No matter how bogged down it felt by filler, they could never have spent enough time making everything fit together in a well defined time frame. There is just WAAAY too much going on. Which could have been good, if the characters actually worked in those confines. To fight for time. Instead, it feels like everything is perfectly natural, when, even in the story, it is not.
Well I prefer manga to anime for that reason exactly. You can control the pacing while reading the manga, where you're just along for the ride in the anime 😅
Fun fact. Sanji from One Piece was originally supposed to be called Naruto (hence the whole swirl aspect of his eye brows and his relation to food). But Naruto the manga was right about to begin its first serialization, and Oda, who was and still is a close friend of Masashi Kishimoto decided to change the name in order to avoid confusing readers and taking attention away from the newly serialized manga because One Piece was alread established by this point while this was Kishimoto's first (And if things don't go well could have been his last, a risk all mangakas have to take) serialized publication.
@@valentds i agree but would u mind elaborating if u have the time for it? i've always loved sasuke's character in OG naruto but something about him in shippuden just never clicked. he has his moments and great arcs, but most of the time he felt like a slugfest to sit through and i just never know where to point my finger at. it's just something. i thought he was very well written in shippuden but i think it's the fact that he survives everything all the time, i guess?
I hated him at first and honestly it didn’t get much better. I mean I guess I never got over him abandoning the village. But he’s cool these days I guess.
Editor-san, only 50 seconds in and youve already captured the essence of early naruto and the impact it had on YT and the internet as a whole. NARUTO LINKIN PARK AMV. You really are the best Editor.
Mark mentioning Naruto’s kindness when faced with others like himself in the first review, this guy’s got the Byakugan for real to spot that key element so soon
I know, right? It really made me remember that "he's/she's just like me" is a sentence I recall Naruto thinking to himself many, many times. And it starts in the first freakin' arc.
Well, Mark has been reviewing Dragon Ball and other series for quite a while, so I wouldn't expect him to miss such things. Heck, Mark's videos literally made me go watch JoJo AND Naruto. I'm hooked to these series. Dragon Ball is still my favourite tho tbh.
What I like about Naruto as a character is that his main motivation is simple, he just wants to be loved. He grew up hated by just about everyone in his village, and he doesn't know why, so he wants to change that by becoming Hokage.
Yup - Becoming Hokage at first seems like a weird goal. You wanna become Ninja President? Do you even care about politics? But that's not what he's on about. He sees the Hokage as someone everybody respects, likes and loves to a degree even. Since he never got loved to a satisfying degree at all during his childhood, he now wants ALL of it. And he sees the Hokage as someone who gets this respect. Not randomly, either, he never just begs people to make him Hokage. No. He knows he has to earn that right. Man it's a simple, but very relatable emotion. He just wants to be loved. I can relate to that still, even when I am an adult.
Naruto realizing that it becoming Hokage is not what makes everybody love and respect you, and that it is instead the love and respect of everyone in the village that makes you Hokage, is one of the series strongest points. I say this as a total Naruto cynic, as much as I disliked pretty much the entire last quarter of this series, I appreciate the strength of this one aspect.
@@tobiramasenju6290 *child of prophecy. The only thing Naruto was destined for was his fight with Sauske and the continuation of the cycle of hatred that it represented. A prophecy is just a prediction of the future. What's really unfair is that he was born an uzamaki, the son of the fourth hokage, AND was the nine tail jinchuriki
As happy as I am that he’s covering naruto, skipping over Zabuza and Haku’s arc is criminal. My favorite arc overall in the whole series. The arc that hooked me into this world
@@Play1nWithFire First off 11 months ago so F off with all that nonsense I’m talking about lazy on how he skipped Zabuza and Haku arc, but you would know that if you watch the damn video. No one saying that the video was bad but he was lazy day he skipped over Zabiza and Haku arc when he was reviewing the land of waves which is a big part of the first arc of Naruto.
I think it’s fair to say that the final encounter with Zabuza and Haku on the bridge is one of the greatest emotional highs in the *entire* series (being, gritty, thrilling, tragic, and hopeful all in one arc), and it's where I personally fell in love with the story as well. Glad to see it had that same effect on you too Mark 😁
I love the early parts of these series but I can't stress how bad the later parts become and how twisted it ruined it's messages retroactively. Man still wacht the first few seasons every now and then. But God watching anything after that pisses me of.
@@christianlangdon3766 same....honestly I kinda liked the first 80 or so episodes of the Boruto anime more than anything after the Five Kage Summit, just felt more inline with the earlier part of the series...you know minus that one fight
The part of "Naruto is you" is real, as a kid I always felt closer to Naruto than any other protagonist in media. I always felt dorky, disliked, lonely, and I reacted to those feelings like Naruto does at the beginning, trying to make everybody laugh at my own expense, lmao. It still hurts looking back, but i remember that watching characters like Naruto made it better. Aight, cringy comment over, lmao. Hope you like the series Mark.
@@sevan2234 for example people who didnt watch naruto would think that he did to signfy death but would be surprised to see it actually belongs to someone. but now since he did most people would now know the crows represent someone.
Or wait until the god damn fucking filler, holy hell. Every time I've rewatched this show it has been with a filler guide, and the story becomes soooooooooooooooo much shorter.
The speech that naruto gives to zabuza after Haku died still hits hard. Also sadly I wish u could have gone in depth of what zabuza and Haku represent to naruto to his journey of being hokage. How these ninja conflict with naruto version of being a strong ninja not in service to himself but to others. While zabuza uses Haku as another tool. Which hardens back to Kakashi teachings of friends in the beginning of team 7 formation. Comes full circle when naruto calls out zabuza for treating another human being who loves him and wants his happiness as another tool. Thats when naruto uses his technique that will be fleshed out throughout the series of talking to his enemies and changing them to see the error of their ways. Like when zabuza did to kill the guy who hired him. Which gave everyone else the courage and fight back. To prove that even though zabuza did horrible things he can be redeemed and go to the place where Haku is gone. I wished you could have included them in your analysis but none-the-less, this was a great vid!!!!
Bruuuuuh my thoughts exactly. It’s as if he’s trying not to spoil the show too much? I highly doubt that anyone who watches these reviews haven’t already finished the entire show so I find it as a weird trend from him ever since he finished his one piece videoes
I am shocked at how little you actually talked about Zabuza. His death has always hit me emotionally. Overall he was such a good starter villain for the series. He perfectly set the tone for how cold a world of ninjas could actually be, but then seeing his true feelings at the end mourning over Haku is heart breaking. On the other side, I am also surprised by how little attention you gave to Kakashi. He is one of the most beloved teacher characters in all of anime and manga. The early revelation of him having the sharingan, and the impact that would have on Sasuke is huge. Maybe you will get more into these details as you go. This opening also completely set up the power system for the entire story. You get almost every detail here on how chakra and jutsu work, which is the entire basis of the fights throughout. A big thumbs up for planting the seeds of not liking Sakura's character early.
Yeah, this shocked me too. I get he was focused on Naruto, but... the bridge arc was the emotional zenith for Naruto in a lot of ways, and EVERY character (not just Naruto) had their depth explored and developed in hugely meaningful ways. Including the antagonists. Idk, it's just strange to not speak much on how it affected him beyond Naruto momentarily raging out (which was a strong moment yes, but hardly the only one worth speaking on in this arc).
@@DLxxx yeah this fight is a developmental cornerstone for most of these characters. Kakashi thanks Zabuza in the end for the impact he had on his students. They held no ill will toward him in the end because he was just performing his mission like they were. Even going into why he was a rogue ninja, and how they understood how he was pushed to that point plants the seeds for huge future developments. I love Mark's videos, but I really feel like he dropped the ball with this one. It was such a short arc, but he managed to miss so much. He focused on such small things far too long, and kept repeating points a lot, but skipped over the actual huge story points and character building.
I’m so glad to see him review this absolute classic. I remember first watching it on Cartoon Network as a kid and it holds a special place in my heart. Welcome to the ninja world Mark
@@wuthurer funny enough after finishing dbz (my first anime) i started naruto finally lol (this was when i was a few years older and toonami was no longer on cn)
The Land of Waves arc was truly a masterpiece of story telling in my opinion. Of the "Big 3" manga from the 00s(Naruto, Bleach, One Piece), I thought Naruto easily had the strongest first major arc of the three.
@@michaelmclellan3964 kakashi strength, his ability to use the sharingan, the difficulty effectiveness and the requirement of hand seals to do high level jutsus, kakashi copying abilities, there are many retcons
@@michaelmclellan3964 they also changed the power gap between genin chunin and jonin. As well as changed the environment. Like in later naruto the crap they pulled with the shadow clone shuriken transformation. Would never work
@@EmeraldaKasim I always loved how early Ultimate Ninja (UN 1 and 2 especially) tried to imitate the manga look with colors. Ultimate Ninja Storm may have brought the anime style and spectacle to the next level, sure… but early Ultimate Ninja is still charming as heck.
I think my favorite thing about Naruto, is that while he is in a way a typical shonen protagonist, seeing him act vulnerable, understandbly scared, and even having panic attacks felt so fresh when compared with other typical heroes of my childhood. And even nowadays, having a shonen protagonist be so doubtful of himself isn't a common occurance and I dare say Naruto is the only one who did it realistically. Like it's either one extreme or the other but never the perfect blend.
@@mr.penguin4614 he actually does it more realistically people are bullshitting themselves acting like naruto wasn’t super confident 95% of the time. He’s as hard headed and crude as the rest of shonen mc’s
It definitely carried a bulk of early Naruto's comedic element. I wouldn't have been mad if he bought it back for when Naruto used the special jutsu on bunny chick. That woulda been great.
the way I see is that inner sakura was the real sakura, and the lovely cute sakura was her trying to be "more feminine" for sasuke. Because there is this thing that everybody says that sakura looks like a boy, or she is not feminine, so she hides the true self from people. Buuuuut, in shippuden, she has a offscreen character arc and she is accepting more who she is, so the inner and outter sakura merges into sakura shippuden, thats why we dont see anymore. You can tell that sakura shippuden is more open to say what she really wants to say, and be angry around people, so she doesnt need that anymore
WOW DUDE, OMG GOOD LUCK! I always get excited seeing you start new stuff cuz it gets me more confident to get into newer things I never tried. Naruto's been something I've always debated whether or not it's worth watching. Can't wait to hear what you've got to say!
Naruto is the daddy to every manga/anime blowing up these days. You can see it’s obvious influence in stuff like AoT, JJK, chainsaw man, fire force, Kaiju no 8, demon slayer on and on and on
@@TrueGamer22887 I'd say the big ones Naruto influenced were My Hero Academia and Black Clover with their "Loser child gets power from outside source and succeeds" concept. Most other things take heavier influence from Dragon Ball (primarily) and Berserk -- at the end of the day, Naruto took influence from Dragon Ball.
"He's...me, you, us. He's that kid with a chip on his shoulder, something to prove..." this line with sadness and sorrow playing in the background brought me back to 2005 all over again. Damn that hurt my old soul, but welcome to the journey and enjoy it while it lasts. Naruto is unlike any other shonen out there. It was one of The Big 3 for a reason!
