Let's face the facts regarding Naruto: the whole series is just a single message "never give up" which has been repeated for 15 years as if we hadn't understood it the first 40 times. Each and every arc ends in the same manner. Naruto is knocked down, recalls someone once having believed in him, delivers a speech on the importance of bonds, suddenly gains a new form powered by the fox, and then wins. That doesn't amount to 720 episodes of storytelling, it's just one episode with 719 different versions of itself featuring different headbands.

And the filler my god, the filler. About 40% of this show consists of content that isn't in the manga and everyone is aware of this. They've included a filler arc inside the final war. The world is coming to an end and the largest battle in ninja history is taking place, yet we're cut away to Naruto taking part in a cooking contest when he was a child or something like that. The Fourth Great Ninja War goes on for so long that the characters actually have time to stand there and express their feelings while the moon is bleeding. Madara turns up as the most anticipated villain in anime history only for him to be replaced at the last minute by a rabbit goddess who was never asked for. All that prior buildup the mask, the plan, the legend is discarded in favour of Kaguya, a final boss who has the personality of a loading screen.

There's also the side cast, the greatest deception in shonen. Characters like Kiba, Shino, Tenten, and Lee those who actually have devoted fanbases—are left out for the whole second half so that we can instead watch the Uchiha family drama for another 200 episodes. Neji is killed by a stick. A STICK. The brilliant member of the Hyuga clan is put out of action by a sharp piece of wood, all in order that the show might remind us that Naruto and Hinata should hold hands. Shikamaru is said to be the smartest person in the world and his main contribution is simply watching the clouds and being late to appear.

Sakura is constantly shouting a boy's name and beating the ground. Over 700 episodes, her storyline has been simply "liked Sasuke and still likes Sasuke". Sasuke himself turns traitor, joins some terrorists, tries to murder all the people he grew up with on several occasions, and is forgiven because... he's cool and sad? He is given a free pass while Pain, a man with real grounds for resentment, is not. The lesson of Naruto is that forgiveness is unlimited for an Uchiha while for everyone else such leniency is not granted.

And Talk no Jutsu is still the worst technique ever portrayed in fiction. Nagato destroys the village, kills Jiraiya, and kills Kakashi (even though death in this series is only suggested), all of which Naruto achieves by giving a book report. Obito, the man who caused a world war because of a childhood infatuation, is brought back from his extreme position simply by being reminded of his old goggles. Yet the show makes us think that Naruto is an •••Show, for it is this •••Show who manages to outargue war criminals into redeeming themselves. You have to choose a side.

"But when it comes to the fights" I'll admit, some of them are incredible, Naruto's battle with Sasuke at the Valley of the End is truly great and Pain's fight with Naruto is also great. Yet there are about six truly great fights throughout a show which takes longer to finish than medical school. The ratio of outstanding fights to the rest is disgraceful; for every one legendary episode there are thirty episodes consisting of recap, reaction faces, and flashbacks within flashbacks. This show has flashbacks inside flashbacks with the characters recalling things that we had seen them recall during the previous episode.

The fact that Boruto exists shows that the story should have come to an end there. In order to avoid resolving anything, they were forced to come up with aliens and cyborgs. Naruto had achieved his dream of becoming Hokage, and the only reward he got was a desk job and a son who hates him. That's beautiful. Truly, this masterpiece deserved an ending like that.

Naruto fans, let me know whether the filler was worth the trouble. Let me know if Neji's death had any significance. Let me know if Kaguya was a good final villain. I'll wait I have the patience of 720 episodes. 🍥