Remember girls: if you’re obsessed with a guy who give you no sign of affection, becomes a terrorist and tries to stab you, keep chasing him ! Deep down he actually loves you. You CAN fix him, marry him and have a baby with him - Sakura
filler conversation. Naruto did think Hiruzen like a grandpa though but as far as East Asian family dynamics go and him being Hokage.....it may comes across as very distant.
@valeriansage It doesn't matter if it's filler or not. The sentiment is the same. Minato was a Hokage, he's one of the greatest ever heroes of the Leaf and he personally had a fairly close relationship with Hiruzen. Hiruzen neglecting Naruto is massively disrespectful of Minato and Kushina's sacrifice.
I agree hiruzen could’ve done more emotionally for naruto but y’all act like he did nothing. For one he did more than any other kage did for the orphan kids which is respectable. Also y’all gotta realize Narutos situation is a normal thing in their world and there’s countless orphan children. Again yes hiruzen could’ve did a lil more but he was the hokage/busy asf and did more than most
@harri2k136 There are not countless orphan children who are the son of the Hokage, who just sacrificed his life to save the village, nor are there countless orphans with the 9 tailed fox sealed inside them as newborns. Naruto is not like other orphans. He was a walking nuke. Hiruzen is a p.o.s. and the worst hokage, not counting Danzo (who Hiruzen is also responsible for btw)
He already had an excellent death scene in Part 1, and then just sort of existed long enough so he could have another death scene. It was so transparent and lame.
His death was a blessing in disguise on account of we didn’t have to see his character get nerfed and made useless in Boruto like the rest of the OG cast.
@@nullakjg767 I completely agree, well said, especially Lees injury, I feel like his plot was so fumbled, he came back to have a drunken master fight and then nothing... ever...
Yea Madara's plan was convoluted but he didn't exactly have many options on the brink of death. The plan didn't go as planned and he ultimately got resurrected in a different way which I think was intentional in the writing. He persevered and took any opportunity given to him while manipulating anything or anyone who fell into his midst. And it's ironic that he was manipulated in the end even if I'm not a fan of the Kaguya stuff.
Obito definitely didn't really have intentions of following Madara's plan completely. After Nagato did the Rinne Rebirth, it seems to me like he was going to just become the 10 tails jinchuriki and launch the infiinite tsukuyomi without Madara. Obito was genuinely shocked when he saw Madara's edo tensei, and Kabuto communicated that he was suspicious of Obito when he told Madara that he didn't think Obito was following exactly whatever plan he had. Something interesting on Kaguya is that she did not have a change of heart at the end, and I think that's mostly because she was not of this world. Even the tailed beasts coming out of the 10 tails were kind of products of this world, and that might be a result of their coming out of the Sage of the 6 Paths
Madara had zetsu and black zetsu overlooking his plans to make sure things turned out well for him. And obito did already follow madara's will before madara died. We can also presume Madara had a plan for Nagato use the rinnegan to revive him. Question is how...
@@itachisusanoo3689 black zetsu could have forced Nagato to use the rinnegan like he did with Obito and Madara believed Black Zetsu is the manifestation of his will. It is actuall weird he did not t´do that, and the logical in-world explanation is that resurrescting Madara too early or before the war would ruin Zetsu´s plan. The real-world explanation is that Kishimoto have not figured out Madara´s plan yet as of the Pain arc, which is logical since he rarely planned in advance.
@@grillmaster95 Yeah, I'm going to say Madara really lucked-out hard that Kabuto showed up to start raising the dead. Like Obito had absolutely no intention of brining him back to life, I think even sacrificing Nagato to do it, which is why Obito made sure Nagato and Konan were on board with the Infinite Tsukiyomi.I would not be surprised if it was revealed that Black Zetsu helped Kabuto discover Madara's body after Nagato died, because he realized Obito's true intentions.
You are 100% correct on the fact that the series tells you from the very beginning what it’s about. Some people think the main point is about hardwork pays off, which is part of it, but it’s ultimately about hate and the cycle it creates. If it weren’t for Iruka in that first chapter, Naruto would’ve turned out like Gaara and there wouldn’t have been any hope.
I'd also mention the Land of Waves. When Haku talks to Naruto for the first time, he introduces the concept of fighting for others to Naruto specifically ones who are precious to him, which at first Naruto is surprised about. The themes of Naruto were established quite early on in the series. But I guess the Chunin exams and rock lee took that spotlight away.
@@carljohnson7168 The weird thing is that even in that plotline, Lee, the hardworker, loses so badly to the natural genius Gaara that he becomes (supposedly) permanently crippled. But people still walked away thinking that the entire point of the manga was that hard work beats talent somehow?
I feel like her biggest issue was the idea that it's a short point. Yeah it's long but most of her issues stem from wanting something short and to the point. Like most fans. I think naruto gets too much hate due to circumstances. If it could be as focused as JJK or Frieren it could work...but at the same time people play baby hands with one piece which is just as bad (even if i don't think it's talking on and on) current people hate slower moving stuff...get to the point society (me included). Gotta stop myself from going TLDR all the time XD. Also no one read this long lol.
@@SeeMyDolphin Rock Lee just connected with a lot of people I guess. Hard work is one of the most relatable tropes in most anime/manga. Still doesn’t make much sense after he got crippled though.
When you can, you should read the Minato One Shot Chapter, if you get the chance. Its a canon chapter that was done due to Minato winning a popularity poll.
It's seriously the best writting from Naruto I can think of currently (not including Boruto characters). It gives so much context we didn't have room for in the og. Plus it's a quick and easy read.
That one shot is trash. It takes Kushina being a badass that held Kurama while dying to a pathetic Kunoichi that can't even leave a small part of the village and another stalker The retcon about how she can't leave part of it was pathetic and only served to wank Minato as "the seal master" even though it's literally the Uzumaki's thing.
@@harimatoshirou2923 horrible take, how tf does her not being into able leave a part of the village make her pathetic, also minato learned the dealings FROM KUSHINA, it’s outright stated that they have training sessions for him to learn dealings invade the nine tails gets out.
First off, congrats on finishing this long running series, it's a massive 700 chapters long and requires a lot of time. Naruto is not the best from a writing perspective but it is definitely the Shonen series I return to the most over the years. The world and the characters just work for me and over time you learn to accept even the faults and issues with the story. So I applaud you going all in on reading and doing these long review videos. If you haven't yet, I strongly urge you to check out the OST for both the OG Naruto show and Shippuden. In my opinion, this series' OST has not been matched by most shows. So many songs to get hyped, sad, thoughtful and excited over. Thanks again for dedicating your time to this series.
Naruto has such strong emotional highs that I don't mind the wackiness. We have to remember that it was written weekly, and Kishimoto had to come up with things on the fly.
unfortunately its been parodied so much that people dont actually understand that there nuance to redemption, obito could be redeemed in death but madara was unable to be. naruto wasnt trying to bring him back to make him the hokage but to show him his vision that he could still choose a better path (and for obito, for a better person like naruto) which is why he wanted to protect him in the end
@@thefakebriskeh I think a lot of people these days are more keen on these nuances. After all, there are clear instances in the series where Naruto was not forgiving such as when he just goes for the kill on Kakuzu.
"I madara, declare you the strongest!!". Such a good scene! Did you enjoy the downtime anime episodes? Like kakashi unmasked, it hit me big time cuz I waited 12 years for it
I agree, but I also think it was closure for Gaara. Rasa took some accountability for what he did to his children and recontextualized that it was a mother's love that protected Gaara all this time, not Shukaku selfishly keeping his human vessel in one piece. Rasa wasn't redeemed, he barely acknowledged Gaara had become stronger, more emotionally intelligent and worthy of Kazekage than he was.
You’re absolutely not alone on the whole Kaguya coming out of nowhere bit. As someone who was reading week to week at the time and had a strong presence in the fandom I can say with confidence that virtually nobody liked that portion of the story for the same reasons. We were all utterly baffled. I think later it came out that Kishimoto always had plans for Kaguya but was under pressure to finish the story quickly as he neared the end, but I still think he could’ve done a significantly better job of seeding Kaguya out there throughout the plot.
Yeah. To me the only time that could even remotely have foreshadowed Kaguya was the Chunin Exam preliminary when Kakashi said the Sharingan was descended from the Byakugan.
It's a cultural problem. Zetsu betraying Madara has been planned since the end of Naruto Part 1. After Naruto's first fight against Sasuke in the Valley of the End (chapters 233 and 234) Sasuke has a reaction similar to that of Hashirama (chapters 626 and 681) to the fact that Zetsu is watching them and Kakashi says in these chapters to how similar Naruto and Sasuke's story is to Hashirama and Madara's story. This is a foreshadowing of the fact that Zetsu manipulates the reincarnations of Indra and Ashura in the shadows. The cultural problem here is the fact that since his first appearance Black Zetsu speaks in katakana (the Japanese speaks in 3 languages: hiragana, katakana and kanji). Everyone in Naruto speaks in hiragana except black Zetsu who speaks in katakana. When the Divine Tree (Kaguya) tells Madara to absorb it (after his fight against Gai) the dialogue is written in katakana, it's a foreshadowing on the fact that Black Zetsu has been his will all along (this is why the revelation comes out of nowhere when we see it in the translated version). As you can imagine, this is a detail that the Japanese noticed and which was ignored during the translation
Honestly I liked the twist cuz it stayed true to the shows themes and was a great conclusion for madaras character. Also cuz kaguya was mentioned bare times and even in part 1. I understand people not liking her character tho
Honestly to me, the whole Kaguya thing seems like a setup for Boruto. Madara was teased from the very beginning of Shippuden, and he was setup to be the perfect final boss of the series, but then, all of the sudden... aliens? That was absolute whiplash.
Congratulations, Merphy! This is quite the milestone, regardless of how long ago you hit it, it's still impressive! Your thoughts and reactions are very very appreciated!
22:40 No, Gaara's dad gets no redemption lol. He's like "well I thought I'd mention that your mom did love you" but he still abused his child the entire time for some weird experiment. He's still terrible even though he told the truth one time.
37:25 Madara called the Uzumaki Clan cockroaches. The Uzumaki Clan was wiped out by a collaboration between villages because they were so hated. That's why Nagato's family were refugees. Naruto's mom was also a refugee in the leaf village. That's why everyone hated her too before she even got implanted with the 9 tails. The Uzumaki were a prejudiced group. So giving Naruto his mom's last name wasn't a great idea.
@@TheDarkAdventure how have reached to the conclusion that because madara hated every one hate(forget madara was always a contrarian) you also forget leaf village had good ties with uzumaki clan "she was hated" really which panel or ep you are taking this info from even if she was hated ,minato was still respected plus at the very least higher understood jinchunriki being hated might(most likely ) result in catastrophe ,yet they did naruto being fourth hokage son and still being ostracized make no sense
You hit every nail on the head. The highs of the show is what most people hold onto. I always find myself revisiting very specific scenes or feeling okay in revisiting slower build ups to those scenes just to experience the payoff again. Despite the lulls, we were just as hopeful as the story feels to the person reading / viewing it. I love Naruto for the definitive moments that filled my heart with so much emotion. Kishimoto was amazing at it when he got it right, and a lot of those scenes will stick with me forever. It’s great to hear the perspective of someone new to it and feel the same as most of us who have loved it through thick and thin for years. Amazing analysis and video
Funnily enough. I don’t recommend this but I reread and rewatched and with knowing what happens it really recontectualizes and honestly made it the series better in each read. Especially when you understand other characters view points knowing their deal. Like reading early Naruto after understanding kakashi story gives so much insight it’s crazy
You're so right. I had the exact same experience. I was shocked how much better the story was on a reread. It went from a series I passively enjoyed but had many qualms with (much like Murphy) to one I really want to put on my shelf. There's so many little things I missed on my first read through. Mainly, I was just so surprised with how complex the characters really were. Like on my reread, it became obvious that Jiraya felt predisposed to failure. Like how he never perfected sage mode, he never approached tsunade with his feelings, his relationship with Pain and Orochimaru where he considered how they turned out failures on his part as a teacher and as a friend. Even to something as simple as his books where after failing to write a successful action adventure story, he gave up completely and just wrote smut instead. Being embarrassed of it. It ends up pervading every aspect of his character. It even ended up making his role as the "perv" character more grounded and upsetting to me because it became obvious that he did it more than anything because that was the one thing he had gotten validation in and felt he was good at. The success of his book series had convinced him that people wanted the pervy Jiraya above all else. I feel that's obvious given we never see that aspect of his personality in flashbacks. He feels that the only thing he'll pass on when he dies is smut, and that he's failed to have any real legacy. It made him a much more tragic character in my eyes and made Naruto defeating pain through sharing jiraya's teachings so much more impactful proving that jiraya has tangibly impacted the world and that he does have a legacy.