Excellent first introduction to Naruto, it's a story literally millions and millions of people hold very dear to them and as you said, first impressions matter greatly, whether you liked it or not is not the issue, it's how you presented your view on it with a very constructed style, I'm very impressed tbh. You seem to have a very well sophisticated way of reviewing mangas and that as weird as it is, clicked with me immensely ever since watching your first Berserk review. Great video Mark, I can't wait for the next Naruto & Berserk review, and you have earned a new subscriber!
I’m so excited to see what Mark’s take on the series will be. Something that the majority of us have grown up on seen through the eyes of a new reader/viewer will never not be interesting af to watch!
As of now, he seems to have hit the nail on the head Let's hope the toxic part of the comunity doesn't go balistic like it did with Jacksepticeye when he dared to say he found Sakura annoying, seeing as Mark said she seems to have no character of her own as of now
I kind of expected that he would talk about Haku and Zabuza more since this fight and their interactions with Naruto tell so much about the world and themes of the story. But maybe in the next video. Super pumped for this series tho, Naruto is one of the series that I cant get enough of seeing people experience it for the first time. It's gonna be a ride for sure!
It really can only be appreciated further into the series I think he hadn't had time to fully comprehend the significance and brilliance of this conflict
Same, honestly it wasn't really Sasuke, Kakashi, or even Naruto that initially struck me the most as a kid, it was Zabuza. He WAS the world of Naruto. Dark, violent, murderous, hard as a fucking rock, but all that concealing a deeply, deeply buried sadness that things have to be the way they are. He was absolutely CRITICAL to establishing the story of Naruto, and the CHARACTER of Naruto as a counterpoint to that world as someone who was unafraid to call it out, as he hasn't been corrupted by it yet.
@@christianrowe992 Why? They're the most central characters to this arc. You don't need to know what happens after, to appreciate what they added to the story. Especially with the last scene between them. Really strange how he just skipped talking about the most important characters for the arc. He talked more about Sakura, who barely did anything during this time. Also he kinda skipped Kakashi as well.
I binged Naruto and Shippuden in 1 month last year. It just gets better as you enter the Chunin Exams, and then going into Shippuden. Can't wait to see your review on it!
@@sloesty Shippuden made me feel more emotion than the earlier arcs ever could. I'd say what they are but I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't watched/read.
Iruks's friendship means so much to Naruto, he has no other friends, so he really sees Iruka as more like an older brother. So when you feel really attached to him that's because that's how Naruto feels and this is his story :)
As someone who grew up reading Naruto, I'm glad you're covering and enjoying it so far- your honesty and clear passion for manga as a medium has been really refreshing for me. Hope you enjoy the rest of your time with the series!
The shonen that has made me cry like a baby the most.The shot of young Naruto sitting the swing watching at the kids with their parents makes me tear up in nanoseconds. The music is immaculate too.
Faraway Paladin (the manga, not the anime, as I haven't watched that yet) is ostensibly a shonen manga that hammers your feels every couple of chapters. It's nowhere near finished, but it's so worth a read. Just, don't expect rereads to be an easy experience.
Working my way through right now (spoilers for the third arc of Shippuden): Asuma’s death made me cry for the first time watching Naruto, if only for a second. Then Shikamaru broke down and I cried for much longer.
I'm honestly really surprised by how few major shonen Mark has actually watched considering he originally built this channel off of talking about Dragon Ball. It's great to see him enjoying it so much now!
This doesn’t fit mark, but at least in the states it seemed like dragon ball was more or less mainstream even 2000-2010, but other anime were still considered weird even though they aired with dragon ball.
@@TrueGamer22887 Did he grow up in the states? For some reason I thought he grew up in Ireland. Either way, yeah, it makes sense he wouldn't have grown up on it. I'm still surprised he didn't at least seek it out later in life, if for no reason than to see how other popular shonen is handled.
@@TrueGamer22887 To maybe add some perspective, when I was a kid (in Canada btw) Dragon Ball Z aired alongside Sailor Moon and I watched it every morning. Then there was the whole FoxBox/4kids thing which introduced/ruined One Piece, Shaman King, Zatch Bell, etc. Naruto and Bleach came along later after 4kids had already kinda ruined anime's reputation as a medium. So for me at least, Dragon Ball was just another cartoon and it wasn't until I started seeking out anime that I discovered Naruto, which also aired much later at night alongside Bleach.
I was a dragon ball/pokemon kid growing up. When I heard talks about Naruto I just assumed it was some dragon ball rip off and ignored it completely. But once I gave it a shoot, like you said I felt Naruto represented me perfectly. I too felt those inadequacies. A kid who loved being silly when all my other cohorts or adults in my life would tell me to stop being that way and ridicule me for it. A reject who no one really thought anything of. Seeing Naruto try his hardest and never giving up despite being no one special really struck a cord for me. It gave me the strength to never stop moving forward, even if I wasn't doing it exactly like him and was just giving it enough just to survive. During those times, its no understatement to say I was facing depression and suicidal thoughts, I still struggle with that to this day. But seeing Naruto keep on trying and rather than waiting for maybe someday for fate or God or whatever to make his life better, he got up on his own and forged it himself. Its no understatement to say Naruto saved me life; its still saving my life, and it most likely has done so for so many others. I believe that to be the reason it had the staying power that it did (that and being a story of ninjas which is just plain cool lol). Loved the part of your video going into what made Naruto as a character special, and how it was almost a self insert for Kishimoto himself too. I feel a lot of us can relate to these kinds of emotions. Really excited to watch you go through this series. I hope it can have an impact on you like it did for me and many others!
I don't know what lockdown would've been without Mark's essays. Thank you so much. Putting words to the emotions I felt to the things that inspired me throughout my whole life, thank you.
I was just like yeahhh that's about right, honestly I'm suprised he thought that so quickly. I was actually pretty ok with Sakura for the first few arcs, and when she had that big "ephinany" moment when trying to protect Naruto and sasuke. I thought great she's going to be more active now, and then she fought to a draw with Ino and all my interest in the charachter just evaporated. With her insisting she did "everything she could" to stop Sauske being the final straw. I had a little hope when Shippuden came but that got squashed with the Sasori fight. When an old lady is doing better than your main female lead there's a problem hehe.
Yeah, and fixing early Sakura would have been easy. She was depicted as the class brainiac so they just had to USE that. Have Sakura see through the Bell test and be forced to find a way to convince Naruto and Sasuke to work together. Have her notice the Demon Brothers' genjutsu. Have her defend Tazuna with traps and genjutsus during the bridge battle. Have her see through the genjutsu at the start of the chunin exams and point it out to her team-mates. Have her beat Ino. Have her actually try to stop Sasuke when he leaves the village and even try to fight him. Have her join the retrieval mission and fight the flute girl Tayuya in a genjutsu battle. Basically show her using her ninja training in ANY WAY WHATSOEVER! As a ninja there were so many ways she could use her natural intellect to be as effective as her team mates while being different from them. She didn't have to end up a knock-off Tsunade who never actually contributed anything.
@@Cloud-dt6xb you wanted sakura to win that fight? Just wouldn’t of worked considering she was much weaker than anyone else who passed into the finals.
@@randomahnameisthename3147 That is so not a good excuse and Ino not only is just as bad as her she's even weaker than her there was NO excuse for that to be a draw. And it was the start of her being in a constant loop where she promises to get stronger, has like one real fight and then backslides immediately after that.
@@Cloud-dt6xb she literally has no justu barley any hand to hand combat experience and no use of Chaka control in that fight. The fact sakura didn’t actually lose that fight is what shocks me. You can say she “backslides” but let’s look at the timeline of events. During the konoha Crush it’s only a few days after the chunin exams and she had no trainer. During the tsunade retrieval again no one to teach her until the end of the arc where she asks lady tsunade to teach her in medical ninjitsu. She literally could not of stopped sasuke even if she wanted to. Talking him out of it was her best move. Then the time-skip happens where when you consider where she used to be she improved more than naruto overall. So I would disagree on that she broke her promise. It doesn’t make any sense if sakura beat ino considering that would put her character in a position she’s not ready for. Considering she’s only 1 of the 5 of the shinobi that fought against kaguya and was the only 1 out of them not fighting with enhancements I would say she’s pretty fucking strong at that point.
IM GONNA CRY I'M SO EXCITED TO WATCH YOU WATCH THIS INCREDIBLE SERIES!! Naruto taught me to never give up on my dreams, and I've always kept that mindset with me even after all these years and all the hardships I've faced. It's an inspiring story like NO OTHER
Land of the Waves is still one of my favorite arcs in any shonen manga, not just Naruto. It's gritty, yet hopeful. Humorous, yet serious. It also paints the world of Naruto and the state it is in very effectively in just one short arc.
Cool to see Mark finally reviewing Naruto. His analysis of Sakura's role in the relationship between Naruto and Sasuke was great and highlighted to me exactly where Kishimoto went wrong with her character and the relationship between Team 7 later in the story.
He wasted too much time on her though, she is just a link between the main chars, she is just a normal girl from the village with no special skill until her training with Tsunade, therefore there simply isnt much to talk about her with the exception of complaining she aint more, he def should have spoken more about Kakashi and Zabuza for example.
@@aesir1ases64 I forgive him for that because remember Mark doesn't know all of that is going to happen. He's never read this series before and he's operating under the assumption that Sakura will probably end up being more prominent than she actually will be. The story presents her as a kind of third main character early on.
@@porkadillo9752 not just early, she is a third protagonist along the series , and somehow kishimoto could right the first background protagonist ever , this what makes her a really bad character
@@porkadillo9752 if there is one thing I will NEVER forgive naruto, is how it treats any character with a vagina. Even the final big bad, the sole female main antagonist, was screwed over with poor build up and an anticliamtic defeat
@@sarafontanini7051 *Spoiler for the very end* I didn't like Kaguya's appearance in the story at all, at the time it felt like pulling something out of his ass to move on from *another spoiler* Uchiha Madara. The only thing that makes Kaguya relevant is the aftermath(Boruto) and the introduction of the Otsutsuki.
I love how the artist made complex outfits but toned them down just for the anime, not realising they were planning to animate it, he personally apologised to the studio feeling guilty they had to his outfits but also that all his characters had open toed sandals lol
A minor thing I'm greatly looking forward to with this review series is the music. Naruto's music is wonderful, so being able to hear that while I get to relive nostalgia with someone's earnest enjoyment is great
I’m so excited for Mark to review this series!! As a kid, Naruto helped me discover my morals and values. He helped me discover how I want to treat people and how I believe people should treat others. I’ve cried so many times because of this story and the way the characters are built. Not to mention the visual and auditory aesthetic of the soundtrack during the show and also during the endings and openings! TOP TEIR 😫🥺😢😭
Everyone makes fun of talk to jutsu but I think it was important that throwing punches didn't solve everything. The morals in Naruto are excellent and I genuinely believe if you read and enjoy it you will come out a better person
What makes Naruto also special is that he refuses to go the way most ninjas will in that world. Most ninjas will turn cold and furfill their missions while hiding their personal feelings to it. Sasuke was already there and Kakashi and Zabuza’s fight was more strictly ninja stuff in comparison to Naruto and Sakura. These two were more naive to this world and didn’t understand the cruelty yet. Sakura turned scared and looked weak because of it while Naruto puts all his might, morals and emotions to a battle and upgrade them if needed just so he can have more power. What you will see in Naruto is mostly that Naruto will never lose his personality over a battle much like Goku. The big difference between Goku en Naruto is that Goku seems to have all the answers to his character already while Naruto has to yet look for them which will later on this series create some incredible conflicts and character development
@@jyotiarora9988 He meant that goku over most of the series literally has all the answers to his character and he doesn't change. Vegeta is older than goku and took all the series to reach a character conclusion, so did piccolo, gohan, etc. Being an adult doesn't put your character growth to an end unless that's the way the author wants it to be.
