Pacmanlh (Level 10)
Naruto Uzumaki, the central character in Masashi Kishimoto's series, is a combination of the typical shonen hero that has become synonymous with the typical Jump mold. He is young, brash and noble with a troubled past, and yet he finds a way to save the day and conquer all evil out there. Although like other leading men in his genre, he has flaws and some traits that leave fans in bewilderment. Now I can only tell from the anime, because I do not read the manga, but what I have learned from watching Naruto since the first anime series is that there is a limit to how much I can stand to watch such a predictable guy like Naruto go through in just a few short years.
First, Naruto has an unrelenting willingness to go through anything in order to save his “friend” Sasuke. Sometimes when I watch one of his speeches about how he has to save him from hell for the sake of Team Seven, Sakura or himself it gives me a chuckle because after a while it kind of gets redundant on his reasons, which perplex me, and for the reason that it sounds like he has a weird man-crush for him. Why else would he put up with the fact that he would be willing to stick by a man who has caused destruction and chaos among those whom he cares for with no intent to give anyone mercy. It's like sticking by the side of a serial killer who has admitted guilt and even gave the cops all the evidence of his wrongdoings with pleasure.
Second, is his excessive use of the only nin-jutsu that he knows how to use. Perhaps this is a trope of long running shonen anime; however, one would think that he would have a larger plethora of moves in all of his training. Granted he has learned some moves on the way, but they usually involve special circumstances and do not necessarily apply to a regular battle like his rasengan and shadow-clones. Of course these two are constantly abused and what irritated me recently was that in the last episode of Naruto Shippuden, a filler episode, involved him using the rasengan shuriken that was said that if he used it again would cause the loss of his ability to use chakra, yet he just used it like nothing (maybe there is some arbitrary reason that this did not happen). At least when Goku fought the battle dragged on a bit before he used the kamehameha or the spirit bomb that everyone knew he was going to use.
Finally, there has always been an air of stupidity that Naruto has carried with him that cannot match those that have carried the shonen torch before him. I am not saying that those before him were all idiots, but most have had a child-like innocence to them that eventually goes away with a serious situation, in this case the death of Jiraiya, that opens this up and introduces him to the reality of the situation he is faced with. Lately he has taken a more serious take on his situation with Sasuke telling him that they will probably both die in a battle between them ( yes the manga is a ways ahead of the anime but I gave a warning). Filler episodes tend to bring out the worst in Naruto in this matter and creates a contrast between the man I thought he was becoming and reminds me of the child that he used to be with an always positive outlook on life.
To call Naruto Uzumaki a complex character is surely an understatement and would be best reserved for characters that do not cater to the shonen demographic, but to call him simple is not deserved either. I do not always enjoy watching his exploits into bring peace to the world in his own way. Though he has enough good qualities that make the series enjoyable and entertaining to witness how his story will end. Even with all of the negativity in this post, he deserves all the popularity that he has garnered throughout the years and will continue to do so until he becomes Hokage (maybe).
