Naruto

During the 20th to 21st century Naruto was THE big show. I always heard some kid who played the soundtrack, especially the sad song theme. The story is a boy who becomes a ninja and wishes to be the strongest. The plot follows him and his teammates adventures as they accept missions.

Naruto Uzumaki
An orphan, he lives on his own and always causes trouble for his village. The reason for this upbringing is he has a demon fox sealed inside him. As a result, he is ostracized by the village, either by fear or ignorance. Confusing, explanation below. But he is the most unpredictable, providing the comedy relief for the show. Even though he is the worst student, he preserves to become the greatest.

Sasuke Uchiha
Another orphan, he lost his parents due to his brother's actions. A prodigy, he uses his brain and strength to fight his enemies. But he only has one goal, revenge against his own brother. As a result, he seems to be aloof and unsociable. Once he graduates and interacts with Naruto, he becomes less obsessed on revenge. Until a certain someone has their eyes on him.

Sakura Haruno
The girl who is infatuated with Sasuke. But she is one of the smartest in her class, showing proficient knowledge in the ninja field. She is shown to be a loud and stubborn person, especially with matters involving Sasuke. As she interacts more with her teammates, she realize she needs to be serious and not so lovestruck.

Kakashi Hatake
The cool and elite teacher who takes care of the trio: Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura. He seems to find things either troublesome or a waste of time, as a result, he frequently reads his r-rated books. He also has a bad habit on tardiness, which seems to be his main downfall. Due to his past, he holds the importance of friendship above everything else.

This show has numerous characters that are all over the place. For one thing, there is Naruto's graduating class, other villages, even the adults of the show play a part. However, all of them has some kind of unique ability of personality that makes the show a hundred times more enjoyable.

The show is about nine different tailed beasts influence on the ninja world. These beasts have extraordinary power that are sealed within people, become a weapon. Naruto has one sealed in him, holding great power at a young age. And we see him growing up, similar to puberty. Because this show creates its own world, people can easily get sucked into this anime. And each arc has their own villains that transitions and continues to the Shippuden anime. Really, the villains are so much fun until you get to the fillers.

Music is pretty well done, using traditional instruments. It has a sort of historical feel, but for the most part its more creepy. Opening and endings are decent at the beginning and slowly gets better and better. Not really amazing but pretty decent a long running anime. Prefer the Shippuden anime for the music and songs.

The voice actors are pretty decent, can be a bit annoying but overall agreeable. But a lot of the characters have a sort of dialect or trademark to their speech. For an example, Naruto always says a word like dattebayo at the end of his sentences. However, compare to the English dub, it is even more annoying. Especially in the beginning, the voice are a bit awkward but better afterwards. Compare to the Japanese dub, the English is not so hyper, instead more toned down.

The animation is decent, not great due to the awkwardness in some of the fights. But the fights are fun to watch, especially during the Chunin Exam arc. The character design are pretty decent as well. Especially the eyes, vivid and ranges of colors. There are some people with red and white eyes! Not cosplay. While the background is sometimes blurred or game like. In all, nothing really fabulous with the animation. Does well in some fight scenes.

Manga and anime differences are the amount of blood and gore. But this show does show it, just more toned down compare to the manga. Also the manga's fillers sort of explain or make the plot different compare to the manga. As a result, the anime's plot is a bit different compare to the manga. But the anime does a better job on showing how the fights scene play out.

In the end, the show is about perseverance and friendship. The main moral of the story is one needs to build and maintain friendship or all is lost. Just look at one of the characters for an example. That is why people are social creatures, deep inside, we need people even if they are the worst. Because it is better to be mistreated than alone.

However, even though this lesson is important it seems that this story talks about misunderstanding. But no one knows our own history. No matter how we say it or what they hear from other people, only you know your own history. As a result, no one can truly understand you. So no one can judge you or critique you.

This show also has a new anime series, Naruto Shippuden. In this anime, the characters are more grown up and take on more severe missions.