#i felt when the story was ramping up the manga got a lot better. because again theres some rlly cool ideas at play | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

dropintomanga · 3 years

Text

I Give Up on Anime (Almost) - A Discussion on Anime vs. Manga

Over the past few years, I started to enjoy anime a lot less than I used to. I used to watch quite a bunch of anime series around 2013-2015. Since then, my anime viewing has went down to almost zero while my manga consumption increased steadily. I sometimes felt I was the only person left behind as almost all my friends and peers talk about what’s hot and not each and every new anime season.

I don’t know if it was a sheer coincidence, but I found a Reddit manga thread that spoke to me and maybe some other people. A user on the platform honestly asked “Is anyone else literally unable to watch anime since you got into manga?”

The premise behind the post was that the user felt like anime takes too long to get going while in a few short minutes, plot development in manga ramps up. There were about 750+ comments chiming into the discussion. A majority of fans do feel that anime wasn’t worth their time as manga is still serialized even when a 12-24 episode anime season ends. Some fans feel that a lot of anime adaptations tend to be subpar. There’s also still the argument that anime adaptations are just advertisements for the source material that is the manga. Some discussion about clever usage of manga panels telling a quicker story was mentioned as well. And of course, multiple fillers is another big reason for fans’ preference of manga over anime.

But when I think about the argument about anime adaptations being ads, isn’t that a good thing? This is true especially in America, where most fans tend to read/buy manga after noticing how hot an anime series is. In Japan, a decent number of manga sells well before an anime adaptation is announced. However, even constant “ads” become annoying over time when the novelty wears off.

It doesn’t mean that certain series are necessarily better as manga though. The best example I can give is Gintama. Sunrise, the studio behind the anime adaptation, goes balls-out on the series. I love how all the Gintama voice actors take so much pride in their roles. I sometimes find Hideaki Sorachi’s art to be lacking in certain areas and Sunrise helps to enhance it. It’s funny because reading chapters of the Gintama manga made me enjoy seeing its eventual anime adaptation. I think it depends of the kind of series you want as anime. I don’t think every seinen series should be anime as a good number of them are much slower-paced even if there’s action. Certain slice-of-life series (Yotsuba&!, a much-demanded series for an anime adaptation, comes to mind here) might have pacing issues when put on a TV screen versus a drawing board.

Someone on the Reddit thread did point out a potential elephant in the room - isekai light novel adaptations. Isekai is pretty much everywhere and a lot of the series aren’t always of the best quality. But so many fans worldwide eat it up because of fantasy tropes. I remember reading a convention recap of New York Comic-Con one year and the writer, who is a manga reviewer, of that recap noted that while waiting inside a panel room for a manga panel, he went through a Sword Art Online panel. The writer found it somewhat depressing that there were a ton more fans at the SAO panel compared to the manga panel that happened later. I think he said what he said because the lovable diversity of manga titles out there is being passed over for an isekai series whose reception gets divisive pretty fast.

What to say about fantasy tropes? I remember trying out one of the hottest video games today, Genshin Impact. After playing it for a few hours, I just gave up and that’s not because of the gacha mechanics. I wasn’t invested in the story as it sounds like stuff I’ve heard over and over again. Genshin Impact plays up fantasy anime tropes that I’m mostly over at my age.

I think maybe my mind is not satisfied by tropes that are just easily rehashed. However, that kind of thinking has been challenged at times. For starters, I really enjoy Kaguya-sama: Love is War. I don’t like romantic comedies, but the way the story is told in Kaguya-sama and how it gives every character a good amount of emotional depth has left me impressed. The serious stories being jumbled in reminds me so much of Gintama.

Maybe the real elephant in the discussion is the usage of common tropes and how often they’re used to cater to the lowest common denominator. I know manga can be guilty of this, but anime adaptations make them a lot more visible. That’s because most people would prefer watching anime a lot more than reading manga. Anime is a more mainstream form of media. You need to appeal to those fans a lot more as they bring in more money via other means (The Demon Slayer: Mugen Train movie is a big case of this right now) than just manga volumes.

Combine that with how consuming anime is more passive than reading a manga and you may have fans who just don’t stop and think about the media they consume. I sometimes feel that anime production committees view fans as mindless consumers of media and only think of them as such. I also wonder if fans reinforce that thinking since corporations enable them to do so.

Honestly, I think in my case, when you learn something that’s outside your comfort zone, you start to come down with uncomfortable truths. I’ll admit that there’s a little cognitive dissonance, but I’ve accepted that my mind has changed. Maybe I was never much of an anime fan in the first place. Maybe I realized watching anime takes up much of my time. A lot of folks stay away from certain truths since people are afraid to admit that they may be wrong about certain things. This is what happens when you begin to understand more about the psychology of crowds/groups and public opinion. I like being in solitude to reflectively gather my thoughts. Being outside of a “popular” group doesn’t subject you to certain cognitive bias that can become damaging over time.

I watched a panel featuring the digital manga service Mangamo and one of its executive editors said that he’s always been more of a manga guy. He said he doesn’t watch much anime with some exceptions (Japan Sinks 2020 was a relevant example, he gave). I’m still going to watch anime series here and there because hey, I got to preach some notable series worth everyone’s time.

I know I’m talking out of my butt here, but I feel that discussing a topic like “why manga over anime?” and vice versa (in a way that doesn’t become a shouting match) is warranted. Hell, I think it’s best to discuss both at the same time. It’s conversations like this that develop into newer insights. I wish more people realize that despite whatever you prefer, anime and manga are very much yin and yang to each other. I think experiencing both anime and manga worlds lead to a better appreciation and understanding of why Japanese pop culture media fascinates us and will continue to do so.

#anime fandom #manga fandom #manga #psychology #tropes #Japanese pop culture

10 notes · View notes

recentanimenews · 5 years

Text

THE GREAT CRUNCHYROLL NARUTO REWATCH Begins with Episodes 1-7!

*guitar*

*shadows*

COME ON!

Welcome to The Great Crunchyroll Naruto Rewatch! I'm Nate, and I'll be your host this week as we make our way through all 220 episodes of the original Naruto. Last week, I told you how all this worked, but everybody who's new I'll go over things one more time.

Each week, we'll be watching SEVEN EPISODES of the original Naruto, and sharing our thoughts on them interview-style every Friday at 5pm PST.

This week, we're starting things off with episodes 1-7, featuring an introduction to everyone's favorite super-loud orange ninja, the rest of our main cast, and this world of ninja that they inhabit. Things move pretty quickly--it's not long before Naruto's assigned to Team 7, they have their first real test against their teacher and commander Kakashi, and they face their first life-or-death fights against the Demon Brothers and Zabuza!

But, before we discuss these episodes, let's take a look at the comments and questions that you had from our last installment!

The number one question we got last week was a simple one: ARE WE GOING TO SKIP THE FILLER?

No. We are not skipping the filler.

You may skip the filler, but be sure to tune in to see our reactions to it... there's gonna be a lot down the road.

Now, let's see what the Crunchyroll Features team thought of this week's episodes!

Alright, this is where it all starts--I know a bunch of you are new to Naruto. How did actually watching it compare to your expectations?

Paul: Judging from my previous experiences with the fans, I was expecting Naruto (both the show and the titular character) to be a little more meat-headed and hyper-masculine. Instead, the show sets a laser focus on evoking sympathy with a protagonist who wants to be the best in the world simply so people will recognize him. I didn't anticipate such feelings of internalized inadequacy from the shouty, fighty shonen hero.

