Well... I Finished Naruto For The First Time | Final Thoughts 

Remember girls: if you’re obsessed with a guy who give you no sign of affection, becomes a terrorist and tries to stab you, keep chasing him ! Deep down he actually loves you. You CAN fix him, marry him and have a baby with him - Sakura

Naruto's parents: "Take care of our child." 3rd Hokage: *substitution jutsu*

Even Merphy didn’t give a crap about Neji’s death 😂

Yea Madara's plan was convoluted but he didn't exactly have many options on the brink of death. The plan didn't go as planned and he ultimately got resurrected in a different way which I think was intentional in the writing. He persevered and took any opportunity given to him while manipulating anything or anyone who fell into his midst. And it's ironic that he was manipulated in the end even if I'm not a fan of the Kaguya stuff.

You are 100% correct on the fact that the series tells you from the very beginning what it’s about. Some people think the main point is about hardwork pays off, which is part of it, but it’s ultimately about hate and the cycle it creates. If it weren’t for Iruka in that first chapter, Naruto would’ve turned out like Gaara and there wouldn’t have been any hope.

The rédemption is a big meme of the Naruto community One of my favorite meme is naruto saying to Adolph "it is not to late you can still change 😃" 😂

When you can, you should read the Minato One Shot Chapter, if you get the chance. Its a canon chapter that was done due to Minato winning a popularity poll.

First off, congrats on finishing this long running series, it's a massive 700 chapters long and requires a lot of time. Naruto is not the best from a writing perspective but it is definitely the Shonen series I return to the most over the years. The world and the characters just work for me and over time you learn to accept even the faults and issues with the story. So I applaud you going all in on reading and doing these long review videos. If you haven't yet, I strongly urge you to check out the OST for both the OG Naruto show and Shippuden. In my opinion, this series' OST has not been matched by most shows. So many songs to get hyped, sad, thoughtful and excited over. Thanks again for dedicating your time to this series.

"I madara, declare you the strongest!!". Such a good scene! Did you enjoy the downtime anime episodes? Like kakashi unmasked, it hit me big time cuz I waited 12 years for it

I didn’t see it as a redemption for gaaras father but it was supposed to be redemption for Gaara mom

You’re absolutely not alone on the whole Kaguya coming out of nowhere bit. As someone who was reading week to week at the time and had a strong presence in the fandom I can say with confidence that virtually nobody liked that portion of the story for the same reasons. We were all utterly baffled. I think later it came out that Kishimoto always had plans for Kaguya but was under pressure to finish the story quickly as he neared the end, but I still think he could’ve done a significantly better job of seeding Kaguya out there throughout the plot.

Congratulations, Merphy! This is quite the milestone, regardless of how long ago you hit it, it's still impressive! Your thoughts and reactions are very very appreciated!

The cover of Ch 766 of One Piece is the tribute Oda made when Naruto ended. The characters included sound out Naruto's name. (Na)Mi, (Lu)ffy, (To)ny.

11:32 To be fair, he was trusting Zetsu to push them into the right direction for the plan. Not necessarily them.

You're not dumb, the War Arc plot is. Madara's plan was absurd and only worked because it was written that way. Many fans have this same complaint.

Glad you had a good time with this series! The story is so big and expansive that when you talk with other people you get a surprising variety of different perspectives. This show has definitely influenced how I write my stories and reminds me of a certain Robin Williams saying. I think the only other anime that has heavily influenced me like this would be Demon Slayer. Naruto and the side characters have such a special place in my heart. Thank you for these awesome videos!!!

You hit every nail on the head. The highs of the show is what most people hold onto. I always find myself revisiting very specific scenes or feeling okay in revisiting slower build ups to those scenes just to experience the payoff again. Despite the lulls, we were just as hopeful as the story feels to the person reading / viewing it. I love Naruto for the definitive moments that filled my heart with so much emotion. Kishimoto was amazing at it when he got it right, and a lot of those scenes will stick with me forever. It’s great to hear the perspective of someone new to it and feel the same as most of us who have loved it through thick and thin for years. Amazing analysis and video

