Naruto Gaiden Review

Greetings Ladies and Gents! It is I, The Shaman of Animation back again with a new review. As I'm sure we all know, late last year Naruto finally came to a conclusion. Shortly after, a miniseries that served as the sequel to Naruto was announced: Naruto Gaiden. After my goodbye letter to Naruto back in November, I wasn't sure if I wanted to come back and read Gaiden. Quite frankly the last few years of the original Naruto series became a train wreck that constantly tested my patience to no end and I just didn't care anymore by the time the series ended...

But while I could probably do at least a five thousand word essay on everything that went wrong with the original Naruto series, that's not why we're here. Today, we're here to take a look at the sequel to Naruto: Naruto Gaiden!

Synopsis: Naruto Gaiden serves as a sort of prequel to the new Naruto movie: "Boruto The Movie" (A movie about Naruto's son) and it focuses on the daughter of Sasuke and Sakura, Sarada Uchiha. Sarada throughout her entire life, hasn't seen her father at all, and her mother Sakura has been very cryptic when it comes to Sasuke and his relationship with Sakura herself. When she sees a picture of a woman that looks similar to Sarada (for fans of the series, this woman is Karin), she embarks on an adventure to discover the truth about her father. While this is happening, a new villain emerges.

The Good: 

This little lady right here.

As I said in the synopsis, the main focus of Naruto Gaiden was on Sarada and her journey to learn about her self and her parents. I think the character is one of the best written female characters in Naruto which...considering Naruto's track record with female characters, that's the equivalent of winning fourth place. The character's introduction in Gaiden's first chapter and her character arc managed to engage me and bring me back into Naruto when I thought I was done with the series. The character shares some of the characteristics that made fans love her parents while not feeling like a complete clone of either character (Unlike the star of the next Naruto movie...). If it sounds like I'm just going on and on about this character, it's cause I honestly believe she was the best part of Naruto Gaiden. I give props to Masashi Kishimoto for this character.

Also, as brief as it was, I thought seeing the next generation of ninja in the first chapter of Gaiden training with their parents was a very cool thing, and that, combined with some of the more adventurous moments of the miniseries and its humor, really reminded me of why I was a fan of this series in the first place.

Also, I don't care what anyone says Chocho Akimichi is F**King Awesome!

   

The Bad: While I felt that Naruto Gaiden started off very hot and was very entertaining, I felt that it had lost some of its charm the second THIS guy shows up...

In comes Shin Uchiha (his story and origins are very complicated) that just comes and throws EVERYTHING off. Naruto fans, stop me if you heard this before: Shin is an experiment of Orochimaru--oh, you just stopped me. Well how about this: He is a villain with Sharing--You guys didn't even give me a chance to finish the sentence. One of my biggest gripes with the Naruto series was the constant overuse of the Sharingan, an eye power that just KEPT getting new abilities whenever the plot deemed it so, so when it came back, my interest in Gaiden grew a little dimmer. Not only that, but the reason that this villain existed was because he was an experiment of Orochimaru. Now if I were someone that was interested in the fact that there was a new Naruto villain with Sharingan eyes, my interest would be lost if I then found out that he was just an experiment of Orochimaru, that to me was just a lazy answer to where did this person come from.

The villains and their motives overall are just boring and are plain uninteresting, every time the story brought focus on them, I skimmed through it just to get to Sarada's story, which in a series that's known mostly for its action, I shouldn't be more interested in DNA Dilemmas. 

Conclusion: I feel as though the biggest issues with Naruto Gaiden was that it didn't completely wipe the slate clean with Naruto. Reusing Villains and story elements (In this case, more Sharingan users and the planning of the rebirth of the Akatsuki) is a dicey thing to do. Sometimes it works, this was a case where it didn't, ESPECIALLY since what was reused was already done to death in the original material. If Naruto Gaiden was JUST about Sarada trying to find out the secrets of her family, I would have been perfectly fine with it.

If you've NEVER experienced Naruto before or if you aren't a fan, then 1) this is not the ideal starting place for Naruto and 2) Gaiden won't really change your mind about Naruto. But if you've been following this roller coaster of a series this far, then you'll find some enjoyment in Gaiden...that's if you liked the ending to Naruto in the first place.

As for your good ol' Shaman peeps, I think I'm good with not seeing where the Naruto-verse goes from this point on. Boruto: The Movie doesn't really tickle my fancy too much (Then again, I've only seen a few of the Naruto movies) and honestly after nearly ten years and what this series has put me through, I think I'm done with Naruto (At least with the canon material...I still f**ks with Fan Fiction though...)

Till next time folks, I'm The Shaman of Animation...and I'm off to write Choji and Karui Fan Fiction

If Masashi Kishimoto doesn't want to explain how these two got married and had a kid, then DAMN IT I WILL!!!

Take Care...