Gonna start off with the fact that this is my second review and I'm not really good with words. Also might contain spoilers as I'm trying to write this as i remember every thing i loved and hated about Naruto.

I'll be honest, my reason for watching Naruto was mainly because of Pain, or Akatsuki in general. Well like everyone else I learned a lot from the memes, amvs and from my friends about this. Also hearing people talking about how they watched Naruto when they were kids made me really jealous, i mean, they got to grow up with this. Not that i couldn't, but my dumbass brain at the time thought otherwise. Welp, that can't be helped so here I am, watching and finishing it now.

As i mentioned earlier, my main reason for watching was Akatsuki, so i was always on the lookout for their entry in the show, well not Shippuden, I mean Naruto as a whole. I came to Shippuden with high hopes, mainly because i loved the og Naruto, the theme, the music, the animation, i really enjoyed it. So i came to Shippuden expecting that but a lot better, and i did get that, but not so easily. I could be offending a few peeps and I'm sorry for that, but this is what I felt. Shippuden, upto ep 125 was average, not saying like it's a bad thing, but it didn't have anything that could hype me up. Well saying that just like that is a lie. Okay lemme think, Sakura and Chiyo vs Deidara and the Asuma arc... And i guess the 4 tails form? But.. oh well whatever, but yes, that's it. Couldn't bring anything more for me.

That said, everything, like literally everything changed by the end of the 125th ep, well let's just say that, that particular scene, sold me on Shippuden. A show which i lagged for months for the first 124 eps, just became something that i felt like i must watch right now. Lol it was like that tbbt meme where Sheldon said, "I don't need sleep, I need answers" xD. And that for me, marked the start of what I consider, the peak of Naruto, the Pain arc. Thinking back about it now, nothing, not a single other arc could come close to the hype that arc gave me. Chunin exam arc from the og Naruto and parts of war arc came close sure, but it definitely was something else, prior to the main acts, the fights of jiraiya and pain, Itachi and sasuke, well like any other weeb, that made me tear up no cap. I could really say that i wasn't expecting that level of immersion with the series until then. Another thing that I'd like to add is that , I really loved all the senseis that were shown in the series, Starting from Iruka, Kakashi, Jiraiya and various instances of Minato and Hiruzen being sensei asw. I still feel very happy and sad at the same time whenever I see jiraiya and the three, Nagato, Yahiko and Konan together, and especially in that frog outfit, Ngl that was so damn cute

Then the main act, Narutos entry in Konoha and the fight with pain, it was noice... Except for that one thing that literally everyone rants about. The most important episode from the entire show that looked somewhat like a diarrhoea patient xD. Well it can't be helped, but i just wanted to rant about it. While I consider Pain Arc as the peak of naruto, there is something that I was really dissatisfied with. The way the arc ended. I mean, i get it, Naruto makes people realise stuff and all, and Nagato understanding it is fine, both of them being Jiraiyas students and all that, it was really nice. But they still shouldn't have pulled that bs at the end. Okay i get it, a lot of important characters were killed off who could never be replaced and was really vital for the story to progress, okay understandable, but I felt like a part of the effect of that incident which led Naruto, ending up as who he was at the end of that arc, was gone, like the whole incident just lost it's value. It's a shounen, people's death affect the mc, that's how he gains power (not the only way, but I'm being sarcastic, so don't mind it.), And if ya take away that... That's, that's wrong... Lol still, won't be enough to change my mind from it being the peak of Naruto.

Next part is the War Arc. I was pretty excited for this, i mean i was like that for almost 100 eps by now, but yes, the thought of seeing madara was exciting. I was told that, "the second half of Naruto is all caused by one dude, and that's madara". Imagine someone saying that to ya, well idk about others but i was really curious as to know what and who that guy was. Well, he didn't disappoint. War Arc, for the most part was really good, i liked how they showed the tense war atmosphere, the arrival of more powerful characters and a lot of other twists that came along the way. I swear, everytime they show Itachi, it's pure service for the fans (not the one yer thinking of, but literally). Same goes for Kakashi, man wtf, the supposedly filler arc shows felt more canon than some bs episodes. Like dude, how can this not be canon, it has such and impact and shows how Kakashi came to be how he is now, and also showed how yamato or tenzo was. This and the Itachi dedicated episodes, imo were the best parts of Shippuden after pain arc. And while I'm still in War Arc, it should have ended with Madara as the final villain. Man, like, really, i liked the introduction of kaguya, the origin of chakra, the alien race, the divine tree... Those all are good and all, but they could've done it separately, like maybe as a sequel to Shippuden or something idk. For me it felt like they complicated it a bit too much. Not to mention how they pulled bs with Kakashi getting sharingan again, like bruh, obito is dead and Kakashi is kinda useless at this point, so here u go, obito gonna come back from spirit world and help Kakashi. Waw. Impressive, Very Nice. Welp, can't be helped. I may seem like I'm forgiving this but i was kinda pissed at how they did this at the time i was watching. Oh well...

To end with, overall, i enjoyed the show, the animation, the music, although I'd like to say that at times the music was oddly placed, and i can go on with my rant about the music in the first 124 episodes, but that won't be necessary. Other than that, i loved the music, the bg ost at times were well, it felt so perfect. I'd say I didn't like a lot of the Ops and Eds, but a few did stick with me, Tsukino Ookisa by Nogizaka46, Blood Circulator by Asian Kung Fu Generation and Long Kiss Good Bye by Halcali, these were prolly my favorites.

Well guess that's it, that's what I felt, when i finished one of the big three, Naruto Shippuden.