By Wesley Hague
Plot:
The plotline starts of with a creature known as the Nine Tail Fox, which is a demon in Japaness mythology attacks the “Village Hidden in the Leaves” to save the village. The Fourth Hokogae (Ruler, and strongest ninja) of the village sacrifices himself to steal the Nine Tail Fox inside a young boy. Unfortunately for the young boy, he gets stigmatized because of it and is generally treated as a cast-out as he grows up. That boy is Naruto.
Years later regardless of peoples opinion of him, Naruto is training to become a Ninja, and one day he wants to become the “Fifth Hokogae” Yet Naruto lacks a lot of the natural talent of his peers, and top of that he is constantly acting out to get attention. Yet despite everyone under estimation of him, Naruto is quite resourceful and hard working.
Cons:
The Japanese origins of this T.V. show are quite apparent. It contains a lot of “mysticism” talk of Chalkra and Chi and on top of that Naruto is later taught to use the “power” from the creature trapped inside him, which can be consider wrong. The humor can be considered crude at times, and for some episodes that humor can be taken a little to far and false way out of good taste. Some of the bad guys depicted in the show are quite evil and violent, yet for the most part these things are not shown. There is also quite a bit of combat.
Pros:
The show is chalked full of positive messages, as Naruto is constantly the underdog, being matched against opponents with a lot of natural talent, and inherited abilities. Yet Naruto trains himself hard, some of his worst skills because his strongest talents. He show a determination that only serves to inspire others who also would be consider out-casts.
Team work is also stressed, as Naruto and two others are assigned to a team together, and while Naruto still maintains a rivalry with some of them, he learns to work together with them and even the rivalry sparks that drive to do better and work harder.
Later in the seasons, they also address the issue of redemption which has former bad guys turning good.
Overview:
If you get exited at the idea of “Ninja Combat” and like Anime, well then this show might be for you. Once you get passed the sometimes annoying humor and you are comfortable with watching a show that has a lot to do with a lot of foreign mythology then Naruto could be an interested show.
I firmly believe that while it does have it share of negative elements, the messages that the show is lace with more than make up for the negative aspects of it. With the positive messages in this show I highly recommend this show, even for a Teenage audience if they are even remotely interested in it.
