Naruto Season 3 (2004)
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Naruto Season 3 Review
The third season of Naruto most certainly has its flaws, but it’s still the best season of the first Naruto series thanks to its more mature, emotional storyline with bigger stakes.
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“You’ve become my best friend“
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Let’s comment upon each of its major arcs and plots. First and foremost, Sasuke’s backstory is finally showed in the first episodes of this season and it’s absolutely amazing. That episode remains the most purely authentic, sophisticated, darkest and even the most artistic in animation episode of the entire series. What happened to Sasuke is horrible and it explained so much about his character that I now came to fully appreciate him. Itachi is a fantastic, truly imposing villain. Yes, he only appears briefly, but still very effectively and he’s badass and poses a genuine threat to our heroes.
Then the season somewhat slows down and we get introduced to Tsunade who is by far the only truly good female character on this unfortunately still sexist show. Even though her sexual objectification is questionable of course, she is still a terrific healer and particularly badass in fights and actually very strong physically. I loved her moving backstory as well as her growing motherly relationship with Naruto. And of course the conflict with Orochimaru is terrific and those battles with him and Kabuto versus the protagonists was so good.
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The hospital scenes are memorable and Sakura’s scene, although embarrassing for her and she truly is ridiculously brushed aside in this season, is still a great scene because of Sasuke as we see that he still appreciates her caring for him during all that time in the hospital. His argument with Naruto was also memorable.
However, I have to be honest and say that I really did not care for all the other characters and their rushing to save Sasuke and prevent him from joining Orochimaru. That’s a great story and it would have been great just if Naruto was going after him, but all these other teams were simply unnecessary and they still remain underdeveloped and unnecessary as characters. Shikamaru is still forgettable to me and only Gaara and Rock Lee have a truly memorable, great fight. I just did not buy all of them wanting to save Sasuke. That rang pretty false to me.
But that is only one minor flaw in an otherwise great season. That Sasuke’s backstory remains the best part of this season and the best flashback of them all so far, but there is no denying the power of Naruto and Sasuke’s fight. This is the culmination of the entire show and where the series actually ends, if you discount the filler episodes of course. And this review is about the third and that beginning of the fourth season with four episodes that ended the season. But yes, Naruto progressed so much and became much stronger than he was before and their fight was genuinely amazing to behold. It at first had too many flashbacks, but the conflict between the two characters is so well established and their relationship is beautifully developed and the series’ heart and core. These episodes were both moving and highly entertaining.
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So in the end, this season has too many characters that sidetrack the storyline a bit, but the beginning of the season is unprecedentedly dark and amazing whereas the ending is moving, complex and so powerful. The action is great, there is no denying that, but the backstories and the character interactions remain the best aspects here.
Worst Episodes: Fakeout: Shikamaru’s Comeback and The Leaf’s Handsome Devil.
Best Episodes: Roar, Chidori! Brother vs. Brother and A Cry on Deaf Ears.
