Naruto is one of those animes that I didn’t get into in childhood and now I’m too grown to try. Even as a child, the titular character was annoying to me, and the way the girls/women were written was flat, boring, and wasted their potential. This was the most interesting analysis I’ve read about it and I loved how you tied it into the pitfalls of liberalism that annoy me, too.
It doesn't hold up well at all so you aren't missing much. Personally for such a key intro anime for so many kids, I wish it wasn't so devoted to upholding the status quo in so many ways. I'm glad you enjoyed the essay!
Love this analysis! The politics in Naruto are so interesting/frustrating to examine imo. I've been planning on having my first Substack essay be an exploration into the imperialist rhetoric in the series, and I hadn't considered how much it also ties into liberal values (despite the obvious overlap between the two). This definitely put a lot of things into perspective for me!
I'm glad you like it! And that sounds fascinating there is definitely a undercurrent of imperialism especially in the way the 5 villages do warfare. I can't wait to read it!
Naruto is one of those animes that I didn’t get into in childhood and now I’m too grown to try. Even as a child, the titular character was annoying to me, and the way the girls/women were written was flat, boring, and wasted their potential. This was the most interesting analysis I’ve read about it and I loved how you tied it into the pitfalls of liberalism that annoy me, too.
It doesn't hold up well at all so you aren't missing much. Personally for such a key intro anime for so many kids, I wish it wasn't so devoted to upholding the status quo in so many ways. I'm glad you enjoyed the essay!
Love this analysis! The politics in Naruto are so interesting/frustrating to examine imo. I've been planning on having my first Substack essay be an exploration into the imperialist rhetoric in the series, and I hadn't considered how much it also ties into liberal values (despite the obvious overlap between the two). This definitely put a lot of things into perspective for me!
I'm glad you like it! And that sounds fascinating there is definitely a undercurrent of imperialism especially in the way the 5 villages do warfare. I can't wait to read it!