Um, when do we return to our original Naruto programing again?

[nayami.livejournal.com]

Note, the above title is not referring to the fillers or the anime in any way.

Have any of you felt disillusioned with the current Naruto manga ever since Orochimaru reappeared? Do you wonder why? Maybe you can relate to my personal complaint with Kishimoto's latest storytelling style.


I am insanely frustrated with Naruto lately. The art has been shoddy and the storyline moreso. This is crucial stuff. Naruto has his fourth tail. He's coated in his own blood because the transformation is ravaging his body. He's completely lost his mind and can only think of destroying those who've threatened what's most special to him. And what do we get? Something that would be better placed in "Where the Wild Things Are." The emotion isn't there. You have to create it. The non-fighting characters are saying the same scripted lines about Naruto's condition and how it's bad. No shit. Yamato's going on about how he will *eventually* do something. But you know he has to talk about it for three more issues before he does. To be fair, Kabuto and the sidestory with Sasori are feasible writing, and I have no issue with that. Everything else is insulting to how damn powerful this situation should be. The style of Kyuubi!Naruto and the slow pacing with cliched character reactions halves the impact, possibly even extinguishes the majority of its meaning. Since Naruto can no longer talk, *somebody* should be able to voice the OMGness of all this. That's where tension comes from. The Oro/Kyuubi fight can kiss my ass. I don't need another pointless dub-styled DBZ brawl. Now if it had any genuine feel to it, I might remotely appreciate it. My problem is that it's too soon and it's being drawn out to the point of insanity because Kishimoto is obviously not ready to kill his Big Bad at this stage of the game. In other words, Kishimoto has reduced this whole Kyuubi situation to POINTLESS.

My only hope in this mess is that Kishimoto is just stalling until he can introduce Sasuke. At this time, his presence is the only thing that could possibly put this situation back on the emotional rollercoaster it ought to be. I want to be *terrified* for Naruto and not just because facts say "kyuubi is bad; bleeding not good." But because people are in complete hysteria. Is Yamato such a boring deus ex machina that Kishimoto can completely gloss over Naruto's transformation, reducing it to kiddie angst. Oh noes. He's a monster. We must heal him with the power of lurve. WTF?

To spare you what little sanity this manga leaves us, I will not launch into the whole Kyuubi/Naruto/Sasuke rant I also have prepared. Yet.

Comments

[nayami.livejournal.com]

You misunderstand, although I do find Yamato boring (more of a personal preference), I am annoyed with him because he's NOT DOING ANYTHING. He's just talking about it. This is being dragged out. If Yamato would just do what he's going to do or if Sai would just do what he's going to do, I would be a lot less irritated.

[superflavor.livejournal.com]

I don't think Sasuke is the most important thing in this manga. Whole "omg I want Sasuke back!!!!!1+110!?!+!one!!1"-thing has started to annoy me.
Aand, it's shounen. It has fighting. And Kishimoto as a wise man has realized that Dragon Ball made lot of money so.. Why change the style and risk everything, un?

[nayami.livejournal.com]

I don't want Sasuke back for just having him back although that would be nice, I want him back because Naruto won't stop zoning until it happens. I want sane Naruto again. Not "grr argh i'm gonna keel you for turning my friend against me" Naruto. I want a Naruto who can use words. If anything else would make Naruto stop, I'd welcome it as well.

Fighting is one thing when it's not drawn out. Kishimoto used to be decent with this before. Artwise as well. The barrel arc with the chuunin was a good example. Also much of the Gaara arc excluding the hokage stuff.

Why is it whenever someone mentions Sasuke's importance to the storyline, people chalk it up to their thinking "OMG Sasuke is the best thing about Naruto eva!" No, I'm just saying that right now this looks like stalling. And with all of Kishimoto's hints, I can't determine any other reason for it other than he's planning to do his huge plot moment at 300. I say that means bringing back Sasuke because they've been talking about it for nearly 8 issues now. It's just putting facts together.

[ilabb.livejournal.com]

It certainly is not pointless! You forgot to mention Sai. Sai and roots obviously want something to do with the Kyuubi, and Sai is there waiting to make his move. The battle isn't to show who is more powerful, it's to give Sai a chance to fulfill his mission.

