Does anyone still like Naruto?

[[Kira Must Die]]

I was never a Naruto fan. I saw the first couple episodes of it when it first aired on Toonami, because a lot of my classmates were talking about it, and I never really cared for it. Although at the time I was sorta burned by Inuyasha, so for a few years I was sorta on the "anime sucks" train. It wasn't until I saw Death Note when I started getting back into anime.

From what I saw of Naruto, there wasn't really anything I hated about it, it just looked like a typical shounen action show, so I don't have a vile hatred towards it that a lot of people did. I just don't care about it. I don't watch the anime, I don't read the manga, and I'm not interested to do so. I like some shounen shows, but Naruto to me just seems something I'm too old to properly enjoy now. It's very much an anime for early to mid teens. It's just not for me. I prefer seinen, or at least darker shounen shows like Attack on Titan or Death Note. Also, no, I'm not watching a 300+ episode shounen show. Just, no. I'm not wasting weeks or even months watching a show that is not meant for me. Inuyasha made me hate anime for a while, I'm not going through that again.

 

[Elvis Starburst]

Like it? Hell, I can't even START it cause it's so friggin long! Starting it now would be an extremely huge investment. It's the reason why I can't get into stuff like Naruto or Bleach or One Piece. So... many... episodes! Knowing the story isn't gonna end in any way for that long makes it impossible for me to start. Disappointing because of it, but, eh...

 

[Dr. Cakey]

In a similar discussion held about a month or so ago (which we both participated in, now that I think about it XD), I said this:

Sooo... we had this little discussion about a month ago, about wheter or not Naruto was hated, and I answered that the reason I (and I suspect a lot of other people) dislike the series, is because it's become increasingly poorly written.

Well, guess what? Kishimoto just came out during the Shonen Jump held Jump Festa event, and admited that he had no f***ing clue how the main character is supposed to be able to defeat the main villain. He's out of ideas...

What. A. Piece. Of. Crap.

He's written himself into a corner, made his beloved Uchiha God Mode Sue too powerful, and now he's realised what every other person on the planet has: the main character can't win. This is worse than Aizen in Bleach, and will probably share that series retarded pre-timeskip conclusion as well...

Why did I ever even like this series?

Have you ever considered that maybe the problem is with you? That your dislike of the series is so intense, when the author of a story refuses tell a fan how he plans on ending his story it must mean that he doesn't know?

More on point, I haven't followed Naruto in two years or more, but I have to say it's an impeccably constructed series. It took him a little while to discover what his manga was about, but once he wrote the words "cycle of hatred" he was on track, and to the best of my knowledge he's stayed there ever since.

So, yeah, am I still watching Naruto? No. Do I still like it? Yeah, I do.

P.S. I don't care how bad Naruto gets. It couldn't possibly ever be a tenth as bad as what Bleach has become.

P.P.S. Watch Hunter x Hunter. That will be all.

 

[Someone Depressing]

I don't like shounen, really.

Scrap that. Because of Naruto, I hate shounen. I can't even read the original Dragon Ball on Mangafox without completely giving up. While Dragon Ball dragged on for a bit, that's because it had a story to tell. Naruto, not so much. Hell, Dragon Ball's still got a story to tell... I just don't think the original author's got much to do with it now.

 

[Mangod]

Have you ever considered that maybe the problem is with you? That your dislike of the series is so intense, when the author of a story refuses tell a fan how he plans on ending his story it must mean that he doesn't know?

More on point, I haven't followed Naruto in two years or more, but I have to say it's an impeccably constructed series. It took him a little while to discover what his manga was about, but once he wrote the words "cycle of hatred" he was on track, and to the best of my knowledge he's stayed there ever since.

So, yeah, am I still watching Naruto? No. Do I still like it? Yeah, I do.

P.S. I don't care how bad Naruto gets. It couldn't possibly ever be a tenth as bad as what Bleach has become.

P.P.S. Watch Hunter x Hunter. That will be all.

Ok, a few things: yes, it is entirely possible that the problem lies with me, rather than with the series... but I doubt it. The series has just had so many inconsistencies, and violated its own message so many times, that I honestly don't think it's unfair of me to doubt Kishimoto's ability as a writer when he says "I have no idea how the heroes are gonna stop the villain". If he had said he has a plan, that he's planned this and we're seeing the culmination of years of labor, fine, but I sincerely believe this is a man who's written himself into a corner and admitted that he's only getting out of this via Deus Ex Machina.

