What is Naruto? Why should I watch it?

[Sir Osis of Liver]

This. Similar themes, superior in nearly every respect.

Some of my friends really like Avatar, but i just could not get into it. I don't really like the style of amination, and it seems, i don't know too saterday morning cartoon?

 

[DonTadow]

This. Similar themes, superior in nearly every respect.

Avatar has the same problem that Naruto would have if the entire show was focused on him, whereas it feels like a very american sitcom cartoon and Aang never seems to learn until the last season. Even the last episode I didn't buy his inability to kill the villian, considering the lessons from before. They seemed to stretch a one season storyline into 3

 

[Felon]

Avatar has the same problem that Naruto would have if the entire show was focused on him, whereas it feels like a very american sitcom cartoon and Aang never seems to learn until the last season. Even the last episode I didn't buy his inability to kill the villian, considering the lessons from before. They seemed to stretch a one season storyline into 3

Aang had a deeply-held belief that using bending to take life is wrong. Even so, he certainly struggled with that belief up until the very last second in his battle with Ozai. Not sure what there you can't buy. It was a very understated moment, and something I'd like to see more of in shows like Naruto. Many anime don't seem to think that audiences can grasp "understated" behavior, so the characters are often stopping and spending awkward minutes discussing their motivations and feelings (even in the heat of battle). Even my all-time favorite anime, Full Metal Alchemist, often fell prey to the inability to say more with less.

 

[DonTadow]

Aang had a deeply-held belief that using bending to take life is wrong. Even so, he certainly struggled with that belief up until the very last second in his battle with Ozai. Not sure what there you can't buy. It was a very understated moment, and something I'd like to see more of in shows like Naruto. Many anime don't seem to think that audiences can grasp "understated" behavior, so the characters are often stopping and spending awkward minutes discussing their motivations and feelings (even in the heat of battle). Even my all-time favorite anime, Full Metal Alchemist, often fell prey to the inability to say more with less.

Aang never grew, sure his powers increased but mentally he still acted like a child, even in the episode before where they were playing around before the supposed end of the world and not a plan in sight. His last battle is an absolute battle to save the world and he still finished it like a child wood. And at the the end we see the villian slowly regaining his powers. It's more disney than anime.

It's like the gi-joe or transformers where you have these deadly weapons and its suppose to be believable that people don't die. That's too childish to be compared with both mainstream anime, where really dangerous powers are shown as really dangerous.

 

[TwinBahamut]

I agree there, having watched fansubs way back before it was liscened in the us, i couldn't help but cringe at the good awful english version.

I was ssoooo happy the same problem didn't occur with bleach.

Huh...

As a person who watches nothing but English dubs (I can't stand Japanese voice acting at all), I rather like the Naruto english dub and despise the Bleach english dub (and most of the Bleach anime, really, even though I love the manga).

Anyways, I really like Naruto. It is a very solid series for all kinds of reasons. However, you really need to keep in mind that the anime version is merely an adaptation of another work, and it has fairly uneven quality. For example, the anime tends to ignore character development and make the main character more annoying and idiotic than he really should be. There are some places where the anime nearly surpasses the manga, but at other times it is simply bad (it nearly manages to ruin some of my favorite moments of the story, like the battle at the Final Valley).

Overall, I would recommend the manga version of Naruto over any other version, but even the anime is certainly a fun story that is worth watching.

 

[Darth Shoju]

Aang never grew, sure his powers increased but mentally he still acted like a child, even in the episode before where they were playing around before the supposed end of the world and not a plan in sight. His last battle is an absolute battle to save the world and he still finished it like a child wood. And at the the end we see the villian slowly regaining his powers. It's more disney than anime.

It's like the gi-joe or transformers where you have these deadly weapons and its suppose to be believable that people don't die. That's too childish to be compared with both mainstream anime, where really dangerous powers are shown as really dangerous.

Well, he *is* a child, so I'm not certain why him acting like one is so unbelievable. At any rate, I don't feel he did. He put a lot of thought into what he was doing and decided that what he believed was the right thing to do. That seems like a pretty mature decision to make. Do you feel that the only mature response is to kill whoever opposes you?

As far as it being more "Disney" than "anime" -- it was on Nickelodeon and it was meant for children, so I think going the Ninja Scroll route would have been a mistake.

 

[Felon]

Aang never grew, sure his powers increased but mentally he still acted like a child, even in the episode before where they were playing around before the supposed end of the world and not a plan in sight. His last battle is an absolute battle to save the world and he still finished it like a child wood. And at the the end we see the villian slowly regaining his powers. It's more disney than anime.

Aang was initially depicted as being totally irresponsible and unwilling to confront any problem. He wanted to always pretend that he could keep running to safety. It's a problem he struggled with right up to the very end.

It's like the gi-joe or transformers where you have these deadly weapons and its suppose to be believable that people don't die. That's too childish to be compared with both mainstream anime, where really dangerous powers are shown as really dangerous.

I don't know what kind of anime you favor, but the anime I've caught over the years--Dragonball, FMA, Inuyasha, and even Naruto--has shown childish displays of emotion to be pretty typical in the characters. It's anime that's well-known for characters' heads suddently growing to ridiculous size whenever a character's upset. And then there's the incessant hunger that anime heroes all seem to have--a move to make them more kid-friendly.

Well, he *is* a child, so I'm not certain why him acting like one is so unbelievable. At any rate, I don't feel he did. He put a lot of thought into what he was doing and decided that what he believed was the right thing to do. That seems like a pretty mature decision to make. Do you feel that the only mature response is to kill whoever opposes you?

It does that only if Aang had turned into a killer would DonTadow have accepted that the character had grown.