Manga that makes me emotionally stupid [3]

[rex_sun]

I'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.

Comments

I think manga-ka troll because, like fan-artists, they're fairly in touch with fandom

[elarielf.livejournal.com]

They're never going to animate that scene.

...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.

lol 'old' fandoms

[transient-words.livejournal.com]

Oh god. Naruto. I actually am fairly up to date with the manga, though I don't feel the same passion for it as I used to (which was a great deal).

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).