I believe this is your best video so far. This brings out the best of your analytical abilities where you understand the philosophy as well as the powerscaling in complete harmony with each other. People with the interpretation of a fake underdog kinda helps me realise how flawed mass understanding of hard work and success is. We always try connecting dot backwards, ignoring the ones that don't fit the final outcome.
As always you are everywhere... It's Great to see such a prominent content creator give other content creators thier flowers while they can still smell them. You're one of the only times we get to see that, wish you the best🙌🏿
Lee is an underdog without question, however comparing him to Naruto isn't a 1 to 1 comparison. Lee had a disability that prevented him from casting the usual Ninja Magic, however not only did he not really NEED to become a ninja but even if he didn't he still had as many rights as any other villager. Nobody was actively kicking him out of their establishments and he still had plenty of other opportunities available to him if he wanted them. Naruto on the other hand got intentionally screwed over with his education, he wasn't allowed in ANY establishment and everyone around him is basically making him feel like his very existence is a crime. If Naruto didn't become a ninja he literally didn't have anything else since outside of the ramen stand there is no place inside the village who would hire Naruto. Not to mention he had a demon fox inside his body who was actively screwing him over at the first chance he got, especially during moments of emotional vulnerability. Lee is at least allowed some basic human decency while Naruto had to literally almost get himself killed multiple times just so he could earn the *PRIVILEGE* of being treated like a person. There is no point in comparing the two because they are quite literally not the same.
And the fact Lee also got lucky and happened to meet the Naruto version of Bruce Lee when he was very young to personally raise and train him. Without Might Guy, Lee woulda been assed out, garbage at everything just like Naruto was.
@@HectorCotto97 this comparison was originally Brought by youtuber PlagueofGripes in his video Naruto the self made hypocrite. I believe this is Swag's indirect reply to him
@@aahanjha I really wish there was a good direct response to that video when it came out because, a lot of people use his video talking points and it's just pain.
A christmas present? The dude is literally just summarizing Naruto the show lol. And then in the following video just lists every jutsu on the planet haha.
Congratulations 🎊 on your success, METAs. It has been a while since Swag dropped some content. Last time I saw some new SwagKage, I was finishing up my DNP/PhD. I have since also moved to 3 states, become a nurse practitioner, but still no girlfriend 😅.
@@KrowleyPineapples777 gotta remember that we were kids watching Avatar when UA-cam first came out. Bound to be one of the oldest comments we came up with.
Wow, this video was beautiful. Not everyone understands that Naruto is about the way he chooses to live his life against all odds. Thank you for bringing attention to this. The way you talked about this was beautiful
What odds? The only reason he was vilified is because Sarutobi was a horrible Hokage who left Naruto to rot. He should have explained everything to the village fully. If the people knew Naruto was the son of the strongest Hokage ever who sacrificed his life to save everyone, he wouldn't have been looked down upon as a curse and blight. Nah man. Sarutobi was just kinda over-hyped and a cause to the entire problem Naruto had early in the series with any hindsight what so ever.
@@orga7777 no, there would still be many biased people against him. if hitler was reincarnated into a young boy's body, briefly after the holocaust, in an area predominantly occupied by jews, you'd be lying if you think he wouldn't be discriminated against or shunned.
@@orga7777 his parent's lineage was kept secret because minato had a lot of enemy's if it was ever found out he had a kid odds are good they'd target him relentlessly him having the ninetails was also supposed to be a secret but danzo screwed that over as well
@@lightyoshiman That is a nonsense take. Would it have stayed a secret if Minato and Kushina didn't die? No. This all falls on Sarutobi being a failure of a leader and a failure of a teacher. Nothing more.
@@orga7777the village wouldn't want news of a 12 year old being their jinchuriki going to other villages,we know killer bee was also kept secluded as a child for the same reason and its also why hiruzen banned the adults from talking about it. If hiruzen told everyone about Naruto being minato and kushina kid, everyone would know he's kurama jinchuriki.
Місяць тому+608
“SHOOT CHRISTMAS PRESENTS ARE EXPENSIVE…….gotta make another UA-cam video”
You have no idea how grateful I am that you made this video. I can't be the only one who has noticed that, in recent years, there has been a huge resurgence of people trying to retroactively invalidate or belittle Naruto not just as a character, but as a series. It's so reassuring to have such an influential and well-respected voice in the anime community come out swinging to prove that there's a reason this show was and _is still_ considered one of the best manga ever made.
@@snarfnpoots7678 another good channel for this is HotBoySpicy. He's made some longer form videos about Naruto as a series, the message it told, and why so much of the criticism of it often comes from a place of misunderstanding.
For real it feels like I’m arguing with brick walls on this stuff. There’s a reason Naruto is Big 3, and it’s not just the fight scenes. Crazy to me that they do it. Just shows they completely missed the point.
personally I don't think Naruto has very good writing. It has a bad ending, it does handle it's large cast very well, it's world building is laughably bad, it's own magic system is ruined by the end of the show, the numerus plot holes and ex machina . The fights are the only thing that make it note worthy.
W video. The point about how the Indra/Asura stuff actually serves as an obstacle to his goals rather than an aid is something I’ve been saying for years. Naruto doesn’t succeed because of fate, he succeeds IN SPITE OF fate.
Genuinely not sure how you can come to that conclusion. Naruto wouldn’t even be in the situation he’s in if not for being a reincarnation. It completely and utterly ruined the story
6 minutes in... and DAMN, I'm loving your argument so far! Much more coherent to see Naruto as a story about unlocking your true potential (using your gifts to the fullest, and working around limitations)
Then again, some guys are willing to go all the way for the sake of the world and they end up coming too short and basically having all their work quickly paved over because they didn't hit it ALL the way and others come in and casually reveal they can stop them from dying from their own power right before that foe begins to recover so much, it seems like it was a worthless gesture compared to what the god scion kid does.
What potential is that and with what limitations? Have a broken bloodline, trained by the most broken teachers, and having a broken endless Chakra Demon to mitigate his bad ninja skills because he can just brute force his way through everything by dumping an endless amount of Chakra into everything? Naruto became way less compelling as a character the further we go into the story, and the further we went, the more it tainted him as a character that came before. He loses sight as what he started as. Which is why people gravitated more to Lee. THAT is unlocking the potential due to limitations and showing strength and skill through real adversity. I am also convinced that Kishimoto dumping both Lee and Neji into the background to do nothing Post Timeskip was to make sure people can't compare the characters any longer. I am also convinced Neji was proven right. Naruto was gifted from the start and because he was gifted from the start (blessed with a broken bloodline and an endless Chakra Demon) he proved to be the best (which is when he started throwing nukes everywhere while Neji dies to a pointy stick).
@@orga7777you have not provided a single piece of evidence within the story that proves your argument because everything you've said is completely unfounded and baseless
I’m so glad you are back and with sucha an amazing video. Like as a dude who started reading Naruto when I was like 13…and being like an ADHD hyperactive class clown, I never related more to a character as I do with Naruto, so when people try to write him off like he was always “the special” I get annoyed. Naruto didn’t pull off the Massive multi shadow clone jutsu until he had someone like iruka say he was “a splendid ninja”…Naruto believed in himself and took to heart all the love he ever received
People who say that "Neji was right" misunderstand what Naruto's point is. Naruto never once denies fate's existence. In fact, there are several times where Naruto off-handedly declares that hes fated for something. Neji's point was that your fate was decided the moment that you're born and there's nothing that can change it and Naruto's point is that if you don't like your fate, you CAN work to change it. It is understandable why Neji thought the way he did, given what he thought happened to his dad, but the reason why he's wrong is because he GAVE UP. He resigned himself to a horrible philosophy and took out his anger on anyone who tried to change their fate (i.e. Lee, Hinata, Naruto). When Neji lost his fight with Naruto, he tried one more time to credit the current outcome to fate. He claimed that it was clear that Naruto won because of his "specialty" the Shadow Clone Jutsu. Naruto shut his philosophy down by saying that he failed that he failed the Academy Exam 3 times. He clearly wasn't predisposed to learn the jutsu. The reason why he learned it and how he won the fight was because he WORKED to change his unfortunate situations. If Neji was right, Naruto would have stayed a lonely, weak loser who would have been killed by the Akatsuki or Sasuke.
@@Esskroerock Lee was a jonin level combatent that saved guy from jubidarra and was an integral reason on 8 gates guy almost killing madara. By the 4gnw
@@Esskroe Neji was the biggest hypocrite in that Arc if you just Read the fight neji use a technique that he's not allowed to use it only the higher ups can guess what "mister your fate is sealed the moment you are Born" gone out of his way and learned the damn technique, proving Naruto's point that you can change your destiny, now do me a favor go read Naruto again
@@Esskroeand his death wasn't pointless at all. Neji found freedom and that was his decision to die helping Hinata and Naruto the guy who helped him realize that anyone can choose the path despite the odds he's death wasn't pointless it only reinforced Naruto's ideology
Yeah because saving log in information on your computer *TOTALLY* doesn't exist. Why are people still using "bro remembered his password" like were still in 2018?
I guess the issue is most people became fans of Naruto as kids, so some people watched Naruto for Kishimoto's Naruto and some people watched for Kosuke's Naruto but both thought they were watching the same thing for the same reason, I mean weebs can get mad at non weeb fans of dragon ball saying its fans can't read or Naruto saying their just media illiterate but the fact of the matter is most people just like shonen for the themes and cool fights, most people don't even watch Shippuden or have never actually watched full episodes of dragon ball you can see it in dragon ball gym edit comment sections and if you told them the things weebtubers say to them as kids the big three would be Baki, Ippo and berserk and Naruto and Dragon ball would be obscure media. It's just so obnoxious Naratubers can only exist because of Kosuke and his fans yet take every chance to dunk on them, talking about why they should care about Baruto a space alien show as if they don't clearly say they didn't watch for that zany Kishimoto stuff, then Naratubers acting like Kosuke's fans are just being difficult and making stuff up and should be forced to waste their time physically to watch the space alien spin off show.
