What began as a simple coming-of-age tale turned into a rollercoaster ride of drama, action, and hope. Naruto, the story of an orphan with hope in his big dreams inspired anime fans across the globe and is commonly regarded as many American fans gateway into the genre.
Though the series as a whole is not without its faults, it was, overall, a booming success. Naruto and Naruto: Shippuuden both stood out enough to last for more than a decade, and that’s thanks in part to how it went against some tired-old shonen anime cliches. The way this anime went against the tides was what made it special and what makes it timeless.
9 Fans Of Fan Service Are Not Welcome In Naruto
While anime like Kill La Kill or Bleach have an overwhelming amount of fan service, Naruto has less as it goes on. There’s a lot more shipping than anything, and although there are plenty of perverted moments involving adults, they’re brief and doesn’t take away from the characters. What’s more refreshing is the fact that the perverted moments only ever happen with adult characters.
None of the younger characters are subjected to being oversexualized, except for the very brief scenes that involve Naruto’s sexy jutsu. There’s more fan service earlier on in the series, but when the main characters are teenagers, even sexy jutsu is only brought up a few times.
8 Naruto Isn’t The Typical “Simple-Minded Protagonist”
Granted, Naruto harped on and on about becoming Hokage to the point that it became annoying for others, but there’s more to his dream than just “wanting to be the best.” Having grown up alone as an orphan, Naruto’s dream is paired with his deep desire to be loved, making his incessant banter completely understandable and meaningful, especially as he grows up.
As the series progresses, Naruto is forced to feel the sting of harsh reality, not that he was ever unacquainted with that. He still has some immaturity, but his goals and even parts of his personality change. There’s even a scene in Shippuuden where he claims he shouldn’t be Hokage since he couldn’t save Sasuke. Naruto is not the typical shonen protagonist as he is multi-layered with each layer serving a purpose.
7 The Main Heroine Doesn’t Fall In Love With The Hero
The shipping wars started early on and it looked as though NaruSaku was going to become canon with little hints of Sakura developing feelings for Naruto. That was not to be, and not just because Sakura was so in love with Sasuke. Naruto fell more and more in love with Sakura, but he lost respect for her when she lied to him about loving him back.
Sakura loves Naruto in a way and saw how much danger he was in chasing after Sasuke, so she came to the conclusion that lying was the best approach to protecting him – which it wasn’t. Naruto may have promised Sakura to bring back Sasuke, but it was also a personal goal of his. For her to fake her feelings in order to take away one of his goals was selfish. Disgusted by Sakura’s actions, Naruto pushed her away, forever killing the ship of the two main characters.
6 The Power Of Friendship Doesn’t Work Every Time… At Least Not Right Away
“The power of friendship” is a common trope in shonen anime where the day is saved thanks to the support given by the main hero’s friends. Although Naruto does start off with the idea of “teamwork makes the dream work” with Team 7 overcoming all the odds together and Naruto already changing people’s hearts, like with Neji, the idea is challenged after the Chunin Exams end.
Between Sasuke falling deeper in darkness by the minute and the revelation that the world is not nearly as peaceful as the young ninjas once thought, it takes a lot more than a declaration of friendship to turn things around. Naruto himself nearly falls into despair, but he learns to hold onto his optimism and focus on establishing peace and love as best as he and his friends can. It takes forever, but it’s worth it in the end.
5 The Hero’s Rival Is Not Just An Obstacle To Overcome
Sasuke is one of the more fleshed-out rival characters in anime, bouncing from side character to antagonist, then to evil villain, and finally to a prominent character. He’s given his own scenes without the need of other main characters, carrying a story and a life all on his own.
Sasuke grows just as strong as Naruto, and the overarching question of who will win in battle is surprisingly left unanswered. Normally this would prove to be a huge disappointment for fans, but the tie has more meaning. One can say Naruto won because he brought Sasuke out of the darkness, but they were both equals in the end, turning the rival trope on its head.
4 Adults Are Important Too
Too many shonen anime have young heroes running around without any adult supervision or guidance. This might work for an audience of younger children who can’t wait to run off on their own adventures, but it’s unrealistic and is missing on the value that older characters can have – especially for the main characters. Naruto benefits from that and then some.
Each young ninja is guided by a more experienced one, unless you’re Naruto or Sasuke and you have a heaping number of mentors. More than just acting as a mentor, the adults in Naruto have their own personalities, purpose, and goals, and some of them add more lore to the universe as well.
3 The Chunin Exam Is A Tournament Arc With Purpose
More often than not, the cliche of the “tournament arc” is overused, failing to bring anything special to the series. Naruto is one of the few popular anime of today that only has one tournament arc which excels at boosting the plot and the characters. While the first arc introduced the concept of Ninja for hire, jutsu, and the main characters among Team 7, the Chunin Exam was the next big step in their careers as Ninja.
Here, the audience is introduced to all the important main characters that would be significant for the remainder of the series, and there’s a great deal of world-building needed to lead up to the events that take place in Shippuuden. Most importantly, it’s a huge turning point for Team 7, both as a team and as individuals. The Chunin Exams could have just been an action-packed tournament, but it was so much more than that.
2 The Heroes Actually Break A Sweat Training
A shonen anime isn’t quite the same without the heroes buffing up to prepare for their next battle, but the training in Naruto reveals a lot more than most anime. Throughout much of the series, the idea of hard work paying off is shown in how much the characters push themselves while training. Characters like Rock Lee and Naruto have passed out or hurt themselves while training only to have gotten nowhere. Eventually, they grow stronger, but that still doesn’t mean they’re ready for every battle.
1 The Hero Doesn’t Always Single-handedly Defeat The Villain
This is especially true when Naruto is younger and never single-handedly defeats any enemies. Even when he faces off against Gaara, he has a little help from Gamabunta. Also when fighting against Pain and standing as the hero of Konoha, Naruto still has allies on the battlefield with the frog warriors from Mount Myoboku acting as his support.
Naruto didn’t even win that battle without tasting a little defeat himself, having almost been captured by Pain and rescued by Hinata. The bottom line is that Naruto is never the sole line of defense against the villain, as it’s more often than not a team effort.