Would you recommend Naruto, Bleach, One Piece?

[Classic Adamas]

Realistically I will never watch these shows as they're simply too long for my taste. I think DBZ is about the limit on how many episodes I'm willing to sit through. But, the mangas — while long — seem doable. My question is would you recommend reading these three to an enthusiast like me that hasn't?

 

[SSJ2]

One Piece part 1 is worth reading imo. Haven't read the others.

 

[Warmmedown]

One Pace for fillerless OP anime.

Naruto Part 1 is pretty good, up to like episode 135. When I watched it it was better than DBZ.

Bleach is decent for like 5 episodes.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

No for all three. One Piece has some good qualities in Part 1, but Part 2 ruins a lot of the potential it had when it came to character development and power consistency and raises the problems Part 1 already had such as plot armour and asspulled power ups to 11. Naruto's first part had some good qualities too (even if most of them were done better by Hunter X Hunter), but the damage Part 2 did to its characters and themes is more than evident. It's not as if you can just stick to the first part of either like with something such as Hokuto no Ken, as much like with a series such as Death Note, the events built up by the end of their first part make reading the post-timeskip stuff necessary if you have any investment in them. Then there's Bleach, which unlike the other two, barely had any potential to begin with when its first arc was just a poor man's version of Yu Yu Hakusho and its following one and those after became the poor man's Saint Seiya with bland characters, constant contrivances and constant plot holes to the point even the most ardent fans were unwilling to defend it after Aizen's defeat.

Plenty of better series within the action/adventure genre of the Shonen demographic to check out, nevermind anime/manga as a whole.

 

[Fantastische Hure]

#inb4 lord pocket-gog tells us low-level scum to read hunter x hunter instead

 

[Warmmedown]

You won't find much better than OP or Naruto in action anime, especially shounen. He's read stuff from other genres, but if he wants something battle shounen, he'll struggle to find better. OP is ambitious and hits the mark often enough. What a boring world we'd be in if every publisher was a self-important elitist.

 

[Papasmurf]

Naruto was mediocre to begin with and just straight up went down a 2-mile downhill slope once it basically became about Naruto's chubber for his ex-boyfriend Sasuke after the Tsunade arc. OP was mostly good until the end of Marineford but as CC said, it went straight to complete shit following Return to Sabaody/Fishman Island and Dressrosa and onwards are pretty much unbearable. I only recommend reading up to either the end of Impel Down or up to the final moments of Marineford, although there are still bad arcs here and there such as Skypiea and the mini-arc with Sanji's recruitment.

Bleach was only watchable/readable as generic, cliched popcorn entertainment up until volume 19 or so (around the end of the second arc) but quickly became something on par with Dragon Ball Super and just broke new records on how downhill a popular shonen series could go, pretty much epitomizing everything bad about SJ's system alongside the second part of OP, Toriko, Naruto etc.

If you want recommendations on good (or at least entertaining) action shonen, I recommend reading Devilman, the first 2/3rds of Dragon Ball, Rurouni Kenshin (final arc is pr subpar but nowhere near as much as the second halves of the series mentioned above), HnK up to the end of the Raoh saga, Kongo Banchou, Fullmetal Alchemist, Ryuroden (not all that consistent, but at least most battles are heady for a shonen), and some others I might be forgetting

 

[Fantastische Hure]

so are u telling him to support rurouni-kenshin over the other 3 manga (if u can & want to answer)?

 

[Papasmurf]

so are u telling him to support rurouni-kenshin over the other 3 manga (if u can & want to answer)?

I wouldn't try to urge anyone to "support" the :withheld of Shueisha, but reading the scans online don't cost a dime and allows you to enjoy the work without paying the author. I would've also recommended JJBA and HxH but they are hit or miss depending on the arc (Hunter Exams/Zoldyck Mansion as well as Greed Island and the current stuff being generic, parts like Part 5 and Part 8 falling flat in JoJo's case).

 

[sei'taer]

No one on this forum likes super popular series that didn't end 10 years old so I doubt you'll get any good answers.

I'd recommend the One Piece and Naruto manga. The anime is just so bogged down and drawn out with pointless filler all over the place. Bleach was pretty good until the end of it's first major arc, then it just went down hill until it was mercy killed.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

No one on this forum likes super popular series that didn't end 10 years old so I doubt you'll get any good answers.

Considering not only do I, Kenshi and several others like JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (a series that's been ongoing since 1986) and Berserk which started in 1989, but almost everyone here likes or respects Dragon Ball to some degree which was both insanely popular and went on for 11 years, this isn't only completely false, but a poor attempt to strawman genuine criticisms of the series which makes it ironic that you'd talk about good answers.

 

[Yoshi]

I would, but only as gateway Manga. No need to introduce someone to them if they've already read enough Manga.

 

[ahill1]

Read Yu Yu Hakusho and mainly HxH.

 

[Papasmurf]

Naruto is only worth reading to any remote degree prior to the Sasuke chase arc. Bleach is very childish but ok as cringe entertainment prior to the Hueco Mundo arc, then it just becomes unbearable. OP is unbearable from Dressrosa and onward, and I still haven't wasted my time with read Fishman Island nor Punk Hazard and probably never will now that I have my priorities straight.

 

[Kyo]

No, no, yes

 

[Pocket-Gog~]

#inb4 lord pocket-gog tells us low-level scum to read hunter x hunter instead

Obsessed

 

[Pocket-Gog~]

I'll give a proper response here:

If you like Dragon Ball and the elements within it, I think you should go and give Naruto a read. Naruto as a work took the elements that worked from Dragon Ball but greatly expanded and improved on them. It has an actual fleshed out setting and decent world building. Chakra makes Ki look embarrassing with how much more work was put behind explaining its rules.

The character writing and even the writing in general is a step above DBZ/DB at its best. Honestly, it's shocking to realize that DB as a series is just a fossil and the whats characterized as the infamously "generic" and basic Shonen like Naruto just blows it out of the water.

 

[Ultimate Cell]

I'll give a proper response here:

If you like Dragon Ball and the elements within it, I think you should go and give Naruto a read. Naruto as a work took the elements that worked from Dragon Ball but greatly expanded and improved on them. It has an actual fleshed out setting and decent world building. Chakra makes Ki look embarrassing with how much more work was put behind explaining its rules.

The character writing and even the writing in general is a step above DBZ/DB at its best. Honestly, it's shocking to realize that DB as a series is just a fossil and the whats characterized as the infamously "generic" and basic Shonen like Naruto just blows it out of the water.

 

[Warmmedown]

Read/watch Kenshin if you want every character aside from Kenshin to be useless, you want to talk like you're from the 1800s.

Read Naruto for cool soundtrack, last millisecond rescues, woo it's not me you hit it's just a substitution, sad scenes, you want to talk like an emo, but actually you realise at the end of the day that you never talked and it was just an internal monologue.

 

[Papasmurf]

>finding Naruto good in 2022



Even the Thriller Bark arc has more consistent quality than anything Naruto shat out after its 20th volume. I'd sooner watch the Naruto anime for Part 1 than the manga even since the art is so scruffy prior to the Tsunade arc (post-Itachi subplot)