@@Evan-i4e what does this have to do w the video lmao im not sure who kosuke is, but nobody is forcing you to read boruto. its just strange that so many people have an opinion on a manga theyve never even touched.
That ending was emotional man. Naruto is an amazing character and im tired of people misrepresenting him. you put all my thoughts into this vid and i fell validated. thank you @swagkage
Swag's first video back and he's already shifted my perspective on the series. One thing that I thought to be rather profound were the parallels that this kind of drew to real life. Despite how good something may seem for someone, despite how "gifted" they might be- they often times are dealing with their own issues and are also trying to conquer their inner demons just like the rest of us. The gross oversimplification many of the nay-sayers provided really left out the nuance that came with the journey of Naruto and I'm glad that you were able to address it in this video!
I feel like the people who idolize Lee, especially after his fight against Gaara, are missing the point of that fight along with the point of the series. The series itself criticizes people who simply puruse raw strength/power and go to any length to achieve those things. The whole arc of Naruto losing his cool and going "beast mode" with Kurama, before he befriended him, was a criticiism of someone losing themselves in their desire for strength. Sasuke's ENTIRE character arc is a criticism of someone losing themselves in the pursuit of a goal. In the case of Lee, he was willing to destroy his body and future just to have a W against Gaara, and he still failed.
To add to the criticism you mentioned about Naruto's approach, 2 specific situations come to mind. First is Haku teaching Naruto that his achieving greater strength should be dedicated to someone, not just petty things like public admiration. And second is Yamato (and this line was cut out from the anime) pointing out that Naruto was basically drunk on power when he went into 4-tails state. The second one is especially important I think, because it reveals he isn't just completely unconscious and taken over, which paints darker and much more flawed picture of who he was.
@@CGR1410 I think a lot of people who grew up with the series internalized that message, probably because the anime in particular would draw out episodes with constant speeches from Naruto never going back on his word. Even though Lee lost to Gaara, and Naruto told Neji after beating him that "unlike me, you're not a failure", people mostly just saw how cool it was when Lee dropped the weights and Naruto gave Neji that final uppercut.
i had a section in the video about this but cut it cause i didn't want it to be too bloated. the curse mark and the eight gates are foils to naruto's nine tails power and explore various ways he shouldn't use it
Wish I could like this video twice! Appreciate how you pointed out that Naruto’s main method of affecting his world was not through his power, but by his genuineness and will to stick to his principles. Excellent, excellent video essay!
constantly, throughout the entire story from beginning to end, you see characters who severed their bonds bc they thought it would make them stronger pitted up against naruto, who values friendship over everything.
15:52 it's why Yamato telling him to grow himself and that his strength isn't just the beast is one of the most amazing mentor moments. He needed to hear that
And yet he proves through the entire thing that he can only do pretty much everything because of his Tailed Beast. It is how he was able to use Shadow Clones so effectively, it is the reason why he was able to learn the Rasengan so easily, it is why he was able to master Sage Mode so easily, and it is why at the end of the series that started off with a showdown of two supposed gifted Jounin on similar levels in Kakashi and Zabuza trying to out-maneuver each other and lead to teamwork to best Zabuza turned into a series where everyone is just throwing nukes at each other. People can say what they want, but I am sorry. Kishimoto is just a hack. He clearly stopped caring even before the horribly done War Arc. If Naruto didn't have a Tailed Beast he never would have been able to become a ninja at all because he is just kinda dumb and can't learn effectively without dumping insane levels of chakra (only given to him from the 9 Tails) into literally everything he does from Chapter 1 to Chapter 700.
@@orga7777 Your whole point relies on him having a lot of chakra being a boon by the kurama, which makes it null and void because that's the exact opposite case. Naruto having uzumaki genes has a large pool of chakra but most of it is used up to seal the nine tails inside of him. According to kakashi, naruto would have 25 times as much chakra had he not had nine tails within him, not to mention he had difficulty in controlling his chakra due to kyubi interference. Had nine tails not been within him, he'd have learnt multi shadow clone a lot more easily, learned sage mode a lot more smoothly and gathered sage energy faster and used ma and pa to stay in sage mode. Also naruto took two and half years to master rasengan, which he needed a clone to do. I agree that kishimoto went a bit lazy over time though, and boruto kind of is the result.
Another thing people don't get is that over the course of the show itself even Naruto himself comes to recognize that he doesn't have it as bad as he could have, he RECOGNIZES a lot of the privileges he has, Like against Haku who only had Zabuza who he thought only saw him as a tool while he had his new friends and Kakashi who said he would protect him with his life, against Gaara as he mentions that he had Iruka, Against Pain at least Naruto grew up in a village and not in a war-torn country. The show and Naruto specifically is about a person who grows and recognizes the privileges he has despite having been dealt a bad childhood himself and it's the reason why he can forgive a lot of his enemies, because otherwise he would see himself as a hypocrite. Also the main point of Naruto was NEVER hardwork, the main point was that Ninjas should fight for what they believe in and not just used as disposable tools, hell even the FIRST ARC is all about this, the only point which hardwork is even relevant in the first arc is the tree-climbing segment which isn't even a huge part of the arc itself.
@@georgehouliaras7239 rinne rebirth kills you even if you have hashirama cells. obito had hashi cells when he did it to madara and zetsu still told him he was gonna die (but zetsu extended his life by attacthing to him and then taking juubi chakra further extended it )
It’s so refreshing to listen to someone talk about naruto who actually KNOWS naruto. And didn’t just watch it through TikToks or snippets of manga/ anime. Best Naruto channel in the game
Bro came back to remind us of what his main series is all about The power to always get up under any circumstances Fitting after a 1 year return what do we say
A lot of people who believe that Naruto was never an underdog compare him to Rock Lee. But the key difference is opportunity and mentorship. Lee at least had Guy to guide and train him. Naruto didn’t have a decent mentor until the end of the pre-time skip: Iruka was a good emotional support but never trained him when Naruto became a genin. Kakashi (PTS) sure taught him a few things, but Kakashi shown obvious favoritism towards Sasuke in the beginning and at times even treated Naruto like a burden for wanting to train (that’s a different convo) Hell, Jiraiya didn’t even want to be bothered with Naruto at first, despite knowing what he knew. Naruto had to earn his respect throughout the series despite given so many handicaps. That’s a true underdog
Thank god someone sees the truth regardless of the copout, “Destiny”, argument. Kurama messed up Naruto chakra control from the start and the Jiraiya training. Now this added with from being ostracized from birth and no parental figures made it hard to be a disciplined, individual and consistent student. So he had to push himself to catch-up on what he didn’t know or do for his whole life. That’s why after learning techniques felt earned in the end.
People forget, Naruto's "destiny" was to fail. He reincarnates as Asura, but Asura historically doesn't defeat Indra or defeat the curse of hatred. Naruto was the child of prophecy who defies destiny to change the world, is the culmination of his arc. But anime fans hear the words reincarnation, and destiny and instantly cringe as if its this bad thing for character agency, yet love it in WESTERN MEDIA. Po is a prophesied warrior of destiny, but the story of KFP never pretends he doesn't have to fulfill this role through careful hard work, and self realization.
He did learn a lot of techniques that helped him out a ton in the end, like the rasengan or shadow clones or the rasengan or shadow clones or the rasengan or
@@TrevorDiamante if he is the child of prophecy you are saying he is the child to break the chain but also saying he is the one to break destiny? isnt him breaking the chain part of his destiny if he is the child of prophecy like is said
What you just described is an underdog narrative exploring the value of hardwork. Except it doesn't matter that he was ostracized as a kid. After he met Jiraiya he basically had no choice but to become OP because of who he was as the son of the fourth hokage, host of the Kyuubi, and reincarnation of Asura. I won't say he didn't earn at least some of his power, but the drawbacks you listed pale in comparison to the unearned advantages he was given.
Something Jiraiya taught that Naruto always kept with him, is that he can be taught but Naruto has to put in the hard work and figure it out on his own. Jiraiya was a good teacher in this respect Naruto won because he's Naruto
@@nicholasro6214No not really. It’s pretty ignorant to think that naruto alone would be able to truly end all conflict in the world, however to say he didn’t achieve peace would also be ignorant. In the years inbetween the war and boruto, the ninja world was more peaceful than it had ever been. While conflict still existed, it was never on the scale as seen in the ninja wars that created people like nagato in the first place. The villages had friendly relations to eachother and even in tbv when naruto is out of the picture entirely the world is being threatened by forces that aren’t from the ninja world and are people nagato didn’t even know existed (otsusuki/shinju). By nagatos standards I think he’d be very pleased with the world naruto built during the blank period.
@@DrUmar-gu4kp That’s what I’m saying. Nagato literally asks him how he would maintain peace and how he has so much faith in himself and Naruto convinces him that he will bring peace to the ninja world but he couldn’t do it in the end. He ends up being a distant father as well It’s realistic, no matter how powerful he got he could not keep his promise to Nagato and now the state of the world is in even worse shape in Boruto. He failed, like Nagato did, like Obito did, like Jiraiya did. Even in the Blank period if you read the novels, there’s still strife and conflict. That’s the main reason I don’t like Boruto. It basically spits on the face of who Naruto was in the original series. He wasn’t a good father, let the Rain fall into ruins after his promise to Nagato and Konan, and the world is in danger. Idc how it’s realistic, rewatching or rereading the manga/anime knowing that all this is for nothing because in the end Naruto fails because alien gods come down to earth is stupid. He doesn’t get his happy ending or at least it doesn’t last very long. All that was for nothing.
