its fans, despite its popularity. I will quickly mention some examples of interesting foreshadowing (be it retroactive or not), curiosities and parallelisms.
The Death Reaper Seal shinigami likely being inspired in-universe by Kaguya, the Demiurge.
https://www.fanverse.org/threads/kaguya-and-the-reaper-death-seal.944476/
Kimimaro paralleling Sasuke.
https://www.fanverse.org/threads/the-massacre-of-the-kaguya-clan-the-greatest-foreshadowing-of-naruto.1334011/
Nagato's Six Paths of Pain paralleling and foreshadowing the Sage of the Six Paths. It is not coincidental that the Sage is introduced in chapter 373, during Nagato's story.
This one is quite self-evident. Nagato was a false messiah who saw himself as the second coming of the Sage of Six Paths, a demigod with a Rinnegan. Nagato serves as the prelude to Kaguya; a demiurge, a ruthless God disillusioned with the world.
Orochimaru being a Faust-like character. He's way more interesting and complex than people give him credit for. (Kishimoto knows his literature.)
Zetsu's design represents the duality of the world. The curse Madara talks about.
Rock Lee may be autistic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hiwG1m6LHE
Itachi may have been Jiraya's informant.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVZUxBu05NU
Lastly, I want to say that if you believe to have found a plothole, feel free to post it on my profile and I'll attempt to debunk it. To my knowledge, there really aren't any relevant plotholes in Naruto.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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