Glad you enjoyed the ending to my favorite series! To speak to the defense of talk no jutsu somewhat, almost every villain you could say is some aspect of Naruto that strays him from the enlightened path he is on, so by hashing it out with them (always after a fight), he reconciles that part of himself with himself so he can grow towards adulthood and enlightenment. It's not a completely original thing for a series to do, but I do believe Naruto is one of the most thematically consistent shounen out there
Konan parting the sea with paper bombs is my favorite moment! I also agree with you that there's mixed feelings on Obito's redemption: On one hand, he probably *shouldn't* have been redeemed, but in execution, It takes dozens of chapters of him gradually seeing himself in Naruto and confronting his past with Rin before he finally switches sides, is frankly one of the better ones? Anyways, if you want another shonen manga that DOES use it's side cast well, is hopeful without undoing stakes/deaths, and has One Piece's contrast of absurd humor and emotional moments, I highly suggest Gash / Zatch Bell, or Konjiki no Gash!! To give some background, the premise is 100 demon kids are partnered up with humans who can use spellbooks to allow the demons to use spells, but if the book is burnt, they return to the demon world: the last demon left is crowned king: That partner premise sets up for a lot of character growth: EX: Gash/Zatch is a naive 6 year old that teaches jaded teen Kiyomaro to open up and be hopeful, while Kiyo helps Gash mature and think about what he's fighting for. In turn it has the best use of power-of-friendship i've seen, and that, great comedy, and style slice of life chapters contrasts with BRUTAL emotional gut punches (the manga commits to every character "dying" and returning to the demon world), with the light helping the dark hit harder, and the dark helping the light feel genuine and earned instead of corny. Even unlocking new spells is tied to character growth, and each character's set of abilities is unique and allows for tactical fights,. Most fights are also TEAM battles, both with the humans fighting too, and there being multiple pairs of demon-partners working together to combine their powersets. Finally, it avoids the issues most other shonen have (and that Naruto in particular I think struggles with) as they continue further into their run: Gash/Zatch only ever gets tighter pacing instead of bloated over time, the powers and escalation grows but not to the point of it getting over the top and it barely feeling like the same series, and the entire cast feels well utilized till the very end. The one flaw the series has is, inversely, it starts off sort of weaker then some other Shonen, as initially there's not enough spells for tactical fights and it has a villain-of-the-week format that only switches to full arcs later, but it's still good/fun early on, and only ever gets better. Everybody I know who have read it considers it a 9/10 or a 10/10, but it is somewhat obscure since it wasn't published in WSJ like Dragon Ball, Naruto, and One Piece; and as its anime adaptation was flawed.
I've never considered the perspective that Naruto is too hopeful because it's a perspective that I love and ultimately agree with. I believe no one is beyond redemption and I'm sure Naruto as a series played a role in shaping that worldview today. That being said, I do understand the perspective that since almost everyone is redeemed in Naruto it's a foregone conclusion that some of the major baddies will be as well. I also see the truth in the argument that if fewer characters were redeemed it would make the more impactful ones. I think one must also be content with the opposite side as well though; since so many characters in Naruto are redeemed what does it say about the ones who aren't?
Glad you had a good time with this series! The story is so big and expansive that when you talk with other people you get a surprising variety of different perspectives. This show has definitely influenced how I write my stories and reminds me of a certain Robin Williams saying. I think the only other anime that has heavily influenced me like this would be Demon Slayer. Naruto and the side characters have such a special place in my heart. Thank you for these awesome videos!!!
But Kabuto didn't have a conversation with naruto! It was him being stuck in Itachi's loop, and he has always shown to have a maleable identity. As for Obito's "redemption", well, unfortunately for him he was set up by Kishimoto hundreds of chapters prior lol
One thing I notice in a lot of discussions about manga and anime is the amount of time things take or that characters hold on to things for so long. But I rarely hear people talk about how little time is actually passing. Naruto is a good example of this. There are a lot of things that make it feel like a long time. While we go 72 volumes over 15 years, it really only covers 5 years in the world. When we start, Naruto is 12 yo, and at the end of the War and final fight, he is 17. There is a 2-year time gap that is not covered. The 3 years we follow Naruto are so busy it feels like longer. Also, there is a lot of flashbacks, making it feel even longer. But if you put it in real-life terms they became friends in 8th grade, got in a fight that summer, and made up some time in their Senior Year of high school. Meaning they were only estranged for about 3.5-4 years. It is one of the reasons I always look up how long the story took for the characters when I'm finished and think about if it changes how I view things.
One Piece is even crazier. Almost 30 years and 1100+ chapters, yet less tha 3 years in universe, with 2 of those years being a timeskip. Luffy's been pirating for all of a few months. Dragon Ball is one of the few series (especially battle shounen) that I can think of that actually takes place over a long period of time. Goku's 11 at the start of the series, then he's a parent at the halfway point, then he has another son in the final arc, and by the end of the series, he's a grandparent in his 40s. I legit can't think of any series that covers that much of a character's life like that.
@@s3studios597 I agree, and a lot of time this fact is left out of discussions of character relationships. People talk like Naruto waited the full 15 years of the manga run. I don't think 3.5-4y is that long to hold out hope for the repair of a friendship that lasted around a school year.
Loved the review on Naruto!! Would you pick up Bleach after this? It hadn't sold as many copies as Naruto or One Piece but its still great in its own right and part of the 'Big Three'.
@@joejames1794 No announcement as such, but it has been talked about how she will be reading it. I’m one of her mods, and the person who keeps track of her spreadsheet (linked in description) and just know from conversation that it’s in the short term plans
Really curious as to how she'll react to Bleach as I feel it is quite thematically deep and Kubo's character writing is very subtle. Not to mention the minimalist artwork.
@@JaguarK101Same I’m excited for her reviews, Bleach always gets dumped on and not noticed for its poetic writing style. It’s thematically deep and very nuanced, it uses loads of symbolism too it has some of the best writing in the big 3. It’s foreshadowing is some of the best too, so MANY things foreshadowed from the beginning
i am here for this reasonable yet devastating take down of naruto. had much the same feelings going through naruto's ending as well, reading week to week.
Growing up watching/reading this was an experience, a lot of good moments and a lot of moments I could’ve done without, I doubt I’ll ever read/watch it in its entirety again. I’ll check out old scenes but that’s about it.
Congratulations on finishing Naruto!! It's still my favorite manga shonen series followed by Bleach. I have tried so many times to get into One Piece and finish it, but I haven't been able to over the years. Stopped on chapter 431 last year. Seeing you finish Naruto has me convinced I can finish One Piece even though it's not my cup of tea. I'm diving in starting today!
Congratulations!! Naruto is one of the most popular stories for a reason and i believe that is the characters. I hope You read bleach at some point, i think it would be interesting
War arc is more of a preferential thing, but it isnt dumb, quite the opposite. Merphy forgot alot of the foreshadowings and subtle hints throughout the series, such as Naruto and Sasukes first battle where Kakashi talks about the cycle continuing through them, and Obito (as Madara) talking about the sage of 6 paths sons and how Naruto and Sasuke were next in line to be chosen by destiny during the 5 kage summit Madara says it himself that the plan didnt go accordingly to his original ideas, and when he sees that, he blames Obito and Nagato instead of himself, because he sees no faults in himself, but only those around him, its a key part of his charcaterisation. With Merphy saying its too optomistic, its supposed to be and she understands that, and again prefences it with in her opinion. I understand the complaint about Gaaras dad, that was valid and unnecessary, but with the main antagonist redemptions, it fits perfectly with the narrative and themes, because of who Naruto is, the change he is supposed to bring as the prophesised one. War arc gets a lot of hate from the community for reasons that honestly are invalid because they call their opinions 'plot holes'
@@zararkhan3499the fact that the Naruto fandom has spent years trying to excuse the issues with the war arc tells me all I need to know about its quality of writing
Hi Merphy, I am so glad you finished the series, and even more happy that you enjoyed it overall. The Naruto videos were actually one of my favourite video series in a while. Even though Naruto is not perfect, it is one of my favourite series of all time, not just in manga and I love it more than many "better written" series. I think that Kishimoto´s fixation on redemption arcs and the somewhat clumsy execution of gray morality can be attributed to Naruto being a shonen. I believe Naruto should have ventured into the seinen territory a bit more, like HxH did with the Yorknew City/Chimera Ant arc or what Araki does with recent JoJo parts. I believe Kishimoto is a great theme writer, but he did not have the ambition/courage to explore deeper themes in more mature ways. He focused a lot on his target audience, which are boys aged 11-15, and he forgot his older audience. His goal was to make the messege of forgiveness and overcoming hatred clear to every reader, and he therefore lost nuance. The fact that he had to produce a chapter every week for fourteen years did not help. And the sad part is that many people still don´t realize what Naruto is trying to say as a series. But I believe the theme of forgiveness and unconditional love is so little represented in popular fiction. Therefore, I appreciate Naruto´ thematic writing, even if it´s clumsy.
I did not hate your takes at all, it was actually really satisfying hearing you talk about both sides. I agree there are some high highs, it's what made me super infatuated with the series in the first place. And there are some low lows that utterly broke my heart and left me feeling a bit empty and dumb for believing the series ever was more than it was. Tobi being Obito and being a mystery was one thing me and my friends speculated about for years "it can't be that simple" we said "it's probably Madara's brother or this person or that person". I wholeheartedly agree with feeling like Sasuke should just stay evil and Naruto having to learn that some people just take other paths that we can't follow, sometimes you have to let go. But no, Sasuke had me and my friends fooled when he said, repeatedly, that he was not going to turn, he told his brother, he told the hokages and then suddenly he was like "no, I wanna be hokage". Kiba was the only one with a sane take in that moment. And then there's Kaguya... I've rambled on enough, Naruto does that to me. I will always treasure it though because it gave me and my two friends a good reason to see each other to watch the anime once a week after we graduated and that helped us keep our friendship alive and growing.
As a long-time hardcore fan -since almost the beginning- that has played most of the games and even tried to re-write the war arc of Naruto out of disappointment, I wholeheartedly agree with all of the points you've made.
Me and my roommate just had to put down our cat. Your video came out as I got back into the car. I'm currently listening to you while me and him wait outside a tattoo shop. I don't really know why I am explaining all this but this video is a little bit of joy right now
This is one of my favorite things in the world. I grew up with it and I love it from the bottom of my heart. Most people (at least from what I've seen) have different fav characters but for me it's always gonna be Naruto himself (starting to think it controversial). Anyways, I agree with everything you mentioned basically. I don't feel the same way about the resurrections at the end, but I know that you don't like it in general. I think though you might didn't hated it that much not only because it was temporary, but also because it served in a way. It was type of attack/weapon in a way and it did not bring anyone back at the end. It had its use. Loved all the Naruto videos and I'm so happy you enjoyed it as a whole. I don't watch many of this channel's videos because I haven't watched/read the same things, so I'm enjoying what we have in common. Now patiently waiting for Attack on titan, hehe
The final lore dump, it isn't just you Merphy, the entire fandom felt like it came out of nowhere, and the only real answer is "futureproofing." WSJ was well aware of the sequel series being developed, so Kaguya Otsutsuki was kinda added in there to say "there's a greater story and mystery to be had" which was addressed in the sequel series Boruto.
I started reading Naruto in 2002 when Jump came to the US (started with OP then too). Even my profile name is from when I was a kid. When I tell you that out of all these years you're one of the rare ones who understood Obito's resolve I mean that. People don't understand it. It made sense. Also yeahhhhhh, the War Arc is when the series started to really turn. It just felt like a "Boss Rush" in that first half that we really didn't need. It was draining. Overall dope review as always!
His resolve made sense, he just sucks as a character and even more as a person. Having Naruto call him a "cool guy" is monumentally stupid and spits in the face of his own parents' deaths.
It’s so nice seeing a respected book tuber who’s new to anime and manga vent out serious gripes and problems with the Naruto shippuden plot and ending as a whole. We still love it but man growing up in the west if you criticize Naruto everything just boils down to “read it better” “you didn’t understand it” blah blah blah. I respect your opinion a lot more than some Naruto stan on TikTok who’s never read a real book or any other manga in their life. I grew up on Naruto…we all did in the west, but boy is it not perfect despite it always holding a special place in my heart.
She said in Obito's ideal world Rin is Alive, lol again reread chapter 651. we don't just say reread bc of superiority complex but bc it's true, you guess have probelm which doesn't even exist
@@FangLeng-lh4gn651 isn’t Obito’s ideal world. It’s him having regrets about the path that he went down instead of taking another path. This is shown in 652. Why would Rin be dead in Obito’s ideal world?
