Naruto is a battle-oriented Shonen manga created by Masashi Kishimoto, whose manga was published in Shonen Jump for 15 years starting in September 1999 and ending in November 2014. Ever since Naruto began, it has amassed a cult-like following with it becoming a household name at this point since every anime fan has at least heard about it with it being a part of a lot of peoples childhood, so it's always going to be looked at fondly. The 700 chapters can be quite intimidating to newcomers who are wanting to get into the series. So that begs the question:
Is Naruto really worth getting into? There will be some spoilers ahead
The story of Naruto is divided up into two sections, Part 1 and Part 2. In this section I will be referring to Part 1 as "Naruto" and part 2 as "Shippuden."
Naruto is pretty good for the most part, only picking up halfway into the Chuunin exam arc and ending with the spectacular Sasuke Retrieval arc. This showcases one of the stronger aspects of Kishimoto as a writer, where he's able to continuously build up hype and anticipation for insane moments later on. This is shown by how the ending to the Sasuke Retrieval arc is debatably the best moment in Naruto.
Shippuden is honestly where Naruto starts to fall off with it taking around 150 chapters to get back to the good stuff. The good stuff being easily some of the best that Shippuden has to offer, with the Tale of Jiraiya the Gallant, Fated Battle Between Brothers, and Pain's Assault. The brother's arc being head and shoulders above the other two as the one thing that brings down Pain's Assault is the decision that Kishimoto makes at the end of the arc.
Shippuden falls off pretty hard after Pain's Assault, of course there are a few good moments here and there, like Naruto's breakdown in the Five Kage Summit arc, but it's nothing in comparison to the previous arcs have to offer. It is frustrating though, because Shippuden only picks up again at the end of the Fourth Shinobi World War, after all the useless character development that minor characters get in the final arc of the story for some reason! The Kaguya arc at the end is honestly whatever, but what happens at the end of it is absolutely peak Naruto.
It's best to keep expectations low with regards to the characters in Naruto as a lot of them are just outright unlikeable, and sometimes very hateable!. Of course, liking characters is a matter of personal taste. For example if you smash your head into a brick wall hard enough, you'd probably come out of it liking characters like Sakura or Ino. Nevertheless, the characters do fulfill the roles that they've been given, so it's good enough for what it is. That's not to say that all characters are bad, because there are a handful of them that are pretty endearing. Kakashi and Itachi being some examples that Naruto fans will bring up when asked.
Without a shadow of a doubt, Naruto and Sasuke are the two best characters in Naruto, as pretty much the entire story revolves around the two of them. Their dynamic is amazing, the way they motivate each other to be better shinobi, the deep care they have for each other, and generally how important one is for the other's character growth. It's some amazing stuff, and there's a reason why there's a portion of the fan base that ships these two together. Those two alone make Naruto very worth the read, as the moments that these two share, especially the moments at the end of each part, are Naruto at it's strongest.
The fights in Naruto are fantastic, since it's one of the core components to any battle oriented shonen. They're fluid, fun to read, and really well done... for the most part. The Sasuke vs Gaara fight at the end of the Chuunin Exam arc is a good example of what I meant when I said that Kishimoto does a wonderful job at snowballing hype, as he dangles this fight in the readers' faces ever since the preliminaries. Even after this fight the fights continue to get better and better, eventually culminating into the greatness that is the fight at part 1's climax.
Pain vs Naruto and Sasuke vs Itachi are some examples of really good fights in part 2. The only time the fights in Naruto feel boring to experience are the ones that come later in the Fourth Shinobi World War. As power scaling up to that point is pretty balanced, then the war arc comes in and cranks it up to 15. It becomes pretty ridiculous with a kaiju battle being thrown into the mix and characters getting the most insane power boosts, so they're able to keep up with the insane things that are going on. If you're into that then it's not a problem, if you are and prefer more "grounded" fights, then it can feel pretty boring to read.
There's always a special feeling one gets from seeing an artist grow throughout a work they create, and Naruto is no different. Since there is not a single moment where the artwork in Naruto is bad. Even at the beginning of the story the art style is very stylized and pretty to look at.
Overall I think Naruto is fine for what it is, even if there's a lot of slog to parse through to get to the good stuff. Naruto's definitely a good gateway series for people wanting to dip their toes into animanga. Especially because, outside a few things, there's not that much depth to Naruto, and with everything being pretty easy to understand. And even for the seemingly complex concepts behind certain abilities that the story takes time to explain, you can pretty much just ignore them and move on.
So, is Naruto worth getting into? It depends on what you're wanting out of it, but yeah I'd say it's worth the read.
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