Konan parting the sea with paper bombs is my favorite moment! I also agree with you that there's mixed feelings on Obito's redemption: On one hand, he probably *shouldn't* have been redeemed, but in execution, It takes dozens of chapters of him gradually seeing himself in Naruto and confronting his past with Rin before he finally switches sides, is frankly one of the better ones? Anyways, if you want another shonen manga that DOES use it's side cast well, is hopeful without undoing stakes/deaths, and has One Piece's contrast of absurd humor and emotional moments, I highly suggest Gash / Zatch Bell, or Konjiki no Gash!! To give some background, the premise is 100 demon kids are partnered up with humans who can use spellbooks to allow the demons to use spells, but if the book is burnt, they return to the demon world: the last demon left is crowned king: That partner premise sets up for a lot of character growth: EX: Gash/Zatch is a naive 6 year old that teaches jaded teen Kiyomaro to open up and be hopeful, while Kiyo helps Gash mature and think about what he's fighting for. In turn it has the best use of power-of-friendship i've seen, and that, great comedy, and style slice of life chapters contrasts with BRUTAL emotional gut punches (the manga commits to every character "dying" and returning to the demon world), with the light helping the dark hit harder, and the dark helping the light feel genuine and earned instead of corny. Even unlocking new spells is tied to character growth, and each character's set of abilities is unique and allows for tactical fights,. Most fights are also TEAM battles, both with the humans fighting too, and there being multiple pairs of demon-partners working together to combine their powersets. Finally, it avoids the issues most other shonen have (and that Naruto in particular I think struggles with) as they continue further into their run: Gash/Zatch only ever gets tighter pacing instead of bloated over time, the powers and escalation grows but not to the point of it getting over the top and it barely feeling like the same series, and the entire cast feels well utilized till the very end. The one flaw the series has is, inversely, it starts off sort of weaker then some other Shonen, as initially there's not enough spells for tactical fights and it has a villain-of-the-week format that only switches to full arcs later, but it's still good/fun early on, and only ever gets better. Everybody I know who have read it considers it a 9/10 or a 10/10, but it is somewhat obscure since it wasn't published in WSJ like Dragon Ball, Naruto, and One Piece; and as its anime adaptation was flawed.

Glad you enjoyed the ending to my favorite series! To speak to the defense of talk no jutsu somewhat, almost every villain you could say is some aspect of Naruto that strays him from the enlightened path he is on, so by hashing it out with them (always after a fight), he reconciles that part of himself with himself so he can grow towards adulthood and enlightenment. It's not a completely original thing for a series to do, but I do believe Naruto is one of the most thematically consistent shounen out there

The talk no jutsu can be a lot throughout the series, but I think it speaks to one of the biggest things of Naruto which is that empathy more than anything can unite people and is essential to stopping future war

One thing I notice in a lot of discussions about manga and anime is the amount of time things take or that characters hold on to things for so long. But I rarely hear people talk about how little time is actually passing. Naruto is a good example of this. There are a lot of things that make it feel like a long time. While we go 72 volumes over 15 years, it really only covers 5 years in the world. When we start, Naruto is 12 yo, and at the end of the War and final fight, he is 17. There is a 2-year time gap that is not covered. The 3 years we follow Naruto are so busy it feels like longer. Also, there is a lot of flashbacks, making it feel even longer. But if you put it in real-life terms they became friends in 8th grade, got in a fight that summer, and made up some time in their Senior Year of high school. Meaning they were only estranged for about 3.5-4 years. It is one of the reasons I always look up how long the story took for the characters when I'm finished and think about if it changes how I view things.

Funnily enough. I don’t recommend this but I reread and rewatched and with knowing what happens it really recontectualizes and honestly made it the series better in each read. Especially when you understand other characters view points knowing their deal. Like reading early Naruto after understanding kakashi story gives so much insight it’s crazy

Growing up watching/reading this was an experience, a lot of good moments and a lot of moments I could’ve done without, I doubt I’ll ever read/watch it in its entirety again. I’ll check out old scenes but that’s about it.

