Despite ending in 2017, Naruto remains one of the most popular anime of all time. To this day, you can find discussion forums and posts about a series that has already come and gone. It’s inevitable that with such an astounding amount of popularity, Naruto would get an equally incredible amount of merchandise.
From books that expand the universe and video games that let you experience the story yourself, but one of the most exhaustive lists of figures for every character you can imagine. One of the better lines of Naruto figures to suit your needs is Nendoroids.
Made by the Japanese manufacturer Good Smile, Nendoroids fill a similar niche to Funko Pops! Rather than having their characters, they make products for a variety of series, primarily Japanese anime and video games. Nendoroids made to be small, cheap, and collectible making them fantastic for hobbyists.
More importantly, all the figures are poseable, with props and a stand! This not only makes them great for photos but makes them more interesting than a statue of your favorite character. But things can get confusing with so many Nendoroids, even for just one series like Naruto. Thankfully, this guide should give you some direction.
Now let’s get the Best Naruto Nendoroids guide started!
First Point Upfront
My pick for the best Naruto Nendoroid would definitely be the Nendoroid Naruto Uzumaki. It’s got a lot of things going for it without any huge problems.
The detailing of the surface is good, and it comes with some nice accessories like the nine-tailed fox display plate so it can stand on its own. The fact that it’s the main character also makes it a good starting point for collecting every Naruto Nendoroid.
Selection Criteria
I’m evaluating the Nendoroids by three different metrics:
- Quality – What “Quality” means is more than just the detailing on the figure. An actual quality figure will bring the character to life in a new and unique way. Maybe they reinterpret the colors or the way something looks, or maybe the figure does something different to capture the texture of something.
- Accessories – “Accessories” are those fantastic additions you often see figures come with. They’re usually a character’s iconic tool or weapons, but I’ll also include the faceplates and arms that Good Smile includes with their Nendoroids into this category.
- References – Nendoroids main selling point is that they’re a cheap affordable way to get figures from your favorite shows. Not only being accurate examples of the source material but being able to recreate scenes or poses from the source material is essential in deciding their overall quality.
Nendoroid Naruto Uzumaki
What’s a better place to start than with the character the series is named after? Naruto set the standard for the shonen underdog archetype, and watching him grow throughout the series is one of the best things about it. The figure sets an acceptable standard for what we expect from the rest.
It has multiple faceplates, so you can change his expression and jutsu to put in Naruto’s hand. However, this statue is a pretty good representation of Nendoroid’s biggest problem: their habit of turning hands into mittens. It’s a thing that never ceases to bug me. Why can’t Good Smile go ahead and detail fingers? Instead, we get lumps with only a thumb.
Naruto looks good, but more importantly, it has some fantastic accessories. You get three faceplates, one happy smiling Naruto, one serious sage-mode Naruto, and one angry fox-mode Naruto. I like that each of these faceplates gets an accessory to be paired with it. Normal Naruto gets a regular Rasengan, sage-mode Naruto gets a Rasenshuriken, and fox-mode Naruto gets a display plate of Kurama.
This Nendoroid is pretty light on references. Most of the poses, while fitting, aren’t taken from any specific moment. The closest one that does is Naruto forming the hand sign for his Shadow Clone Jutsu. I wish we get something specific from the Nendoroid.
Nendoroid Naruto Uzumaki: Sage of the Six Paths Ver.
Dragon Ball set the standard of the battle Shonen transformation, and what would Naruto be if it didn’t include one for itself? Undotubly inspired by the legendary Super Sayin transformation, Naruto managed to make something unique out of it, and this Nendoroid does a good job of showing that. A lot of the figure has a nice orange and yellow gradient to it that makes it stand out from the rest.
It contrasts really well with the pitch black of the Truth-seeking orbs that go behind him and the truth-seeking staff. My favorite accessory included with the figure is the Tailed Beast Bomb Rasenshuriken. It’s notably larger than other jutsu, really selling what it is. Overall, this is just a fantastic figure.
There isn’t anything missing from this figure. Overall, it’s a stellar piece. From a design standpoint, it looks better than what we got in the show and manga. Rather than a flat, bright yellow, the color gradient makes it much easier and more pleasing to look at.
The faceplates you get are pretty nice, but I especially love the one where he’s holding Minato’s kunai in his mouth. With a bit of effort, you can recreate the pose from the show when he confronts Madara after he absorbs the ten tails.
He does have arms, so you can have him do the hand sign for his shadow clone jutsu, but I don’t think the pose is a specific reference to anything. The general quality of this Nendoroid is way above the standard we usually get from Good Smile.
