I know this title isn’t entirely true with all the hardcore Naruto fans. Sensible people like me love this character and give him the recognition he deserves. However–I’m halfway through Shippuden and while Lee’s strength as a ninja has never been questioned–he doesn't receive the same acknowledgment as other characters he’s already surpassed (yes, Sasuke, I’m talking about you). There’s so many phenomenal characters in this show that naming a top 5 is tough, but Rock Lee is worthy of being on there. 

Why I fell in love with the character way back in Season 1 of Naruto:

Rock Lee is the adorable combination of simultaneously being one of the toughest Genin on the show (I have heard arguments against this but I aim to disprove them) and the dorkiest. What do I mean by dorky? Rock Lee has an over zealous nature when it comes to his training as a ninja and a passionate respect and love for his sensei which borderlines on worship. Rock Lee is not only the most zealous for his training whether it's twenty-thousand push ups or a million punches, but he’s happy to do it and believes it's his obligation to love the pain which he must endure to achieve greatness. This is often played up for humor but it's actually one of the things that makes him the most loveable to me. 

• No one likes a character who has greatness dropped in their lap. Rock Lee’s trademark line is, “Hard work beats out natural talent” (for the record I would like this on a gym shirt so if anyone knows where I could buy that please message me in the “Contact Us” page). Anyone who’s ever followed combat sports or researched the study of martial arts will tell you the most dangerous people aren’t the ones who practice a thousand moves–they're the ones who practice one move a thousand times. Rock Lee explores the grounded theme of hard work, blood sweat and tears paying off and in doing so he achieves super human results.

• Everyone loves an underdog, and Rock Lee is underplayed to the hilt. Every character around him mocks him for his dorky haircut, large eyebrows and over zealous personality. He has zero confidence except in his craft, taijutsu, basically martial arts–and is extremely open to any criticism of his work from his sensei because he wants to get better. Rock Lee never takes punishment or criticism badly, instead he insist his training should be harsher so that he can grow. When squad 7 (Naruto, Sakura and duck boy cough* —I mean Sasuke) meets Rock Lee, their first impression is: who is this loser? Lee is stronger than all of them, but because they meet during the Chunin exams where students are told not to reveal their special talents, initially he withholds bragging or showing them what he’s capable of. Rock Lee asks Sakura to be his girlfriend (he needs better taste in girls) she mocks him for looking lame and being a loser. All of these characters are fortunate that Lee is such a soft hearted Genin because if he were more like Gaara was at this point in time things wouldn't have gone well for them. The moment character’s realize he’s dangerous is when Sasuke throws a kick and Lee–who was being picked on prior and not doing anything so he appeared weak–catches the blow from Sasuke and another Genin in a split second. This leads into another reason Lee’s my favorite, and if you’ve read my Sasuke article you know it's coming.

• Rock Lee flattens Sasuke and kicks his pride into the pavement. Lee follows squad 7 because Sakura turned him down for Sasuke. Sasuke is totally uninterested in all of this by the way and didn’t care that another boy was asking Sakura out. But still Lee (being a guy) goes to challenge his rival instead of addressing the girl who rejected him or moving on. Lee challenges Sasuke to a fight and then ensues one of the greatest moments in Naruto history. Sasuke’s attitude before the fight is: “This guys a loser. This fight won’t take long.”

And as my sister and I so aptly pointed out–Sasuke’s not wrong. It might be the shortest fight in Naruto history, and if you know that in this series fights take ten episodes you’d appreciate just how big a deal that is. Naruto interrupts trying to attack Lee first and in the smallest defensive move Lee sends Naruto sprawling. Lee is very polite the entire encounter when Naruto challenges him and tries to get in on it saying, “No thank you–I only want to fight Sasuke.” And Sasuke who’s been silently and audibly mocking Lee is then destroyed by a series of kicks sending him crashing into the pavement. Sasuke fails to land a single blow in the whole 30 second fight and Lee completely destroys him all the while telling Sasuke that he trains day and night. Something Naruto had sense enough to notice by the scuffs and blood on Lee’s knuckles–he trains much harder than Sasuke and that’s not something to be written off. 

• I mentioned this briefly in my Sasuke article so I won’t go off on it too much, but this entire encounter is never spoken of. Only Naruto has the sense when the fight is over and Sasuke is still saying “There’s no way I could lose to that freak!” who points out that Lee just destroyed him and the Chunin exams hadn't even started. Basically, by the time we got to the battle portion of the exams where Genin fought each other, if Sasuke had been set against Rock Lee he’d be screwed. Lee deflected Naruto without any effort and beat Sasuke in moments, yet he isn't really spoken of by other characters as one of the strongest in the show. Lee is also literally the only character in the exams (with the exception of Naruto) who wouldn't have died in seconds fighting Gaara. Another achievement not spoken of enough. 