Peter: I’m rewatching and also decided to read the manga alongside. So far I’m really impressed by how strong Kishimoto’s aesthetic was from the outset. The environments and character designs are all unmistakeable and his action is like this perfect combination of piece-by-piece panels and splashes. I like the anime’s additions, especially some extra Naruto/Konohamaru scenes which drive home the difference in how they’re treated and an early Ino intro that sets up her rivalry with Sakura.

Kevin: I was one of the people watching the original Cartoon Network run of the show’s dub back somewhere around 2003 or 2004. Going back and rewatching, I forgot how much the early parts of the show focus on Naruto’s emotional struggle, first of not being accepted by anyone and just trying to get attention, then how he feels about his various failings as a ninja. As a result, the stakes aren’t as high, but it feels like a much more personal story.

Jared: I completely missed out on Naruto after dropping off anime around 2003, but going in I was more expecting it to follow a similar structure to other shonen shows I’ve seen. From the start, the opening episode completely shattered any expectations I had with how tight the entire episode was woven together with regards to its narrative, characterizations, and how much info it packed into 24 minutes. Outside of that, I think I’d missed out on knowing that Naruto can act like a brat early on in the series.

Joseph: I’m in an interesting position, because I watched maybe 40 episodes of this a decade ago and I’ve read around 50 volumes of the manga. I will say I was surprised at how nostalgic it felt to watch this compared to, say, Shippuden, which has a much different vibe. It’s also impressive how much groundwork is laid for the entire series via Kishimoto’s designs and world and the way the anime adapted it.

Carolyn: I was very surprised at how quickly they dove into Naruto’s backstory. I have seen the show many years ago and didn’t seem to remember that such a “big reveal” occurred so quickly. I… honestly find the story quite boring and hard to keep my attention focused on, I guess I’m just not super invested in the characters. However, I can absolutely see seeds of how this show has affected and inspired many that came after it. I hadn’t really noticed that when watching other anime, but going back and rewatching Naruto makes that pretty clear. Also, I am cracking up at the totally rad ‘80s Breakfast Club-esque opening sequence. I didn’t remember that music at all.

Noelle: Naruto was one of my first encounters with manga when I first really started getting into it, but it’s been a long time since I touched it. I read the whole thing, but I never reread it, so a lot of instances I completely forgot about. For example, I forgot how kind of gruesome it was at the start, focusing on serious injuries instead of just fantasy violence. At the same time, I’m impressed how strong the characters are established, along with themes such as kindness and proving yourself that will resonate throughout the entire series.

Kara: I was five years out of college when Naruto started, and I remember in the circles I ran in it was Not The Done Thing to be into it. I can’t remember if it was because it was considered a “casual’s anime” or if it was based on run-ins with cosplayers at conventions. Likely a little of both. Watching it has been a lot more chill than I expected, and while I see a lot of the tropes I figured I’d see, it looks like it’s leading somewhere interesting.

David: I basically grew up with Naruto, but I fell off of it in high school so it’s been more than a decade since the last time I actually watched an episode or read a chapter. Comparing it to my expectations, it’s much more focused than I recall--the first episode could stand alone as a very emotionally effective short story, for example. Kakashi is still the only side character who seems to have a lot of thought put into their long-term character arc, though.

Daniel: I like it, though Naruto has always kind of been a blind spot for me. I’ve seen a decent chunk of it, but it’s always kind of been background noise, something to have on so that when people ask me “Do you only watch One Piece?”, I can say “NUH UH. I ALSO WATCH THIS ONE ABOUT ANOTHER LOUD BOY.” That said, actually paying attention to it, it’s pretty fun. I dig Kishimoto’s world building, and the environment that he’s set up. I’m really interested in finally figuring out why so many people adopted this show as their gospel.

Danni W: I actually did watch the first dozen or so episodes of Naruto around six or seven years ago, so this was more of a refresher than anything. It never quite clicked with me the first time, so I was surprised to find I enjoyed it more this time around. I think it helped that the show gets real pretty immediately. We’re only seven episodes in and Naruto has already had to face real combat three separate times. The characters aren’t enough to hook me yet, so the early doses of action have made for a good on ramp for me.

I've always enjoyed how Naruto hangs on to its emotional core, and we see that very strongly in the first few episodes. What did you all think of this part of the story?

Paul: I'm not fully invested yet in the emotional stakes of the series, mostly because I don't really know the scope and scale of the world that Naruto inhabits. Why are these children being trained to be spies and assassins from such a young age? What dangers does the outside world present such that it prompts entire villages to weaponize their kids?

Peter: I feel like I never gave Iruka enough credit in retrospect, maybe because his act was the first in what later emerged as the series core. Without him, Naruto probably would have been another Gaara. I also never realized that Naruto is wearing Iruka’s headband the entire damn story. After Naruto’s hand stab I’m trying to remember if grand masculine gestures are regularly mocked as an inverse toward the important compassionate gestures, so I’m planning to track that moving forward.

Kevin: While I like seeing the cool techniques and fights from later in the show, going back to the beginning and seeing much more of a focus on each character’s internal conflicts is an interesting change, giving each of their actions a bit more personal weight. It’s not inherently better or worse, just a different focus on the same story.

Jared: It really seemed like a great way to start the series and let people know from the onset that this is a story that deals heavily with empathy. I figured eventually the series would go that route, but to do it immediately sets a tone that allows for these characters like Naruto to instantly have layers that otherwise might take a long time to see. With the show really bouncing between emotional moments and comedy pretty frequently, I’m curious whether it’ll continue that or try and lean more in one direction or the other.

Joseph: Naruto is the most three-dimensional character in these first episodes, mostly because we haven’t had much time to delve into the stories that drive Sakura and Sasuke. I think they do a great job of making Naruto sympathetic, which makes up for his brattiness. One other thing I appreciate is that they make it clear from the outset that being a ninja isn’t just cartoonishly huge shuriken fun and games. People die on the regular here, and Naruto and the rest of his upstart era would do well do remember that before taking the next steps.

Carolyn: Just let Naruto live! Everyone is so mean to the poor kid. Again, I was surprised at how quickly they jump into this and I have a feeling it is what kept me watching the first time around. They do a good job of making you feel empathy for Naruto even when he is being totally obnoxious.

Noelle: While I remember pretty vividly the general plot, I don’t remember a lot of the small moments that make up a scene. Naruto is set up really well, and I to this day really enjoy that he’s not just cast as a quirky problem child with no future, but someone who genuinely wants to be acknowledged, and acting out is the easiest way to get attention. Knowing how things end up, seeing everyone at the start and how they are introduced is a good refresher and sets up a lot later on. At its heart, this really is a story about teamwork, empathy, and growing up.

Kara: It’s been all right—some cute and funny bits, and I like what action scenes we’ve had. From a writing standpoint, it feels like (except for Naruto himself) everyone’s categorized largely by wanting to be the Hokage, wanting to kill someone, or having a crush on someone. But I can also see that we’re quickly moving forward from that. Being on the News team means educating myself fast about unfamiliar shows, and the wildest thing to me has been seeing Hinata in the background crushing on Naruto when I just recently posted an article about her wedding figure.

David: Iruka and Naruto’s relationship has to be my favorite single part from this section. Iruka is given every reason to not like or just give up on this kid, yet he sticks up for him the whole time (while also never letting him slack--no free pass on the exams for Naruto!). Kakashi is setting up to be a good role model, too, but I’ll definitely miss how intimate Iruka’s care for Naruto is.