The unique gradient on the plastic looks better than what we got in the anime, and the incorporation of not only the truth-seeking orbs at his back but also the staffs made out of them and a Tailed Beast Bomb Rasenshuriken really shows how much effort Good Smile put into this.
Honorable Mentions
Despite being named Naruto, the series has an ensemble cast with over 100 characters. A few of the most important ones even got Nendoroids. Let’s go over those, shall we?
Nendoroid Sasuke Uchiha
Sasuke is a great character, and I genuinely mean that. Despite his writing lapses, Sasuke became the archetypical example of a rival character in a Shonen battle manga. He’s calm, cool, and collected, with a drive to match the main character but far darker intentions. You should celebrate such a character with this Nendoroid! Sadly, this figure is nothing impressive.
It doesn’t have any flaws, but it doesn’t have anything I particularly love. The only thing that got my attention was the Susanoo accessories. You get a display plate for Sasuke’s Susanoo and the skeletal ribcage to put around your Nendoroid. It makes for a pretty good scene when put together with the faceplate of his one bleeding Mangekyo Sharingan.
This Nendoroid’s biggest flaw is its mediocrity. It doesn’t do anything that makes it stand out from the rest. It comes with the expected accessories, like his sword and a Chidori. The only accessories that impressed me were all Susanoo-related, like the skeletal ribcage, the display plate of the Susanoo, and the faceplate of his Mangekyo Sharingan.
The other two faceplates are the standard serious faceplate and a happy smile faceplate, which is an expression Sasuke never made at that point in the story, so it looks weird. This Nendoroid isn’t hard to find, but you’ll want to look up “Sasuke Nendoroid” because if you just do “Naruto Nendoroid,” you’ll get Naruto.
The bleeding Mangekyo Sharingan and the ribcage form a nice combination, referencing the moment in the five Kage Summit where he stared down his enemies. Another reference you get with this Nendoroid is one of its arms which has him down that two-finger hand-holding thing he did with Naruto.
Nendoroid Sakura Haruno
Sakura gets a lot of flack from Naruto fans, but I think it’s overblown. She’s a fine character who has her moments, and they’re just too few and far between when the story is primarily about Naruto and Sasuke. Unfortunately for Sakura fans, it seems that this Nendoroid, much like her role in the story, was an afterthought.
The Nendoroid doesn’t come with much outside the norm. You have three faceplates and hands to pose as you wish, but they don’t reference anything in particular. The most notable accessory you get with this is a display plate of Katsuyu. You know, the giant slug that Sakura only summoned once. Maybe it’s due to how little she accomplished in the story, but this Nendoroid doesn’t do her any favors at showing it.
This Nendoroid is beyond lackluster. There’s not much to it, be they accessories or references to the source material. You don’t even get Sakura’s iconic pose where she tugs on her gloves. The most exciting thing about it is the display stand of Katsuyu and one of the faceplates because it has that cartoony angry expression Sakura often makes.
Outside of that, there’s nothing. No jutsu, no hand signs, not a kunai or bouquet of flowers. None of the faceplates even have the Byakugo Seal, and that’s one of Sakura’s main things! The best compliment I can give it is that it looks nice.
Nendoroid Kakashi Hatake
Kakashi has always been my favorite character in Naruto. He was suave and sophisticated, with a nice humility to him. Learning about his past and that he had every right to be a bitter, terrible person but actively woke up and decided to be better made him so endearing. I appreciate what Good Smile did, bringing this character to life with this figure.
The Nendoroid comes with more faceplates than usual at 4. The most interesting of these is dual-Mangekyo Sharingan Kakashi. It does make me wish they included a display plate of his Susanoo or even a red and black Kamui Raikiri, but he does get a regular Raikiri as an accessory. I do love the choice to include two different Make-out Paradise accessories for him.
This figure has a lot of things I love about it. The faceplates that come with it are nice and varied, including a neutral expression, a happy expression, a serious expression, and an excellent dual Mangenkyo Sharingan expression. It gives you a lot of room to work with.
The fact that he also comes with a Raikiri accessory, two Make-Out Paradise accessories, and even the bells from the bell test is an astounding amount of love to show one character, even for Good Smile.
My favorite thing about this Nendoroid, by far, is that you can make Kakashi strike the same pose he did when he passed Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura during the bell test. It’s a great homage to the beginning of the series. There’s also a pose that has Kakashi holding a kunai while also holding his arm. It’s not a 1-to-1 match for the pose he does in the series, but it’s there nonetheless.
Nendoroid Itachi Uchiha
Itachi is easily one of my favorite characters in all of Naruto. Every time he showed up, he floored the audience and his enemies. He was this elusive, enigmatic figure that loomed over the entire series. I wanted to know everything about him since Sasuke said his goal was to kill him in Chapter 2.