I love this series and I'm glad you liked it too!! I do agree with a lot of the criticisms, though. I will try to touch on some points as briefly as possible, without writing an essay of a comment 😅. For me, Naruto lands so damn well in most of its major themes, most of the major characters arcs and has very impactful emotional moments (and badass moments as well!!) that it's easy, for me, to look past all its faults. I agree that the series insistance on redeeming everyone can get annoying and take away from the redemptions that actually matter and hold meaning. If you want to have an uplifting and positive message at the end, it would actually have helped to have more moments of loss and misery and moments where things don't end so well for characters, that way a positive finale actually hits a lot harder. Plus, like you said, it's a war story for Christ's sake!! A few more main characters should probably have died, especially in the war arc. With all that being said, I disagree with you on Sasuke! Him resisting Naruto was a necessary part of his journey, but it was never intended to be the end of his journey. He was trying to find a different path and to find himself, that is true... but he was searching in the wrong places, driven by his hatred. If there's one redemption arc that needs to work, so the major themes of the series can come full circle and land at the end, it is Sasuke's. Him ending as a villain would go against everything that Kishimoto was trying to convey. I'm not gonna get to how I feel about Kaguya being the final villain... I hate it!! You are right on the point of how it reinforces the theme of Naruto going against his "prewritten destiny" and forging his own path, but I hard disagree that a view of Naruto's and Sasuke's relationship being reinforced by supernatural forces, somehow makes it make sense. This, again, under cuts the entire point of the series!! It's way better if it's just a guy who can see his best friend being alone, and in pain, and consumed by hatred and choosing not to give up on him!! One of my favourite points on the series was in the Kage summit arc where I reached a point were I started doubted a little that Sasuke will be redeemed, and the great thing was that Naruto himself doubted that too and Kakashi and Sakura even came to the conclusion of "f@ck that guy!!"😂. And it was shocking to see the MC of a shonen anime have a freaking panick attack over his friend turning evil. But to see Naruto come out of his depression, fight his doubts and find hope for his friend, in a point that all the other characters and even myself had lost all hope for him... was very inspiring and showed exactly what the series was about. I do agree though, that everybody else being redeemed under cuts the power of Sasuke's story a little bit (not completely, I still loved how Naruto's and Sasuke's story ended). If we had a few more examples of important characters failing to come back to light, and even Naruto failing to bring them back, it would have made Sasuke's ending even more powerful and inspiring!! I also want to say one little thing about Obito as well. Every one focuses on Rin and misses the fact that Obito was a 12-13 year old kid who was manipulated and used by Madara. It is not as simple as "He turned evil just because he lost Rin". In the case of Madara's plan, you definitely are not stupid, but his plan most definitely is!!😂 That said, there are some details you missed. For one, he used hashirama cells to stich Obito back together and that's also why Obito has great healing abilities and infinitely replenished chakra and can spam Kamui. Further, he knew Nagato will survive and be able to handle the Rinnegan because he is an Uzumaki with amazing chakra pool. Now... how he knew that Nagato will grow up in such a way that eventually he will use his Rinnegan abilities voluntarily to bring Madara back to life.... is beyond me!! P.S.: If the guy that made you the anime clips, didn't make you one for the scene where Naruto goes kcm2 and works with Kurama for the first time, he failed at his job!!!
Firstly congrats on finishing the series it’s a crazy ride. Describing naruto as a series with the highest of highs and lowest of lows is fairly accurate imo but because of the sheer amount of content, it’s a series where a second and even third read through is necessary to truly understand everything and the brilliance of Kishimoto’s writing shows itself more that way too
Gonna star to watch the video now... oh boy here we go, this is gonna suck (not the video, the story lmao. I always know Merphy will deliver) Edit: Already surprised Merphy liked somethings from the War Arc Edit2: 11:18 Madara is truly the ultimate groomer (more then Orochimaru lmao) Edit3: Never thought of seeing the series about "hope" in the darkness, but it makes much sense because of all the redemption arcs, and makes so much sense why it faild sometimes (maybe most of them). Thats why its so good to see other peoples opinions in a story you grew up with Edit4: Yeah Murph, even we dont understand why Naruto is antagonized as a kid to this day. The ansewer they gave us... Danzou leaked the info and wanted him to be the scapegoat for everyone in the village`s hate Loved the vid. Now for the question... will you dare and read Boruto? (I dont recomend it, but is a good hate read Lmao) Also, since you like books too (you know, minor thing i noticed haha) there is a bunch of short bitesized novels to read. There are two for Itachi`s chilhood in Konoha, one with shorts stories from the Akatsuki... well the list is long but they are very short. One day each to read, even less
There's a great quote from Arthur Schopenhauer, The Basis of Morality: "Boundless compassion for all living beings is the surest and most certain guarantee of pure moral conduct, and needs no casuistry. Whoever is filled with it will assuredly injure no one, do harm to no one, encroach on no man's rights; he will rather have regard for every one, forgive every one, help every one as far as he can, and all his actions will bear the stamp of justice and loving-kindness" and this is what Naruto IS
If you were a fan of Itachi, you should check out the Itachi light novels, it shows all the events of the Uchiha massacre from his POV. It's got some of the most emotional moments of the whole series, definitely worth a read!
I think Kaguya, being a mythological reference like many other characters, could have benefitted a lot from just getting name-dropped back when Jiraiya was doing the exposition for the Rinnegan and the Sage of Six Paths. We would have maybe wondered, "like, so was he half-moonfolk or something?" and then Kaguya wouldn't have felt quite so out of nowhere when she showed up.
The talk no jutsu can be a lot throughout the series, but I think it speaks to one of the biggest things of Naruto which is that empathy more than anything can unite people and is essential to stopping future war
Which quickly becomes childish if you look at reality. Empathy cannot stop Greed, arguably the biggest cause of wars. Plus empathy can cause conflicts on its own too. Just look at how the world is torn between Israel and Palestine. It's nice to be positive and all, but when a story tries to give a clear cut answer that isn't actually true, it gives birth to stupid people who completely believe in it.
I think that is a very jaded way to look at the world. Empathy can't stop wars, in fact that's the only way that wars actually stopped, unless you're actively killing everybody there. Yes greed is a problem, but empathy across the masses can and has actively stopped wars before
@@zakanyimen look if you like Naruto for the punch fighting, that's fine. And I'm not discussing the actual execution of it per se. I simply say that the talk no jutsu speaks to the themes of empathy in naruto
Love the vid merphy can’t wait for your thoughts on the following parts of JoJo’s and I hope you can also read/watch bleach so you can finish the big 3 checklist
I think the plot beats and themes repeating over and over is good in Naruto. Because Naruto is continually being tested in his ideal and the whole story is to make sure he is unwavering stance.
I feel like Madara initially had a much simpler plan but he had to adjust like a million times so it ended up looking really convoluted in the end. That's the impression i got anyway. I mean we see him improvise & adjust his plan in real time during the war.
I feel often people forget kish, oda, and so many more have said time and time again they write their stories for 10-15 year old boys. If people happen to clamor to these works in later stages of life that’s cool, but they’re not the target
Exactly, it's no surprise that shounens are extremely optimistic in their outlook. They're a weekly series written for kids/young teens filled with idealism. Naturally, you're going to find them a bit simplistic/one-note as you grow up.
The reason madara can heal and take eyeballs out and put them in is due to hashirama's cells implanted in him iirc. Hashirama (and the wood style in general) have extreme healing properties. I do think Naruto as a whole is one of those where your willingness to deal with its bs determines how much you enjoy it. Kishimoto is a heavy handed writer, which lends itself to very high highs and lows that last longer than they should. I also think the narrative suffers from being weekly shonen, I think there are a few points where it feels like he wanted to wrap it up and the editors were like "nah bro, 50 more chapters". Glad you enjoyed though!
I think power that allows Madara to heal like that is not Hashirama cells but it’s Ying-Yang release ( Inyoton) which is the power of creation that he had after becoming the Ten tails Jinchuriki
Totally agree, some bad guys should've stayed bad or at least "earned" that redemption. But there's tons of videos/discussions on the power of Narutos talk no jutsu lol.
I don't think it's fair to say that the show is to positive, because this is a battle shounen (and more so aimed at the younger part of the spectrum). The whole point of the story is that black zetsu is trying to release Kaguya from her seal, by making it so that someone casts infinite tsukuyomi. Past reincarnations always failed in achieving this despite zetsu's manipulations, until Madara came along (in the end Madara was only ever going to be a pawn for Zetsu). This is why it doesn't necessarily matter if Madara just leaves his vision up to a kid, Zetsu is also their helping guide Obito, but Madara doesn't know that Zetsu has already calculated his odds himself. If this generation would have failed, Zetsu would have just tried again with the next generation (Sasuke would have been a good candidate himself at multiple parts in the story id Madara didn't exist. So now Zetsu finally found a way to free Kaguya through Madara's infinite tsukuyomi, only to be sealed away right again by the next generation of Naruto and Sasuke. Showing that in the end good should win over evil any time. But also the concept of balance in good and evil (the most evil thing ever just happened and got balanced out again by good, returning to a war torn civilization that is trying to pick the pick up the pieces).
@@D__634 ok explain me how good as a spy it is? Simply you can't. He didn't deliver info on Danzo,nor the anbu. Even Konoha hasn't ANY info on Obito or the other Akatsuki's member nor he provided plans to counter them. Basically it was a deus ex macchina to throw away Sasuke from Konoha because he was seen as the better hero than even Naruto. Basically Kishimoto he thinked that Sasuke fought Itachi at HIS FULL POWER. Especially considering the wild statement from Kurama that Sasuke and Madara were in the same ocular and chakra prowess.
@@stefanocremonini2656 eh personally I never found Sasuke particularly compelling as a character, he always felt like he needed just a little bit more to show how his thinking was changing over time.
@Merphy It just so happens to that Naruto: The Last, and Boruto: Naruto the Movie (which were two of the last things written by Kishimoto before handing Boruto off) were both added to Netflix this week.
It has been an absolute blast catching onto your channel years ago as a booktuber covering classics, fantasy, and contemporary books and watching you fall in love with One Piece and starting anime and manga. But watching you talk about the n broad daylight how the side characters in Naruto are more engaging than the NarutoxSasuke plot after following this series for actual decades has become something else! :D
I definitely recognize Naruto has its low points, but I generally don't remember them as vividly as the high points, so I'm often dismayed when people snub it as if it's not one of the best manga/anime. Maybe the main thing I remember not liking was the final lore drop + Kaguya at the end, but the rest I was fairly on board with (though you're not wrong the redemptions got out of hand). Maybe it's because I read it week to week for so long over the years, but I definitely built more attachment to it than I did while binging HxH or FMA, which are often given more praise, though I think are far from perfect either. The core story of Naruto sticks with me more than most.
Oh what good or not-good writing can do to a beloved story. I have never went back to Naruto, but I often reread story beats pertaining Rock Lee, Gaara and Sai. Literally the only favs of mine
(I swear this is the last comment, ALSO congrats on finishing Naruto. So happy to see there are still people going to read the manga because the anime just does so much injustice to it) Maybe I just have to re-read the encounter, but I don't think the intention for that scene was to redeem Rasa(Gaara's dad), because even in the flashback and when he first sees Gaara he's still got this "Prove you're worth existing" "Show me you're not a failure" ass mentality, still not looking at Gaara as his literal child. What I think that scene was actually for, was to confirm to us that Yashamaru lied to Gaara about his mom and that Gaara's mom actually did deeply love Gaara. Which just goes back into these themes of motherhood/parenthood that the series went heavily into since Naruto met Minato and Kushina
Im glad that u seemingly enjoyed the re-incarnation twist as it was really controversial at the time (still kind of is today) due to a common misconception people had on naruto as a whole. For some reason, for many people naruto was an underdog story about using pure hardwork to create bonds and get stronger against all odds vs Natural born talent. When it clearly never was since it was already well established that naruto himself was born with the power of kurama, part of a powerful clan, and the fourth hokages son well before the twist. Also if that was the core theme then Lee would have won against gaara and naruto wouldnt have needed Kurama's aid to defeat neji and etc.
I thought most of the war arc was trash tbh. I hated how they made characters appear so weak, like how Kankuro defeated Sasori? Or Hidan and Asuma defeated by weaker shinobis
I think just from Kabuto letting them have their memories is already so dumb. They would've won if right from the start he makes them killing machine. And the whole Obito announcing war is so useless, if he could just get that nine tailed beast chakra from Kabuto or went straight to Naruto with all his forces.
