Originally Posted by redstarr37

First I'd like to say I love Naruto and still watch it even now. Not a hardcore otaku, but I do like my anime.

I'd say the real problem with Naruto, especially the anime, is it's length. Because of this some of the arcs tend to drag on. Often times themes are just repeated way too often and way too many flashbacks and exposition.

Personally the biggest issue I have are the fillers. Many times they're just rehashing old arcs. (SPOILER!!!) Especially now with the war and characters being brought back. They've been defeated before and should prove no challenge now. And exploring their backstory more is unnecessary. You don't always have to know everything that happened. It takes aways from the experience.

With that said, you really have to read between the lines and look pass through all the fluff. I like the story at its core, but they're milking it as much as they so it suffers from some real pacing issues.

I totally agree, I think one of the problems with many mainstream manga series is that the mangaka's are not selling their stories after their first few arcs, but they are trying to sell their manga universe to the fans. This is much like Star Wars, after the first trilogy, Star wars began to develop into not a plot driven story but a "Star Wars experience" driven franchise.

I still love the core of all the big 3 mangas, but the way they are dragged out is like what you said; it takes away from the plot experience.

the current arc is indeed the final arc I'd say the dollhouse stuff is worth suffering through since it might just be relevant later on, and the current arc IT IS BEAUTIFUL... to me... I'm really liking what Kubo's doing!!

Reading these comments do make me feel a bit better.
However, I do understand why now everyone feels like to make fun of Naruto or Bleach, the fillers are too long and emphasize too much on the important themes that were already brought across. Pretty much, that is my problem. Truth to be told, I can find good things out of any manga I've read, like Naruto for art and Japanese mythology reference, Bleach for great quotes and poetism, and One Piece for overall making me feel like a little boy reading about adventure. Mainstream manga are good, not great that are supposed to be worshipped, but decent enough.