But Kabuto didn't have a conversation with naruto! It was him being stuck in Itachi's loop, and he has always shown to have a maleable identity. As for Obito's "redemption", well, unfortunately for him he was set up by Kishimoto hundreds of chapters prior lol

Damn, going by this video I don't think Merphy is going to enjoy Caribou's redemption

i am here for this reasonable yet devastating take down of naruto. had much the same feelings going through naruto's ending as well, reading week to week.

Me and my roommate just had to put down our cat. Your video came out as I got back into the car. I'm currently listening to you while me and him wait outside a tattoo shop. I don't really know why I am explaining all this but this video is a little bit of joy right now

I did not hate your takes at all, it was actually really satisfying hearing you talk about both sides. I agree there are some high highs, it's what made me super infatuated with the series in the first place. And there are some low lows that utterly broke my heart and left me feeling a bit empty and dumb for believing the series ever was more than it was. Tobi being Obito and being a mystery was one thing me and my friends speculated about for years "it can't be that simple" we said "it's probably Madara's brother or this person or that person". I wholeheartedly agree with feeling like Sasuke should just stay evil and Naruto having to learn that some people just take other paths that we can't follow, sometimes you have to let go. But no, Sasuke had me and my friends fooled when he said, repeatedly, that he was not going to turn, he told his brother, he told the hokages and then suddenly he was like "no, I wanna be hokage". Kiba was the only one with a sane take in that moment. And then there's Kaguya... I've rambled on enough, Naruto does that to me. I will always treasure it though because it gave me and my two friends a good reason to see each other to watch the anime once a week after we graduated and that helped us keep our friendship alive and growing.

Loved the review on Naruto!! Would you pick up Bleach after this? It hadn't sold as many copies as Naruto or One Piece but its still great in its own right and part of the 'Big Three'.

Congrats on your completion of your second peice of the big 3! If you dont go to bleach next (which id reccomend) you should totally read Kingdom.

As a long-time hardcore fan -since almost the beginning- that has played most of the games and even tried to re-write the war arc of Naruto out of disappointment, I wholeheartedly agree with all of the points you've made.

Firstly congrats on finishing the series it’s a crazy ride. Describing naruto as a series with the highest of highs and lowest of lows is fairly accurate imo but because of the sheer amount of content, it’s a series where a second and even third read through is necessary to truly understand everything and the brilliance of Kishimoto’s writing shows itself more that way too

Hi Merphy, I am so glad you finished the series, and even more happy that you enjoyed it overall. The Naruto videos were actually one of my favourite video series in a while. Even though Naruto is not perfect, it is one of my favourite series of all time, not just in manga and I love it more than many "better written" series. I think that Kishimoto´s fixation on redemption arcs and the somewhat clumsy execution of gray morality can be attributed to Naruto being a shonen. I believe Naruto should have ventured into the seinen territory a bit more, like HxH did with the Yorknew City/Chimera Ant arc or what Araki does with recent JoJo parts. I believe Kishimoto is a great theme writer, but he did not have the ambition/courage to explore deeper themes in more mature ways. He focused a lot on his target audience, which are boys aged 11-15, and he forgot his older audience. His goal was to make the messege of forgiveness and overcoming hatred clear to every reader, and he therefore lost nuance. The fact that he had to produce a chapter every week for fourteen years did not help. And the sad part is that many people still don´t realize what Naruto is trying to say as a series. But I believe the theme of forgiveness and unconditional love is so little represented in popular fiction. Therefore, I appreciate Naruto´ thematic writing, even if it´s clumsy.

This is one of my favorite things in the world. I grew up with it and I love it from the bottom of my heart. Most people (at least from what I've seen) have different fav characters but for me it's always gonna be Naruto himself (starting to think it controversial). Anyways, I agree with everything you mentioned basically. I don't feel the same way about the resurrections at the end, but I know that you don't like it in general. I think though you might didn't hated it that much not only because it was temporary, but also because it served in a way. It was type of attack/weapon in a way and it did not bring anyone back at the end. It had its use. Loved all the Naruto videos and I'm so happy you enjoyed it as a whole. I don't watch many of this channel's videos because I haven't watched/read the same things, so I'm enjoying what we have in common. Now patiently waiting for Attack on titan, hehe

It’s so nice seeing a respected book tuber who’s new to anime and manga vent out serious gripes and problems with the Naruto shippuden plot and ending as a whole. We still love it but man growing up in the west if you criticize Naruto everything just boils down to “read it better” “you didn’t understand it” blah blah blah. I respect your opinion a lot more than some Naruto stan on TikTok who’s never read a real book or any other manga in their life. I grew up on Naruto…we all did in the west, but boy is it not perfect despite it always holding a special place in my heart.