Goku not changing isn't necessarily a bad thing in my opinon, and it definitely creates some very good character moments, such as literally every single interaction Goku and Freeza have. The clash of two flat characters that change OTHERS around themselves.
Bro the Naruto Resurgence is freaking amazing right now, it feels like everyone is diving either back in or for the first time and I’m so glad and happy to be apart of it!
The story of Naruto is one very near and dear to my heart. I was introduced to it at a rough part of my childhood where everything was confusing and changing in my life. But when someone gifted me the first 3 volumes of the manga it really just connected with me ya know. So I hope you enjoy the series and I’m excited to watch these videos as they come out
@@XenithflareGaming You mean bone boi? Sand boi is nothing like Haku, they're not even remotely similar. Literal opposites, in fact. And it's legit a major plot point that they're literal opposites.
@@bit427 cmon bruh lol. Even though dbzs influence on manga industry is unparalleled and we wouldn't have many of the stories we have today without it, it's still one of the most mediocre mangas there is. That said i still love it and it's the story that made me love manga and anime.
I kinda fell off the show when I was younger once it hit filler city, but now I finally have an excuse to read it all from start to finish It's pretty refreshing to see a reviewer that doesn't call it peak fiction or complete trash
I recommend trying out the filler arc in the original anime now just because it adds a lot of character building that unfortunately the manga doesn't go into after the end of the Forest of Death. Seeing everyone slowly warm up to Naruto and how the kids don't actually hate him but just don't understand him adds a level of nuance and depth I feel might never be done that well again due to Naruto having a very specific writing style and character.
@@Junkyardproduxtions It does build some character, but the story feels too disconnected in the filler arcs. Most of the time, the arcs don't connect, and they don't make any impact to the character plots and plot in general, hence why it's called filler. They also drag onto you, and I found myself getting bored very very quickly while watching the filler.
@@Junkyardproduxtions Not to mention that is also the case for the anime in general. Even when it wasn't filler, the episodes felt painfully long because each one took too much time trying to progress the story, especially if the episode wasn't tackling a major plot point. To be honest, I would've enjoyed Naruto more if I had read the manga instead.
Only anime I think that connect every single character to main plot again is one piece. There are lot of cartoons/anime and TV shows that feature one time characters.
“Naruto is you” never thought a statement that explains my love of the character of Naruto Uzumaki could be so short and to the point. I guess, this comment would make some sense if I told my story. I was a bullied kid, lonely and outcasted due to being diagnosed with autism when I was young… growing up my Dad watched Dragon Ball with me and I loved it, but nothing else on tv felt like it. When I eventually discovered Naruto, I was visiting my uncle and one of the episodes of the Chunin Exams (a post Land of Waves arc) was playing, and it reminded me about Dragon Ball on the surface level to get me interested. When I started Naruto from the beginning, I felt like I was watching a story of a kid who was just like me… and when I discovered my passion for music, I too worked my butt off… and it was through Naruto that I learned about manga and how animes are often adapted from them. As I grew up, Naruto did too… I was in High School when Shippuden was airing, and so, as I continued to get older and wiser… as I continued to thrive in my ‘training’ so to speak, so did Naruto. I found myself inspired by Naruto’s story through my entire life… I guess what I’m trying to say is… the story of Naruto by Kishimoto touched me and became my favorite anime/manga of all time not only because the great art, music, games, etc… but also because Naruto as a character taught me things like perseverance… because he taught me about forgiveness… and the lesson that your limitations only define you if you let them… and we didn’t let them define us. The world of Naruto became like a second home to me… and now, both Naruto Uzumaki and I are grown up… funny how that worked out. I’m done being a sap now… I hope you continue to enjoy Naruto, Mark. It’s interesting to hear the perspective of someone who didn’t grow up alongside the series and character, so continue to stay honest. 😄😄
I really love Naruto as a series. Over the last few years it has taken a backseat in my life, but i still hold it very dear. I do have my fair share of criticisms with the series but it is a very well executed shounen story throughout its run. I am glad to see you getting into it and looking at it critically without any nostalgia. Hope you enjoy it as much as i did.
The Itachi arc where you learn about all of the systemic problems that Itachi was trying to deal with and then how hollow Sasuke's vengeance was after learning the backstory is just storytelling genius.
I find it interesting how your early reviews for a series take shape. They seem to reflect the series they are reviewing a bit. like this one felt a bit scattered and everywhere and focused maybe more on the meta elements than analyzing the story itself. though there often does seem to be a lot of that early on in these review series. maybe it's the lack of an individual strong point in the style of the manga that is making this feel so meta.
You just started a hell of a journey. For me this piece of fiction is just straight up genius for mainly one thing. You feel the pain of each and every single character. No matter if it's friend, foe. It just strikes you to your core.
Nah this series about to be fire words can’t describe how excited I am for these reactions. Love seeing new people get into one of the best Shonan manga’s of all time
The thing Naruto has over most Shonen is its emotional maturity. Overcoming the years of doubt, loneliness, bullying, and the sins of the father is a theme that will forever run through the story.
Yeah even though I think sometimes it can be a really too emotional or feel kind of forced, it does have many of the greatest emotional moments I have seen in anime. (Jiraya's and 3rd Hokage deaths, as Gaara, Yahiko/Nagato and Itachi life story come to mind)
I mean, yes, that's definitely a huge strength it has. BUT my god, it also kind of gets crippled by it. Do you really need so many flashbacks? There's even a chapter around the 500's mark where the end of the chapter LITEARLLY has a flashback scene of the BEGINNING of the same chapter. If I recall correctly, it's a panel consisting of multiple "previous" events, but front and center is still a panel from the beginning of that same chapter. That's kind of overkill IMO. Flashbacks are important. However, it's also important to not overly rely on them, or worse, misuse them.
honestly, I wasn't sure if I wanted to watch this at first, because I didn't want to spoil myself in case I'll want to watch Naruto in the future. I ended up deciding that enjoying this video now is better than possibly enjoying a hypothetical watch of Naruto in the future. but I don't think it's that hypothetical anymore. the themes you talked about really resonated with me, so I think I'll sadly have to tune out of this series for now and watch Naruto whenever the hell I get the time. so thanks for changing my mind, Mark!
The first few episodes aren’t good and annoying but once u power through them it gets waaaay better. He didn’t go into depth in the haku zabuza arcs so he didn’t spoil much. But it’s one of the best arcs ever u have to give it a watch
I'm glad you decided to pick it up. As far as themes go in first arc, in my opinion where they shine the most are characters of Haku and Zabuza that were glossed over here, so it's even more promising than it seems.
I find one of Naruto's greatest strengths is that it doesn't rely on mystery or intrigue to keep people interested. Which has the end result of being just as enjoyable the first time around as it is the tenth. Spoilers won't even hurt. The story's merits don't lie in shock factor, but in raw emotion.
Seeing Mark tackle this series for the first time has helped put into perspective a lot of what was so captivating about it to me when I was first growing up. I never really noticed just how almost perfectly Naruto Sasuke and Sakura play off of each other. Kishimoto’s character crafting is actually really brilliant in these earlier parts in the series. Honestly I’d go so far as to say second only to Toriyama. This is a series that means a lot to me, and I can already tell this review series is going to be a bittersweet experience. Probably as bittersweet as the story of Naruto itself. I really hope Mark enjoys. He’s in for quite a few treats with this one.
This whole video, especially the ending. TNM got it perfect, and soon he'll see just why Naruto became the phenomenon that it did. Next up is the Chunin exams and I know for a fact that I'm not the only one who's excited to see his take on it.
I watched all of Naruto a few years ago when I was depressed af, after having not watched/read any of it since 2007. It kinda became a refuge and it has a special place in my heart, despite everything that's wrong with it (which is a lot). It's all of those angsty moments that came accompanied by speeches about enduring hardship, bettering oneself and building and protecting your bonds with people around you what resonated with me at the time. In more objective terms, Naruto's anime also had something that in my opinion put it above any other Shonen Jump anime in the 2000s, which is its soundtrack and all of the episodes in which they brought in Norio Matsumoto as a key-animator. Every single scene and fight animated by this man is pure gold.
To further back the color point of the 3 characters: kishimoto said he wanted to make sasukes clothes design plain and almost "boring" with no unessecary accessiores etc In contrast to naruto who has a lot going on with his clothes
Tbh if you ever wanted a “low effort week” as a kind of pseudo break i’d be 110% down to see a video about the process you go through to get the scripts for these videos ready, even what sources you use to get a better understanding of narrative theory
Recently binged naruto and while I think she did get a few times to shine if you read it in bulk, I can imagine why people are so hard on her if they were watching/reading weekly
This story means so much to me it's unexplainable. I just wanted to thank you for this video, it's the first one from you I've seen but I'm looking forward to more.
I feel an often overlooked part of Sakura's character is shown brilliantly with the tree climb training where Sasuke and Naruto stumble at first their rivalry pushes them to push ever higher past the goals set for them, whereas Sakura reches that goal feels content and doesn't see or feel the need to push on past it. She simply takes pride in quickly meeting the bare minimum expectation set for her she is content in a feeling superiority until the next day when she sees that overnight Naruto and Sasuke had left her far behind them.
What?? They didn’t surpass her when climbing the tree. She could have just as easily gone up there, that was the point. She didn’t need to train something she was already an expert at
Glad you're covering this. The land of the waves arc was such a good way to introduce the world of the ninja and what you expect from future encounters. Can't wait for you to actually experience the next arcs, everything gers way better from here on out.
You have a way with words and phrasing that seriously touches my heart. I get excited about what you get excited about, I get emotional about what you get emotional about. I'm not sure if you need to hear this, or if it just fades I to the white noise... But what YOU do is art. Yes drawing is fun, enjoyable and challenging... Your script is, without a doubt, your best work. It's been said that Words have "the power of life and death", and by that it means there's weight behind what you say... It may not be a typical superpower, but my friend... It feels like it in some videos. You may be one of the most underrated channels in all of RUclips. I've been subbed for a few years now, and I have enjoyed watching your growth as a creator, you branching out into the art challenges with your friends, the different manga series... You my friend are outstanding, and I wish we could be friends LOL. That being said... Great video and I agree with you 100% about everything you said except for raycons 😜
Words can't express how happy I am that you enjoyed (as well as connected) to these first few chapters of Naruto. Thank you for giving the series a shot, I hope you'll enjoy your long ride!
its very important to me that you keep stating your real experience in these videos. saying that you didnt love but still enjoyed the first part is nothing you should feel the need to apologize for. i get that youre trying to keep biased fans quiet but i thought you might want to get some reassurance:')
Bro why is your editing for videos so good. The timing on the music, the manga panels, EVERYTHING!?! Soooo much nostolgia, I was gonna cry at like every turn when I heard you praising the things that I love so much about Naruto!!
fun fact at a con several years back i got to voice act a scene with the Japanese voice actress of Naruto along side 3-4 other con goers who where lucky enough to be chosen like me, i got to voice act Kiba and i made him sound like Yamcha as my vocal talents tend to skew towards the Cristopher sabot range just not as deep and i felt that Yamcha's gruff but lighthearted voice fit Kiba well except i kept Yamchas surfer accent out lol
Honestly, I love pre-time skip Naruto. It felt more intimate and character driven and watching the Land of Waves and Chunin Exams as a kid made me fell in love with Naruto. I felt like Shippuden lost a bit of that luster that we saw only a glimpse again during the Pain arc.
