I first watched Naruto when I was around 7 or 8, it's totally a modern classic anime/manga. i had the Land Of Waves on DVD and constantly rewatched it lol. Sasuke was little girl me's fave character, since he's so relatable unlike the other 3 of the main cast who are more unrelatable characters. to this day i'd say that's still true, honestly. Sasuke is totally my favourite, Kakashi brings that impossibly cool energy to the group, Naruto brings that annoying brat you can't help but root for energy, and Sakura brings a smarter charm despite her childish beginnings! as someone who finished the story long ago when it originally ended, Zabuza will forever be my fave antagonist in the series aswell. love the review!
This arc was special for me because it is the first time that I cried for an antagonist. I wanted Zabuza and Haku to die because as an eight year old, I believed that antagonists should die. And when they did, boy was I hurt. This was the arc that really got me into the series and anime as a whole.
You watched this when you were 8?? You all amaze me, because I would have been traumatized if I read this that young! 😭😂That being said, I completely understand what you mean. Zabuza and Haku were such complex characters who I grew to adore by the end of this arc. Their final scenes hurt terribly, but at the same time, it was beautiful ending.
I love your Naruto videos! I can’t wait for the next one. Do you also watch clips of the anime just to see how certain parts come out? Hopefully you already saw it, but episode 19 is a must watch! It came out 20 years ago but the animation almost still stands. Episode 17 has some cool shots in the beginning as well.
The first 4 volumes of Naruto are indeed absolutely fantastic. I love how the empathy that Iruka gives Naruto in CH 1 saves Naruto from his loneliness and despair. Naruto who was ostracized for being a monster is saved by empathy, and so at the end of Land of Waves Naruto gives that same empathy to Haku and Zabuza saving them in their last moments even though they too were considered monsters to be used as tools by a cruel ninja world. Also adore how at the end of the arc Naruto basically vows to live his life by his own rules, not the ones set by others. He experienced first hand being humanized by Iruka and his own humanization of Haku and Zabuza. So he knows from his own experience that ninjas aren't mere tools to be used and discarded, they're people that can be connected to on a human level. Also love the bond between Naruto and Sasuke here. They didn't care for each other much at all in the beginning, but after helping each other get stronger in training to achieve their goals they're basically the closest thing to a friend they each have. That also means Sasuke is likely the 2nd closest person to Naruto after Iruka, which makes the self sacrificial moment from Sasuke even better. On top of that as Sasuke is passing out he reveals he swore not to die until he kills his older brother, meaning that he was willing to die to protect Naruto at the cost of the goal he staked his life on. I feel that really emphasizes how meaningful their short friendship is to Sasuke. Naruto going berserk at the end is the cherry on top of it all. I could go on, but glad you really enjoyed it. I'm sure you'll enjoy everything the next arc has to offer.
Thank you! I really appreciate you checking Naruto out, not many people are making videos about reading it for the first time so it's always fun to hear what people's experience is reading the manga. Hoping more people eventually hop on the Naruto train because it's a hell of a ride!@@AmberAlise
Just some fun linguistic notes on names in the series: Kohona means Leaf, the full name in Japanese, Kohohagakure no sato ( 木ノ葉隠れの里) simply means "village hidden in the leaves" Hokage (火影) means "fire shadow" or "shadow of fire". With a name linked to this, we have the secret shadow clone jutsu Naruto learns. Sharingan (写輪眼) literally means something along the lines of "copy wheel eye(s)" or "eye(s) of (the) copy wheel" or similar. Naruto's last name is Uzumaki, Uzumaki meaning "spiral" and "naruto", short for narutomaki being the name of a specific ingredient in Ramen: a sliced piece of surimi with a spiral-shaped look (it's basically a kind of fishcake made fround ground fish, often used to mimic the taste of crab). So he's basically "Spiral Spiral" boy and got a bunch of spirals on his clothes on top, he definitely thought up a style and ran with it. And he sure loves to eat himself. Kakashi's first name means scarecrow, his last name Hatake means farmland. Iruka's (海乃) last name is Umino (海乃) - Iruka translates to "dolphin" and Umino to "of/from the sea" Sakura is the Japanese cherry blossom, while Sasuke is a reference to the popular fictional ninja character Sarutobi Sasuke (with Sarutobi meaning "flying monkey") from the early 20th/late 19th century. Both Sakura and Sasuke are common Japanese given names. Zabuza Momochi's name might be inspired by a historical ninja during Japan's Civil war era with the same last name (though written with different kanji), Zabuza is written 再不斬, which translates to something akin to "you never decapitate twice". Metal af. Haku (白) just means "white". His clan was the Yuki (雪) clan, which simply means "snow". Not very subtle. Gatō (ガトー) is the Japanese way of writing the French word gâteau, which means cake Inari is the name for a Japanese sweet sushi variant, sweetened thin tofu wrapped around sweetened rice. It's great as a dessert when eating sushi. Interestingly, some names are written in Katakana instead of Kanji in the manga, even when there are obvious Kanji to go with them (like Kakashi's and Naruto's names). I personally think it's a really funny choice for Kakashi to be straight-up just named "Scarecrow".