Yea finding out Naruto’s parents and Jiraya being an honorary grandfather doesn’t mesh well and make sense with the beginning and how Naruto grew up. The only explanation which is me being charitable is people fear and hatred of the Nine tailed fox and what it did superseded any admiration or loyalty to Naruto’s parents. One thing I will never forgive the author for though is letting Guy live after using the checkovs gun that is the 8 gates but Nenji dies in the exact way he didn’t want to as a child,the same way his father died and how he was destined to die and trying to fight against that cruel fate. Naruto and Sasuke and are fighting fate to make a new destiny but Nenji technically dies the way destiny wanted.
absolute agree with the conclusion. it is a series that will always be special to me, but is so hard to bring myself to recommend other people engage with. I too read the manga mostly, but I highly recommend some anime-original scenes, if you can track them down. particularly the scene with Shikamaru and his dad in the wake of Asuma's death, and some of the scenes of Naruto grieving Jiraiya and chatting with Iruka or Shikamaru.
No I think you articulated it well. Repeating the same plot beats over and over and over......and over so that eventually we just become inured to it, that's a a big problem sometimes in shounen. Side note I wish if Kushina had been brought back for the final battle like Minato. And with Kaguya's presence, it could've been cool thematically to contrast a mother against mother sort of thing. Kind of like Ripley against the Alien queen, is what I have in mind.
You should consider reading Boruto, it's much shorter and I'd consider it a bit darker thematically which may suite your tastes. It's definitely controversial but I think the general consensus is that the manga is pretty good when given a fair shot.
Congratulations on finishing Naruto! Any chance we can get you to read Bleach? Of the big 3 it was my favorite tho I think One Piece is a technically better series…
I appreciate the way you showed love to the series. The war in a nutshell to me was sweaty. There were so many moving parts that didn't fully come together. BUT those moments that were amazing. My biggest issue with the series overall was the ending. Space aliens without any priming or illusions or proper foreshadowing, it's giving sweaty.
I mean Naruto went on this whole destiny rant that hard work beats genius only for him to be the reincarnation of a god that can heal anything and create eyeballs rendering Sakura even more useless
That’s most Shonen protagonists. Luffy was literally gifted the most powerful df, trained by Gold Roger’s right hand man and his grandfather who is the hero of the marines. Like what protags aren’t special?
@@steveromero8459 Just because it's a trend doesn't mean its good I saw no one complaining that Goku was just a human with a tail I did see a lot of people complain when he was randomly made an alien though
Most of your gripes with the story can be summarised by "Well... Kishimoto just lost the plot". He had a very strong baseline with the first part of Naruto, but instead of building on this foundation to tell the story Naruto was at the beginning, he turned it into powercreep-land with on-the-spot instant story arcs without much regard about the narrative cohesion of the entire thing. He kept making the Sharingan more and more potent, disregarding the rules he established (especially in relation to the Sharingan and Byakugan) Rewatching/Rereading the start of Naruto after the end is wild, it doesn't feel like the same world at all. The main characters and antagonists for 70% of the manga are still strong narratively though, so it carried the lackluster worldbuilding and story to the finish line. I'm not saying a writer can't break his own rules and take the story in new directions, but wow, Naruto has to be my biggest disappointment as a manga reader when it comes to its final arcs. And don't even get me started on the complete waste of Neji as a character... (and basically all the secondary cast in favor of on-the-spot "instant characters, just add trauma" )
Isn't one piece is doing the Same rn. Beginning of the series until now it's completely changed to the point that it doesn't make sense Plus the amount of retcons in one piece doesn't come close to that of Narutos
@@badkarma450 Does it though ? Appart from Luffy's fruit, I don't see revelations that impact the early stages of One Piece, and even that is explained in universe in a cohesive way and is weaved into the worldbuilding. If anything, the One Piece retcons make the start of the manga better, not worse. And that's basically it honestly, I don't see what was retconned without purpose or in a way that doesn't make the story stronger and make more sense. I'm curious to hear what you have that I'm missing. The powercreep is natural in one piece because we never saw the "top" of the pirate world at the start, when in Naruto Kakashi and Zabuza are supposed to be top-tier ninja that get powercrept by early Shippuden characters like it's nothing, with Haku being an anomaly when it comes to how strong he is (hereditary techniques and all that). In comparison, One Piece showed us Shanks and Mihawk at the start. The first never showed his strength, only his Haki. The second played with Zorro for a while and then peaced out until Marineford. EDIT: The only thing I constantly roll my eyes at in One Piece is the inability of Oda to just let characters die. There's also the fact that some arcs are too long for my taste in the New World, but that's because I loved when One Piece was more about the crew going from island to island on an adventure, instead of the high stakes battles we have now. But it's just the natural progression, there's nothing wrong with it, every step is there.
@@arenkaiOne Piece has been great because so many of the major players still in the story have been looming in the background for like ever. There are new characters, but the original bigs of the world haven't been surpassed and replaced. Crazy to have a series go on this long and the necessary power increase hasn't pushed out the original top-end characters.
Breaking the cycle of hatred, not repeating the same mistakes and giving a second chance is what Naruto as a series wanted to bring. So yeah, youre gonna see lots of them played out
Naruto is always going to be a little special to me partly because of the themes, partly due to the motivation of the main character, and partly because of the specific time in my life I first encountered it. I think for those reasons it is still my favorite "battle shonen". However, I mostly agree with your criticisms here. The side characters with lots of potential were not developed, some of the developments at the end had insufficient foreshadowing, and I never enjoyed Sasuke as a character very much. I also like the war arc significantly less than the rest of Shippuden, its not a totally irredeamable ending, but it is a bit underwhelming compared to the high expectations I had of the series. The war arc had all the epic moments I would have wanted the series to hit, I'm even fine with Kaguya in theory, but those high-points often felt unearned without the proper development and foreshadowing to "build-up the impact". I don't really agree that the story needs to be "darker" and like the redemptions, but I do think characters other than Naruto/Sasuke needed to be more relevant. Neji is the best example. His final part could have been highly impactful, but instead came out of nowhere, and left one of the most potentially interesting plotlines from the early series feel both abandoned and unresolved. A Death coming out of nowhere in a war story can be great but in Naruto's war arc, they never leave the impact they should. Similarly the reunion of all the tailed Beasts is something that I felt should have hit hard, but felt like it lacked the impact/ stakes I would have expected from it. Beyond that I also Naruto's early childhood experience is profoundly odd with the reveal of his dad's identity. It could be explained by fear of the fox, but the motivations for his treatment and living conditions feel underexplored. I also think some of the early themes of hard-work vs. talent are undermined by Naruto being a reincarnated son of an ancient being ( on top of a hokage's son and member of a clan with large amounts of mana). A couple of his advantages are fine to justify how has the potential to overcome his weaknesses and become powerful but piling them up like the series does at the end bothers me.
A lot of your points are so accurate XD - If you want a anime that is so much "HOPE AND FRIENDSHIP" watch Fairy Tail. I can bash on it all I want since its my favorite anime (for now), cause its chaotic fun, you might enjoy it ^_^
Such a pleasure seeing your Naruto journey! Really hope you revisit the series at some point and make more videos (maybe with Boruto! but only if you want to)
There are two scenes which really have stucked with me and moves me every time: The scene where Naruto confront and makes peach with his inner darkness. And the speach "Cycle of hatred" from Pain/Nagato
Naruto's fixation on Sasuke relates to the fact Sasuke was someone who put his life on the line to protect him - someone like him, Naruto, who he himself viewed in a light of "I am not worth this by a fellow teammate or child". This is why Naruto was fixated, to him Sasuke is his brother. Just like Sasuke is fixated on his brother Itachi. Sasuke's separation from his brother was much longer too lol. Naruto breaks the idea that brothers are just blood - for him, Iruka was like an older brother as well for a similar feat. So Naruto wanted to save his "brother" Sasuke from going down a road that would not improve anything for anyone, Naruto sought genuine change to the ninja world and felt a responsibility toward Sasuke.
We need to get type-moon on her radar it’s the strongest franchise in anime with their base abilities giving them immeasurable speed. & my power scaling playlist has all the proof we need, my essay playlist also proves it has the best written characters in anime especially in the girl aspect.(which some shonen struggle with) Like generic anime channel’s shirou vid, it’s billion$ budget & ufotable come together to give us peak animation of any year they drop or period. It’s also the lotr of anime with lore on lore & galore.
I have got through the series. I think you should read the various light novels in your spare time whenever you get the chance because they offer up a lot of information on stuff and maybe check out the sequel series Boruto. But yeah, the light novel information on a lot of stuff also. Naruto‘s true identity was kept, because his dad had a bunch of enemies, and if they found out that he was his mom and dad‘s child people would’ve showed up to the village to kill him or kidnap him. However, I still agree that that was not a good way to go about having him be raised in the way he was raised. I feel like there could’ve been stuff done so much better for his childhood and still managed to keep him protected From his parents enemies, but I digress.
Naruto is not a perfect series by any means, but it's an enjoyable ride. Introducing Kaguya at the very end always felt like an afterthought. In retrospect, she feels like a last minute narrative thread leading into Boruto.
Remember girls: if you’re obsessed with a guy who give you no sign of affection, becomes a terrorist and tries to stab you, keep chasing him ! Deep down he actually loves you. You CAN fix him, marry him and have a baby with him - Sakura
I feel bad for sakura, she has a daughtet by sasuke and he STILL doesnt have any on screen chemistry with her
An then be nearly completely absent from you and your daughters life.
@@jeremysmith7176 that how all true love stories end..
@@jackpitman15
Read the light novels
@@badkarma450 LMAOOOO
Naruto's parents: "Take care of our child."
3rd Hokage: *substitution jutsu*
filler conversation. Naruto did think Hiruzen like a grandpa though but as far as East Asian family dynamics go and him being Hokage.....it may comes across as very distant.
@valeriansage It doesn't matter if it's filler or not. The sentiment is the same. Minato was a Hokage, he's one of the greatest ever heroes of the Leaf and he personally had a fairly close relationship with Hiruzen. Hiruzen neglecting Naruto is massively disrespectful of Minato and Kushina's sacrifice.
Lol Hiruzen is such a scum
I agree hiruzen could’ve done more emotionally for naruto but y’all act like he did nothing. For one he did more than any other kage did for the orphan kids which is respectable. Also y’all gotta realize Narutos situation is a normal thing in their world and there’s countless orphan children. Again yes hiruzen could’ve did a lil more but he was the hokage/busy asf and did more than most
@harri2k136 There are not countless orphan children who are the son of the Hokage, who just sacrificed his life to save the village, nor are there countless orphans with the 9 tailed fox sealed inside them as newborns. Naruto is not like other orphans. He was a walking nuke. Hiruzen is a p.o.s. and the worst hokage, not counting Danzo (who Hiruzen is also responsible for btw)
Even Merphy didn’t give a crap about Neji’s death 😂
Jajajajajajajajajajajajajaaaaa!!!
He already had an excellent death scene in Part 1, and then just sort of existed long enough so he could have another death scene. It was so transparent and lame.
His death was a blessing in disguise on account of we didn’t have to see his character get nerfed and made useless in Boruto like the rest of the OG cast.
@@nullakjg767 I completely agree, well said, especially Lees injury, I feel like his plot was so fumbled, he came back to have a drunken master fight and then nothing... ever...
I honestly always forget he died...
Yea Madara's plan was convoluted but he didn't exactly have many options on the brink of death. The plan didn't go as planned and he ultimately got resurrected in a different way which I think was intentional in the writing. He persevered and took any opportunity given to him while manipulating anything or anyone who fell into his midst. And it's ironic that he was manipulated in the end even if I'm not a fan of the Kaguya stuff.
Obito definitely didn't really have intentions of following Madara's plan completely. After Nagato did the Rinne Rebirth, it seems to me like he was going to just become the 10 tails jinchuriki and launch the infiinite tsukuyomi without Madara. Obito was genuinely shocked when he saw Madara's edo tensei, and Kabuto communicated that he was suspicious of Obito when he told Madara that he didn't think Obito was following exactly whatever plan he had.
Something interesting on Kaguya is that she did not have a change of heart at the end, and I think that's mostly because she was not of this world. Even the tailed beasts coming out of the 10 tails were kind of products of this world, and that might be a result of their coming out of the Sage of the 6 Paths
Madara had zetsu and black zetsu overlooking his plans to make sure things turned out well for him. And obito did already follow madara's will before madara died. We can also presume Madara had a plan for Nagato use the rinnegan to revive him. Question is how...
@@itachisusanoo3689 black zetsu could have forced Nagato to use the rinnegan like he did with Obito and Madara believed Black Zetsu is the manifestation of his will. It is actuall weird he did not t´do that, and the logical in-world explanation is that resurrescting Madara too early or before the war would ruin Zetsu´s plan. The real-world explanation is that Kishimoto have not figured out Madara´s plan yet as of the Pain arc, which is logical since he rarely planned in advance.