@@nicholasro6214 I'm not familiar with what happened to the rain village post shippuden ill go and read that right after but to put the blame squarely on naruto being incapable of keeping world peace from otherworldly forces seems quite unfair to me especially with the context of war nagato/pain were actually trying to solve. The main issue nagato had was the wars caused by human greed and wickedness not the aliens that the otsutsuki are. (as you can tell I'm not a fan of kaguya and her kin being from outer space or someshit)
4:19 another thing that i want to point out is that although Kurama DID mess up Naruto's chakra control, he still wasn't THAT terrible at it. He learned to walk on trees with just a few more hours of training than the golden boy Sasuke and when Ebisu trained a double capped Naruto to walk on water, he admits that Naruto is getting the hang of it rather quickly, then he learns the technique in the first try after Jiraiya removes Orochimaru's seal.
I love this video, Swagkage. It is something I wanted to talk about for a long time. People often undermine Naruto’s effort to master everything that he did just because of his background. I love Naruto because it proves something important. Even if you have a certain kind of potential, you won’t achieve anything until you understand it and work on it. Naruto’s greatest potential was his Chakra and it was only after he befriended Kurama, he was able utilize the full potential of his Chakra. Before that, anything that he mastered either came with a risk of death or being taken over by Nine Tails. The easiest one with almost no consequences was Rasengan and as I said, it was only after he befriended Kurama, he was able use it perfectly. This just shows how much he had to work for despite having so many obstacles stopping his growth.
Just so you know, every time Naruto was about to die, the nine tails did in fact bail him out. He should’ve died during their first mission when he was poisoned by the demon brothers, or when orochimaru’s snake devoured him, or when fighting Shukaku. Etc… all of these required him to voluntarily or involuntarily wield a power that is not his. It’s something nobody else in his situation would be able to benefit from. Kurama is definitely a double edged sword but a double edged sword is better than no weapon at all
@@SoraBell Did I say the nine tail never helped him? I said people think all of Naruto's wins are from the nine tails. First of all, it makes sense for the nine tails to save Naruto as their lives are. connected. If Naruto dies, then Kurama dies. No one complains when sukuna saves Itadori's life. I just think this is a bad issue to take with the series. Also in a series where a lot of people have unfair advantages that only give benefits like the sharingan or byakugan, the nine tails in early Naruto is far from better than no weapon at all. It is like fight with a double edged sword against people with guns.
@@SoraBell Naruto was not dying cause of poison when kakashi was right there and they barley stared there journey from the leaf. Kakashi would take him back to the village or heal him himself. Naruto broke out of orichimarus snake with multi-shadow clone jutsu, something he can do without the nine tails. Naruto dying to shukaku is somewhat plausible until you realize that Naruto would have spent the month he used to learn how to control kuramas chakra on something else thus not leaving him completely deflessness, kurama's chakra barley had any influence in the fight and that Naruto would have had better chakra control without kurama, and higher natural reserves of chakra (since Naruto's natural chakra reserves was used to strengthen the eight trigram seal contain kurama).
Finally back with another banger. My only critique would be that you refer to the Yang half of Kurama as the super mega evil half when it's the other way around. Yang energy is the element of heat, light, and passion, as well as generally being the bane of evil energies. Yin energy is the element of cold, darkness (the Yin half of Kurama is even depicted in a darker color to drive the point home), and evil, hence why it is typically associated with demonic spirits. This is also why the bad guys typically receive Yin-related abilities (such as Sasuke getting the Yin Seal from Hagoromo). The fact that the Yang half of Kurama is still evil despite all this is meant to illustrate just how much hate he carries. Also Minato's goal was just to seal half of the nine-tails chakra into Naruto. There's no reason he'd make it even more difficult by giving him the evil half. He'd obviously rather take that with him to die.
I really liked this video. I especially liked how you brought up the things most people say and used hard evidence from both direct narrative lines and some subtle implications to show your point. As many times as I’ve watched/read the series you still made me see it in a new light.
I love that someone in the community is finally releasing the media illiteracy jutsu. I think a large part of it is that people haven’t gone back to read Naruto since they were younger or people wanting the story to be something it’s not. It’s about believing in yourself. It’s about not living your life based on a set destiny. It’s about becoming and being your best self. Admittedly though the war arc throws out the “gifted” part but I believe that was more for spectacle than trying to align with the story’s themes.
One teacher I will say did actually help Naruto a ton is Fukasaku. Mans went from “Okay MAYBE you’re around Kakashi level” to surpassing the Sannin and Boxing with Tendo in base for a recognizable amount of time. And unlike his other teachers, taught him new abilities that DIDNT require the Nine tales
One of the best Naruto videos ever. One minor thing, but I wish u touched on how disappointing it is that Naruto showing that compassion you were talking about and actually breaking the cycle of hatred is reduced to “oh classic talk no jutsu 🤡” by the anime community as a whole. I mean you literally demonstrate it perfectly how him being compassionate not just to his enemies but to his peers and comrades gives him the ultimate success in his future. In the moment he wasn’t rewarded but later on he was. that’s karma for you, which need I remind you is a Hindu/bhuddist religious virtue, which Naruto takes heavy inspiration from. That compassion reminds me of an amazing TikTok I saw of how everyone sees their loved ones within Naruto. Shikamaru sees Asuma, Jiraiya sees minato, Kakashi sees minato, tsunade sees her BF and brother, even kurama sees Hagaramo. THEY ALL see their loved ones within Naruto because of how impactful his ninja way, philosophy, and ultimately his very being is to each and every one of them to the point where in the war, a SHADOW CLONE of him was being held to a higher importance and value then literal living ninja. Not just because of his power but because of how much he simply filled others with hope and power both literally and emotionally. This sympathy to others contrasts sasukes isolation from emotion perfectly. As Sasuke becomes colder his sympathy is drastically reduced and his pursuit for power is increased, while with naruto all that is reversed, which makes him able to break Sasuke physically and break through to Sasuke mentally. If he can’t beat u in the philosophical battle such as he did with zabuza, he will beat you in the physical battle, and even when he does beat you in the physical battle he’ll try and try again to get you to see the error in your ways, he will see to it that the opportunity cost of you living versus you being dead is weighed, because killing is not what Naruto wants. Like you said, he’s the hardest on himself. Everyone sees a loved one in Naruto but Naruto wants to see himself in that way as well which is why his goal is ultimately to be hokage, a strong compassionate leader of the world and not the 9 tails monster that is simply a tool for mass murder and power, because look how much killing and hatred has gotten this world to become. Naruto defied all this. Then people have the nerve to say “Naruto didn’t change the ninja system or societal issues in any way, he just perpetuated it.” Like, you literally degrade him doing that and turned it into a meme. Crazy yap session by me it’s literally 4 am for me yk I had to write my thoughts down. Anyways “talk no jutsu” is probably worth a whole in depth vid of its own tho.
i’ve been scrolling through the comments for this vid for a while bc i just think the entire concept and topic is goated, but i gotta say this comment is peak. i’m surprised it hasn’t gotten more upvotes/attention. your comment is just the icing on the cake for this now practically required-watch for all naruto fans
Wow. Just wow. I'm actually just speechless. I like many others had the same point of view that you completely dismantled in this video. I'm so glad I watched this because it makes me realize how short-sighted I was about Naruto's overall narrative and gives me more respect for Kishimoto for sure. Watching this makes me want to rewatch the whole series from start to finish and really pay attention to what else I might have missed. Thanks so much Swag!!
Late asf but bro came back, made one of his best vids (imo) n actually made me appreciate Naruto as a whole a lot more. I never saw it in this light n makes me realize Kishimoto did write some parts really well.
I honestly think the biggest thing is that so many people look back on the Chunin Exams as their favorite arc, and hard work over natural talent WAS one of the main themes of that arc, and they applied that to the whole series. And while hard work over natural talent is an important theme, it's not nearly as big in the rest of the series as it is in the Chunin Exams. Also I think people don't understand why Rock Lee lost to Gaara. It wasn't just to hype up Gaara, it's because secretly, he had more unresolved issues than Lee did, and ones which are more important for the main themes of the series itself.
Also, another huge thing is I think so many people just look at the series from like a ninja/ninjutsu perspective and not from a life perspective. Yes, Rock Lee had it really hard as a ninja but life isn't just about being a ninja. Sure, Kurama gave Naruto a huge advantage later on and saved his life in a few unwinnable situations, but he was also a complete specter over his life. Sure, Gaara was very strong from birth, but he did NOT have it easy.
32:00 minor correction but it is also pretty heavily implied Naruto being an Uzumaki is what allowed him to be a jinchuriki in the first place because if he didn’t have the strong chakra and life force of an Uzumaki Kurama’s chakra would’ve been too dense and toxic for his body to handle. But as you established being a jinchuriki is more of a curse than a blessing
this is the most peak video you have done yet. the Naruto analysis videos are so good, it's so refreshing to see views on this series that aren't constantly critiquing it because it's "flawed" but praising it because it is genuinely amazing in what it does well Naruto is amazing, i won't ever stop loving the series, and i will always remember that there was a character named Naruto!