Secondly: If you haven't watched/read it in two years, how can you be so sure about its quality? I've read it on a weekly/bi-weekly basis for the better part of the last two years, and I believe that the quality has gone into freefall. Again, this is subjective, but I don't think calling the series "impeccably constructed" is any more fair than calling it horrible. If it was impeccably constructed, then it wouldn't constantly feel like Kishi's pulling stuff out of his ass.

As for the Cycle of Hatred, yes, it is a great concept, something that can easily be used to write a magnificent story... but Kishimoto has already broken all the morals he's preached to us in the past, including (indirectly) this cycle of revenge one, since he's had characters like Shikamaru and Sasuke murder people for the sake of vengeance without consequence.

I'm sorry if this seems confrontational, but I do not believe that I'm the problem. The series is simply past its prime, and what we're reading now is the dying spams.

P.S: I don't read Bleach any more, mostly because I gave up on that series when they defeated Butterflaizen. That is the archetype of a Deus Ex Machina, and I fear that Naruto is going the same way.

P.S.S: I'll have to look up that series, lot's of people on this site have been crying it praise to the high heavens.

 

[AustinN]

If Kishimoto just didn't want to reveal how the last villain is going to be defeated, wouldn't it have made more sense to say "You'll have to wait and see" rather than "I have no idea"? It doesn't inspire confidence, especially with how things have gone lately.

 

[Mangod]

If Kishimoto just didn't want to reveal how the last villain is going to be defeated, wouldn't it have made more sense to say "You'll have to wait and see" rather than "I have no idea"?

Yes. Yes it would have, but he didn't, hence my doubt in his ability to end this in a satisfying manner.

It doesn't inspire confidence, especially with how things have gone lately.

It really doesn't. Sad, too, since the pitch for the series (young boy grows up to become leader of ninja village) sounds like it'd be a bottomless well for good stories. But alas...

 

[FalloutJack]

All the honest answers will say no. All the brutally honest answers will say it was never good.

 

[Ishal]

snip

So you're basically saying that it's idealism and morals can't/don't work because they run in stark contrast with the background and lore of the show? That characters behaving differently undermines the direction they previously were going?

That's an interesting take on it. It's also interesting that Naruto's father was resurrected? Wow, and he wants Obito to be spared? Huh

I view Attack On Titan as just another Naruto. It's already going the wrong direction with it's writer changing an ending to what the fans wanted.

It's like One Piece is the only Shounen series in recent memory I can think of that hasn't jumped the shark.

I don't watch the show, but it's like 600 episodes now. Hard to believe it hasn't jumped the shark. But honestly, shonen, and most anime in general, I'm starting to think "jumping the shark" is a phrase that means nothing to them anyway. With the filler, and the terrible tropes that they ALL indulge in, jumping the shark is inevitable. Couple that with the anime running in tandem with mangas, and the manga authors often under contract to make a set number of issues. The writer isn't in control anyway. I'm pretty sure that's why Kishimoto went off the rails.

 

[AustinN]

I don't watch the show, but it's like 600 episodes now. Hard to believe it hasn't jumped the shark. But honestly, shonen, and most anime in general, I'm starting to think "jumping the shark" is a phrase that means nothing to them anyway. With the filler, and the terrible tropes that they ALL indulge in, jumping the shark is inevitable. Couple that with the anime running in tandem with mangas, and the manga authors often under contract to make a set number of issues. The writer isn't in control anyway. I'm pretty sure that's why Kishimoto went off the rails.

I haven't been totally keeping up with One Piece for the past couple of years, but it has a pretty good record of topping itself. In my opinion, I think it usually avoids the most common problems with shonen anime. Unlike most long running series, the author has clearly planned quite a bit of it out, and plot points can be introduced hundreds of chapters before they become relevant.