@@grillmaster95 Yeah, I'm going to say Madara really lucked-out hard that Kabuto showed up to start raising the dead. Like Obito had absolutely no intention of brining him back to life, I think even sacrificing Nagato to do it, which is why Obito made sure Nagato and Konan were on board with the Infinite Tsukiyomi.I would not be surprised if it was revealed that Black Zetsu helped Kabuto discover Madara's body after Nagato died, because he realized Obito's true intentions.
You are 100% correct on the fact that the series tells you from the very beginning what it’s about. Some people think the main point is about hardwork pays off, which is part of it, but it’s ultimately about hate and the cycle it creates. If it weren’t for Iruka in that first chapter, Naruto would’ve turned out like Gaara and there wouldn’t have been any hope.
I'd also mention the Land of Waves. When Haku talks to Naruto for the first time, he introduces the concept of fighting for others to Naruto specifically ones who are precious to him, which at first Naruto is surprised about. The themes of Naruto were established quite early on in the series. But I guess the Chunin exams and rock lee took that spotlight away.
@@carljohnson7168 The weird thing is that even in that plotline, Lee, the hardworker, loses so badly to the natural genius Gaara that he becomes (supposedly) permanently crippled. But people still walked away thinking that the entire point of the manga was that hard work beats talent somehow?
I feel like her biggest issue was the idea that it's a short point. Yeah it's long but most of her issues stem from wanting something short and to the point. Like most fans. I think naruto gets too much hate due to circumstances. If it could be as focused as JJK or Frieren it could work...but at the same time people play baby hands with one piece which is just as bad (even if i don't think it's talking on and on) current people hate slower moving stuff...get to the point society (me included). Gotta stop myself from going TLDR all the time XD. Also no one read this long lol.
@@SeeMyDolphin Rock Lee just connected with a lot of people I guess. Hard work is one of the most relatable tropes in most anime/manga. Still doesn’t make much sense after he got crippled though.
When you can, you should read the Minato One Shot Chapter, if you get the chance. Its a canon chapter that was done due to Minato winning a popularity poll.
I wasn't a big fan of Minato in the series itself, but that one-shot turned him into one of my favorite characters. So good.
It's seriously the best writting from Naruto I can think of currently (not including Boruto characters). It gives so much context we didn't have room for in the og. Plus it's a quick and easy read.
That one shot is trash.
It takes Kushina being a badass that held Kurama while dying to a pathetic Kunoichi that can't even leave a small part of the village and another stalker
The retcon about how she can't leave part of it was pathetic and only served to wank Minato as "the seal master" even though it's literally the Uzumaki's thing.
@@harimatoshirou2923 horrible take, how tf does her not being into able leave a part of the village make her pathetic, also minato learned the dealings FROM KUSHINA, it’s outright stated that they have training sessions for him to learn dealings invade the nine tails gets out.
@@harimatoshirou2923 also how is she a “stalker” genuinely what is this shit that ur spewing out rn
First off, congrats on finishing this long running series, it's a massive 700 chapters long and requires a lot of time. Naruto is not the best from a writing perspective but it is definitely the Shonen series I return to the most over the years. The world and the characters just work for me and over time you learn to accept even the faults and issues with the story. So I applaud you going all in on reading and doing these long review videos. If you haven't yet, I strongly urge you to check out the OST for both the OG Naruto show and Shippuden. In my opinion, this series' OST has not been matched by most shows. So many songs to get hyped, sad, thoughtful and excited over. Thanks again for dedicating your time to this series.
I’m genuinely glad I read it. There’s so many great scenes to discuss when I meet fellow nerds in the wild
@@merphynapier42I know many may be against this but I would highly recommend continuing into the Boruto manga.
Naruto has such strong emotional highs that I don't mind the wackiness. We have to remember that it was written weekly, and Kishimoto had to come up with things on the fly.
@@Local_Dilf_In_Your_House💀
@@MohammadBackerIBRAHIM Burned out
The rédemption is a big meme of the Naruto community
One of my favorite meme is naruto saying to Adolph "it is not to late you can still change 😃" 😂
The Steven Universe one is also really funny
naruto: you can change c:
Imu: *Buster Call*
unfortunately its been parodied so much that people dont actually understand that there nuance to redemption, obito could be redeemed in death but madara was unable to be. naruto wasnt trying to bring him back to make him the hokage but to show him his vision that he could still choose a better path (and for obito, for a better person like naruto) which is why he wanted to protect him in the end
@@thefakebriskeh I think a lot of people these days are more keen on these nuances. After all, there are clear instances in the series where Naruto was not forgiving such as when he just goes for the kill on Kakuzu.
"Obito was the coolest one"
"I madara, declare you the strongest!!". Such a good scene!
Did you enjoy the downtime anime episodes? Like kakashi unmasked, it hit me big time cuz I waited 12 years for it
Story would have been better if it ended at night guy.
@@jacobcoates7987?
@jacobcoates7987 The series is named Naruto
@@royalfun1031 maybe that's where everything went wrong
@@jacobcoates7987 then no night guy
I didn’t see it as a redemption for gaaras father but it was supposed to be redemption for Gaara mom
I agree, but I also think it was closure for Gaara. Rasa took some accountability for what he did to his children and recontextualized that it was a mother's love that protected Gaara all this time, not Shukaku selfishly keeping his human vessel in one piece. Rasa wasn't redeemed, he barely acknowledged Gaara had become stronger, more emotionally intelligent and worthy of Kazekage than he was.
This is correct
And the final healing for Gaara himself.
You’re absolutely not alone on the whole Kaguya coming out of nowhere bit. As someone who was reading week to week at the time and had a strong presence in the fandom I can say with confidence that virtually nobody liked that portion of the story for the same reasons. We were all utterly baffled. I think later it came out that Kishimoto always had plans for Kaguya but was under pressure to finish the story quickly as he neared the end, but I still think he could’ve done a significantly better job of seeding Kaguya out there throughout the plot.
Yeah. To me the only time that could even remotely have foreshadowed Kaguya was the Chunin Exam preliminary when Kakashi said the Sharingan was descended from the Byakugan.
It would have been better if Kishimoto made Hagoromo the final villain and not Kaguya.
It's a cultural problem. Zetsu betraying Madara has been planned since the end of Naruto Part 1. After Naruto's first fight against Sasuke in the Valley of the End (chapters 233 and 234) Sasuke has a reaction similar to that of Hashirama (chapters 626 and 681) to the fact that Zetsu is watching them and Kakashi says in these chapters to how similar Naruto and Sasuke's story is to Hashirama and Madara's story. This is a foreshadowing of the fact that Zetsu manipulates the reincarnations of Indra and Ashura in the shadows.
The cultural problem here is the fact that since his first appearance Black Zetsu speaks in katakana (the Japanese speaks in 3 languages: hiragana, katakana and kanji). Everyone in Naruto speaks in hiragana except black Zetsu who speaks in katakana. When the Divine Tree (Kaguya) tells Madara to absorb it (after his fight against Gai) the dialogue is written in katakana, it's a foreshadowing on the fact that Black Zetsu has been his will all along (this is why the revelation comes out of nowhere when we see it in the translated version). As you can imagine, this is a detail that the Japanese noticed and which was ignored during the translation
Honestly I liked the twist cuz it stayed true to the shows themes and was a great conclusion for madaras character. Also cuz kaguya was mentioned bare times and even in part 1. I understand people not liking her character tho
Honestly to me, the whole Kaguya thing seems like a setup for Boruto. Madara was teased from the very beginning of Shippuden, and he was setup to be the perfect final boss of the series, but then, all of the sudden... aliens? That was absolute whiplash.
The cover of Ch 766 of One Piece is the tribute Oda made when Naruto ended. The characters included sound out Naruto's name. (Na)Mi, (Lu)ffy, (To)ny.
Now that I think about it, NaLUto sounds awful🤣🤣
@carlosdanielcalderonmontoy3723
Iirc, in Japanese, R and L are the same character. So while Luffy is L, it's still readable as R as in naRuto
Should've had Sanji there too for funzies (if you know you know)
Congratulations, Merphy!
This is quite the milestone, regardless of how long ago you hit it, it's still impressive!
Your thoughts and reactions are very very appreciated!
11:32 To be fair, he was trusting Zetsu to push them into the right direction for the plan. Not necessarily them.
22:40 No, Gaara's dad gets no redemption lol. He's like "well I thought I'd mention that your mom did love you" but he still abused his child the entire time for some weird experiment. He's still terrible even though he told the truth one time.
37:25 Madara called the Uzumaki Clan cockroaches. The Uzumaki Clan was wiped out by a collaboration between villages because they were so hated. That's why Nagato's family were refugees. Naruto's mom was also a refugee in the leaf village. That's why everyone hated her too before she even got implanted with the 9 tails. The Uzumaki were a prejudiced group. So giving Naruto his mom's last name wasn't a great idea.
This is what I was going to say. Zetsu was the one actually in charge of making sure all of this went down how it was supposed to.
@@TheDarkAdventure how have reached to the conclusion that because madara hated every one hate(forget madara was always a contrarian)
you also forget leaf village had good ties with uzumaki clan
"she was hated" really which panel or ep you are taking this info from
even if she was hated ,minato was still respected
plus at the very least higher understood jinchunriki being hated might(most likely ) result in catastrophe ,yet they did
naruto being fourth hokage son and still being ostracized make no sense
Exactly, u beat me to it
You hit every nail on the head.
The highs of the show is what most people hold onto. I always find myself revisiting very specific scenes or feeling okay in revisiting slower build ups to those scenes just to experience the payoff again. Despite the lulls, we were just as hopeful as the story feels to the person reading / viewing it.
I love Naruto for the definitive moments that filled my heart with so much emotion. Kishimoto was amazing at it when he got it right, and a lot of those scenes will stick with me forever.
It’s great to hear the perspective of someone new to it and feel the same as most of us who have loved it through thick and thin for years. Amazing analysis and video
Funnily enough. I don’t recommend this but I reread and rewatched and with knowing what happens it really recontectualizes and honestly made it the series better in each read. Especially when you understand other characters view points knowing their deal.
Like reading early Naruto after understanding kakashi story gives so much insight it’s crazy
You're so right. I had the exact same experience. I was shocked how much better the story was on a reread. It went from a series I passively enjoyed but had many qualms with (much like Murphy) to one I really want to put on my shelf.
There's so many little things I missed on my first read through. Mainly, I was just so surprised with how complex the characters really were. Like on my reread, it became obvious that Jiraya felt predisposed to failure. Like how he never perfected sage mode, he never approached tsunade with his feelings, his relationship with Pain and Orochimaru where he considered how they turned out failures on his part as a teacher and as a friend. Even to something as simple as his books where after failing to write a successful action adventure story, he gave up completely and just wrote smut instead. Being embarrassed of it. It ends up pervading every aspect of his character. It even ended up making his role as the "perv" character more grounded and upsetting to me because it became obvious that he did it more than anything because that was the one thing he had gotten validation in and felt he was good at. The success of his book series had convinced him that people wanted the pervy Jiraya above all else. I feel that's obvious given we never see that aspect of his personality in flashbacks. He feels that the only thing he'll pass on when he dies is smut, and that he's failed to have any real legacy.
It made him a much more tragic character in my eyes and made Naruto defeating pain through sharing jiraya's teachings so much more impactful proving that jiraya has tangibly impacted the world and that he does have a legacy.
Glad you enjoyed the ending to my favorite series! To speak to the defense of talk no jutsu somewhat, almost every villain you could say is some aspect of Naruto that strays him from the enlightened path he is on, so by hashing it out with them (always after a fight), he reconciles that part of himself with himself so he can grow towards adulthood and enlightenment. It's not a completely original thing for a series to do, but I do believe Naruto is one of the most thematically consistent shounen out there
Completely agree
Konan parting the sea with paper bombs is my favorite moment! I also agree with you that there's mixed feelings on Obito's redemption: On one hand, he probably *shouldn't* have been redeemed, but in execution, It takes dozens of chapters of him gradually seeing himself in Naruto and confronting his past with Rin before he finally switches sides, is frankly one of the better ones? Anyways, if you want another shonen manga that DOES use it's side cast well, is hopeful without undoing stakes/deaths, and has One Piece's contrast of absurd humor and emotional moments, I highly suggest Gash / Zatch Bell, or Konjiki no Gash!!
To give some background, the premise is 100 demon kids are partnered up with humans who can use spellbooks to allow the demons to use spells, but if the book is burnt, they return to the demon world: the last demon left is crowned king: That partner premise sets up for a lot of character growth: EX: Gash/Zatch is a naive 6 year old that teaches jaded teen Kiyomaro to open up and be hopeful, while Kiyo helps Gash mature and think about what he's fighting for.