I read Naruto weekly to the end starting in 2005 and I have to say that I agree entirely. The last truly great arc IMO was Shikamaru's revenge. I think it had elements of a great story afterwards (Sasuke vs Danzo was one of my favorite fights in the series) , but it felt like it became a totally different series after that. I think it had a strong ending, but there was a lot of jank that keeps me from putting it on the same level of other Shonen like One Piece or Hunter x Hunter.
@@KhanMann66 I agree to some extent. I think the powerscaling wasn't too bad until about the Tenchi Bridge arc and especially the Pain arc and everything after.
Oh shit, you're going to LOVE this. Especially the manga. Kishimoto is incredible, I swear... those panels MOVES sometimes ;) Trivia: in ch01, when Naruto steals the scroll, there's Choji's father straight up demanding to kill Naruto! XD
@@devadathans5506 Kishimoto is a genius when it comes to drawing human emotion. And I don't think he gets enough recognition for that. Some still images in his manga genuinely evoke more emotion than some actual real life human beings do.
Oh boy lets go. This was among the first anime shows I ever watched knowing it was "anime" not just a cartoon like Pokemon or Yugioh, I was 10 years old, it was 2006 and the perfect time to get into the series as I had all of Part 1 to watch and Shippuden was right around the corner. I actually very recently started rewatching the show for the first time in about 10 years and while the Land of Waves arc was alright and it wasn't until the next arc when I remembered how much I was hooked into this series because at both 10 and 25 I could not stop watching. You're in for a fun time Mark.
@@misterbk1791 I know that. Read again what i wrote but as this is the internet you always need to give full context so this doesn't happen. When I was a small kid I watched Pokemon and Yugioh just thinking they were another cartoon, it wasn't until later that I learned of anime retroactively realizing that I had already watched anime before but Naruto was among the first shows I had watched KNOWING it was anime. Get it?
I’ve spent the past year now dissing Naruto because of my own complaints with it but this video reminded me about all the memories and emotions I have connected to this series. I watched all of Naruto with my brother when we were kids and it was an unforgettable experience. Even if this series isn’t the best in comparison, I think this is the anime that really took my heart first.
To this day, I think Naruto is the best and the most flawed of the big shounen. It has the most flaws. It loses and finds itself a thousand times over. But all throughout, it's earnest. It's kind. It's consistent in a way that, even at its absolute *lowest* point, inspires people. I'll always hate the way Naruto Shippuden ended. And I'll *always* love Naruto Uzumaki - at every point, as a child and as Hokage and as chosen one - more than I could ever love any other protagonist or even character in any other show.
Good review, however Mark I’m a little disappointed that you didn’t talk much about Zabuza as a character and the great impression he had on shaping Naruto’s character. But maybe you’ll see that soon.
As someone that still has a lot to say about Naruto all these years later, I'm excited to be a part of your journey. Really surprised you didn't talk more about Zabuza in particular as a mirror for Naruto in this early arc.
I remember I bought the first 27 volumes on a trip to New York & binged the whole first half of the series in a day! Such a good story, I hope you continue to enjoy!
The chapters showing Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi's duel with Zabuza were the very first chapters of Naruto I ever read, which turned me on to the series. I firmly believe that it represents Naruto at its best
I honestly can’t wait for this Naruto alone just lays down all the ground work but does such a good job with getting all the characters involved and everyone is different and the world and lore chakra is just dope
Starting this off with a Linkin Park AMV is the most historically accurate way to capture the essence of early Naruto
The nostalgia man is hitting me haaaaaard
I was exposed to rock music by watching so many Naruto AMVs, trying to put the story together in my head
😩😩 take us back 🔥🔥
I remember the first videos I searched on youtube where naruto amvs with linkin park music good times
@K plenty of those.
"the pacing felt fast, almost too fast"
thankfully the anime took care of that
My advice for the first naruto anime after the final naruto sauske fight skip to the last three episodes
Went the complete opposite way
No the anime felt too slow and didn’t pick up the pace
No matter how bogged down it felt by filler, they could never have spent enough time making everything fit together in a well defined time frame. There is just WAAAY too much going on. Which could have been good, if the characters actually worked in those confines. To fight for time. Instead, it feels like everything is perfectly natural, when, even in the story, it is not.
Well I prefer manga to anime for that reason exactly. You can control the pacing while reading the manga, where you're just along for the ride in the anime 😅
Fun fact. Sanji from One Piece was originally supposed to be called Naruto (hence the whole swirl aspect of his eye brows and his relation to food). But Naruto the manga was right about to begin its first serialization, and Oda, who was and still is a close friend of Masashi Kishimoto decided to change the name in order to avoid confusing readers and taking attention away from the newly serialized manga because One Piece was alread established by this point while this was Kishimoto's first (And if things don't go well could have been his last, a risk all mangakas have to take) serialized publication.
To summarize what you said mid piece and midruto are mid and mha is better than both.🥳
@@king_eren9613 MHA fans be like "Child Attraction Quirk ON" when walking by the local playground
@@king_eren9613totally
@@king_eren9613 mha is better than Naruto but it's not better than one piece, at least for now
Then how would his family work then? Would they be named after foods instead of numbers?
"I immediately liked Sasuke." There's a lot to unpack there.
still better than mid shippuden saske. god that saske...
@@valentds i agree but would u mind elaborating if u have the time for it? i've always loved sasuke's character in OG naruto but something about him in shippuden just never clicked. he has his moments and great arcs, but most of the time he felt like a slugfest to sit through and i just never know where to point my finger at. it's just something. i thought he was very well written in shippuden but i think it's the fact that he survives everything all the time, i guess?
I immediately loved Sasuke
I hated him at first and honestly it didn’t get much better. I mean I guess I never got over him abandoning the village. But he’s cool these days I guess.
@@weadon44 Part 1 and Hebi Sasuke were peak Sasuke
DATTEBAYO?! Mark starting Naruto. Lets GO Im guessing after this might as well cap off the Big 3 and hit up Bleach haha
I really wish he would review bleach!
I was thinking the same thing. Bleach was great during a majority of its run but boy if there aren’t some moments that…just fell flat…
After reading one piece and Naruto Bleach Will look like trash
Edit : and Berserk
I'm actually surprised mark hasn't seen Naruto before. This gon be hype like his One piece review
Bleach has a lot of style and flair, so I'd almost love to see it covered. So many positives and negatives.
Editor-san, only 50 seconds in and youve already captured the essence of early naruto and the impact it had on YT and the internet as a whole. NARUTO LINKIN PARK AMV. You really are the best Editor.
Tbh, that is also true for dbz back in the day
I literally just made the same comment but didn't word it as well lol EXACTLY
That hand is from the DBZ opening, right?
And that last second "Enter Sandman" heeell yessss, Editor-san always delivers with those tiny foreshadowings
@Editor-san yo im 50 seconds late to seeing editor san
RAW reply
“Your words cut deep… deeper than any blade…”
This arc was goated
The most interesting start of adventure, and I praised it to this day thanks to my sister
Corny
“A hero’s job is to risk his life to turn his promises into reality”-izuku midoriya>>>>>>>>>>
Heavy foreshadowing for Talk no Jutsu
Cried like a biiiiiiitch
Got chills just reading the comment
22:11 Editor-san please tell Mark to come back for a Zabuza and Haku analysis in the next part. The viewers want it.
As usual the Editor is the MVP of these reviews.
I want to see the Editor review manga.
Yeah. He didn’t even talk about Inari or his character arc.
Zabuza and Haku and the Chunin Exams are the best arcs fr
@@obinator9065 Agreed.
He didn’t say jack about Kakashi either
Perfect timing! Excited to watch these!
My thoughts exactly 😂 Loved your watch through and can’t wait for Marks read through
What a great timing !
Just finished rogers reactions and now mark is going at it !
Love you roger 💙
LOL RIGHT I was so sad your was over!
@RogersBase I loved your Naruto watch through! I’m also excited for this read through
Mha>>>midruto
Mark mentioning Naruto’s kindness when faced with others like himself in the first review, this guy’s got the Byakugan for real to spot that key element so soon
I know, right? It really made me remember that "he's/she's just like me" is a sentence I recall Naruto thinking to himself many, many times. And it starts in the first freakin' arc.
Well, Mark has been reviewing Dragon Ball and other series for quite a while, so I wouldn't expect him to miss such things.
Heck, Mark's videos literally made me go watch JoJo AND Naruto. I'm hooked to these series.
Dragon Ball is still my favourite tho tbh.
What I like about Naruto as a character is that his main motivation is simple, he just wants to be loved. He grew up hated by just about everyone in his village, and he doesn't know why, so he wants to change that by becoming Hokage.
Yup - Becoming Hokage at first seems like a weird goal. You wanna become Ninja President? Do you even care about politics?
But that's not what he's on about. He sees the Hokage as someone everybody respects, likes and loves to a degree even. Since he never got loved to a satisfying degree at all during his childhood, he now wants ALL of it. And he sees the Hokage as someone who gets this respect. Not randomly, either, he never just begs people to make him Hokage. No. He knows he has to earn that right.
Man it's a simple, but very relatable emotion. He just wants to be loved. I can relate to that still, even when I am an adult.
@@SirMalorak And I love that he sees it that way because he's a kid. Of course a kid would think that way of being Hokage = Universal love.
Naruto realizing that it becoming Hokage is not what makes everybody love and respect you, and that it is instead the love and respect of everyone in the village that makes you Hokage, is one of the series strongest points. I say this as a total Naruto cynic, as much as I disliked pretty much the entire last quarter of this series, I appreciate the strength of this one aspect.
@3rd Way fr. Child of destiny. They didn't stand a chance.
@@tobiramasenju6290 *child of prophecy. The only thing Naruto was destined for was his fight with Sauske and the continuation of the cycle of hatred that it represented. A prophecy is just a prediction of the future. What's really unfair is that he was born an uzamaki, the son of the fourth hokage, AND was the nine tail jinchuriki
As happy as I am that he’s covering naruto, skipping over Zabuza and Haku’s arc is criminal. My favorite arc overall in the whole series. The arc that hooked me into this world
That’s what I’m saying like damn! He needs to make another video going in depth because this was rushed and kinda lazy in my opinion.
The Land of Waves is more than likely the reason that Naruto got so popular. Far and away my favorite arc
@@shanoske2770 lazy? Lmfao then you go and make a better video, one that’s not so “lazy” as you put it
@@Play1nWithFire First off 11 months ago so F off with all that nonsense I’m talking about lazy on how he skipped Zabuza and Haku arc, but you would know that if you watch the damn video. No one saying that the video was bad but he was lazy day he skipped over Zabiza and Haku arc when he was reviewing the land of waves which is a big part of the first arc of Naruto.
