Somewhat Analyzing and Somewhat Appreciating Naruto
As the pandemic does, I’ve spent hundreds of hours binge watching Anime and have officially earned the title ‘Weeb’. I’ve had no choice. Before this drastic point, I’ve exhausted every option Netflix, Hulu, and illegal streaming servers had to offer. I’ve dabbled in the classics: the Casablancas, The Third Mans, Quintin Tarentinos, Stanley Kubricks, and Hannibals. The mid-lings, where you got your Blades, your Bad Boys, Shia LeBeoufs, and Adam Sandlers (pre-Jack and Jill). And even the lowest lows of the low: Grown-up 2.
Going into Anime, I first dipped a toe — the safe ones anyone could say was a masterpiece: Berserk, Death-Note, Prison School. This piques interest in a man whose preferred genre (Noir) is rarely reproduced. With Anime, the genres are varied. Flexible with consistent delivery. So explore I did; into the Shonens of Demon Slayer, One Punch Man, and Attack on Titan. The Seinens of Hellsing, Tokyo Ghoul, and Black Lagoon. I’ve even stooped to the lows of thoroughly venturing through the Slice of Life, Harems, and Joseis (which I admit, held some pretty good series).
The point was to intentionally miss what the basic bitches were following, snatching the diamonds in the rough like Zuckerberg and search histories.
Mainstream anime have irrational cult followings, I figured. A series that has run past their prime to juice their followings for whatever pocket shekels survived the good seasons. Prime examples are Pokemon, Digimon, Yu-Gui-ho and Dragon-Ball. Anything resembling a dedicated base parallel to these I stood away from, but as I no-life consumed Weeb inducing content, I became desperate. Voices in my mind clouded my judgement with phrases like “Well, this can’t be that bad if everyone likes it” or “Well, it says it’s the same genre as my favorite”.
This altering in life philosophy has caused great suffering in my quest for binge-material. I’ve fallen prey to 2 seasons of Black Clover, 5 episodes of Seven Deadly Sins, and 1 episode of Fairy-Tale. My regrets have swung from blood-blistering anger to vindiction. But one gamble binge would split a crowd. Through its more or less ample filler and recap episodes disguised as contextual flashbacks, subtle misogyny (the real kind, not the one that is made for kicks — undeveloped female characters are a humorless, but intentional choice), and super overpowered protagonists; Naruto’s 700 episodes (the original and Shippuden) gauged my interest so much as to my looking forward to watch the next episode every single day.
Brief Synopsis:
Naruto is set in a fictional village of shinobi, primarily — within a larger setting of many villages of shinobi and clans. It follows a young blonde boy, who is the namesake of the series. Naruto is socially ostracized from birth, because his father, who was the leader of the village — the Hokage, sealed a large monster that was destroying the village inside of Naruto as a vessel. Naruto’s father and mother died consequently, a sacrifice to guarantee the village’s and their son’s safety. So, throughout Naruto’s childhood, the whole village is walking on pins and needles — afraid of the possibility of Naruto releasing the monster. Naruto’s sole motivation is to become Hokage, like his father.
There are, however, parallel plots that spur discussion omni-directionally because there is another boy. His name is Sasuke. Sasuke, similar to Naruto, is without family and is isolated because of a special power that his clan (a faction within a village) possesses. His whole clan was murdered by his brother, Itachi. Sasuke’s sole motivation is to avenge his clan and kill Itachi.
This causes many dichotomies philosophically between the two — because they rival each other, and eventually support each other on a team, their fates intertwine with each other and the resulting conflict forces close examination of each differences in an extensive, possibly everlasting confinement of their souls to a dance of love and hate . Naruto is a dunce in school, Sasuke is a natural genius; Naruto relies on teamwork and cooperation, Sasuke is a lone ranger; Naruto is altruistic, Sasuke blends the line of anti-hero and villain. These themes further complexify as the series goes on, with additional content gradually adding historical context and lore.
Even the synopsis is difficult to pinpoint, without feeling holes have been left to imply, and without due knowledge being satisfyingly transcribed. However, we will continue to explore Naruto’s merits and message through only some of the following culturally contextual and philosophical themes that strikes me as interesting and needing further deliberation;
- Asian Culture and Their Worshipping of the White People
- Lone Natural Talent Versus Strength in Cooperation and
- Living in an Individualized Perfect Simulation Versus Confronting The Real World and All of its Problems.
1)
Acknowledging that the Naruto series is one in a long line of subtle (or maybe not so subtle) remembrance and nostalgia of Imperial, WW2 Japan; Japanese media has extensively portrayed child-soldier developing schools, catastrophe, and emphasis of authority foreign from western ideals and tastes for a long time. The chaos and structure of that time is reinterpreted, re-examined and re-exemplified through many of the most iconic and successful Japanese media for decades.
Child soldiers/training expectations are in for example: Attack on Titan, Battle Royale, Naruto, Dragon ball Z, Assassination Classroom, Full Metal Alchemist, Gundam…; Naval and Aircraft, or Mechanical Weaponry in mecha; and mass catastrophes alluding to Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear weapon employment are used in many of the same titles. The differences are most augmented when trying to think of American examples that portray the same themes.
