Forum - View topicNaruto
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Iemander
 Posts: 443 |
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Just wondering, can anyone explain to me exactly why they like Naruto so much? I've been considering looking this series up for some time now, but it being heralded as a DBZ-alike is a real downer.
Now don't get me wrong, I don't mind mindless fun in the form of Tri-gun or even Bleach (Which is graphically a real piece of work). But the incredible 1 dimensional characters in DBZ coupled with the constantely repeating storyline and shitlessly drawn out battles to the point of severe boredom is just way too much to bare. Even if it is just for some mindless fun. Anyway, anyone upto putting up a well detailed list of pros and cons concerning Naruto? Long posts are appreciated. |
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Ohoni
Posts: 3421 |
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It's a fun show. The "DBZ-like" claims are largely from haters, so don't put too much stock in them. It's quite a bit more organic in plot than DBZ was. There's one arc towards the end that has shades of DBZ, in that the characters sort of "Super Saiyajin 2" in a way, but it's considerably less hokey than in DBZ, and is a vague compairison at best, similar to how people compared shows like Bebop and Outlaw Star.
The main character is a young man who is an orphan, and was an outcast his entire life, shunned by almost everyone in his village for reasons he did not know or understand. This (as is explained early in the series), is because their former leader, or Hokage, sacrificed his own life to save the village from a demon fox (think Inuyasha's dad if you know that show), by confining it in the body of this infant child, Naruto (who's parents also died in the battle against the fox). Naruto and anyone his age don't know about this, but the adults all do, and they mistrust him, because they know that there is a tremedous evil inside him. That sort of antipathy passes to their kids of course, even if the kids don't know why. Anyways, this gives Naruto a driving ambition, to have the village acknowledge him, and respect him, and to eventually become the Hokage himself. He starts out pretty weak, but over time earns the respect of his peers as someone who never gives up and works hard to achieve his goals. Now, I will tell you, this is a ninja show. It takes place is a world that is an alternate present, so sociologically they are very modern, and they have some modern conveniences like electricity, plumbing, etc., but they seem to lack both gunpowder and fossile fuels, and all that comes from their use (no guns, no cars, no planes). The ninja in Naruto are the special forces of their world, capable of assassination, stealing, spying, etc., anything that requires discrtion or prescise application of force. Naruto's village is under the control of the country of Fire, but there are numerous other rival villages. In adition to being stronger and faster than normal due to intense lifelong training, these ninja also have "jutsus", in which they mold their life energy (chakra) in order to do amazing things. Many of these are traditional ninja tricks, such as vanishing and replacing themselves with logs when struck(kawarimi), creating dopplegangers (bunshin), walking on water or up walls, controlling the elements, such as sand, water, or leaves in various ways, weaving illusions, strengthening their own bodies, etc. This can sumetimes create massive effects, such as summoning giant monsters (a rarely used technique, but some of the characters are masterful summoners), but it never reaches DBZ-level "nuke" stuff. Nobody in the series can fly, although one or two have ways of lifting themselves off the ground if need be. Nobody in the series can shoot a firebal of any kind, although several characters have fire-ball-looking melee attacks. So, to sum up? I think it's a good series. The action is interesting, varying from straight beat-em-ups to cerebral "how can I out-think this guy" engagements. The characters cover a broad spectrum (the GC fighting game has 30 characters, each of which is interesting in his or her own right in the manga, as well as many that aren't in the game), so almost anyone will be able to find a favorite (mine's Shikamaru). The series has a lot of heart, and the plot keeps spinning really well. The anime can drag a bit, and I suppose that's where some elements of DBZ might come in, because they do have a lot of mini-flashbacks and fight stretching to make the runtimes longer, but none of that's in the manga, and in the anime you can always skip parts that you don't need to rewatch. Anyways, I like it. If you have any more specific questions, I'd be happy to answer them. |
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Nionel
 Posts: 357 Location: Nebraska |
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Nice job Ohoni, I have to applaud that last post, and I'd just like to add that Naruto has much, much better character development than shows like DBZ, which really helped keep me interested in the show
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Bruce Lee
 Posts: 715 Location: Seattle, Washington |
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I like Naruto because it has heart. I've only watched DBZ on CN, so I may not know the whole story, but it was allways pretty corny. Nobody dies, and everybody is all-powerfull. That made it sort of hard to believe. The only real emotional scene in DBZ was when Vegita spoiler[stunned Trunks and Goten to take they away before blowing him self up.]