Daniel: You can really sympathize with Naruto because he’s the “chosen one” character without being a prodigy. He isn’t impressive right out of the gate, but he has the potential to be impressive. I think you can relate to him easier than, say, Goku, who is ready to dropkick most of the world the first time you meet him. That feeling of being meant for bigger things, but still struggling to even get on the path to those bigger things is pretty powerful.

Danni: I think it’s showing some promise. I really appreciate the lengths it goes to explain why Naruto is a troublemaker in the first place. He can be pretty annoying, but the reasons for that are mostly justified. In the end, he’s a victim. I like that Sasuke can already see that and identify with him in that respect. They both have a lot of trauma to work though in the next *checks notes* few hundred episodes.

I know we're really early in, but have there been any standout moments or characters so far?

Paul: I know everybody else is probably going to go with Kakashi as the standout character, but also cool as Kakashi may be, my heart goes out to Akimichi Choji, the chubby ninja who is stuffing his face with potato chips in Episode 3. I also like the design of the oversized shurikens and other exaggerated weapons, and I dig the visual aesthetic of the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

Peter: This question is kind of hard to answer since I’m retracing old ground but I definitely did not recall Sakura being such a little shithead. Completely forgot her putting her foot in her mouth with Sasuke saying Naruto’s a troublemaker because he’s an orphan. Funnily enough, I think her hating Naruto for who he is rather than what he represents is a really important connection between the two.

Kevin: Naruto freezing up in his first real fight and then stabbing himself, swearing that he’ll never be a burden again was a scene that I feel is an exemplar of how the early story focuses more on Naruto’s emotional journey, rather than just trying to fight increasingly strong bad guys, but still has the kind of payoffs that the audience can rally behind.

Jared: Iruka is a good dude who really wants what’s best for Naruto, even if it means taking an oversized shuriken to the back. Naruto stabbing himself in episode 6 was an immediate “YO” moment from me. The entire atmosphere of the fight in the back half of episode 7 was incredibly good. I really hope that Konohamaru continues to show up with either worse and worse stealth or continuously better ways to try and fight Naruto.

Carolyn: Glad to see Shikamaru show up so early. Love him. As I mentioned before, I’m not sure I’m fully invested in these characters. I am quite disappointed in Sakura. I remember loving her when I was younger and she is not the strong female character I remembered. She’s kind of desperately boy-crazy. Which is fine! But it feels like it comes on strong and the first several episodes don’t give her many traits beyond that. She must grow throughout the series, or my memories were warped? Kakashi Sensei feels sooooo much like a Shoto Aizawa (My Hero Academia’s Eraserhead) prototype. The mystery, the aloof manner, but secretly a big softie that just wants his student to do well. Similarly, Naruto has a lot of traits that seem to overlap with Bakugo and Soul Eater’s Black Star. More evidence of the show’s reach. Sexy Jutsu has not aged well. Also, the ending theme song is beautiful.

Noelle: Kakashi’s great, and knowing that he’s pretty close to my age puts a lot of things into context now that I’m an adult. Kakashi’s got a lot on his plate with these three problem children under his wing, but he’s still a pretty laid back guy personality-wise. Someone who stood out to me more in my rewatch was Iruka. Iruka’s presence means so much to Naruto, being the father figure he never really had. If Iruka wasn’t kind to Naruto, and he really was the only person to treat Naruto like a kid and not just a monster container, this would’ve been a very different series. Naruto truly did need someone to be there for him, and seeing their relationship really does make my heart warm. Iruka’s a good guy!

Kara: I actually cannot believe how much I associate with Naruto, and 12-years-ago me would faint at hearing that. The absolute need to prove himself, the feeling that he’s sliding backwards the harder he works, all that is something I (and others, I’m sure) can relate to. Obviously he goes a little harder than most people would in his situation—seriously, if you’re wearing Safety Orange constantly, you’ve gotta think really highly of yourself as a ninja—but it’s really something to see how much of his attitude is couched in fear of failure.

Joseph: Kakashi’s kancho, obviously.

David: Konohamaru only gets his one episode here, but I actually thought his bit was the most emotionally effective. He largely has the same issues as Naruto but in reverse. Konohamaru isn’t necessarily "royalty" but treated as such, infantilizing him from his perspective. Even his name is a point of contention for him, putting a burden on his very existence that others can’t relate to. To these ends, he looks up to Naruto for being a free spirit, but as the viewers we understand that they are more similar than they know. Naruto is the main character--we see his troubles garnering respect and even love from his peers and mentors in these episodes--but Konohamaru grounds that conflict by mirroring it.

Daniel: In my high school band class in Freshman year, a kid asked the teacher to be referred to as “Sasuke.” He also had a ninja headband that he’d wear around some time, and while I thought it was goofy then, I think it’s ABSOLUTELY DOPE now. So, while I still figure out the characters, I’m gonna nominate broody ol’ Sasuke in honor of that kid.

Danni: Kakashi covers like 75% of his face with ninja gear and to show how badass he is fought one-handed while reading a book called Makeout Paradise. I want to be that cool someday.

The action escalated pretty quickly--we started with Team 7 having to take the bells from Kakashi for the first full-on action scene (even if it wasn't "for keeps"), and then we have to worry about Hidden Mist assassins and our first real villain, Zabuza. Any thoughts on the action?

Paul: I like all of the action that I've seen so far, but the resolution to Kakashi's test wasn't dramatically satisfying for me. The payoff didn't match the build-up. I wanted to see Team 7 put up more of a show of resistance than simply refusing to obey Kakashi's instructions not to feed Naruto. The scene plays more like everyone being recalcitrant teenagers and less like anyone taking a principled stand.

Peter: I can’t believe the action is so sick even this early on. I always thought of Sasuke’s style as the most orthodox and the intricacy of some of his combos and the shots are so damn satisfying to look. Kishimoto made it super easy for the animators to make some stylish shots and they ran with it. The series is already building its vocabulary with a Sasuke attack that obviously builds into the Lion Combo and some underground shenanigans.

Kevin: I feel like this is the show’s action at its weakest. None of the Genin know how to fight yet, so once the actually dangerous fighting begins, they’re relegated to standing around watching Kakashi and Zabuza fight, and even that hasn’t gotten to the more impressive techniques. It’s not bad since at least there is still a fight between two experienced combatants to watch, it’s just weaker than what the show delivers on later when the protagonist and major characters are experienced enough to contribute.

Jared: I was surprised how subdued the action had felt before Team 7 took on Kakashi with there being pretty minimal fight scenes until that point. Kakashi messing around with Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura gave a good baseline of the complete difference in skill between all of them, but it wasn’t until Zabuza and his ridiculous cow print sleeves showed up that we truly get a sense of how much of a gap there is between Kakashi and Team 7. The beginnings of that fight truly gave the feeling of their being stakes involved which had been missing elsewhere.

Carolyn: Again, surprised at how quickly the show turns on a dime. They can go from goofy to serious in a heartbeat and it is very reminiscent of how things often progress on My Hero Academia. But I still find it hard to really get into the peril. I’m not sure why, exactly, I’m not very invested in the characters, but it’s early. I’m sure that will change.

Noelle: Since this series came out where it did, Jump was still very much comfortable with keeping pacing slow. As a result, the fights are a lot slower than what I’m used to, even if that was the norm back then. At the same time, the action itself isn’t bad--it’s pretty clever, and introduces the rules of the world in a way that anyone can pick up with ease.

