The anime series is loved by many people. I grew up watching Naruto, and it changed the perspective of how i see the world now of days Kishimoto did a great job differentiating the characters by having their own traits, own look. The story line itself is great, the openings, and the lesson that it teaches is just phenomenal. Of course there are fillers...like a lot of fillers, but if you put that to the side, the anime gives every character a story, a chance to redeem themselves, "You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become a villain, and live even longer to redeem your chance and become a hero." Some people say there's too many characters, I believe there's enough character's to go around and make it interesting. Too much, it'll be overwhelming, too little, a bit boring. My final conclusion is that if it's your first time watching anime, I would highly recommend Naruto. It has a lot of episodes, yes, but it's plenty enough to love the characters, stories, openings, and teach you a lesson to "NEVER GIVE UP!"