When Sasuke finally got his long-sought-after final battle, it was a huge affair that culminated in the Susanoo’s reveal. This Nendoroid lives up to a lot of what the character set up. The accessories showcase some of his most extraordinary abilities, like his Susanoo, Amaterasu, and Mangekyo Sharingan. The fact that you get an extra body so that you can show him outside of the usual Akatsuki coat is a great bonus.
I love the variety this figure offers. Not only do you get Itachi in his red and black Akatsuki coat and the grey clothes that he wears underneath.
The faceplates you get for this one are real quality, too. My favorite of them is the one with Itachi’s right Mangekyo Sharingan bleeding from exertion. It goes together wonderfully with the black Amaterasu flame accessory that comes with the figure. You could even use it alongside the armored Susanoo display plate for maximum effect.
The references this Nendoroid comes with are top-notch! You get one of Itachi making the “Tora” hand sign for the Fireball Jutsu and one of him reaching out for a forehead touch. If you get Sasuke, you can pretty accurately recreate his final moments.
Nendoroid Jiraiya & Gamabunta Set
Jiraiya had one of the greatest entrances to the series. In a time when Kakashi was the top dog, the 3 Sanin dropped in and showed the audience that there were still even greater heights. And Jiraiya lived up to the hype. He was seemingly the only character who could fight off Itachi and Kisame, standing tall and showing the audience jutsu like nothing they’d ever seen before.
This figure is a perfect representation of that, rather than a normal base, Jiraiya’s standing atop Gamabunta! He even has the arms, so you can do the classic kabuki pose he throws out before heading into battle. I’m a bit disappointed it didn’t include a Rasengan accessory when he’s the one who introduced the technique, but what the Nendoroid does have works very well.
Without a doubt, my favorite part of this Nendoroid is Gamabunta. It’s an excellent way to include a reference to one of the most iconic details about Jiraiya. Instead of the toad, the display plate has Naruto using the Sexy Jutsu, which pairs nicely with the goofy Jiraiya’s expression. An excellent reference to Naruto convincing Jiraiya to train him. It’s a perfect way to evoke one of Jiraiya’s most memorable moments from when we met him.
That being said, the rest of the Nendoroid could use some work. His second accessory is just a smoking pipe, which is a detail so minor I genuinely forgot he even smoked. He doesn’t come with a Rasengan either, which is weird when the Rasengan is one of his main techniques.
Nendoroid Rock Lee
Rocky Lee is a fan favorite, and not just because one of the first things he ever did was challenge Sasuke to a fistfight and then absolutely rock that man’s world, although that does have a lot to do with me loving him. Rock Lee stood for one thing: the talent of hard work.
He was the first to the training fields and the last to leave. And it’s how far such a humble boy managed to get without chakra that sets him apart. Sadly, the Nendoroid doesn’t live up to Lee’s legacy.
It just doesn’t come with much. It comes with three faceplates and… yeah, that’s just about it for accessories. You don’t get a kunai, removable weights, not the gourd of sake or “medicine,” as the dub called it, and that’s a huge missed opportunity.
Overall, I’m left feeling very mixed about this Nendoroid. Frankly, it’s like Good Smile finished the figure and then put it on the market without giving it anything else.
The Nendoroid doesn’t just look okay. It looks amazing! Lee’s faces are zany and exaggerated, matching perfectly with the rambunctious ninja. The problem is how little you get. I haven’t seen such a bare-bones Nendoroid before, and that’s a shame. Lee’s a great character who deserved way more than this.
Nendoroid Orochimaru
Orochimaru was always one of the most mysterious characters to me. He was an enigmatic figure that showed up in the middle of the chunin exams and was able to scare the life out of Kakashi. Orochimaru did seem like an inhuman monster.
He had freakishly pale skin and a wicked smile on his face that this Nendoroid managed to capture well. While most Nendoroids have faceplates with different expressions, every single one of Orochimaru’s are smiling, although they manage to stand out on their own.
The faceplates are my favorite part of this Nendoroid. The most boring of the three is Orochimaru’s signature smirk. The second has Orochimaru’s long serpentine tongue hanging out of his mouth in a way that looks so menacing, and the last has the sword of Kusanagi jutting from his lips.
These are all excellent choices for expressions to turn into faceplates. However, it is limited in the kind of expressions you can make him do. Any other expression would be nice to have.
The Nendoroid doesn’t come with too many accessories. The only ones with nothing aside from the faceplates are a sword of Kusanagi that can be held in his hand and a snake coiling around his outstretched arm. Both of these are references to his fight with the 3rd Hokage during the Konoha Crush. I like the latter option more because it lets you recreate the pose you see many statues and other figures give Orochimaru.
