Seriously, only the Kaguya part was really bad.
Summary:
- The War Arc of Naruto is considered to be among the worst in the series.
- It’s criticized for excessive power scaling, lackluster antagonist and poor pacing.
- However, it had some very cool moments as well.
Naruto is often criticized for falling off in its last arc. To be fair, the last “arc” isn’t even one arc: what is usually referred to as the “War Arc” is more of a saga, consisting of many separate, smaller arcs.
Still, many fans feel the last stretch of chapters/episodes is extremely underwhelming, and that Naruto should have ended way earlier. While there are some legitimate criticisms to be made, the whole saga isn’t as bad as people make it seem to be.
Why It Is Highly Disliked
The main issue with it is definitely its conclusion. Kaguya is an extremely underwhelming villain, and while she was hinted at earlier, the whole “Kaguya used Black Zetsu to manipulate Madara, who manipulated Obito, who manipulated Pain” thing was very tiresome. Multiple reveals of a new final antagonist made fans extremely tired.
The arc was also very much drawn out. It didn’t really need to be as long as it was, and in the anime form, fillers between its sub-arcs certainly didn’t help.
It Had Many Really Cool Moments
However, outside of that, the arc was actually not that bad. We got some of the most epic fights — Guy versus Madara, for example.
We had some of the biggest conflicts finally resolved, we got more information on the lore — including things like the histories of past Hokage, Uchiha techniques, and everything about The Sage of Six Paths. Some of the most iconic reveals (Obito) also happened during this span of episodes.
The first stage of the war, where characters fight against their resurrected comrades and enemies, actually has some of the best emotional moments in the series. Many plot threads get their final closure because of that.
While the very final villain ended up being extremely disappointing, the arc itself definitely isn’t. If you skip fillers, in fact, it’s pretty fun to watch. Yes, in the very end, it gets noticeably worse because Kaguya is a lackluster antagonist, but the Fourth Great Ninja War itself is interesting enough.
It’s Definitely Not as Terrible as It Might Seem
The arc has a very poor reputation among Naruto fans. To many, it finally turned Naruto into a series about power scaling. While the power levels were definitely getting out of hand there, it’s not like they weren’t already there before: Pain destroying Konoha is proof of that.
It’s perfectly fine to not like the final arc. However, it’s definitely not as bad as people might say. In fact, it provided some necessary closure for the series, and Naruto wouldn’t really be complete without it.