Naruto

Naruto (NARUTO) is an animated Japanese series, more popularly known as an anime. Naruto follows a popular tradition of mangas exploding onto the television set. It was originally written, as a manga, by Masashi Kishimoto, and was first published in 1999. Viz Media purchased the rights to publish the manga in English and is has since become their best-selling Americanized manga. Naruto was turned into an anime in Japan in 2002 by Studio Pierrot and Aniplex, and Viz once again saw the brilliance of getting the rights to air the American version.

Naruto is the story of a Japanese ninja who is struggling to become known as a Hokage, or the best ninja in the village. Due to his rough beginnings, Naruto is also trying to gain approval from everyone he meets, which can lead to some funny situations. Naruto travels around with his two companions trying to fulfill his dream of becoming the best ninja he can be.

Twelve years before the start of the anime, a nine-tailed demon fox attacked the village that Naruto was born in. In order to save the village, the best ninja of the village, also called the Fourth Hokage, sacrificed his life in order to lock the demon fox away into the body of a newly born baby, named Naruto Uzumaki. Because the town’s people feel that Naruto is evil, as the nine-tailed demon fox was, they shun him, and he grows up an orphan. This is where Naruto gets the thirst to prove himself. It was a desire to prove himself that led him to enter the Ninja Academy. While there, he saved his instructor, which allowed him to graduate from the Academy and on to trying to find his fame.

Sasuke Uchiha and Sasuka Haruno are assigned to travel with Naruto in his adventures to become a Hokage in his village. The three are under the instruction of an experienced sensei named Kakashi Hatake, who’s goal is to guide them safely through their training adventures. Kakashi has a strange way of teaching, which leads to some hilarious dialogue, such as this scene when Naruto falls for a deception and is feeling bad about it.

Naruto Uzumaki: I get it I get it! 
Kakashi Hatake: No, you don't get it, that’s why I'm telling you. You think you get it, which isn't the same as actually getting it. Get it?

There is a delicate balance between drama and comedy in Naruto. Just when things get light-hearted, something happens that forces the characters to grow and to learn to make difficult decisions. It is an anime that is action-packed and is geared to keep the audience entertained by both the martial arts and the quips between the characters. In Naruto, the characters are taught that almost everything happens for a reason. Chance is not a factor that the Ninjas are taught to respect, and so they learn, fairly quickly, to be very choosy in the decisions that they make.