The Confined Naruto UA-camr. He needed 9 years to gain subscribers, he needed 9 months to make a video topic, he needs 9 weeks to edit a video, and needed 9 days to upload the video, and 9 hours to relax
my friends and I watched this video and 1 of them came into it thinking Naruto was an underdog, but after watching your video, he now thinks he is definitely not an underdog. Thank you very much 🙏
Screw all that noise. The answer is plain and simple, it was never about talent vs hard work. It’s more, hard work can overcome impossible challenges. The whole series is about Naruto being told he can’t do it, and a few torn clothes later, he does it. It’s about Sasuke feeling like he’s always a step behind Naruto but with hard work catches up to him and finally takes care of his brother. It’s about the two of them being told that they’re gonna go and continue the cycle of death and overcoming that as well. No obstacle is too high if you’re stubborn enough to just do the work. You can be the smartest guy in the room, but if you know nothing about a certain subject? You gotta read your books.
This video is a narrative review and is very very good example of one. Like an honest interpretation of the story that doesnt seem too far out there and actually gives the story the depth it deserves and critiques it when he wants to and it serves the video. Pretty nice.
Genuinely a great video that puts into words the reason I love Naruto as a series. Crazy how many people have watched/read through the series and absolutely failed to understand ANY of the subtext. I think a good idea for another video would be to do something like this, but for Sasuke instead of Naruto. He is an equally deep character who basically stands as an anti-Naruto; a good person at heart who learns all the wrong lessons, gets caught up with all the wrong people, and has all the wrong things happen to him, creating a spiral of self-esteem issues that prevent him from becoming his best self.
So, Swag did not mention the fact that it was Kurama's chakra that allowed Naruto to both escape Haku's demonic mirroring ice crystal whatever, and land a critical punch against Haku. I don't know, I just feel that needed mentioned. But! I am happy that you're back and doing well. Looking forward to the content big man.
thank you for this! i was seeing the talking points you speak of pop up alot recently and as someone who grew up watching naruto, they didn’t sit right with me at all. naruto changed my world view and helped me through rough times of my childhood, it gave me hope when i had very little of it left, and the confidence to chase my passions
Wow, I've been a Naruto fan for most of my life, and I was one of the people parroting the "Naruto is a self made hypocrite and had OP stuff written for him just because he's the chosen one" but your explanation at the beginning of the video felt like all the pieces snapped into place and now made sense. I almost feel like my reading comprehension wasn't as good as I thought (Or I haven't seen/read Naruto since the anime ended) Amazing Video.
Naruto's greatest power imo is the effect he has on everyone around him. He inspires and changes EVERYONE he comes in contact with throughout the story. His charisma and sincerity never fail to change the minds of those who oppose his ideals.
i agree with most points, however, i feel like we're conflating winning with value. Kurama was always more valuable than not, especially because without him, Naruto would've died many times over, even if Kurama wasn't directly responsible for Naruto winning certain fights
31:20 I do not believe anyone could have approached kakashi for instruction/help. Before getting team 7 he was notorious for failing everyone and never actually teaching students anything. It took team 7 to make kakashi grow and open up as a teacher edit: also welcome back swag you were missed
Thank you so much! This is completely amazing! Finally someone talks about the proper things Naruto seems simple for some people but there is so much depth to it! And i now realized: Naruto had an Intention --> a Purpose to it - and he wrote his own story backwards regarding from this Intention. An incredible Power
I havn't watched the video yet but it pisses me off when they say the reincarnation thing defeats the whole overcoming destiny when it literally proves it. I swear Naruto is one of the most misunderstood (in terms of plot points) anime of all time
this arguement (except the Rock Lee being the MC part) was popularized back in 2013-2015 by UA-camrs called theJorishae and King of Lighnting. They argued that Naruto was "perceived" as an underdog, but that that perception did NOT matter because behind all the underdog talk, there was the 'hidden' or unknown(both to the reader and other ninjas in the series) talents or gifts Naruto had (the insane Chakra level, and the inheritance. Inheritance meaning he was in the "group" having his teacher being the student and mentor of both the 3rd and 4th hokage, having his dad being the 4th hokage, etc... The issue is that he was perceived as an underdog but that really is just bad writing on Kishimoto's part. I agree he did work hard, but did he really need to be Jinchuriki, have insane amounts of chakra, inheritance, being part of the group of hokages, and destiny?? Did he really need all those favors? I would be okay with maybe 2 or 3 advantages. Why the destiny part of all things? I would ignore the above argument if it wasn't for the destiny part. It was really the feather that broke the camels back imo. That war arc was heavily criticized back in 2013-2015 but when Kishimoto decided to bring in the whole reincarnation thing, that really popularized this whole arugument. TLDR- Kishimoto did this to himself.
You didn't understand a manga made for children, Naruto has always had power and potential since the first chapter when he defeats a chunin, wanting to compare him to Rock Lee (the closest thing to an underdog in the manga) is not understanding the story.
Tbf it feels like this kind of discourse skyrocketed after that video, which is just annoyingly off-base for the most part. However this doesn’t really come across as a response to that in particular, just the rhetoric that hasn’t stopped for years from people who ignore crucial parts of what manga was trying to say.
I think the central point of Naruto is not the "Natural Talent" vs. "Hard Work", though that is a major theme. I think the main point is Collaboration Vs. Isolation. Naruto starts off as a complete loner and outcast, and must accept the love and guidance of the people around him to gain skills and strength. Meanwhile, his opposite, Sasuke, is constantly trying to self-isolate to gain power.
Bro literally put all of the reasons why Naruto is, and will forever be, my favorite character in any piece of media. Truly an amazing video, thank you for this 🙏
Bro remembered his UA-cam password
Good one. 😂
Lol!
Gotta get some proof of income for 2024
Lmao damn bro
So *original*
Nah fr!
Bro got revived at the end of the year😭
I just saw one of his videos yesterday. 😅
@@SpammytheHedgehogI see you everywhere
Ad revenue is the highest at the end of the year
He wants that December UA-cam ad scense 😂😂😂
Nah he got edo tensei’d
I believe this is your best video so far. This brings out the best of your analytical abilities where you understand the philosophy as well as the powerscaling in complete harmony with each other. People with the interpretation of a fake underdog kinda helps me realise how flawed mass understanding of hard work and success is. We always try connecting dot backwards, ignoring the ones that don't fit the final outcome.
Truly an increadible video!
Couldn’t have summed it up any better myself. Awesome video swag!
Awesome comment too. 😊
Oh shit, Swagkage unsealed himself from the Reaper’s belly.
I love the comments section 😂😂😂😂
He awoke from an Infinite Tsukoyomi.
@@justinarzola4584😂
@@gammafrost Swag's comment section has if nothing been interesting since the beginning.
Ain’t no way Cory came back before sage did
Oh snap thought an older video popped up for a sec till I looked at the date loll but dope to see ya upload again🔥
🔥
Yo jax blade the goat
As always you are everywhere... It's Great to see such a prominent content creator give other content creators thier flowers while they can still smell them. You're one of the only times we get to see that, wish you the best🙌🏿
I need to know @jaxBlade have you read satomote senshu?
It's Clyde's video titled back then as "The Self Made Underdog" now titled "PlagueofGripes doesn't understand Naruto"
Lee is an underdog without question, however comparing him to Naruto isn't a 1 to 1 comparison. Lee had a disability that prevented him from casting the usual Ninja Magic, however not only did he not really NEED to become a ninja but even if he didn't he still had as many rights as any other villager. Nobody was actively kicking him out of their establishments and he still had plenty of other opportunities available to him if he wanted them. Naruto on the other hand got intentionally screwed over with his education, he wasn't allowed in ANY establishment and everyone around him is basically making him feel like his very existence is a crime.
If Naruto didn't become a ninja he literally didn't have anything else since outside of the ramen stand there is no place inside the village who would hire Naruto. Not to mention he had a demon fox inside his body who was actively screwing him over at the first chance he got, especially during moments of emotional vulnerability. Lee is at least allowed some basic human decency while Naruto had to literally almost get himself killed multiple times just so he could earn the *PRIVILEGE* of being treated like a person. There is no point in comparing the two because they are quite literally not the same.
And the fact Lee also got lucky and happened to meet the Naruto version of Bruce Lee when he was very young to personally raise and train him. Without Might Guy, Lee woulda been assed out, garbage at everything just like Naruto was.
Real shit ,strength is a blessing but not a privilege 💯
@@HectorCotto97 this comparison was originally Brought by youtuber PlagueofGripes in his video Naruto the self made hypocrite. I believe this is Swag's indirect reply to him
@@aahanjha I really wish there was a good direct response to that video when it came out because, a lot of people use his video talking points and it's just pain.
What establishments were Naruto kicked out of? I don't recall that happening in the anime, but I didn't read the manga.
Lmao swagkage wanted to give us a Christmas present before going under hibernation again lol
UA-cam $$$ biggest in December lmao
Bro better had prepared more than just one video istg😂
He's santa
A christmas present? The dude is literally just summarizing Naruto the show lol. And then in the following video just lists every jutsu on the planet haha.
@@davidbowman2038 dafuq you even talking about fren. This is literally what this channel is about
Welcome to my soul society...
W Six
HES FINALY BACK IVE BEEN WAITING FOR SO LOOOOOOng
Orochimaru released SwagKage from the Reaper's belly.
Swagkage actually uploading and Six quoting Bleach??
Is the armageddon coming?
Oh hey you
I can’t let you disrespect the sexy jutsu like it didn’t save the entire ninja world and series
thats the sexy reverse haram. diferent jutsu
He was gone for so long I got 100k subs, a girlfriend, made UA-cam my job, moved to three diff states
Been Watching you for time
Hi METAs. This feels like a rehashed video. I feel like he has already done this ( or on Six's channel)
Damn crazy gone for so long that you now have a UA-cam career
Congratulations 🎊 on your success, METAs. It has been a while since Swag dropped some content. Last time I saw some new SwagKage, I was finishing up my DNP/PhD. I have since also moved to 3 states, become a nurse practitioner, but still no girlfriend 😅.
