Naruto originally started out as a manga written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto in 1999. Then in 2002 the anime series aired on Japanese TV and is still being aired today and Hayato Date is the director. The series stays pretty true to the manga; though there are 85 filler episodes that are not in the manga. This is because the anime covers one or two of the manga chapters. So to prevent any over lapping the producer decided to make filler episodes. This allows the anime to expand on parts that the manga may have skimped as well as allowing other minor characters more of a spot light.
The anime starts out 12 years before the anime takes place. Where a nine tailed demon fox attacks the Leaf village. Many people were killed by the fox and the 4th Hokage (one of the village leaders) sacrificed his life to seal the daemon in a baby (Naruto Uzumaki). The 3rd Hokage made a decree that forbade anyone to talk about what happened. Naruto grows up as an outcast in the village and is a mischievous boy that tries to get everyone’s attention. At this point in the anime he does not have many friends, but this soon changes after he graduates from the ninja academy. He is placed in a three man team called team 7 with Sakura Haruno (a girl Naruto likes but she does not like him) and Sasuke Uchiha (a boy Naruto can’t stand and Sakura likes), and they are assigned a very experienced sensei called Kakashi Hatake. Seasons 1-5 fallow team 7 and their adventures. Then in seasons 6-9 the anime stops focusing on team 7 and focuses on Naruto and the other genin (rookie ninja.
I have know about Naruto for a few years now; when one of my friends told me to watch it and I had a look at some of the previews and thought that it seemed crap, and then forgot about it. It was not until the 5th of Jan when I actually watched an episode on Jetix when there was nothing else on. I was really surprised and liked it from that point. This anime had me laughing so hard at some points and the action bits are also good. Because on Jetix over here Naruto is a about a season behind I was forced to watch it on You tube (and we all know how bad the graphs can be on You Tube). But I really did not care because this anime was so good. I started to watch the anime online from the start on the 8th of Jan and I just finished watching the latest episode on the 18th. I was so hooked that I even watched the episodes that are only subtitled and I really don’t like watching my anime subtitled (because I’m too lazy). I will say this seasons 1-5 are awesome then seasons 6-8 are a bit slow and by the end I was sort of loosing the will to live. This was because there was so much action in the first 5 and things were moving at a fast pase; then in seasons 6-8 it slows down a lot but half way through season 9 it gets better and the end leaves you wanting more.
I would recommend this anime to anyone that likes stupid humour and an upbeat anime. I would not recommend watching it all in a week and a half though; as there is 220 episodes (it is very easy to over do it with this anime). If you want to start watching Naruto, Joox has the best graphs but they don’t have all the episodes up there. Veoh has most of the episodes dubbed and subbed and for the ones you can’t get, you can find them on You Tube but the graphics are really bad. Also there is a big difference between the Japanese version and the English dubbed you see on TV over here. This is because it has been edited in the states you get a bit less editing but Jetix has heavily edited the Naruto in the UK. So if you like to watch your anime dubbed then be warned you have 4 options watch it as it is on TV, watch it on the internet uncut, get the uncut DVDs or watch the subtitled version.
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