I, for one, am really curious as to how this'll all turn out.

[nayami.livejournal.com]

Sorry, pointless was probably too strong a word. I just have issue with facing off kyuubi and Orochimaru right now because it obviously will result in stalemate. But you introduce a fair point about Sai being interesting in the kyuubi and this relating to his mission. Still, my larger complaint isn't with the storyline itself so much as the lack of emotion, which I guess I didn't express clearly enough.

[jean-kun.livejournal.com]

I totally see your point. In a way, the current arc is somewhat intersting, but I haven't really *felt* anything for the characters since Naruto and Sasuke's epic battle. Right now, I think things are moving too fast right after the 3 year break, and I don't really know where Kishimoto-sensei is going with this. We'll just have to wait to see something really amazing (I hope this is the case). Either that or be incredibly more patient XDDD

Oh yeah, anyone else think it was funny when Sai totally ignored saving the falling Sakura? Don't get me wrong, I like Sakura better now, but Sai just swooping past her made me laugh XP

[nayami.livejournal.com]

Thank god someone finally latched onto the intent of this post. EMOTION. It's not there. Why am I the only one who sees this as a bad thing? It is possible to have your epic/non-epic battles and still portray some sense of tension/feeling from the characters. Kishimoto's done it before. Why not now?

[fan-geek.livejournal.com]

I agree with nearly everything you've stated above. I'm... put off, by the 'coating of blood' that covers Naruto's newest transformation. It looks unrealistic - and before it's mentioned, I know that this is a manga and it's not SUPPOSED to look realistic, but it's just unorthodox and unoriginal to draw something so juvenile-looking, in my opinion.

Unless the blood, say, solidifies and shatters to reveal something a bit more interesting underneath DBZ LAWL, I hope to god Kishimoto-dono knows what he's doing. He's surprised us before, and he's a damned genius, but I'm just... thoroughly confused with everything right now. XD; Where is this all leading to?

P.S: I want our resident Angst Queen back. D:

Hayaku, Sasuke-senpaaaaai~! -Shoots fangirl!Naruto waving an uchiwa flag in the background.-

[nayami.livejournal.com]

Exactly. For some crazy reason, I expected a Naruto bleeding throughout his body to look a little more unsettling. Kimimaru sure looked scary when he ripped his own spine out so I know Kishimoto has the ability to scare us. Why not now? This would be a good moment for it. As of yet, I'm just scared because logically speaking bleeding that much is bad. But the image itself doesn't scare me so much as obscure what's going on. You can barely tell without explanation from the characters and such.

[lopt.livejournal.com]

I agree with you completely. I used to always look foward to the newest chapters because they were so exciting, I -had- to see what happened next. But I've been feeling that these last few have been so drawn out and so unemotional that its not quite boring but more... disappointing? It's all just become very silly. Here we have an enraged Kyuubi!Naruto tearing everything up, basically killing himself, and all anyone can do is think "Hm, this could be bad." Ya think?

[nayami.livejournal.com]

It's being presented in a very juvenilistic style. Kyuubi looking slightly more imposing and less like a deranged furry would help. To think, I was so excited when Naruto started channeling the Kyuubi at the start of this fight. ;_;

[turnip-girl.livejournal.com]

The Kyuubi is disappointing, yes, but Orochi is so awesome, I just don't care.

If there are more chapters of Oro being freakishly awesome and nothing else, the lack of action actually won't bother me.

I'm still high on the fact that Orochi and Kabuto are there! And let's face it, they've been the most intersting characters thus far. <3<3

[fan-geek.livejournal.com]

Fangirl. XD!