Congratulations on finishing Naruto!! It's still my favorite manga shonen series followed by Bleach. I have tried so many times to get into One Piece and finish it, but I haven't been able to over the years. Stopped on chapter 431 last year. Seeing you finish Naruto has me convinced I can finish One Piece even though it's not my cup of tea. I'm diving in starting today!

Does anyone know how she feels about the one piece fake out deaths? Because those are very popular in that series more.

I never thought about all the redemptions. I loved your point. I completely agree with you.

Congrats on finishing 2 out of the big 3 now! 1 more to go!

I started reading Naruto in 2002 when Jump came to the US (started with OP then too). Even my profile name is from when I was a kid. When I tell you that out of all these years you're one of the rare ones who understood Obito's resolve I mean that. People don't understand it. It made sense. Also yeahhhhhh, the War Arc is when the series started to really turn. It just felt like a "Boss Rush" in that first half that we really didn't need. It was draining. Overall dope review as always!

The final lore dump, it isn't just you Merphy, the entire fandom felt like it came out of nowhere, and the only real answer is "futureproofing." WSJ was well aware of the sequel series being developed, so Kaguya Otsutsuki was kinda added in there to say "there's a greater story and mystery to be had" which was addressed in the sequel series Boruto.

Now all we need is Bleach and you've completed (kinda) the big three of Shounen anime!

Can I recommend you read Witch Hat Atelier next? It’s a sharp change from Naruto, but it’s an utterly enchanting fantasy manga.

There's a great quote from Arthur Schopenhauer, The Basis of Morality: "Boundless compassion for all living beings is the surest and most certain guarantee of pure moral conduct, and needs no casuistry. Whoever is filled with it will assuredly injure no one, do harm to no one, encroach on no man's rights; he will rather have regard for every one, forgive every one, help every one as far as he can, and all his actions will bear the stamp of justice and loving-kindness" and this is what Naruto IS

As a long time Naruto fan I can say that you're officially one of us. All the complains you have are the same ones most of the fandom has

I agree with all of your takes from talk no jutsu, character fixations, bloated beginning. You confirmed all my biases 10/10 review

Congratulations!! Naruto is one of the most popular stories for a reason and i believe that is the characters. I hope You read bleach at some point, i think it would be interesting

Didn't understand how something was done?? "Hashirama cells"