Kara: I have a feeling a lot of my appreciation for the fighting will come as I start learning the different abilities in play. There have definitely been some cool moves, but I think we’re still in that exposition phase where we’re learning the types of things ninjas can do (and what our main cast’s strong and weak points are). A couple weeks from now when I’ve seen more of how this universe operates, I’ll probably be all in.

David: Sure, the action isn’t flashy, but the Kakashi training fight was much better than I remember it being for two reasons. One, it’s just funny. Kakashi doesn’t do anything truly harsh to the kids (well, aside from starve them, but that’s part of the plan), and what little physical combat he does with them is either light or just plain comedic. Two, it serves as a small show-don’t-tell of the show’s combat mechanics. For example, he calls out at the beginning that he’s going to use taijutsu, leading to his infamous kancho when he could have done a million other things; Sakura even believes he is using a more fancy technique before it happens. From there more involved strategies are used and by the end we have a basic primer of Naruto combat simultaneously serving as a team-building exercise for our heroes. Very efficient storytelling.

Joseph: The action is really clear and well-handled in these early episodes. I’m not sure how it gets later on, but I know in the manga I found some of Kishimoto’s action layouts much harder to follow than they should be. His designs and the intention behind his action translate nicely to animation, thankfully. Naruto is also really good at suddenly showing just how powerful a character really is within action, which is a total must-have shonen staple.

Danni: It’s not very flashy so far, but it is pretty tense. The high-level combat so far seems to entirely be a contest of clones and substitutions. The substitution jutsu seems way too broken. That being said, it’s a pretty cool technique. I hope we get to start seeing some good hand-to-hand soon.

For this batch of episodes, what were the highest and lowest points, respectively?

Paul: High point: Naruto getting caught in Kakashi's rope trap, grumbling about not getting tricked again while he frees himself, and then immediately getting caught in another rope trap. I love those kind of gags. Low point: ninja diarrhea.

Peter: In both cases probably the information reveals. Purely narratively speaking, a lot of the info that comes at the characters feels like common knowledge in retrospect. Kakashi is famous for having the Sharingan, how the village and mission systems work, and Sakura not knowing about her crush’s family being murdered seem like they should things the kids know. On the other hand, I’m super impressed with how much of a foundation Sasuke and Kakashi’s backstory have so early on and foreshadowing for both.

Kevin: The lowest point for me was the repeated use of the “Sexy Jutsu.” Once made sense to show Naruto as a troublemaker who could invent new techniques if he tried, and the Harem Jutsu showed that he can be creative and combine techniques for new tactics, but the other 2-3 times just feel like a joke being overplayed. The best moment was the fight against the Hidden Mist Chunin, since each of the kids’ personalities show through clearly. Sakura is terrified but keeps to her main duty, Sasuke starts retaliating to get rid of the threat, and Naruto freezes in place and needs to be saved, leading to an excellent emotional payoff when the fight is over.

Jared: The high points for me were Kakashi vs. Zabuza, Naruto’s hand stab, and Sakura and Ino’s incredibly ridiculous power walk competition in episode 3. Sexy Jutsu really beats you over the head with how many times they use that gag and Naruto’s stomach issues from episode 3 were just strange, so those would be my low points.

Carolyn: The music is a definite high! The emotional moments and humanizing of Naruto is nice to see. Using ninja skills to save a lost cat is completely adorable and feels like something All Might would do. Did the My Hero peeps grow up on Naruto? It feels like it. I also like how positive Naruto is in the face of adversity. He can make any situation a positive one. Laughing at the clunky exposition, “It’s going to take someone who is highly skilled.” Low point, again, definitely Sexy Jutsu (and teaching Sexy Jutsu to a little kid, WTF, these were different times) and Sakura’s desperate crush.

Noelle: Sexy Jutsu got old really fast. It was interesting to see Naruto expand it, as that showed he was learning, but aside from that, it’s an overdone gag. Glad they cut down on it. For good points, the Zabuza fight for sure, and each one of the kids standing up for themselves in the face of danger. And of course, Naruto stabbing himself in the hand to show his resolve!

Kara: Low point was absolutely the diarrhea episode—add to that the weird middle school comedy of errors surrounding it. I only had so much tolerance for Sakura’s crush and Naruto’s willingness to either mess with or take advantage of it. High point for me was Konohamaru’s desire to be called by his name and not his function or association. It was such a goofy little episode, but something really resonated for me about being willing to go to ridiculous lengths just to be recognized for who he is.

David: The bizarre ‘love triangle’ dynamic as a whole is the low point--this is notably represented well in the “diarrhea episode,” but comes across everywhere else too in how obviously undercooked Sasuke and Sakura’s characters are at this point. On the other hand, the high point is how obviously fully developed Kakashi is despite us knowing so little about him at this point. Unlike the rest of the side characters, there is clearly a lot going on in both what we see him doing here and what is implied to be happening in his background, and that’s as exciting a hook as it was when I was in middle school.

Joseph: The gags are hit or miss, but mostly decent. For me, the low point is any time an information dump rears its head. Zabuza standing on top of his sword for an eternity while he and Kakashi trade off exposition about the Sharingan is sloppy. I dig most everything else, and the high point is how the story handles this early-stage version of Naruto. He is just straight up a bad ninja, and it shows. He’s loud, brash, and obnoxious in an all orange jumpsuit. He’s the anti-ninja. Best of all, he’s terrified, and he totally should be.

Daniel: I really like the show’s tone, usually. But the high point and low point were within five seconds of one another. In the first episode, it’s so rad when Naruto finally reveals his Shadow Clone Jutsu against Mizuki. And then they all beat up Mizuki, and you get these “BONK BOOP SCHWWWWOOOP” sound effects, which takes all of the power of the scene and kicks it out the door.

Danni: For me, the highest point of this batch was in the first episode when Naruto overhears Iruka defending him against Mizuki. That’s a potentially life-changing moment for Naruto, finally learning why so many in the village hate him. Had it been anyone but Iruka who had found Naruto, he likely would’ve ended up turning against the entire village in anger. It’s a touching moment of understanding not just between teacher and student, but also between a pair of orphans linked by the same tragic event.

The lowest point is anytime I‘m reminded the sexy jutsu exists.

COUNTERS

Ramen consumed so far: 2 bowls, 1 cup

"I'm gonna be Hokage!" count: 8

Number of Shadow Clones summoned: 46

And that's everything for this week! Remember that you're always welcome to join us for this rewatch, especially if you haven't watched the original Naruto!

Here's our upcoming schedule!

-Next week, on JANUARY 25th, we'll be discussing EPISODES 8-14, hosted by KARA DENNISON! The mission in the Land of Waves continues! THIS IS THE ONLY INSTALLMENT WE'RE ACCEPTING QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS FOR THIS WEEK!

-Then, on FEBRUARY 1st, we discuss EPISODES 15-21, with KEVIN MATYI hosting! Not only do we start the Chunin Exam arc, but we get our first FILLER EPISODE!

-On FEBRUARY 8th,we'll discuss EPISODES 22-28, with JARED CLEMONS as host! The Chunin Exam kicks into high gear!

Thank you for joining us for the Great Crunchyroll Naruto Rewatch! Have a great weekend, and we'll see you all next time!

Have any comments or questions about episodes 1-7? What about our upcoming installment, featuring episodes 8-14?

-----

Nate Ming is the Features Editor for Crunchyroll News and creator of the long-running Fanart Friday column. You can follow him on Twitter at @NateMing. Check out his comic, Shaw City Strikers!