[secludedly.livejournal.com]

Yeah it lacks emotion, and emotion made Naruto what it is. I think after seeing his manga animated during 'part 1', he realizes the simpler he can make the manga, the more amazing the animation company can portray the situations like this. Think of it like this.... when these Naruto goes berserk chapters are animated, odds are they will be like only 2 episodes... don't forget the great music in the background, and possible additional animation. Clearly, he's pulling a DBZ and stalling out for a grand idea to later grab you by the throat. Yamatou started out funny, but then did get boring during fighting. He is seriously just standing there. The art lately has been such a frikin mess I can barely see what's going on, too. This new Kyuubi arc, not PArt 2 is seeming kinda crappy to me. Unless Sasuke comes back, I'm not interested... unless this was animated, cuz then I'd probably love it. This isn't manga safe drawing. It's like "Please take these images and animate them really cool to attract even more attention to my creation... thanks". Sai I actually enjoy. He's a good filler for the missing Sasuke. Sakura isn't annoying anymore either. she stopped that when Part 2 started, so I'm very happy for her development. Naruto has been kind of annoying though.

[nayami.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it probably would be amazing animated and it does seem like he's currently writing just for the anime. That's not the way to do things. I don't mind stalling for a grand moment, but I would prefer it didn't make the characters look like mindless zombies in the process. I'm looking at you, Sakura. >_>

[thomasvye.livejournal.com]

You know, in my opinion, the kyuubi has never been much of a threat. The 4th sealed it. So it can be sealed. End of threat.

There are far more interesting and complicated things going on (like all the stuff with Root and Konohan politics right now) than what to do about the kyuubi. I want to know what Sai's up to. What Yamato can do (if he can actually do it), and just generally gaze on Oro's gorgeousness. Oh, and there was something about Sasuke....:)

[nayami.livejournal.com]

Ok, it is a matter of opinion as to what are the most compelling aspects of this arc. But I think the fact that Naruto is destroying his body and covered in his own blood and in serious trouble should be something worth at least a smidgeon of emotional reaction. People should care about that. Forget how dangerous the kyuubi is, even though that should get a *some* notice. What about how dangerous this is for Naruto? Can't Kishimoto portray that in a way that feels genuine? This is prime moment for emotional control over his audience and he's butchering it. I sometimes forget this is the man who constructed the Mist arc or the Gaara vs. Lee fight. That's how upset I am. I cannot sate myself simply with atractive, intriguing characters, as much as I love Sai.

[kagami-x.livejournal.com]

I remember practically ripping my hair out for Lee. o___o But of course, I'm always worried when something happens to Lee. I'D SELL MY SOUL TO HIM. *has massive amounts of Leelove*

[kagami-x.livejournal.com]

The dialogue is what's making it all second-rate, in my opinion. Yamato's "Oh, shit..." pissed me off in the chapter before last. I mean, he got his fucking fourth tail. You don't just say "Shimatta". Sakura should definitely be doing something OTHER THAN CONVERSING WITH KABUTO. I've said it once, I'll say it again: She has never been useful and never will. It doesn't matter how much God damn time has passed; she's still a B-rate ninja.
There has been next to no dialogue in these last few chapters.

[nayami.livejournal.com]

True, dialogue does control emotion, and the current style might be what's causing the emotional distance in these chapters. Yamato just pisses me off with that. There's funny deadpan, and then there's deadpan for the sake of being deadpan. Kakashi could pull off the funny deadpan. Honestly, I have issue with Kishimoto replacing Kakashi in the first place.

Sakura needs to get off her ass before I turn into one of those Sakura-hating fangirls.

[rasenth.livejournal.com]

I agree with the no emotion thing. As some comments said above, the comments on Naruto going berserk just... killed the tension. Wtf at Yamato simply saying "Crap." OH WOW, YAMATO. YOU JUST TOTALLY CAPTURE THE MOMENT, especially with that totally non-freaking-out face of yours, hoho. e_e And to make it worse, when Naruto was charging his black ball of energy (or WHATEVER it is), Orochimaru just said, "This could be dangerous" (somewhere along those lines) while smirking, and that really got me annoyed. .__.; Kishimoto might as well put some effort into shocked faces (Which he SHOULDN'T have any trouble doing... seriously) than putting crap one-liners that really fit the situation.. AT ALL. >_>; SIIIGH.

