On its own, the story I'd give it a B+ to an A-, I mean Kishi has told a nice story no doubts about that and has given it a nice scale of epicness, but there were just a few story elements that when introduced he could have expanded much much more.
He could have:
-Given Sakura more fights, there was opportunity for this, if she had a fight with Kabuto back in the Sasuke and Sai arc, helped Shikamaru (with Sai) against Hidan rather than make it a quick victory, faced one of the pain bodies (but the body would be recovered after she left so Naruto would face it) or even Konan (for a small amount of time), or even faced an edo Chiyo even with Gaara would have been a nice circle development opportunity. Sakura is a very good character and has the talent for many fights, but Kishi could have honestly given her some screentime for these fights. Medic vs Medic, help face an immortal, beat one of the pain bodies (but not outright so Naruto would) or the chiyo one, these would have been good advancements for Sakura.
-Expanded the 7 swordsmen storyline, it was intriging but this was largely undone, we only knew 2 of them for the majority of the series, 1 honorary one (Suigestsu), and the first of a new generation (Chojuro, that kid Mei Turmei the mizukage acts nice too).
- Done more with the jinchurki and tailed beasts, rather than kill them off, he could have made them wandering and meet up with Naruto, he could have at least left one more alive aside from Bee. Rather he could have made the jinchurki not killed but rather taken prisoner. Etc.
- Used more with the 5 sage weapons, this was a curious one, he could have given more to this one like if the ten tails revival also needed these weapons aside from the tailed beasts in order to bring the ten tails back. It seems like a story cliche if it did this, but it would have extended the plot.
- Expanded more on the conflict between the leaf and cloud, lets say if the war arc didn't start immediately like Obito said only 5 or 6 of the tailed beasts were caught, and he needed the 5 weapons, Bee would be out there still while the last would be unknown so the nations would scramble to get Naruto, Bee, and the final one safe along with the sage weapons being hunted, it would have been a curious plot point if each nation each had 1 sage weapon but had them long hidden. The war arc started then it would have been under more conflicting reasons.
Even aside from all this, Kishi has done better than some other mangas out there:
-I feel he has done better storywise than DBZ which was just one series of one fight over another from battle to battle, no long main arc, just a collection of shorter arcs of greater power.
-Bleach is scrambled, it goes from a demon hunting intro to a rescue raid and sudden antagonist reveal to a long term war in the real world to a kidnapping of a girl who doesn't go used much to a rescue operation in the demon world to a long fight in a copy world to a big conflict in the real world, suddenly to a power regaining arc and short new organization to an old rivalry war that will end the series. Bleach has been along the lines of DBZ, it has a more constant flowing story but not a clear connecting message. I' not left wondering much on other story elements.
-One piece, while it remains the better story, it is just too too long, I mean I know Oda can do the story anyway he likes, I love how the islands are both based off popular legend and myth but also creative enough to stand out. Its just the whole ordeal with older plot elements like the void century, origin of the devil fruits, the revolutionary army, black beards motives, the super weapons, Dragon, what one piece really is, a power or something more etc. Its been over 15 years and we still have not one god damned clue with any of this aside from one of those weapons being the mermaid princess. At this point its only obvious that the void century and one piece are related, the world government was terrified of what happened in the void century and one piece itself is basically going to undermine them and reveal a truth. Seriously I'm at times loosing intrest cause we have an idea of what is going to happen and the story is enjoyable but its like a repeating cycle, crew finds and island, problems exist on island, they talk a bit and bash a lot, we get 30-50+ chapters for every character to have a fight, luffy unleashes a massive attack and beats up the leader or boss, the gang has a party, more plot points, next island, rise and repeat with only slight variation every few arcs like the seabody archipelago or CP9 arc which revealed more plot points or the fishman island which set up a future fight we know will occur. Other than that, least Naruto has been consistent in its long run, it doesn't go off track at incredible lengths like one piece is overly guilty of.
Other than this its been a good series in its own right. Its not up to that scale of writing say other series do like Attack on Titan which has a great sense of desperation and humanity. Its also not up to par with other series like Avatar the last airbender or korra which flesh out the characters and story in the short seasons, but Naruto is still very good in its own right. It has a few thing of value over the other series.
Edited by Inferno180, 16 September 2013 - 12:12 AM.
