Naruto Naruto for Dummies

I'm usually behind when it comes to anime trends - I dismissed Cowboy Bebop when I saw it for the first time and I never thought anime on Cartoon Network would survive. Both times I was completely wrong, of course, which brings me to this post. I have heard so many incredible reviews and opinions about Naruto that I've realized it's impossible to ignore without giving it a shot. First, though, I wondered if you big-time fans can help out a newcomer like me:

1) Which is better and which should I approach first, the manga or the anime? Sometimes the manga is better (Rurouni Kenshin), and sometimes the anime is (Yu Yu Hakusho).

2) What's the general tone of the show/manga? I've heard that it's mostly action/adventure with comedy and drama thrown in, but other people have said there's it's more of a comedy. If you're not sure what I mean, what series could you best compare it to in terms of its action/comedy/drama elements?

3) How kiddish is the series? I know Naruto is a relatively young lad; is the series designed primarily for teens or younger?

And finally, 4) How many episodes/volumes are there so far, and are more being made? Usually I wait until a show finishes its run before I get into it, but as I've said I've heard far too many good things about Naruto.

Thanks again to everyone in advance!

 

Seraphim pretty much covered everything. I would recommend starting with the manga though cause it should be easier to find than early episodes of the series plus the anime is so faithful to the manga that you should be able to figure out if you like it or not before commiting to download gigs of anime. Also, you can catch up a lot quicker reading the manga. If you do like the series then by all means, get the anime, some of the action sequences like Lee and Gaara's fight were done exceptionally well.
http://www.narutochuushin.com has all the manga scans.

 

Thanks for the help so far, both of you. I've got a new question here, though.

Which fansub do you (and everyone else) recommend? The two big ones seem to be ANBU/AonE and Toriyama's World. Is either significantly better than the other?

 

Why don't you download several versions of one episode and compare them. Which ever fansub you like the most, stick with it.

Here's what I gathered from the groups that I've seen, note that I haven't seen ALL groups.

Toriyama's World: The translations sounded like they matched, when a technique was mentioned, they stuck with calling the technique in Japanese and explained in the notes during the episode what the technique would have translated to (except for when they said Demon Wind Shuriken instead of Fuusha Shuriken in ep 9). Basically, these guys did a very good job. Sadly, they only fansubbed up to about episode 50 and stopped for some unknown reason.

ANBU-AonE: They translated whatever the people said, but they modify sometimes in a way that you can get confused. Some time in the later episodes they've become smarter, but they also miss some stuff. For example, on episode 79 Shikamaru's father uses the shadowbind technique, but they forgot to mention in the notes that it was called 'kageshibari no jutsu'.

Bakasan: The translations were so-so. They miss a lot of details. For example, in the opening of episode 79 (or was it 80?) you can clearly hear it say 'you punch like a drunken rider' instead, they came up with 'you pose like a drunken rider'. Also, when Naruto uses the summoning technique, they forgot to add in 'boar'. You have to listen closely to pick up when he says 'i' (sounds like the letter 'E') at the beginning of the sequence to know what I mean. The only good things that I can say about this group is the font used for the opening subtitles, and not translating the name of the technique to English (Personally because I had a hard time trying to hear what the summoning technique was called in Japanese).

I think I've watched episodes done other groups, but I don't remember their take on the episodes. Meh, I'm too lazy to redownload them to reevaluate them.

Currently, I think that if you want something highly accurate, go for Anbu-AonE's fansubs.

If you already read very far in the manga, download the RAWS that way you can at least build up some skill in the Japanese language while remembering what was said in the manga.