I’m a casual fan of the show and really enjoyed the season, but I totally get that criticism. For a Shonen, it’s very dark and doesn’t have the “heart” a lot of its contemporaries have. One Piece and MHA teach positive shit and have good life lessons in the themes for younger fans.
The pacing felt all over the place. It had really great moments especially in the beginning but then the end was just making me roll my eyes. I don't mind that things are dark, I just don't like it when so much stuff feels shallow.
I still enjoy the series personally, but the 2nd season is probably the best part of the series and the rest is most likely not going to change your mind with where things go and how they play out.
I started reading Naruto recently and can’t put it down. I thought it looked silly and a typical fighting manga at first and just started it to see what the hype’s about, but the world-building and character writing are excellent. The characters’ powers and magic system aren’t overly complicated, but still unique and is its own (Shikamaru’s shadows, Naruto’s shadow clones, the copy eye thing, etc). I’m on where Orochimaru invades during the chunin exam tournament and didn’t realize I’m past chapter 100 already. Awesome stuff.
I feel like I’m hogging the thread now, but this looks awesome. My wife and I binged a few Scooby-Doo series last year, so this is a definite watch.
I didn’t see this news yet and you have no idea how stoked I am now. Scooby-Doo was my obsession as a kid and still means a lot to me. I hope they nail this one
i like stuff like AoT and JJK (so far), I never actually finished Naruto or Bleach, and I've never watched One Piece or MHA, but I think it's more of a length thing than a tonal thing. I think Demon Slayer is a good in-between, there's a lot of dark stuff but it's mostly wholesome, and there's already an end in sight, with the arc after this season being the last i think
There’s two more arcs after this season. It would make sense to combine the last two but they don’t seem to like doing that lol Edit: sorry nevermind. I didn’t realize the last two arcs are just two arcs under the Final Battle Arc. Ignore me lol
Saw that scooby show announcement yesterday, v excited for that. Love when Japanese studios work on Scoob. Looks like it could be a ton of fun if done right.
I never got into Naruto personally but I feel like I also didn't ever give it a fair shake when I was younger because I was admittedly really insecure and would have felt shame at being associated with the "Naruto kids" at school. I was given enough grief over my interest in anime when I offhandedly mentioned it to someone. But one of these days I think I will finally bite the bullet and get into Naruto now that I'm well past the point of giving a shit what people think.
Give MHA a try. The manga is almost done. With the pacing and length of the seasons, I can see there being one more season after this one. Even though it’s kinda long so far, it’s definitely not a slog. The other ones you mentioned though…lol.
MHA is far, far shorter than the Big Three, the mangas but especially the filler-laden animes (which doesn’t exist for MHA) The lighthearted side of Naruto is corny and boring, but it can flip to being very dark on a dime and all of that is really good. Orochimaru, the Akatsuki, and then finally Madara are all fantastic villains
Naruto is better if you just watch the Kai version and don’t care about how it’s edited. I can’t watch it any other way now
From what I recall Naruto is like Bleach where there’s a lot of filler but it’s just whole episodes that you can easily skip, not like DBZ/One Piece where the canon eps drag on forever. There is plenty of cliche anime charging up moments, but I don’t ever remember it being that bad
Bleach is something I recall watching as a teenager, but honestly don’t remember much about it. I started reading the manga recently with 20 chapters down. MHA is perfect for having light hearted moments, but keeps you emotionally invested. All of the characters are memorable and silly. My wife jokes with me all the time when I first start watching years ago and I would cry and say “it’s just so motivational”.
Oh for those unfamiliar with Naruto Kai, it’s a fan edit that just takes all the filler out. But they also combined multiple episodes into just long ass episodes.