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"What I love in Naruto."
Ever since it aired on Toonami, I've been a Naruto fan.
So, I made a list, randomized the order, so here it is.
[16.]
The elite groups in Naruto has got to be the foundation of how people create scary teams.
And the names and branding were enough for me to consider them cool.
The Akatsuki, the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, the Anbu Black Ops, the Sound Four,
I love all of that mess.
The names of these groups are still strong, even with the faults that come with them.
That's branding.
It doesn't always matter that I can't name the non-important swordsmen or that the Anbu
get clapped a lot.
It matters the more I think about it, but that's why I don't try to think about it.
[21] Darui.
I love Darui.
As a character, I like seeing that Shikamaru-ish archetype Kishimoto does.
He was such a skilled shinobi he ended up the next Raikage.
As a design, black characters and lightning is a well-known trope, but the spin on it
is cool.
So, aside from the weird-looking mustache, I thought this was some of the better representation
I've seen.
[9] Choji vs. Jirobo.
See, when it came to the original Naruto, I liked Choji.
However, it wasn't until this fight that I ended up loving him.
When characters take a stand to be a line of defense against a huge threat, that's my
stuff.
But when Choji stood up for himself and his friend Shikamaru, it meant more.
Being a bigger guy meant that Choji was going to be judged by others for it a lot.
So him taking that stand meant more than anything to me.
Now, I did think it was ironic that he'd get skinnier after form change and would've rather
they bulked him up on top of being husky.
It's like, he's defining himself as a bigger guy, but he gets all slim after.
That's just odd, but yeah, I loved the fight and loved the butterfly form and its symbolism.
[12] Orochimaru, pre-Shippuden.
The allure in Orochimaru is this sort of mystified evil.
It wasn't just the fact that they were strong.
Orochimaru was genuinely scary, and I think that's missing a lot these days when crafting
villains.
Their journey for knowledge and how it delves into a Frankenstein-Esque territory is an
excellent story in itself too.
They have to be around for it to learn all there is, and the road to immortality with
the ideal host opens up a whole new territory.
Because what if Orochimaru discovers all there is?
It sounds impossible, but I'd watch that journey.
[14] Shino and the Aburame clan.
When characters have connections to nature like this or Naruto with Mount Myoboku, it
taps into that real-world type mystery.
Living in a symbiotic relationship that you can use for your power looks cool to me.
Especially with the whole swarm of bugs thing he got going on, it looks like Harvest, and
I like that stand a lot.
Also, their glasses?
Icy.
[2] The Nine-Tailed Fox.
Where do I start with this?
Look, I don't know if you were there for it, but there was a cultural shift when Naruto
tapped into Kurama against Haku.
Everyone I knew that watched Naruto, including me, was on some "y'all don't want the beast
to come out" type shit.
It was hilarious.
This type of hype you get from an anime gets you bad looks, but it's all worth it.
This anger, power, hype, I feel like Hugh Jackman coming out of the water.
That only addresses the phenomenon that is Kurama.
In the original Naruto, Kurama had this sense of mystery and danger surrounding him.
It's like, "Oh man, Naruto can tap into this danger for strength, but what will happen?"
I think that's when I've enjoyed Naruto more because it was like dancing with the devil.
The strength of Nine Tails is powerful, but you could lose yourself if you indulge too
far.
There's also manga Kurama, which is 20000 times cooler than the anime adaptation.
[10] The Sound Four.
I'm not going to lie.
I thought they were hard, at least the majority.
Tayuya had my favorite abilities, her and Kidomaru's final form were my favorite designs,
and Jirobo was a strong guy.
As for the last one, or well last two, I wasn't feeling too much.
So what were the names again, I know one was Ukon, but do you happen to know the other?
Leave a comment.
[20] The Sand Village Trio.
I don't even know how he got the idea for this trio, but it was amazing.
Kid Gaara had an appeal similar to the Nine-Tailed Fox.
He was a straight demon and was fire enough to make sand cool.
The same goes for Temari and Kankuro.
Puppets in Naruto have always been an interesting area that they further elaborated on, even
better with Sasori and later Kankuro.
And Temari, well, I've been a Temari fan since I was 8.
That just hasn't changed at all.
I haven't really watched Boruto like that either, but from what I did, I like Gaara
there too.
To adopt some random kid who also had problems and sand powers seems like the best-case scenario
for that character.
[31] Reaper death seal.
Ok, wait, so apparently, it's called the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, but I will not be calling
it that.
Thank you, Tom.
But what I love about the Reaper Death Seal isn't about how it works, the design for the
Shinigami itself is what I love.
I feel like the existence of Shinigami in Naruto begs a lot of questions to the rest
of the world, but we learn about Hagoromo and the Otsusuki, and I don't remember the
Shinigami in any of that.
So it feels separate and still as mysterious as the first time I saw it.
[27] Fang over Fang.
I don't care about this ability.
It's how it's said.
Shout out to the Kiba voice actors.
You went wild on this.
[26] Itachi.
Over time, the development of this character had opened my eyes up to look at the politics
in anime.
So, I was with Itachi because he had that sort of Sesshomaru dynamic and looked extremely
menacing.
After Shippuden, it had become more about: "Wow, look at the extent a soldier can go
for the sake of their village."
A child prodigy paraded around his people and his village.
All of this, to fall in line for the sake of what they consider good.
Then the one thing holding him together, and the one thing he was allowed, was his brother.
That's so damn sad, man.
That fight with Sasuke probably carries some of the most weight in the series.
He even made dying real, like damn.
TWICE!
Like, come on, man.
Great character, one of my favorite in general.
[Conclusion] I have at least two more videos worth of this
list for how much I have to talk about, so if you show out with the support, I'll try
to get this out faster.
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Hopefully I'll see you all in the next one, until then, peace out, and godspeed.