Forum - View topicHouse of 1000 Manga - Naruto Part II
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Kadmos1
 Posts: 13567 Location: In Phoenix but has an 85308 ZIP |
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It helps when you put more paragraphs for your 2190-word wall of text. |
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ptolemy18
Manga Reviewer/Creator/Taster
Posts: 357 Location: San Francisco |
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Your writeup is great!! Thanks for posting it! |
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bleachj0j
 Posts: 925 |
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I agree. It was mostly just incredibly sappy. Tobi was imo was great, mysterious, threathing but when we see it's Obito crying over Rin who we barely knew he instantly just becomes annoying and boring. It's the difference between something like Naruto and Hunter x Hunter. If the Phantom Troupe were in Naruto they would probably based on their backstory get some really chessy, pound you over the head sob story. |
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Krotchstak
Posts: 94 |
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Great read, just like the last one! It's inspired me to take up my own challenge: re-read the series in Japanese, and watch the anime alongside! I'm trying to set a pace of one volume every two days, and just made it through the Land of the Waves arc, which I haven't read or watched for probably close to a decade. Some thoughts:
-Honestly, my only real issue with the series (at this point) is Sakura's utter uselessness in it, which I know is a bit of a tired joke but is completely true (wouldn't it have been cool if she had used her mastery of chakra focus somehow in the battle on the bridge? Kishimoto didn't seem to think so!). It's like she's a complete afterthought of a character. -Kishimoto has a great eye for the "language" of comics, including using panel transitions and pacing and character body language. He's also good at writing his various characters with a distinct voice, something that I fear kinda gets lost in translation. Naruto in particular comes alive through his words as often as he does through the art, but Kakashi deserves special mention too. -As a teacher, I think what I enjoy the most is how realistically the Genin Three are written. They feel, and act, like kids. In the past, I remember people complaining how obnoxious Naruto is, but I've had 12-year-olds EXACTLY like him. This wouldn't mean much if the adults weren't also written like adults, of course, so it's a good thing they are. Like Jason, I relate to Kakashi pretty heavily as the adult voice among the main cast. -Reading the manga alongside the anime has also given me a chance to see a bit more directly how the adaptation was handled. Strangely, it's generally at its best in the talkier scenes, where it fires on all cylinders to give a visual experience to what is often just a word bubble or two in the manga. Fights are expanded in similar ways, but of course that has a tendency to kill the pacing. In the manga, explaining a technique in a couple word bubbles and one panel doesn't disrupt things much, but that's not so much the case in a motion-based medium like animation. The anime does add EXTRA battle padding constantly though, and only very occasionally does so well, generally when it adds more fight to the fights. This is a bit of a growing pain, clearly. -The music is good, but takes a bit to be used effectively in the show. Naruto has one of the best/most appropriate OSTs in anime, as far as I'm concerned, so I hope it gets even better as things go on. I'm looking forward to tackling it all, but it's going to take me 5 months, and that's optimistically. Still, fingers crossed! |
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RestLessone
 Posts: 1426 Location: New York |
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Ah, this series did become messy by the end. There are many formerly-important characters who either lose any and all impact or disappear.
I think my biggest complaint with Naruto would be how easily characters were redeemed. Or, worse, when a villain turns out to actually be a misunderstood good guy or good guy with a misunderstanding. I think it's fine to have a few of them, but how many major villainous/jerk characters in Naruto didn't turn a new leaf? Most of the guys who died bad were pretty expendable. Naruto also played on a pet peeve of mine: the main character's words/actions causing near-instantaneous change. It was always Naruto that inspired people to quit their immoral ways and see the truth. I get that he's the main character of a shonen series and, as such, will have an inordinate impact on those around him, but it felt really cheesy to me. |
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Cecilthedarkknight_234
 Posts: 3820 Location: Louisville, KY |
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In all honesty it was pretty damn obvious that tobi was obito from the start, I didn't need the sharingan to see through that mess. Aspoiler[s for the 4th hokage being naruto's father], I wasn't really that surprised but it felt kinda stupid that no-one else but higher ups knew. As for the ending of the naruto manga, In all honesty I don't think the series could've ended any better. I will not spoil anything for those who are waiting to find out but you're in for a treat. |
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AiddonValentine
Posts: 2228 |
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And that is what makes the attempts at trying to make them sympathetic just plain pathetic. Had he wrote the characters better, maybe give them some interaction between one another, have them talk about their pasts, or random stuff it might have worked, but all it led to was a bunch of crappy writing I'd expect out of the kind of people who would try to make the Joker sympathetic, because just a few examples: Itachi: Really? The guy who mindraped Sasuke and Kakashi so bad they're lucky they're not insane was pulling off an undercover cop act? REALLY? There is a difference between deep cover and "you clearly just rewrote this at the last minute, didn't you?" Pain: You expect me to sympathize with a guy who wantonly slaughtered people left and right with no remorse? Seriously, I felt more sorry for Konan. And she was one of the LEAST developed Akatsuki Danzou: Uh, what was his goal again? I think, something something, kill Leaf Village stuff, coup, I dunno, his entire existence was as incomprehensible as an Escher painting viewed though a kaleidoscope. Tobi: No Kishi, I don't feel sorry for him. Especially when we've already had the "dark reflection of Naruto" thing done better. TWICE. |
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vashfanatic
 Posts: 3490 Location: Back stateside |
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Okay, so I quit after Uchiha Itachi turned out to be really not a bad guy after all, which felt like such a lame copout on a good villain. I'd expected him to have had a driven-insane-by-a-tortured-childhood-as-a-prodigy backstory, which might have been predictable but it would have left him a villain. I like villains, damnit!
