End of Naruto

[DarkBahamut]

Everyone can accept this is a top 5 popular anime, along with the likes of Dragonball and others.
Sadly for me, I didn't grow up watching this, but around the start of last year, I absolutely binged both Part 1 and Shippuden because my friends were bigger on Naruto than DBZ, whereas I was the DBZ fanatic. Now, I probably know more about both series than them as well, and I hate not being able to say I've watched this since I was a kid, because I feel like this anime has always been with me!!

Since the anime just ended, episode 500 of Shippuden with the Wedding (manga being done for a while now), how do you all feel about it being done and the start of Boruto, the next generation?

I can tell you this much, I wish the anime had a bigger Sasuke cameo (like a congratulatory 1v1 between him and Naruto away from everyone else) but wow the relevance of Iruka in the last episodes felt great. I want to talk about so much, so let me know all of your guys thoughts on the series looking back on it. Talk it up! Favorite characters, scenes, fights, what you wished was better, what you're hoping will happen in Boruto (which was a great movie by the way.)

[Wolf Kanno]

I'm more familiar with the manga than the anime, and while I feel the series started off really strong, I wasn't feeling it by the end. Granted, it's a hell of a lot better than Bleach, which probably should have ended after the Arrancar/Heueco Mondo/Fake Karakura arc but it was kind of annoying watching the Uchiha's going from a gifted ninja tribe to THE ninja tribe with the Sharingan getting new BS powers as the plot demanded and after the pre-time skip did a great job introducing us to all of these cool characters, to have the Time skip drop the majority of them for a new cast that was barely likable. I think I only finished it because I had invested way too much time into it by then to not see how it all ends.

The Sasuke Retrieval arc was one of my favorite in the series, but there really wasn't an arc past it that could stand up to that one, or the Chunin Exam, or even the Country of Waves arc. Rock Lee, Kakashi, Shikamura, and Hinata were some of my fave characters from the series.

[DarkBahamut]

Yeah, many people have issues that Shippuden basically ends up becoming about Naruto and Sasuke mainly, besides Shikamaru getting a small stint in the Hidan/Kakuzu arc. And both Naruto and Sasuke get big buffs throughout the arcs, leaving everyone in the dust. One of my friends noted- in Part 1, it was all about Naruto being the underdog and persevering to be the best with everything against him. But then in Shippuden, it almost becomes a thing of destiny for him to be the best.

If you're only familiar with the manga, definitely watch the anime's representation of the final battle. Shippuden episodes 474-479 is one of the best string of episodes of the best directed anime episodes.

[Scruffington]

Naruto started off as a series about a character who had to work hard to overcome his obstacles. It ended with that same character being revealed as a prodigy child, who was the reincarnation of a deity who was effectively destined for greatness. Neji Hyuga was right all along.

The story was awful after the Five Kage Summit arc. Sasuke's entire story arc after that point makes zero sense. Naruto's entire philosophy becomes undone. Sakura, instead of becoming the strong person she should have been at the start of Part II, regressed to a terribly weak character.

I'm really frustrated with how the series ended. What should have been a great ending to a fantastic series was ruined by horrible characterization and pacing.

I can only look back on Naruto with mixed feelings. Appreciation for how good it was, but sadness with how Kishimoto undid a lot of the things that made the series so interesting in the first place. And frustration with how well it could have ended.

[DarkBahamut]

Naruto started off as a series about a character who had to work hard to overcome his obstacles. It ended with that same character being revealed as a prodigy child, who was the reincarnation of a deity who was effectively destined for greatness. Neji Hyuga was right all along.

The story was awful after the Five Kage Summit arc. Sasuke's entire story arc after that point makes zero sense. Naruto's entire philosophy becomes undone. Sakura, instead of becoming the strong person she should have been at the start of Part II, regressed to a terribly weak character.

I'm really frustrated with how the series ended. What should have been a great ending to a fantastic series was ruined by horrible characterization and pacing.

I can only look back on Naruto with mixed feelings. Appreciation for how good it was, but sadness with how Kishimoto undid a lot of the things that made the series so interesting in the first place. And frustration with how well it could have ended.

1. I believe all could have been undone had the entire story of Otsutsuki's (Kaguya, Hagoromo, and Hamura) made just Lore and background. Meaning, cool- Indra and Ashura should've been people, but shouldn't have been linked to Naruto and Sasuke so specifically. I completely agree with you, that Naruto went from underdog to "the chosen one" almost and that does annoy me. The Black Zetsu scheme should've been kicked out completely, making Madara the master puppeteer in the long run and Madara with both Rinnegan and Ten Tails Jinchuuriki mode should've been the final boss for Naruto and Sasuke, and literally they could've done the same ending they did with Kaguya (the Six Paths Planetary Devastation), with Sakura contributing with overhead jab. Obito could've transferred his powers to Kakashi in a less spiritual fashion, and a lot could have gone right.

2. One issue that will always hinder Shippuden is the terrible filler placement. Kakashi and Itachi's respective backstory arcs could've been made into compelling OVAs (similar to what DBZ did with History of Trunks and Bardock, The Father of Goku) rather than cut out a solid 25-30 episodes in the middle of the intense storyline taking place. War was dragged on far too long.