@@AmberAlise Naruto is not on the level of My Hero Academia when in comes to names (In My Hero, there are so many great puns and comments on characters in names, it's crazy), but this series does have some really great worldbuilding and some stuff may end up lost in translation, like Kakashi being a scarecrow or Naruto Spiral boy :D
Goddamn, you're making me wanna do a reread of this series. You should have your brother on this series after pivotal arcs, I loved seeing both of you talk One Piece!
Naruto was the show that got me into anime in high school. I saw the random episode where Kakashi is teaching them to run up trees on TV and was super engaged with the explanation for how it all worked and that the two characters I knew were "more powerful" were worse at the technique. (I still love every training scene, training arcs are my favorite thing in shonen, even though my favorite shonen doesn't have them. XD) At that point my experience with magic systems was soft magic systems like Harry Potter(ie There are no rules, magic just does stuff.) and this was the closest I'd gotten at that time to a hard magic system. Then I later saw the fight of Gaara vs Rock Lee (Best fight in the series) and just had to watch the next one episode, found the series on RUclips and started watching anime for the first time since Tenchi Muyo when I was in grade school. So Naruto is special to me but I kinda fell out of love with it over time. I'm betting since you don't care as much about world building or magic systems that you'll probably like the story more than I do, though if you're already having issues with Sakura's portrayal... yeah... I with a couple exceptions don't like the way female characters are written in the series. They don't contribute as much as they realistically should given their powers and capacities. Still Naruto is a lot of fun, has some genuinely great characters, has better fights than One Piece for the most part(Lower lows and higher highs, but better average as well as just more emphasis on fights in general.), some genuinely inspiring characters, and some emotional moments. I know watching Naruto refusing to give up helped me a lot when I was younger and I think his struggle to overcome social isolation is probably even more poignant today.
Thank you for sharing this. I loved reading about how you got introduced to this amazing story and how it has helped you. It has already inspired me in so many ways, and I just started it. I am pretty jealous that I didn't watch it when I was younger like a lot of you all 😅, but reading about how much you all love it, makes this experience even better!
Also...the impact that the Land of Waves arc had on me actually enhanced my enjoyment of a certain filler arc from the anime. Let's just say, that filler arc actually helped to bring things full circle thematically from this arc. (IYKYK)
Love hearing your thoughts on the series so far! This has been such a great reminder of all the things I loved about it when I first watched it so long ago. Sakura is for sure the poster child for divisive characters but she goes through a lot of character development, so hopefully she'll only get better for you as the series goes on! Kakashi is a majorly popular and beloved character with some of the coolest moments in the series, so plenty to look forward to there! Naruto and Sasuke's friendship is so interesting and iconic, I totally understand why it's drawn you in so quickly. And I would definitely say it's a strength of Kishimoto's to make you feel sympathy for characters, even and especially villains, and understand their feelings and motivations even if you don't agree with them. Looking forward to your future reactions as you continue the series! I always thought the chunin exam arc was a lot of fun and introduces a lot of really interesting characters
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and your kind words! Naruto and Sasuke's friendship makes me want to cry and I don't know why! 😭😂 I love it so much! Also, I was SUPER happy to read what you said about Kakashi!!
Whats funny is these 1st 2 arcs are very good like you said..but looking back at them.. Thier not even in my top 10 arcs probably! This series is great!
