One Of The Most Successful Anime Series In History Is On Netflix

Naruto is adapted from the shonen manga of the same name by Masashi Kishimoto and it tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, a brash ninja who wants to one day become the Hokage, aka leader, of his village.

Joining Naruto on his journey to become a strong ninja are his team members, Sasuke Uchiha, and Sakura Haruno, along with their sensei and team leader Kakashi Hatake.

While Naruto has many of the typical shonen tropes like tournament arcs and a dumb, underdog protagonist, it does everything really well.

I still remember when I flipped over to Toonami one night and happened to tune in just in time for the battle between Gaara and Rock Lee during the Chunin Exams.

That battle is still a high watermark in shonen battles to this day, and it’s easy to see how Naruto got its hooks into so many people. After all, it’s one of the most popular manga and anime series in the world, and plenty of new fans are still discovering it to this day.

As far as shonen anime goes, the time when the Big Three ruled was a special time in anime history, and there hasn’t really been an official “Big Three” since then that has mass appeal like these shows did. Sure, One Piece is still going and is actually bigger than ever, but Naruto’s generational follow-up series, Boruto, hasn’t quite reached the massive popularity of the original.

Bleach also came back recently with a great adaptation of the rest of Tite Kubo’s manga, but it’s fair to say it doesn’t really feel like the Big Three era anymore.

The great thing about Naruto is that it’s a pretty satisfying shonen series from beginning to end. The original anime adapts the first 27 volumes of the manga, which is when Naruto and his fellow ninjas are pre-teens.

The first part features some of the most iconic arcs and battles of the series and the pacing is great if you skip over most of the filler episodes.

If you love Naruto, then you can take comfort in the fact that Part II of the series, titled Naruto Shippuden, is just as good and finishes the story in a pretty satisfying way. Naruto Shippuden does a quick time skip and follows Naruto and his friends when they’re teenagers.

The follow-up managed to up the stakes and make the series a bit more mature, and almost every storyline was wrapped up.

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Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like Naruto Shippuden is on Netflix if that’s your preferred way to watch, but you could always catch it on another streaming service if you finish Naruto. In the meantime, I definitely recommend checking out the original on Netflix if you like emotional, well-animated, and well-told battle shonen. Believe it!