naruto is one of the most popular and influential manga series of all time, and its anime adaptations are no exception. Naruto Uzumaki spent the first twelve years of his life as a loner in Konoha, hated for being the host of the Nine-Tails demon fox. However, he still dreams of becoming a hero and leader of the village one day.
Naruto’s journey is a journey of perseverance, courage and friendship. While it took quite a while to finish the entire anime (and even longer if you’re looking to follow Naruto’s son’s journey in Boruto: Naruto Next Generations), fans will still crave for more once they’re done. Fortunately, there are many anime with similar atmosphere, character arc, and concept as Naruto.
10 Demon Slayer (2019 – present)
One of the key points of most popular shounen anime is the power that heroes as well as their friends and enemies cultivate and use in intense battles. Often, mastering a variety of styles is what gives the show variety, and the choices and abilities of heroes can define who they are, and few movies do this better than Demon Slayer.
Tanjiro Kamado and Naruto both started out with a fondness for a particular style: Breathing Style and Water Style, respectively. As they become stronger, they branch, Tanjiro learns the Breath of the Sun from which all other Breath types derive, and Naruto masters all types of ninjutsu. They are both warriors with intense compassion and great destructive power.
9 Assassination Classes (2015 – 2016)
Until Naruto single-handedly saved the village from Pain, he was shunned and feared by most of the people of Konoha. Although he rarely had the friendship and support of people like Iruka, the village government tacitly allowed his abuse. The hierarchy of Kunugigaoka Academy from Assassination Classroom works similarly, with Class E being the designated scapegoat.
Class E is isolated from the rest of the student body and used to frighten them into studying harder so as not to be the bully instead of the bully. However, under the tutelage of Korosensei, who trusts them unconditionally, all of the children become not only stronger assassins and better students, but stronger and more confident people, leaving their classmates in awe again and again. The same evolution took place not only in Naruto but also in many of his fellow Genins as they were under his master’s tutelage.
8 Noragami (2014 – 2015)
Naruto refuses to submit to the village’s stereotypes about who he is and what he can do. Not only is he determined to become a hero, but he also convinces other characters like Neji and Nagato that they are not bound by fate. Though he’s slow to talk about it, Yato of Noragami’s motivating goal is to be the opposite of what he’s meant to be.
Naruto’s father, Minato, sealed the Nine-Tails within him in the hope that he would become a powerful savior of the ninja world. Yato’s abusive father not only made him an evil God of Calamity, but didn’t even wait for him to grow up before training him to slaughter people. The adult Yato is still traumatized by his father’s treatment of him, but fights to become the God of Wealth alongside one of the best established families in anime, acting as a better father to his young weapon friend Yukine.
7 Hunter x Hunter (2011 – 2015)
While Konoha has a lot of interesting characters, what’s even more interesting is the shinobi world outside the village. Naruto only really started to hit his stride when Team 7 ventured out of the portal to the Land of Waves. Hunter x Hunter started off well when its first installment introduced the core characters, and turned great when they kicked Killua out of his home and explored the wider world.
Aside from the unique settings the main characters visit, the power of friendship and trust is just as prevalent in this show as it is in Naruto. Kurapika’s revenge story rivals Sasuke’s in drama and sickness, and only time will tell whether he will choose to live a peaceful life with his friends or self-destruct to avenge his clan. And while Gon and Killua are perfectly friendly kids, they’re much more willing to tackle problems with their fists than Naruto is instead of taking down their opponents, leading to intense action sequences.
Naruto’s dream was simple: win the respect of Konoha by becoming Hokage, protect his friends, become a stronger shinobi. The world’s plans for him were not so simple. In pursuit of his goals, he discovers that he is at the center of many different plans for the world, some good and some evil, all of which he must face as they come to fruition in order to reach his full potential.
In Fullmetal Alchemist, Edward and Alphonse Elric’s only wish as children was to revive their mother, which went horribly wrong. As teenagers, their only desire was to restore their lost bodies and joining the Amestrian army was only a means to an end. But Amestris itself is rotten from the ground up, with a history of bloodshed and destruction that stretches back to the present and traps both brothers: they and all their loved ones will have to do their best to save their world.
