ANIME REVIEW - NARUTO

Cover of the first Japanese Naruto manga volume

                                                                            So… Naruto. I know what you’re thinking. A 10-year old demon ninja boy, who lives in a world filled with talking toads and fiery foxes, and wants to become the head of his hidden ninja village? Really? You’re actually going to watch that?

                                                                                     I’d advice you against saying that out loud though, for fear of being beaten into submission by whichever crazed Naruto fan happens to be wandering around. And trust me, there will be some wandering around.

Naruto is one the most popular ongoing manga series in the world. It’s been going on for a long, long time, and isn’t popular without reason. It is one of the most mind-bogglingly awesome series ever created. You may be a bit uncertain when you start with it, but trust me, that won’t last long. The Naruto world is populated by complex, diverse, three-dimensional characters who interact in the most amazing ways. The over-arcing plot is beautifully created, with twists and turns around every corner. At the same time, the individual episodes have the right balance of drama, comedy and cool fight sequences to keep you coming back for more.

                                                                                                

                                                                                               

                                                                              Having hundreds of episodes to play with, you will see that the plot is paced very carefully. It doesn’t seem rushed in any way, but the plot still progresses at a rapid enough pace to keep you interested. Just when you seem to have the story figured out, something happens to change your entire perception of the series. The characters may seem one-dimensional and boring at first, but as the story progresses, different aspects of each character start to emerge. And I do mean, every character. You soon start to connect to many of the characters, even some that you may have found a bit annoying at first. Including, surprisingly, Naruto himself. I personally found him more annoying than heroic or funny in the beginning. But you can actually see him maturing as you delve deeper into the series, and it all seems very natural. You start to root for him, like all other awesome, hilarious, over-eating lead anime characters (Read: Goku, Luffy, L).

 Seriously though, a must watch for all anime fans. And in general, all fans of series with brilliant plots and diverse characters. A word of caution though. Watch out for spoilers! ;) 

                  

                                                                                                            -By Deepak Dilipkumar