I love this series and I'm glad you liked it too!! I do agree with a lot of the criticisms, though. I will try to touch on some points as briefly as possible, without writing an essay of a comment 😅. For me, Naruto lands so damn well in most of its major themes, most of the major characters arcs and has very impactful emotional moments (and badass moments as well!!) that it's easy, for me, to look past all its faults. I agree that the series insistance on redeeming everyone can get annoying and take away from the redemptions that actually matter and hold meaning. If you want to have an uplifting and positive message at the end, it would actually have helped to have more moments of loss and misery and moments where things don't end so well for characters, that way a positive finale actually hits a lot harder. Plus, like you said, it's a war story for Christ's sake!! A few more main characters should probably have died, especially in the war arc. With all that being said, I disagree with you on Sasuke! Him resisting Naruto was a necessary part of his journey, but it was never intended to be the end of his journey. He was trying to find a different path and to find himself, that is true... but he was searching in the wrong places, driven by his hatred. If there's one redemption arc that needs to work, so the major themes of the series can come full circle and land at the end, it is Sasuke's. Him ending as a villain would go against everything that Kishimoto was trying to convey. I'm not gonna get to how I feel about Kaguya being the final villain... I hate it!! You are right on the point of how it reinforces the theme of Naruto going against his "prewritten destiny" and forging his own path, but I hard disagree that a view of Naruto's and Sasuke's relationship being reinforced by supernatural forces, somehow makes it make sense. This, again, under cuts the entire point of the series!! It's way better if it's just a guy who can see his best friend being alone, and in pain, and consumed by hatred and choosing not to give up on him!! One of my favourite points on the series was in the Kage summit arc where I reached a point were I started doubted a little that Sasuke will be redeemed, and the great thing was that Naruto himself doubted that too and Kakashi and Sakura even came to the conclusion of "f@ck that guy!!"😂. And it was shocking to see the MC of a shonen anime have a freaking panick attack over his friend turning evil. But to see Naruto come out of his depression, fight his doubts and find hope for his friend, in a point that all the other characters and even myself had lost all hope for him... was very inspiring and showed exactly what the series was about. I do agree though, that everybody else being redeemed under cuts the power of Sasuke's story a little bit (not completely, I still loved how Naruto's and Sasuke's story ended). If we had a few more examples of important characters failing to come back to light, and even Naruto failing to bring them back, it would have made Sasuke's ending even more powerful and inspiring!! I also want to say one little thing about Obito as well. Every one focuses on Rin and misses the fact that Obito was a 12-13 year old kid who was manipulated and used by Madara. It is not as simple as "He turned evil just because he lost Rin". In the case of Madara's plan, you definitely are not stupid, but his plan most definitely is!!😂 That said, there are some details you missed. For one, he used hashirama cells to stich Obito back together and that's also why Obito has great healing abilities and infinitely replenished chakra and can spam Kamui. Further, he knew Nagato will survive and be able to handle the Rinnegan because he is an Uzumaki with amazing chakra pool. Now... how he knew that Nagato will grow up in such a way that eventually he will use his Rinnegan abilities voluntarily to bring Madara back to life.... is beyond me!! P.S.: If the guy that made you the anime clips, didn't make you one for the scene where Naruto goes kcm2 and works with Kurama for the first time, he failed at his job!!!

Wow! These were my exact thoughts when I ended the series, at point I was even confused why people hate Sakura more than Sasuke

I mean Naruto went on this whole destiny rant that hard work beats genius only for him to be the reincarnation of a god that can heal anything and create eyeballs rendering Sakura even more useless

Happy you read it and loved the journey. Naruto is one of those series you got to give it a chance.

I would definitely recommend checking out the light novels. They further expand on side characters or the relationships of main characters.

It has been an absolute blast catching onto your channel years ago as a booktuber covering classics, fantasy, and contemporary books and watching you fall in love with One Piece and starting anime and manga. But watching you talk about the n broad daylight how the side characters in Naruto are more engaging than the NarutoxSasuke plot after following this series for actual decades has become something else! :D

@Merphy It just so happens to that Naruto: The Last, and Boruto: Naruto the Movie (which were two of the last things written by Kishimoto before handing Boruto off) were both added to Netflix this week.

I think the plot beats and themes repeating over and over is good in Naruto. Because Naruto is continually being tested in his ideal and the whole story is to make sure he is unwavering stance.

I think Kaguya, being a mythological reference like many other characters, could have benefitted a lot from just getting name-dropped back when Jiraiya was doing the exposition for the Rinnegan and the Sage of Six Paths. We would have maybe wondered, "like, so was he half-moonfolk or something?" and then Kaguya wouldn't have felt quite so out of nowhere when she showed up.

Most of your gripes with the story can be summarised by "Well... Kishimoto just lost the plot". He had a very strong baseline with the first part of Naruto, but instead of building on this foundation to tell the story Naruto was at the beginning, he turned it into powercreep-land with on-the-spot instant story arcs without much regard about the narrative cohesion of the entire thing. He kept making the Sharingan more and more potent, disregarding the rules he established (especially in relation to the Sharingan and Byakugan) Rewatching/Rereading the start of Naruto after the end is wild, it doesn't feel like the same world at all. The main characters and antagonists for 70% of the manga are still strong narratively though, so it carried the lackluster worldbuilding and story to the finish line. I'm not saying a writer can't break his own rules and take the story in new directions, but wow, Naruto has to be my biggest disappointment as a manga reader when it comes to its final arcs. And don't even get me started on the complete waste of Neji as a character... (and basically all the secondary cast in favor of on-the-spot "instant characters, just add trauma" )

Kingdom is amazing by the way

The reason madara can heal and take eyeballs out and put them in is due to hashirama's cells implanted in him iirc. Hashirama (and the wood style in general) have extreme healing properties. I do think Naruto as a whole is one of those where your willingness to deal with its bs determines how much you enjoy it. Kishimoto is a heavy handed writer, which lends itself to very high highs and lows that last longer than they should. I also think the narrative suffers from being weekly shonen, I think there are a few points where it feels like he wanted to wrap it up and the editors were like "nah bro, 50 more chapters". Glad you enjoyed though!

