One reason to follow Naruto is to watch the major characters: Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura grow up. People write about Naruto’s bratiness and about “how annoying he is” but in the last couple of chapters in the manga he’s demonstrated a lot of maturity. I won’t go into any much detail but Naruto handled XXXXXX’s death very well. When he heard the news after first he was incredulous, then he got angry, and then he cried, but otherwise he took it like a man. Kishimoto, the mangaka, has a talent at depicting grief. This page was particularly moving because not only does it depict Tsunade’s relationship with XXXXXX but also Sakura’s relationship with Tsunade [spoiler warning!]:

Some of Kishimoto’s best chapters were the memorial service chapters for the Third Hokage, the memorial service chapters for Chiyo, and the recent chapters. I like One Piece because of its humor and its whackiness, Bleach because of Aizen and its weird mix of Spanish and Japanese culture, and Naruto because it is about a boy struggling to become a man (and a hero).

If Naruto fights Pain I hope he wins through a trick instead of the usual emotional power-up followed by a surge of uncontrollable brute force. Because of the powers of the Nine-tails locked inside him Naruto is strong enough to be Hokage but until he develops patience and intelligence he’s never going to be one. In other words he’s never going to be a hero unless he learns how to think like a Hokage. Hopefully Kishimoto realizes this too.

I have a question. In most Shonen series the reason the main character becomes powerful is because of an innate or acquired superpower. For example in One Piece Luffy became a rubber-man after he ate the Devil Fruit. In Bleach Ichigo become a shinigami after he absorbed all of Rukia’s powers, and in Naruto, Naruto had the powers of the Nine-Tails sealed inside him when he was just a baby. My question: is there any Shonen series, other than Kenshin, where the main character becomes powerful without the aid of some supernatural power, i.e. solely through intelligence, grit, and determination? I think a show about a character like that would be more interesting than standard superhero fare.  For example, imagine Light taking over the world without the aid of the Death Note or Zero trying to do the same without his Geass. How would they go about it?

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