Kishimoto plays much of this for slapstick comedy (Naruto getting pulled upside-down in a trap, for instance, flapping his arms in impotent frustration), though he's careful to keep us mindful of each character’s emotional underpinnings: Naruto's need to be prove himself, Sakura's unrequited crush on Sasuke, dead-serious Sasuke's oath to develop his skills so he can challenge and kill an unnamed opponent. The results are more affecting than you might initially expect, as when our hero, caught off guard in the second volume by a poison-wielding opponent, defiantly stabs his hand to get rid of the poison, swearing by the pain in his hand that he will not be outdone by his fellow students. It's a histrionic gesture purely in keeping with his character, and though we know he's inevitably going to fail by his own strict standards, we still can't help rooting for the little loudmouth.
Naruto's art is finely lined and detailed, particularly in those scenes showing off the village or Naruto's living quarters, though many of the fight sequences are your usual whirl of who's-doing-what-where? panels. (Even if we don't always catch what's happening, the results of each move are clearly established.) Kishimoto and his assistants are especially skilled when it comes to character stances, which I suspect has been one of the factors for this "Teen"-rated series' popularity with even younger readers (that and the cartoon series): even if a pre-teen reader doesn't catch all the plot nuances – the s-f gobbledegook surrounding chakras and DNA, for example – the character dynamics are clear-cut.
A panel showing teacher Kakashi dramatically pulling out a copy of Make-Out Paradise magazine (complete with a large "Ta-Daa!" emblazoned in the background) as he challenges his students to try and take him, is as funny as one of those panels where Eisner's "spirit" nonchalantly thrashes an out-of-his-league opponent. You don't need to know much about either character's background to immediately grasp that they're Masters of their Domain. (Yes, the Seinfeld ref is intentional.) Our volatile center Naruto is especially well-rendered: his immature determination and distractibility are both amusingly and consistently captured throughout.
Okay, I succumb; this is unabashedly fun stuff. Unabashedly fun comic book stuff.
Article comments
1 - Natalie Bennett
This article has been selected for syndication to Advance.net, which is affiliated with newspapers around the United States. Nice work!
2 - gary
you spelled half the names write dont fucking review something if your soo stupid
3 - Bill Sherman
You’re “write.” I misspelled Sasuke’s name as “Sesuka”, blurring it together with his teammate Sakura’s name. It’s an easy mistake for a western manga dabble to make (me, I feel good when I get the creators’ names spelled right!) but it's still a mistake. And I see that a misspelled “Narato” also managed to slip into the second paragraph. I regret the spelling errors. Thank you for being so understanding.