There are things in this world that people love to hate, and things that people hate
to love.
This is a natural phenomenon, just another symptom of being a human.
I too have been a hater, and have been dabbed upon thusly.
At some point in my life, (perhaps it was when my frontal lobe finally finished developing
and I stopped being an idiot) I decided to begin to form my opinions through the lens
of experience.
To dive into the things that made me cringe.
To try and find out what it is that makes people love - that which I despised.
I haven't always been successful, NAY, I watched three out of four twilight movies and had
to take one of those detox supplements and void my insides so i could feel like a person
again.
But within my many judgements there have been some golden nuggets of art that I found I
was missing out on.
Tv, movies, and games that could have improved my existence that I disliked simply because
I was being a douchenozzel.
One such piece of media took me until my early twenties to finally get around to viewing.
You see sometimes things are just bad, but other times the fandom is 100% to blame for
the negative outlook on a franchise.
As a child in halls of my highschool I would hear them...
The weeabos.
I would hide in the bathroom stall clutching my backpack as they shouted RASENGAN!
I would be late to class for fear of getting run over by someone in a headband charging
down the hall with their arms stretched out behind them.
Hell I couldn't go into hot topic without getting a nosebleed for a good 3 years.
But one day I got curious.
What is this THING that made all of these people come together and act like weirdos
in public?
What is this STORY that has so many people engrossed to the point that they would change
their outer appearance and entire life style to emulate it?
Is it perhaps...
good?
And more importantly do I have something to say about it that no one has said before?
YOU BETTER BELIEVE IT, YOU KNOW?
Hailed as one of the longest running and most critically acclaimed shonen manga and anime
series of all time, with a cast of characters longer than liam neeson's third leg; it's
taken some digging but it's now time.
It is NARUTO NARUTO UZUMAKI, BELIEVE IT!
SO JOIN ME for story of loneliness and isolation, a narrative of struggle, personal differences,
loss and achievement.
So grab your ninja headband, grab your kunai and a big ol bowl of ichiraku miso ramen with
extra chasu or "cha soo" however you wanna pronounce it).
And prepare yourself for an epic!
About a young boy lost and alone and his rise to the top.
This is naruto uzumaki's story, the story YOU never knew dattebayo
This is naruto as we see him in episode 1.
Nobody likes him at all, he's pretty dumb and more cringy than mommy make-out day.
Think of the kid who ate his own boogers every day in bio class: that's naruto.
the kid basically does nothing but cause trouble.
Initially, that’s all we know, and to the show's detriment, the first couple of episodes
are pretty hard to get through going in blind.
However, it's supposed to be like this.
The show introduces you to naruto in a way which makes you sympathize with everyone who
hates him, then yanks your heart strings .You see, Naruto is an orphan.
His mother and father were killed when he was a baby and he has grown up entirely alone.
Instead of being given to another family, Naruto was a shinobi "ward of the state" he
was cared for and raised by the government of the hidden leaf, never having any family
to really call his own.
To make matters worse the other children's parents won't even let their kids play with
him.
Naruto spends all of his time by himself, not knowing what he did to deserve his treatment.
We later find out that Naruto is a jinchuuriki essentially a human weapon.
Being a jinchuuriki means sharing a body with a tailed beast of immense power, and Naruto
houses a particularly mean and powerful one known as the ninetails (or kurama).
This monster nearly destroyed naruto's home on the day he was born.
Kurama was sealed inside Naruto to protect the Leaf, but this caused the adults to hate
and fear him.
This little detail wasn’t shared with Naruto, so he grew up in the dark wondering everyday
why nobody would play with him.
This kind of social isolation is detrimental to anyone's psyche.
Humans are pack animals, we NEED to have bonds in order to live full healthy lives.
Due to their ignorance and fear the adults of the hidden leaf forced Naruto to live out
many of his formative years in isolation.
Now loneliness is no joke, I'm sure you've felt it before.
The crushing feelings of boredom and anxiety, the need to be with other people, if not only
just to talk.
But extreme isolation can wreak havoc on the mentality of a human being, driving completely
normal people insane.
There are accounts of prisoners and people who volunteered for experiments in isolation.
These experiences have caused noticeable trauma within 24-48 hours of complete isolation;
ranging from panic attacks to aural and visual hallucinations.
Exactly why this happens is unknown, but there are people who have combatted their loss of
sanity for periods of up to ten years or more by coming up with a goal.
According to michael bond, (a reporter for BBC) a man who was imprisoned in solitary
confinement for 10 years for refusing to develop nuclear weapons for saddam hussein kept himself
sane by doing math problems all day every day.
This kind of mental dedication is also what saved Naruto Uzumaki.
Instead of losing himself, Naruto dedicated himself to a singular goal- becoming the Hokage!
(or leader of the hidden leaf) Believe it!
The rest of the series follows him on that journey, but that's the story you know, so
what about this whole story you didn’t know?
Well what if I told you Naruto isn't so much of a character as an idea?
Besides the incredible cultural aspects, the excellent animation and action, and the deeply
interesting world design; Part of what makes the series so great is the character development
that goes on within it.
There are multiple themes that take place recurrently throughout, but the cast was developed
in a way to MAKE you attach yourself to the show, centered around the concept of Naruto.
You see, life is complicated, but it is only that way because we too are complicated.
Human beings still haven't not found the "reason" for existence.
Sure, I mean there's a lot of theories out there, but why we're here and what we're supposed
to do is a mystery.
A human life is short, and we start to shrivel away shortly after we're halfway through,
but many people don’t even make it that far.
From the day we come into this world we're told stories of people who achieved great
things, people who changed the world, and I think for a lot of us it makes us want to
do the same.