But OTHER than that, I actually enjoy the fight scenes (holy crap!?). Contrary to almost every single comment here, I actually thought the fight scene of the most recent chapter (Yes, with the effed up "furry" Naruto, SHH) was pretty interesting. I didn't even know Orochimaru could do HALF of the stuff he did there. o_O; I'm still saying this is better than the Sakura vs. Sasori fight. But I do hope Yamato, Sai, and Sakura haul their asses and stop having tea time with Kabuto. >_>; I hope, I freakin' HOPE Sasuke comes back (Yes, I'm a Sasuke fangirl. AND PROUD OF IT), because he is one of the main driving points of the story's plot, which most people don't want to admit. XD;

[seki-yumizu.livejournal.com]

considering all conscious naruto is about is "give sasuke back to me" there'd prolly be no story if sasuke doesn't appear soon ^^;;;; (not a sasuke fangirl, but all kishimoto seems to be driving at is getting sasuke back so... XD)

[digital-z3ro.livejournal.com]

kishi is stalling until 300, i'm positive. then sasuke will show up.

[icelightning.livejournal.com]

You and me both.

[andrew-jp.livejournal.com]

That's just how Yamato is, you know? A very deadpan sort of guy.

His actions demonstrate the seriousness of the situation more than any words could; here's a guy with special power to fight bijuu, and he only dares to send a bunshin after Naruto. And even that is keeping a safe distance for now.

I don't really see the Oro/Kyuubi battle as entirely pointless, either, and not because my opinion of how it will end differws from yours. We'll how far Naruto has come since the last time he fought Orochimaru, and how far he still has to go. It's like...do you follow Bleach? The second time Ichigo fought Byakuya, outside the Senzaikyu. Ichigo certainly wasn't going to win, but it was far from pointless.

[nayami.livejournal.com]

That's a fair assessment of the situation. To be fair, I haven't been paying as much to Yamato as I ought to because of my prejudiced view of him. But I still believe *someone* could worry more about what's happening to Naruto aside from the fact that kyuubi is bad news.

Um...Plz not be spoiling for series without fair warning. I do read Bleach and I'm not as far as most of the fandom. I'm done a fair job up to now of avoiding places where spoilers should exist. Didn't think to be cautious in a completely different community.

[seki-yumizu.livejournal.com]

I can't help but agree with the uselessness of all the characters other than Orochi and Naruto now... but really, Kishimoto has pulled the sideline commentator thing on us before.

I must admit the only emotion I've felt throughout this arc is pity for Naruto and little else. But I'm also a little pissed that he loses control of himself because of his emotional unstableness though I can understand why he gets so agitated when he sees Orochimaru. As much as I love the interesting way Orochi fights, I'm a little put off my his smugness. I mean, he nearly had his arms removed in his fight with Sandaime (and he looked scared that time too) , and now he's facing off half of Kyuubi's power and he's going "*smirk* My student is sooo much better than you". It baffles me and I'm probably gonna hate it even more if Kishimoto suddenly makes him that ultimate uber-powerful villian in a short span of 3 years.

... *looks up* I think that was utterly OOT... heh. damn. But I wish Yamato/Sai/Sakura/Kabuto could do something soon...

[nayami.livejournal.com]

Seriously, seeing Oro blow off the kyuubi like he's nothing does rub me the wrong way. I feel pity for Naruto more because I'm envisioning what pain he's probably in and less because of what Kishimoto is actually showing.

[princess-emmi.livejournal.com]

Hn... I agree completely with the lack of emotion lately... the most emotional scene we have been given was the "Wait for me Sasuke" thought of Naruto's right before he got his fourth tail... There has been little to no dialogue and pretty much... maybe 10 words a chapter if we are lucky. I just think... someone should be worried about Furry Kyuubi!Naruto, because really... he's not doing so well - . -' a little worry... or even fear... would be a nice change.

Kishimoto-sensei is definately waiting for chapter 300 for Sasuke to come back... hopefully wearing the obi (I would kill to see him wearing it!!) and all that is keeping me watching this right now is the amazingness and utter hotness of Orochimaru-sama... *drools* Hopefully this will get better and even Orochimaru will have a reaction (other then licking the ground of course) and everything will become interesting again.

~Gaiame-chan

[nayami.livejournal.com]

More dialogue would be extremely helpful. Hard to convey emotion without it, especially since Kishimoto's been loving the splash pages lately and less of the close-ups that made the SasuNaru fight so good.

