Naruto is one of the greatest shonen anime of all time. Masashi Kishimoto created a rich, fleshed-out world that was epic to comprehend. The series' scope slowly evolved as both Naruto and Sasuke became impossibly stronger, more so than any other shinobi in existence. While some people may argue that the latter half of Naruto fizzled out, the truth is that the sheer scale of the worldbuilding and this show's epic narrative won't be matched any time soon.
The manga and anime are both excellent in their own right. While most people find the anime easier to digest, the fact is that the manga has some of the most detailed and enjoyable panels that fans can check out. Kishimoto's artwork may have lost some detail as Naruto went on, but the quality of his work still reached extremely high levels and proved why Naruto became such a breakout hit.
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5 Prologue — Land of Waves
Kishimoto's Artwork Was At Its Best In The Early Goings
- Chapters: 1-33
- Episodes: 1-19
The first few chapters of any manga need to do a lot of heavy lifting to convince editors to go forward with serializing the artist's work. So, suffice it to say, Kishimoto went all out when it came to making Naruto as enjoyable as possible during the early days. This leads to the artwork looking absolutely incredible and shows Kishimoto's artistic talents from the get-go.
The arc covers Naruto's introduction, his struggle to become a genin after failing multiple times, and the first serious mission he undertakes as a member of Team Kakashi. It's a brilliant set of events that hook people into the series, and it never lets up after this.
4 Sasuke Recovery Mission
Lack Of Flashbacks and Better Pacing Make the Final Fight More Epic
- Chapters: 172-238
- Episodes: 107-135
After Sasuke ends up feeling weaker compared to Naruto and the growth he's undergone following the Chunin Exams, he decides to take things into his own hands. Orochimaru's plan to coax the last surviving Uchiha to train and master his Curse Mark worked. Sasuke ended up leaving Konoha of his own free will to try and become as strong as possible.
This triggered a response from the Leaf Village, who sent a bunch of promising shinobi to try and bring Sasuke back. The anime does a decent job of adapting the events in this arc, but the artwork in the manga coupled with the tightly-paced battle between Naruto and Sasuke is a blast to experience firsthand. The lack of flashbacks (which do occur in the anime) makes this confrontation feel all the more engaging in the original manga.
3 Kazekage Rescue Mission
One Of The Worst-Paced Arcs In The Anime
- Chapters: 245-281
- Episodes (Shippuden): 1-32
Naruto Shippuden needed to start with a bang. The time skip is entertaining in its own right, and sets the stage for a harrowing arc where the Kazekage is abducted by the Akaksuki so that the Shukaku can be extracted from his body. This leads to a race against time, in which Naruto and other powerful ninja from Konoha aid Sunagakure to save Gaara.
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While the manga goes through story beats in a brilliant fashion, the same can't be said for the anime. Certain scenes are stretched way longer than necessary, with a few filler battles added to make this arc even longer than it needs to be. By the end of this arc in the anime, fans were glad that the story would finally move forward after being stuck in a rut for what felt like too long.
2 Pain's Assault
The Manga's Pacing and Artwork Are Amazing
- Chapters: 413-453
- Episodes (Shippuden): 152-175
Pain was easily one of the most daunting members of the Akatsuki, and many felt like he was the leader of this horrid group for the longest time. It wasn't until Obito's reveal that fans figured out who the true antagonist behind the Akatsuki's actions really was. The horrid manner in which Pain ended Jiraiya's life was already hard to watch. Things only got worse when he used his deadly Almighty Push to level all of Konoha.
This statement can be controversial, but there's no denying that the wacky nature of the animation during Pain and Naruto's fight can be a bit too much to handle at times. The annoying manner in which Naruto's moves are overexplained during his battle against the Six Paths of Pain flows more easily in the manga. Meanwhile, the anime forces viewers to listen to long-winded explanations that break up the flow of battle quite a bit.
1 Birth Of The Ten-Tails' Jinchuriki
One of the Worst-Paced Arcs in the Anime
- Chapters: 640-677
- Episodes (Shippuden): 378-393, 414-431
The Fourth Shinobi World War arc doesn't sit well with many fans, who felt like Naruto's excellent worldbuilding and power scaling was completely thrown out of the window in favor of fostering epic moments. The artwork in the manga also fell in quality, with imaginative artwork and paneling being replaced by more uninspired choices instead.
Still, the part where the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki is finally unleashed makes for an even harder watch in the anime because of how crudely filler arcs are integrated into the storyline. It becomes a pain to try and figure out which parts to skip in each episode if viewers just want to focus on canon events, which is a problem specific only to the anime.