In turn it has the best use of power-of-friendship i've seen, and that, great comedy, and style slice of life chapters contrasts with BRUTAL emotional gut punches (the manga commits to every character "dying" and returning to the demon world), with the light helping the dark hit harder, and the dark helping the light feel genuine and earned instead of corny. Even unlocking new spells is tied to character growth, and each character's set of abilities is unique and allows for tactical fights,. Most fights are also TEAM battles, both with the humans fighting too, and there being multiple pairs of demon-partners working together to combine their powersets.
Finally, it avoids the issues most other shonen have (and that Naruto in particular I think struggles with) as they continue further into their run: Gash/Zatch only ever gets tighter pacing instead of bloated over time, the powers and escalation grows but not to the point of it getting over the top and it barely feeling like the same series, and the entire cast feels well utilized till the very end.
The one flaw the series has is, inversely, it starts off sort of weaker then some other Shonen, as initially there's not enough spells for tactical fights and it has a villain-of-the-week format that only switches to full arcs later, but it's still good/fun early on, and only ever gets better. Everybody I know who have read it considers it a 9/10 or a 10/10, but it is somewhat obscure since it wasn't published in WSJ like Dragon Ball, Naruto, and One Piece; and as its anime adaptation was flawed.
I've never considered the perspective that Naruto is too hopeful because it's a perspective that I love and ultimately agree with. I believe no one is beyond redemption and I'm sure Naruto as a series played a role in shaping that worldview today. That being said, I do understand the perspective that since almost everyone is redeemed in Naruto it's a foregone conclusion that some of the major baddies will be as well. I also see the truth in the argument that if fewer characters were redeemed it would make the more impactful ones. I think one must also be content with the opposite side as well though; since so many characters in Naruto are redeemed what does it say about the ones who aren't?
Glad you had a good time with this series! The story is so big and expansive that when you talk with other people you get a surprising variety of different perspectives.
This show has definitely influenced how I write my stories and reminds me of a certain Robin Williams saying. I think the only other anime that has heavily influenced me like this would be Demon Slayer. Naruto and the side characters have such a special place in my heart.
Thank you for these awesome videos!!!
But Kabuto didn't have a conversation with naruto! It was him being stuck in Itachi's loop, and he has always shown to have a maleable identity. As for Obito's "redemption", well, unfortunately for him he was set up by Kishimoto hundreds of chapters prior lol
One thing I notice in a lot of discussions about manga and anime is the amount of time things take or that characters hold on to things for so long. But I rarely hear people talk about how little time is actually passing. Naruto is a good example of this. There are a lot of things that make it feel like a long time. While we go 72 volumes over 15 years, it really only covers 5 years in the world. When we start, Naruto is 12 yo, and at the end of the War and final fight, he is 17. There is a 2-year time gap that is not covered. The 3 years we follow Naruto are so busy it feels like longer. Also, there is a lot of flashbacks, making it feel even longer. But if you put it in real-life terms they became friends in 8th grade, got in a fight that summer, and made up some time in their Senior Year of high school. Meaning they were only estranged for about 3.5-4 years. It is one of the reasons I always look up how long the story took for the characters when I'm finished and think about if it changes how I view things.
One Piece is even crazier. Almost 30 years and 1100+ chapters, yet less tha 3 years in universe, with 2 of those years being a timeskip. Luffy's been pirating for all of a few months.
Dragon Ball is one of the few series (especially battle shounen) that I can think of that actually takes place over a long period of time. Goku's 11 at the start of the series, then he's a parent at the halfway point, then he has another son in the final arc, and by the end of the series, he's a grandparent in his 40s. I legit can't think of any series that covers that much of a character's life like that.
@@s3studios597 I agree, and a lot of time this fact is left out of discussions of character relationships. People talk like Naruto waited the full 15 years of the manga run. I don't think 3.5-4y is that long to hold out hope for the repair of a friendship that lasted around a school year.
@@robynmckerley6059 I'm gonna disagree on that.
Now all we need is Bleach and you've completed (kinda) the big three of Shounen anime!
Loved the review on Naruto!! Would you pick up Bleach after this? It hadn't sold as many copies as Naruto or One Piece but its still great in its own right and part of the 'Big Three'.
She will be reading Bleach. It's not the manga next up, but it is on the short term list
@@Lynn-CAdid she announce this on Patreon?
@@joejames1794 No announcement as such, but it has been talked about how she will be reading it. I’m one of her mods, and the person who keeps track of her spreadsheet (linked in description) and just know from conversation that it’s in the short term plans
Really curious as to how she'll react to Bleach as I feel it is quite thematically deep and Kubo's character writing is very subtle. Not to mention the minimalist artwork.
@@JaguarK101Same I’m excited for her reviews, Bleach always gets dumped on and not noticed for its poetic writing style. It’s thematically deep and very nuanced, it uses loads of symbolism too it has some of the best writing in the big 3. It’s foreshadowing is some of the best too, so MANY things foreshadowed from the beginning
i am here for this reasonable yet devastating take down of naruto. had much the same feelings going through naruto's ending as well, reading week to week.
Growing up watching/reading this was an experience, a lot of good moments and a lot of moments I could’ve done without, I doubt I’ll ever read/watch it in its entirety again. I’ll check out old scenes but that’s about it.
Congrats on your completion of your second peice of the big 3! If you dont go to bleach next (which id reccomend) you should totally read Kingdom.
Congratulations on finishing Naruto!! It's still my favorite manga shonen series followed by Bleach. I have tried so many times to get into One Piece and finish it, but I haven't been able to over the years. Stopped on chapter 431 last year. Seeing you finish Naruto has me convinced I can finish One Piece even though it's not my cup of tea. I'm diving in starting today!
Damn, going by this video I don't think Merphy is going to enjoy Caribou's redemption
i'm starting to worry that she might even drop one piece once we find out that he was secretly the reincarnation of joyboy's brother 😨
Damn,now that you mentioned it.
Don’t have to enjoy everything in a good story. Oda does have some writing problems
@@neffreyyou mean the brother who hid the one piece on laugh tell 😮 I see you 😎
Merphy has already caught up with the latest chapter of One piece or am I misunderstanding something with your comment
Congratulations!! Naruto is one of the most popular stories for a reason and i believe that is the characters.
I hope You read bleach at some point, i think it would be interesting
You're not dumb, the War Arc plot is. Madara's plan was absurd and only worked because it was written that way. Many fans have this same complaint.
War arc is more of a preferential thing, but it isnt dumb, quite the opposite. Merphy forgot alot of the foreshadowings and subtle hints throughout the series, such as Naruto and Sasukes first battle where Kakashi talks about the cycle continuing through them, and Obito (as Madara) talking about the sage of 6 paths sons and how Naruto and Sasuke were next in line to be chosen by destiny during the 5 kage summit
Madara says it himself that the plan didnt go accordingly to his original ideas, and when he sees that, he blames Obito and Nagato instead of himself, because he sees no faults in himself, but only those around him, its a key part of his charcaterisation.
With Merphy saying its too optomistic, its supposed to be and she understands that, and again prefences it with in her opinion. I understand the complaint about Gaaras dad, that was valid and unnecessary, but with the main antagonist redemptions, it fits perfectly with the narrative and themes, because of who Naruto is, the change he is supposed to bring as the prophesised one.
War arc gets a lot of hate from the community for reasons that honestly are invalid because they call their opinions 'plot holes'
@@zararkhan3499 You think a person as well read as her would miss "obvious" foreshadowing
@zararkhan3499 there most definitely plot holes and some of the set up is weak.
@@zararkhan3499the fact that the Naruto fandom has spent years trying to excuse the issues with the war arc tells me all I need to know about its quality of writing
@@OseEigbobo She has shown her memory isn't the best based on her previous reviews
Hi Merphy, I am so glad you finished the series, and even more happy that you enjoyed it overall. The Naruto videos were actually one of my favourite video series in a while. Even though Naruto is not perfect, it is one of my favourite series of all time, not just in manga and I love it more than many "better written" series.
I think that Kishimoto´s fixation on redemption arcs and the somewhat clumsy execution of gray morality can be attributed to Naruto being a shonen. I believe Naruto should have ventured into the seinen territory a bit more, like HxH did with the Yorknew City/Chimera Ant arc or what Araki does with recent JoJo parts. I believe Kishimoto is a great theme writer, but he did not have the ambition/courage to explore deeper themes in more mature ways. He focused a lot on his target audience, which are boys aged 11-15, and he forgot his older audience. His goal was to make the messege of forgiveness and overcoming hatred clear to every reader, and he therefore lost nuance. The fact that he had to produce a chapter every week for fourteen years did not help. And the sad part is that many people still don´t realize what Naruto is trying to say as a series. But I believe the theme of forgiveness and unconditional love is so little represented in popular fiction. Therefore, I appreciate Naruto´ thematic writing, even if it´s clumsy.
I did not hate your takes at all, it was actually really satisfying hearing you talk about both sides. I agree there are some high highs, it's what made me super infatuated with the series in the first place. And there are some low lows that utterly broke my heart and left me feeling a bit empty and dumb for believing the series ever was more than it was. Tobi being Obito and being a mystery was one thing me and my friends speculated about for years "it can't be that simple" we said "it's probably Madara's brother or this person or that person". I wholeheartedly agree with feeling like Sasuke should just stay evil and Naruto having to learn that some people just take other paths that we can't follow, sometimes you have to let go. But no, Sasuke had me and my friends fooled when he said, repeatedly, that he was not going to turn, he told his brother, he told the hokages and then suddenly he was like "no, I wanna be hokage". Kiba was the only one with a sane take in that moment. And then there's Kaguya... I've rambled on enough, Naruto does that to me. I will always treasure it though because it gave me and my two friends a good reason to see each other to watch the anime once a week after we graduated and that helped us keep our friendship alive and growing.
As a long-time hardcore fan -since almost the beginning- that has played most of the games and even tried to re-write the war arc of Naruto out of disappointment, I wholeheartedly agree with all of the points you've made.
Me and my roommate just had to put down our cat. Your video came out as I got back into the car. I'm currently listening to you while me and him wait outside a tattoo shop. I don't really know why I am explaining all this but this video is a little bit of joy right now
I’m so sorry for your loss. It’s cliche but I send nothing but love to you and your roommate. Wishing the best for both of you.
I’m sorry for your loss. Losing a loved one is never easy. You’ll always have the memories ❤
I never thought about all the redemptions. I loved your point. I completely agree with you.
This is one of my favorite things in the world. I grew up with it and I love it from the bottom of my heart. Most people (at least from what I've seen) have different fav characters but for me it's always gonna be Naruto himself (starting to think it controversial). Anyways, I agree with everything you mentioned basically. I don't feel the same way about the resurrections at the end, but I know that you don't like it in general. I think though you might didn't hated it that much not only because it was temporary, but also because it served in a way. It was type of attack/weapon in a way and it did not bring anyone back at the end. It had its use. Loved all the Naruto videos and I'm so happy you enjoyed it as a whole. I don't watch many of this channel's videos because I haven't watched/read the same things, so I'm enjoying what we have in common. Now patiently waiting for Attack on titan, hehe
The final lore dump, it isn't just you Merphy, the entire fandom felt like it came out of nowhere, and the only real answer is "futureproofing." WSJ was well aware of the sequel series being developed, so Kaguya Otsutsuki was kinda added in there to say "there's a greater story and mystery to be had" which was addressed in the sequel series Boruto.
I started reading Naruto in 2002 when Jump came to the US (started with OP then too). Even my profile name is from when I was a kid. When I tell you that out of all these years you're one of the rare ones who understood Obito's resolve I mean that. People don't understand it. It made sense. Also yeahhhhhh, the War Arc is when the series started to really turn. It just felt like a "Boss Rush" in that first half that we really didn't need. It was draining. Overall dope review as always!
His resolve made sense, he just sucks as a character and even more as a person. Having Naruto call him a "cool guy" is monumentally stupid and spits in the face of his own parents' deaths.
I agree with all of your takes from talk no jutsu, character fixations, bloated beginning. You confirmed all my biases 10/10 review
Can I recommend you read Witch Hat Atelier next? It’s a sharp change from Naruto, but it’s an utterly enchanting fantasy manga.
Happy you read it and loved the journey. Naruto is one of those series you got to give it a chance.
As a long time Naruto fan I can say that you're officially one of us.
