I understand how people bash Naruto for the terrible artwork. However, I feel that it is just personal taste. The fact that Naruto is considered one of the best manga leads to high expectations. These high expectations cannot be fufilled. After all, this manga is a bit better than average. It's not spectactular people. Personally, I think everyone should try the first few volumes. After all, of you consider yourself to be someone who has read a lot of manga yet have not even TOUCHED Naruto, you fail as someone who have read manga. No. You fail as an otaku. And you know what? I give this series an 8 for the hard work and effort the mangaka is putting into the manga. I think the mangaka draws quite well so I don't even know why people are stating that Naruto looks like a kid doodled on a piece of paper. The lines are solid, you can clearly distinct who is female or male, and the over the YEARS of drawing naruto, he looks the same. (before the whole 3 year journey with his coach of course)

Overall the series is average. One gets bored with Naruto fighting skills. He basically HAS none. The minor characters are quite alluring. I wish there would be more of Kakashi, Gaara, Shikamaru, Sasuke, etc...

This series is good until the end of the big exam, at that point it all starts to go down hill.
The fights are just so sad and lame, almost nothing happens for, almost literally 40-50 chapters at a time. Where this story once drew me in, like another person I have purchased a LOT of the Naruto manga... and I can't even reread it anymore for lack of story. Kishimoto needs to take a break, and come back with a way to end this series. The story is also named wrong, it revolves completely around the Sharingan and the character Sasuke, who the main character Naruto loves, as well as every other person who has ever met him.. it appears.

Overall, so much potential that was lost due to the desire to milk this, and avoid having to possibly move to another series where he could expand his skill in some direction. At least his brother knew to end his series, he didn't end it well, but he ended it.

The fans have been burned by this series enough, many "fans" are just waiting for the thing to end to come back and read the last few chapters to see it go down, which is what I am doing. Every once in a while I read a few chapters here and there, just to see nothing has happened.

To people like Orange_Beast who say people didn't read it, and that is why they find it boring... you might want to read the manga as it appears you have only watched the anime. It is sort of obvious from your post where you say he says "Believe it!" and talk about filler arcs. Read the manga before commenting please, vote for the anime at an anime review site, not manga.

This series is fantastic, and it's definitely one of the best shounen out there. Comparing it to other Shounen giants such as One Piece and Bleach I'd say its definitely better because unlike One Piece it isn't annoyingly wacky with plenty of unlikable characters, repetitive concepts and stretched out arcs and unlike Bleach it actually has an engaging plots with clever sub-plots and plot-points. Right not the series may be at its best with us seeing the leaders from the other villages, I imagine this series is nearing its end but I fear that is inevitable. Perhaps the only problem with this manga is the fact that not all of the side characters get storytime and some characters get too much storytime(Shikamaru) and *spoilers* Kakuzu's defeat was just poor writing, anyways I definitely recommend it to anyone who likes Shounen manga or just action manga in general.

I give it a 9.3 out of 10

... Last updated on July 3rd, 2009, 8:29pm

There're are some series I've started in middle school such as Monster or 20th Century Boys. I still find myself rereading them on a regular basis...
Unfortunately Naruto isn't one of those. I'm not saying the series's bad. It's just one of these series you just can't appreciate as much once you've grown up. I can reread Hikaru no Go or Beck even 10 years since I've first discovered these shounens.. But Naruto... Unfortunately not. I guess it's a matter of taste. I find it understandable that some people would still like it even in 10 years... I on the contrary, have liked it quite a lot, enough to buy the first 34 volumes even when I had stopped reading it from the 28th. I no longer wants to waste money however. My advice for new readers... Well Read as many volumes as possible but think before buying cuz it's a big investment.

Okay, some people might say that the whole Naruto manga is boring but that is because they most likely havn't took the time to read it. This manga is tottally awesome and deserves the tittle best manga world wide. The art work started off kinda weird but thats one thing, kishimoto improved that along with thousands of other things(no exaggeration). The story line is freakin awesome the way you think something may happen but then something even better does. There are tons of different characters that are very interesting and no two people are alike. I'm definantly sure that Naruto is not everyones favorite because every one is great. Thre are some parts where you may want to cry and some that make you give a standing ovation. Naruto is just too much awesomeness to explain unless you read the manga fully through. The only flaw in this was the way naruto used to scream beleive it, the artwork, and a few filler arcs(not all though). I Highly, HIGHLY, Recommend This Piece Of Fine Work.!

i started reading this series back in 4th grade, and I got completely hooked onto it

the one thing that stood out to me back then was Masashi Kishimoto's ability to let the readers sympathize with the protgaonist..
i could understand how Naruto felt when he was hated by everybody in his village.. and I grew respect for him as he overcame his problems with his undaunted determination
before 20 chapters had past, Naruto had become a part of me.. and every accomplishment and secret technique that he learned made me feel proud as hell, even though it wasn't me who was doing them..
I felt shivers down my back when all of Konohagukre gave Naruto a standing ovation after his win over Neji Hyuuga

many readers complain that the series is too dragged out..
in reality, Naruto is much more condensed in comparison to it's rivals, Bleach and One Piece

