Madara was put out of commission without any warning, and for no reason, and most of the power-ups were done for plot convenience, since the protagonists had had enough of losing. Her story was sad, but her motivations made no sense, and she seemed to exist purely to conclude the series as a whole. Where the show truly lost me, and many other viewers, was the introduction of Kaguya. And right in the middle, for no reason, was just a random 7-episode Itachi backstory, adapted from a series of light novels not even written by the original author. Much of it was bland rather than dark, and many scenes were slow in terms of both movement and dialogue. Another flaw the show had was that, even as time evolved, it made barely any effort to evolve its animation and colour pallette till the last arc. The first few were anticipated, but as the arc went on, it got much more random and "deus ex machina"-like. And then the show kept on going, stretching the War arc with one twist after another. Everything seemed to be going right : the previous Kage made an appearance, Madara was a great villain, and the true nature of the events up until now was revealed.Īll seemed to be going well : fillers, while predominant, did not take much from the show in terms of quality, and the story was great, to say the least. The war was great to watch from all sides, as it felt like a story that would be told for centuries to come. Every action in the preceding 400-something episodes (from both the prequel and Shippuden) had come to some sort of satisfying conclusion in the form of this massive conflict.
At the beginning, it was built up as the greatest arc in the series yet. Almost every part of the story up until then was great to watch. These arcs were where the story and its author, Masashi Kishimoto, were truly allowed to shine, to use characters they had built up, introduce new and interesting characters, and progress the plot properly. This, along with Pain's assault on the Hidden Leaf Village, Killer Bee's introduction, and the declaration of war at the Assembly of the Kage, were arguably the best parts of the story.
There were many ups, there were rare downs, there were complex characters, and there were heartbreaking events. Each scene of importance felt like a historical retelling, a story from the long gone past. The whole arc detailing Jiraiya's past with the Third Shinobi War, the search for Itachi on both sides, and the build up toward the introduction of Amegakure, Pain and Konan was astonishing to watch. Their fights were well-choreographed, and their powers were well explained and well thought out. Hidan and Kakuzu were interesting villains, with both having valid reasons for joining the Akatsuki. only for him to overpower Naruto's entire team and leave with the stated intention of never coming back. Naruto's efforts and training were apparently coming to fruition, as they were finally about to meet Sasuke. Sai was a great character, and served his purpose as a replacement for Sasuke in the second arc. The arc was great in almost its entirety, and most of the flaws were not majorly visible. Naruto had matured for good, and was much more likeable as a protagonist. Deidara was one of the most fun characters while he was on screen, as he always had some way to escape the dire situation he was in. The Akatsuki was finally assembled, the fabled foes were finally pitted against our protagonists. better than the mediocrity that so predominantly plagued Naruto). The first arc is probably better than the entirety of the prequel series (that's just a joke, it was just This, once again, was a source of nostalgia for those who grew up with it, and once again, was a complex show with tons of let-downs for many who did not start off their consumption of narrative media with Naruto. and then Boruto was announced almost in the same week.
By the end, the viewers seemingly parted with their favourites for one last time. It provided something for Naruto fans to look forward to every week for about ten years.