As a regular reader of Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto (I’m a few volumes behind, but don’t tell anyone!) manga, I’ve long been curious about the anime based on this popular ninja series. Caught a few episodes here and there on the Cartoon Network — usually mid-story — but it wasn’t until Viz announced its release of the teleseries’ first half of season one as an “uncut” box set that I saw the opportunity to immerse myself in the anime from its beginnings. (Viz has released smaller uncut sets from the series in the past, but with 25 episodes going for what previously was the price of one-fourth of season one, this is the better bargain.) Twenty-five episodes featuring our favorite “#1 Hyperactive Knucklehead Ninja”? Pass me the Ritalin — I’ll sit and watch!
Volume one encompasses the first five books of Kishimoto’s manga, and contains three basic arcs. The first establishes our core cast: Uzumaki Naruto, an impulsive and mischievous would-be ninja who doesn’t know he has the spirit of a fox demon imprisoned within him; Sasuke, the most promising student in Naruto’s class; Sakura, the smart girl with a hidden temper and a thing for Sasuke; plus the trio’s two teachers, Iruka and Kakashi.
Of the two teachers, Iruka appears the more empathetic toward Naruto’s plight. Though the kid doesn’t know he has a nine-tailed demon inside him, all the adults in the Village of the Hidden Leaves do. “When the people reject someone’s very existence and look at that person,” Iruka says, “their eyes become cold...” It’s this outcast status which fuels our hero’s desire to become the Greatest Ninja Ever.
The second story arc revolves around a “Class C” mission that our threesome embark on under Kakashi’s watchful eye: the transportation of an elderly bridgemaker back to his village — a mission that, of course, proves to be much more dangerous than anyone anticipated. This introduces the series’ first memorable antagonists: the rogue ninja Zabuza and his young and deadly companion Haku. The duo shares a multi-layered master/servant relationship that proves surprisingly poignant, even when we think that Haku has successfully managed to slay Sasuke.
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