By: [email protected]

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

2 notes · View notes

kiritokun · 6 years

Text

2017 Anime in Review

So, it is that time of the year again, the end is neigh, and it has snuck up on me yet again. With the end of the fall season for me only 3 days away, I thought I should get to writing and compiling this list, which, compared to other years feels dauntingly short. With a total of only 33 anime/movies I saw this year, I feel like either I’ve gotten pickier, shows have gotten worse, or there were too many sequels that I didn’t wanna rush through previous seasons to watch the new season. Regardless, keeping up with tradition, here I am for my fifth annual anime review. As always, the top 12 are in alphabetical order and then the rest are discussed in alphabetical order as well since, as you may have noticed, I was lazy this year and didn’t do any quarterly reviews. So, you’ll get my full rambling here this year! Let’s get this party started!

Ao no Exorcist: Kyoto Fujouou-hen

The long awaited sequel to Ao no Exorcist, the Kyoto arc is where the action finally ramps it into high gear. The stakes get higher and the action gets real fucking rad. I’m so glad the Ao no Exorcist got its second season finally, it’s, in my opinion, somewhat underrated as an anime and doesn’t get the respect it deserves. Here’s hoping that the second season garnered enough attention for another season, because with stunning visuals, great story, and music to boot, it be a shame not to continue seeing more of this series.

Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka Gaiden: Sword Oratoria

And here we have it, the spin of to DanMachi that focuses on the Loki Familia. At first I was skeptical that they decided to do this instead of another season of DanMachi, but to quell my concerns I read into the manga and fell in love. The motivations you see for Aiz in the story help make sense of why she puts up with Bell, why she is the strongest and overall just a lot of fleshing out of her character. But luckily it doesn’t just center around Aiz, but the whole of the front line of the Loki familia, letting us see how a strong dungeon clearing familia does business, and boy does they show us the business in the season finale.

Eromanga-sensei

What is this train wreck? Another imouto series? Yes, I’m sorry. I can’t stop myself, I’m a sucker for comedy. Eromanga-sensei is great, because unlike its predecessors (OreImo) it doesn’t try to make the viewers stomach that blood relations hell. With an adorable cast, great punchlines, and reasonable visuals, it’s well worth a watch if you need a laugh.

Gamers!

What is this, another train wreck? Yep, sorry not sorry. At least it’s a unique train wreck, with our 5 main characters in a horrible love pentagon from hell. Amano likes Tendou and vice versa, Aguri likes Uehara and vice versa, and Chiaki likes Amano. Seems simple enough, just a love triangle you say, NOPE. Because its all a clusterfuck of people thinking the person they like likes someone else. EVEN THOUGH AGURI AND UEHARA ARE DATING. God help me why did I like this again. Wait the great lolz. That’s why, grade A lolz.

Imouto sae Ireba Ii.

Yes, it says Imouto in the title. But I swear, its not OreImo again. My boy Itsuki here is a light novel author… with an obsession for little sisters. See that’s new. This anime is a slice of life that revolves around the light novel publishing business and we see most of it through the perspective of Itsuki, but Nayu and Haruto have been in the spotlight, showing us their process to writing their novels or anime adaptations. But the cake for me has to go to Itsuki’s college friend Miyako, who is best girl of the year for me. Lord have mercy that girl is adorable. Also this bastard of an anime has the best ending song of the year for me, freaking great song.

Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni.

The premise here was interesting, our protagonist meets an early end in his world, but God having pity on him allows him to reincarnate in a new world, taking one thing with him. He chooses to keep his smartphone and there by gains a interesting advantage in a world of magic, where he is able to access all the old information from his home world (Assumingly an anime Earth), but also gains amazing power in this world. Because God felt the phone was a bit of a cheap gimme, he enhances all hit attributes including his affinity for magic, allowing him to be incredibly fucking broken and OP in this world in combat. So don’t go in to this for a fair fight, but for comedy, bullshit fights, and a interesting take on how a medieval magic world would benefit from someone from our time period came and started just dropping knowledge. (ICE CREAAAM)

Koi to Uso

A society that has a system that will match you to your perfect soulmate, seems ideal doesn’t it? But what if you find yourself fallen in love for years and come your 16th birthday you are matched with someone whom you have no feelings for. That’s the premise of Koi to Uso, and man it’s a doozy. I wish this had gotten more episodes because I feel like the premise was great, even if the protagonist was a bit spineless. Unfortunately I doubt it did well enough to get another season, so I’ll have to read the manga for some closure, but it got my interest. It also had a fantastic opening song, catchy as all hell.

Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! 2

If you read my reviews in the past, you should NOT be surprised that KonoSuba2 made it into this list. The laughs were still there, the bullshit success story of Kazuma never ends. God what else can I say about one of the best action comedies I’ve seen? Go watch it? Season 1 first though, it does actually continue story wise so you need to see it in order. ERIS IS TRUE LIFE, AQUA LIES!

Rewrite 2nd Season

Man, I can already feel how controversial this pick is. A lot, and I mean a lot, of people did not like Rewrite, nor Rewrite season 2. I am one of the few that thought it was alright. I have also not played the visual novel its based on so I’m more forgiving to its faults than most. But I have researched into the series post watching the anime, and can see very well why people were so… triggered. Overall the second season I feel was stronger than the first, elaborating on back story a lot more and giving viewers more to understand what the actual fuck is going on. And you gotta admit the season started off with a bang with that huge battle in episode 16. After which the series I feel took a darker and more realistic turn, which I thought was a step in the right direction.

Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records

Yes, another magic world school series. What was unique about this one? The main character is older for one, isn’t trying to fall in love for another, and lastly, isn’t purposefully gimped of his power. He tends a lazier route but is able to be bring forth his abilities to full blast when necessary. I will say the uniforms are kinda bullshit, like how are they practical lol.

Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata

Why oh why did we not get just a bit more of this series? I’m glad they announced a movie to hopefully finish the story since its so close to the end of the light novels. But this ends up being more of the same, with Aki trying to pursue his game creation dream further with more trials and tribulations along the way. But none of that matters, what matters is we got more Megumi in our lives and man oh man is she still as great as ever. Best heroine, no boring heroine here!

Tsurezure Children

Considering how much I love the manga series, it is no surprise that I loved the anime. They stayed true to the manga and made it a snippet of short stories for all the characters. I only wished it had been 24 episodes so we could have developed everyone more and introduced more people as well. But, its okay, we introduced the best characters anyway with BROTOYAMA being introduced and of course, everyone’s favorite LOVE MASTER! He gets even better, just you wait.

Honorable Mentions

ChÃ¤oS;Child

This was just a big disappointment to me, I had hoped it would fall back on Chaos;Head a bit and explain some more, give us an epilogue if you will of what happen to those people, but we just got a new story full force. While the story of Chaos;Child isn’t bad, it wasn’t what I wanted, though man, the movie was something else. Sadly it wasn’t what I was looking for.

Clockwork Planet

Iffy animation, story all over the place, main dude kinda nuts and annoying. I couldn’t actually find something I liked about Clockwork planet. It’s a shame because I thought I’d love it based on the poster art, but, it wasn’t meant to be apparently.

Code:Realize: Sousei no Himegimi

I have a very love hate relationship with Code:Realize. I don't actually enjoy it that much, but its interesting enough that I was not able to bring myself to drop the series. Week after week I watched with half attention because I wanted to see a resolution to the series, but it wasn't very good to watch it. I don’t know what drew me to it, but it brought me back for more every week so I guess it had to be somewhat good if I can't find something I hated either.

