The inevitable Naruto rant

[rallamajoop]

It’s come to my attention since sometime mid February that I’ve picked up a medium to large obsession with Naruto. This was something of a surprise. Not because I have any problem with shonen-fighting type series - it was the genre that got me into anime in the first place - but at first glance Naruto looked more like the next big but largely brainless and plotless hit than the sort of shonen that appeals to me. Given, I’m getting picky these days (many years of anime does unpleasant things to one’s cliché tolerance), but between a ninja village, a twelve year old hero and several opening episodes which weren’t going anywhere fast it didn’t look like we were in for anything special. Stretch out the action to the point of insanity (a problem besetting so many anime which would otherwise overtake their still unfinished manga version and run out of material) and throw in a liberal helping of all the afore-mentioned clichés and you can maybe see why I managed to watch so much of the series without becoming attached to it.

Clearly, first impressions don’t tell you everything.

So what made the difference? Primarily, having my sister come back from Japan with a whole box full of Naruto manga and a lot of enthusiasm. Of course, it helped that this just happened coincide with the point at which I reached the second major story arc; and cool as some parts of the first arc are, this is where the plot really starts and all my favourite characters show up. But I didn’t actually know that when I picked up volume five during a dull afternoon.

Note to those reading: going through twenty volumes of Naruto manga in under a week is not actually a good idea. Did I mention this series actually turns out to contain more or less everything I look for in good shonen. Who’d’a guessed?

Things start out pretty slow; the first arc only boasts four characters that the producers thought were important enough to appear in the opening. Unsurprisingly, the title character, Uzumaki Naruto, is pretty standard hero material: a loud mouthed, none-too-bright troublemaker who dreams of becoming the next Hokage (the village’s top ninja) despite only having made it through the academy by the skin of his teeth. The co-star - so to speak (technically it’s a three man team and a huge cast, but the crux of the story always comes back to these two) - and the rival slash best friend slash slash bait is Uchiha Sasuke, the moody, focused, revenge obsessed and more than a little stuck up prodigy of their year at the academy and last survivor of a powerful clan. Competitiveness is all these two have in common; put them on the same team and sparks were destined to fly. Completing the team is Sakura, Naruto’s crush and supposedly the smartest in her year though her actual skills aren’t anything special. Like most of the girls in her class she has a crush on Sasuke and doesn’t think much of Naruto; so while he’s quite happy to have her on the team her presence really isn’t diffusing things any. Solidarity is the last thing on this gang’s collective mind: Naruto doesn’t want to share the spotlight, Sasuke’s convinced teammates will only slow him down and Sakura’s more interested in boys than ninja-ing. In charge of this particular train wreck is their eccentric but damn powerful teacher Kakashi; a mystery in his own right, but awfully big on teamwork - good thing too, this team really needs it.

From then on though, things don’t work quite how you expect. One could easily envisage seasons worth material in which our rookie ninjas take dull, barely dangerous D-rank missions and wacky hijinks ensue; but the series does nothing of the sort. The first two big plot elements we’re introduced to are certainly important; being the monstrous nine tailed fox demon sealed inside Naruto at birth and a ‘certain person’ Sasuke’s out to kill; but if you expected to see them driving the action you’d be wrong. And while Naruto may be the hero, more often than not it’s Sasuke who seems to be the focus of events.

Naruto isn’t a dark series, but it’s made very clear that the world of the ninja is not a nice place to grow up. Most of them live short, brutal lives and a good number of them fit between unpleasant and completely batshit psycho. Those without some exceptional power don’t have much of a life expectancy, and even those who do are often shunned by their fellows. And people as exceptional as Naruto and Sasuke prove to be attract some decidedly unwanted attention.

By mid way through the second arc, Naruto has plot elements to burn. There’s nearly always at least two sub-stories running at once, usually three; and huge cast starting to show up - this is a ninja village after all, and there’s plenty of action to go around. Characterisation is unusually well done - everyone from the village elder to the fat kid from Naruto’s class is someone interesting and the majority have important roles to play. Perhaps the most impressive thing is the way it all links up; some threads going right back to the origins of the village. Many of the most crucial events don’t even involve Naruto and his team.

Of course, Naruto is still the main character; he’s going to make his presence known with as much noise as possible no matter how much there is to attract your attention elsewhere. He might not be that smart, but in typical hero style he’s been granted with a real talent for knocking sense into those many characters who are hovering in the grey areas of morality; and with his fists if necessary. And when he and his team aren’t at each other’s throats, he takes the old shonen mantra about protecting those who are important to you very seriously.

The series is not without it’s irritating aspects, not least that we’re dealing with the most junior members of an entire village specialised in fighting; at a lot of points you’ve just got to shrug, suspend disbelief for a while and try not to think too hard about just who is supposed to be stronger than who. The fact that all nine Konoha rookies make it through the second stage of the Chunin exam stretches plausibility pretty far, particularly given how few other teams do. The sight of the supposedly elite Anbu squad standing helpless during one of the largest battles of the series to date while the kids are off doing the important work doesn’t help either. The ninja code of secrecy is repeated broken as everyone happily explains their special abilities, and Sakura is all but useless. There’s some really dodgy physics and brilliantly screwball logic:

Sakura (right before an important mission): But shouldn’t we take Ino and Chouji with us?
Kakashi (while simultaneously fighting off several ninja): No, you’ll move faster in a group of four thanks to the Special Moving In A Group Of Four Skills you learnt at the academy.
Sakura: Does that mean you’re coming with us?
Kakashi: Nope, you’re taking this dog instead.

But of course, if it didn’t have all that, it just wouldn’t be shonen; and by now I love this series enough to forgive it almost anything. And to be fair the show actually does a better than average job of dealing with the fact the main characters are so young: they simply don’t get the job of taking on the Really Uber Nasty villains; that goes to the more experienced ninjas while Naruto and co. deal with some of the best developed sub-villains anime has ever produced. Natural talent is consistently more crucial than age in this series anyway; and just sometimes, hard work or a few brains will do almost as well.

As one final added bonus, for the first time ever I’m actually getting to read the series as it gets released. Some very dedicated translators are to thank for this, and there’s something very nice about being, for once, completely unspoilable.

I’m now three pages into this rant, and I’ve barely scratched the surface. I haven’t mentioned more than a couple of my favourite characters, said anything really coherent about where the plot, listed off any of the unanswered questions that continue to tease us or gone into the coolness of watching Naruto grow from academy dropout into damn powerful ninja over the course of the story. I haven’t more than hinted at the amusement of the way the cast not only won’t pair off but barely even manages to get on. But then, if Naruto and Sasuke didn’t fight so much, those rare occasions when they do work together wouldn’t be nearly so much fun. And if the plot was simple enough to be explained in a few pages of ranting, I wouldn’t be looking forward to next week’s chapter nearly so much.

How long is it until Saturday?

Comments

[morninglord.livejournal.com]

37 hours and 22 minutes by my clock.
Pity its not translated on the hour of midnight.

[velithya]

WHEE isn't it /cool/? *bounces* man, you're /so/ far ahead of me. *sulks*

[rallamajoop.livejournal.com]

/cool/ dun even cover it. ^^

Ahead, you mean in the series? If your interested, all the manga up to the most recent chapter is up at http://www.narutofan.com (http://www.narutofan.com). Handy site.

[velithya]

Yeah, in the series. I've only read a volume or two of manga, and seen to about 30 or so in the anime. *sigh* I don't have time to catch up yet. ;_; Thanks for the site! ^_^