[Categories: Anime Reviews]
Naruto 14-26: Poor Haku!
If there’s one thing that makes me keep coming back to Naruto, it’s the feelings and emotions that form the motives for the characters; let’s face it, no other Shounen Jump show has ever grabbed me interest! For all its cliches and repetition (the start-of-episode recaps are just the right length of time to allow me to fetch a beer from the kitchen without missing anything), Naruto has heart. The drawn-out epic battle that marked the end of our heroes’ dealings with Zabuza shows the hallmarks of the series, both good and bad, summing up, perhaps, why it is eternally popular. The bad aspects are obvious but the positive side is what kept me hooked, and still does: Zabuza is bad-ass but Haku is driven by a more complex set of feelings and motivations, which made his end all the more poignant.
It’s tragic to see someone sacrifice himself, unaware of the concept of self-worth; it’s especially so when the person you sacrifice yourself for does not see the value of your life either. For Haku, it’s a relief to see Zabuza grasp the magnitude of his apprentice’s efforts, if only in his final seconds but I couldn’t help but feel sorry for Haku when the trauma and waste of his life are revealed.
There’s another revelation relating to Naruto’s curse (watch how the fox-demon almost breaks free!), not to mention Kakashi’s range of abilities (how many aces does that guy have up his sleeve?!) but the big surprise is how someone as straightforward and irresponsible as Naruto can inspire the whole population of a village to rise up and fight those who oppress them. So too is his seemingly endless supply of self-confidence: no matter how many times the little bugger gets knocked down (which, as with the first half of the season, is A LOT) he bounces back.
This engaging side of Naruto’s character is his saving grace when he spends so much of his time being ignorant, impulsive and performing his favourite activity of acting before thinking - hardly the makings of a hero viewers can look up to. In the final section of the volume the junior ninja enter the next level of their training: the chunin exam. This section was really fun to watch, not least because I’d had several written exams a matter of days previously, which made it all the more entertaining to see how a sit-down test is done, ‘ninja-style’. The amusing ways in which various candidates try to cheat, the reactions and behaviour during the gruelling task and the psychological rationale behind it all make for an experience that’s way more enjoyable than a roomful of people sitting at desks ever ought to be.
An important addition that occurs during this later portion of the season is the re-introduction of a lot of characters who were only mentioned in passing earlier on, as well as plenty of new ones. My personal favourite new guy is Rock Lee: a lad who looks like a dork with his bowl-cut hairstyle and Commander Amarao eyebrows but has skills that not even Sasuke’s Sharingan can follow. Basically, Lee is the underdog who has reached the level he’s at not through inherited abilities but hard work: you can’t help but admire a guy like that.
Summary
I think I’ll be staying with Naruto, if only as far as the beginning of the notorious recap episodes. For all its flaws, this show is pure fun, with a healthy dose of humanity to keep things interesting. If nothing else, I want to see how the Orange Clad One fares during the physical part of the chunin exam - one thing that’s for sure is that I miss the more dignified and fitting end theme of the earlier episodes. You readers ought to know by now that while I believe ninjas rule, I don’t do cute!
Posted on July 19th, 2007 @ 7:45 am
I only just noticed that your Zabuza is consistently mis-spelled everywhere.
Posted on July 19th, 2007 @ 11:45 pm
@Author: Fixt. My bad.