This was the first Shonen where I legitimately loved 98% of the entire cast in the first two arcs (Sakura was in the 2%😂). But I'm glad you love the dynamic of our little trio here. The relationship between Naruto and Sasuke, especially is the one of the greatest dynamics in this story.
Hey Amber how you been. I hope your day has been well. Great review but yes Naruto is an amazing anime/manga. Naruto story is so sad but yet to see him grow as a character is one of the things that makes you like his character. And makes you want to root for him. Sasuke as a character who I like the most because of his sad backstory but at the same time one of the most complex characters in the history of anime/manga. Sakura as a character I'm not a fan of. And her obsessing over Sasuke can be very annoying. Kakashi is a character that I like because of not just his design. But someone who is amazing. Iruka is a character that I like because he was the first person to finally open up to Naruto. And to see the two of them have a great student teacher relationship that goes to that to a big brother little brother relationship. Sasuke unlocking his Sharigan was a cool moment and him protecting Naruto as he give Naruto his speech about surviving until he kill his brother. In which he passed out making Naruto think he died in which we get the debut of Naruto 9 Tail Fox power is episode 16 if you're interested in looking at these moments in the anime. Zabuza and Haku are amazing antagonists. The best characters to start a story for the main characters. And seeing how they became the way because of the shinobi system. And how cruel the actual world can truly be. To see Haku backstory and how he was treated and feared not only by people but his father who killed his mother because she was born with Kekkei Genkai ability to control Ice In which it passed down to Haku as well. Also his dad tried to him too only for Haku to kill his father. Kekkei Genkai (Ninjas with special unique abilities who are from a special clan like Sasuke clan the Uchiha clan). If you want to watch Haku backstory in anime some part of it is in episode 12 where Naruto meet Haku in the forest. And episode 17 after Naruto defeated him. Episode 18 is Haku death. But Naruto words reaching Zabuza and making him see that him not caring for Haku was a lie. And it really show ninjas are not tools to be discard and get rid of but are human beings. Who do have emotions. Even tho it is taught to him and Kakashi to be a ninja you must abandoned your emotions. In which if you want to see the part where Naruto uses No Talk Jutsu on Zabuza. Talk No Jutsu which is term fans call Naruto other ability to where he change his enemy evil ways or beliefs by talking to them is episode 19 as well Zabuza fighting Gato and his men for Haku honor as well his death the last and final episode of the Land of Waves arc. Sorry that this was long. Just giving you some information that you may want to know or watch. But anyway I hope you have a lovely day. Stay safe, stay positive, stay blessed, take care and stay amazing Lady Hokage the Village Hidden in Go Read. Enjoy the rest of your day 😁✌🏾
Zabuza and Haku were the most memorable first antagonists I'd encountered at the time. (I hadn't seen DBZ from the beginning yet and that first arc's main antagonist eventually overtook them, but they're still up there!)
Thank you Rob! No need to apologize! Your thoughts are always great to read! Also, thank you for letting me know about what part Haku's backstory pops up in the anime! That is definitely something that I am looking forward to watching!
I want you to watch some of this stuff in anime, but I want you to avoid it as much as possible for spoiler reasons The music in it was seriously good, I wanted something like drums in Naruto Main Theme to play during G5 moment in One Piece when I first read it in manga I've some issues with Naruto overall, but it used to be amongst my top favs
Honestly I'm tired of the Sakura hate . If we look at it objectively she's just an average little girl that wantes to be close to her crush put with two incredibly strong boys of course she'll come short compared to them it's the author's fault.
I love that you're just jumping in and embracing everything. The shirt was the icing on the cake lol.
@8:26 “I think we have two incredibly powerful, dynamic characters…. And then we have her.” I think that does accurately sum up the trio 😭😂
😂😂
Lol I lover her still yet. Even if it's just a few panels. Sometimes it's really damn good. Sometimes.
honestly LOL
This will be fun to follow.
Believe it!
I first watched Naruto when I was around 7 or 8, it's totally a modern classic anime/manga. i had the Land Of Waves on DVD and constantly rewatched it lol. Sasuke was little girl me's fave character, since he's so relatable unlike the other 3 of the main cast who are more unrelatable characters. to this day i'd say that's still true, honestly. Sasuke is totally my favourite, Kakashi brings that impossibly cool energy to the group, Naruto brings that annoying brat you can't help but root for energy, and Sakura brings a smarter charm despite her childish beginnings! as someone who finished the story long ago when it originally ended, Zabuza will forever be my fave antagonist in the series aswell. love the review!
