Anime is notorious for flashback sequences, some series more than others. Naruto is renowned for being especially flashback-heavy, and in 2017, a fan decided to do an actual count. This fan, who would like to go by Maddy, watched the original Naruto series with 220 episodes between July 2017 and July 2019, eventually completing a list of every single flashback in the anime classic.
An incredible number of 791 flashbacks are included in the Naruto anime, not even including Naruto Shippuden. This evens out to between three to four flashbacks per episode. The list of flashbacks, which can be viewed on Maddy's blog here, groups the flashbacks by theme, giving an idea of what the anime was constantly drawing the audience's attention back to. For the top three, 47 flashbacks were about Sasuke and the Uchiha Clan and 56 flashbacks were about the Land of the Wave Arc and related characters. At the top of the list, with a whopping 98 flashbacks, are the Chuunin Exams. Aside from these oft-referenced instances, Maddy also counted flashbacks to events such as the Gosunkugi Capture Mission, the Kyuubi Attack and Naruto's birth.
Maddy set out to count the flashbacks in Naruto Shippuden as well, and is currently on Episode 90 with 278 flashbacks thus far, hitting a little less than Naruto at around three flashbacks per episode. They are still determined to finish the count. When asked about how it felt to count up the flashbacks, Maddy shed some light on what it's like to tear into a nostalgic favorite. "It definitely felt like it changed my view of the show," they said, "When each episode is 20 minutes long and you get two minutes for the intro and another minute playing the last bit of the previous episode, there isn't much time for actual plot and when that 17 minutes are taken up with flashbacks of things we've already seen (not to mention the absurd amount of inner monologuing) you feel like nothing ever happens and just watching it becomes tedious, not fun."
The experience of counting up the flashbacks changed Maddy's view of the show. "I could watch an episode and the only thing to happen is two characters staring at each other and inner monologuing about their childhood," they said. Maddy explained that they still love the Naruto series but choose to enjoy it in other mediums now, such as fan fiction, where the story and characters can still be enjoyed and explored but through the voices of other fans. After completing the flashback count for Naruto Shippuden, they don't see themselves watching Shippuden again, although perhaps one day, they will rewatch the first part.
Maddy's commentary is a pretty heavy blow against Naruto and its love for flashbacks, and some may even see it as an insult. However, when asked about critiquing and accepting critique about nostalgic favorites, Maddy agreed that they too get irrationally mad when people critique things they're nostalgic for. "But at the end of the day," they added, "No piece of media is perfect, nostalgic or not."
Would Naruto have been improved by cutting the flashbacks out? Exactly which flashbacks are important to actually remind the audience of events and which are simple filler to something that happened five minutes earlier? When asked about the relevancy of flashbacks, Maddy answered that "I think if it isn't relevant to whatever is happening in the episode it shouldn't be in there. If it's for emotional or character development then it's okay but it should only be used in the right moments. No spamming the sad swing every episode," they added. "Less is more."
While flashbacks to help the audience remember certain details as well as to add emotion to a scene seem beneficial to some anime, endless flashbacks can be tiresome even for a fan on a rewatch mission. As Maddy said, this can end up wasting valuable time and even lead to boring episodes of events that have already been seen. If a flashback has been used too often, it will "spam the sad swing" and cease to have any real emotional impact. When asked if they pick up on the flashbacks in everything now, Maddy said that they have not found a show as guilty as Naruto for flashback usage and that most other media knows how to use flashbacks more wisely.
Still, this list is not meant to insult fans of Naruto. Maddy remains a fan through other mediums and would not have spent two years carefully picking the show apart for flashbacks if they didn't love the story and its characters. If anything, it can be a list to look back at and laugh about, recognizing the flaws of a long-time favorite. With 791 flashbacks in total, Naruto has almost certainly picked up some records, at least until the list for Naruto Shippuden is completed. Fans can check out the list of Naruto flashbacks at Maddy's blog to see which events got played over and over again, laugh a little and then perhaps go rewatch them once again themselves.
