For fans of NARUTO and BLEACH...

[petran79]

Naruto Shippuden at least has much more in common with Naruto than post-time skip with pre-time skip One Piece.

 

[Graves Ruinwalker]

all anime and manga have shit world building compared to gundam and kill the past View attachment 127417

Record of Lodoss-war says otherwise .

Or ... sort of ....

 

[Ikagura]

all anime and manga have shit world building compared to gundam and kill the past View attachment 127417

Then you get Legend of the Heroes of the Galaxy which is based on books so that's why it's even deeper.

 

[redux007]

Hot take: Naruto has mid-tier worldbuilding compared to Bleach and One Piece, and it’s not really close.


1. Naruto’s world is small and samey.
Every major region feels like a slight variation of the same ninja-feudal template. The 5 Great Nations share similar culture, architecture, and tech levels. Compare that to One Piece, where every island is basically its own ecosystem with unique politics, biology, and history, or Bleach, where each realm (Soul Society, Hueco Mundo, Human World) is dramatically different. Naruto’s world is cohesive, sure, but not especially diverse.


2. The chakra system starts tight and ends loose.
Early on it feels structured, but as the series goes on, chakra rules and power scaling get inconsistent. Bloodlines contradict earlier explanations, and Six Paths powers rewrite half the system. Meanwhile One Piece’s Devil Fruits + Haki stay consistent with clear limitations, and Bleach’s reiatsu/zanpakuto system has a thematic logic that stays intact.


3. Late-story lore dumps hurt the worldbuilding.
The Otsutsuki, Kaguya, the God Tree, Ten-Tails origin, cosmic chakra—these show up very late and retcon the entire history of the world. They don’t grow naturally from prior hints; they feel stapled on to escalate the stakes. By contrast, One Piece seeds Void Century, Ancient Weapons, and WG corruption from way back. Even Bleach’s late reveals (Soul King, Noble Houses, Quincy history) fit within what the story had already established.


4. The politics are surface-level.
Naruto presents a world built on international rivalry and conflict but explores almost none of the political depth behind it. The alliance before the Fourth War basically handwaves centuries of tension. One Piece has an entire geopolitical machine—Marines, World Government, Yonko, Shichibukai, Revolutionaries—that interacts in meaningful ways. Even Soul Society’s internal politics have more texture.


5. The mythology is cool but underdeveloped.
Tailed Beasts, summoning realms, ancient shinobi myths—all awesome ideas, almost none of them deeply explored. The toad/snake/slug worlds? Barely scratched. Bijuu lore? Mostly vibes. Otsutsuki? Space ninjas with no real culture. Meanwhile, Bleach fully commits to its spiritual cosmology, and One Piece builds a layered mythos that ties into history, races, and world politics.


TL;DR:
Naruto has solid worldbuilding for what it aims to be, but compared to the sheer scale and depth of One Piece or the cosmological structure of Bleach, it lands squarely in the middle, cohesive, but not expansive or consistent enough to compete.

I always felt like Naruto existed to sell toys. The first few season's combat scenes were stuffed to the brim with burrowed cells from other movies and productions of the era. The main character's motivation wasn't rooted in anything other than vanity, self aggrandizement. And, it was like he existed in an existential vortex where common questions anyone would ask like, "who were my parents?" never crossed his mind. Of course I only ever watched the first three seasons. So, maybe all of this was resolved later on. But, definitely dismissed as a subpar rip off of Dragon Ball Z like I did all other shonens back then.

 

[Ephemera1_]

I wouldn't say you're necessarily wrong with some of your complaints, however, I think we as readers value certain aspects of storytelling more than others. For example world building isn't an aspect of storytelling I value as much as others seem to. Don't get me wrong i love to be sucked into a world so vastly different from my own but it does come to a point where sometimes I don't need to know every single crevice of this world and would like the plot to progress further.

That's one of the issues i have with One Piece in particular, its amazing to see someone so creative like Oda however, for me at least, he spends so much time on world building that i often feel that it gets in the way of progressing the plot forward. Even when its something well written, i have a limit on how much i give a shit. There's a delicate balance, some series don't show enough (FMAB) and some give me too much (OP).

Before anyone accuses me of being a naruto stan, I have problems with all of the big 3 and none of them are personal favorites of mine. I will ask though, as someone who has admittedly not watched/read much bleach, but hasnt enjoyed much of what ive read, and have heard that it has almost all of the same issues as you laid out for naruto to a possibly worse degree, does the worldbuilding make up for some of bleach's aspects that arent up to par? Or do you just not feel that way about the series in general?

 

[thumbsdown]

worldbuilding is crucial to storytelling and not only determines where a story takes place (either a fictional set or not), but also its cultural context and historical length... even as a fan, I think we should just all acknowledge that the wb in naruto is as messy as its story, that's why we see absurd stuff like choji eating chips by the same space/time daimyo lords are arriving to konoha to follow the events of chunin exams lol

compared to the others, that's way too explicit that naruto was made just for the sake of merchandising... and that's all fine, sometimes you just want to eat junk even if you have better/healthier options

 

[Ephemera1_]

worldbuilding is crucial to storytelling and not only determines where a story takes place (either a fictional set or not), but also its cultural context and historical length.

Well i never alluded to it not being crucial to storytelling, my rebuttal is simply HOW crucial it is, depends on the writer and also the one reading said story.

that's way too explicit that naruto was made just for the sake of merchandising... and that's all fine

I just don't subscribe to this notion, not only do i find the statement oddly pretentious, it undermines a writers time and effort entirely. If were going to say that then that means other series with similar tropes were also made for merchandising. Dragonball was made just for the sake of merch, One piece was made for the sake of merch, Jojos, Dandadan, CSM, hell, nearly every shonen was made for merch.