Rock Lee Vs. Gaara:

Everyone hypes Sasuke fighting Gaara and gets excited saying “Oh, the Uchiha kid, he’s gonna be great! Can’t wait to see him fight that sand kid!” Sasuke fights Gaara for five minutes, pisses him off and then nearly gets killed when their battle continues. Naruto has to come to Sasuke’s rescue. And the only reason Sasuke doesn't die against Gaara in seconds is because Kakashi spends days with the little twat teaching him a special lightning blade. Also, Sasuke steals Rock Lee’s move to defeat the sound ninja. Basically, he gets hyped to the hilt and yet everything he has he got from someone else and he still loses. 

• Rock Lee fights Gaara for roughly 3 episodes and beats the living daylights out of him. If it were anyone but Gaara they’d have been killed in the fight, but Gaara is a jinchuriki and has a demon sealed inside him making him far more powerful than most. 

• Rock Lee is honorable to the point of being a martyr. Not only is Lee the one to jump into the arena and catch Tenten (his teammate) when Tamari discards her like garbage after a brutal defeat, but he never dislikes or hates anyone for defeating him. Gaara beats Rock Lee brutally breaking his arm and leg but Lee never holds it against him. Gaara feels guilty of those actions after his redemption arc (rightfully so) but Lee never holds it against him. Lee views it as two combatants fighting to see who is stronger, and when he loses he resigns to believe that he wasn't strong enough to defeat Gaara and takes it as a personal lesson. This is where we get into Lee’s character flaw. 

• Lee believes his value is strictly in his skill and prowess as a ninja and if he loses then all his worth is gone. This isn't a flaw in the writing, it's simply a sympathetic flaw written into the character which makes him human. Lee has this in common with many athletes who make their talent their idol and they don’t know how to exist without it. When Lee is recovering from his fight with Gaara and unable to train he’s nearly suicidal because he believes all his worth is in his skill. Lee is so obsessed with his training that he’s trying to one arm push-ups while on crutches and grows depressed when he cant do hundreds. He’s willing to undergo life threatening surgery for the chance at being healed because if he can’t be a ninja he would rather die.

The only part of this which is frustrating to me is that there isn't a character who can be a positive influence on Lee in showing him that his life has value outside of his duties as a ninja. The person who loves Lee the most is Guy Sensei–his teacher–but he’s like a more extreme version of Lee only he’s also vain. Guy sensei seems to push the idea that Lee should train and work till it kills him and never accept failure. The only exception to this is when the fight with Gaara is nearly finished, Guy Sensei interrupts. The rules of the match were that two Genin were to fight till one dies or submits–terrible rules–and Lee hasn't done either but his Sensei stops the match saving Lee’s life. Guy does this after Kakashi asks him to consider how much Lee really means to him and if Lee winning the fight is worth his students' life. This character flaw is difficult to watch because I don’t think Lee ever really gets past it, but it simultaneously makes him one of the strongest and most vulnerable characters in the show. 

Recognition in Shippuden:

One of the things I’ve appreciated thus far in Shippuden is Rock Lee does have the respect of his fellow teammates since the first series. Sakura has matured past treating him poorly or picking on him and Naruto considers him a dear friend. When teams are in dire situations Lee’s squad is the one they call and there was that awesome moment in Shippuden where Squad 8 is fighting assassins for days and they tell Lee’s squad, “They're really powerful and dangerous, be careful.”

Lee, of course, takes them head on using nothing but taijutsu and kicks them into oblivion in five minutes. Then Lee and Tenten proceed to tell Hinata’s squad curiously, “I thought you said they were tough?”

I appreciate this about the show because even when characters might be the butt of jokes or disliked, the show never sells them short or underpowers them, making them lose fights for no reason. In many shows, people win or lose fights based on plot protection and who the audience “likes.” In Naruto, nothing is settled like that. Every fight depends on someone's skill, training, age and experience. Whenever the show does give someone plot armor, like Sakura or Sasuke, its painfully obvious because it's so rare. Lee might be made into a comedic character often in the show but his skill is never underplayed and sometimes it's even annoying to others how much he trains and just how good he is. I haven't finished Shippuden yet, but I hope Lee gets some happiness and finds his value in more than his skill.