When asked what the secret behind his success was, Henry John Heinz was quoted as saying "to do a common thing uncommonly well brings success," and this way of thinking applies to "Naruto" more than any other series I know. For those of you reading this who have never heard of "Naruto" before, let me introduce you to the next big (and I do mean BIG) thing. Since being introduced in "Weekly Shounen Jump," "Naruto" has taken the world by storm. The manga has quickly become one of the most loved manga's in recent years, it has spawned a hit TV show with over one hundred episodes and two movies made (and more coming). On the home front "Naruto" has been voted as being the favorite series in Viz's own "Shonen Jump," the anime has been picked up (by Viz no less), the show has had the most successful fansub distribution EVER, and Naruto's headband has become a favorite at anime and comic conventions! Not since "Sailor Moon" and "Pokemon" have we seen a series that has come out of left field and taken the world by storm the way "Naruto" has ("Dragon Ball Z" doesn't count since it took years before Cartoon Network marketed the series properly and it finally took off).

The success this series has garnered in such a short amount of time is alarming, yet "Naruto" definitely deserves it's success, even though the series is not exactly what you would call extremely original or daring. The story of "Naruto" revolves around...well, Naruto, a young boy who plans to be the greatest ninja of all time. However there is a problem Naruto faces in his quest: He sucks at everything he does. And when I say he sucks at everything he does, I mean he REALLY sucks at EVERYTHING he does!!! When taking a test at the Ninja Academy the students are asked to create three perfect doppelgangers of himself/herself. What Naruto ends up doing is producing one half-baked doppelganer of himself, and as a result, ends up being the only student in the academy to fail. Not exactly a great starting point if you want to be the greatest ninja of all time. However Naruto vows never to give up on his goal, and he promises to keep working his way to the top even if it kills him. What really shakes him up though is that while training to become the greatest ninja of all time, Naruto finds out that he is not even human. You see, several years ago the village Naruto lives in was attacked by a nine-tailed demon fox. The village leader trapped the power of this fox in the form of a baby boy...Naruto. You'd think that finding out you are the host of the most terrible demon of all time (and also being responsible for the death of your teachers parents) would tear you apart.

Ah, but Naruto doesn't crumble so easy. Instead of sulking after hearing this news, he becomes even more determined then ever to prove to everyone that he is not the senseless monster people have labeled him to be. As Naruto continues to train, the Academy partners him with some other classmates: Saukra and Sasuke. Sakura is the local pretty girl who Naruto has a crush on (but Sakura only has eyes for Sasuke), and Sasuke is a dead serious boy with skills beyond his years (skills he intends to use to kill someone). Teaching this trio of kids is their teacher Hatake Kakashi, who's face you never see. If this all sounds a bit on the cliche side, then I should point out that this series is a LOT on the cliche side! The premise, the characters personalities, the way the story moves forward, it's ALL very cliche, and in many ways "Naruto" is nothing more then a "typical" shounen series! Ah, but do not forget my Heinz quote I posted at the beginning of this review, as I put it there for a reason. The thing about "Naruto" is that while everything about the series starts out very cliched, author Masashi Kishimoto tells the story so well, that we find that we don't really care if a good 80% of the series is predictable and unoriginal. Naruto's goal is far from original (and when I say far from original I do mean FAR from original). How many shounen protagonists want to be at the top of their game at whatever it is they're doing? Well, thinking of Son Goku, Conan Edagawa, Monkey D. Luffy, Yugi Muto, Yusuke, Ranma, Yoh Asakura, Hikaru...well, you get the point.

In pretty much every shounen series created it's a given that the protagonist have a (seemingly) unreachable goal to go for. However the difference between Naruto's goal compared to the other protagonists goals is that Naruto's goal actually does feel as if it's unreachable. Unlike characters like Goku, who happen to be naturally good at whatever they do (all but insuring that they reach their goal), Naruto is NOT a naturalist by any means! Naruto trains hard, he pushes himself to the limit, he tries to learn these super powerful attacks on a daily basis, and he progresses absolutely nowhere most of the time. When Naruto wants to master a new attack, it can literally take MONTHS before he even learns to USE the attack, much less master it! Everyone else, including Naruto's own friends, always seem to be at least five steps ahead of him, which makes Naruto's journey one of the few real journey's you're going to find in a shounen manga. This was also a brilliant move as Naruto seems so much more human then most shounen protagonists, with the simple fact that, like real peoples goals, nothing about his goal is a walk in the park. Everything about Naruto's training and journey feels natural, pure, and realistic. When Naruto beats a difficult enemy, you don't roll your eye's because you don't believe he could win, but you instead cheer for him because you know how hard he's worked to get strong enough to defeat that opponent. Of course, you only cheer if Naruto actually WINS his battles!

Another interesting twist is that unlike most shounen series, Kishimoto isn't afraid to let Naruto lose a battle every once in awhile. There will be times when Naruto will fight a long, hard battle, and still lose when all is said and done. This makes Naruto an even more believable protagonist because it shows that he isn't perfect, and the readers can identify with an imperfect person more then they can a perfect person. And the imperfect Naruto, who sometimes fails, makes these fights even more intense and interesting for us, knowing fully well that Naruto not actually winning is a very real possibility. However this brings us to the biggest problem of "Naruto," and that problem is the fact that the fights can go on for an un-Godly amount of time sometimes. Masashi Kishimoto loves action. Reading the fight scene's makes this fact very apparent as the fight scene's are specially planned out, choreographed excellent, and they get your blood pumping. The problem comes when Naruto and his friends square off against multiple enemies, and then those fights just take FOREVER to actually wrap up! There was one time when one particular fight went on for books without stopping. Not chapters, BOOKS (six if memory serves me)! This length of battling is absolutely ridiculous (especially when the story starts to get really interesting, only to completely stop until these drawn out battles finish)! There is such a thing as drawn out battles, and this is drawn-drawn out battles. The battles start out excellent, but by the time both guys use a hidden power because they are on the brink of death for the third freaking time...well, then you just want Kishimoto to get on with it.

These battles are certainly not enough to drag the series down completely, but it does hamper several moments in the story when everything just completely stops and takes a backseat to the fighting. Ah, but maybe I'm making these battles sound like a much bigger problem then they really are. The fight scene's really aren't as much of a pain to read as I'm making it sound. In fact, the fight scene's are actually really good, and Kishimoto's excellent artwork makes it so that the fight scene's are (almost) always interesting to read. The artwork is another great thing about this series. While none of the character designs are very original (Naruto himself is actually a very typical character as far as designs go, with the same stupid spiked hair that almost all shounen hero's have been sporting since 1971), the locations, the fight scene's, the character interactions, even the scene's where people are just talking are drawn extremely well, and they all convey emotions and feelings that most manga artists can only dream of drawing. And man, I don't care WHO you are, you can't deny that no one can draw frogs the way Kishimoto can! Er, anyway...the point I'm trying to get at is that "Naruto" is a great series. Time will tell if this will be considered a classic or not, but I'm leaning more torwards "will" rather then "won't." It's got great characters, great action, believable situations, and a predictable but fun story that brings all of these working elements together to create something worth checking out. The best part about this series is that it's only $7.95 a book, which is a heck of a deal for this series. So what are you waiting for, an invitation? Go pick up this series at the book store. Like now.

- -Review By Kevin T. Rodriguez- -