This arc was special for me because it is the first time that I cried for an antagonist. I wanted Zabuza and Haku to die because as an eight year old, I believed that antagonists should die. And when they did, boy was I hurt. This was the arc that really got me into the series and anime as a whole.
You watched this when you were 8?? You all amaze me, because I would have been traumatized if I read this that young! 😭😂That being said, I completely understand what you mean. Zabuza and Haku were such complex characters who I grew to adore by the end of this arc. Their final scenes hurt terribly, but at the same time, it was beautiful ending.
Glad you’re enjoying it, Amber. You’re gonna love these next upcoming arcs.
I'm already anxious for her to feel the pain😅. I cried on that bridge. I think it was my first anime cry
😭😭😂Understandable! This arc hurt so much in the best and worst ways!
I love your Naruto videos! I can’t wait for the next one. Do you also watch clips of the anime just to see how certain parts come out? Hopefully you already saw it, but episode 19 is a must watch! It came out 20 years ago but the animation almost still stands. Episode 17 has some cool shots in the beginning as well.
The first 4 volumes of Naruto are indeed absolutely fantastic. I love how the empathy that Iruka gives Naruto in CH 1 saves Naruto from his loneliness and despair. Naruto who was ostracized for being a monster is saved by empathy, and so at the end of Land of Waves Naruto gives that same empathy to Haku and Zabuza saving them in their last moments even though they too were considered monsters to be used as tools by a cruel ninja world.
Also adore how at the end of the arc Naruto basically vows to live his life by his own rules, not the ones set by others. He experienced first hand being humanized by Iruka and his own humanization of Haku and Zabuza. So he knows from his own experience that ninjas aren't mere tools to be used and discarded, they're people that can be connected to on a human level.
Also love the bond between Naruto and Sasuke here. They didn't care for each other much at all in the beginning, but after helping each other get stronger in training to achieve their goals they're basically the closest thing to a friend they each have. That also means Sasuke is likely the 2nd closest person to Naruto after Iruka, which makes the self sacrificial moment from Sasuke even better. On top of that as Sasuke is passing out he reveals he swore not to die until he kills his older brother, meaning that he was willing to die to protect Naruto at the cost of the goal he staked his life on. I feel that really emphasizes how meaningful their short friendship is to Sasuke. Naruto going berserk at the end is the cherry on top of it all.
I could go on, but glad you really enjoyed it. I'm sure you'll enjoy everything the next arc has to offer.
Wow! Your whole analysis was great, but your take on Naruto and Sauske made me emotional!! Gosh, you explained that wonderfully!
Thank you! I really appreciate you checking Naruto out, not many people are making videos about reading it for the first time so it's always fun to hear what people's experience is reading the manga. Hoping more people eventually hop on the Naruto train because it's a hell of a ride!@@AmberAlise
It’s crazy how good the beginning is looking back on it especially as someone who has read it before and knows it just gets better from here
Just some fun linguistic notes on names in the series:
Kohona means Leaf, the full name in Japanese, Kohohagakure no sato ( 木ノ葉隠れの里) simply means "village hidden in the leaves"
Hokage (火影) means "fire shadow" or "shadow of fire".
With a name linked to this, we have the secret shadow clone jutsu Naruto learns.
Sharingan (写輪眼) literally means something along the lines of "copy wheel eye(s)" or "eye(s) of (the) copy wheel" or similar.
Naruto's last name is Uzumaki, Uzumaki meaning "spiral" and "naruto", short for narutomaki being the name of a specific ingredient in Ramen: a sliced piece of surimi with a spiral-shaped look (it's basically a kind of fishcake made fround ground fish, often used to mimic the taste of crab).
So he's basically "Spiral Spiral" boy and got a bunch of spirals on his clothes on top, he definitely thought up a style and ran with it. And he sure loves to eat himself.
Kakashi's first name means scarecrow, his last name Hatake means farmland.
Iruka's (海乃) last name is Umino (海乃) - Iruka translates to "dolphin" and Umino to "of/from the sea"
Sakura is the Japanese cherry blossom, while Sasuke is a reference to the popular fictional ninja character Sarutobi Sasuke (with Sarutobi meaning "flying monkey") from the early 20th/late 19th century. Both Sakura and Sasuke are common Japanese given names.
