Thursday, September 22, 2016

Recently Read: Naruto, Vol. 1: The Tests of the Ninja


The first of 72 volumes (not counting spin-offs), Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto Vol. 1 creates a potent, entertaining and commercial stew of traditional manga concepts. The orphan protagonist is Naruto Uzumaki, whose goal is to become his village's top ninja protector. In this volume, he also discovers his body contains within a demon, the Nine-Tails - a fact known to many of the village's adults (who'd prefer to kill him), but not his classmates.

These first chapters pack in a lot of emotion and action, with enemies, comrades, mentors and a romantic interest all vying for attention. The storytelling by Kishimoto and his assistants is beautiful and carefully paced in a more spacious, leisurely style than nearly any American comics. I'm looking forward to reading more
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