Related Titles: Naruto (manga)

Alternate Title: ナルト
Genre: Action | Comedy | Shounen
Companies: Studio Pierrot | TV Tokyo
American Licensing Company: None (still in conflict I assume!)
Format: 70 episodes and still going strong
Dates: 10/03/02 and ongoing
Original Creator: Masashi Kishimoto
Age Rating: Some blood; 13 and up

Synopsis: Naruto is a young troublemaking orphan and ninja in training of Konoha (Hidden Leaf Village). Naruto wants to become the next Hokage (leader of the village), so the people will acknowledge his existence. The mysteries of why he is an outcast will be revealed to him as he learns much more in his training, with his rival Sasuke, who he dislikes, the girl he has a crush on, Sakura, and his team leader and sensei, Kakashi.

SCORE: 91%

Plot: In an alternate world that isn't quite Japan, the U.S., or any place of this world, is a world where the whole economy and well being of societies is maintained by the abilities and powers of ninja. In the world of Naruto, ninja maintain peace with ancient ablities of jutsu and weapons, while modern appliances such as fridges and stoves exist.

At one time, the Konoha (Leaf Village) was on the verge of being destroyed by Kyubi (Nine Tails) Fox, until one of their leaders, the Fouth Hokage (highest rank of ninja) sealed its powers into the navel of a newborn boy, dying in the process. This boy grew up shunned and seen as the evil fox, and this boy is the hilarious if misunderstood, 12 year old boy Naruto that this entire story is about.

Naruto, seeming to have no family or loved ones, has no idea why all the adults dislike him, which in turn makes the other children dislike him also, not knowing their parents' reasons. With no acknowledgement or caring for him, Naruto has grown into a prankster, who has real ability to become a powerful ninja in the Ninja Academy if someone would just recognize him, and see past his occasional clumsiness. Since he doesn't want to be ignored, he is determined to become the next Hokage.

Finally, with a security risk involving stealing secret scrolls, Naruto's teacher, Iruka, finally acknowledges Naruto and becomes a bit of a father figure to Naruto (and he is always worried about Naruto after that). After finally graduating, Naruto's journey to become the 5th Hokage begins.

Full of memorable characters, awesome fights, good storytelling, and interesting techniques. With the fun of fighting of Dragon Ball Z, but even better, and minus the lack of character development, Naruto is fun to watch and enjoy.

With a multitude of characters, you'll definitly find a favorite, and it's very hard to confuse them; all these characters are very different from each other...from Naruto's quirky, mouthy but responsible attitude, to Sasuke's determined need for revenge, to Sakura's acknowledgement of being booksmart but not the best ninja, to Rock Lee's hilarious looks and determination to be the best ninja through only hand to hand combat and hard work, to Gaara's horrible, horrible past and bloodthrist.

Watch for the excitement and tournaments of ninja fights and battles of the Dragon Ball Z and Yu Yu Hakusho type (except with far more variety and fun to watch), but with even more character, plot, and soul than probably both of those series.

Full of hilarious and well made characters, this show is entertaining! The characters and action make the show; the action is very original, and even though there are many characters, they have very different personalities and are easy to distinguish from each other.

This may be the typical ninja in training story (but not for long, as Naruto kicks ass), but with the settings being a quasi-ninja based world with combos of Japanese and Chinese culture with all modern conviences, this show is just different. This completely different world in itself makes this show interesting.

Visual: The visuals kick ass in so many ways. Of course, animation goes down a little sometimes when it's not fights, but for the most part, it is excellent. Nothing can describe the fun and awesomeness of the animation, using CG and everything.

With a series this long, animated to getting in the 60s on episodes and still going strong, the series can often have too much recap, especially if you watch several in one sitting. But the animation is AWESOME and the characters are great, and the manga is even better (currently going to be around 22 volumes at this point and still going I believe). Just watch it. *grins*

Sound: The background music almost deterred me from this series; not because it is bad, but because I almost couldn't take it seriously because of it. But, it is very good music.

The theme songs are hella cool, and their strange quirks will either make them more enduring to you or annoy you. I think the former myself. The third ending has been my favorite so far (c'mon Engrish yelling out "Fight, fight, fight" and "Japanese People!" is just classic)

Sound effects are good and not quite like other sound effects I have heard before. But, they're not like extraordinary or anything. But good.

The Dub: Does not exist yet

Dub Letter Grade: N/A

Extra Rants and Bitching: I love Gaara! Gaara needs a hug! Awwwww.... And Rock Lee...oh man! He rocks so much! And of course Kakashi and Gai are ex-cell-ent also. Can't forget Naruto! Everyone is so cool in this series!

And Kakashi and Iruka's voice actors...hee hee hee! Iruka is Toshihiko Seki (Legato in Trigun, Watari in Yami no Matsuei, Takaya in Mirage of Blaze, Count D in PetShop of Horrors, Yurimaru in Ninja Scroll, Duo in Gundam Wing, Genjo Sanzo in Saiyuki and Rikki in Ai no Kusabi) and Kakashi is by Kazuhiko Inoue (Hatori from Fruits Basket, Oriya from Yami no Matsuei, Yuki from Gravitation)

Score Comments: The score? It's what it is due to just stretching out a bit too much with recap. But I can't complain about that really. Can't blame them for doing so.

Websites:
Naruto EX: Excellent source for the anime episodes, manga, gifs, wallpaper, links, fanworks and just about everything! Yay!

Have a website about this series, or do you know of a good one? Want me to link to it on this review? Well, the feel free to email the sucker to me! Just make sure to put "Review Link" in the subject.