A lot of these mangaka are writing these stories for 500+ chapters, some going through serious health issues while doing so. If they were doing it for merch they would've ended their series earlier or found a different avenue as a stream of income.

 

[Netra]

I just watch Naruto, I tried to watch Shippuden but I simply can't bear with the Naruto-Sasuke drama and how EVERYONE love to suck the salty balls of the almighty Sasuke, the importance of this little sht was so forced that make me hate the author for throw everything he construct just because for some reason Sasuke was important.

I love how Kishimoto take a cliche like ninjas, chakra and others cliche sht about the Edo period and make a fun world, good and loved characters but I hate forced plots, I hate some characters (specially Sasuke) and how he want to us love them just because he wants to.

I read bleach and I like the world building and most of the characters but I can't say I like this over Naruto.

 

[redux007]

BTW, if you're looking for extreme levels of "world building," then Five Star Monogatari is probably what you're looking for. Every little chapter/booklet comes with an expository dictionary explaining the dynastic history of even minor characters. It's up there with Dune.

 

[Ikagura]

Worldbuilding is crucial to storytelling and not only determines where a story takes place (either a fictional set or not), but also its cultural context and historical length... even as a fan, I think we should just all acknowledge that the wb in naruto is as messy as its story, that's why we see absurd stuff like choji eating chips by the same space/time daimyo lords are arriving to konoha to follow the events of chunin exams lol.

I always assumed that this was mostly for the joke or that the world of Naruto has a ninja theme yet is still a fairly "modern" world.

Also remember that Japan was still in the Meiji era (with Samurais) when potato chips were made.

I kinda disagree about worldbuilding being "crucial" to storytelling. In fact do we need the full context of a world for a story to be good? Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope is still a great movie even if you entirely ignore the Clone Wars, Order 66 and many other Extended Universe elements (I don't care if it's called Legends by Disney). Same thing with The Hobbit still being a good tale despite the depth of Tolkien's world.

That's what separates a tale from a bible: one is telling a narrative action the other is a compendium of all of those stories for a lore.

 

[Bakuma1997]

I will break a spear and will see that as a positive

Yeah, worldbuilding is good, but too many cooks spoil the soup, i want to watch some Anime, not have to do geography and history homework over a fictional world

 

[Ikagura]

I will break a spear and will see that as a positive.

I'm not a naruto fan (just nostalgic of the 90's mangas in general) but it feels refreshing when a series doesn't try to be the next Dune or LotR in term of lore.

Yeah, worldbuilding is good, but too many cooks spoil the soup, i want to watch some Anime, not have to do geography and history homework over a fictional world.

I follow you in that aspect. Sometimes it could be detrimental for the narration.

GTO is a beloved series and anime by many yet you can appreciate it even without having seen Shonan Junai Gumi.

Ditto with JoJo even if you've skipped parts or didn't know about the Stand Arrows.

 

[shadowcat]

Did I hit my head and wake up in 2006? People are still arguing about the big three of yesteryear?

 

[Midnigriphony]

Did I hit my head and wake up in 2006? People are still arguing about the big three of yesteryear?

Unfortunately, yes. people still waste their time debating how this...
Instead of seeking out works they have never seen or read

 

[thumbsdown]

Tonight I'm moving on

 

[BrawlMan]

Honestly, all three's world building falls flat or loses interest the further you get into these overly long series. Tenchi OVA, Tenchi Universe, Cowboy Bebop, Digimon Adventure or Tamers, Outlaw Star, Big O and even El Hazard have more interesting world building. Most of those are much shorter anime.

 

[JellyjamLu]

All i have to add is: RASEN SHURIKEN! *BZZZzzzzzz*

 

[Retro Doomer]

Talk no jutsu

Naruto was peak in the beginning and gone downhill at the latest since Shipuden,it as more realistic as far as Anime go in the beginning,
but later on the whole powerscaling was broken and just over the top.

Also trying to make every Villain relatable even fucking psychotic Mass Murderers is not good world building..its annoying especially when we don't get the conclusion we want like Oroshimaru who was of course

Spoiler: Spoiler just in case

Spared in the end because Talk no Jutsu even after every thing he did its frustrating

One piece is partially similar but not as worse in the talk no jutsu thing the bad guys get what they deserve often enough(,I think its been a while).
What the problem of One Piece is, is the Gigantic World and thousands of Episodes and fillers who make it so likely to fuck over the World building.And quite honestly I lost the plot and Interest after the guess 600 Episode or later I was very far in that is all I can remember

 

[Ikagura]

Honestly, all three's world building falls flat or loses interest the further you get into these overly long series. Tenchi OVA, Tenchi Universe, Cowboy Bebop, Digimon Adventure or Tamers, Outlaw Star, Big O and even El Hazard have more interesting world building. Most of those are much shorter anime.

I kinda like the lore of Cowboy Bebop yet I think that the worldbuilding isn't that important. It's just that Earth is messed up because of an accident long ago yet I always feel like it's just one plot point not the entire subject of the series.

I said it before but people overestimate lore and world building for series when sometimes it should just be about the adventure in itself. I love Saint Seiya (the original series) yet it's just set in our current world but it got armour wearing people with superhuman powers that protect the reincarnation of a deity, I'm not asking more for that.

 

[skramz]

all 3 suck pretty bad in all honesty so i think they're pretty equal

 

[BrawlMan]

I kinda like the lore of Cowboy Bebop yet I think that the worldbuilding isn't that important. It's just that Earth is messed up because of an accident long ago yet I always feel like it's just one plot point not the entire subject of the series.

Yet it's still more interesting and intriguing than the big 3.

I said it before but people overestimate lore and world building for series when sometimes it should just be about the adventure in itself.

Agreed, It's why I mentioned those shows earlier. They have the adventure itself that make it work for them.