I like Naruto.

Compared to my other favorites, the Naruto series is the balanced one. (The long one, too!)

The thing that impressed me most with Naruto is that the detailed Naruto world has a well-integrated metaphysical system: the 'chakra' system.

They use it to explain how their skills work, and they're doing a good job at it. It's not the usual "Ah, it's magic and that's all there is to it."

Skills are divided three ways: ninjutsu (skills performed by hand seals), genjutsu (illusion skills) and taijutsu (body skills).

The characters are varied and with sufficient depth. (My favorite is Hyuuga Hinata!)

The story is sometimes jumpy with filler episodes, but overall it has nice flow.

I have one remark:

The creators didn't really know how to resolve the 'true strength' issue, so they just kept using the cliche: "Protecting others is where true strength comes from."

They could've worked this out a bit more.

Go watch Naruto!