@@shanoske2770 I did watch it and he didn’t skip it 🤔
I think it’s fair to say that the final encounter with Zabuza and Haku on the bridge is one of the greatest emotional highs in the *entire* series (being, gritty, thrilling, tragic, and hopeful all in one arc), and it's where I personally fell in love with the story as well. Glad to see it had that same effect on you too Mark 😁
They both badasses
I love the early parts of these series but I can't stress how bad the later parts become and how twisted it ruined it's messages retroactively. Man still wacht the first few seasons every now and then. But God watching anything after that pisses me of.
@@christianlangdon3766 same....honestly I kinda liked the first 80 or so episodes of the Boruto anime more than anything after the Five Kage Summit, just felt more inline with the earlier part of the series...you know minus that one fight
The best arc in naruto imo
this is easily my fav moment and zabuza is my fav naruto villain
The part of "Naruto is you" is real, as a kid I always felt closer to Naruto than any other protagonist in media. I always felt dorky, disliked, lonely, and I reacted to those feelings like Naruto does at the beginning, trying to make everybody laugh at my own expense, lmao.
It still hurts looking back, but i remember that watching characters like Naruto made it better. Aight, cringy comment over, lmao. Hope you like the series Mark.
Not cringey at all. Completely relatable.
Not cringey at all
I don't think it's cringey. You're just the hero of your story that's all! 👍
not cringy
Gonna add my voice to the crowd. Not cringy. The feel is real. I never connected to the show myself, but I do get where people come from with it.
I love the part when Mark mentions that Sasuke has the goal to kill someone, and Editor-San put in a flock of crows. Goosebumps man...
Cant wait for him to find out about the person it’s referring to
@@cosmo1240 del ur comment. now
@@vaibhavmadan7125 but why lol?
@@sevan2234 cause its a spoiler.
@@sevan2234 for example people who didnt watch naruto would think that he did to signfy death but would be surprised to see it actually belongs to someone. but now since he did most people would now know the crows represent someone.
Ya you will enjoy this series as a whole lets see how you feel when you get to shippuden!
Can’t wait for him to see rock lee!!
He'll feel disgusted and betrayed, specially in the war lmao
@@fabianor4499 exaggerate much
Or wait until the god damn fucking filler, holy hell. Every time I've rewatched this show it has been with a filler guide, and the story becomes soooooooooooooooo much shorter.
@@danielnodland4072 how have you ignored the 10s of manga shots? he's not watching the shitty anime
The speech that naruto gives to zabuza after Haku died still hits hard. Also sadly I wish u could have gone in depth of what zabuza and Haku represent to naruto to his journey of being hokage. How these ninja conflict with naruto version of being a strong ninja not in service to himself but to others. While zabuza uses Haku as another tool. Which hardens back to Kakashi teachings of friends in the beginning of team 7 formation. Comes full circle when naruto calls out zabuza for treating another human being who loves him and wants his happiness as another tool. Thats when naruto uses his technique that will be fleshed out throughout the series of talking to his enemies and changing them to see the error of their ways. Like when zabuza did to kill the guy who hired him. Which gave everyone else the courage and fight back. To prove that even though zabuza did horrible things he can be redeemed and go to the place where Haku is gone. I wished you could have included them in your analysis but none-the-less, this was a great vid!!!!
Bruuuuuh my thoughts exactly.
It’s as if he’s trying not to spoil the show too much?
I highly doubt that anyone who watches these reviews haven’t already finished the entire show so I find it as a weird trend from him ever since he finished his one piece videoes
That speech is the only thing that ever came close to making me cry in a piece of media, that is an accomplishment
Your words cut deep. Deeper than any blade.
-Zabuza in response to Naruto.
I am shocked at how little you actually talked about Zabuza. His death has always hit me emotionally. Overall he was such a good starter villain for the series. He perfectly set the tone for how cold a world of ninjas could actually be, but then seeing his true feelings at the end mourning over Haku is heart breaking. On the other side, I am also surprised by how little attention you gave to Kakashi. He is one of the most beloved teacher characters in all of anime and manga. The early revelation of him having the sharingan, and the impact that would have on Sasuke is huge. Maybe you will get more into these details as you go. This opening also completely set up the power system for the entire story. You get almost every detail here on how chakra and jutsu work, which is the entire basis of the fights throughout.
A big thumbs up for planting the seeds of not liking Sakura's character early.
After the HxH reviews and the amount of important characters he neglected I'm not surprised about things like this lol
Yeah, this shocked me too. I get he was focused on Naruto, but... the bridge arc was the emotional zenith for Naruto in a lot of ways, and EVERY character (not just Naruto) had their depth explored and developed in hugely meaningful ways. Including the antagonists.
Idk, it's just strange to not speak much on how it affected him beyond Naruto momentarily raging out (which was a strong moment yes, but hardly the only one worth speaking on in this arc).
@@KonoGufo just like he neglected Corazon in his One Piece Dressrosa arc review
@@DLxxx yeah this fight is a developmental cornerstone for most of these characters. Kakashi thanks Zabuza in the end for the impact he had on his students. They held no ill will toward him in the end because he was just performing his mission like they were. Even going into why he was a rogue ninja, and how they understood how he was pushed to that point plants the seeds for huge future developments. I love Mark's videos, but I really feel like he dropped the ball with this one. It was such a short arc, but he managed to miss so much. He focused on such small things far too long, and kept repeating points a lot, but skipped over the actual huge story points and character building.
He has a habit of avoiding talking about characters he deems as 'not main characters' ESPECIALLY villains
I’m so glad to see him review this absolute classic. I remember first watching it on Cartoon Network as a kid and it holds a special place in my heart. Welcome to the ninja world Mark
i remember always changing the channel when naruto would come on because i thought it was dumb, i regret avoiding it for those couple of years
@@JoshQwerty in my country it took the slot of DBZ after it had finished and I just hated Naruto the minute I laid eyes on it. I was 11 then lol
@@wuthurer funny enough after finishing dbz (my first anime) i started naruto finally lol (this was when i was a few years older and toonami was no longer on cn)
Same here.
The Land of Waves arc was truly a masterpiece of story telling in my opinion. Of the "Big 3" manga from the 00s(Naruto, Bleach, One Piece), I thought Naruto easily had the strongest first major arc of the three.
I think land of waves was garbage only because the rest of the series retcons a lot of stuff from land of waves
I loved all the characters tho
@@Claytonbeastboy retcons what? I can’t think of anything
@@michaelmclellan3964 kakashi strength, his ability to use the sharingan, the difficulty effectiveness and the requirement of hand seals to do high level jutsus, kakashi copying abilities, there are many retcons
@@michaelmclellan3964 they also changed the power gap between genin chunin and jonin. As well as changed the environment. Like in later naruto the crap they pulled with the shadow clone shuriken transformation. Would never work
That iconic early Naruto Kishimoto art style! So nostalgic seeing the headband shaded that way again
Kishimoto’s shading style reminds me of my childhood so much, and the ps2 games
@@EmeraldaKasim I always loved how early Ultimate Ninja (UN 1 and 2 especially) tried to imitate the manga look with colors. Ultimate Ninja Storm may have brought the anime style and spectacle to the next level, sure… but early Ultimate Ninja is still charming as heck.
@@trevinodude Hell yeah, those games were fun.
Ah, Linkin Park over naruto like an AMV. God, is it the 2000s again?
That brought a smile to my face. Thanks.
I will never forget the AMV, Naruto vs. *spoiler*, (in case that Mark reads this comment) with Pushing Me Away. Ppl who know, know. ;)
I remember the amvs with "headstrong" by trapt as well
@@necroblade99988 it's how I discovered it haha
Rip Chester
Rock Lee vs Gaara Linkin Park - In The End [AMV]
I think my favorite thing about Naruto, is that while he is in a way a typical shonen protagonist, seeing him act vulnerable, understandbly scared, and even having panic attacks felt so fresh when compared with other typical heroes of my childhood. And even nowadays, having a shonen protagonist be so doubtful of himself isn't a common occurance and I dare say Naruto is the only one who did it realistically. Like it's either one extreme or the other but never the perfect blend.
I always thought naruto as a character was more realistic compared to other shonen protagonist.
and then we get deku who relives the same self doubt and overcoming it all over again in every fight...
@@mr.penguin4614 he actually does it more realistically people are bullshitting themselves acting like naruto wasn’t super confident 95% of the time. He’s as hard headed and crude as the rest of shonen mc’s
Then you haven’t actually read much shonen manga lol
@@trace-on6553 Then you haven’t actually read much shonen manga lol
Haku still making me tear up all these years later sheesh...
Agreed, he will always make me cry due to the surprise penis…
Props to the editor for using the Storm Games soundtrack, very underrated!
It's a shame the "Inner Sakura" fades away eventually. That was a fun gimmick.
It definitely carried a bulk of early Naruto's comedic element. I wouldn't have been mad if he bought it back for when Naruto used the special jutsu on bunny chick. That woulda been great.
I felt like this gimmick was the only interesting thing about her.
Just got changed into CHARRRRNAROOOO or just CHARRRR, so i guess she only feels rage now
It was dropped off for maturity, I wish it didn't go so fast but I don't mind it fading away
the way I see is that inner sakura was the real sakura, and the lovely cute sakura was her trying to be "more feminine" for sasuke. Because there is this thing that everybody says that sakura looks like a boy, or she is not feminine, so she hides the true self from people. Buuuuut, in shippuden, she has a offscreen character arc and she is accepting more who she is, so the inner and outter sakura merges into sakura shippuden, thats why we dont see anymore. You can tell that sakura shippuden is more open to say what she really wants to say, and be angry around people, so she doesnt need that anymore
WOW DUDE, OMG GOOD LUCK! I always get excited seeing you start new stuff cuz it gets me more confident to get into newer things I never tried. Naruto's been something I've always debated whether or not it's worth watching. Can't wait to hear what you've got to say!
@XxneveragainxX Stop spamming the same comment on every Naruto comment section ever dude. Get a life.
Naruto is the daddy to every manga/anime blowing up these days. You can see it’s obvious influence in stuff like AoT, JJK, chainsaw man, fire force, Kaiju no 8, demon slayer on and on and on
Naruto is definitely worth watching!
@@TrueGamer22887 I'd say the big ones Naruto influenced were My Hero Academia and Black Clover with their "Loser child gets power from outside source and succeeds" concept.
Most other things take heavier influence from Dragon Ball (primarily) and Berserk -- at the end of the day, Naruto took influence from Dragon Ball.
@@Orwasitme bruh jus described every story I listed, idk how if forgot black clover and my hero doe
"He's...me, you, us. He's that kid with a chip on his shoulder, something to prove..."
this line with sadness and sorrow playing in the background brought me back to 2005 all over again. Damn that hurt my old soul, but welcome to the journey and enjoy it while it lasts. Naruto is unlike any other shonen out there. It was one of The Big 3 for a reason!
Excellent first introduction to Naruto, it's a story literally millions and millions of people hold very dear to them and as you said, first impressions matter greatly, whether you liked it or not is not the issue, it's how you presented your view on it with a very constructed style, I'm very impressed tbh.