Zabuza Momochi's name might be inspired by a historical ninja during Japan's Civil war era with the same last name (though written with different kanji), Zabuza is written 再不斬, which translates to something akin to "you never decapitate twice". Metal af.
Haku (白) just means "white". His clan was the Yuki (雪) clan, which simply means "snow". Not very subtle.
Gatō (ガトー) is the Japanese way of writing the French word gâteau, which means cake
Inari is the name for a Japanese sweet sushi variant, sweetened thin tofu wrapped around sweetened rice. It's great as a dessert when eating sushi.
Interestingly, some names are written in Katakana instead of Kanji in the manga, even when there are obvious Kanji to go with them (like Kakashi's and Naruto's names).
I personally think it's a really funny choice for Kakashi to be straight-up just named "Scarecrow".
I LOVE this! Thank you!!
@@AmberAlise Naruto is not on the level of My Hero Academia when in comes to names (In My Hero, there are so many great puns and comments on characters in names, it's crazy), but this series does have some really great worldbuilding and some stuff may end up lost in translation, like Kakashi being a scarecrow or Naruto Spiral boy :D
Welp, you've got yourself a new subscriber well done🎉.
Well Hello and Welcome! ☺Thank you!!
I knew it Amber! I love Naruto just like I love One Piece. I love Stories and these are both Great to me.
Goddamn, you're making me wanna do a reread of this series. You should have your brother on this series after pivotal arcs, I loved seeing both of you talk One Piece!
I am in love with this story already! Also, thank you! We may just have to do that!
Naruto was the show that got me into anime in high school. I saw the random episode where Kakashi is teaching them to run up trees on TV and was super engaged with the explanation for how it all worked and that the two characters I knew were "more powerful" were worse at the technique. (I still love every training scene, training arcs are my favorite thing in shonen, even though my favorite shonen doesn't have them. XD)
At that point my experience with magic systems was soft magic systems like Harry Potter(ie There are no rules, magic just does stuff.) and this was the closest I'd gotten at that time to a hard magic system. Then I later saw the fight of Gaara vs Rock Lee (Best fight in the series) and just had to watch the next one episode, found the series on RUclips and started watching anime for the first time since Tenchi Muyo when I was in grade school.
So Naruto is special to me but I kinda fell out of love with it over time. I'm betting since you don't care as much about world building or magic systems that you'll probably like the story more than I do, though if you're already having issues with Sakura's portrayal... yeah... I with a couple exceptions don't like the way female characters are written in the series. They don't contribute as much as they realistically should given their powers and capacities.
Still Naruto is a lot of fun, has some genuinely great characters, has better fights than One Piece for the most part(Lower lows and higher highs, but better average as well as just more emphasis on fights in general.), some genuinely inspiring characters, and some emotional moments. I know watching Naruto refusing to give up helped me a lot when I was younger and I think his struggle to overcome social isolation is probably even more poignant today.
Thank you for sharing this. I loved reading about how you got introduced to this amazing story and how it has helped you. It has already inspired me in so many ways, and I just started it. I am pretty jealous that I didn't watch it when I was younger like a lot of you all 😅, but reading about how much you all love it, makes this experience even better!
Also...the impact that the Land of Waves arc had on me actually enhanced my enjoyment of a certain filler arc from the anime. Let's just say, that filler arc actually helped to bring things full circle thematically from this arc. (IYKYK)
Love hearing your thoughts on the series so far! This has been such a great reminder of all the things I loved about it when I first watched it so long ago. Sakura is for sure the poster child for divisive characters but she goes through a lot of character development, so hopefully she'll only get better for you as the series goes on! Kakashi is a majorly popular and beloved character with some of the coolest moments in the series, so plenty to look forward to there! Naruto and Sasuke's friendship is so interesting and iconic, I totally understand why it's drawn you in so quickly. And I would definitely say it's a strength of Kishimoto's to make you feel sympathy for characters, even and especially villains, and understand their feelings and motivations even if you don't agree with them. Looking forward to your future reactions as you continue the series! I always thought the chunin exam arc was a lot of fun and introduces a lot of really interesting characters
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and your kind words! Naruto and Sasuke's friendship makes me want to cry and I don't know why! 😭😂 I love it so much! Also, I was SUPER happy to read what you said about Kakashi!!