At the time I considered it Naruto jumping the shark, but I think really I just outgrew the series. I'm too old, too jaded; I read mostly seinen and josei manga at this point, which I suppose is at it should be for my age. You're right about the art being fantastic, though. And for the first anime series, that soundtrack is going to be a classic. As for One Piece, I started an attempt to marathon everything that had been translated into English in about a week so that I could have a working background on my students' favorite manga when I arrived in Japan. I...quit after volume 28 or so. I just wasn't getting that into it, and also, I think I discovered that this is really my limit on how long a manga can really keep me interested. Berserk I am grandfathering in because I started this ride and even if it takes 50 volumes, I need to finish it, but by-and-large 30 is where I have to quit. |
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Gasero
 Posts: 939 Location: USA |
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A great piece of work this is.
If only you didn't skim through the last volumes. I think the conclusion is well written (mostly in line with my opinion though). Naruto is a great world to explore but the narrative needed some work for female characters and villain motivations. |
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vashfanatic
Posts: 3490 Location: Back stateside |
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Finally went through that massive post of text, and this. THIS. THIIIIIIISSSSSS. Seriously, what is it with Shounen Jump still acting like only preteen boys read their work? This has never been the case; in his notes for Kenshin, Watsuki notes that it initially had a majority female readership and this worried the publisher. What. The. Heck. I mean, that was almost 20 years ago now, but things don't always seem that much better now.  At least there's the success of Fullmetal Alchemist (I know it's not SJ), with its strong and diverse cast, to give me hope that editorial will catch on.
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Nonaka Machine Gun B
 Posts: 819 |
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I actually really like that moment when Sasuke learns the truth about Itachi. Instead of having the expected outcome of him changing his path, it somehow reinforces his shitty behavior. He acknowledges that he's(at the time) too far gone to do or focus on anything else but destroying the Leaf, so even if it on longer makes any rational sense to continue spiraling down, he doesn't remember life before it. He basically admits to being insane and it was the freshest thing about Naruto after hundreds of chapters of Akatsuki fights.
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Krotchstak
Posts: 94 |
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I definitely agree about Tobi, and to a certain extent Pain and Itachi (I like the immediate effect it has on Sasuke, but for a guy with his motivations, Itachi certainly acted completely insane; that, and surely there was a better way to talk to Sasuke than his convoluted genjutsu hypnosis scheming). But Danzou is one of the few major villains that we AREN'T supposed to sympathize with, because he represents the entire dark side of the ninja world. I found his character and motivations plenty clear. |
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Ambimunch
 Posts: 2012 |
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At the end of the day, despite all the flaws .......still a good manga in my opinion
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Covnam
 Posts: 3681 |
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This (and the previous article) was a fun retread through the manga after reading the finale a few days ago. I hope this can be done again when the next big series finishes (though in a less punishing amount of time).
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Jose Cruz
 Posts: 1778 Location: South America |
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I usually take 2 hours to read one volume. I rarely read more than a volume in a single day as well. Most I have read on a single day was 4 volumes. Don't know how people manage to read manga so fast, it took me two weeks to read the 7 volumes of Nausicaa, though that manga is exceptionally dense.
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