(from my old collection of anime reviews circa 2003)
Martial arts comedy drama.
Season 1: Naruto is an unpopular, upstart orphan and ninja student in a secret ninja village. He possesses great unknown strength, and swears he will excel over his colleagues and become his town's ninja leader, the Hokage. The first episode is great, fast and energetic, but the first season overall is quite slow, especially the first two big fights (which take 4-5 episodes each). Character and background designs are quite good, and some thought was put into writing a proper background and physics for all the history and ninja techniques, which makes for a more satisfying experience. The fights are really what this show is about, and it delivers, with action that is inventive, intense, and nicely drawn. The first episode is a must see.
Season 2: The pace picks up considerably in the second season, although still drawn out at times, and the animation gets more funding from then on. While the premise starts off as ninja school, the show does grow from there. Some of the best fights occur in this season as the students match up against each other. Rock Lee's big fight is particularly memorable.
Season 3: The match-ups continue as the adults also get involved in an epic struggle. The animation continues to get even better, but also as always there are some filler episodes that are less than interesting.
Season 4: Things seem to slow down in the fourth season, with a few too many filler episodes and fights that start to drag again, reversing the improvements made in the previous seasons. The story also isn't quite as compelling, and the focus strays from the original lot viewers got to know and like. That epic feeling from the third season has largely disappeared.
Review by zurnBlockedParent2020-02-05T06:48:15Z
(from my old collection of anime reviews circa 2003)
Martial arts comedy drama.
Season 1: Naruto is an unpopular, upstart orphan and ninja student in a secret ninja village. He possesses great unknown strength, and swears he will excel over his colleagues and become his town's ninja leader, the Hokage. The first episode is great, fast and energetic, but the first season overall is quite slow, especially the first two big fights (which take 4-5 episodes each). Character and background designs are quite good, and some thought was put into writing a proper background and physics for all the history and ninja techniques, which makes for a more satisfying experience. The fights are really what this show is about, and it delivers, with action that is inventive, intense, and nicely drawn. The first episode is a must see.
Season 2: The pace picks up considerably in the second season, although still drawn out at times, and the animation gets more funding from then on. While the premise starts off as ninja school, the show does grow from there. Some of the best fights occur in this season as the students match up against each other. Rock Lee's big fight is particularly memorable.
Season 3: The match-ups continue as the adults also get involved in an epic struggle. The animation continues to get even better, but also as always there are some filler episodes that are less than interesting.
Season 4: Things seem to slow down in the fourth season, with a few too many filler episodes and fights that start to drag again, reversing the improvements made in the previous seasons. The story also isn't quite as compelling, and the focus strays from the original lot viewers got to know and like. That epic feeling from the third season has largely disappeared.