I'm happy to see quite a few people here hold to the theory that Kishimoto is stalling for Sasuke. It's definitely a logical conclusion, given Orochimaru's speeches, the pacing of these issues and the coming of a milestone chapter.

Licking the ground needs to stop strandling the ground between friggin' creepy and oddly erotic. And I don't even like Orochimaru.

[fork-my-eye.livejournal.com]

i think I understand what you're trying to say. It seems like no one really cares about the fact that naruto's killing himself. It's really pissing me off too that Orochimaru doesn't care at all. WTF. Naruto's going to go kyuubi-crazy and grow the other 5 tails and destroy the whole freaking world... and nobody cares...

Kishimoto isn't making a big enough deal about it... everything was fine untill Naruto started freaking out... it was just like... "Oh... Orochi... stupid fox you can take over from here BYE!" I havn't felt that much emotion frmo the last couple chapters... they should be some of the most important chapters yet... and considering Naruto's my favorite character and he's destroying his body i should be crying... but the way Kyuubi is portrayed... the drawings don't even look right. They look so incredibly computer-generated that i don't even get any feel from it anymore.

it's disapointing really. =[ sigh.

[thomasvye.livejournal.com]

Well....Deidara did say no one cares about jinchuurki...

I do think the point is aside from Sakura no one here really is going to care. Orochi sama and Kabuto surely aren't. Sai is busy. Yamato, I think, does care, but he's already been shown to be a little emotionally strange, and well he might be (being an 'emotionally trained' Konoha ninja Anbu and sole survivor of doomy genetic experimentation)...

The only person here who's going to care is Sakura and there's not really that much she can do right now. The issue of whether I consider her crap or not aside here, realistically only a fellow like Orochi sama or Akatsuki, who understand jinchuuriki, are going to have much sucess in a fight here. We'll have to see if Yamato can manage to do what he's been told to do.

Also, they are on a bridge in the middle of nowhere. No one else has noticed what's happening yet. It's hardly like it's in Konoha where it'll be noticed...

(And if it was, I am sure the people of konoha would want it killed/sealed right now thank you, aftre last time...)

[nayami.livejournal.com]

So his resemblance to Max from "Where the Wild Things Are" isn't offputting? Well, to each their own.

[nayami.livejournal.com]

Yeah, he really needs to do more with the chuunin other than say ooh here they are I didn't forget them. Because he has. They're just here for cameos and little else, which is really disappointing because I looked forward to seeing many of them in action. I'd like to have less new characters and more attention to the originals. Like when they ditched Temari for the old lady. Not cool. Ok, so they needed her for Sasori's backstory. But still! Kishimoto already has characters who are still pining for backstory.

Interesting that you would rather him be pulling stuff out of his ass than stalling. I guess the latter seems less professional and more money-grubbing.

Don't get me wrong though. Although I am irritated with Kishimoto, I'm not ready to throw in the towel just yet. Kishimoto has suprised me in the past, and I have hope he still has that magic. He comes up with some amazing stuff, and that imagination just doesn't vanish.

[alli-chan.livejournal.com]

Although I agree with you for the most part, I have to say I'm not as passionate about it as you seem to be, perhaps because I'm new to the fandom (I started reading the manga around Christmas ^^;;) and that leaves me with more patience and will to wait and see what happens.

One of the things that is irritating me the most right now is Naruto being all 'raar Sasuke raar must get Sasuke', one of the things I love about Naruto is his easy-going passion and empathy. The Naruto of the lastest chapters is wound way too tight and is, to be blunt, acting like an agressive, possevive, selfish pig-head. Although that may just be my opinion I really don't like the way this is going, and this leaves my both eagerly awaiting and dreading Sasuke's eventual reapperance. I love the dynamics of their relationship and I think Sasuke would probaly bitch-slap Naruto if he saw him acting this way. In my opinion Orochimaru claiming ownership of Sasuke doesn't warrant an out of control Kyuubi destroying everything, and reacting that way is bodering creepy obsession.

All of this is just my opinion though, so I hope it doesn't cause offense ^^;; That's not my intention in the least.