So, within this context, what would Naruto be stating?
Is it a coincidence that the lone savior of the world protagonist is also the German Axis ideal of blonde hair and blue eyes, or is it possibly an American reference, or a white person generalization?
Or could it be a resignation to the more Japanese-traited Sasuke that was defeated?
The series resigned that team-work, instead of actual genius and merit, contributed to a victory instead — almost as if it shouldn’t have happened, a fluke, or an underhanded submission to the superior Allied (white?) forces over the precocious post-Meiji Japan? We can at least factually deduce the colorism that pervades Asian society, and assess it isn’t somehow bulwarked from media adaptation and apologism. Lighter skin, for example is widely associated in Asia as a symbol of purity, attractiveness, and social class (Keith & Monroe, 2016). And the perception of white migrants onto Japan has definitely adhered to this privilege, but though not being entirely integrated — has the benefit of embracing a ‘cosmopolitan islet’ outside of other less privileged minorities , echoing colonial legacies of elite status ( Miladinovic, 2020).
This coincides well with Naruto himself being first considered an ‘outsider’, then gradually becoming the one to rule them all, a parallel to Japan’s miscalculation of the might of the American military, America’s will to power over Japan, and the American road to becoming a lone superpower.
2)
Let’s examine the truth postulated in Naruto Shippuden implied with Naruto’s eventual victory over Sasuke — that the teamwork led by an experienced dunce will forever trump those of a genius working alone.
Going forward with the historical context of Japan and Germany’s perfect world (which will be expounded on in a possible Naruto allegory).
Cute story, but is it true?
Could working together bring forward contributions greater than Einstein, Tesla, or Leonardo Da Vinci?
Could a counsel out-lead Napoleon, or Hannibal?
No and yes, but mostly it depends.
Being that all those examples were in the relatively far history, it is worth mentioning that as fields complexify, multiple life-long specializations and collaborations are growing, or have grown necessary to lead innovation and successful competition. Long gone are the days of polymaths knowing everything there is about the world, as the world became standardized and capitalistically competitive.
However, what about in the most basic sense, with respect to a pre-modern Naruto setting? And is Naruto actually true to these ideals?
Historically speaking, Hannibal was defeated by the will of the Roman people and multiple stratagems adjacent to each other; Napoleon was defeated by the coalition, and any scientific theory being proposed by Einsteins or Teslas are built on the backs of multiple intellectuals before. However, Naruto, although collaboration is what he is made to represent as a character; and though there has been crucial elements of teamwork responsible for some successes that were still logically meaningful for plot development — the title of Hokage is still of a despot — not a democracy, the history of Naruto is written within the context of Great Men, and all glory and success is rarely attributed back to the people — let alone the most crucial elements of teamwork.
With this conclusion, the narrative advertised by the story of Naruto is a blurry one — and looking at it concretely, it tells us that great men spur great change — teamwork is an ideal wielded for political stability with the elasticity of favor and governance of a great man — perhaps the audience is just another example of such a chess piece.
3)
Not to spoil anything for anyone considering to watch Naruto, but near the end of Shippuden, the all-powerful, grandest evil and villain conspires to end the bloodshed and suffering of the shinobi world by basically placing everyone’s mind into their own perfect world — a vat that has all the challenges and consequences and remedies available to produce the perfect world for any and everyone.
This would of course ironically create a de-facto dystopia in the actual world, which Naruto and the rest of his followers attempt to upend. The other weird irony in this sort of altruism, is that in the villain’s schemes — everyone would be immortal and problem free — it is literally the pinnacle many scientists are attempting to strive for as we speak. Naruto’s resolve seems simply narcissistic, and when confronted to ask a way to offer a better alternative — the writers, knowing full and well that such a grand solution would be undertaking the life’s work of actual contemporary professionals, let alone the countless historical attempts — and acquiesced that a satisfying answer for Naruto to say to please the audience, Naruto’s followers, and plot continuity… is to say, to ‘just entrust in Naruto’.
That’s it.
Entrust this encrusted buffoon to your deepest wants, needs, desires and questions. It seemed that this grand dichotomy was too much of an undertaking for a correct answer to satisfy, and instead — in actuality, it just cemented the generalized appeal and acceptance of an irrational cult to the masses against an actual attempt to a difficult question, and the pragmatism of an answer to the existential. They’d prefer to regress. Naruto’s heroic deeds inspired a same-life-time grown and organized cult following, and in real life, his deeds might have begun a religion — a religion whose only answer is the faith within it, itself.
In summation, though the Naruto series has its faults, I believe one of the most noble roles of art is to spur thought, feeling, and discussion. As you could see, just a small sample of the plethora of themes in Naruto has spanned from society to metaphysics. That alone, notwithstanding the mind-bending eye-candy of action scenes countless — accompanied by the beautiful artistry worked within the visuals, or even the exposure of settings — the architecture cementing the ability to imagine their world, their customs, laws, nature and powers. Naruto is one of my favorite pieces — not just in Anime, but in all of cinema.