Whats funny is these 1st 2 arcs are very good like you said..but looking back at them.. Thier not even in my top 10 arcs probably! This series is great!
Omg!! That's crazy! I am already hooked, but this makes me even more excited to continue!
Omg just wait till the chuunin exams arc!! Ur gonna go crazy 😂
Ahhh! 😂 I can't wait!
This was the first Shonen where I legitimately loved 98% of the entire cast in the first two arcs (Sakura was in the 2%😂).
But I'm glad you love the dynamic of our little trio here. The relationship between Naruto and Sasuke, especially is the one of the greatest dynamics in this story.
Hey Amber how you been. I hope your day has been well. Great review but yes Naruto is an amazing anime/manga. Naruto story is so sad but yet to see him grow as a character is one of the things that makes you like his character. And makes you want to root for him.
Sasuke as a character who I like the most because of his sad backstory but at the same time one of the most complex characters in the history of anime/manga.
Sakura as a character I'm not a fan of. And her obsessing over Sasuke can be very annoying.
Kakashi is a character that I like because of not just his design. But someone who is amazing.
Iruka is a character that I like because he was the first person to finally open up to Naruto. And to see the two of them have a great student teacher relationship that goes to that to a big brother little brother relationship.
Sasuke unlocking his Sharigan was a cool moment and him protecting Naruto as he give Naruto his speech about surviving until he kill his brother. In which he passed out making Naruto think he died in which we get the debut of Naruto 9 Tail Fox power is episode 16 if you're interested in looking at these moments in the anime.
Zabuza and Haku are amazing antagonists. The best characters to start a story for the main characters. And seeing how they became the way because of the shinobi system. And how cruel the actual world can truly be. To see Haku backstory and how he was treated and feared not only by people but his father who killed his mother because she was born with Kekkei Genkai ability to control Ice In which it passed down to Haku as well. Also his dad tried to him too only for Haku to kill his father. Kekkei Genkai (Ninjas with special unique abilities who are from a special clan like Sasuke clan the Uchiha clan).
If you want to watch Haku backstory in anime some part of it is in episode 12 where Naruto meet Haku in the forest. And episode 17 after Naruto defeated him. Episode 18 is Haku death. But Naruto words reaching Zabuza and making him see that him not caring for Haku was a lie. And it really show ninjas are not tools to be discard and get rid of but are human beings. Who do have emotions. Even tho it is taught to him and Kakashi to be a ninja you must abandoned your emotions. In which if you want to see the part where Naruto uses No Talk Jutsu on Zabuza. Talk No Jutsu which is term fans call Naruto other ability to where he change his enemy evil ways or beliefs by talking to them is episode 19 as well Zabuza fighting Gato and his men for Haku honor as well his death the last and final episode of the Land of Waves arc.
Sorry that this was long. Just giving you some information that you may want to know or watch. But anyway I hope you have a lovely day. Stay safe, stay positive, stay blessed, take care and stay amazing Lady Hokage the Village Hidden in Go Read. Enjoy the rest of your day 😁✌🏾
Zabuza and Haku were the most memorable first antagonists I'd encountered at the time. (I hadn't seen DBZ from the beginning yet and that first arc's main antagonist eventually overtook them, but they're still up there!)
Thank you Rob! No need to apologize! Your thoughts are always great to read! Also, thank you for letting me know about what part Haku's backstory pops up in the anime! That is definitely something that I am looking forward to watching!
@@AmberAlise You're welcome and anytime. Happy to help Amber😁
Narutos villians are some of the best villians in ani/manga imo
If you liked how zabuza changes, how do you feel about him as a character. just wait for shipuden
I want you to watch some of this stuff in anime, but I want you to avoid it as much as possible for spoiler reasons
The music in it was seriously good, I wanted something like drums in Naruto Main Theme to play during G5 moment in One Piece when I first read it in manga
I've some issues with Naruto overall, but it used to be amongst my top favs
Honestly I'm tired of the Sakura hate .
If we look at it objectively she's just an average little girl that wantes to be close to her crush put with two incredibly strong boys of course she'll come short compared to them it's the author's fault.
Sakura ? Useless ? You don't saaaay...
😂😂