Fate/Apocrypha

Man, Fate Apocrypha is an example of why ufotable should be the only people that are allowed to handle the Fate series. While the story is pretty interesting war wise, the character development felt slopy, the fights were poorly animated (til episode 22-23 those were pretty rad), and overall just felt bad. It’s a shame ufotable doesn’t have exclusive rights to fate adaptations, but oh well, it was okay. Hopefully Shaft does better with Fate Extra, but I doubt it.

Gin no Guardian

Normally if a series gets a second season announced and I watched the first season, I watch the new season. Like I watched Samurai Girls, then tried to watch Samurai Bride and realized it was god awful. Well with Gin no Guardian, I watched the first season and will not be giving its second season a watch because it was very boring, slow paced, and scattered about. I don’t see how it got a second season, but I guess some people might have liked it, or maybe since its shorter episodes it was worth finishing up another season? I don’t understand really.

Hajimete no Gal

The boobs in this series were fucking absurd. Who was the character designer for this and the manga? They need to go look at some real women to understand how boobs function. Holy shit was that a problem in this series. Unless the designers only watched porn with very fake breasts, they should have realized something was awry with their boob design. Holy fuck have I been waiting to complain about that for a while. Besides the boobs, pretty good anime, I laughed pretty hard actually, when the boobs were functioning like human boobs.

Hand Shakers

Now, the art style alone was a bit of a departure for me, but it also caught me attention so I gave it a shot. Hand Shakers story was rocky at best, but at the end of the day, it wasn’t actually bad. The concept of not being able to let go of her hand got real old fast, like come on that’s a horrible life flaw to force on someone, even anime wise. But oh well, I didn’t hate the anime, I found it enjoyable at least.

Juuni Taisen

Some people really loved Juuni Taisen, I was not one of those people. Don't get me wrong, it was actually pretty interesting; I enjoy that battle royal genre a lot. But I just couldn’t get behind the predictable episode structure and most unlikable characters. I was glad when I started to like people, but then they’d die off and make me feel like I wasted my joy. So, that was rough going, even if it was predictable in the end it was a fun watch.

Kino no Tabi: The Beautiful World - The Animated Series

Oh my god, Kino is a wonderful anime, but I couldn't make myself drop one of the other 12 down. So no don't think I didn't love this anime, I did, I adored it. The visuals were beautiful, the music was great, and each individual story was amazing. Episode 11 was incredible in my opinion, and a satisfying watch to realize how Kino came to be.

Konohana Kitan

I might be a bit slow, but I did NOT realize that the hotel was a kind of limbo til very late in the series. Did I miss some key dialogue? Maybe, someone let me know. But holy hell has this been an amusing watch. Its been beautifully animated, and on top of that the stories are all heartwarming.

Kuzu no Honkai

This fucking anime, holy shit this anime. I had some issues here. First of all, our two protagonists, like fuck, why didn't you end up together? Like, are you that childish that you can’t accept that you’ve made mistakes but are essentially good for each other? Also; Ecchan; can really go fuck off, her attitude drove me up a wall the entire series. What a horrible personality. God, I think I only made it through this because I was hoping for a happier ending and man did I not get that.

Little Witch Academia (TV)

Very unpopular opinion incoming. This should have stayed a movie. There, I said it. I didn't think it needed to be adapted into a full length anime. It felt like every episode dragged on and on and only felt like it reached a proper pacing structure towards the end when everything started to go down. Had the series been condensed to 12 episodes I get a feeling I may have been fonder of it.

Masamune-kun no Revenge

Masamune really needs his revenge; he went from tubby to abs in a few years. He needs to get vengeance for starving and working out to be healthy. Wait that sounds wrong, shouldn't he be thanking her for making him realize that he needed to get healthy and that she was kind of a bitch? That would be the logical outcome, but no, we get led into a lengthy hell. The manga has started to move towards the conclusion, which I think might satisfy me more than the anime did, but we'll see what happens.

New Game!!

More of the same and that's okay with me! Watching the game development process is fascinating! And the characters are all adorable and relatable! And so well drawn and animated. I really do love this series so much, even though it broke my heart with the last episodes. Oh well, I trust the writers!

Princess Principal

I really liked the series. But, I felt like I was watching the episodes out of order a lot of the time. That really threw the pacing through a loop in my opinion. I thought it was a lot more mature than I initially gave it credit for though, so that was good overall. I'm glad I watched it.

Re:Creators

This on the other hand, I regret bothering with. But I was so many episodes in by the time I regretted it that I couldn't just stop anymore. Man, this was not a good anime.

Shingeki no Kyojin Season 2

If you'e watched season 1, you know what season 2 is all about. Death, glory, fighting, WOO! While we do make some plot progress in season 2, we haven’t gotten to the real meat of the plot just yet, so hopefully another season and we'll get to the nice dark conspiracies!

Sword Art Online Movie: Ordinal Scale

I loved the Ordinal Scale movie. I was able to go see it in theaters and it was fantastic. While original content, it fit so well with the world that Sword Art Online has built. And the magnificent tease at the end. We will see Alicization soon enough boys!

Trinity Seven Movie: Eternity Library to Alchemic Girl

A shame I didn't get to see this in theaters, but man it was good. While not canon to the manga's story it held its own with a very interesting take on the series. I enjoyed it quite a lot.

UQ Holder!: Mahou Sensei Negima! 2

Oh god what a fucking train wreck. Why can't they make a good Negima anime? Is it really that hard to get it right? It was so fucking bad. Why can't you stick to the source material? Why must you skip so much? God fucking damn it.

Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e (TV)

At least we end on a high note. This was one hell of a trip. The concept was cool and the animation was decent. They had some issues with slow pacing to start, but once the politics and drama began it just kept rolling. I wish it had had more episodes to give us more plot because with how it ended, you really are left wondering what the intentions of the main character are and where the story is leading. Oh well, hopefully it gets another season or if not I'll have to read the light novel.

And with that we come to a close, yet another year of anime. While I watched significantly less this year, it was still a lot I think. I hope this helps you if you are on the edge about some of these, if not, well, sorry I like to ramble. I';m always open to discussion, so if you have opinions that clash, let us have a duel of words. Til next time!

Edit: Apparently my formatting freaked out a bit and I had to fix it, hopefully I got everything, if not let em know!

8 notes · View notes

ivanaskye · 6 years

Text

8+2 writing questions meme

@vardasvapors tagged me and I used doing this as a reward for dealing with airport security....

1. What are your current writing goals? Ohhh boy, okay, let’s see, I’ve got to get Šehhinah book 3 fully edited by March 9th, when I’m planning on publishing it … finishing drafting Evocation 3&4 … editing Evocation 2 … then editing the other Evocation books, obviously, once they’re drafted … outlining the series that takes place after Evocation … I think that’s as far as I have planned. That should get me through some of the year! Although let’s be real I probably haven’t even done cursory outlining of whatever I’ll be writing in November or whatever yet.

