Orbited insanitarium wrote:I often wondered when people on the interwebz said that Bleach, One Piece and Naruto are the 3 of Shonen, is it a long reposted and bastardized meme to say that? Because really and honestly, I've never paid much attention to any of em... (forgive me anime gods for I have sinned, I go against the One Piece grain.
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I'm initially quite skeptical of the most popular shonens so forgive me for saying the above, would'ya say that Naruto is worth it friend? Should I give it a shot?
Worth it if you have a somewhat pre-establishing connection with it. My older brother loved Naruto to tears and he watched/read it all the way up to date when it was still coming out. I've tried quite a couple of times to watch it all the way through but some 'required' arcs are an absolute sludge to get through. It's a 'baby's-first' anime. Filler does not help its case at all.
All that being said, with the knowledge that it was made for a week-by-week TV basis, it does become a little more enjoyable (and you understand why people love it so much alongside Bleach and One Piece). It's veeeeeeery early 2000s TV-14. The world is interesting (maybe a little hard to understand) and some characters are absolutely iconic. (Tsunade and Temari supreme)
All-in-all the one thing people truly forget about Naruto is that it's a ground-up story. You see the good, the bad, and oh my god the absolute ugly.
I recommend watching the first movie;
Naruto: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow if you wanna try Naruto. THIS MOVIE IS FIRE OK! Perfect introduction to Naruto's world without needing to know the central story. I have watched it so many times and it's still balls off the walls + sasuke is on backbench the entire movie best bonus points ever
I think later-Naruto is actually some spicy fuckin shit! Naruto Shippuden is actually pretty damn good. But that's the thing, to get to all the 'good' you've got to work/get around the 'bad' (so many mini-arcs). If you ever do dare to take a crack at it, I recommend watching manga canon first and filling in the blanks with the mixed canon from there. So far that's what I've been doing and I've basically been watching Naruto, just some details missed. If you want to watch it all, filler and everything, someone give this man a medal cuz he's a fuckin' soldier.
With all that out of the way, yes, I'd say absolutely bastard of a meme. They are all like the Spongebobs of Japan, just incredibly serialized household names. But Bleach would be right up your alley. My Mom and Uncle watched all of Bleach and they both love it to death. I haven't quite given it my time but from what I've seen from here and there, maybe a little more mature than Naruto................ and then again maybe not lol!