Naruto is much different in this sense. Naruto was the big goof-off of his class, and all the adults look at him differently. In the beginning, he's not an all-powerfull omnipotent being - he's a young kid who's treated as an outcast. The first few episodes sets the tone of the young underdog - If you can't root for him, you have no heart. Plus, (almost) every character in the cast goes through some traumatic flash back that makes you feel for them as well. Add this in to a major character dying, and you have a much more emotionally involving show. Don't get me wrong - it's nothing you need a box of tissues for. It's deffinately a fun show to watch. But that extra emotional depth makes it, for me at least, much more engrosing. |
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milcor1
 Posts: 337 |
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Come on people, didn't you know Kishimoto-san was a huge fan of DBZ?
Naruto and Goku: Both have Orange and blue clothing, both have hidden powers (Oozaru and Nine-tails demon), both are very laid back, can usually be found smiling etc, both have big appetites. Sasuke and Vegeta: Both are very proud and assured of their own abilities. Both had their clans wiped out by a single force and both came from highly regarded bloodlines, both wear black and blue clothing, they both build their strength through hate, both have been put under spells (orochimaru and babidi), Vegeta wanted to kill Freeza, Sasuke wanted to kill Itachi. Master Roshi and Jiraishin: Both trained their respective main characters (Goku and Naruto) and are terrible perverts. Probably more but those are the ones off the top of my head. It's ok to like one and not the other but you can't deny the, shall we say, "influences". |
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Ohoni
Posts: 3421 |
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Yes, I have heard that Kishimoto is a DBZ fan. WHO ISN'T? Just because he enjoyed DBZ does not mean his work is a ripoff of it. The traits you listed for Naruto are all true, but they are also present in dozens of other anime. The Sasuke Naruto relationship is quite different than Goku/Vegita, As Sasuke wasn't Naruto's enemy at first, and they were very good freinds for quite some time, whereas Vegita barely tollerated Goku. The "friendly rival" dynamic didn't originate with Toriyama and it won't end with him either. Other series that contain it are Scryed (The two main characters), Shaman King (Yoh and Tao Ren), Yu Yu Hakusho (Yusuke and Hiei), Ranma 1/2 (Ranma and Ryouga), Inu Yasha (Inu/Kouga), Champloo (Jin and Mugen), and many others. The "naruto wears orange and blue"? Big whup. The "he's a laid back hungry guy"? Big whup. That equally applies to Luffy, Gon, and numerous other manga characters. It's practically the default manga character profile. Now, if you DO want to see a rip off series, I can give you one. It's called 666Satan, and is by Masashi Kishimoto's little brother, Seishi Kishimoto. I enjoy that series too, but it clearly, and quite blatently rips off both DBZ and Naruto at many points (although it also has its own original ideas, the ripoff aspects kind of take away from that). Naruto is a shonen title. As such, it has plot elements in common with most shonen titles, but DBZ didn't create them, and they aren't ripping it off. |
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JustinSane
 Posts: 269 Location: The Punk Underground, NJ |
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Although DBZ and Naruto have their similarities, DBZ is not the closest anime to compare with DBZ. I'd say that the best comparison to naruto has to be Hunter X Hunter. Both Naruto and Gon start out their quests when they are very young. (Both around 12 years old) Ugh.. it's too late to be listing all the similarities but you get the idea. Also, why does everyone hate on DBZ these days. Most of the people here probably started watching anime beacuse of DBZ, don't deny it. It's a solid anime, not the best out there but it's nothing to complain about. Oh by the way, Naruto kicks ass, it's not for everyone but it's one of the best shonen titles out in japan as of this moment.
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milcor1
Posts: 337 |
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I never meant to imply that Naruto was a ripoff of DBZ, I was just merely stating the evident similarities that clearly show where Kishimoto-san's inspiration came from (although the Sasuke/Vegeta comparisons are a bit too eerily similar for my tastes). And of course they're not going to be COMPLETELY alike. That would be stupid. I didn't even write anything concerning Naruto and Sasuke's relationship either (though you could say their relationship works backwards compared to Goku and Vegeta's). I just wrote that last post because there are some overprotective naruto fans out there that refuse to believe that Naruto and DBZ could have anything in common because DBZ is like "teh w0rst anime evar!!1!!" and "Naruto 4 teh w1n!!!one!". Without DBZ, there probably wouldn't have been Naruto, One Piece, and many other popular titles right now.
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Ohoni
Posts: 3421 |
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In exactly the same form? No. All anime and manga, ALL ANIME AND MANGA builds on stuff that came before it. No anime or manga is so completely original that it could appear in a vacuum, produced by a mangaka raised on a desert isle. Naruto and the other shonen manga clearly have elements in common with shonen manga that came before them, both before, and after DBZ, as DBZ borrowed liberally from other sources.
