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rex_sunI'm getting back into Naruto. Kind of. I have a lot to catch up on. ...ah, why? Well, one thing and another... It's funny that, just as my eldest brother made a strange appearance in my real life, I was asked by Elarielf a question about siblings in anime. Of course there is a reason that Naruto was so important to me. Is still important to me.
Naruto and Sasuke-- I just--
I can't cry during Naruto. The resonating pain I feel alongside Naruto as he fights for Sasuke-- it goes beyong crying. I want the manga to end, but at the same time, I'm frightened of that end.
What? It's just a kid's series! you say. I know, I say. "But a ninja looks underneath the underneath." Underneath the ridiculous fights and the every bad guy is a guy with a shitty past and all the girls being weak and the ten million side characters (which I usually enjoy but here it just makes things convoluted) and past the fact that it goes on FOR. FUCKING. EVER.
--beyond that, I say, or rather, somewhere scattered all throughout, is the story of a boy who is searching for his "brother": a brother everyone else hates, a brother who went down the wrong path, a brother that no longer seems to care. A brother he could never give up hope on. Never.
Naruto is about faith and love and loyalty and--
I just can't cry. Not yet. (He's still out there.)
...but I can't forget that Naruto is also sometimes humorous!
So as I was prepping for the Big Naruto Catch Up, I was reading a lot of forum posts and all. And there was one poster-- bless his stupid little heart-- that said something along the lines of this: "sasuke can't die in the end because that would be a total troll and kishimoto is not a troller".
And I was like, "Do we read the same manga?"
Kishimoto is one of the biggest trolls I've ever read.
...also, gay.
Naruto and Sasuke-- I just--
I can't cry during Naruto. The resonating pain I feel alongside Naruto as he fights for Sasuke-- it goes beyong crying. I want the manga to end, but at the same time, I'm frightened of that end.
What? It's just a kid's series! you say. I know, I say. "But a ninja looks underneath the underneath." Underneath the ridiculous fights and the every bad guy is a guy with a shitty past and all the girls being weak and the ten million side characters (which I usually enjoy but here it just makes things convoluted) and past the fact that it goes on FOR. FUCKING. EVER.
--beyond that, I say, or rather, somewhere scattered all throughout, is the story of a boy who is searching for his "brother": a brother everyone else hates, a brother who went down the wrong path, a brother that no longer seems to care. A brother he could never give up hope on. Never.
Naruto is about faith and love and loyalty and--
I just can't cry. Not yet. (He's still out there.)
...but I can't forget that Naruto is also sometimes humorous!
So as I was prepping for the Big Naruto Catch Up, I was reading a lot of forum posts and all. And there was one poster-- bless his stupid little heart-- that said something along the lines of this: "sasuke can't die in the end because that would be a total troll and kishimoto is not a troller".
And I was like, "Do we read the same manga?"
Kishimoto is one of the biggest trolls I've ever read.
...also, gay.
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I think manga-ka troll because, like fan-artists, they're fairly in touch with fandom
Date: 2012-02-25 12:19 am (UTC)...in fact they may have already animated it and left out the yaoi-bait. (I'm not sure if actually read that somewhere or if I made it up by just knowing it. Somehow. Like, with logic.)
I can't with the anime. Ever since the Ino-centered episode with Naruto peeing off a building dressed like her, I... I just can't. But the manga does a much better job of telling the story.
The thing I took away from Naruto, in Naruto's story and Sasuke's story, and even Sakura's story, was hope. It always seemed to me that things had the potential to get better. And, yes, Sasuke arguably took several steps backwards, but even that was growth and, ultimately, positive.
Knowing what I now know about Itachi makes the earlier scenes a lot more... touching. If Code Geass was from Suzaku's POV, I think Itachi would be Lelouch (and Nunnally would be Sasuke) particularly Emperor Lelouch.
That's not always the case IRL, of course. Change is as often negative as it is positive, and mostly it's just change. But the idea of learning from mistakes and growing from challenges is very compelling to me. Ultimately, I think that anything addressed with honesty (and self-honesty) and a willingness to change makes things better.
Re: I think manga-ka troll because, like fan-artists, they're fairly in touch with fandom
Date: 2012-02-25 01:09 am (UTC)Jkdfshkjdfskbjdsf the anime is so horrible I don't even. Damn the anime. Burn it. If the manga takes for fucking ever, the anime... There's no words. It's torture trying to watch that shit. Of course fight scenes are always cooler animated, but then they break up the fighting with dialogue scenes ten minutes long that should take two.
...but I have never seen the ep you speak of and now I want to. I don't like the anime, but sometimes it is on some gooood crack and I want a piece of that. I am determined to find now all the wtf eps and watch them. Like I recently watched this one episode where Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke had to get the paw print of a giant demon cat. So they put on cat ear headbands and somehow that fooled the cats into thinking THEY were cats. And they kept speaking in "Nya's". And then to blend in they all played with cat toys. ...yes, even Sasuke.
It was so... God. I would watch an entire anime of just shit like that.
As for Sasuke-- well. He's kind of. Gone off the deep end. Like, I can't see his current position in the manga as positive. Like, there was the point where he was a "bad guy" but he still didn't take life unnecessarily. Now he's all "Bwahahahaha" total slaughter. I'm really scared for the outcome...
Oh, Itachi. I have all these feels for Itachi-Sasuke-Naruto brotherly triangle. I fucking love Itachi-Naruto interactions.
lol 'old' fandoms
Date: 2012-02-25 02:06 am (UTC)But I still, I think, would fall in love with the series all over again if I re-read the earlier chapters, especially the Sasuke-Naruto story arc.
For me, though, the driving force of the series was always Naruto's unwavering opitism and how he knows things can only be achieved through hard work. And how he never gives up, ever.
(I fell in love with the series during a hard time in my life, when I was close to breaking and ,even up to this date, I consider Naruto -- the character -- beyond inspiring).
I go through phases with Naruto and Sasuke. Intellectually, Sasuke has no reason to be chased after, and yet Naruto NEEDS to believe in him ... and I think that's beautiful and touching in a way.
(LOL sorry if this is weird. I am beyond tired, right now).
Re: lol 'old' fandoms
Date: 2012-02-25 02:18 am (UTC)--&& Stop it you are going to drive me to drink augh
Yeah, I've been rereading early chapters. I think in recent years there's just too many characters I am supposed to be sympathetic to, too many scenes that are supposed to be badass, too many separate story lines I am supposed to be keeping straight. It's all very tiresome but ultimately it DOES have a very inspiring theme and main character.
It's almost like... I am too passionate about Naruto, and I've been passionate too long, and I've burned out on it. Is that it for you, or do you honestly think you're just no longer in a place where Naruto speaks to you?