2. When did you first discover your love of writing? HAHAHAHAHA when DIDN’T I discover it.

Uhh ok no really … I learned how to read like really early and was always super into books. “Book! Book!” I apparently demanded of my mom like, all the time. My physical ability to hold a pencil took longer to be a thing than my ability to read, and certainly longer than my ability to storytell, but there’s a whole collection of little stories I dictated to my mom as she wrote them down when I was three or four or so. These include memorable lines such as “Yes, dear, a fire hydrant is very important” and “Buzzing! He couldn’t believe his eyes!” and “And then they drank all day and died. This was a long time ago, when people used to do that sort of thing.” There was also the story that ended in Pooh Bear and Piglet dying … and the one where Thomas the Tank Engine “took his medicine” and “didn’t do any bad things anymore” …

Not too long after those, there started being little things I’d write myself with pencil and paper. For whatever reason the first that comes to mind is this song about winter (meant to be sung by Pooh Bear, obviously) which I think I wrote when I was six, that went “It’s snowing / it’s mowing / but I don’t mind // I’ve got furry furry fur to keep me warm and snuggly / because it’s winter!” Gods, uh, I even still remember the tune for that actually. Then again, I think I remember all the tunes of the bad songs I wrote as a kid.

Also by the way I still have basically all of this stuff. I have like, a barely-even-started attempt at uh, a nonfiction book, bound by staples, about volcanoes … THE FREAKING FAIRY SLAVE STORY, involving a fairy enslaved by an evil witch at the age of six …

This kept ramping up in complexity until I was nine and decided that a good way to spend a three-week road trip would be to write an entire movie script. Which I did; it was about sixty pages long once later typed up by my mom (these were the waning days before I really learned how to type), which by typical page-to-minute conversions for scripts, means it would have been about an hour long as a movie. I did try to film it, and got partway through, but oh my Gods, that is a story for another time and this is already an essay and I’m only on the second question.

Keep in mind that on that same road trip I also attempted to start drawing several manga—most not making it past the third page—and did some Tokyo Mew Mew fanfic, and a number of other things besides …

Uhh anyway this brings us to March 9th, 2006, which is the “created on” date of my very first writing document on my computer! It was four paragraphs long and terrible and I was a bit of a weeb, so the main character’s name was Subeteno Kakusei … there was this whole thing where like, she’d fight for Life in the daylight but switch personalities and fight for Death in the nighttime, but I got stuck and stopped writing when she asked, “and why is life bad?” and I couldn’t come up with the answer. Uh. Also this story itself was already a revamp of another story written on paper which had started out as a riff on Pokemon…

3. What motivates you to keep writing? UH WANTING TO REMAIN BREATHING, lmao.

No seriously though, that’s actually something I’ve said to people: “oh, yeah, I have to write every day, OR I WILL DIE.” And I mean??? I probably would?? Wtf is a not writing every day? I mean, okay, yeah, I only started the daily thing at the beginning of 2016, but still…

Seriously though, writing makes me feel like myself, it’s kind of what I am…

4. How important is worldbuilding for your writing? VERY??? EXTREMELY??? A WHOLE BUNCH???? I absolutely 100% have to get the cosmology of a setting down before I can write in it. It’s the most essential thing in my entire process and also the hardest. That essential-ness is why I write secondary world stuff—I want to decide the cosmology Gods heck it!! I get to display something, a possibility of something, that is good, where the world works in a way that feels right, where the very formation of how the world works including its magic system is supportive of people’s happiness.

The whole cosmology process requires heavy amounts of thinking and analyzing and even heavier amounts of believing in myself though, and I feel utterly exhausted after it every time.

For all the other parts of worldbuilding, I do better if I have it down ahead of time rather than expect myself to come up with stuff while drafting—because, lol, I won’t, I’ll make up a cool landscape if I give myself a minute to do it in outlining or worldbuilding but if I don’t have one when drafting, I will somehow just completely fail to come up with anything interesting at all. But also, I like drafting way more than any other part of the writing process, so generally speaking I don’t worldbuild quite as much as I could or maybe should!

5. Pen on paper versus typing? Typing typing typing oh my Gods.

6. Favorite Author? OKAY UH … the obvious answer here is N.K Jemisin bc her most recent trilogy is perfect, and she has great subject matter AND a gorgeous writing style that’s just amazing, and, and. But. I don’t usually like to say someone’s my favorite unless I’m certain that the stuff they’re doing next is also going to be something I like, so I might defer Official Favorite Status to such a time as her next book is published!

In that case, the backup favorite would be Brandon Sanderson…

7. Something you do to get the creative juices flowing to write? Coffee.

But more seriously … to get the creativity flowing to write, I write. It’s a habit. There is no muse. There’s no use in waiting for inspiration to strike. You have to make it happen anyway. You have to just keep going and believe, and believe.

(More generalizing than I would normally say, but I highkey feel this one…)

8. Do you write better at night, or first thing in the morning? Morning! This past month is the first period of time for two years where I’ve not felt like I’m dying if writing isn’t the first thing I do in the morning … if only because I trust I’ll end up doing it for three hours in the afternoon anyway. I can pretty much write any time of day now but I’m most attuned to doing it in the morning. With coffee…

9. How do you take your coffee/tea? Cappuccinos are very important to my lifestyle. BY CAPPUCCINO, I specifically mean equal parts espresso, steamed milk, and foam—but the foam is mixed into the milk, it isn’t just spooned on top, so basically it’s foamy milk. The drink should be approximately 8oz. It includes two shots of espresso. The most preferred types of espresso tend to be Ethiopian, but anything with a bright flavor is great (which still is very most often African beans, with Ethiopian almost always as the best!).

…So, ok, maybe I’m a little particular…

10. If you could only live with one season for the rest of your life, what would it be? I’d say summer except that in many ways nighttime is more important to me than the day and also I lived in Hawaii for the better part of 4 years and the constant heat was too much for me. So uh. Uhhh.

I do need a lot of sunlight though, and even more than that clear skies! I need starlight! And moonlight! So any season where I can get those things, and where the temperature’s not too hot but not like horribly cold either. (Of late, my cold tolerance has outpaced my heat tolerance, but it too has limits.)

Tagging @lcmawson, predictably.

#yeah ok I have two friends and one tagged me and I'm tagging the other #BUT A VERY GOOD TWO FRIENDS.#COULDN'T HAVE CHOSEN BETTER MYSELF ETC.#writing stuff #yeah that might have been more than u wanted to read but!!! JUST DEAL W IT!!!

2 notes · View notes

dragonkeeper19600 · 7 years

Text

Fruits Basket Observations

I reread Fruits Basket this month. One of my favorite things about this manga full of favorite things of mine is that every time I read it, I realize something new about the story and its characters. Apparently, this was one of the goals that Natsuki Takaya had in regards to Fruits Basket, that it would get better the more you “bite into” it (she actually compares the series to a cuttlefish in that regard), and I think she pulled it off due to all the amazing Fridge Brilliance moments that come from rereading it.

With that in mind, here is my list of random thematic and character-based elements I’ve never noticed before, as well as little moments that slipped under my radar the first time I read the series:

A lot of traits about Akito’s character, including her real gender and her primary motivation, are foreshadowed early on in more minor forms. For example, the main character is a girl named Tohru, but in Japan “Tohru” is a boy’s name. “Akito” is also a masculine name. Tohru and Akito sharing masculine names not only emphasizes their status as foils, it also sort of foreshadows Akito’s gender in a way, since there’s one other example of a gender-blender name in the story.

Matoko’s character also foreshadows Akito’s internalized misogyny. In Volume 7, Matoko fumes that she hates all women, including the other girls in the Prince Yuki fan club because they’re all “her enemies” (in that they’re potential rivals for her love for Yuki) but then admits to herself that the flaws she sees in others are only reflections of the flaws she sees in herself.

Finally, in a really interesting example, the anime’s opening theme, “For Fruits Basket,” finishes with the line, “Let’s stay together, always.” “Staying together always” is revealed to be the true nature of the curse, since it forces people to be together forever regardless if they want to or not. Because of this, the song and opening sequence become unexpectedly sinister when viewed by someone who’s finished the manga.