Omg you have been living life behind the scenes, good for you.
swagkage and cory drop before gta 6
😂😂😂
Wild first cory and now swag lol great time
We are truly living the best life
We are so back!
Swagkage and Cory drop before GTA 6 second trailer
Naruto isn't a Genius, He's just willing to beat his head against a wall till he figures out how to do what he wants to.
That is technically being a genius... He always figures things out
Bro had his own one year time-skip arc on his UA-cam channel 🙂↕️
And when the world needed him most, he retuned.
Soooo overused 😂 "and when the world needed him most, he returned" gotta be one of the most ancient UA-cam comments
@@KrowleyPineapples777 gotta remember that we were kids watching Avatar when UA-cam first came out. Bound to be one of the oldest comments we came up with.
Wow, this video was beautiful. Not everyone understands that Naruto is about the way he chooses to live his life against all odds. Thank you for bringing attention to this. The way you talked about this was beautiful
What odds? The only reason he was vilified is because Sarutobi was a horrible Hokage who left Naruto to rot. He should have explained everything to the village fully. If the people knew Naruto was the son of the strongest Hokage ever who sacrificed his life to save everyone, he wouldn't have been looked down upon as a curse and blight. Nah man. Sarutobi was just kinda over-hyped and a cause to the entire problem Naruto had early in the series with any hindsight what so ever.
@@orga7777 no, there would still be many biased people against him. if hitler was reincarnated into a young boy's body, briefly after the holocaust, in an area predominantly occupied by jews, you'd be lying if you think he wouldn't be discriminated against or shunned.
@@orga7777 his parent's lineage was kept secret because minato had a lot of enemy's if it was ever found out he had a kid odds are good they'd target him relentlessly him having the ninetails was also supposed to be a secret but danzo screwed that over as well
@@lightyoshiman That is a nonsense take. Would it have stayed a secret if Minato and Kushina didn't die? No. This all falls on Sarutobi being a failure of a leader and a failure of a teacher. Nothing more.
@@orga7777the village wouldn't want news of a 12 year old being their jinchuriki going to other villages,we know killer bee was also kept secluded as a child for the same reason and its also why hiruzen banned the adults from talking about it. If hiruzen told everyone about Naruto being minato and kushina kid, everyone would know he's kurama jinchuriki.
“SHOOT CHRISTMAS PRESENTS ARE EXPENSIVE…….gotta make another UA-cam video”
😂
Damn. I feel that
You have no idea how grateful I am that you made this video.
I can't be the only one who has noticed that, in recent years, there has been a huge resurgence of people trying to retroactively invalidate or belittle Naruto not just as a character, but as a series. It's so reassuring to have such an influential and well-respected voice in the anime community come out swinging to prove that there's a reason this show was and _is still_ considered one of the best manga ever made.
@@snarfnpoots7678 another good channel for this is HotBoySpicy. He's made some longer form videos about Naruto as a series, the message it told, and why so much of the criticism of it often comes from a place of misunderstanding.
I think people are slowly starting to understand the true meaning of the story of Naruto but your right many people don’t.
For real it feels like I’m arguing with brick walls on this stuff. There’s a reason Naruto is Big 3, and it’s not just the fight scenes. Crazy to me that they do it. Just shows they completely missed the point.
personally I don't think Naruto has very good writing. It has a bad ending, it does handle it's large cast very well, it's world building is laughably bad, it's own magic system is ruined by the end of the show, the numerus plot holes and ex machina . The fights are the only thing that make it note worthy.
@@andrewhaynberg7340 No one cares
W video. The point about how the Indra/Asura stuff actually serves as an obstacle to his goals rather than an aid is something I’ve been saying for years. Naruto doesn’t succeed because of fate, he succeeds IN SPITE OF fate.
the sage even said he wanted to make a bet on Naruto defying his fate of killing or being killed by sasuke which he did
Genuinely not sure how you can come to that conclusion. Naruto wouldn’t even be in the situation he’s in if not for being a reincarnation. It completely and utterly ruined the story
6 minutes in... and DAMN, I'm loving your argument so far!
Much more coherent to see Naruto as a story about unlocking your true potential (using your gifts to the fullest, and working around limitations)
Yes, not only limitations but also flaws regarding your own values e.g ethics etc.
Then again, some guys are willing to go all the way for the sake of the world and they end up coming too short and basically having all their work quickly paved over because they didn't hit it ALL the way and others come in and casually reveal they can stop them from dying from their own power right before that foe begins to recover so much, it seems like it was a worthless gesture compared to what the god scion kid does.
What potential is that and with what limitations? Have a broken bloodline, trained by the most broken teachers, and having a broken endless Chakra Demon to mitigate his bad ninja skills because he can just brute force his way through everything by dumping an endless amount of Chakra into everything? Naruto became way less compelling as a character the further we go into the story, and the further we went, the more it tainted him as a character that came before. He loses sight as what he started as. Which is why people gravitated more to Lee. THAT is unlocking the potential due to limitations and showing strength and skill through real adversity. I am also convinced that Kishimoto dumping both Lee and Neji into the background to do nothing Post Timeskip was to make sure people can't compare the characters any longer. I am also convinced Neji was proven right. Naruto was gifted from the start and because he was gifted from the start (blessed with a broken bloodline and an endless Chakra Demon) he proved to be the best (which is when he started throwing nukes everywhere while Neji dies to a pointy stick).
@@orga7777you have not provided a single piece of evidence within the story that proves your argument because everything you've said is completely unfounded and baseless
@@orga7777 did you watch the video
I’m so glad you are back and with sucha an amazing video. Like as a dude who started reading Naruto when I was like 13…and being like an ADHD hyperactive class clown, I never related more to a character as I do with Naruto, so when people try to write him off like he was always “the special” I get annoyed. Naruto didn’t pull off the Massive multi shadow clone jutsu until he had someone like iruka say he was “a splendid ninja”…Naruto believed in himself and took to heart all the love he ever received
People who say that "Neji was right" misunderstand what Naruto's point is.
Naruto never once denies fate's existence. In fact, there are several times where Naruto off-handedly declares that hes fated for something.
Neji's point was that your fate was decided the moment that you're born and there's nothing that can change it and Naruto's point is that if you don't like your fate, you CAN work to change it.
It is understandable why Neji thought the way he did, given what he thought happened to his dad, but the reason why he's wrong is because he GAVE UP. He resigned himself to a horrible philosophy and took out his anger on anyone who tried to change their fate (i.e. Lee, Hinata, Naruto).
When Neji lost his fight with Naruto, he tried one more time to credit the current outcome to fate. He claimed that it was clear that Naruto won because of his "specialty" the Shadow Clone Jutsu. Naruto shut his philosophy down by saying that he failed that he failed the Academy Exam 3 times. He clearly wasn't predisposed to learn the jutsu.
The reason why he learned it and how he won the fight was because he WORKED to change his unfortunate situations. If Neji was right, Naruto would have stayed a lonely, weak loser who would have been killed by the Akatsuki or Sasuke.
Neji was right because he was destined to a pointless death and Rock Lee was destined for mundanity because the author didn't like them
@@Esskroe redditor
@@Esskroerock Lee was a jonin level combatent that saved guy from jubidarra and was an integral reason on 8 gates guy almost killing madara. By the 4gnw
@@Esskroe Neji was the biggest hypocrite in that Arc if you just Read the fight neji use a technique that he's not allowed to use it only the higher ups can guess what "mister your fate is sealed the moment you are Born" gone out of his way and learned the damn technique, proving Naruto's point that you can change your destiny, now do me a favor go read Naruto again
@@Esskroeand his death wasn't pointless at all. Neji found freedom and that was his decision to die helping Hinata and Naruto the guy who helped him realize that anyone can choose the path despite the odds he's death wasn't pointless it only reinforced Naruto's ideology
Bro finally remembered his password after a WHOLE YEAR
Nah. Someone used Gedo Art: Rinne Rebirth on SwagKage.
Alternatively, it took him a whole year to work on this video.
@@raydespoir or he has a life outside of UA-cam lol
Yeah because saving log in information on your computer *TOTALLY* doesn't exist. Why are people still using "bro remembered his password" like were still in 2018?
@@richborn6700 The joke isn't that serious dude. What a weird ass reaction
I want the whole naruto community to watch this video
TIL we Mandela Effected away what Kishimoto was trying to tell us in Naruto, thanks swagkage for the early christmas present
I guess the issue is most people became fans of Naruto as kids, so some people watched Naruto for Kishimoto's Naruto and some people watched for Kosuke's Naruto but both thought they were watching the same thing for the same reason, I mean weebs can get mad at non weeb fans of dragon ball saying its fans can't read or Naruto saying their just media illiterate but the fact of the matter is most people just like shonen for the themes and cool fights, most people don't even watch Shippuden or have never actually watched full episodes of dragon ball you can see it in dragon ball gym edit comment sections and if you told them the things weebtubers say to them as kids the big three would be Baki, Ippo and berserk and Naruto and Dragon ball would be obscure media.
It's just so obnoxious Naratubers can only exist because of Kosuke and his fans yet take every chance to dunk on them, talking about why they should care about Baruto a space alien show as if they don't clearly say they didn't watch for that zany Kishimoto stuff, then Naratubers acting like Kosuke's fans are just being difficult and making stuff up and should be forced to waste their time physically to watch the space alien spin off show.
@@Evan-i4e what does this have to do w the video lmao
im not sure who kosuke is, but nobody is forcing you to read boruto. its just strange that so many people have an opinion on a manga theyve never even touched.