You seem to have a very well sophisticated way of reviewing mangas and that as weird as it is, clicked with me immensely ever since watching your first Berserk review. Great video Mark, I can't wait for the next Naruto & Berserk review, and you have earned a new subscriber!
I’m so excited to see what Mark’s take on the series will be. Something that the majority of us have grown up on seen through the eyes of a new reader/viewer will never not be interesting af to watch!
As of now, he seems to have hit the nail on the head
Let's hope the toxic part of the comunity doesn't go balistic like it did with Jacksepticeye when he dared to say he found Sakura annoying, seeing as Mark said she seems to have no character of her own as of now
Naruto is mid
Mha>>
@@nuredingeziqi679 That was just the Sakura fandom, they attack anyone who say Sakura is even slightly bad.
@@king_eren9613 MHA is just Green Naruto
@@king_eren9613 lol
I kind of expected that he would talk about Haku and Zabuza more since this fight and their interactions with Naruto tell so much about the world and themes of the story. But maybe in the next video.
Super pumped for this series tho, Naruto is one of the series that I cant get enough of seeing people experience it for the first time. It's gonna be a ride for sure!
It really can only be appreciated further into the series I think he hadn't had time to fully comprehend the significance and brilliance of this conflict
Same, honestly it wasn't really Sasuke, Kakashi, or even Naruto that initially struck me the most as a kid, it was Zabuza. He WAS the world of Naruto. Dark, violent, murderous, hard as a fucking rock, but all that concealing a deeply, deeply buried sadness that things have to be the way they are. He was absolutely CRITICAL to establishing the story of Naruto, and the CHARACTER of Naruto as a counterpoint to that world as someone who was unafraid to call it out, as he hasn't been corrupted by it yet.
@@gg2fan Haku and Zabuza remains the most human moment to the story imo.
@@christianrowe992 Why? They're the most central characters to this arc. You don't need to know what happens after, to appreciate what they added to the story. Especially with the last scene between them. Really strange how he just skipped talking about the most important characters for the arc. He talked more about Sakura, who barely did anything during this time. Also he kinda skipped Kakashi as well.
@@burner27 Kurama sends his regards
I binged Naruto and Shippuden in 1 month last year. It just gets better as you enter the Chunin Exams, and then going into Shippuden. Can't wait to see your review on it!
The show or the manga?
Completely agree -- minus the horrid amount of filler.
That's a very strange opinion on this show. Most people prefer the early arcs xd
@@reubena7854 the show lmao
@@sloesty Shippuden made me feel more emotion than the earlier arcs ever could. I'd say what they are but I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't watched/read.
Iruks's friendship means so much to Naruto, he has no other friends, so he really sees Iruka as more like an older brother. So when you feel really attached to him that's because that's how Naruto feels and this is his story :)
As someone who grew up reading Naruto, I'm glad you're covering and enjoying it so far- your honesty and clear passion for manga as a medium has been really refreshing for me. Hope you enjoy the rest of your time with the series!
Me, who watched Mark's One Piece journey religiously: "Ah shit, here we go again..."
Exact same
Same
You ain’t lying
Can’t wait
Good thing is Naruto already ended, so we can estimate when he'll be done
The shonen that has made me cry like a baby the most.The shot of young Naruto sitting the swing watching at the kids with their parents makes me tear up in nanoseconds. The music is immaculate too.
just same :(
Want to cry a river go watch violet evergarden?
Faraway Paladin (the manga, not the anime, as I haven't watched that yet) is ostensibly a shonen manga that hammers your feels every couple of chapters. It's nowhere near finished, but it's so worth a read. Just, don't expect rereads to be an easy experience.
Working my way through right now (spoilers for the third arc of Shippuden):
Asuma’s death made me cry for the first time watching Naruto, if only for a second.
Then Shikamaru broke down and I cried for much longer.
It was the shonen that dragged me into anime, it may not have been the first but attack on titan when i was 8 isn’t exactly the best introduction
I'm honestly really surprised by how few major shonen Mark has actually watched considering he originally built this channel off of talking about Dragon Ball. It's great to see him enjoying it so much now!
This doesn’t fit mark, but at least in the states it seemed like dragon ball was more or less mainstream even 2000-2010, but other anime were still considered weird even though they aired with dragon ball.
@@TrueGamer22887 Did he grow up in the states? For some reason I thought he grew up in Ireland. Either way, yeah, it makes sense he wouldn't have grown up on it. I'm still surprised he didn't at least seek it out later in life, if for no reason than to see how other popular shonen is handled.
@@ApprenticeNick yeee that’s why I said it doesn’t really fit for mark but maybe it was similar there
@@TrueGamer22887 To maybe add some perspective, when I was a kid (in Canada btw) Dragon Ball Z aired alongside Sailor Moon and I watched it every morning. Then there was the whole FoxBox/4kids thing which introduced/ruined One Piece, Shaman King, Zatch Bell, etc. Naruto and Bleach came along later after 4kids had already kinda ruined anime's reputation as a medium.
So for me at least, Dragon Ball was just another cartoon and it wasn't until I started seeking out anime that I discovered Naruto, which also aired much later at night alongside Bleach.
@@ApprenticeNick Yes, Mark did grow up in Ireland, he said as much on twitter.
I was a dragon ball/pokemon kid growing up. When I heard talks about Naruto I just assumed it was some dragon ball rip off and ignored it completely. But once I gave it a shoot, like you said I felt Naruto represented me perfectly. I too felt those inadequacies. A kid who loved being silly when all my other cohorts or adults in my life would tell me to stop being that way and ridicule me for it. A reject who no one really thought anything of. Seeing Naruto try his hardest and never giving up despite being no one special really struck a cord for me. It gave me the strength to never stop moving forward, even if I wasn't doing it exactly like him and was just giving it enough just to survive. During those times, its no understatement to say I was facing depression and suicidal thoughts, I still struggle with that to this day. But seeing Naruto keep on trying and rather than waiting for maybe someday for fate or God or whatever to make his life better, he got up on his own and forged it himself. Its no understatement to say Naruto saved me life; its still saving my life, and it most likely has done so for so many others. I believe that to be the reason it had the staying power that it did (that and being a story of ninjas which is just plain cool lol). Loved the part of your video going into what made Naruto as a character special, and how it was almost a self insert for Kishimoto himself too. I feel a lot of us can relate to these kinds of emotions. Really excited to watch you go through this series. I hope it can have an impact on you like it did for me and many others!
Beautiful words
Mark isn't an adolescent.
I don't know what lockdown would've been without Mark's essays. Thank you so much. Putting words to the emotions I felt to the things that inspired me throughout my whole life, thank you.
same, i came for the dragonball stuff at first, stayed for the multiple analyses of plots ive never read
8 chapters in and Mark already nailed Sakura's entire character in the early series lmaoooo
I was just like yeahhh that's about right, honestly I'm suprised he thought that so quickly. I was actually pretty ok with Sakura for the first few arcs, and when she had that big "ephinany" moment when trying to protect Naruto and sasuke. I thought great she's going to be more active now, and then she fought to a draw with Ino and all my interest in the charachter just evaporated. With her insisting she did "everything she could" to stop Sauske being the final straw. I had a little hope when Shippuden came but that got squashed with the Sasori fight. When an old lady is doing better than your main female lead there's a problem hehe.
Yeah, and fixing early Sakura would have been easy. She was depicted as the class brainiac so they just had to USE that. Have Sakura see through the Bell test and be forced to find a way to convince Naruto and Sasuke to work together. Have her notice the Demon Brothers' genjutsu. Have her defend Tazuna with traps and genjutsus during the bridge battle. Have her see through the genjutsu at the start of the chunin exams and point it out to her team-mates. Have her beat Ino. Have her actually try to stop Sasuke when he leaves the village and even try to fight him. Have her join the retrieval mission and fight the flute girl Tayuya in a genjutsu battle. Basically show her using her ninja training in ANY WAY WHATSOEVER! As a ninja there were so many ways she could use her natural intellect to be as effective as her team mates while being different from them. She didn't have to end up a knock-off Tsunade who never actually contributed anything.
@@Cloud-dt6xb you wanted sakura to win that fight? Just wouldn’t of worked considering she was much weaker than anyone else who passed into the finals.
@@randomahnameisthename3147 That is so not a good excuse and Ino not only is just as bad as her she's even weaker than her there was NO excuse for that to be a draw. And it was the start of her being in a constant loop where she promises to get stronger, has like one real fight and then backslides immediately after that.
@@Cloud-dt6xb she literally has no justu barley any hand to hand combat experience and no use of Chaka control in that fight. The fact sakura didn’t actually lose that fight is what shocks me. You can say she “backslides” but let’s look at the timeline of events. During the konoha Crush it’s only a few days after the chunin exams and she had no trainer. During the tsunade retrieval again no one to teach her until the end of the arc where she asks lady tsunade to teach her in medical ninjitsu. She literally could not of stopped sasuke even if she wanted to. Talking him out of it was her best move. Then the time-skip happens where when you consider where she used to be she improved more than naruto overall. So I would disagree on that she broke her promise. It doesn’t make any sense if sakura beat ino considering that would put her character in a position she’s not ready for. Considering she’s only 1 of the 5 of the shinobi that fought against kaguya and was the only 1 out of them not fighting with enhancements I would say she’s pretty fucking strong at that point.
IM GONNA CRY I'M SO EXCITED TO WATCH YOU WATCH THIS INCREDIBLE SERIES!! Naruto taught me to never give up on my dreams, and I've always kept that mindset with me even after all these years and all the hardships I've faced. It's an inspiring story like NO OTHER
Land of the Waves is still one of my favorite arcs in any shonen manga, not just Naruto. It's gritty, yet hopeful. Humorous, yet serious. It also paints the world of Naruto and the state it is in very effectively in just one short arc.
It gives me pure 2012-2014 summery nostalgia idk why
It is the best first arc in Shonen. If only the rest of the series could keep that high
@@chowellith Shikamaru shippuden and Pain arc reached that same level mate dunno what you're talking about.
@@BarryAllen__1A23 Nah they were great, but themactically nothing lined up better and achieved its purpose narratively than Zabuza arc
I maintain that Land of Waves is the single best first arc in any anime. There just aren't any that get remotely close.
Cool to see Mark finally reviewing Naruto. His analysis of Sakura's role in the relationship between Naruto and Sasuke was great and highlighted to me exactly where Kishimoto went wrong with her character and the relationship between Team 7 later in the story.
He wasted too much time on her though, she is just a link between the main chars, she is just a normal girl from the village with no special skill until her training with Tsunade, therefore there simply isnt much to talk about her with the exception of complaining she aint more, he def should have spoken more about Kakashi and Zabuza for example.
@@aesir1ases64 I forgive him for that because remember Mark doesn't know all of that is going to happen. He's never read this series before and he's operating under the assumption that Sakura will probably end up being more prominent than she actually will be. The story presents her as a kind of third main character early on.
@@porkadillo9752 not just early, she is a third protagonist along the series , and somehow kishimoto could right the first background protagonist ever , this what makes her a really bad character
@@porkadillo9752 if there is one thing I will NEVER forgive naruto, is how it treats any character with a vagina. Even the final big bad, the sole female main antagonist, was screwed over with poor build up and an anticliamtic defeat
@@sarafontanini7051 *Spoiler for the very end* I didn't like Kaguya's appearance in the story at all, at the time it felt like pulling something out of his ass to move on from *another spoiler* Uchiha Madara.
