Growing up, I was never interested in Anime. When I was a child, I saw two Anime movies: My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away–they were weird to say the least. As I got older, the glimpses I got of Anime seemed to be too explicit and therefore not for me. People recommended shows to me, but from just a few clips I was able to determine why people watched the show and it wasn’t for the plot or well developed characters–it was for gore and smut. Naruto was bounced around as a good show, but I was skeptical. To be honest, I’d seen one clip of Naruto a few years back where Kakashi asks them to introduce themselves. I remember thinking the clip was funny and the characters intriguing but I figured the show was probably going to be too explicit for me, like so many others. So I passed it by. Now, 2022 will mark the year I took it up again and fell in love with not only the show (and Kakashi) but a lot of Anime. Let’s take a look at how Naruto grabbed my interest and proved to be unlike any other show I’d seen up to this point.  

Complex characters–and lots of them: To be honest, the first episode I saw of Naruto was the start of the Chunin exams. I have a nasty habit of skipping to the middle of something (novels, tv shows, etc.) in order to get straight to the meat and potatoes and find out if it’s even worth my time. Within the span of a twenty minute episode, I perceived there were many unique and complex characters in the show, even though we only got a glimpse of some. The humor balanced well with the intensity and the world was well developed with a clear plot focus. I’ll start with why the characters were the first plus for me. 

• This show had the most characters I’d seen in one place up to this point and it didn’t work against them. I’ve always preferred a show with heavy character focus and a broad cast. I like to incorporate this element into my own works; because, if done well, it can be a very strong motivator for readers. 

• Each squad has three people with their own sensei and there are many squads. Yet, no two squad members or sensei’s are alike. Every character has a distinct personality and appearance, not to mention a voice which perfectly matches their character (a shout out to the voice actors who do the English dub; they did an excellent job in choosing voice actors). 

-Taking just one side character as an example of this, let’s look at Neji Hyuga. 

• We first see Neji with squad nine, prepping for the Chunin exams and discussing their competition. You are unsure from this brief introduction if he is going to be an antagonist or merely a bully who serves as an obstacle for the main character to overcome. Little did we know, in Anime no character is simply one thing and stereotypes are rarely fulfilled. 

• Neji resembles Hinata in appearance but we don’t learn they are related until they face off against each other. They don’t speak to each other until that point and no reason is given for why Neji is so cruel to his little cousin. The writers don’t attempt to over explain or give too much plot exposition at one time so you’re waiting for the unexpectedly detailed backstory. 

Neji turns out to be more than just a simple bully. He’s one of the show's many complex characters who started out being unlikeable but then gets a redemption arc. This kind of well done transformation and character handling is something we’d rarely seen anywhere else. For a more detailed look at a complex character and a well done redemption arc, check out my sister’s articles on Itachi Uchiha and Gaara of the sand.  

Naruto Uzimaki: A relatable and loveable protagonist with admirable traits. 

 I’ll take a brief look at the main character and why he became so relatable and likable to me. (For a more in depth character study, check out my article on Naruto Uzimaki). 

Three things basically sum up Naruto’s character: His suffering, His resolve to never give up, and his unwavering loyalty to those he cares about. As I stated in my Buffy the Vampire Slayer article, “A Study of A Heroine” (check it out if you haven’t already in our Television section) every hero has to suffer. 

• Naruto has an ongoing struggle of trying to be worth something to anyone since he spent the first twelve years of his life being hated and ignored. The villagers hate him for something he never had a say in, being sealed with the Nine Tails from birth. 

• In the very first episode, you wonder why Naruto seems so carefree and disrespectful of authority. He does poorly in school and goofs off. He intentionally causes trouble and turns heads so people will notice him. When his school teacher, Iruka Sensei, confronts him, Naruto claims he wants to be Hokage one day. Iruka tells him in order to do that he must work hard and earn it. Iruka doesn’t cut him any slack in doing so. After this, Naruto tries his hardest and still fails.

-What stems from Naruto’s suffering is his resolve to never give up. 

• Naruto is determined to prove himself as a great ninja, worthy to be Hokage one day and earn people’s respect. However, this doesn’t come easy to him. The first time Team 7 encounters an enemy ninja, Naruto freezes in fear. This is when he swears he will never again be useless in a fight and comes up with his ninja way, “I never go back on my word!” 

• During the bell test, Naruto is the only one who just goes for it and attacks Kakashi head on. Reckless? Maybe, but neither Sasuke or Sakura do anything but hide and yet they criticize Naruto for his boldness. Kakashi even seems to admire Naruto’s bold approach. Naruto may not always know what to do, but at least he does something and tries his best no matter how scared or outmatched he may be.   

