What separates Naruto from the rest?

Naruto is part of the Big Three anime of all time along with One Piece and Bleach.

The Pain arc from Naruto Shippuden is the best anime arc of all time.

Naruto and Sasuke vs Momoshiki is the No1 fight in the history of anime.

If these accolades aren’t enough for you guys to understand, why Naruto is such a big deal? Here are 12 reasons that answer the question, what separates Naruto from the rest?

1. Isn’t afraid of killing popular characters

The show has witnessed the deaths of many popular characters including the likes of Jiraiya, Itachi, Pain/ Yahiko, Obito, Neji and Minato who died in the very first episode of the series.

It’s quite brave of Masashi Kishimoto( the creator of Naruto manga) to kill most of his popular characters. When a character becomes popular, its creator becomes sceptical about killing that character afraid of how the fans might react.

I believe the death of a character cements his/her legacy or destroys it. Therefore having a death worth remembering becomes crucial. The end of a character is as important or even more than its beginning. A fine example of this is Itachi, when he died all his haters became lovers that very instance.

2. Widely loved Antagonists

Naruto’s antagonists are widely loved by all its fans. It includes the likes of Pain, Obito, Itachi, Akatsuki, Orochimaru and Madara. Itachi is one of the most popular anime characters of all time across all anime despite being an antagonist. Antagonists being loved as much as the protagonists is something to be proud about and not every anime gets to experience that feeling.

3. Shows us how a character without inborn talent achieves his dream

Rock Lee aspires to become a shinobi without knowing any Ninjutsu. Lee isn’t part of any clan that bestows him with any special abilities or power that are passed on from one generation to another like Uchiha’s and Hyuga’s.

He still pushes to make his dream a reality with sheer willpower infused with immense passion and never giving-up attitude.

4. Naruto teaches us that circumstances can’t define the path you take in life

Naruto and Gaara faced similar challenges while growing up. They both were despised by others who treated them as outcasts.

Despite all the discrimination faced by Naruto, he chooses to look on the path filled with light to strive toward earning people’s acknowledgement without holding any grudge against anyone.

Whereas Gaara fell prey to his inner demons and choose the path full of darkness filled with nothing but hatred for everyone around him.

5. Stupendous storyline

A strong storyline needs to have a strong protagonist(well just the name Naruto is enough), an engaging plot(it’s about ninjas- relatable and engaging) and strong antagonists(well we have a few, some notable antagonists are Obito, Pain, Kaguya, the Akatsuki and Orochimaru).

I watched the whole series of 720 episodes in one go that tells you how engaging the storyline might be.

Naruto sets the standard for what it means to be a great anime.

6. Backstory of every side character

Usually, the storyline of any anime is centred around the main characters cause they are the highlight of the show. Naruto is no different, he is indeed the highlight of the show but so are its side characters.

Kishimoto has so beautifully written the backstories of all the characters. It includes the likes of Kakashi, the chronicles of Itachi, Might Guy, Yahiko and so on. The anime has individual arcs featuring the backstories of these characters.

He has even given backstories of all its villains including every member of the Akatsuki, Madara, Orochimaru, Kaguya and Nagato.

There’s no other anime on the planet who has given backstory of every character. Naruto is a once-in-a-generation anime.

7. Analytical fight scenes

Analytical fight scenes means interpreting your opponent’s moves and then analysing their movements to find out their counter measurements.

Naruto excels at analytical fight scenes. Decoding jutsus i.e

How does it work
It’s limitations
It’s counter-attacks

Every enemy is different so you have to adjust your fighting style accordingly that’s what analyzing is all about.

One of the best examples of an analytical fight would be Shikamaru vs Hidan where we saw the birth of Shikamaru- the genius.

8. Unique character design

Naruto has the most unique character design. It has all types of characters:

Cold edgy characters like Sasuke
Knucklehead ninjas like Naruto
Cool and strong characters like Kakashi
Genius not smart, characters like Shikamaru

The character with the most unique character design is Obito Uchiha. He is the most versatile anime character of all time. He played 3 different roles throughout the show i.e himself, Madara and Tobi. He even played the roles of both the hero and villain.

9. Depicts bonds that can’t be broken

Bond between two brothers( Sasuke and Itachi):

Itachi lived his whole life with the burden of butchering his entire clan in a single night just to protect his kid brother Sasuke. Itachi made himself the so called villain to make his brother a hero.

Comradery/ Friendship (Naruto and Sasuke):

Naruto embodies the words ‘never leave a friend behind’ which he stuck by till the end.

Obito and Kakashi– Not-so-good friends turned bitter enemies and again redeemed as friends.

Bond between Sensei and Student (Jiraiya and Naruto):

Jiraiya was not only his sensei but also a father figure to him.

10. Addictive Openings

Each opening of Naruto is truly legendary. It started from season 1 and never looked back since then. It kept delivering great op after great op till the last season. You can’t stop yourself from singing when you hear it.

Unique picturization– Naturo’s op contains scenes that are actually made especially for the op it doesn’t feature in the episode.

Check out my playlist of top 5 openings from Naruto Shippuden.

11. Creative Animation

A lot of animes these days purposefully design some scenes a bit cartoonish or animated you may call it. Naruto did that a long time ago in the invasion of Pian arc. One of the most creative and visually stunning animation still today. Naruto was years ahead of itself.

12. Epic/ Unmatched English dub

Not to brag but I have seen a lot of animes across all genres in Japanese and English. But I haven’t seen any anime which has a better English dub than Naruto.

English dubs of Pain, Madara, Sasuke, Naruto, Obito, Kakashi and Guy are top-notch. Be it having a strong and intense voice like Pain or a cold edgy voice like Sasuke. Naruto’s dub sets the bar for all animes to reach when it comes to dubbing in English.

Even after 5 years since its ending, it is still one of the most talked about anime. Its popularity knows no bounds and it’s not coming down anytime soon.

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