The only thing that makes Kaguya relevant is the aftermath(Boruto) and the introduction of the Otsutsuki.
I love how the artist made complex outfits but toned them down just for the anime, not realising they were planning to animate it, he personally apologised to the studio feeling guilty they had to his outfits but also that all his characters had open toed sandals lol
A minor thing I'm greatly looking forward to with this review series is the music. Naruto's music is wonderful, so being able to hear that while I get to relive nostalgia with someone's earnest enjoyment is great
I’m so excited for Mark to review this series!! As a kid, Naruto helped me discover my morals and values. He helped me discover how I want to treat people and how I believe people should treat others. I’ve cried so many times because of this story and the way the characters are built. Not to mention the visual and auditory aesthetic of the soundtrack during the show and also during the endings and openings! TOP TEIR 😫🥺😢😭
Everyone makes fun of talk to jutsu but I think it was important that throwing punches didn't solve everything. The morals in Naruto are excellent and I genuinely believe if you read and enjoy it you will come out a better person
"And Sasuke loves..."
_pause_
*_V E N G E A N C E_*
That made me laugh far more than I thought it would. XD
XD
I am in love with the art in early naruto. The page spreads, the character designs and don’t get me started on those incredible cover pages
Jeez, that linkin park at the beginning over the action scenes hit different. Never thought I'd feel nostalgic for amvs...
Yeah. Naruto ones were the ones I watched as a kid too, making it more nostalgic for me.
What makes Naruto also special is that he refuses to go the way most ninjas will in that world. Most ninjas will turn cold and furfill their missions while hiding their personal feelings to it. Sasuke was already there and Kakashi and Zabuza’s fight was more strictly ninja stuff in comparison to Naruto and Sakura. These two were more naive to this world and didn’t understand the cruelty yet. Sakura turned scared and looked weak because of it while Naruto puts all his might, morals and emotions to a battle and upgrade them if needed just so he can have more power. What you will see in Naruto is mostly that Naruto will never lose his personality over a battle much like Goku. The big difference between Goku en Naruto is that Goku seems to have all the answers to his character already while Naruto has to yet look for them which will later on this series create some incredible conflicts and character development
Well Goku is a adult and Naruto is a kid of course Goku will already have his answers while Naruto won't.
@@jyotiarora9988 He meant that goku over most of the series literally has all the answers to his character and he doesn't change. Vegeta is older than goku and took all the series to reach a character conclusion, so did piccolo, gohan, etc. Being an adult doesn't put your character growth to an end unless that's the way the author wants it to be.
@@yournemesis because he falt characters . He characters is ment change people arround him .
Goku not changing isn't necessarily a bad thing in my opinon, and it definitely creates some very good character moments, such as literally every single interaction Goku and Freeza have. The clash of two flat characters that change OTHERS around themselves.
Bro the Naruto Resurgence is freaking amazing right now, it feels like everyone is diving either back in or for the first time and I’m so glad and happy to be apart of it!
having roger just finish his series, this is going to be an entirely different perspective and analysis, which i welcome greatly
Roger is looking forward to this too it seems.
The story of Naruto is one very near and dear to my heart. I was introduced to it at a rough part of my childhood where everything was confusing and changing in my life. But when someone gifted me the first 3 volumes of the manga it really just connected with me ya know. So I hope you enjoy the series and I’m excited to watch these videos as they come out
I watched it for the first time 10 years ago, have watched hundreds of anime since and it's still my all time favourite.
Loved this review, but wish we got a psychoanalysis of the relationship of Zabuza and Haku
Maybe we'll get more of that once he gets to Haku 2.0, Sand Boi
@@XenithflareGaming You mean bone boi? Sand boi is nothing like Haku, they're not even remotely similar. Literal opposites, in fact. And it's legit a major plot point that they're literal opposites.
@@dontmisunderstand6041 I mean the second person that Naruto hardcore relates to.
Mark's mention of early Naruto being unfocused is INTENSE foreshadowing. Man, he's gonna have some things to say about Shippuden.
Oh fr he gonna have a field day with the war
Holy fucking shit, HES ACTUALLY DOING IT. This anime was like the dragon ball Z of my childhood.
yeah, just like dbz it's mediocre, but nostalgic. Jk og naruto is very good, but shippuden wasn't all that.
Same
@@mambaforever9593 all I heard about Naruto is that it nosedives from Shippuden onwards
@@mambaforever9593 I agree on ur take on Naruto but not DBZ tbh
@@bit427 cmon bruh lol. Even though dbzs influence on manga industry is unparalleled and we wouldn't have many of the stories we have today without it, it's still one of the most mediocre mangas there is. That said i still love it and it's the story that made me love manga and anime.
I kinda fell off the show when I was younger once it hit filler city, but now I finally have an excuse to read it all from start to finish
It's pretty refreshing to see a reviewer that doesn't call it peak fiction or complete trash
I recommend trying out the filler arc in the original anime now just because it adds a lot of character building that unfortunately the manga doesn't go into after the end of the Forest of Death. Seeing everyone slowly warm up to Naruto and how the kids don't actually hate him but just don't understand him adds a level of nuance and depth I feel might never be done that well again due to Naruto having a very specific writing style and character.
@@Junkyardproduxtions It does build some character, but the story feels too disconnected in the filler arcs. Most of the time, the arcs don't connect, and they don't make any impact to the character plots and plot in general, hence why it's called filler. They also drag onto you, and I found myself getting bored very very quickly while watching the filler.
@@Junkyardproduxtions Not to mention that is also the case for the anime in general. Even when it wasn't filler, the episodes felt painfully long because each one took too much time trying to progress the story, especially if the episode wasn't tackling a major plot point.
To be honest, I would've enjoyed Naruto more if I had read the manga instead.
Only anime I think that connect every single character to main plot again is one piece. There are lot of cartoons/anime and TV shows that feature one time characters.
“Naruto is you” never thought a statement that explains my love of the character of Naruto Uzumaki could be so short and to the point. I guess, this comment would make some sense if I told my story. I was a bullied kid, lonely and outcasted due to being diagnosed with autism when I was young… growing up my Dad watched Dragon Ball with me and I loved it, but nothing else on tv felt like it. When I eventually discovered Naruto, I was visiting my uncle and one of the episodes of the Chunin Exams (a post Land of Waves arc) was playing, and it reminded me about Dragon Ball on the surface level to get me interested. When I started Naruto from the beginning, I felt like I was watching a story of a kid who was just like me… and when I discovered my passion for music, I too worked my butt off… and it was through Naruto that I learned about manga and how animes are often adapted from them. As I grew up, Naruto did too… I was in High School when Shippuden was airing, and so, as I continued to get older and wiser… as I continued to thrive in my ‘training’ so to speak, so did Naruto. I found myself inspired by Naruto’s story through my entire life… I guess what I’m trying to say is… the story of Naruto by Kishimoto touched me and became my favorite anime/manga of all time not only because the great art, music, games, etc… but also because Naruto as a character taught me things like perseverance… because he taught me about forgiveness… and the lesson that your limitations only define you if you let them… and we didn’t let them define us. The world of Naruto became like a second home to me… and now, both Naruto Uzumaki and I are grown up… funny how that worked out. I’m done being a sap now… I hope you continue to enjoy Naruto, Mark. It’s interesting to hear the perspective of someone who didn’t grow up alongside the series and character, so continue to stay honest. 😄😄
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
I really love Naruto as a series. Over the last few years it has taken a backseat in my life, but i still hold it very dear. I do have my fair share of criticisms with the series but it is a very well executed shounen story throughout its run. I am glad to see you getting into it and looking at it critically without any nostalgia. Hope you enjoy it as much as i did.
The Itachi arc where you learn about all of the systemic problems that Itachi was trying to deal with and then how hollow Sasuke's vengeance was after learning the backstory is just storytelling genius.
I love the Land of Waves arc so much one of the best first arcs ever so cool seeing you do a review of Naruto
I find it interesting how your early reviews for a series take shape. They seem to reflect the series they are reviewing a bit. like this one felt a bit scattered and everywhere and focused maybe more on the meta elements than analyzing the story itself. though there often does seem to be a lot of that early on in these review series. maybe it's the lack of an individual strong point in the style of the manga that is making this feel so meta.
Iruka is the man. He’s the dad we all wish we had.
He has more of a older brother vibe in my opinion.
@@phillthepotato4363 fr if anything id say jirayas more his father figure. I mean he is technically his dad since he's his god father
You just started a hell of a journey.
For me this piece of fiction is just straight up genius for mainly one thing. You feel the pain of each and every single character. No matter if it's friend, foe. It just strikes you to your core.
Nah this series about to be fire words can’t describe how excited I am for these reactions. Love seeing new people get into one of the best Shonan manga’s of all time
i cant wait for him to reach the war arc he will definetly dislike the series after that lol
"Love seeing new people get into one of the best Shonan manga’s of all time"
hey mate, you commented on the wrong part 1 video
@@SUPERRRSAIYANNNNN midruto
The thing Naruto has over most Shonen is its emotional maturity. Overcoming the years of doubt, loneliness, bullying, and the sins of the father is a theme that will forever run through the story.
Yeah even though I think sometimes it can be a really too emotional or feel kind of forced, it does have many of the greatest emotional moments I have seen in anime. (Jiraya's and 3rd Hokage deaths, as Gaara, Yahiko/Nagato and Itachi life story come to mind)
I mean, yes, that's definitely a huge strength it has.
BUT my god, it also kind of gets crippled by it. Do you really need so many flashbacks?
There's even a chapter around the 500's mark where the end of the chapter LITEARLLY has a flashback scene of the BEGINNING of the same chapter. If I recall correctly, it's a panel consisting of multiple "previous" events, but front and center is still a panel from the beginning of that same chapter. That's kind of overkill IMO.
Flashbacks are important. However, it's also important to not overly rely on them, or worse, misuse them.
Oh without a doubt. Naruto genuenly had me on a rollercoaster of emotions
@@HackedGlitch265 the flashbacks are mostly from the anime not the manga. And you can blame scheduling for that.
@@HackedGlitch265 That's the anime's fault.
& All though I agree, they barely do that starting Shippuden.
honestly, I wasn't sure if I wanted to watch this at first, because I didn't want to spoil myself in case I'll want to watch Naruto in the future. I ended up deciding that enjoying this video now is better than possibly enjoying a hypothetical watch of Naruto in the future. but I don't think it's that hypothetical anymore. the themes you talked about really resonated with me, so I think I'll sadly have to tune out of this series for now and watch Naruto whenever the hell I get the time. so thanks for changing my mind, Mark!
Awesome! Hope you enjoy this series as much as everyone else has.
The first few episodes aren’t good and annoying but once u power through them it gets waaaay better. He didn’t go into depth in the haku zabuza arcs so he didn’t spoil much. But it’s one of the best arcs ever u have to give it a watch
I'm glad you decided to pick it up. As far as themes go in first arc, in my opinion where they shine the most are characters of Haku and Zabuza that were glossed over here, so it's even more promising than it seems.