• Naruto won’t quit no matter how difficult the task and he is stalwart when it comes to what’s right and wrong. It doesn’t matter if someone has suffered horrible things, is royalty, or follows an ancient law, Naruto calls out evil. An example of this is when Haku dies for Zabuza. Haku may have been trying to kill Naruto, and Naruto believes he killed Sasuke, but Naruto still gets angry when he learns Haku was merely an instrument to Zabuza for wicked means. Naruto’s righteous anger, as it were, often draws people to repent. He’s the only character who always calls a spade a spade when people most need to hear it. 

-Last but not least, Naruto has unwavering loyalty and affection for those he cares about.

• This was the first thing that made me like Naruto. In the first episode, he’s easily tricked to steal a book with forbidden jutsu to try and impress his teacher. His teacher, interestingly enough, has struggled with how to treat Naruto since he carries the beast that murdered his parents. Because of this, Naruto doubts if his teacher even cares about him, until Iruka nearly dies to protect him. When the real enemy tries to deliver the finishing blow, Naruto gets in the way and says, “If you ever lay a hand on my sensei, I’ll kill you!”  This was my first clue into how deeply the character values his relationships with others. 

• Naruto becomes attached to people very quickly but loves them very deeply and I admired that about him. I also related to it. He has the brief encounter with Kakashi during the bell test, where he gets soundly humiliated, yet when Kakashi gives them his reasons for why he passes people and what it takes to be a ninja, Naruto latches onto him as a figure he respects and greatly cares about.    

  
  

    

The Set Up was like Nothing we’d ever experienced: 

Anime has its own unique style for pacing, world building, and delivering plot exposition which make it very different from American shows. 

• The show’s pacing is nothing like your typical Saturday morning cartoon. Take an animated series I grew up loving (Teen Titans or X-Men Evolution), they all have the pattern of a one shot episode where a threat is introduced and resolved in the span of twenty minutes. Typically, the episode stands alone and bears little continuity or relevance to the rest of the show. Maybe part of the episode will connect to something later to be revealed down the road. For instance, in one episode of Teen Titans, the titans face off against the Hive’s best all for the purpose of name-dropping Slade’s identity. Slade does come into play later on and ends up being the threat for the series finale. However, compared to the way things play out in Naruto, Titans seems incredibly fast paced and not quite as in depth with regards to all its characters. 

• Naruto has lengthy plots spanning several episodes (this can suck you in but also be annoying, it depends). Naruto’s episodes are the same length as any other cartoon (the standard twenty minutes) but very few episodes wrap up the conflict in that amount of time. The threat typically carries on into the next episode and isn’t resolved for at least five or six episodes. With a broad goal to accomplish or build upon, like the Chunin Exams, I like it. On the other hand, it can be annoying when a single fight takes episodes to get a single blow in, like Kakashi vs. Zabuza.   

• The Shinobi world is also very detailed and the writer’s don’t attempt to dump too much information on you at one time. It gives you some answers but then leaves questions to be answered another time to keep you interested, like any good show or book. For example, we learn from episode 1 that Naruto has the nine tailed fox in him, but we don’t know why or who his parents were. Let alone all the abilities he possesses or if there’s anyone else out there like him. The Hokage and Kakashi seem to know more than they’re saying about Naruto’s origin but they don’t even start revealing this until Shippuden.  

• Every little thing matters in the show and with attention to detail, the viewer is actually able to pick things up. I like this because nothing is really left hanging or simply doesn’t matter. There's no such thing as overthinking it with Anime. The first time Itachi appears, I remember hating him because he tortured Kakashi. Looking back on it, a lot of his behavior didn’t make sense for a villain. When Sasuke’s name is first mentioned around him, his hand twitches (like a writer in a novel, why draw attention to this unless there’s a reason). He also doesn’t kill Kakashi, and he tells Kisame to bring him with them. Why? I know for most people, if someone tortures you or just plain hurts you in general, you’re liable to think they hate you. In Anime, I’ve come to read more into it and ask, why didn’t you finish me off? 

• Last but not least, Anime has the explicitly unique internal dialogue where characters talk to themselves instead of verbalizing what they’re thinking, kind of like a novel. This made more sense to me after learning that in Asian culture there is a thing called, reading the room. Asian culture definitely holds that actions speak louder than words and talking too much shows your lack of perception and intelligence. This is why Anime allows us to hear all their characters' thoughts, that way they are not talking all the time to look like fools, but we can hear what goes on in their mind so we’re not left in the dark. This internal dialogue is not as present in American shows. Our people sometimes say way more than is necessary to get a simple point across. In the Naruto films, the characters didn’t talk to themselves and it felt totally weird. 

Naruto changed my opinion of Anime, getting me into several different shows now, and it has given me a ton of inspiration for my future writing ideas. I don’t believe in keeping things so simple anymore when it comes to characters or world building and it taught me more on showing and not telling. My sister and I are currently almost halfway through Shippuden so stay tuned for more on that and other character breakdowns as well.