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Jun. 14th, 2006 12:58 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
rinnychan.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
chuunin_archiveThis is Rinny venting her opinions. A lot of it is rehashing and generally being annoyed. If you disagree, don't flame, just tell me politely why you disagree? Kay? :D (spoilers for the entire anime)
Looking back on the series, Naruto's improvement seems quite sudden. Although Naruto is training regularly, we can surmise that the only events that truly helped him improve were given attention in canon.
It's made very clear that genin are meant to only take on D and C rank missions--weeding, dog-walking, etc. When Sandaime allows them to even take a C-rank mission, it's an exception meant to show Naruto "you suck, now shut up and sit down." God knows they shouldn't have survived when it escalated into an A-rank mission.
The first event to help Naruto improve was his oath and his courage against Zabuza the first time around. After this, his first major training session was the tree-climbing exercise, which helped him improve tremendously. Despite this, he still sucked, and couldn't dodge many of Haku's attacks. The outbreak of the Kyuubi doesn't count because it wasn't HIS power, and he really didn't do anything to improve there.
The next event is the chuunin exam. He fails miserably against Lee...and then so very soon after, using a little of the Kyuubi's power, he's able to hold back Orochimaru (of course Orochimaru isn't trying, but the fact remains that at first, he does better than Sasuke. It's a damn good thing too...anyone ever think that if Sasuke had just backed off like he'd originally meant to, Oro wouldn't have wanted his body?) Then they don't do much but...I dunno, recover and fish up until when they meet up with Kabuto again, and Naruto manages to kick ass. It's really sudden, isn't it? The fight with Kiba was the same way.
The next event is the chakra training with Jiraiya, which has obvious results when he barely manages to beat Neji. Key word: barely. At this point he's still terrified of Gaara, WHO HE MANAGES TO BEAT A FEW HOURS LATER. Where did the Dead Last boy go?
Jiraiya's rasengan training had huge results as well, which allowed him to bring down Kabuto. Now, here's the first filler arc: the Tea Country. We all saw how good Naruto was here...the filler writers had it right this time. He retained this level of skill while fighting Sasuke in the hospital, and later when he was -seriously- fighting him. Of course, he sucked at first in that battle, but he had a reason: He didn't want to fight.
So, up to now, Naruto's improvement has been pretty clear-cut.
Then the fillers began. (We're going to ignore the movie for right now: I really don't want to go into how Naruto CANNOT OUTRUN A TRAIN.) It wasn't -so- bad at first, when they entered "Orochimaru's lair" (way to take away from future arcs, assholes). Naruto was, admittedly, a bit TOO good. Sakura was a bit TOO useless. But it wasn't -so- bad, right? His personality was also, pretty much, left intact--except that he preached even more than usual.
After this was the Mizuki arc. Uh, Naruto? Why are you having so many issues with Mizuki all of a sudden? You're not even TRYING. You're strong now, and you're not even trying against Mizuki. Yes, I know he's got his hand on your throat (o noes) but goddamnit, you are stronger than that and the writers should know it! This is worse than the Kimimaro fight where all your clones just stood around glaring!
Next was the bug arc, I think. There wasn't any fighting for a while, but one thing stands out to me: with Naruto's level of skill now, how could he have NOT noticed the ninjas hiding and waiting to ambush them? Yes, he's a bit absent-minded, but he's a damn good ninja now compared to how he used to be. When the bad guys finally jump out, they wind up down and out, while Hinata saves them. Uh, what? Talk about role reversal. But that isn't the worst of it--in this arc, Naruto's very characterization begins to be raped, again and again. What things would lead us to believe Naruto has farting issues, anyhow? He got diahrea in episode 3 because of bad milk. Uh, was there -ever- anything else in manga canon? I think the anime decided to take it too far, having him step on dog poop all the time, and...fuck, he farted and it ruined the mission. What. He's grown, damnit!
The next arc I remember was that one in the fucking WESTERN with the swordsman. Okay, sure, he might have been skilled, but Naruto, Hinata and Kiba have fought a LOT of strong people, especially Naruto and Kiba. Remember the sound 4? Yeah, them? Some of the strongest guys under Orochimaru? And this swordsman just knocks them out like they're absolutely nothing. Complete lack of consistency.
I think the last arc I watched before giving up for awhile was the Anko arc. I never even finished it. Again, Naruto is complete shit, just running at the bad guy and getting knocked back over and over again. Naruto knows how to fight, but from these arcs, you couldn't tell it.