Even if you don't want to change the world, you probably still have a dream, and wouldn't
it be amazing if you could achieve it?
Part of what makes naruto so relatable is the struggles he goes through EMOTIONALLY.
The only thing narratively better than a hero- is an underdog hero.
Someone who comes from nothing, someone like you and me, who rises to the top and achieves
their goals.
It makes us FEEL good to see someone succeed (when we think they deserve it) and because
of that, the writers gave naruto a pure heart, much like goku or luffy.
It's the rest of the cast though, that completes the puzzle.
Unlike most stories naruto has upwards of 20 characters you could consider "main characters"
each of them speak directly to different aspects of our personalities.
And like you and I they gravitate towards naruto eventually because of what he represents.
Sakura shows what it's like for those of us who always feel like we're left behind, and
what it's like to realize how needed you are despite how you view yourself.
Sasuke speaks to the anger inside of us over the injustices in the world, the things we
can't or couldn’t stop.
He teaches us that sometimes we can't control everything and simply need help from time
to time.
Shikimaru is gifted, but lazy and directionless, but it's more of a fear of trying than simply
not wanting to, this fear has held us all back before, I guarantee it.
We could easily make a story you never knew on any of these characters, not only because
they're deep, but because they're individuals with full character arcs; just as long and
as in-depth as naruto's.
Even choji's ark goes so far as to speak to those with body image issues, and shows that
a beautiful personality has no bearing on appearance.
Teacher student relationships, father son and father daughter relationships, it's all
here alongside the gory ninja battles and kaiju fights.
Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of anime tropes in Naruto, theres a lot of filler episodes
and ramen memes, but there's simply nothing here to hate.
I understand now why so many kids became engrossed with the series during the mid 2000's.
It's hard being a kid and everyone's life is different.
There's so much to get attached to and so many characters to live vicariously through
in this anime.
Not only did those kids find a piece of entertainment which spoke to them personally, but they also
took the extra step to go out into the world and find other people that shared their interests.
They took the step to make bonds, so that they wouldn't be alone anymore either.
However they still shouldn't be allowed on the internet.
Anyway!
Liking naruto doesn’t make you a weeabo, -disrespecting japanese culture by emulating
it in an exaggerated or insulting way makes you a weeabo.
Telling people you're japanese and speaking the language wrong makes you a weeabo.
Liking naruto makes you human, because naruto is human, because naruto is based on you.
If you take a second to think about it, we've all had similar experiences.
There have been times were we simply didn't belong, no matter how hard we wanted to or
how hard we tried.
There were times where we thought we had no friends, nobody to talk to, or that no one
could relate to us.
We've all lost people in our lives that were special, teachers, friends, parents, pets.
Maybe that's happening to you right now.
But that's life, it's a series of ups and downs, there is no steady incline towards
the top.
Nobody can ever achieve perfect happiness, and that's a good thing.
Without the valleys there wouldn't be any peaks to excite you as you looked out over
the horizon.
Naruto teaches us that it's okay to be flawed, it's okay to be a loser, because as long as
you never give up you can at least find someone who can stand beside you on top of those peaks
as; long as you stay true to yourself yo.
Stay true to yourself and never stop pushing to be better, more well-rounded, more skilled,
more kind.
Because happiness is a by-product of a meaningful life, not a goal in and of itself.
You can “try” to be happy but you’ll find it doesn’t work.
So if you look at Naruto, his loneliness, and his eventual triumphs you’ll see that
his best moments that made his misery worth it were all a payoff from training, fighting,
loneliness and the misery they put him through.
His happiness spilled out of the moment, he wasn’t chasing it.
He chose to stay true to his ninja way instead of trying to be someone he wasn’t.
Rather than try so hard for sweet, sweet acceptance, he looked within and forged the uncharted
path of being himself and doing what he said he was going to do.
By doing this he was not only accepted, but admired and respected.
We all want deep down to be ourselves, and let that nature shine.
When we see someone who has gained that ability we naturally gravitate towards them, like
naruto’s peers, and us too, in the audience.
However, keep in mind that for you to be yourself, means others too are allowed the same right,
even if it makes you cringe or offends you.
Cause honestly, you probably offend lots of people, just being you.
But just because you suck, and other people suck, doesn't mean you can’t understand
each other, it just means you have common ground!
Mutual understanding can happen, because there is growth to be achieved from different perspectives.
There is always room for dialogue and constructive criticism that can ultimately take you in
directions you never would have seen and into the best version of yourself.
Safe to say the other characters rubbed off on Naruto on his way to becoming a beast.
Even though his journey was his own.
That being said, just because you're listening and understanding, doesn't make the other
person right, or make you obligated to change, but it is a sign of the respect we all deserve
for living on this shitty planet.
Maybe, just maybe that’s why I hated naruto so much way back then, maybe it was because
I was unhappy and I saw a group of people enjoying themselves and truly not caring about
everyone breaking their necks from cringing so hard.
I just didn’t understand where they were coming from.
So before you yourself get dabbethed upon, maybe take a look at what you're hating on?
And that’s the
story YOU never knew.
And...that’s my take on Naruto!
This was our first time covering the series so let me know down below if you want us to
cover it again!
...In more depth.
This one didn’t go into the story much but there’s already so many great videos doing
just that.
That being said, if there’s enough love for Naruto or any of the characters we won’t
hesitate to cover it.
I’m Grant!
And I hope you liked the video.
If you wanna see more Treesicle anime content then why not watch The REAL TRUTH of Almight
from My Hero Academia?
Ryan does a great job in that one.
It gets heavy man.
Last but not least, subscribleejggn and hit that bell so you get notified as soon as we
post a video.
I’m biased...but I’d recommend it.
That’s all I got for today...bye everyone!