The thing is, when people use "DBZ" as a slander, they mean a few specific critisisms usually. 1. Drawn out sequences, specifically in the anime. The run of Dragon Ball Z could be recut down to 1/4th it's actual length without ANY loss in viable content. Each 20 minute episode could be cut down to five, and the series would have been much better. Naruto's anime has elements of this, more and more as they got closer and closer to catching up to the manga, but not nearly as much (and One Piece is far, far worse about this). 2. "Ubersplode" power-up and leveling. Going from a fun martial arts series into a series where characters are flying around, punching with the force to destroy islands, throwing planet killer fireballs, etc. Also the whole "I'm SSJ, now I'm SSJ2, now I'm SSJ3" thing. Naruto doesn't have any of that crap. Yet, at least. It's super human, but still fairly down to earth. They'd likely get tooled by your average DC superhero for example. Powerwise I'd stack them perhaps above One Piece, but below Hunter X Hunter, although it's hard to judge. 3. Limited emotion/consequences. Yeah, people die in DBZ, but they're going to come back, so who cares? Everything blows up, good guys win, everything is fixed. It really lacks impact or drama, and the characters really don't evolve very well. Naruto is way better at this. If a character dies, he dies. No character has died and then come back, nor has there been established that this is in any way possible (aside from Orochimaru's zombies, who don't really count for obvious reasons). If you think a character you like might die, or might have died, there's a whole lot of impact there, because that character won't be coming back if he does die. The romantic attachments are more natural, as opposed to "Let's hook up now and make babies", "Why?", "Why not?". Also, the plots aren't so encapsulated. Instead, various arcs introduce elements that carry on into the future, laying out the world that Naruto lives in, as opposed to "uber villain of the month shows up, kills a bunch of people, nearly destroys the world, Goku and/or Gohan powers up and kills him, nothng happens until new ubervillain arrives". Overall, it's just a much more layered and developed story. I think DBZ had a lot of fun elements, but Naruto is a lot better on all levels, and compairisons really don't carry a lot of weight. |
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patch
 Posts: 677 Location: New York, NY |
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You're absolutely dead on correct with the comparison and references. Of course not a complete ripoff, but there are definately lots of similarities, some just dont want to admit it. |
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Iemander
Posts: 443 |
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Well DBZ's character development was simple enough to put all characters on a scale from 1 to 10. But other than that, Ohoni pretty much sums my complaints. My first Japanese animation series was Evangelion as well, I didn't see DBZ untill I saw at least 5 other series and was at the age of 18. By then I gave DBZ a shot and saw one season, the one with Freeza in it. I billed the series *Not my thing* and moved on. I'm not a DBZ hater or anything, I'm just too old to enjoy it, just like I can't enjoy Pokemon or Yuhigo. It's, well, TOO mindless. And thanks for the response people. I just saw a couple of episodes and I'm rather fine with it. The setting is interesting and the characters are fairly distinctive. It's a bit of a bother that the main characters are only 12 years old uptill now, I don't really dig the humor. (what's with the nose bleeding all the time btw, it's disgusting) |
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Tony K.
 SubscriberModerator  Posts: 11446 Location: Frisco, TX |
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The nosebleeds in anime are somewhat of a Japanese myth, I think. It has something to do with being embarrassed, bashful, and/or a virgin..  . I heard the explanation once, but I only remember that part.
As for Naruto. I love the series. Like a lot of shounen titles, there are always some kind of underlying themes that young boys and teens can relate to; friendship, discovering one's self/maturing, exploring new aspects of life (like love), and of course, what I like to call, the "never give up" attitude. This series and Naruto the character, in particular, do a splendid job of displaying those qualities. There are various characters you'll see along the way that help to put much of these themes into perspective. In fact, you may even be able to relate to one or two of them. Hm.. well, I don't really want to spoil much else, but I implore that you check out the rest of the series. And remember to have fun! 
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mitora
 Posts: 162 |
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I agree JustinSane, I know that DBZ is the only reason I watch anime. It was my first anime and I still love it today. 
I have not seen the Naruto anime yet but I love the Manga. Oh, does anyone know how many volumes of the manga in Japan currently? |
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Dranxis
 Posts: 591 Location: Ohtori Academy |
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Same here: I've yet to see more than an episode or two of the anime, but the manga's one of my favorite series. Just wish they would release it faster here... There are 28 volumes out in Japan. |
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Iemander
Posts: 443 |
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I've just seen uptill episode 17. I've got 2 beefs with this series as of yet (And comparing to Bleach as they seem extremely similar).
The fighting sequences really are severly drawn out. *This* battle has been going on for 5 episodes already which is alot considering this is about 1/3rd of everything I've seen uptill now. Second, I don't like how the battles unfold. It feels like a constant "Let's overpower" battle where everyone conveniently plays around with their "sparring partner". Unlike Bleach, where you consistently have the feeling that the battle is equal thus having a much larger tension. |
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