That ending was emotional man. Naruto is an amazing character and im tired of people misrepresenting him. you put all my thoughts into this vid and i fell validated. thank you @swagkage
Swag's first video back and he's already shifted my perspective on the series. One thing that I thought to be rather profound were the parallels that this kind of drew to real life. Despite how good something may seem for someone, despite how "gifted" they might be- they often times are dealing with their own issues and are also trying to conquer their inner demons just like the rest of us. The gross oversimplification many of the nay-sayers provided really left out the nuance that came with the journey of Naruto and I'm glad that you were able to address it in this video!
The video is surprisingly good. Good points in a concise manner...
Dude had his account locked so he himself had to LOCK in! 😂
Bro spoke bars just now
Fucking bars.
I feel like the people who idolize Lee, especially after his fight against Gaara, are missing the point of that fight along with the point of the series. The series itself criticizes people who simply puruse raw strength/power and go to any length to achieve those things. The whole arc of Naruto losing his cool and going "beast mode" with Kurama, before he befriended him, was a criticiism of someone losing themselves in their desire for strength. Sasuke's ENTIRE character arc is a criticism of someone losing themselves in the pursuit of a goal. In the case of Lee, he was willing to destroy his body and future just to have a W against Gaara, and he still failed.
To add to the criticism you mentioned about Naruto's approach, 2 specific situations come to mind. First is Haku teaching Naruto that his achieving greater strength should be dedicated to someone, not just petty things like public admiration. And second is Yamato (and this line was cut out from the anime) pointing out that Naruto was basically drunk on power when he went into 4-tails state. The second one is especially important I think, because it reveals he isn't just completely unconscious and taken over, which paints darker and much more flawed picture of who he was.
Naruto was never about “hard work beats talent”. Idek where that whole notion came from.
@@CGR1410 I think a lot of people who grew up with the series internalized that message, probably because the anime in particular would draw out episodes with constant speeches from Naruto never going back on his word. Even though Lee lost to Gaara, and Naruto told Neji after beating him that "unlike me, you're not a failure", people mostly just saw how cool it was when Lee dropped the weights and Naruto gave Neji that final uppercut.
@@Jazzmaster1992 it’s indeed a surface level comprehension take on the series.
i had a section in the video about this but cut it cause i didn't want it to be too bloated. the curse mark and the eight gates are foils to naruto's nine tails power and explore various ways he shouldn't use it
Wish I could like this video twice! Appreciate how you pointed out that Naruto’s main method of affecting his world was not through his power, but by his genuineness and will to stick to his principles. Excellent, excellent video essay!
i always thought the story was not about effort vs talent but rather that bonds you form with others will take you farther than going it alone.
constantly, throughout the entire story from beginning to end, you see characters who severed their bonds bc they thought it would make them stronger pitted up against naruto, who values friendship over everything.
THE RETURN OF THE KING!!!
15:52 it's why Yamato telling him to grow himself and that his strength isn't just the beast is one of the most amazing mentor moments. He needed to hear that
27:13 case in point lol
And yet he proves through the entire thing that he can only do pretty much everything because of his Tailed Beast. It is how he was able to use Shadow Clones so effectively, it is the reason why he was able to learn the Rasengan so easily, it is why he was able to master Sage Mode so easily, and it is why at the end of the series that started off with a showdown of two supposed gifted Jounin on similar levels in Kakashi and Zabuza trying to out-maneuver each other and lead to teamwork to best Zabuza turned into a series where everyone is just throwing nukes at each other. People can say what they want, but I am sorry. Kishimoto is just a hack. He clearly stopped caring even before the horribly done War Arc. If Naruto didn't have a Tailed Beast he never would have been able to become a ninja at all because he is just kinda dumb and can't learn effectively without dumping insane levels of chakra (only given to him from the 9 Tails) into literally everything he does from Chapter 1 to Chapter 700.
@@orga7777what an absolutely deluded comment
@@orga7777 Your whole point relies on him having a lot of chakra being a boon by the kurama, which makes it null and void because that's the exact opposite case. Naruto having uzumaki genes has a large pool of chakra but most of it is used up to seal the nine tails inside of him. According to kakashi, naruto would have 25 times as much chakra had he not had nine tails within him, not to mention he had difficulty in controlling his chakra due to kyubi interference. Had nine tails not been within him, he'd have learnt multi shadow clone a lot more easily, learned sage mode a lot more smoothly and gathered sage energy faster and used ma and pa to stay in sage mode. Also naruto took two and half years to master rasengan, which he needed a clone to do.
I agree that kishimoto went a bit lazy over time though, and boruto kind of is the result.
@@orga7777did you even watch the video? Because all your points are proven wrong
Another thing people don't get is that over the course of the show itself even Naruto himself comes to recognize that he doesn't have it as bad as he could have, he RECOGNIZES a lot of the privileges he has, Like against Haku who only had Zabuza who he thought only saw him as a tool while he had his new friends and Kakashi who said he would protect him with his life, against Gaara as he mentions that he had Iruka, Against Pain at least Naruto grew up in a village and not in a war-torn country. The show and Naruto specifically is about a person who grows and recognizes the privileges he has despite having been dealt a bad childhood himself and it's the reason why he can forgive a lot of his enemies, because otherwise he would see himself as a hypocrite. Also the main point of Naruto was NEVER hardwork, the main point was that Ninjas should fight for what they believe in and not just used as disposable tools, hell even the FIRST ARC is all about this, the only point which hardwork is even relevant in the first arc is the tree-climbing segment which isn't even a huge part of the arc itself.
I was using Rinne Rebirth for a year and it finally worked. Welcome back, Swag.
How are you still alive?! 🤣🤣
@MMAli-rq8kd Hashirama cells. They give me plot armour. Ehh I mean "regeneration."
@@georgehouliaras7239 rinne rebirth kills you even if you have hashirama cells. obito had hashi cells when he did it to madara and zetsu still told him he was gonna die (but zetsu extended his life by attacthing to him and then taking juubi chakra further extended it )
Looks like Swag finally ran out of rent money
Had to buy gifts for the holidays
he was trying to wait for people to forget about the whole seth and him fighting live lol
@@solidsnake8768wait hold up, they got in an argument
What is the context? @@solidsnake8768
It’s so refreshing to listen to someone talk about naruto who actually KNOWS naruto. And didn’t just watch it through TikToks or snippets of manga/ anime. Best Naruto channel in the game
Bro came back to remind us of what his main series is all about
The power to always get up under any circumstances
Fitting after a 1 year return what do we say
Swag channeling his inner Togashi returning from hiatus. Hunter X Hunter really came back before Swag did.
A lot of people who believe that Naruto was never an underdog compare him to Rock Lee. But the key difference is opportunity and mentorship. Lee at least had Guy to guide and train him. Naruto didn’t have a decent mentor until the end of the pre-time skip:
Iruka was a good emotional support but never trained him when Naruto became a genin.
Kakashi (PTS) sure taught him a few things, but Kakashi shown obvious favoritism towards Sasuke in the beginning and at times even treated Naruto like a burden for wanting to train (that’s a different convo)
Hell, Jiraiya didn’t even want to be bothered with Naruto at first, despite knowing what he knew.
Naruto had to earn his respect throughout the series despite given so many handicaps. That’s a true underdog
And When the world needed him most, he vanished.......but I believe swagkage can change the world.
Thank god someone sees the truth regardless of the copout, “Destiny”, argument. Kurama messed up Naruto chakra control from the start and the Jiraiya training. Now this added with from being ostracized from birth and no parental figures made it hard to be a disciplined, individual and consistent student. So he had to push himself to catch-up on what he didn’t know or do for his whole life. That’s why after learning techniques felt earned in the end.
Facts. People who says this always forget how kakashi and guy also said rock lee is a genius and is not just hard work he is able to open the 8 gates
People forget, Naruto's "destiny" was to fail. He reincarnates as Asura, but Asura historically doesn't defeat Indra or defeat the curse of hatred. Naruto was the child of prophecy who defies destiny to change the world, is the culmination of his arc. But anime fans hear the words reincarnation, and destiny and instantly cringe as if its this bad thing for character agency, yet love it in WESTERN MEDIA. Po is a prophesied warrior of destiny, but the story of KFP never pretends he doesn't have to fulfill this role through careful hard work, and self realization.
He did learn a lot of techniques that helped him out a ton in the end, like the rasengan or shadow clones or the rasengan or shadow clones or the rasengan or
@@TrevorDiamante if he is the child of prophecy you are saying he is the child to break the chain but also saying he is the one to break destiny? isnt him breaking the chain part of his destiny if he is the child of prophecy like is said
What you just described is an underdog narrative exploring the value of hardwork. Except it doesn't matter that he was ostracized as a kid. After he met Jiraiya he basically had no choice but to become OP because of who he was as the son of the fourth hokage, host of the Kyuubi, and reincarnation of Asura.
I won't say he didn't earn at least some of his power, but the drawbacks you listed pale in comparison to the unearned advantages he was given.
Something Jiraiya taught that Naruto always kept with him, is that he can be taught but Naruto has to put in the hard work and figure it out on his own. Jiraiya was a good teacher in this respect
Naruto won because he's Naruto
i love the story analysis - a breath of fresh air from pure power scaling content
"I never go back on my word. That's my Ninja way!" *- Seventh Hokage*
I mean he did lie to Nagato and let the Rain village fall into complete ruin and also failed to achieve peace in the end
Hidden rain village in tatters.