3. I have a love-hate relationship with Sasuke's story. He embodies several key themes of Naruto, the obvious one is revenge, and I think the other one would be manipulation. The entirety of hardship that plays out in Naruto is due to manipulation done for your own benefit. (i.e. Madara > Obito > Nagato/Akatsuki). Sasuke throughout the story is manipulated by one cause or the other, and is never able to find his own path, and by the time he has the chance to find his own path (out of Orochimaru's grasp, learns the truth about Itachi), his road up till then has been so distorted, that he can't even make a logical decision. The arc between the defeat of Pain and the start of the war, where Sasuke is just running a checklist, fights Killer Bee, fights the Kages, and finally fights Danzo, threw his character development off significantly and I think hurt all the good things about Sasuke.

4. Kishimoto did not know how to make female characters whatsoever, with the sole exception being Konan, who I think was the one character written beautifully, as she is a true ride or die. Tenten, Ino, Shizune = irrelevant. Tsunade, the renown MEDICAL NINJA, can't handle the sight of blood??? Kurenai has a relationship and a baby and then gets thrown off the face of the Earth. Anko gets dogged by both Orochimaru and Kabuto with ease (and for some reason in the Boruto generation she is MORBIDLY OBESE. Temari is shown as strong and stubborn, but doesn't get to shine ever....Now Sakura - they started off Shippuden with good work. Has the drive to improve with Tsunade's mentorship, and with Chiyo's help, she takes down Sasori, who Deidara himself claims to be weaker and less experienced than. Perfect set-up for her. But then the series shows how Naruto was chasing Sasuke so hard, both to surpass him as a ninja and bring him back as a friend, and Sakura gives up quite easily. Hundred Healings Mark and War-arc Sakura should've not had such a huge gap between her Team 7 comrades. Obviously, I wouldn't respect it if she was Naruto/Sasuke tier, but they blatantly ruin her character at times where they shouldn't have. She hesitates to splice the Rinnegan Obito possessed, and allows Madara to finesse his way into the Kamui dimension. Against Madara, she didn't do jack but get piped with the rod, literally.

Overall - after Sasuke leaves, Jiraiya should've immediately took off with Naruto, and Part 1 should've been restricted to 150 episodes, and Shippuden shouldn't have had exceeded 350.

[maybee]

I loved Naruto at the beginning when it was about an obnoxious, bratty, attention-seeking but lonely lost and confused 12-year-old boy that just needed a hug and despite not being the most intelligent or talented kid on the block, still managed to overcome challenges and difficult tasks by working hard and not giving up- and then Sasuke left and everything just went down hill imo.

It went to being about this young boy, being determined to overcome struggles to a cold-hearted sociopath that could give less of a smurf whether his old team-mates died trying to get him back or not, and some of them almost did or went through a hell of a lot of trauma trying to get him back. Then instead of the story taking a mature option and saying that Naruto cannot " save/ help " everybody, instead it heads into this very unhealthy story about Naruto trying to get a boy back that would kill Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi in a second & give no trouts- in fact at one stage, Sasuke TRIES this. Holy smurf.

Then the story began to focus too much on Sasuke like we are supposed to care when most stopped caring about Sasuke when he went to a damaged boy with some serious trauma and PTSD to just an asshole.

Naruto could have been about this beautiful story about an orphan outcast who lost his family but overcome struggles and the town fearing him and judging him to become the town's loved leader VS an orphan outcast who lost his family but was talented, handsome and popular and become the town's most hated man, due to the choices they made. but nope.

Kishimoto did not know how to make female characters whatsoever

Oh yeah, this as well. Most of his female characters became nurses and healers. There's nothing wrong with a female healer, but not like almost every female character you make. I was so mad when I found out that Sakura gets with Sasuke. There are just a zillion things wrong with that.

Overall - after Sasuke leaves, Jiraiya should've immediately took off with Naruto, and Part 1 should've been restricted to 150 episodes, and Shippuden shouldn't have had exceeded 350.

Yeah, agree with you. Think that Sasuke should've left and Naruto is taken away with Jiraiya not telling him to protect him from what's going on and still hides the truth for most of the second part, so there's less attention on Sasuke and more on Naruto.

[Cloudane]

Loved it for a while and followed the manga to the end (I got bored of the anime with all the fillers) but it really did drag through the latter half of "part 2" / shippuuden. You know how people talk about stories ending while they're on a high vs. ones dragging on until they're put out of their misery? I really felt the latter.

I've not actually seen the ending in anime format - I'd quite like to go through the full anime from the beginning and then eventually reach there, but yeah it's soooo many hours, I'm guessing more than say the entire Star Trek backlog (which took me years)
Not sure how I feel if there's a "next generation" series with Boruto. It really felt like that world had been dragged to Hell and back and really kind of "everything that it could be escalated to, has been done". I was ready to close the door on that universe when Naruto ended. (Not seen the follow-up movie(s) either)

[DMKA]

I never got into it. It was one of those series that, when it was super popular and everyone was talking about around me, I was too damn busy with life to get into it. Then by the time things settled down and I was able to check it out there were like a thousand episodes out and I was like "pff screw this I'll never catch up".

In the beginning at least, really did have a certain something that really hooked a lot of people though. Long before it was ever dubbed, or even commercially subbed, or ever aired in the US, it was already very popular here in the United States. There were people all over my college campus wearing Naruto apparel before anything Naruto was even commercially available outside of Japan. I can't think of any other anime series that managed to do that.