Naruto (as a series, not the manga) gets a lot of flak for the time when it's animation is bad. That's fair (and I've joined in on the fun) because sometimes the animation WAS complete shit, but when the animation was good it was REALLY good, especially when it comes to fight choreography. The way the animators incorporated real martial arts techniques into the fights they expanded on when adapting the manga to the anime and how they would pay tribute to fight scenes from other media that they liked: pure fire!
For example, let's talk real martial arts. A lot of the characters in Naruto have fighting styles that consist of elements from different disciplines. From boxing to taekwondo to muy thai to capoeira to wing chun, there are a lot of instances of real techniques being used. And the thing that really makes me geek out is when the characters use the right form when executing a move! The attention to detail is so fucking incredible!
For example, here's Sakura throwing a overhead hook and fucking NAILING IT:
I mean, goddamn! The punch starts in her legs LIKE IT'S SUPPOSED TO (that's why she has her feet planted firmly on the ground and lunges slightly while swiveling her hips) and she twists her body to where it's facing outward. This adds so much force to the punch because it's proper boxing form! See below:
Then there's shit like this, where Sasuke is just out here throwing those perfect Muay Thai kicks:
This is the proper form for a Muay Thai kick. He's kicking with his shin, not his foot. He's using the momentum from his arms. It makes the kick more powerful. I LOVE IT. Real life execution for reference:
And, even though I HATE Boruto, I still have to acknowledge that the animators went all out in this same way in episode 65, and it was good. Here's what looks to me to be a heavily Wing Chun inspired part of the fight where Naruto is straight refusing to catch those hands:
His form is narrow, he keeps his elbows tucked close to his sides, he's blocking with his feet and using low kicks. Here it is in physical practice:
I MEAN, not to be such a nerd, but I've started rewatching Naruto recently and I've noticed so much more of this than I ever did before and it gets me so hype. This kind of attention to detail makes you feel like the character actually knows what they're doing; that they ARE a fighter, that they worked hard to be one! It helps immerse you in the universe. So much anime, and even a lot of live action media, focuses only on close-ups, fast cuts, or just unfocused, crazy strong punching, flashy, energy-based moves, or unrealistic weapons. Naruto is guilty of that sometimes, too, but it also gave us so many incredibly well-animated fights using real techniques. And there are so many great details if you watch these scenes closely enough to notice.
Things like at the end of this clip, when Sasuke fakes a punch so that Naruto focuses on blocking and allows himself to be kicked:
And the hand to hand combat between Kakashi and Obito (when he kicks the kunai into his face!!!):
Or the weapon fighting between Itachi and Sasuke (complete with rad sword block!):
As for how awesome it is to see tributes to fights from other media reproduced by the animators of Naruto: they're some of the most fun Easter eggs to find. They've included fight choreography from Cowboy Bebop and Captain America: Winter Soldier for instance (wish I could include these here, but for some reason Tumblr won't let me).
The animated fights in Naruto are so well-known for how good they are that other shows have paid tribute to them as well! Like when The Boondocks paid tribute to the Orochimaru vs Sasuke fight in the Forest of Death:
Anyway, to sum up, even though Naruto has it's failings, I'm absolutely convinced that no other anime has better or more realistic fight scenes than it does. And in this house we stan.
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