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Evan Mullicane is the senior editor and founder of Screen Rant's anime section. Having started as a writer for the Comics Team at the beginning of the Pandemic, Evan was swiftly promoted from writer to editor, and then from editor to lead of Screen Rant's newly established anime vertical.
Throughout his time with Screen Rant, Evan has made a handful of appearances at conventions such as Anime Expo and San Diego Comic-Con, and has interviewed some of the biggest names in Anime and Comics history.
In addition to editing anime and manga articles for Screen Rant, Evan is also a science fiction and fantasy author. In 2018 and 2019, his short story "The Demon's Mother" won honorable mentions from the Writers of the Future contest.
You can find Evan on Twitter @EvanDM and BlueSky @evandmu.bsky.socia
To say that the reception to Boruto: Naruto Next Generation's anime has been rocky would be an understatement. An over-reliance on filler, a lack of focus on classic characters, and less-than-compelling new heroes have led some fans to disown the sequel to Naruto: Shippuden. For all its faults, however, Boruto is not the worst Naruto anime.
2012 was a huge year for the Naruto franchise. The manga was barreling toward its conclusion while the Naruto: Shippuden anime was hitting its stride with a 12th season.
Unfortunately for fans, 2012 was also the year Naruto released its first and only anime spin-off, Naruto SD: Rock Lee & His Ninja Pals.
Rock Lee's Naruto Spin-Off Anime Lives In Infamy To This Day
Based on the spin-off gag manga by Kenji Taira, Naruto SD: Rock Lee & His Ninja Pals is a comedy series that takes the characters of Naruto and imagines them in ridiculous scenarios.
The series was disconnected from Naruto's main continuity, allowing the series to put characters in situations they would never find themselves in over in the far more serious Naruto: Shippuden.
Though fan reception to Rock Lee & His Ninja Pals is far from horrible, that's mostly because of when it was released. Rock Lee & His Ninja Pals was released at the height of Naruto-mania and provided a relaxing alternative to Naruto's sometimes intense action.
Looking back at the series in retrospect, however, bigger cracks start to show. Far from the funniest anime series, Rock Lee & His Ninja Pals' humor mostly just comes across as a bit cringey now, which is a pretty big sin considering the series is a comedy.
Studio Pierrot's best anime series combine action and humor well, but with a bigger emphasis on jokes, much of Rock Lee & His Ninja Pals falls flat.
While Rock Lee & His Ninja Pals might not ever reach the lowest lows of Boruto, it doesn't even come close to reaching that series' highest highs. The result is wholly forgettable, which couldn't be said for Naruto's other anime series.
Rock Lee & His Ninja Pals Is More Influential Than It Should Be
As strange as Rock Lee & His Ninja Pals is, it's not even the strangest anime spin-off.
Perhaps the weirdest is Attack on Titan: Junior High, a series that takes the characters of Hajime Isayama's manga and puts them in middle school. Being fair, much of the spin-off's humor stems from the contrast between the grim nature of Attack on Titan and the goofy nature of the junior high school reimagining.
It's difficult not to look at Attack on Titan: Junior High and not see a touch of Rock Lee & His Ninja Pals in it.
Even when the Naruto franchise produces something unfortunate like Rock Lee & His Ninja Pals, it still proves incredibly influential, which just goes to prove how massive the series was and still is.
First Film Naruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow
Latest Film Boruto: Naruto the Movie
First TV Show Naruto
Latest TV Show Boruto: Naruto Next Generations
First Episode Air Date October 3, 2002
Cast Junko Takeuchi, Maile Flanagan, Noriaki Sugiyama, Chie Nakamura, Kazuhiko Inoue, Nana Mizuki, Hideo Ishikawa, Yûko Sanpei
Naruto is a franchise spawned from the manga series penned by Masashi Kishimoto that began in 1999. Generating several tv series, games, movies, and more, Naruto follows the exploits of a young outcast ninja harboring the spirit of a demon fox who seeks to become the Hokage, the leader of his ninja village, to break the stigma against him. Upon the conclusion of the initial series, Naruto expanded into Boruto, following many series protagonists' children and returning faces.
English (US) ·