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Naruto Season One Review

Naruto: Season One Review

All right, I just finished all my reviews of the first Naruto season, and I have to say it really was fun going back and seeing all the old episodes, as I’ve really grown a lot since seeing them as a kid. You can see how much fun I had just by looking at my reviews, and this is a really great season of a really great show. As some might know, I haven’t finished it, so we’ll see if this will be my favorite. Anyway for the slight few of you who don’t know what Naruto is about, it’s about a boy named Naruto who joins a three man squad with two other ninja, and he is has to be ultimate underdog to eventually become the top ninja. And the thing I love about Naruto is he is the textbook underdog to me. Watching Naruto win a fight is much more fun watching his rival Sasuke win a fight because even though he isn’t the main character, you expect Sasuke to win. But when Naruto to wins it’s such a better response. And one thing I have to point out about the three man squad of Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura. They all suck. But that’s the point. The first thing their teacher Kakashi Sensei (my favorite character) says to them is they look like a bunch of idiots. And they are. Naruto is a hotheaded idiot, Sakura is useless besides having a crush on Sasuke, and Sasuke is a boring selfish asshole. But the show uses the characters so well, and they grow into amazing characters, and they couldn’t have become that way if they weren’t flawed. Naruto winning a big match wouldn’t mean much if he didn’t suck, Sasuke making a friend like rivalry out of Naruto wouldn’t have been as good if he didn’t have people problems, and Sakura blossoming as they called it in episode thirty-two wouldn’t have been good if she wouldn’t have been so mediocre and useless before that. Anyway the characters extend past the three man squad, and I’ve talked about Kakashi enough, but just know the characters and their development for the series is an easy ten out of ten, this season however they are still growing, and most of all these characters are flawed and can be hated on from a different perspective. Like Goku from DBZ is funny and heroic, right? Can’t hate him, Goku’s one of my favorite characters ever in fact. Well the way Kishimoto takes Naruto is Naruto is flawed, and hot headed, but wants his respect so bad he’ll do whatever it takes, even overcome that hotheaded attitude. Naruto learns, while Goku is just the same. Not that Naruto is better than Goku, that’s a whole different debate for another day. Anyway I also love the music and animation. All I used to watch was DBZ, so usually when I see anything up to date nowadays I’m super impressed, but the music is epic and hits every tone. Lastly is the story. The beginning couple of episodes were really good, and it followed with the land of waves arc, which although slow at times, nailed it in the end. Mostly the rest of it is time in the Chunin exam, and it works. It’s a good formula for this large cast, and the three man squad thing is genius. It gets to know a bunch of characters, slowly develops them, then pits them all against each other in a tournament. (Although that’s not in season one yet, but still we get the idea) Also Naruto just picks up on so many other tones and emotions. I actually have never laughed from an anime except maybe for the last airbender, but Naruto actually made me pause just so I could laugh for awhile. I also on episode nineteen felt like crying from how emotional it all was. It’s a real rollercoaster, just as I believe every epic should. That being said it probably enters a million genres in my mind, but who really cares? On top of that let’s talk about the fighting. The fighting is mostly just the jutsu, and I feel the biggest flaw is it counts more on ability than actual strength and intelligence which defeats the point, but it’s really fun to watch. Also it more than makes up for it because it uses intelligence in the battle. There is actual strategy and planning in it, and it really just makes your mind open up when you think about it. The fighting also just has respect for real fighting, and makes reference to the human body and also just looks at fighting with respect, which I can admire. There is also the chakra system which isn’t exactly groundbreaking shit, but it’s complex when thinking about every angle it goes through and battle, and is a pretty decent system. The voice acting I personally think is great, and characters like Sasuke who usually act the same most of the time aren’t afraid of opening up and going a little more out. I think it’s great, but of course there are problems with season one at times. I’ve mentioned them all in my reviews ranching from being to quirky at times, to that below average filler episode, to being so god damn slow at times. But these can be looked past and in the end Naruto season one is the beginning of an epic of anime, and a awesome franchise.

Episode 1: 10/10

Episode 2: 8/10

Episode 3: 6/10

Episode 4: 8/10

Episode 5: 8/10

Episode 6: 7/10

Episode 7: 7/10

Episode 8: 7/10

Episode 9: 8/10

Episode 10: 7/10

Episode 11: 6/10

Episode 12: 9/10