This was the opening I skipped. The beginning of the song annoyed me every time, I swear. Don't get me wrong. I started to like it later on.
This opening makes us understand not only Naruto, but Gaara and Neji more. We see how bad people treated not only Naruto's childhood, but Gaara's as Jinchuriki. And then you have Neji's father's death and we find out why he's been cold to Hinata and the rest of the Hyūga clan.. oh.
And Sakura, I don't get her backstory. Literally, her and Ino stopped being friends as children because they had feelings for a guy who didn't want neither of them.
Off topic, but Neji and Naruto's fight has to be my favorite out of the finals. Shikamaru and Temari being my second favorite, lol.
But anyway, finally, we see Naruto having a bond with someone he can relate to about being alone.
And I can't forget when Sasuke finally showed up to the finals with Kakashi wearing that black outfit like OHH MY GOD. HE DEFINITELY HAS IT FOR SURE.
People said this opening had spoilers, yeah yeah yeah. With me, seeing and hearing spoilers make me want to watch the show even more, rather than making me mad.
Also, this opening was featured on WatchMojo's video for anime's worst anime openings. Yeah, no. This wasn't all that bad, just misunderstood. If anything it's nostalgic.
I'm probably going to call all these openings from the first series nostalgic, but if I'm being perfectly honest, it is.
The storytelling of the visuals are top tier.
Overall ranking, 8/10.