All the complains you have are the same ones most of the fandom has
Ngl I think most the the fandom can't read though
It’s so nice seeing a respected book tuber who’s new to anime and manga vent out serious gripes and problems with the Naruto shippuden plot and ending as a whole. We still love it but man growing up in the west if you criticize Naruto everything just boils down to “read it better” “you didn’t understand it” blah blah blah. I respect your opinion a lot more than some Naruto stan on TikTok who’s never read a real book or any other manga in their life. I grew up on Naruto…we all did in the west, but boy is it not perfect despite it always holding a special place in my heart.
She said in Obito's ideal world Rin is Alive, lol again reread chapter 651.
we don't just say reread bc of superiority complex but bc it's true, you guess have probelm which doesn't even exist
@@FangLeng-lh4gn651 isn’t Obito’s ideal world. It’s him having regrets about the path that he went down instead of taking another path. This is shown in 652.
Why would Rin be dead in Obito’s ideal world?
@@Frieren. To accept and move on.
him having regrets of that is simply prove of that
Yes, but that's just shounen in general, they're weekly series for young teens. One Piece or Dragon Ball are also riddled with issues for example.
I love this series and I'm glad you liked it too!! I do agree with a lot of the criticisms, though. I will try to touch on some points as briefly as possible, without writing an essay of a comment 😅.
For me, Naruto lands so damn well in most of its major themes, most of the major characters arcs and has very impactful emotional moments (and badass moments as well!!) that it's easy, for me, to look past all its faults.
I agree that the series insistance on redeeming everyone can get annoying and take away from the redemptions that actually matter and hold meaning. If you want to have an uplifting and positive message at the end, it would actually have helped to have more moments of loss and misery and moments where things don't end so well for characters, that way a positive finale actually hits a lot harder. Plus, like you said, it's a war story for Christ's sake!! A few more main characters should probably have died, especially in the war arc.
With all that being said, I disagree with you on Sasuke! Him resisting Naruto was a necessary part of his journey, but it was never intended to be the end of his journey. He was trying to find a different path and to find himself, that is true... but he was searching in the wrong places, driven by his hatred. If there's one redemption arc that needs to work, so the major themes of the series can come full circle and land at the end, it is Sasuke's. Him ending as a villain would go against everything that Kishimoto was trying to convey.
I'm not gonna get to how I feel about Kaguya being the final villain... I hate it!! You are right on the point of how it reinforces the theme of Naruto going against his "prewritten destiny" and forging his own path, but I hard disagree that a view of Naruto's and Sasuke's relationship being reinforced by supernatural forces, somehow makes it make sense. This, again, under cuts the entire point of the series!! It's way better if it's just a guy who can see his best friend being alone, and in pain, and consumed by hatred and choosing not to give up on him!!
One of my favourite points on the series was in the Kage summit arc where I reached a point were I started doubted a little that Sasuke will be redeemed, and the great thing was that Naruto himself doubted that too and Kakashi and Sakura even came to the conclusion of "f@ck that guy!!"😂. And it was shocking to see the MC of a shonen anime have a freaking panick attack over his friend turning evil. But to see Naruto come out of his depression, fight his doubts and find hope for his friend, in a point that all the other characters and even myself had lost all hope for him... was very inspiring and showed exactly what the series was about.
I do agree though, that everybody else being redeemed under cuts the power of Sasuke's story a little bit (not completely, I still loved how Naruto's and Sasuke's story ended). If we had a few more examples of important characters failing to come back to light, and even Naruto failing to bring them back, it would have made Sasuke's ending even more powerful and inspiring!!
I also want to say one little thing about Obito as well. Every one focuses on Rin and misses the fact that Obito was a 12-13 year old kid who was manipulated and used by Madara. It is not as simple as "He turned evil just because he lost Rin".
In the case of Madara's plan, you definitely are not stupid, but his plan most definitely is!!😂 That said, there are some details you missed. For one, he used hashirama cells to stich Obito back together and that's also why Obito has great healing abilities and infinitely replenished chakra and can spam Kamui. Further, he knew Nagato will survive and be able to handle the Rinnegan because he is an Uzumaki with amazing chakra pool. Now... how he knew that Nagato will grow up in such a way that eventually he will use his Rinnegan abilities voluntarily to bring Madara back to life.... is beyond me!!
P.S.: If the guy that made you the anime clips, didn't make you one for the scene where Naruto goes kcm2 and works with Kurama for the first time, he failed at his job!!!
Kingdom is amazing by the way
I would kill to see Merphy go through Kingdom.
No official English translation of Kingdom, and illegal translations are the only method of reading it, so she could get in trouble for reviewing them
I would definitely recommend checking out the light novels. They further expand on side characters or the relationships of main characters.
Firstly congrats on finishing the series it’s a crazy ride. Describing naruto as a series with the highest of highs and lowest of lows is fairly accurate imo but because of the sheer amount of content, it’s a series where a second and even third read through is necessary to truly understand everything and the brilliance of Kishimoto’s writing shows itself more that way too
Gonna star to watch the video now... oh boy here we go, this is gonna suck
(not the video, the story lmao. I always know Merphy will deliver)
Edit: Already surprised Merphy liked somethings from the War Arc
Edit2: 11:18 Madara is truly the ultimate groomer (more then Orochimaru lmao)
Edit3: Never thought of seeing the series about "hope" in the darkness, but it makes much sense because of all the redemption arcs, and makes so much sense why it faild sometimes (maybe most of them). Thats why its so good to see other peoples opinions in a story you grew up with
Edit4: Yeah Murph, even we dont understand why Naruto is antagonized as a kid to this day. The ansewer they gave us... Danzou leaked the info and wanted him to be the scapegoat for everyone in the village`s hate
Loved the vid.
Now for the question... will you dare and read Boruto? (I dont recomend it, but is a good hate read Lmao)
Also, since you like books too (you know, minor thing i noticed haha) there is a bunch of short bitesized novels to read. There are two for Itachi`s chilhood in Konoha, one with shorts stories from the Akatsuki... well the list is long but they are very short. One day each to read, even less
There's a great quote from Arthur Schopenhauer, The Basis of Morality:
"Boundless compassion for all living beings is the surest and most certain guarantee of pure moral conduct, and needs no casuistry. Whoever is filled with it will assuredly injure no one, do harm to no one, encroach on no man's rights; he will rather have regard for every one, forgive every one, help every one as far as he can, and all his actions will bear the stamp of justice and loving-kindness"
and this is what Naruto IS
Congrats on finishing 2 out of the big 3 now! 1 more to go!
fairy tale?
@@Heartbreak_Kidd fairy tail was never part of the Big three .
Bleach IS
@@Heartbreak_KiddBleach
@@rijusnar1994 There's no such thing as a big three. Just a fanmade western term.
@@dizzyb2309 yes a fanmade western term .
So there IS a concept of Big three but only among westerners
If you were a fan of Itachi, you should check out the Itachi light novels, it shows all the events of the Uchiha massacre from his POV. It's got some of the most emotional moments of the whole series, definitely worth a read!
I think Kaguya, being a mythological reference like many other characters, could have benefitted a lot from just getting name-dropped back when Jiraiya was doing the exposition for the Rinnegan and the Sage of Six Paths. We would have maybe wondered, "like, so was he half-moonfolk or something?" and then Kaguya wouldn't have felt quite so out of nowhere when she showed up.
The talk no jutsu can be a lot throughout the series, but I think it speaks to one of the biggest things of Naruto which is that empathy more than anything can unite people and is essential to stopping future war
Nah it just becomes boring and predictable and childish.
Which quickly becomes childish if you look at reality. Empathy cannot stop Greed, arguably the biggest cause of wars. Plus empathy can cause conflicts on its own too. Just look at how the world is torn between Israel and Palestine.
It's nice to be positive and all, but when a story tries to give a clear cut answer that isn't actually true, it gives birth to stupid people who completely believe in it.
I think that is a very jaded way to look at the world. Empathy can't stop wars, in fact that's the only way that wars actually stopped, unless you're actively killing everybody there. Yes greed is a problem, but empathy across the masses can and has actively stopped wars before
@@zakanyimen look if you like Naruto for the punch fighting, that's fine. And I'm not discussing the actual execution of it per se. I simply say that the talk no jutsu speaks to the themes of empathy in naruto
it’s ass
Love the vid merphy can’t wait for your thoughts on the following parts of JoJo’s and I hope you can also read/watch bleach so you can finish the big 3 checklist
Thank you so much for shouting out Konan v Obito. It was my absolute favorite fight in the whole series.
nah girl be harsher!! it's a review, afterall. it's for your genuine feelings!!
I think the plot beats and themes repeating over and over is good in Naruto. Because Naruto is continually being tested in his ideal and the whole story is to make sure he is unwavering stance.
The kaguya ass-pull was the worst thing in the series imo.
Thankfully the Naruto vs Sasuke fight at the very end felt very cathartic and climactic.
I feel like Madara initially had a much simpler plan but he had to adjust like a million times so it ended up looking really convoluted in the end.
That's the impression i got anyway. I mean we see him improvise & adjust his plan in real time during the war.
Didn't understand how something was done?? "Hashirama cells"
I feel often people forget kish, oda, and so many more have said time and time again they write their stories for 10-15 year old boys. If people happen to clamor to these works in later stages of life that’s cool, but they’re not the target
Exactly, it's no surprise that shounens are extremely optimistic in their outlook. They're a weekly series written for kids/young teens filled with idealism.
Naturally, you're going to find them a bit simplistic/one-note as you grow up.
The reason madara can heal and take eyeballs out and put them in is due to hashirama's cells implanted in him iirc. Hashirama (and the wood style in general) have extreme healing properties. I do think Naruto as a whole is one of those where your willingness to deal with its bs determines how much you enjoy it. Kishimoto is a heavy handed writer, which lends itself to very high highs and lows that last longer than they should. I also think the narrative suffers from being weekly shonen, I think there are a few points where it feels like he wanted to wrap it up and the editors were like "nah bro, 50 more chapters". Glad you enjoyed though!
I think power that allows Madara to heal like that is not Hashirama cells but it’s Ying-Yang release ( Inyoton) which is the power of creation that he had after becoming the Ten tails Jinchuriki
Totally agree, some bad guys should've stayed bad or at least "earned" that redemption. But there's tons of videos/discussions on the power of Narutos talk no jutsu lol.
Does anyone know how she feels about the one piece fake out deaths? Because those are very popular in that series more.
doesn't like it either
I don't think it's fair to say that the show is to positive, because this is a battle shounen (and more so aimed at the younger part of the spectrum).
The whole point of the story is that black zetsu is trying to release Kaguya from her seal, by making it so that someone casts infinite tsukuyomi. Past reincarnations always failed in achieving this despite zetsu's manipulations, until Madara came along (in the end Madara was only ever going to be a pawn for Zetsu). This is why it doesn't necessarily matter if Madara just leaves his vision up to a kid, Zetsu is also their helping guide Obito, but Madara doesn't know that Zetsu has already calculated his odds himself. If this generation would have failed, Zetsu would have just tried again with the next generation (Sasuke would have been a good candidate himself at multiple parts in the story id Madara didn't exist.
So now Zetsu finally found a way to free Kaguya through Madara's infinite tsukuyomi, only to be sealed away right again by the next generation of Naruto and Sasuke. Showing that in the end good should win over evil any time. But also the concept of balance in good and evil (the most evil thing ever just happened and got balanced out again by good, returning to a war torn civilization that is trying to pick the pick up the pieces).
Wow! These were my exact thoughts when I ended the series, at point I was even confused why people hate Sakura more than Sasuke
Because Sasuke is a better written character.
It explains A LOT trauma and how it affects people's mindset.
Sasuke is the only well written character in that series
@@rajashiyam1386 Itachi is better written than Sasuke
@@D__634 ok explain me how good as a spy it is?
Simply you can't.
He didn't deliver info on Danzo,nor the anbu.
Even Konoha hasn't ANY info on Obito or the other Akatsuki's member nor he provided plans to counter them.
Basically it was a deus ex macchina to throw away Sasuke from Konoha because he was seen as the better hero than even Naruto.
Basically Kishimoto he thinked that Sasuke fought Itachi at HIS FULL POWER.
Especially considering the wild statement from Kurama that Sasuke and Madara were in the same ocular and chakra prowess.
@@stefanocremonini2656 eh personally I never found Sasuke particularly compelling as a character, he always felt like he needed just a little bit more to show how his thinking was changing over time.
I agree lol. Unecessary redemptions suck. Obitos was fitting, but it was something that was being repeated
@Merphy It just so happens to that Naruto: The Last, and Boruto: Naruto the Movie (which were two of the last things written by Kishimoto before handing Boruto off) were both added to Netflix this week.
Both Movies actually add additional context to Kaguya without her being directly involved.
