I’ve posted this under a youtuber’s Video where he said the exact same thing. I guess I’ll post it here too.
the Samurai 8 fanboys who thinks it’s phenomenal, and “one of the best manga in YEARS”, are really undermining how good the beginning of Naruto was.
Just comparing the 1st 3 chapters of both series.
What do we know about Hachimaru in the 1st chapter. Hachimaru is sick. He’s a positive kid. And he wants to become a samurai. Why does he want to become a samurai? We don’t know; he just wants to be a samurai. By the end of the 1st chapter he becomes a samurai. How does he become a samurai? Through hard work and training? No. He becomes one because of the magic samurai rock that turns him into one. He has father, but we don’t see a ton of chemistry between the two. If you told me his dad was just an old guy that took him in a couple years ago I wouldn’t see much of a difference. He has the cat samurai whom he’s building a connection with as his master. Why does Hachimaru have a connection with the cat samurai? Cause the cat samurai is a samurai of course. No real reason other than that.
No look at the first 3 chapters of Naruto.
What do we know about Naruto? He’s a trouble maker who is a nuisance to everyone in the Konoha village. Why is Naruto such a trouble maker? Because he grew up with no parents, and the entire village shunned him because of the fox demon inside of him. Which he isn’t even aware of, so he has no clue why everyone hates him. He desperately just wants attention, and doesn’t care if it’s bad or good attention. Instantly we feel for Naruto, and can emphasize with how he feels.
Naruto wants to become Hokage. Why does he want to become Hokage? Well he has no real reason why. But that’s sort of the whole point. He just wants to get the highest Ninja position possible to prove to everyone that he’s not a loser and useless. He wants the respect from the same people who shunned him his whole life and called him worthless. So as a reader we can get behind this goal.
He has a connection with Iruka sensei, but this connection just feels genuine. Iruka can relate to Naruto because he grew up with no parents and became a nuisance for attention too. However, Iruka’s parents were killed by the same demon fox inside Naruto; so he has every reason to hate Naruto as much as the other villagers. But instead he knows Naruto is a good child, and treats him with love and respect.
And Naruto’s rivalry with Sasuke makes sense right away. Naruto just hates Sasuke because Sasuke is the best, and deep down, at the skill level he wants to be at. If you read chapter 3 and think it’s nothing more than shenanigans where Sasuke and Naruto kiss, then you really didn’t understand the rivalry being set up in that chapter.
With that being said, I enjoy Samurai 8, and think it’s had a solid enough start. But if we’re comparing just the beginning chapters of both series, S8 isn’t even in the same league as Naruto in terms of characterization, world building, emotion, and just overall storytelling. Saying “Naruto wasn’t doing much either” is just downplaying it’s phenomenal start(regardless of what became of the series later down the road).