Gonna star to watch the video now... oh boy here we go, this is gonna suck (not the video, the story lmao. I always know Merphy will deliver) Edit: Already surprised Merphy liked somethings from the War Arc Edit2: 11:18 Madara is truly the ultimate groomer (more then Orochimaru lmao) Edit3: Never thought of seeing the series about "hope" in the darkness, but it makes much sense because of all the redemption arcs, and makes so much sense why it faild sometimes (maybe most of them). Thats why its so good to see other peoples opinions in a story you grew up with Edit4: Yeah Murph, even we dont understand why Naruto is antagonized as a kid to this day. The ansewer they gave us... Danzou leaked the info and wanted him to be the scapegoat for everyone in the village`s hate Loved the vid. Now for the question... will you dare and read Boruto? (I dont recomend it, but is a good hate read Lmao) Also, since you like books too (you know, minor thing i noticed haha) there is a bunch of short bitesized novels to read. There are two for Itachi`s chilhood in Konoha, one with shorts stories from the Akatsuki... well the list is long but they are very short. One day each to read, even less

I've never considered the perspective that Naruto is too hopeful because it's a perspective that I love and ultimately agree with. I believe no one is beyond redemption and I'm sure Naruto as a series played a role in shaping that worldview today. That being said, I do understand the perspective that since almost everyone is redeemed in Naruto it's a foregone conclusion that some of the major baddies will be as well. I also see the truth in the argument that if fewer characters were redeemed it would make the more impactful ones. I think one must also be content with the opposite side as well though; since so many characters in Naruto are redeemed what does it say about the ones who aren't?

Love the vid merphy can’t wait for your thoughts on the following parts of JoJo’s and I hope you can also read/watch bleach so you can finish the big 3 checklist

absolute agree with the conclusion. it is a series that will always be special to me, but is so hard to bring myself to recommend other people engage with. I too read the manga mostly, but I highly recommend some anime-original scenes, if you can track them down. particularly the scene with Shikamaru and his dad in the wake of Asuma's death, and some of the scenes of Naruto grieving Jiraiya and chatting with Iruka or Shikamaru.

(I swear this is the last comment, ALSO congrats on finishing Naruto. So happy to see there are still people going to read the manga because the anime just does so much injustice to it) Maybe I just have to re-read the encounter, but I don't think the intention for that scene was to redeem Rasa(Gaara's dad), because even in the flashback and when he first sees Gaara he's still got this "Prove you're worth existing" "Show me you're not a failure" ass mentality, still not looking at Gaara as his literal child. What I think that scene was actually for, was to confirm to us that Yashamaru lied to Gaara about his mom and that Gaara's mom actually did deeply love Gaara. Which just goes back into these themes of motherhood/parenthood that the series went heavily into since Naruto met Minato and Kushina

If you were a fan of Itachi, you should check out the Itachi light novels, it shows all the events of the Uchiha massacre from his POV. It's got some of the most emotional moments of the whole series, definitely worth a read!

The kaguya ass-pull was the worst thing in the series imo. Thankfully the Naruto vs Sasuke fight at the very end felt very cathartic and climactic.

Merphy clearly was looking for Naruto by Gege not Kishimoto 😂😂

Congratulations on finishing Naruto! Any chance we can get you to read Bleach? Of the big 3 it was my favorite tho I think One Piece is a technically better series…

Oh, and if you're still looking at the comments Merphy, you should read the light novels. They're basically the "directors cut" of the manga. I know you don't like that but you have to remember that manga aren't novels. the studio execs have a lot more control than an editor or publisher, so many manga end up with cuts that impact the story in ways that the author doesn't intend. The light novels are filled with answers to your questions that were (mostly) intended to be included but got left on the cutting room floor because money. It's the same reason so many characters get redemption arcs or basically disappeared. Many of them were just supposed to die, but again, studio execs saw opportunities to sell merchandise based on them so it was more profitable to keep them. For instance Lee was supposed to die pretty early on, but the execs forced the issue and kept him alive. That's why he basically disappeared after the retrieval arc.

