Name 3 things about Naruto that set it apart from a regular battle manga that hadn't been done before and that truly made it "unique."
Or as the other comment said, name 3 tropes that Naruto "refined" that made it stand out and made it unique
Series don't get popular because they are unique. They get popular because of the story that resonates and most importantly because those series were made in a way that it's readers/viewers could easily follow.
How is this hard to understand?
Bleach also influenced generations that came after it. Are we going to start calling Bleach unique as well?
Kimetsu is breaking records everywhere. 10-20 years down the line we are going to see new generations of mangaka and artists name it as an influence. Are we going to start calling it unique?
A few things:
1. Naruto started delving into more character-driven stories. It was also (arguably) the first series that started to move away from the “Goku prototype” by humanizing the MC. It did a pretty good job of delving into Naruto’s psyche, and rather than treat the MC as a plot device, it treated them as
actual characters. This is best seen in the subsequent generations with the foremost examples being MHA and KnY.
2. Villains weren’t painted Black & White. They all had varying degrees of grey and in between. But one thing they all had in common was they all had a starting point that led them to the path they took. This is, again seen in future works such as MHA.
3. The emotional connection between characters were more fleshed out compared to past works. Be it the protagonists with the villains, or within their respective groups.
Overall, I’d say Naruto was unique for its time. But not as unique as some people might believe, as there may have been other works that Naruto was influenced by. For the record, I have never seen Saint Seiya once in my life although there may be those older than I am who would remember seeing it here. That, and I lived abroad as an infant up to 5 years of age in Thailand. Whatever the case being, I certainly do not remember anything about it.
Moving back to the topic, what Naruto had going for it was its worldwide reach. So all of the tropes, writing choices that went into Naruto would be recognized as something unique to itself only. Although there may have been other series that influenced Naruto, the series was able to use those to worldwide appeal. If you had someone claim Naruto was unique (for its time), then that wouldn’t be false either because it was the most recognized manga at the time.
Furthermore, Naruto wasn’t 100% “unique”. No story ever is. But what it did do is add a little something new to the blueprints of shonen manga that came before the series. It’s a continuous cycle that can even be seen in post-Naruto series. Even the next generation will be able to add something new to what the likes of MHA, Kimetsu, and JJK has laid out.