5 Wizards: Magic Labyrinth (2012 – 2014)
The Five Great Shinobi Villages are technically peaceful for most of Naruto’s main story, but it’s extremely annoying, with the authorities of each village constantly trying to outdo, destabilize, or simply spy on the others. In the world of Wizards, political and military transactions are as indispensable as fantasy and adventure.
There are many problems that heroes can solve by unleashing their power, but as they become embroiled in risky societies and the relationships of many nations, they realize they must quickly build up some diplomatic skills.
4 Soul Eaters (2008 – 2009)
Naruto and his classmates didn’t stay at the Academy long; When they were twelve and graduated, they were grouped into teams and sent on their first missions. Although they start off easy, they don’t age much when the enemies they face become truly deadly. While we don’t know the entire Death Weapon Meister Academy curriculum from Soul Eater, Lord Death clearly devised similar methods of training students.
Soul, Maka, and their classmates were fourteen years old at the start of the series, and they traveled the world fighting monstrous Kishin eggs and devouring their souls. While shinobi are trained to prioritize their duties above all else, with ninjas like Kakashi’s father ruined for saving their comrades, meisters and weapons can only function as a unit they are taught to protect at all costs.
3 Nabari No Ou (2008)
In Naruto, kekkei genkai are rare and extremely powerful abilities, so it is rare for someone outside the clan to possess an ability, let alone master it. It is sometimes given voluntarily, like Obito allowing Kakashi to take his Sharingan when he died. Other times, such as when Hinata was nearly kidnapped as a child to get her Byakugan, they were raped.
In Nabari no Ou, Miharu Rokujo is the target of many ninja clans who are trying to kidnap and kill him for Shinrabanshou, a hijutsu technique he possesses. He hides with the ninjas of Banten Village, who protect him from enemy shinobi. Now, Miharu must learn to use Shinrabanshou on her own and become the ruler of Nabari, the ninja world, but with a reluctance that would hinder any self-respecting ninja in the Naruto world.
2 Dororo (2015)
As a child, Naruto made ambitious statements about changing the ninja world, solving injustices, and creating peace in Konoha and every other village. While he was the key to ending the Fourth Shinobi World War and becoming the famous peacetime Hokage, Boruto proves he presides over many of the ninja worlds he entered at the age of twelve, with all the good and bad of the system that raised him intact. At the end of their journey, Dororo and Hyakkimaru made another call in one of the best anime remakes, Dororo.
Kagemitsu Daigo sacrificed the body of his firstborn son and heir to youkai in exchange for prosperity for his land. That son, Hyakkimaru, survived and grew up to exterminate the demons in order to gradually regain his body parts, making him despised by his relatives and the people of Daigo, whose peaceful life depended on Hyakkimaru’s suffering. While Hyakkimaru moves forward to avenge himself on a quest that could potentially earn Sasuke Uchiha’s Seal of Approval, the more optimistic Dororo continues to help people prosper on their own without relying on the ruling family or sacrificing anyone to maintain the world.
1 God of School (2020)
One of the most famous tournaments in the anime is Naruto’s Chuunin Competition, where teenagers are pitted against each other in hopes of promotion. This is the concept that the entire first season of The God of High School revolves around. Incredibly strong high school student Jin Mori lives to fight, and he participates in the prestigious martial arts tournament to find strong opponents and obtain the only wish promised to the winner.
Based on the webcomic of the same name, this show mixes action and intrigue in a similar way as the Chuunin Exams build up to the Konoha Invasion Arc. Just as Sand Village and Sound Village use the exam as a cover to destroy Konoha, dark forces are at work behind the tournament. As Mori builds friendships through battle with the other strongest fighters in the tournament, the characters running it are watching them closely, hoping to use the unique powers of the participants to their advantage.
To be fair, Naruto changed the landscape of manga and anime, leading the trend that made the media the global ruler it is today. Fans of the series are numerous, but they should remember that they can find the same elements that appealed to them. naruto in other anime, including those on this list.