Now, as far as the filler arcs in general, Naruto's actual character has been raped. He HAS matured in the last year. He's been through a lot. And yet, he's acting as if he hasn't even graduated from the academy yet. He's far too rude to Tsunade (yes, I admit he would be a little standoffish, but he's not THAT bad). "Why do I have to go on this stupid mission?? This stinks!!! I'm way too good for this!!" When they're, what? B rank missions at least?? THAT GENIN AREN'T SUPPOSED TO GO ON??? Yeah, you're way too good for this, Naruto, especially since you've never been assigned such high-ranking missions before. Just keep on thinking that missions aren't going to help you improve so that you can find Sasuke, because that just makes -so- much sense. He isn't as annoying and unreliable anymore, either.
In short, the filler writers don't have a good grasp on Naruto's character or skill, not to mention those of the other 'genin'. If you're going to make him too strong or too weak, just CHOOSE ONE. Don't flip-flop between the two without reason.
Looking back on the series, Naruto's improvement seems quite sudden. Although Naruto is training regularly, we can surmise that the only events that truly helped him improve were given attention in canon.
It's made very clear that genin are meant to only take on D and C rank missions--weeding, dog-walking, etc. When Sandaime allows them to even take a C-rank mission, it's an exception meant to show Naruto "you suck, now shut up and sit down." God knows they shouldn't have survived when it escalated into an A-rank mission.
The first event to help Naruto improve was his oath and his courage against Zabuza the first time around. After this, his first major training session was the tree-climbing exercise, which helped him improve tremendously. Despite this, he still sucked, and couldn't dodge many of Haku's attacks. The outbreak of the Kyuubi doesn't count because it wasn't HIS power, and he really didn't do anything to improve there.
The next event is the chuunin exam. He fails miserably against Lee...and then so very soon after, using a little of the Kyuubi's power, he's able to hold back Orochimaru (of course Orochimaru isn't trying, but the fact remains that at first, he does better than Sasuke. It's a damn good thing too...anyone ever think that if Sasuke had just backed off like he'd originally meant to, Oro wouldn't have wanted his body?) Then they don't do much but...I dunno, recover and fish up until when they meet up with Kabuto again, and Naruto manages to kick ass. It's really sudden, isn't it? The fight with Kiba was the same way.
The next event is the chakra training with Jiraiya, which has obvious results when he barely manages to beat Neji. Key word: barely. At this point he's still terrified of Gaara, WHO HE MANAGES TO BEAT A FEW HOURS LATER. Where did the Dead Last boy go?
Jiraiya's rasengan training had huge results as well, which allowed him to bring down Kabuto. Now, here's the first filler arc: the Tea Country. We all saw how good Naruto was here...the filler writers had it right this time. He retained this level of skill while fighting Sasuke in the hospital, and later when he was -seriously- fighting him. Of course, he sucked at first in that battle, but he had a reason: He didn't want to fight.
So, up to now, Naruto's improvement has been pretty clear-cut.
Then the fillers began. (We're going to ignore the movie for right now: I really don't want to go into how Naruto CANNOT OUTRUN A TRAIN.) It wasn't -so- bad at first, when they entered "Orochimaru's lair" (way to take away from future arcs, assholes). Naruto was, admittedly, a bit TOO good. Sakura was a bit TOO useless. But it wasn't -so- bad, right? His personality was also, pretty much, left intact--except that he preached even more than usual.
After this was the Mizuki arc. Uh, Naruto? Why are you having so many issues with Mizuki all of a sudden? You're not even TRYING. You're strong now, and you're not even trying against Mizuki. Yes, I know he's got his hand on your throat (o noes) but goddamnit, you are stronger than that and the writers should know it! This is worse than the Kimimaro fight where all your clones just stood around glaring!
Next was the bug arc, I think. There wasn't any fighting for a while, but one thing stands out to me: with Naruto's level of skill now, how could he have NOT noticed the ninjas hiding and waiting to ambush them? Yes, he's a bit absent-minded, but he's a damn good ninja now compared to how he used to be. When the bad guys finally jump out, they wind up down and out, while Hinata saves them. Uh, what? Talk about role reversal. But that isn't the worst of it--in this arc, Naruto's very characterization begins to be raped, again and again. What things would lead us to believe Naruto has farting issues, anyhow? He got diahrea in episode 3 because of bad milk. Uh, was there -ever- anything else in manga canon? I think the anime decided to take it too far, having him step on dog poop all the time, and...fuck, he farted and it ruined the mission. What. He's grown, damnit!
