[Carmine Boy]

Naruto is an okay show. The Water Country arc was the best part of Naruto, IMHO. The main characters were starting to gel and there was some good character development. Zabuza and Haku were great and compelling antagonists.

The following arcs after that, particularly the filler arcs that are not part of the manga I found somewhat retarded. Usually in a story like Naruto's, a character develops into something more. In Naruto, I found the main character tends to devolve. Sure he get more powerful, but he doesn't seem to learn from the mistakes he makes.

I don't know if I just have a bias against stupid characters. Characters like Naruto and Beet (from Beet the Vandel Buster) bother me. Maybe its because they tend to preach a lot in a holier than thou manner one minute, then goof off and get themselves in trouble the next. They just come off as giant posers. On the other hand, take a character like Luffy from One Piece. He is comparatively even stupider than the two I mentioned before but I love him. He's a big goof but but doesn't come off as a poser when he says something inspirational. Maybe its just a matter of character consistency.