I think a problem with shonen manga is that most writers aren't good at thinking outside the box, and do little to improve on their predecessors. Sometimes it seems like writers only do certain things because it's what other writers do. Bleach got so bad that nowadays it's primarily held up as an example of how NOT to do a shonen manga. For example, it's said that the main character has a lot of raw power, but he hasn't under gone the formal training people like him usually do. You expect him to get stronger by training and learning additional shinigami techniques, but instead he gets stronger through getting random power ups, that more often than not are poorly justified. It comes off as the writer thinking "Other shonen series have random power ups, so I should have random power ups too" even if it's not the most logical course of action.

 

[Drizzitdude]

Naruto is odd for me, I like the fights, I like the animation, I like the premise, but god do they spend so long with talking and filler it completely ruins it for me. I try to stay away from animes with more than 100 episodes. But the naruto is sort of an exception because it doesn't spend a million episodes talking only for dbz/bleach style blitz fights where everyone is teleport punching each other, the fights are actually quite good. Like I said its odd, I love it and I hate it.

 

[Mangod]

snip

So you're basically saying that it's idealism and morals can't/don't work because they run in stark contrast with the background and lore of the show? That characters behaving differently undermines the direction they previously were going?

That's an interesting take on it. It's also interesting that Naruto's father was resurrected? Wow, and he wants Obito to be spared? Huh

I view Attack On Titan as just another Naruto. It's already going the wrong direction with it's writer changing an ending to what the fans wanted.

That is exactly what I'm saying. You cannot preach a morality or aesop in a story if your main characters constantly violate said morality to win, and don't suffer consequence for it.

Imagine a story about a sports team. The storys moral is that steroids are bad, and that hard work will trump taking shortcuts every time. Then, the "big game" or whatever shows up, and the main characters face a team that is simply better than them. So, they use steroids to amplify their ability on the field, and they win... and get away with it.

The moral has officially failed, because the characters have done the one thing the story was saying you should never do, and benefited from it, with no consequence. That's what Naruto has done with all its morals thus far.

It's like One Piece is the only Shounen series in recent memory I can think of that hasn't jumped the shark.

I don't watch the show, but it's like 600 episodes now. Hard to believe it hasn't jumped the shark. But honestly, shonen, and most anime in general, I'm starting to think "jumping the shark" is a phrase that means nothing to them anyway. With the filler, and the terrible tropes that they ALL indulge in, jumping the shark is inevitable. Couple that with the anime running in tandem with mangas, and the manga authors often under contract to make a set number of issues. The writer isn't in control anyway. I'm pretty sure that's why Kishimoto went off the rails.

I'll admit, I'm actually impressed that One Piece hasn't jumped the shark yet, but so far it seems that Eiichiro Oda actually has a plan for how to end the series. The real question in this case is if he'll live long enough to finish it, and if not, has he left behind any notes so that someone else can finish it for him?

 

[Multi-Hobbyist]

I never liked it in the first place. Does that count?

 

[mitchell271]

I stopped reading Naruto, Bleach, Fairy Tail and a couple other shonen series about a month ago, just because they're so repetitive, cliché and boring. I can understand why people still read it, but I can't stand it anymore.

 

[AustinN]

I don't like shounen, really.

Scrap that. Because of Naruto, I hate shounen. I can't even read the original Dragon Ball on Mangafox without completely giving up. While Dragon Ball dragged on for a bit, that's because it had a story to tell. Naruto, not so much. Hell, Dragon Ball's still got a story to tell... I just don't think the original author's got much to do with it now.

I stopped reading Naruto, Bleach, Fairy Tail and a couple other shonen series about a month ago, just because they're so repetitive, cliché and boring. I can understand why people still read it, but I can't stand it anymore.

Man, have Naruto, Bleach and other assorted series ruined shonen for western readers? Is the genre going to be dead as soon as those series wrap up? The "big three" (which Bleach is only still part of on a technicality) have been running for over a decade, and yet, I don't hear about many series that could take their place. Fairy Tail's got a solid fanbase, but it hasn't caught on as much as it's predecessors, in either Japan or the west. I hear Toriko is considered Bleach's replacement in Japan, but I have no clue how it's sales and ratings compare to the aforementioned three, and most American fans seem to have overlooked it.

 

[Yuuki]

"It was never good to begin with" is mostly said by people who WERE genuine Naruto fans once upon a time and are now hopping onto the "it's cool to claim Naruto was never good and all shonen suck" bandwagon. The actual number of people who didn't find Naruto interesting from the very beginning and far and few in between.

