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REVIEW: Naruto, Vol. 71

I honestly wish Naruto had killed Kaguya and he did it himself because he didn't really kill any major canon "final bosses" except for Pein and because that would show a darker side to Naruto.

I think what really killed me about Kaguya is that, when you get down to it, all she exists for is to give an excuse to most of the villains who committed morally questionable/outright evil acts. Obito, Madara, the Akatsuki, the entire Uchiha clan, Kaguya exists as nothing more than giving them a free pass because "THE DEVIL MADE THEM DO IT!" Though that completely and utterly fails once you start actually examining it and it's quite clear that NOT of their actions are absolved because they still did it of their own free will. Way to try and give a convenient excuse for them only for it to fall flat on its face.

It's not the only time I've seen this happen in fiction. Another example was in Bleach where the villains are clearly complete, unrepentant monsters and then the writer tries to do some wishy-washy flashback to make them "complex", though since it's far too late in the game for it to mean anything it just comes off as manipulative and shallow. That isn't how you make a complex, interesting antagonist. Heck, antagonists don't even NEED to be sympathetic to be interesting.

I could go on about more, like how Kaguya's scheme is just another cookie-cutter "Instrumentality" plot, or how she has no character, or how her existence and the final battle basically throw any messages or themes in the series under a bus, etc, but I think I'll just sum it up: she's just an crystallization of ALL of the series' problems and really shows how most Naruto fanfiction makes for a more interesting read nowadays.

BadNewsBlues, he's killed the fodder/red shirt characters

If I could marry a comment I would. This pretty much sums up my problem with Naruto as well as other shows that try to make villains sympathetic. The thing that pisses me off about Kishi is that he feels the need to justify almost EVERY single villain. I think this sort of thing is fine for major villains but not every bad guy needs to have some greatly exaggerated sob story. I still feel like Orochimaru was still the best villain of the series. His motivation was simple. He wanted to be immortal and loved to see destruction. He was intimidating, powerful and when you saw him suffer after getting his arms sealed you felt he deserved every bit of it. But most of all he was entertaining. His raspy voice coupled with his creepy movements were what made him great. And his relationship with Orochimaru was still compelling enough to make their VERY LONG fight even more awesome.

Point is he was never really portrayed in a sympathetic light which worked for the kind of guy he was. The Uchiha clan didn't need to have their actions justified either. From my point of view I can see their actions as reasonable given the conditions they were under for so long. Sure I don't agree with it but it MADE SENSE. They didn't need to be redeemed by the final villain pulling the "I planned all of this" bullshit that so many shounen use to tie up loose ends. Speaking of which Bleach did something similar with Aizen. Even worse though is how SO many people get a hand wave for all the horrible things they did. Kabuto and Orochimaru are not punished at all for the terrible things they did to THOUSANDS of children/adults. Kabuto especially should have faced some kind of punishment considering he caused things to get to this point. But oh that's right his sob story is supposed to make us think he was manipulated to do this.............even though nobody else knows what happened to him besides Orochimaru. And who the hell would believe either of them?

If your going to try to make a villain sympathetic do so from the BEGINNING. Because sooner or later the audience isn't going to care if the they have a sob story when you've made us hate them the entire time. It's one of the cheapest forms of writing.

this series turn 180 say FK to fan in the end to pain giving life and the eye power giving so much explaining in begin turn out to be nothing. i love how bleach is doing keep simple and sweet at the same time

Sasuke and Naruto...well, in all honesty Sasuke really should have been offed AGES ago for his actions and the fact that he suffers no true punishment for ALL the crap he did or was an accomplice to it disgusting. In a logical world he'd be tried for too many felonies to count, possibly even war crimes. And of course it doesn't help that anyone who says Sasuke needs to be punished is clearly some sort of heartless monster who is reduced to a straw man because the plot says so.