Nendoroid Gaara
Gaara is perhaps my second favorite character in all of Naruto. Despite being a supporting cast member, he had one of the best arcs in the series. He went from a psychopathic antagonist to someone other people, and eventually, his whole village could rely on as Kazekage.
This Nendoroid comes from the early parts of Naruto Shippuden, using Gaara’s dark red Kazekage outfit. I like the way the Nendoroid looks, mainly the sand. It has this nice texturing to it that genuinely makes it look coarse. It’s pretty light on accessories, but what you get has some excellent versatility. It’s a Nendoroid that works well when put with another.
You get two faceplates with the Nendoroid. One is a tight-lipped frown, and the other is a tight-lipped smile. I would complain if it wasn’t surprisingly accurate to the source material. The most notable accessory you get with the Nendoroid is two sand pieces.
They can both be used to show Gaara’s ultimate defense, and when placed on another Nendoroid, they form Gaara’s sand burial. It’s excellent versatility you don’t often get from Nendoroids. He also comes with two gourds. One with the cork still on and another with sand levitating out of it.
The Sand Burial is an excellent reference, but my favorite happens if you have a Gaara and a Naruto Nendoroid. The two Nendoroids can shake hands, a reference to the end of the Kazekage Rescue Arc when Gaara bids his first friend farewell. I wish they included a body for Gaara without the red coat to make it totally accurate to the scene.
Nendoroid Minato Namikaze
Minato has a significant presence in Naruto that I only noticed on rereads. He’s in the first chapter when we’re told about how the Nine Tails got sealed inside Naruto when Orochimaru’s attacking the village, Sarutobi laments how he’s not there, and Kakashi sees his sensei in Naruto when he finally uses the Rasenshuriken.
Minato was a hype god, and it felt so good to finally see him in action in Kushina’s flashback, which this Nendoroid is based on.
I like the general look of it managing to capture Minato’s silhouette while still looking like a Nendoroid. The fingers on the hands are detailed, rather than being mittens too! My biggest issue with the Nendoroid’s appearance is the hair. While Minato had longer hair than Naruto, I don’t think he ever had that much.
The Nendoroid comes with the standard faceplates, but Good Smile stepped up their game. All of the faceplates look good, and one is taken from a specific moment in the series when he gives Kakashi a flying Rajin Kunai. I like the choice to include a kunai that can be thrown and one that Minato holds in his hand alongside a Rasengan. It manages to capture Minato’s abilities extraordinarily well.
What is by far and beyond my favorite thing about this Nendoroid is how many references are packed into the Nendoroid. As I mentioned before, it can do the same pose as when Minato gifted Kakashi one of his kunai, but you can also recreate the scene where he smashes a masked Obito with a Rasengan.
Without a doubt, my favorite reference in the Nendoroid is recreating the manga panel where Minato puts on his Hokage cloak as he steps out onto the battlefield. It’s a moment I’ll remember forever because it was the first time we got to see this legend fight, and being able to recreate it in Nendoroid form is pure perfection!
FAQs
Question: What is the best place to buy Nendoroids?
Answer: The best place to buy Nendoroids is usually Good Smile’s store. However, if an item sells out, I recommend you check Amazon. The prices will be higher than they should be, but it’ll be a reliable way to get the Nendoroid you want.
Question: Which Nendoroid makes the best gift?
Answer: The Nendoroid Naruto Uzumaki will make a great gift. It’s a nice neutral figure that doesn’t have anything seriously wrong with it and a popular character from the series.
Question: What is Naruto?
Answer: Naruto is a Japanese comic series created by the author Masashi Kishimoto. It follows the escapes of Naruto as he becomes a ninja, learning powerful magic called jutsu as he endeavors to become the leader of his village: the Hokage. It’s a great series that also got adapted into a TV anime that I’d recommend you watch.
Conclusion
Naruto is a fantastic series, and the Nendoroids to go along with it are excellent as well. You have a lot of variety in the characters you can choose from, ranging from popular fan favorites like Itachi and Minato to lesser-known favorites like Sasori and Deidara. If you’re just now getting into collecting figures, let alone Nendoroids, these are a great place to start. They’re all organized on Good Smile’s website in a nice easy-to-find way, ensuring that you don’t miss out on any figures.
The ability to wishlist them so you can know when they’re back in stock ASAP is phenomenal. Especially when it means you can avoid second-hand resellers who love to jack up the price of things. This guide helped teach you everything you need to know about Naruto Nendoroids. If none of the ones featured are right for you, then I hope this guide at least gave you the skills to find your perfect match. Thank you for reading!
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