It has been an absolute blast catching onto your channel years ago as a booktuber covering classics, fantasy, and contemporary books and watching you fall in love with One Piece and starting anime and manga.
But watching you talk about the n broad daylight how the side characters in Naruto are more engaging than the NarutoxSasuke plot after following this series for actual decades has become something else! :D
I definitely recognize Naruto has its low points, but I generally don't remember them as vividly as the high points, so I'm often dismayed when people snub it as if it's not one of the best manga/anime. Maybe the main thing I remember not liking was the final lore drop + Kaguya at the end, but the rest I was fairly on board with (though you're not wrong the redemptions got out of hand). Maybe it's because I read it week to week for so long over the years, but I definitely built more attachment to it than I did while binging HxH or FMA, which are often given more praise, though I think are far from perfect either. The core story of Naruto sticks with me more than most.
Agreed
Oh what good or not-good writing can do to a beloved story. I have never went back to Naruto, but I often reread story beats pertaining Rock Lee, Gaara and Sai. Literally the only favs of mine
(I swear this is the last comment, ALSO congrats on finishing Naruto. So happy to see there are still people going to read the manga because the anime just does so much injustice to it)
Maybe I just have to re-read the encounter, but I don't think the intention for that scene was to redeem Rasa(Gaara's dad), because even in the flashback and when he first sees Gaara he's still got this "Prove you're worth existing" "Show me you're not a failure" ass mentality, still not looking at Gaara as his literal child.
What I think that scene was actually for, was to confirm to us that Yashamaru lied to Gaara about his mom and that Gaara's mom actually did deeply love Gaara. Which just goes back into these themes of motherhood/parenthood that the series went heavily into since Naruto met Minato and Kushina
Im glad that u seemingly enjoyed the re-incarnation twist as it was really controversial at the time (still kind of is today) due to a common misconception people had on naruto as a whole. For some reason, for many people naruto was an underdog story about using pure hardwork to create bonds and get stronger against all odds vs Natural born talent. When it clearly never was since it was already well established that naruto himself was born with the power of kurama, part of a powerful clan, and the fourth hokages son well before the twist. Also if that was the core theme then Lee would have won against gaara and naruto wouldnt have needed Kurama's aid to defeat neji and etc.
I thought most of the war arc was trash tbh. I hated how they made characters appear so weak, like how Kankuro defeated Sasori? Or Hidan and Asuma defeated by weaker shinobis
I think just from Kabuto letting them have their memories is already so dumb. They would've won if right from the start he makes them killing machine. And the whole Obito announcing war is so useless, if he could just get that nine tailed beast chakra from Kabuto or went straight to Naruto with all his forces.
That's the most shallow complaint
Same as you
It has many highs that are really high
But it has many lows too
But overall it is one of my favourite series
Yea finding out Naruto’s parents and Jiraya being an honorary grandfather doesn’t mesh well and make sense with the beginning and how Naruto grew up. The only explanation which is me being charitable is people fear and hatred of the Nine tailed fox and what it did superseded any admiration or loyalty to Naruto’s parents. One thing I will never forgive the author for though is letting Guy live after using the checkovs gun that is the 8 gates but Nenji dies in the exact way he didn’t want to as a child,the same way his father died and how he was destined to die and trying to fight against that cruel fate. Naruto and Sasuke and are fighting fate to make a new destiny but Nenji technically dies the way destiny wanted.
absolute agree with the conclusion. it is a series that will always be special to me, but is so hard to bring myself to recommend other people engage with.
I too read the manga mostly, but I highly recommend some anime-original scenes, if you can track them down. particularly the scene with Shikamaru and his dad in the wake of Asuma's death, and some of the scenes of Naruto grieving Jiraiya and chatting with Iruka or Shikamaru.
No I think you articulated it well. Repeating the same plot beats over and over and over......and over so that eventually we just become inured to it, that's a a big problem sometimes in shounen.
Side note I wish if Kushina had been brought back for the final battle like Minato. And with Kaguya's presence, it could've been cool thematically to contrast a mother against mother sort of thing. Kind of like Ripley against the Alien queen, is what I have in mind.
You should consider reading Boruto, it's much shorter and I'd consider it a bit darker thematically which may suite your tastes. It's definitely controversial but I think the general consensus is that the manga is pretty good when given a fair shot.
Congratulations on finishing Naruto! Any chance we can get you to read Bleach? Of the big 3 it was my favorite tho I think One Piece is a technically better series…
She will be reading Bleach. It's not the manga next up, but it is on the short term list
@@Lynn-CAthat’s great news!
I appreciate the way you showed love to the series. The war in a nutshell to me was sweaty. There were so many moving parts that didn't fully come together. BUT those moments that were amazing. My biggest issue with the series overall was the ending. Space aliens without any priming or illusions or proper foreshadowing, it's giving sweaty.
I mean Naruto went on this whole destiny rant that hard work beats genius only for him to be the reincarnation of a god that can heal anything and create eyeballs rendering Sakura even more useless
That’s most Shonen protagonists. Luffy was literally gifted the most powerful df, trained by Gold Roger’s right hand man and his grandfather who is the hero of the marines. Like what protags aren’t special?
@@steveromero8459 Just because it's a trend doesn't mean its good I saw no one complaining that Goku was just a human with a tail I did see a lot of people complain when he was randomly made an alien though
True, Naruto parents flashback is another lovely good piece of story 💖🖤 (and the anime adaptation gave it more justice as well 😭👊)
Naruto is definitely a flawed story but we chose to love it
Naruto is so amazing despite his flaws. I hate that the manga artist didn't try to make him perfect :(
Oh yeah maddy crazy as a box of badgers he lucked out SO HARD.
Loony toons better planning the rascal he dumb, half why we love em.
Most of your gripes with the story can be summarised by "Well... Kishimoto just lost the plot". He had a very strong baseline with the first part of Naruto, but instead of building on this foundation to tell the story Naruto was at the beginning, he turned it into powercreep-land with on-the-spot instant story arcs without much regard about the narrative cohesion of the entire thing. He kept making the Sharingan more and more potent, disregarding the rules he established (especially in relation to the Sharingan and Byakugan)
Rewatching/Rereading the start of Naruto after the end is wild, it doesn't feel like the same world at all. The main characters and antagonists for 70% of the manga are still strong narratively though, so it carried the lackluster worldbuilding and story to the finish line.
I'm not saying a writer can't break his own rules and take the story in new directions, but wow, Naruto has to be my biggest disappointment as a manga reader when it comes to its final arcs.
And don't even get me started on the complete waste of Neji as a character... (and basically all the secondary cast in favor of on-the-spot "instant characters, just add trauma" )
Isn't one piece is doing the Same rn. Beginning of the series until now it's completely changed to the point that it doesn't make sense
Plus the amount of retcons in one piece doesn't come close to that of Narutos
@@badkarma450 if your saying the series currently doesnt make sense i think its a matter of reading comprehension.
Agree
@@badkarma450 Does it though ? Appart from Luffy's fruit, I don't see revelations that impact the early stages of One Piece, and even that is explained in universe in a cohesive way and is weaved into the worldbuilding. If anything, the One Piece retcons make the start of the manga better, not worse.
And that's basically it honestly, I don't see what was retconned without purpose or in a way that doesn't make the story stronger and make more sense. I'm curious to hear what you have that I'm missing.
The powercreep is natural in one piece because we never saw the "top" of the pirate world at the start, when in Naruto Kakashi and Zabuza are supposed to be top-tier ninja that get powercrept by early Shippuden characters like it's nothing, with Haku being an anomaly when it comes to how strong he is (hereditary techniques and all that).
In comparison, One Piece showed us Shanks and Mihawk at the start. The first never showed his strength, only his Haki. The second played with Zorro for a while and then peaced out until Marineford.
EDIT: The only thing I constantly roll my eyes at in One Piece is the inability of Oda to just let characters die.
There's also the fact that some arcs are too long for my taste in the New World, but that's because I loved when One Piece was more about the crew going from island to island on an adventure, instead of the high stakes battles we have now. But it's just the natural progression, there's nothing wrong with it, every step is there.
@@arenkaiOne Piece has been great because so many of the major players still in the story have been looming in the background for like ever. There are new characters, but the original bigs of the world haven't been surpassed and replaced.
Crazy to have a series go on this long and the necessary power increase hasn't pushed out the original top-end characters.
Breaking the cycle of hatred, not repeating the same mistakes and giving a second chance is what Naruto as a series wanted to bring. So yeah, youre gonna see lots of them played out
Naruto is always going to be a little special to me partly because of the themes, partly due to the motivation of the main character, and partly because of the specific time in my life I first encountered it. I think for those reasons it is still my favorite "battle shonen".
However, I mostly agree with your criticisms here. The side characters with lots of potential were not developed, some of the developments at the end had insufficient foreshadowing, and I never enjoyed Sasuke as a character very much. I also like the war arc significantly less than the rest of Shippuden, its not a totally irredeamable ending, but it is a bit underwhelming compared to the high expectations I had of the series. The war arc had all the epic moments I would have wanted the series to hit, I'm even fine with Kaguya in theory, but those high-points often felt unearned without the proper development and foreshadowing to "build-up the impact". I don't really agree that the story needs to be "darker" and like the redemptions, but I do think characters other than Naruto/Sasuke needed to be more relevant. Neji is the best example. His final part could have been highly impactful, but instead came out of nowhere, and left one of the most potentially interesting plotlines from the early series feel both abandoned and unresolved. A Death coming out of nowhere in a war story can be great but in Naruto's war arc, they never leave the impact they should. Similarly the reunion of all the tailed Beasts is something that I felt should have hit hard, but felt like it lacked the impact/ stakes I would have expected from it.
Beyond that I also Naruto's early childhood experience is profoundly odd with the reveal of his dad's identity. It could be explained by fear of the fox, but the motivations for his treatment and living conditions feel underexplored. I also think some of the early themes of hard-work vs. talent are undermined by Naruto being a reincarnated son of an ancient being ( on top of a hokage's son and member of a clan with large amounts of mana). A couple of his advantages are fine to justify how has the potential to overcome his weaknesses and become powerful but piling them up like the series does at the end bothers me.
A lot of your points are so accurate XD - If you want a anime that is so much "HOPE AND FRIENDSHIP" watch Fairy Tail. I can bash on it all I want since its my favorite anime (for now), cause its chaotic fun, you might enjoy it ^_^
Such a pleasure seeing your Naruto journey! Really hope you revisit the series at some point and make more videos (maybe with Boruto! but only if you want to)
There are two scenes which really have stucked with me and moves me every time:
The scene where Naruto confront and makes peach with his inner darkness.
And the speach "Cycle of hatred" from Pain/Nagato
Naruto's fixation on Sasuke relates to the fact Sasuke was someone who put his life on the line to protect him - someone like him, Naruto, who he himself viewed in a light of "I am not worth this by a fellow teammate or child". This is why Naruto was fixated, to him Sasuke is his brother. Just like Sasuke is fixated on his brother Itachi. Sasuke's separation from his brother was much longer too lol. Naruto breaks the idea that brothers are just blood - for him, Iruka was like an older brother as well for a similar feat. So Naruto wanted to save his "brother" Sasuke from going down a road that would not improve anything for anyone, Naruto sought genuine change to the ninja world and felt a responsibility toward Sasuke.
We need to get type-moon on her radar it’s the strongest franchise in anime with their base abilities giving them immeasurable speed. & my power scaling playlist has all the proof we need, my essay playlist also proves it has the best written characters in anime especially in the girl aspect.(which some shonen struggle with) Like generic anime channel’s shirou vid, it’s billion$ budget & ufotable come together to give us peak animation of any year they drop or period. It’s also the lotr of anime with lore on lore & galore.
Suprised you didn't talked about the last page ! With the little One piece logo on the naruto head
I have got through the series. I think you should read the various light novels in your spare time whenever you get the chance because they offer up a lot of information on stuff and maybe check out the sequel series Boruto. But yeah, the light novel information on a lot of stuff also. Naruto‘s true identity was kept, because his dad had a bunch of enemies, and if they found out that he was his mom and dad‘s child people would’ve showed up to the village to kill him or kidnap him. However, I still agree that that was not a good way to go about having him be raised in the way he was raised. I feel like there could’ve been stuff done so much better for his childhood and still managed to keep him protected From his parents enemies, but I digress.
I really loved your final review Merphy ! Thank you so much !
Naruto is not a perfect series by any means, but it's an enjoyable ride. Introducing Kaguya at the very end always felt like an afterthought. In retrospect, she feels like a last minute narrative thread leading into Boruto.
Yeah that hope thing is really unrealistic.
Ahhhh watching this brings so many emotions back to me. The anime definitely has plenty of shortcomings, but I can't help but love it.