The next arc I remember was that one in the fucking WESTERN with the swordsman. Okay, sure, he might have been skilled, but Naruto, Hinata and Kiba have fought a LOT of strong people, especially Naruto and Kiba. Remember the sound 4? Yeah, them? Some of the strongest guys under Orochimaru? And this swordsman just knocks them out like they're absolutely nothing. Complete lack of consistency.
I think the last arc I watched before giving up for awhile was the Anko arc. I never even finished it. Again, Naruto is complete shit, just running at the bad guy and getting knocked back over and over again. Naruto knows how to fight, but from these arcs, you couldn't tell it.
Now, as far as the filler arcs in general, Naruto's actual character has been raped. He HAS matured in the last year. He's been through a lot. And yet, he's acting as if he hasn't even graduated from the academy yet. He's far too rude to Tsunade (yes, I admit he would be a little standoffish, but he's not THAT bad). "Why do I have to go on this stupid mission?? This stinks!!! I'm way too good for this!!" When they're, what? B rank missions at least?? THAT GENIN AREN'T SUPPOSED TO GO ON??? Yeah, you're way too good for this, Naruto, especially since you've never been assigned such high-ranking missions before. Just keep on thinking that missions aren't going to help you improve so that you can find Sasuke, because that just makes -so- much sense. He isn't as annoying and unreliable anymore, either.
In short, the filler writers don't have a good grasp on Naruto's character or skill, not to mention those of the other 'genin'. If you're going to make him too strong or too weak, just CHOOSE ONE. Don't flip-flop between the two without reason.
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Date: 2006-06-14 05:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-14 05:23 pm (UTC)That's how he struck a serious blow to Kiba.
And it's not *just* Naruto, they're doing to all the characters. Hinata got a moment of cool then she went back to being a sack of potatoes (in the filler arc). Kiba goes off and freaks on Naruto even after Naruto explains he's there to help him with Akamaru. The Onba episode was... cute. ^^; The Sparkly Purple Village of Doom was... omgterrible. That kid totally is stealing Naruto's dream, Neji is an ass for no reason, Tenten is simply... stupid. Lee tries to be cool and fails. (Yeah, I've been watching every filler episode, scanning them for news about when the real stuff will start. In theory, 14 weeks starting from Thursday).
no subject
Date: 2006-06-14 05:26 pm (UTC)>.> A random point, they use Hinata too much. xD Even though she's my favorite character, the current filler arc is her FOURTH.
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Date: 2006-06-14 05:26 pm (UTC)Very good points as well.
Which one was the sparkly purple village of doom?
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Date: 2006-06-14 05:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-14 05:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-14 05:34 pm (UTC)Well what about the hidden waterfall village?? X_x
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Date: 2006-06-14 05:34 pm (UTC)>.> I feel bad for Kishimoto-sensei... do you think he approves the fillers?
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Date: 2006-06-14 05:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-14 05:37 pm (UTC)Geez guys, Team Eight is awesome and all, but maybe we could be seeing a little more Ten? For longer than two minutes at a time?
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Date: 2006-06-14 05:40 pm (UTC)And, hm, what else is wrong with the fillers?
=/ Like you said... 'Orochimaru's lair'... xDDD That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. It sounds like something out of a Disney movie, not a manga.
GOD fillers piss me off.
Yet I still watch them.
o.O I don't even know why, they're BORING. I feel like lately every week it's the same story, except in a different form. I also feel like it's the same characters. In my opinion, all of the filler characters are like the SAME.
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Date: 2006-06-14 05:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-14 05:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-14 05:43 pm (UTC)And they ARE all the same. The girls are all just those stupid soft-spoken not-quite-ninja chicks who need Naruto to smack some sense into them XOOOOO
no subject
Date: 2006-06-14 05:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-14 05:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-14 05:47 pm (UTC)I stopped reading the manga at about after the chuuni exams.
I am only in tune with the major spoilers that eventually get out about things, so my opinion might be a bit biased.
But I am inclined to agre with you XD
Here's a seperate question: Do you think it would have been better to have ended the anime, or do you still prefer the fillers?
no subject
Date: 2006-06-14 05:48 pm (UTC)By the time he comes back a la Time Jump, he'll only have been gone a week.
(And you are very right on the character rape. -_- Kishimoto must cry black emo tears with every new episode.)
no subject
Date: 2006-06-14 05:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-14 05:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-14 05:52 pm (UTC)But I guess I wouldn't want the anime to end... o.o I do like it. Just not fillers.
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Date: 2006-06-14 05:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-14 05:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-14 05:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-14 05:56 pm (UTC)