Aw, my picture isn't ready yet. ah well.

Another review by me. Except I have decided to take home in here with all of you in Menewsha. I have gotten some e-mails from my other site about reviewing the show/manga of Naruto, so I have finally decided to break down and actually do one.

Let's get this ball rolling.

I first began watching Naruto when I was probably just leaving middle school. This was many years ago, well before it was published in Shonen Jump and before many in America knew of it (I call this the Shonen Jump Syndrome, more later). Sadly it's my dirty secret to say that at the time, I enjoyed it. It was simple enough for my small middle school brain to handle, and I enjoyed the characters and how they acted. Silly me.

Years later I decided to reflect on this and tried to figure out why exactly I liked the show.

At the time I began reading the anime wasn't even released. I found the characters to be entertaining, except the main character which I found hilarious considering he's our main. I enjoyed how they corresponded with one another and where the plot was going, although cliche. Stupid kid hated by everyone else around him must gain the abilities that we as the reader knows he has, including some dark deep power that he holds, in order to combat the oppressing forces around him. Now we're all seen this in maybe every Disney film, and every film pretty much to date. Got it. Then we got your rival character who is shown to be much more powerful then him, but somehow they are on par. They equally hate, yet respect one another as the story goes on. You also have the female lead who has a romantic interest in another character of whom her feelings are not met, but the main longs for her. Check.

Cliche's aside, I continued. I found the first few arcs entertaining and evenly thought out. They felt fluid and I didn't feel like the chapters were forced. Then it kept going.... and going... and going. The introduction to the other characters, the other children in town as well as other countries began to put a twist in the show. As it continued it got darker and filled in more with political twists.

Normally I would say this is a good thing. A show should be more in depth, and this show does do that. You have your political stand points, deep characterization for everyone, and I mean EVERYONE (the hobo down the road who sucks on the rain gutters for substance has his own 4 volume subplot), and flows well.

Of course it's sad that the actual characters of the show are what drew me away.

The main character for instance in ANNOYING! Every part of him I HATE. His voice, his actions, his everything. I remember watching the first movie I believe (mind you, this is forever years ago, when it was first released in Japan) and having an inner battle with myself. Somehow their teacher Kakashi was having this terrible trouble defeating a mid-boss, while the main brat himself was kicking the crap out of the super powerful enemy. Of course you can say this for all shows in general. In any case, Naruto's pompous attitude, his pure defiance to everything, his constant self-pity, and his terrible dialogue turned me off instantly.

Sasuke, my old favorite. I enjoyed his dark attitude and his brooding character, but that's because I'm attracted to all characters like that. Then they kept continuing with him. I get that he's a jerk, he turns against people, and he hates all things in general. You've beaten me in the head with this over and over. I get he's angry, awesome. After a few short chapters all parts of this character began to weave away my interest, and I had to finally turn away.

Sakura... oh god. Anyone who knows me knows that I generally hate the female lead. Why? For this exact reason. Whiny, unable to do anything through most of the show then suddenly having super abilities beyond anything imaginable, super in love with a side character that has no interest in her then devoting almost all dialogue and emotions to said person. Every time she came on I would get annoyed. Sadly this is unfair, as I have this bias against most female characters, so we'll let this one slide.

My point being is that I like character change. A story is supposed to give deep realization to said characters. They are supposed to learn something about themselves and be able to change their actions. Now I know this should never be rushed, but this happens at such a slow pace I'm ready to rip my hair out.

Do I really have to mention the ninja aspect of this show. Really? For this sake I won't, I feel as if you already understand.

I also fully believe this show has become the cash cow of most anime. This has got to be in the top ten. Just as this show was getting good they decided to pool as much money out of it as possible.

And even worse. Even with my dislike of the show I could probably handle seeing it EVERYWHERE I GO (Yes Dollar Tree, looking at you), I could handle the four BILLION volumes littering my poor book store shelves, and I could even deal with the fact I see his stupid face every time I log into any anime board, but what I can't stand most is the fan base.

Yes you, looking at this post with angry eyes. The same people who as you are reading this are deciding how to destroy me with my own mouse pad. The people that when I used to work in the book store would walk in and screech "KYYYAAAIII. SASUKE IS SO KAWAAAIIIII~" The people that when I go anywhere are dressed in the headbands out in public and decide they would love to inform me every little detail. The ones who, even though this show has obvious holes, will deny every little occurrence which has a lack of credibility and instead argue to death, holding the book against their chest like a bible. It is you fan base that I feel ruins everything that was once okay about this show. That is for another time though.

So yeah. I ranted a lot about Naruto, but for all intense and purposes, it wasn't terrible when I was in middle school. I feel as if myself have matured enough to where I can go further in the animation scene, for the little I actually watch, and find something new and better. It's a good start up, it's something that if you WANT a super long drawn out story that you can show off to your friends or the odd hobo with his super subplot, you can. If you're new to anime, awesome, start on that. If you're not, please, for the love of everything, grab something just a little more... filling. Save yourself the time, pick up any warring nations book about some pathetic main characters over coming his personal issues and political standpoints, and waste 4 hours reading instead of 5 years trying to pick apart these people.

Rating: C+

I read the whole thing. Naruto isn't that annoying. I found him hilarious xD