Masashi Kishimoto is probably the best manga artist in history when it comes to action scenes....
Naruto is probably the only manga that rivals its own anime when it comes to depicting fights

I reread this series a while back.. and although that connection that I felt to the protagonist wasn't as strong as when I was a kid... it was still good enough to make me read 200 chapters in 1 day

I'd recommend reading the graphic novels at barnes and nobles instead of reading the series online.. because the translators seriously suck ass

This series has become very, very popular. That means it has attracted some radical fans, and so some of the more moderate ones love to find things they hate about it now. Fans ruin everything...

Plot: The plot's a pretty typical coming-of-age sort of thing.

Length: LONG. There were some things that could have been greatly shortened. Like almost every arc, actually.

Characters: Kishimoto did a good job with this, actually. He populated his world with a lot of interesting characters. Somehow, he managed to make even minor characters memorable. Each person got their own unique traits/powers that made them stand out from the others. I think most people who have read this will say that the main protagonist (the title character) is not their favorite character. Just look at how many times characters like Hinata and Itachi, who really don't appear that much, have placed on the top ten of character polls! Kishimoto gets +10 for characters.

Art: The art's all right. It's not amazing. However, it has noticeably improved as the series has gone on. There are some places where the art is better than normal, and the heightened quality adds to the story.

Possibly Offensive: Things can get quite violent. When people attack you head on in this story, they seem to go right through you---literally. Like through your hand (Naruto v. Kabuto), or your shoulder (Naruto v. Sasuke). Or your chest (Tsunade v. Orochimaru). Actually, the character Orochimaru himself should fall under the 'possibly offensive' category. He's a good villain, don't get me wrong, but sometimes he made even me shudder. There's really not that much fanservice. I think we females get more fanservice thrown our way than the males. Karin wasn't the only one fangirling in some of those shots where Sasuke was half naked.

Other Stuff: This series really isn't too deep, but it's been entertaining me this long, so I'll give credit where credit is due. Sometimes Kishimoto throws out some real wallbangers, but then other moments are very touching and poignant (the best example is the fight between Naruto and Gaara). It's when those moments come that I remember why I keep reading this series.

This is perhaps the most overrated manga ever created. I mean it's not that bad, but the plot the characters and the art it just, well.... avarage. The action sequenses are even more boring, I know many other shounen series that has much better action, the battles also drag on and on, and kinda prevents any character development. Even in a shounen manga you should at least get to know the protagonist, but Naruto it rater one dimentional, and he doesen't grow mentally at all, and you get more attracted to the few minor character who actually has an convincing personallity. Also there's way too many flashbacks, you shouldn't have to hear about ever single characters tradig childhood. It's unnecisarry...

With that said, there are a few good things about this manga too, the artwork is decent, Kishimoto is wery good tecnically, but not very good at expressions though. And some of the characters are both entertaning and original, sadly that do not apply to the main character.

All in all, this manga is boring. It doesn't bring anything new to the shounen genre at all, and I have absolutely no ideat why it has become so danm popular...

Naruto has a very unique personality, he messes around but he still has a lot of heart in everything that he does. He's a manga character but he's very admirable. It's very good so far, the fact that he even takes the time to listen to others, he has really grown since the beginning. And YES he is supposed to be the strongest and the best because the manga is named NARUTO...the hero has to put up the best fights otherwise it would be boring...it's his exact personality and series of events in his life which keep things interesting. (GO TEAM NARUTO!!!!!)

Naruto... the number one manga world-wide? How the hell did it get there?! This manga, in my opinion, is annoying, and repetitive.
There is hardly any depth to the characters. For example, Sasuke scowls a lot, and acts cool and stealthy. That doesn't give him depth. He has a traumatic past. That doesn't give him depth, either. Sasuke is pretty much exactly what he first appeared as. And I'm gonna say exactly the same for all the other ninja-kids.
The story is freakin' full of climaxes, and each volume is a waste of money, because all you're getting is your fight scenes. There are no major turning points, that, or it's so saturated in them, you can't tell the normal from climax.
In the first few volumes, I felt like I was playing a cheesy game that was only partially loaded. You're thrown straight into action, and crappy action at that, no time given for you to begin liking the main character before you know his "Horrifying secret", and to be honest, ALL the characters have their little "Horrifying secrets", childhood traumas.
The fight scenes... christ. No. Just... no. They talk all the way through them, like it isn't their life on the line, the kids are totally immaturely mature, if you know what I mean, and for God's sake, it's just too much. Please, give me a break, it's not that amazing. In fact, this doesn't really deserve to be in the top ten of mangas. I've tried to like the series over and over, but I hate the characters, I hate the story-line, and I especially hate the art that looks like it was doodled on a note in class.
I am sick and tired of Naruto.