Does anyone still like Naruto?

mitchell271

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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

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dylanmc12 said:
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.
mitchell271 said:
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

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"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

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Yuuki said:
"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

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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

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Amethyst Wind said:
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

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Queen Michael said:
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
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
 

Queen Michael

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xPixelatedx said:
Queen Michael said:
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
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
I agree with you completely. Said it before, saying it again: A one-dimensional character is not deep and well-crafted just because s/he was sad at some point in the past. And giving everybody a sad past is extremely annoying.
 

AustinN

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Queen Michael said:
xPixelatedx said:
Queen Michael said:
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
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
I agree with you completely. Said it before, saying it again: A one-dimensional character is not deep and well-crafted just because s/he was sad at some point in the past. And giving everybody a sad past is extremely annoying.
My favorite description of Obito is "The bitter, half-tree virgin who wants to destroy the world because he couldn't get laid."
 

Mangod

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Feb 20, 2011
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AustinN said:
Queen Michael said:
xPixelatedx said:
Queen Michael said:
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
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
I agree with you completely. Said it before, saying it again: A one-dimensional character is not deep and well-crafted just because s/he was sad at some point in the past. And giving everybody a sad past is extremely annoying.
My favorite description of Obito is "The bitter, half-tree virgin who wants to destroy the world because he couldn't get laid."
Kind of depressing, really, when the Big Bad Villain Guy turns out to be some shithead who's been throwing a fit for the last two decades because his childhood sweetheart (who wasn't interested in him like that) commited suicide-by-enemy. Really robbed him of any dignity he might have had.

When you get paid for writing a story, and your villain is less intimidating than Xykon...



Get a new job.
 

Gatx

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Spoilers maybe?

I loved Naruto initially, and even more after the timeskip.I thought what Kishimoto was doing with Sasuke as a rival/villain/foil or Naruto was genius, but this whole war thing is really tiring me out. Like the all out battle royale between a bunch of big name old characters got old after the initial novelty wore off (which was like, after the introduction of it), and now it's just everyone vs. Madara (who's so OP it's not even funny), rather than the intricate (sort of) maneuvering of various parties that I thought was really interesting (you had Akatsuki, Orochimaru, Konoha, and eventually Sasuke). I really feel like it's just being rushed towards a conclusion, but even so there's some cool nice moments here and there (like the Obito flashbacks, and the whole getting around his teleportation was really clever too).
 

AustinN

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So sorry for bumping a week old topic, but I've heard that Madara's powers have gotten even more ridiculous even after Kishimoto admitted that he had no idea how the good guys were going to win. It's like, why would you do that? See a problem, yet continue to make it worse? It's like keeping your hand on a hot object. We're programmed not to do that. Why do you revolt against human nature, Kishimoto?
 

Mangod

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Feb 20, 2011
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AustinN said:
So sorry for bumping a week old topic, but I've heard that Madara's powers have gotten even more ridiculous even after Kishimoto admitted that he had no idea how the good guys were going to win. It's like, why would you do that? See a problem, yet continue to make it worse? It's like keeping your hand on a hot object. We're programmed not to do that. Why do you revolt against human nature, Kishimoto?
Well, Madara has absorbed the "Ten-Tails" and turned himself into a Jinchuriki... in ten seconds flat, with complete control of the "Ten-Tails" powers, and no side-effects. There's a trope, Magic A is Magic A, stipulating how things like demonic possession, ressurections and what-not are supposed to work. Madara... doesn't give a crap about that, and just does things because he feels like it.

From a Meta-perspective, Madara might be one of the most powerful characters ever created for a series, because unlike everyone else in this story, he doesn't suffer the limitation of having to work in a world with rules. He's Yog-Sothoth, a creature from another universe, bound by different laws and rules that are utterly alien to the Naruto-verse.

Kishimoto must be deliberatly trying to get his series cancelled; the only other explanations are that either his ghostwriter has gone missing and he now has to finish the series without help, or... he's a colossal moron.
 

aeris2001x2

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Yeah I still think Naruto is awesome. Sure there are things they can do better and it is close to unraveling, but its still the best Shonen battle Manga/Anime out there after One Piece.

I don't see the problem with Tobis Motives at all, how is his reason not epic? My best friend is dying of Cancer at age 27, so I know exactly how he feels and I can't say I wouldn't do the same in his place, the pain I feel is unlike anything I have ever experienced. I also love the twist, which would have been predictable until he made it impossible based on the Naruto timeline, and was not on the cards until he found a cheat that allowed Tobi to be him after all.

Dragon Ball and Z stayed tight throughout but never aspired to achieve the story line and emotional heights of Naruto/Shippuuden or One Piece. Bleach went AWOL after the Soul Society arc. Fairy Tail just keeps trying to copy One Pieces emotion and failing worse and worse every arc and having dumb copouts to allow weaklings to win. Toriko is long and dull as **** and Hunter X Hunter Chimera Ant Arc was a huge disappointment. Reborn was one of the biggest piles of rubbish I have ever had to suffer through, yet Anime fans rave about that garbage.

Even One Piece previous near flawless quality is starting to slide after overly long and disappointing Mermaid Island Arc and Punk Hazard Arc, One Piece has only been poorer during Skypia, and made up for it with the Godly CP9 Saga.

So all long Shonen Battle Aniimes slide in the end. The Fact that the longest running and third longest running are still such quality despite these drops is testament to how super they are.

As long as he ends it in the next year or two and doesn't mess up the ending I can't see Naruto losing its 9/10 my anime list score, easily putting it in my top twenty Anime. And I am a harsh reviewer.
 

AustinN

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aeris2001x2 said:
I don't see the problem with Tobis Motives at all, how is his reason not epic?
Tobi was liked because he was an Uchiha who was actually heroic. Him being revealed as the bad guy made a lot of people feel like the Uchiha clan is inherently evil, and I know that's not what the writer was going for. And while losing a friend is a tragedy, plenty of other characters in the series have managed to overcome their tragedies, while Tobi threw away everyone who ever cared about him. Plus, some people roll their eyes at the "childhood crushes define who you are forever and ever" aspect of it.

Someone who reads the series may be able to give a more detailed explanation, but that's what I gather.