Naruto first aired in Japan in 2002 (12 fucking years ago) and the english version first aired in 2005. Back then almost everyone considered Naruto to be a VERY good and definitely worth watching. An anime doesn't just conjure up millions of fans out of nowhere, it has to have some substance to it.

I genuinely enjoyed Naruto's beginnings and struggles, Rock Lee during the Chuunin Arc, Third Hokage vs Orochimaru fight, Jiraiya's awesomeness, the massive hype for Shippuden, introduction of Akatsuki, Shikimaru's brilliance during the Hidan/Kakuzu arc, finding out more about Naruto's mother & father, etc. Those were all genuinely enjoyable points in the story.

Unfortunately it all went swiftly downhill for me when the Five Kage Summit and Shinobi World War arcs started and "Operation Drag This Shit Out" truly began. We saw Naruto become a far less interesting character because he got ultra-fucking-godmode powers over a very short period of time, surpassing all his friends by multiple factors.
All the respect and awe we had for abilities of the various Hokage was rendered moot when Naruto suddenly became stronger than all of them.

The audience has basically been completely burned-out from caring about any of the characters and that's a pretty sad thing, no story should reach such a point.
But don't forget that once upon a time Naruto was awesome for our minds which were younger. When it came to super-long-ongoing anime Naruto was the best.

 

[AustinN]

"It was never good to begin with" is mostly said by people who WERE genuine Naruto fans once upon a time and are now hopping onto the "it's cool to claim Naruto was never good and all shonen suck" bandwagon. The actual number of people who didn't find Naruto interesting from the very beginning and far and few in between.

That seems like a pretty unfair assumption. I've seen criticism of Naruto from way back before Shippuden was airing.

 

[Strazdas]

i never liked it from the start and i cant tell you how it is now since i dont watch it really anymore. I also didnt like pokemon though and prefered Digimon instead, so not sure if you should count me.
i got a friend who is fanatically into naruto though. always been and he still seem to enjoy it. or at least it looks like it.

 

[DkLnBr]

Eh, count in the 'wanna see how it ends' camp.

Hey! that's what I was going to say!
I started watching Naruto during the original series, but now I'm just committed to see it through to the end. But holy hell is it dragging on. My feelings about the show now? I dont really like Naruto, but I don't dislike Naruto, I'm just indifferent at this point.

 

[xPixelatedx]

Is there anyone at all that thinks it's a genuinely good manga anymore?

No.

Most my buds are big into anime, and even the ones who weren't loved Naruto after I introduced them. But we all agree on the following things:

1.Naruto was gold until the chunin exam ended.

2.After that it was still pretty good, but it took a little dive in quality once Shippuden started and never really recovered. (I'm not even counting the filler garbage)

3.It's current state is completely unwatchable/unreadable with zero redeemable qualities.



I was the last man standing. I stayed with it up until they

Spoiler

revealed the real Madara's past and humanized the tailed beasts. Both of those were pretty much the last straw for me. I simply cannot believe the creator of this story cannot think up ANY backstory for a villain other then 'He was a good kid who grew up in a crappy, worn torn world' for christ's sake this is the 100th time. And now we're supposed to swallow that the fox was a good guy all along? Even all those times he tried to make Naruto kill his friends? Bullshit... just, bullshit. The story was written into a corner and they had to find a way to get Naruto and the fox to cooperate without making it seem weird, so they turned the Fox into an entierly different character. Sloppy doesn't even begin with describe this.

Also Naruto has proven himself to be just an amazingly uninteresting character. He completely and utterly lacks any flaws now and wants to "take upon the sins of all ninja world unto him" like some sort of kungfu Jesus. Just... just NO. I really don't like the fact that he was able to talk with his dead parents, either. Pretty much erases all the trauma from his past right there. Oh yeah, the whole "death not meaning much of anything anymore" kind of made things stupid to. That's usually the point in a series where you should just stop and cancel it.

Naruto has also been more powerful then any Hokage for a while now, so what he aspires for means literally nothing. The kid is fighting a guy who's been described as a God, and hes doing it nearly as an equal. It's really silly at this point