I find one of Naruto's greatest strengths is that it doesn't rely on mystery or intrigue to keep people interested. Which has the end result of being just as enjoyable the first time around as it is the tenth. Spoilers won't even hurt. The story's merits don't lie in shock factor, but in raw emotion.
I’m glad Boruto’s father is getting the love he deserves.
please no boruto
Fr. Hope borutos dad gets some kind of fleshed out backstory. Would be cool to see how he grew up and his parents.
@@ernjdasdd not gonna lie they should really make an anime about that guy, we also need a show about gohan's dad
@@dontestevens4831 Dude what if we got an anime based on how Ash and Pikachu met? They really should discuss it at LEAST.
Dead meme
Seeing Mark tackle this series for the first time has helped put into perspective a lot of what was so captivating about it to me when I was first growing up. I never really noticed just how almost perfectly Naruto Sasuke and Sakura play off of each other. Kishimoto’s character crafting is actually really brilliant in these earlier parts in the series. Honestly I’d go so far as to say second only to Toriyama. This is a series that means a lot to me, and I can already tell this review series is going to be a bittersweet experience. Probably as bittersweet as the story of Naruto itself. I really hope Mark enjoys. He’s in for quite a few treats with this one.
This whole video, especially the ending. TNM got it perfect, and soon he'll see just why Naruto became the phenomenon that it did. Next up is the Chunin exams and I know for a fact that I'm not the only one who's excited to see his take on it.
chunin exams might be the best arc of the whole series, its that good!
I watched all of Naruto a few years ago when I was depressed af, after having not watched/read any of it since 2007. It kinda became a refuge and it has a special place in my heart, despite everything that's wrong with it (which is a lot). It's all of those angsty moments that came accompanied by speeches about enduring hardship, bettering oneself and building and protecting your bonds with people around you what resonated with me at the time.
In more objective terms, Naruto's anime also had something that in my opinion put it above any other Shonen Jump anime in the 2000s, which is its soundtrack and all of the episodes in which they brought in Norio Matsumoto as a key-animator. Every single scene and fight animated by this man is pure gold.
To further back the color point of the 3 characters: kishimoto said he wanted to make sasukes clothes design plain and almost "boring" with no unessecary accessiores etc
In contrast to naruto who has a lot going on with his clothes
Tbh if you ever wanted a “low effort week” as a kind of pseudo break i’d be 110% down to see a video about the process you go through to get the scripts for these videos ready, even what sources you use to get a better understanding of narrative theory
that is a wonderful idea🤞🏿🤞🏿🤞🏿
Just a pronunciation correction:
It's not Naru do(as in dough), it's Naru to(to as in toe)
Not quite, it's "to" like in toy, gone or dog, with a short "o"
Lmao no
Mark: "I'm gonna give Sakura a chance."
Oh, you sweet summer child.
Recently binged naruto and while I think she did get a few times to shine if you read it in bulk, I can imagine why people are so hard on her if they were watching/reading weekly
Part 2 Sakura is great. She justs get a lot of flak because she’s not god level like the rest of team 7
@@devinderevage6304 *sad sai noises*
Imagine being so useless, you give birth to the only Uchiha to ever need glasses.
@@devinderevage6304 no she gets flak because she’s terribly written like most of the female characters in Naruto.
This story means so much to me it's unexplainable. I just wanted to thank you for this video, it's the first one from you I've seen but I'm looking forward to more.
From my middle school days to my now married life, Naruto’s character has been the source of how I can raise my head despite what’s been thrown at me.
Naruto’s that show everyone was watching in school back when people thought anime was weird😭
I feel an often overlooked part of Sakura's character is shown brilliantly with the tree climb training where Sasuke and Naruto stumble at first their rivalry pushes them to push ever higher past the goals set for them, whereas Sakura reches that goal feels content and doesn't see or feel the need to push on past it. She simply takes pride in quickly meeting the bare minimum expectation set for her she is content in a feeling superiority until the next day when she sees that overnight Naruto and Sasuke had left her far behind them.
often all people remember about sakura is how the anime adaptation made her senselessly abusive to naruto
@@harryfox3681 yeah you're right.
@@harryfox3681 All I see is another excuse by a Sakura fan.
What?? They didn’t surpass her when climbing the tree. She could have just as easily gone up there, that was the point. She didn’t need to train something she was already an expert at
@@claymusicoff5663 that is exactly why she was left in the dust. She did not need to train so she did not.
Glad you're covering this. The land of the waves arc was such a good way to introduce the world of the ninja and what you expect from future encounters. Can't wait for you to actually experience the next arcs, everything gers way better from here on out.
You have a way with words and phrasing that seriously touches my heart. I get excited about what you get excited about, I get emotional about what you get emotional about. I'm not sure if you need to hear this, or if it just fades I to the white noise... But what YOU do is art. Yes drawing is fun, enjoyable and challenging... Your script is, without a doubt, your best work. It's been said that Words have "the power of life and death", and by that it means there's weight behind what you say... It may not be a typical superpower, but my friend... It feels like it in some videos.
You may be one of the most underrated channels in all of RUclips. I've been subbed for a few years now, and I have enjoyed watching your growth as a creator, you branching out into the art challenges with your friends, the different manga series... You my friend are outstanding, and I wish we could be friends LOL. That being said... Great video and I agree with you 100% about everything you said except for raycons 😜
Words can't express how happy I am that you enjoyed (as well as connected) to these first few chapters of Naruto. Thank you for giving the series a shot, I hope you'll enjoy your long ride!
its very important to me that you keep stating your real experience in these videos. saying that you didnt love but still enjoyed the first part is nothing you should feel the need to apologize for. i get that youre trying to keep biased fans quiet but i thought you might want to get some reassurance:')
Bro why is your editing for videos so good. The timing on the music, the manga panels, EVERYTHING!?! Soooo much nostolgia, I was gonna cry at like every turn when I heard you praising the things that I love so much about Naruto!!
Can’t wait for the Chunin Exams bro those are lit AF.
Hell yeah
fun fact at a con several years back i got to voice act a scene with the Japanese voice actress of Naruto along side 3-4 other con goers who where lucky enough to be chosen like me, i got to voice act Kiba and i made him sound like Yamcha as my vocal talents tend to skew towards the Cristopher sabot range just not as deep and i felt that Yamcha's gruff but lighthearted voice fit Kiba well except i kept Yamchas surfer accent out lol
Honestly, I love pre-time skip Naruto. It felt more intimate and character driven and watching the Land of Waves and Chunin Exams as a kid made me fell in love with Naruto. I felt like Shippuden lost a bit of that luster that we saw only a glimpse again during the Pain arc.
I read Naruto weekly to the end starting in 2005 and I have to say that I agree entirely. The last truly great arc IMO was Shikamaru's revenge. I think it had elements of a great story afterwards (Sasuke vs Danzo was one of my favorite fights in the series) , but it felt like it became a totally different series after that. I think it had a strong ending, but there was a lot of jank that keeps me from putting it on the same level of other Shonen like One Piece or Hunter x Hunter.
@@misterfuzzyflippers After this arc everything felt too dbz. Power scaling went over the roof and the writing began to decline.
@@KhanMann66 I agree to some extent. I think the powerscaling wasn't too bad until about the Tenchi Bridge arc and especially the Pain arc and everything after.
@@misterfuzzyflippers you’re high
@@tyfly2000 while that's true at the moment it doesn't change my opinion.
6:32 couldn’t agree with you more, I love how you bring this point constantly and it makes me appreciate your content more keep it up 👍🏿.
This is literally perfect timing! I just finished the Naruto series for the first time. Can’t wait to hear all your thoughts
Oh shit, you're going to LOVE this.
Especially the manga. Kishimoto is incredible, I swear... those panels MOVES sometimes ;)
Trivia: in ch01, when Naruto steals the scroll, there's Choji's father straight up demanding to kill Naruto! XD
Naruto manga panelling is underappreciated. I am sure Mark will bring up the topic.
Yeah, I guess it's due to how it... falls down later in the series. But for the majority of it... Damn! XD
@@devadathans5506 Kishimoto is a genius when it comes to drawing human emotion. And I don't think he gets enough recognition for that. Some still images in his manga genuinely evoke more emotion than some actual real life human beings do.
Oh boy lets go. This was among the first anime shows I ever watched knowing it was "anime" not just a cartoon like Pokemon or Yugioh, I was 10 years old, it was 2006 and the perfect time to get into the series as I had all of Part 1 to watch and Shippuden was right around the corner. I actually very recently started rewatching the show for the first time in about 10 years and while the Land of Waves arc was alright and it wasn't until the next arc when I remembered how much I was hooked into this series because at both 10 and 25 I could not stop watching. You're in for a fun time Mark.
Pokemon is an anime bro …. And so is yugioh well I mean they’re manga but everyone watches the anime adaptations so yeah u get it
@@misterbk1791 I know that. Read again what i wrote but as this is the internet you always need to give full context so this doesn't happen. When I was a small kid I watched Pokemon and Yugioh just thinking they were another cartoon, it wasn't until later that I learned of anime retroactively realizing that I had already watched anime before but Naruto was among the first shows I had watched KNOWING it was anime. Get it?
I’ve spent the past year now dissing Naruto because of my own complaints with it but this video reminded me about all the memories and emotions I have connected to this series. I watched all of Naruto with my brother when we were kids and it was an unforgettable experience. Even if this series isn’t the best in comparison, I think this is the anime that really took my heart first.
To this day, I think Naruto is the best and the most flawed of the big shounen. It has the most flaws. It loses and finds itself a thousand times over. But all throughout, it's earnest. It's kind. It's consistent in a way that, even at its absolute *lowest* point, inspires people.
I'll always hate the way Naruto Shippuden ended.
And I'll *always* love Naruto Uzumaki - at every point, as a child and as Hokage and as chosen one - more than I could ever love any other protagonist or even character in any other show.
@@andiwillbloominwinter2020 Unfortunately the flaws are more apparent then ever.
Good review, however Mark I’m a little disappointed that you didn’t talk much about Zabuza as a character and the great impression he had on shaping Naruto’s character. But maybe you’ll see that soon.
That's not something you can know on a first readthrough.
As someone that still has a lot to say about Naruto all these years later, I'm excited to be a part of your journey. Really surprised you didn't talk more about Zabuza in particular as a mirror for Naruto in this early arc.
I remember I bought the first 27 volumes on a trip to New York & binged the whole first half of the series in a day!
Such a good story, I hope you continue to enjoy!
Dope as heck you used our Linkin Park cover in this! We love your content homie, starting this video off with a LP AMV was HYPE
Your music is incredible friend! Thanks for the kind words :)
The chapters showing Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi's duel with Zabuza were the very first chapters of Naruto I ever read, which turned me on to the series. I firmly believe that it represents Naruto at its best
I honestly can’t wait for this Naruto alone just lays down all the ground work but does such a good job with getting all the characters involved and everyone is different and the world and lore chakra is just dope
you cant talk about naruto without mentioning all the AMVs on youtube during the time holy shit thank you for that intro
Your closing is EXACTLY what i felt when i first saw Naruto, thank you for this. Thanks for reminding me of who i dreamed of being.
I have literally waited for this since you started your Review Series and I can't express the happiness and excitement I feel right now!