Masashi Kishimoto is a big fan of Akira Toriyama and his Anime hit series, Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z. Now, the popularity of his work Naruto (both in manga and in anime) is comparable to the success of Mr. Toriyama’s Dragon Ball series. The Anime series (Naruto) was officially released on October of 2005 and is still ongoing by the time of this writing.

I first heard about this Anime series back in college, which was more than two years ago but I started watching it just recently. At first it didn’t interest me. I thought it was just another martial arts action Anime. When I finally decided to see the first episode, I realized I was wrong. Then I knew why Naruto became the most popular Anime in Japan up until now.

Like other popular Anime series, Naruto is a mix of action, comedy, and drama. It is purely fictional. At the moment of this writing, it already has more than 200 episodes and it’s still ongoing. Although the story in the series is continuous, there are some episodes that are quite stand-alone.

There’s no big difference with the story compared to other action Anime. Naruto is the main character who grew up in a ninja village. Like everyone else in the village, he studies to become a ninja and his ultimate dream is to become the “Hokage”, which is the highest official and most respected person in their clan.

When Naruto was still an infant, their village was attacked by a nine-tailed fox. It was so powerful that even the five Hokages couldn’t stop it. One of the Hokages developed a technique which he used to seal the nine-tailed fox into Naruto’s body. Naruto grew up socially isolated because people in the village are afraid of him and treat him for being the one that carries the monster that once caused their village suffering. Eventually, Naruto grew up, became a ninja with decent skills, and made a few friends.

Supporting characters include Sakura and Sasuke, both are Naruto’s classmate in their ninja school. Naruto has a thing for Sakura but Sakura, like most of the girls in their school, has a huge crush on Sasuke. Sakura is like the most intelligent student in their school and she uses ninja techniques well. Sasuke is simply the top student in the school. He has a fair knowledge of ninja techniques, but he’s the best when applying these techniques during an actual fight. Another supporting character is Kakashi, their (Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke) teacher. Kakashi is one of my favorite characters in the series because his techniques are pretty cool.

I’m not sure if there is an English dubbed version of this series but I watch the subtitled version. Now let’s talk about the music. Although the opening theme of the episodes that I’ve seen is rock (and I’m into rock), I didn’t like this one that much. But the tune of the closing theme (in the video it shows Sakura and Ino singing the lyrics with a funny dance) kinda sticks to my head and I really like it.

All in all, I really enjoy watching the Naruto series. The animation is good and the fight scenes are totally awesome. I like the story too as well as the humor. At the office, I often hear some of my officemates suddenly bursting into laughter and when I look at what they’re doing, they’re just watching some funny scene from a Naruto episode (while I’m stuck with my tasks. It’s unfair!).

If you haven’t seen this Anime (although I doubt it if you’re really an Anime fan), you’re missing something really good. Go grab a copy of the old episodes now and stay tuned for the TV series! I recommend this to everyone who likes… well… Anime.

Credits and Resources

• Naruto on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naruto)
• Screenshots at Naruto World (http://www.naruto-world.com/)

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Category: Series Reviews

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