Naveed Islam looks back at Naruto and tells you why you should go watch it
We all know someone like him. He’s that boy in class who always gets called into the principal’s office for talking too loudly or throwing paper balls at the teacher’s head. He’s the kid who everyone makes fun of and who no one expects will ever amount to anything. He’s the guy who never gives up on those he loves and who sees the good in you even when you don’t. And for fifteen years, millions of manga readers and anime fans worldwide have had the pleasure of calling him a friend.
Naruto Uzumaki was brought to life by manga author Masashi Kishimoto in the pages of Shonen Jump, a manga anthology published weekly in Japan. Since it began serialization in 1999, Naruto has spawned two successful anime series as well as several movies, novels, videogames and more, becoming one of the most beloved manga of all time. On November 10th, 2014, the story of Naruto and the Hidden Leaf village came to an end with the publication of its 700th and final chapter. Set many years after the end of the major conflict in the series, it gave us a brief glimpse at where our favorite characters ended up and with whom they were spending the rest of their lives.
So why is this series so great and why should a novice anime fan care? To put it simply, the series’ characters are well developed and relatable, its action is dramatic and fluidly paced and its story weaves in its massive world and lore into a well-crafted narrative, with plot twists that keep fans guessing until the end.
Naruto owes much of its success to its memorable cast of heroes and villains, including Naruto himself. When we first meet Naruto he is an attention-seeking delinquent and class dunce who is both hated and feared by his classmates and elders in the Hidden Leaf village. This is because Naruto harbors the spirit of the fearsome Nine-Tailed Fox demon. When Naruto was just a baby the Nine-Tails attacked his village. Their leader, the Fourth Hokage, gave his life to seal the demon inside the newborn Naruto. Everyone fears that Naruto will someday succumb to the demon’s power, causing them to mistreat him. Despite this, Naruto hopes to one day win their love and admiration by becoming the next Hokage.
The series’ second protagonist is Sasuke Uchiha. As one of the last surviving members of the once-proud Uchiha clan, Sasuke grew up alone. He is a prodigy whose talent comes along once in a generation and his status as the class hero frequently puts him at odds with Naruto. The two become rivals but their shared tragedies creates a mutual understanding that binds them together as close friends. But while Naruto’s dream is to be acknowledged by his village and become Hokage, Sasuke’s ambitions take him down a much darker path. He hopes to one day avenge the Uchiha by killing the man who murdered his clan – his own elder brother Itachi. Naruto and Sasuke’s journeys parallel one another and their friendship and rivalry is the central focus of the series’ plot.
Unlike many of its contem
porary series’ the characters in Naruto change and grow. This is marked by the shift in tone in the two parts of the story. Part One follows Naruto as a twelve-year old and his adventures are lighter with a stronger emphasis on comedy while Part Two (Shippuden) takes place three years later and deals with darker subject matter and heavier concepts. The Naruto we meet at the start of Part One and the one we see again in Part Two are starkly different. Where the younger Naruto was a loudmouth and troublemaker the older is a more composed and capable, if slightly absent-minded, young ninja. However, the change feels organic and necessitated by the events that preceded it. The same is true for Sasuke though fans have criticized his development as being inconsistent, especially during the later half of the story.
While this is primarily Naruto and Sasuke’s tale, the series also has a stellar supporting cast. Fan favorites include Kakashi Hatake, an elite ninja with a calm demeanor that masks his severity as a teacher, who serves as the field leader for Naruto’s team and Rock Lee, a young shinobi who makes up for his lack of talent in ninja arts (or jutsu as it’s called) with a proficiency in hand-to-hand combat. One cast member guaranteed to make an impression is Jiraiya, a wandering sage who is one of the Hidden Leaf’s strongest warriors while also being the author of a popular erotic novel series, Make-Out Tactics (which Kakashi happens to be a fan of).
A number of great villains serve as excellent foils to the series’ protagonists. Kishimoto has said that he prioritizes the motivations behind his antagonists over design, coming up with how they are morally opposed to the heroes even before deciding what they look like. This philosophy makes for some truly memorable foes such as Orochimaru, a former comrade of Jiraiya’s who turned evil out of a desire to learn forbidden jutsu and prolong his life; he serves as the primary antagonist for Part One. In Part Two the focus shifts to the Akatsuki, an organization comprised of rogue shinobi who have been manipulating events from the shadows. Among their ranks are Sasuke’s older brother Itachi and the group’s enigmatic leader Pain.
Kishimoto has already announced a sequel to Naruto, a miniseries that follows the next generation of Hidden Leaf ninjas. The Last: Naruto the Movie is also scheduled to release in December and will bridge the gap between the main story and the epilogue. There is also a novelization and stage play in the works along with several episodes of the Naruto: Shippuden anime that has yet to cover the newer manga chapters.
Don’t be daunted by the 700-chapter count or the hundreds of episodes and get started on Naruto. The action will leave you speechless, the plot will swallow you whole and its characters will move you to tears (literally). Jump in and learn why, for fifteen years, so many fans have been happy to call Naruto Uzumaki their friend. Believe it!