Naruto (2002 - 2007)

A Japanese anime directed by Hayato Date.
A misbehaving orphan boy goes through ninja training and is sent on missions with his peers.
220 episodes of Naruto is a little bit much for anyone over 20 years old. The fast pace held my interest though. The basic premise of the plot allows some writing freedom and was rich with side-plots. I don't think I've ever hoped for the death of the main character sooner or more continuously than while watching this. Everyone else was relatively deep in comparison to this brash little crap-hole. The humorous episodes of side-plots are what I like about anime is series format and this was no exception. My favorite comic relief was Jiraiya, the "Pervy Sage" and Naruto's supposed sensei. Naruto's dialogue immediately irked me with his repeated phrase, "Believe it!" but that stopped soon enough that I could finish watching the series. Shikamaru always says everything is "a drag". Otherwise, the dialogue and acting were not bad. Too many flashbacks is where this series really went awry. There were even flashbacks within flashbacks during decisive battles. It was a real drag. The animation looked more computerized than Inuyasha, but retained the hand-drawn traditional form. Some of it also looked a little bit lazy and repetitive, but I would have done the same thing if I were animating over 200 episodes of something. I liked the audio for the most part. Naruto and Gaara's English voice actors were not to my liking and the music was a little repetitive. It was good music, though. The Oroshimaru theme reminded me of the intro to Michael Jackson's Thriller and there was some fast rock/metal for battles. The style of the series as a whole seemed a little juvenile to me, but this is a cartoon made for teen boys. It's supposed to be that way. Overall, it was just slightly less good than Inuyasha (which I rated good). This makes Naruto adequate.