I love you Naruto-kun! – overview of the first 23 episodes of Naruto Shippuuden -

Oh dear me. What the hell is it that’s so fucking appealing about Naruto and its plethora of characters? How can I, while overall a decent person, with serious occupations and thoughts, indulge into a crazed obsession over this cartoons aimed, truth be told, at little boys? The answer…below.

I’ve awaited 23 weeks without seeing anything but the first Shippuuden, and then, since I hate stopping mid-plot and waiting a whole week (that and I have a short-termed memory), just sat by and wait for a big bulk of episodes so I can sink my teeth in. And the day has arrived, I decided! Back to Naruto.

Naruto is freaking amazing. And it’s that type of amazing that you have to thoroughly analyze in order to realize the true nature of its attraction. Well thought out characters give away to a multiple choice of preferences and the poetic action scenes make the watcher smile idiotically in front of the screen (at least this particular watcher). I heard otakus are complaining about the slow-paced nature of the plot development. That is true. It is slow as hell, a fight can go on for ages and span across multiple episodes. But this isn’t really a problem if you have a lot of episodes to watch, and don’t have to wait a whole week to see what will happen. I think the slow-pace is really what dragged me into becoming an anime fan in the first place. This unhurried expansion allows for a more complex development, a thorough analysis of the battle sequences and a deep insight into the world you are greeted in. I love how they explain what actually happened after a cool fighting move, and how they go back to the battle to explain what went on beneath. This could be annoying to some people, but not to me. Also, I don’t follow the manga so I have no complains about not sticking to the actual story. And after what seemed like a century of bad fillers, who could complain anyway? I’ve been waiting for this for a long while, and now I’m not gonna complain, but just dig in with full geekiness.

I can’t over the extraordinary characters. Gaara is probably one of the greatest character ever to be portrayed in an anime. I like the way characters grow and form relationships with one another, the idyllic view upon friendship, trust and comradeship, the solidarity of a ninja group and the master-apprentice bond (idyllic again). I hate it that they screwed up a bit with Gaara’s personality during the fillers, but I decided to ignore everything that happened in that sad, sad period. What could I say to someone who has never watched Naruto? Except that they lost an immense, engrossing comeback into childhood, the same excitement that I felt while I was young and followed diverse anime on TV, straight down fun and edge of the seat storytelling. Naruto is a perfect example of how to get people to act geeky.

Plus there’re those endless battles, the way the characters hook up, the ninja exams and the curiosity into seeing how the fights will end, the great exhibit of intelligent villains and their eerie goals, the mysterious history of the Konoha village, the expectation, the excitement. All to create a passionate and credible new universe feeling.. Plus I’m a sucker for encapsulated fiction universes, which function with their own laws and patterns, different from ours. Yea, the possible universes. And Naruto represents one of them. My favorite character? Shikamaru!

Bring it on! Now I only have to wait another 20 weeks so I can do a real marathon. Ou the sadness.