I thought most of the war arc was trash tbh. I hated how they made characters appear so weak, like how Kankuro defeated Sasori? Or Hidan and Asuma defeated by weaker shinobis

I feel like Madara initially had a much simpler plan but he had to adjust like a million times so it ended up looking really convoluted in the end. That's the impression i got anyway. I mean we see him improvise & adjust his plan in real time during the war.

Well said. Your closing statement represents my feelings for the series overall.

This was such a beautiful video, I love that you went over several very impactful and cool scenes even though they weren’t the highest highs or the lowest lows. Always a fan of your work

complainting about pacing while One piece has worst and you didn't say a word for that 🤦‍♂

Personally, I like the hopefulness of this series. I watched this series for the first time when I was incredibly depressed, and it may sound silly, but Naruto really helped pull me through it. Not giving up, the hopefulness, etc. still gets me emotional

I definitely recognize Naruto has its low points, but I generally don't remember them as vividly as the high points, so I'm often dismayed when people snub it as if it's not one of the best manga/anime. Maybe the main thing I remember not liking was the final lore drop + Kaguya at the end, but the rest I was fairly on board with (though you're not wrong the redemptions got out of hand). Maybe it's because I read it week to week for so long over the years, but I definitely built more attachment to it than I did while binging HxH or FMA, which are often given more praise, though I think are far from perfect either. The core story of Naruto sticks with me more than most.

I appreciate the way you showed love to the series. The war in a nutshell to me was sweaty. There were so many moving parts that didn't fully come together. BUT those moments that were amazing. My biggest issue with the series overall was the ending. Space aliens without any priming or illusions or proper foreshadowing, it's giving sweaty.

I really loved your final review Merphy ! Thank you so much !

Im not sure if its super common in the community but many call Naruto’s ability to change people with a conversation Talk-no-jutsu. It is one of the mostly effective techniques in all of Naruto.

Such a pleasure seeing your Naruto journey! Really hope you revisit the series at some point and make more videos (maybe with Boruto! but only if you want to)

Im glad that u seemingly enjoyed the re-incarnation twist as it was really controversial at the time (still kind of is today) due to a common misconception people had on naruto as a whole. For some reason, for many people naruto was an underdog story about using pure hardwork to create bonds and get stronger against all odds vs Natural born talent. When it clearly never was since it was already well established that naruto himself was born with the power of kurama, part of a powerful clan, and the fourth hokages son well before the twist. Also if that was the core theme then Lee would have won against gaara and naruto wouldnt have needed Kurama's aid to defeat neji and etc.

You're not crazy or dumb for not getting madara's plan. Since it was a retcon lmao. The rennigan was never supposed to be an evolution of the sharingan, you can tell by how different the designs are and how the abilities have no link whatsoever. So I don't think the original story was meant to have madara putting his eyes in Nagato but who knows

Lol You’re not dumb. Madara is a fool blinded by his own talent at combat. Everything he plans actually fails. Balck Z is the real master mind.

Kakashi's fight in the anime with the music is an unmatched anime scene

A lot of people forget that Madara also thought that black zetzu was his will incarnant. He believed that his will would guid obito and nagayo even after he died.

Naruto's fixation on Sasuke relates to the fact Sasuke was someone who put his life on the line to protect him - someone like him, Naruto, who he himself viewed in a light of "I am not worth this by a fellow teammate or child". This is why Naruto was fixated, to him Sasuke is his brother. Just like Sasuke is fixated on his brother Itachi. Sasuke's separation from his brother was much longer too lol. Naruto breaks the idea that brothers are just blood - for him, Iruka was like an older brother as well for a similar feat. So Naruto wanted to save his "brother" Sasuke from going down a road that would not improve anything for anyone, Naruto sought genuine change to the ninja world and felt a responsibility toward Sasuke.