@@nicholasro6214No not really. It’s pretty ignorant to think that naruto alone would be able to truly end all conflict in the world, however to say he didn’t achieve peace would also be ignorant. In the years inbetween the war and boruto, the ninja world was more peaceful than it had ever been. While conflict still existed, it was never on the scale as seen in the ninja wars that created people like nagato in the first place. The villages had friendly relations to eachother and even in tbv when naruto is out of the picture entirely the world is being threatened by forces that aren’t from the ninja world and are people nagato didn’t even know existed (otsusuki/shinju). By nagatos standards I think he’d be very pleased with the world naruto built during the blank period.
@@DrUmar-gu4kp That’s what I’m saying. Nagato literally asks him how he would maintain peace and how he has so much faith in himself and Naruto convinces him that he will bring peace to the ninja world but he couldn’t do it in the end. He ends up being a distant father as well
It’s realistic, no matter how powerful he got he could not keep his promise to Nagato and now the state of the world is in even worse shape in Boruto. He failed, like Nagato did, like Obito did, like Jiraiya did.
Even in the Blank period if you read the novels, there’s still strife and conflict. That’s the main reason I don’t like Boruto. It basically spits on the face of who Naruto was in the original series. He wasn’t a good father, let the Rain fall into ruins after his promise to Nagato and Konan, and the world is in danger.
Idc how it’s realistic, rewatching or rereading the manga/anime knowing that all this is for nothing because in the end Naruto fails because alien gods come down to earth is stupid. He doesn’t get his happy ending or at least it doesn’t last very long. All that was for nothing.
@@nicholasro6214 I'm not familiar with what happened to the rain village post shippuden ill go and read that right after but to put the blame squarely on naruto being incapable of keeping world peace from otherworldly forces seems quite unfair to me especially with the context of war nagato/pain were actually trying to solve. The main issue nagato had was the wars caused by human greed and wickedness not the aliens that the otsutsuki are. (as you can tell I'm not a fan of kaguya and her kin being from outer space or someshit)
One of your best videos!! I hope more people get to appreciate naruto for what he's done instead of labeling him the gifted plot armor mc.
4:19 another thing that i want to point out is that although Kurama DID mess up Naruto's chakra control, he still wasn't THAT terrible at it.
He learned to walk on trees with just a few more hours of training than the golden boy Sasuke and when Ebisu trained a double capped Naruto to walk on water, he admits that Naruto is getting the hang of it rather quickly, then he learns the technique in the first try after Jiraiya removes Orochimaru's seal.
That is false. Kurama never messed up Naruto’s chakra control at all.
Seriously? Even Lee can walk on water.
@@Dave-gk6siEven Lee can do it, Sasuke is just bad at it.
@@haterodiadordeplantao.680 Sakura is queen
@@haterodiadordeplantao.680 we would only see Lee walking on water by part 2/Shippuden though.
someone finally found the dragon balls to wish him back
😂
This video is absolutely amazing, PLEASE upload more 😭🙏🏻
I love this video, Swagkage. It is something I wanted to talk about for a long time. People often undermine Naruto’s effort to master everything that he did just because of his background. I love Naruto because it proves something important. Even if you have a certain kind of potential, you won’t achieve anything until you understand it and work on it. Naruto’s greatest potential was his Chakra and it was only after he befriended Kurama, he was able utilize the full potential of his Chakra. Before that, anything that he mastered either came with a risk of death or being taken over by Nine Tails. The easiest one with almost no consequences was Rasengan and as I said, it was only after he befriended Kurama, he was able use it perfectly. This just shows how much he had to work for despite having so many obstacles stopping his growth.
Bro comes back like nothing happened. 😂
Thank you. I was so tired of people saying naruto is not an underdog or that the nine tails always bailed him out of every situation.
Just so you know, every time Naruto was about to die, the nine tails did in fact bail him out. He should’ve died during their first mission when he was poisoned by the demon brothers, or when orochimaru’s snake devoured him, or when fighting Shukaku. Etc… all of these required him to voluntarily or involuntarily wield a power that is not his. It’s something nobody else in his situation would be able to benefit from. Kurama is definitely a double edged sword but a double edged sword is better than no weapon at all
@@SoraBell Did I say the nine tail never helped him? I said people think all of Naruto's wins are from the nine tails. First of all, it makes sense for the nine tails to save Naruto as their lives are. connected. If Naruto dies, then Kurama dies. No one complains when sukuna saves Itadori's life. I just think this is a bad issue to take with the series.
Also in a series where a lot of people have unfair advantages that only give benefits like the sharingan or byakugan, the nine tails in early Naruto is far from better than no weapon at all. It is like fight with a double edged sword against people with guns.
@@SoraBell Naruto was not dying cause of poison when kakashi was right there and they barley stared there journey from the leaf. Kakashi would take him back to the village or heal him himself.
Naruto broke out of orichimarus snake with multi-shadow clone jutsu, something he can do without the nine tails.
Naruto dying to shukaku is somewhat plausible until you realize that Naruto would have spent the month he used to learn how to control kuramas chakra on something else thus not leaving him completely deflessness, kurama's chakra barley had any influence in the fight and that Naruto would have had better chakra control without kurama, and higher natural reserves of chakra (since Naruto's natural chakra reserves was used to strengthen the eight trigram seal contain kurama).
Finally back with another banger.
My only critique would be that you refer to the Yang half of Kurama as the super mega evil half when it's the other way around. Yang energy is the element of heat, light, and passion, as well as generally being the bane of evil energies. Yin energy is the element of cold, darkness (the Yin half of Kurama is even depicted in a darker color to drive the point home), and evil, hence why it is typically associated with demonic spirits. This is also why the bad guys typically receive Yin-related abilities (such as Sasuke getting the Yin Seal from Hagoromo).
The fact that the Yang half of Kurama is still evil despite all this is meant to illustrate just how much hate he carries. Also Minato's goal was just to seal half of the nine-tails chakra into Naruto. There's no reason he'd make it even more difficult by giving him the evil half. He'd obviously rather take that with him to die.
I really liked this video. I especially liked how you brought up the things most people say and used hard evidence from both direct narrative lines and some subtle implications to show your point. As many times as I’ve watched/read the series you still made me see it in a new light.
I love that someone in the community is finally releasing the media illiteracy jutsu. I think a large part of it is that people haven’t gone back to read Naruto since they were younger or people wanting the story to be something it’s not.
It’s about believing in yourself. It’s about not living your life based on a set destiny. It’s about becoming and being your best self. Admittedly though the war arc throws out the “gifted” part but I believe that was more for spectacle than trying to align with the story’s themes.
I think people were just pissed about the whole kaguya thing that they stopped thinking and just forgot about how the series first started
THE KING IS BACK, ONLY TOOK OVER A YEAR
Bro cooked with this one... ESPECIALLY that final question revolving around hashirama and naruto. Great video and return🤌
One teacher I will say did actually help Naruto a ton is Fukasaku. Mans went from “Okay MAYBE you’re around Kakashi level” to surpassing the Sannin and Boxing with Tendo in base for a recognizable amount of time. And unlike his other teachers, taught him new abilities that DIDNT require the Nine tales
"and when the world needed him most..."
YOU FINALLY DROPPED. THIS GYM SESSION BOUTA HIT TN
One of the best Naruto videos ever. One minor thing, but I wish u touched on how disappointing it is that Naruto showing that compassion you were talking about and actually breaking the cycle of hatred is reduced to “oh classic talk no jutsu 🤡” by the anime community as a whole. I mean you literally demonstrate it perfectly how him being compassionate not just to his enemies but to his peers and comrades gives him the ultimate success in his future. In the moment he wasn’t rewarded but later on he was. that’s karma for you, which need I remind you is a Hindu/bhuddist religious virtue, which Naruto takes heavy inspiration from. That compassion reminds me of an amazing TikTok I saw of how everyone sees their loved ones within Naruto. Shikamaru sees Asuma, Jiraiya sees minato, Kakashi sees minato, tsunade sees her BF and brother, even kurama sees Hagaramo. THEY ALL see their loved ones within Naruto because of how impactful his ninja way, philosophy, and ultimately his very being is to each and every one of them to the point where in the war, a SHADOW CLONE of him was being held to a higher importance and value then literal living ninja. Not just because of his power but because of how much he simply filled others with hope and power both literally and emotionally. This sympathy to others contrasts sasukes isolation from emotion perfectly. As Sasuke becomes colder his sympathy is drastically reduced and his pursuit for power is increased, while with naruto all that is reversed, which makes him able to break Sasuke physically and break through to Sasuke mentally. If he can’t beat u in the philosophical battle such as he did with zabuza, he will beat you in the physical battle, and even when he does beat you in the physical battle he’ll try and try again to get you to see the error in your ways, he will see to it that the opportunity cost of you living versus you being dead is weighed, because killing is not what Naruto wants. Like you said, he’s the hardest on himself. Everyone sees a loved one in Naruto but Naruto wants to see himself in that way as well which is why his goal is ultimately to be hokage, a strong compassionate leader of the world and not the 9 tails monster that is simply a tool for mass murder and power, because look how much killing and hatred has gotten this world to become. Naruto defied all this. Then people have the nerve to say “Naruto didn’t change the ninja system or societal issues in any way, he just perpetuated it.” Like, you literally degrade him doing that and turned it into a meme. Crazy yap session by me it’s literally 4 am for me yk I had to write my thoughts down. Anyways “talk no jutsu” is probably worth a whole in depth vid of its own tho.
i’ve been scrolling through the comments for this vid for a while bc i just think the entire concept and topic is goated, but i gotta say this comment is peak. i’m surprised it hasn’t gotten more upvotes/attention. your comment is just the icing on the cake for this now practically required-watch for all naruto fans
@ thank you man I genuinely appreciate it 😭❤️
Wow. Just wow. I'm actually just speechless. I like many others had the same point of view that you completely dismantled in this video. I'm so glad I watched this because it makes me realize how short-sighted I was about Naruto's overall narrative and gives me more respect for Kishimoto for sure. Watching this makes me want to rewatch the whole series from start to finish and really pay attention to what else I might have missed. Thanks so much Swag!!
The goat came back and immediately had me rethinking the series.
Late asf but bro came back, made one of his best vids (imo) n actually made me appreciate Naruto as a whole a lot more. I never saw it in this light n makes me realize Kishimoto did write some parts really well.
I honestly think the biggest thing is that so many people look back on the Chunin Exams as their favorite arc, and hard work over natural talent WAS one of the main themes of that arc, and they applied that to the whole series. And while hard work over natural talent is an important theme, it's not nearly as big in the rest of the series as it is in the Chunin Exams.
Also I think people don't understand why Rock Lee lost to Gaara. It wasn't just to hype up Gaara, it's because secretly, he had more unresolved issues than Lee did, and ones which are more important for the main themes of the series itself.
Hard work talent is a thing that lee brings up, it's literally revealed in his fight against Gaara that Lee is talented and a genius.
Also, another huge thing is I think so many people just look at the series from like a ninja/ninjutsu perspective and not from a life perspective. Yes, Rock Lee had it really hard as a ninja but life isn't just about being a ninja. Sure, Kurama gave Naruto a huge advantage later on and saved his life in a few unwinnable situations, but he was also a complete specter over his life. Sure, Gaara was very strong from birth, but he did NOT have it easy.
32:00 minor correction but it is also pretty heavily implied Naruto being an Uzumaki is what allowed him to be a jinchuriki in the first place because if he didn’t have the strong chakra and life force of an Uzumaki Kurama’s chakra would’ve been too dense and toxic for his body to handle. But as you established being a jinchuriki is more of a curse than a blessing
this is the most peak video you have done yet. the Naruto analysis videos are so good, it's so refreshing to see views on this series that aren't constantly critiquing it because it's "flawed" but praising it because it is genuinely amazing in what it does well
Naruto is amazing, i won't ever stop loving the series, and i will always remember that there was a character named Naruto!
I think this is honestly one of your best videos Swag. I think you should do more of these in-depth character/narrative analysis videos.
The Confined Naruto UA-camr. He needed 9 years to gain subscribers, he needed 9 months to make a video topic, he needs 9 weeks to edit a video, and needed 9 days to upload the video, and 9 hours to relax
my friends and I watched this video and 1 of them came into it thinking Naruto was an underdog, but after watching your video, he now thinks he is definitely not an underdog. Thank you very much 🙏
Screw all that noise. The answer is plain and simple, it was never about talent vs hard work. It’s more, hard work can overcome impossible challenges.
The whole series is about Naruto being told he can’t do it, and a few torn clothes later, he does it. It’s about Sasuke feeling like he’s always a step behind Naruto but with hard work catches up to him and finally takes care of his brother. It’s about the two of them being told that they’re gonna go and continue the cycle of death and overcoming that as well. No obstacle is too high if you’re stubborn enough to just do the work. You can be the smartest guy in the room, but if you know nothing about a certain subject? You gotta read your books.
that’s crazy i just visit your page again. Been missing the Naruto universe. Boruto just take forever to get good
This video is a narrative review and is very very good example of one. Like an honest interpretation of the story that doesnt seem too far out there and actually gives the story the depth it deserves and critiques it when he wants to and it serves the video.
Pretty nice.
Bro tryna pull a Cory 😂
Nah they are goat's
Bro remembered he had a youtube channel him and Coryxkeshin all of a sudden making come backs out of no where at the end of the year
This really helped me appreciate the show on a much deeper level. Thank you!
Dude comes back and immediately speaks ABSOLUTE FACTS
New swag video, let’s go! Hope eventually we get a One Piece analysis of the arcs as well!
Genuinely a great video that puts into words the reason I love Naruto as a series. Crazy how many people have watched/read through the series and absolutely failed to understand ANY of the subtext.
I think a good idea for another video would be to do something like this, but for Sasuke instead of Naruto. He is an equally deep character who basically stands as an anti-Naruto; a good person at heart who learns all the wrong lessons, gets caught up with all the wrong people, and has all the wrong things happen to him, creating a spiral of self-esteem issues that prevent him from becoming his best self.
💯💯🔥💥 Swagkage Great this Videos Nartuo is a underdog
So, Swag did not mention the fact that it was Kurama's chakra that allowed Naruto to both escape Haku's demonic mirroring ice crystal whatever, and land a critical punch against Haku.
I don't know, I just feel that needed mentioned.
But! I am happy that you're back and doing well. Looking forward to the content big man.
thank you for this! i was seeing the talking points you speak of pop up alot recently and as someone who grew up watching naruto, they didn’t sit right with me at all. naruto changed my world view and helped me through rough times of my childhood, it gave me hope when i had very little of it left, and the confidence to chase my passions
kurama did secretly give him chakra when he was young tho, he said so. and summoning gamabuntavtakes a bunch of chakra. especially after the clones
Wow, I've been a Naruto fan for most of my life, and I was one of the people parroting the "Naruto is a self made hypocrite and had OP stuff written for him just because he's the chosen one" but your explanation at the beginning of the video felt like all the pieces snapped into place and now made sense. I almost feel like my reading comprehension wasn't as good as I thought (Or I haven't seen/read Naruto since the anime ended)
Amazing Video.
many such cases
Naruto's greatest power imo is the effect he has on everyone around him. He inspires and changes EVERYONE he comes in contact with throughout the story. His charisma and sincerity never fail to change the minds of those who oppose his ideals.
i agree with most points, however, i feel like we're conflating winning with value. Kurama was always more valuable than not, especially because without him, Naruto would've died many times over, even if Kurama wasn't directly responsible for Naruto winning certain fights
31:20 I do not believe anyone could have approached kakashi for instruction/help. Before getting team 7 he was notorious for failing everyone and never actually teaching students anything. It took team 7 to make kakashi grow and open up as a teacher
edit: also welcome back swag you were missed
Thank you so much! This is completely amazing! Finally someone talks about the proper things
Naruto seems simple for some people but there is so much depth to it!
And i now realized: Naruto had an Intention --> a Purpose to it - and he wrote his own story backwards regarding from this Intention. An incredible Power
I havn't watched the video yet but it pisses me off when they say the reincarnation thing defeats the whole overcoming destiny when it literally proves it. I swear Naruto is one of the most misunderstood (in terms of plot points) anime of all time
Swagkage finally got out of Yukari's gap. That Gap Youkai really trapped Swag in her gap but now he's here stronger than ever
That's a crazy way of saying:
"He's found some time for himself amidst being a family man" 😂
touhou reference lol
This is one of the most thoughtful analyses of the naruto manga. Great job.
this arguement (except the Rock Lee being the MC part) was popularized back in 2013-2015 by UA-camrs called theJorishae and King of Lighnting. They argued that Naruto was "perceived" as an underdog, but that that perception did NOT matter because behind all the underdog talk, there was the 'hidden' or unknown(both to the reader and other ninjas in the series) talents or gifts Naruto had (the insane Chakra level, and the inheritance. Inheritance meaning he was in the "group" having his teacher being the student and mentor of both the 3rd and 4th hokage, having his dad being the 4th hokage, etc...
The issue is that he was perceived as an underdog but that really is just bad writing on Kishimoto's part.
I agree he did work hard, but did he really need to be Jinchuriki, have insane amounts of chakra, inheritance, being part of the group of hokages, and destiny?? Did he really need all those favors? I would be okay with maybe 2 or 3 advantages.
Why the destiny part of all things? I would ignore the above argument if it wasn't for the destiny part. It was really the feather that broke the camels back imo. That war arc was heavily criticized back in 2013-2015 but when Kishimoto decided to bring in the whole reincarnation thing, that really popularized this whole arugument.
TLDR- Kishimoto did this to himself.
You didn't understand a manga made for children, Naruto has always had power and potential since the first chapter when he defeats a chunin, wanting to compare him to Rock Lee (the closest thing to an underdog in the manga) is not understanding the story.
this video needs to go more viral than the plague of gripes one
Bro takes his time to enjoy his peace, then comes back to drop a banger. Love it
HES BACK
The thumbnail, title, & video length screams that this video got inspired by Plague of Gripes that was then was made for the community
which is stupid, cause its a 5 year old video and this sorta thing has been done to death, this isnt anything new
@OnlySayori there really isn’t that many video responding to that specific video tho
@@NeoReoxis isn't there like 6 of them?
@OnlySayori that video probably did way more "damage" to the Naruto discourse than it had any business doing, and it needs to keep being addressed.
Tbf it feels like this kind of discourse skyrocketed after that video, which is just annoyingly off-base for the most part. However this doesn’t really come across as a response to that in particular, just the rhetoric that hasn’t stopped for years from people who ignore crucial parts of what manga was trying to say.
Your channel has inspired me a lot over the years. I’m happy you’re back bro
I think the central point of Naruto is not the "Natural Talent" vs. "Hard Work", though that is a major theme. I think the main point is Collaboration Vs. Isolation. Naruto starts off as a complete loner and outcast, and must accept the love and guidance of the people around him to gain skills and strength. Meanwhile, his opposite, Sasuke, is constantly trying to self-isolate to gain power.
By God - he has returned. A Christmas miracle.
Bro literally put all of the reasons why Naruto is, and will forever be, my favorite character in any piece of media. Truly an amazing video, thank you for this 🙏
Swagkakge comes back after over a year of not posting and just casually drops one of the best naruto videos ever made, absolute chad