Obito being spoiled is BRUTAL 9:21 The music in Naruto blows me away so often. 39:31

Naruto is always going to be a little special to me partly because of the themes, partly due to the motivation of the main character, and partly because of the specific time in my life I first encountered it. I think for those reasons it is still my favorite "battle shonen". However, I mostly agree with your criticisms here. The side characters with lots of potential were not developed, some of the developments at the end had insufficient foreshadowing, and I never enjoyed Sasuke as a character very much. I also like the war arc significantly less than the rest of Shippuden, its not a totally irredeamable ending, but it is a bit underwhelming compared to the high expectations I had of the series. The war arc had all the epic moments I would have wanted the series to hit, I'm even fine with Kaguya in theory, but those high-points often felt unearned without the proper development and foreshadowing to "build-up the impact". I don't really agree that the story needs to be "darker" and like the redemptions, but I do think characters other than Naruto/Sasuke needed to be more relevant. Neji is the best example. His final part could have been highly impactful, but instead came out of nowhere, and left one of the most potentially interesting plotlines from the early series feel both abandoned and unresolved. A Death coming out of nowhere in a war story can be great but in Naruto's war arc, they never leave the impact they should. Similarly the reunion of all the tailed Beasts is something that I felt should have hit hard, but felt like it lacked the impact/ stakes I would have expected from it. Beyond that I also Naruto's early childhood experience is profoundly odd with the reveal of his dad's identity. It could be explained by fear of the fox, but the motivations for his treatment and living conditions feel underexplored. I also think some of the early themes of hard-work vs. talent are undermined by Naruto being a reincarnated son of an ancient being ( on top of a hokage's son and member of a clan with large amounts of mana). A couple of his advantages are fine to justify how has the potential to overcome his weaknesses and become powerful but piling them up like the series does at the end bothers me.

Thank you so much for shouting out Konan v Obito. It was my absolute favorite fight in the whole series.

Crazy how you criticize the war arc for one-off characters, but don't do the same in your One Piece reviews

Something to note about the Madara/Hashirama flashback. It isn't just Madara perpetuating the hatred between Indra and Ashura but Hashirama making a desicion Naruto never would: Choosing to kill his brother for the sake of the village.

Really hope you read BLEACH

Breaking the cycle of hatred, not repeating the same mistakes and giving a second chance is what Naruto as a series wanted to bring. So yeah, youre gonna see lots of them played out

Suprised you didn't talked about the last page ! With the little One piece logo on the naruto head

Madara's 'plan' never had much hope to succeed. It was more a Hail Mary. In fact, Obito never planned to bring him back. It was Kabuto that did that, and Obito was pissed when he did. They both wanted the same end goal but both wanted to be the one in charge and to use the other to do it.

The reincarnation thing is so silly because what about all the other Naruto/Sasuke parallels? Obito & Kakashi, Yahiko & Nagato(Pain), Jiraiya & Orochimaru, Tsunade’s friend that reminded her of Naruto, I’m sure there are more.

Totally agree, some bad guys should've stayed bad or at least "earned" that redemption. But there's tons of videos/discussions on the power of Narutos talk no jutsu lol.

Also(there's probably going to be a few comments from me, I just like talking about Naruto lol) for the Kakashi's eye thing, cause I assume you're talking about Madara going to the Kamui dimension with Kakashi's eye, Kakashi can do that too It's easy to miss cause they only show it once or twice in the middle of all of tbe chaos of the war but Kakashi used his own eye to leave the dimension after stabbing Obito through the heart

I have got through the series. I think you should read the various light novels in your spare time whenever you get the chance because they offer up a lot of information on stuff and maybe check out the sequel series Boruto. But yeah, the light novel information on a lot of stuff also. Naruto‘s true identity was kept, because his dad had a bunch of enemies, and if they found out that he was his mom and dad‘s child people would’ve showed up to the village to kill him or kidnap him. However, I still agree that that was not a good way to go about having him be raised in the way he was raised. I feel like there could’ve been stuff done so much better for his childhood and still managed to keep him protected From his parents enemies, but I digress.