What’s even more bizarre is that in the anime, Akito is doomed to die young, and Tohru is able to get through to him by noticing his loneliness and fear, which no one else ever acknowledged. This was exactly how Ren got Akira to fall in love with her in the manga. This is especially odd because Natsuki Takaya had nothing to do with Akito’s characterization in the anime, meaning that this is either the mother of all coincidences or she actually got the idea from the anime. Considering Ren is a villainous character, this may even have been a deliberate potshot at the anime, which Natsuki Takaya reportedly hated, though this is just wild guesswork at this point.

A lot of characters who share some kind of connection or matching qualities have similar names. This is actually pointed out by Kyo when he notices his name sounds pretty close to “Kyoko,” but it’s far from the only example. Matoko Minagawa and Makoto Takei have similar names and are both high schools one year above Yuki who are obsessively in love with him. Ren and Isuzu not only look alike, but Isuzu’s nickname, “Rin,” sounds pretty close to Ren’s name. There’s also Mitsuru and Ritsu, whose similarity becomes even more pronounced when Mitsuru’s name is shortened to “Mitsu,” as it often is. And, finally, Kyoko’s maiden name, “Katsunuma,” is pretty close to the name of her husband, “Katsuya.”

On that note, Ren mentions at one point that she’s always hated Rin “instinctively.” While some have pinned this on Ren’s simple dislike of children in general, the fact that Rin looks like Ren hints at another explanation. Shigure mentions in Volume 20 that if Akito expressed her true gender, she’d look just like Ren. Because Rin also looks like Ren, perhaps when Ren saw a little girl who resembled her, it reminded her of her own hated daughter. In other words, Ren and Akito both hated Rin for the same reason (because she looked like someone they hated.)

Shigure and Akito totally banged in Chapter 101. They start kissing, with Shigure pulling on Akito’s tie, then it fades into a flashback, and when we cut back, Akito is in bed, topless, and Shigure is pulling a blanket over her. They totally went at it doggy-style, yo. This may have been obvious to other people, but I was pretty innocent-minded as a teenager (shockingly), so this flew completely over my head.

In that same chapter, it’s implied that Shigure actually sleeps around a lot, since when Akito prodded him for sleeping with “that woman,” he honestly didn’t know who she meant until she clarified she meant Ren.

Hang on, does this mean he banged Mayuko? I... Shit, I think it does.

When Kureno rescues Rin from the cat’s room, she’s wearing Akito’s clothes. Looks like Akito (or maybe one the maids) has been dressing Rin in Akito’s robes.

Rin probably has some kind of crush on Tohru, and I’m not just saying that because of her stated desire to “run crying into her lap.” In Volume 23, when Kyo sees Tohru comforting Rin, he murmurs that he has “guys and girls as competition,” and later in the same volume, when Haru and Momiji are speculating on how happy Tohru and Kyo will be together, Rin sullenly comments that Tohru should break up with him. If this is true that means that both Rin and Haru are bi and attracted to people other than their partner (since Haru confesses in Volume 3 that Yuki was his first love and also comments that he “likes Kyo, too.”)

The birth of his little sister Hinata is what motivates Hiro to tell Kisa and Haru the secrets he’s been keeping from both of them, since he desired to “be someone who can really protect her.” Hinata innocence created a sense of urgency for him to mature, and he felt that properly communicating crucial information about his and other people’s feelings was an important step towards that.

When we see Hanajima immediately after Tohru’s accident (in Chapter 124), her normally neat braid is really loose, with huge strands of hair coming out of it. Considering how deep her love for Tohru is, her getting injured must have hurt her pretty hard.

In the last panel of the same chapter, a large rabbit plushie is visible in Tohru’s hospital bed. Since Momiji had already skipped school to visit Tohru early that day, it can be inferred that he gave it to her. Takaya is pretty consistent about drawing it afterwards, too, since Hanajima is shown carrying it when Tohru checks out of the hospital next volume.

Even though Ayame seems to be the loud, transparent type who proclaims to the heavens every thought that crosses his head, he actually manages to keep three major secrets during the course of the manga: Akito’s true gender, that he’s dating Mine, and that Mine knows about the curse. Ayame might be more cunning than we give him credit for.

In Volume 15, Yuki recalls when he first met Kyo, Kyo angrily shouted that “someone as rotten as you ought to do us all a favor and just disappear!” Much later, in Chapter 126 (Volume 22), during his meeting with his father, Kyo recalls that his father actually shouted that at both him and his mother. Thus, Kyo as a kid was just repeating to Yuki what he heard his father say at home.

Hatori was dreading having to dance with Ayame at the next New Year’s banquet in Chapter 95. Well, it looks like Hatori lucked out because that dreaded dance never happened (as that was the last New Year’s before the curse was broken completely).

The story has a bit of a bookend structure with several events from the first few chapters repeating in the climax. For example, a landslide buries Tohru’s tent in the first volume and causes Tohru to fall from a great height in Volume 21. In both cases, the landslide is a presence that is catastrophic but also signals a beginning. In the Volume 1, the landslide is what indirectly causes Tohru to live in Shigure’s house, whereas in Volume 21, Tohru’s fall causes Kyo to return to her and begin to realize the depth of his mistake in turning her away.

In a similar way, Akito’s confrontation with Tohru outside Shigure’s house actually mirrors the famous scene where Tohru runs into the woods after Kyo’s true form. In both cases, Tohru is trying to comfort and talk down another character who is reacting to her violently, slashing her with claws in Kyo’s case and with a knife in Akito’s. In both cases, the violence is a way to mask pain and distress, however, the situation is ramped up in intensity in Akito’s case because while Kyo actually loved Tohru and wanted to drive her away because he thought her respect for him was gone, Akito was murderous in this scene and actually meant Tohru harm. The scenes also contrast in that Kyo is a monstrous presence, with a huge, misshapen form and terrible smell, while Akito is more divine, appearing in human form and literally being possessed by God. Both represent monstrous dangers mixed with human pain, but Akito actually becomes the more terrifying monster because of the blame and spite she hurls at Tohru.

Kyo at no point actually told Tohru he loved her before she fell off the cliff. No wonder she thought he dumped her.

In the fable of God and the Zodiac at the end of Volume 22, God has identical facial features to Akito. Also, while God is consistently referred to in gender neutral terms (always being referred to as “God” or “that person” by the narration), the cat is referred to with male pronouns, meaning the spirit of the cat is itself male. Considering the cat before Kyo was also a man, this may mean that every person possessed by the cat is male, though this is again speculation.

The breaking of the curse seems to be random, with characters abruptly being freed without any kind of prior warning or clear trigger, but a comment from Shigure in Chapter 108 about “small chances and changes that have accumulated” leads me to think that the members of the zodiac forming relationships outside of the zodiac, or even outside of the family, increases the chance that it will be broken. Though the weakening of the curse over time made this possible, it was outside influence, and the zodiac members’ increasing willingness to defy Akito, that caused it to weaken more rapidly. The curse begins to break rapidly once Tohru realizes she is in love with Kyo, going from no one having their curse broken in years to Momiji and Hiro being freed one after another.

So, what was the “change” that caused Kureno’s curse to break? Considering how old Kureno, and Akito, were at the time, and considering that Kyo’s mother died “when he was three or four,” according to him, my guess is that Kureno’s curse broke either as a result of Shishou taking in Kyo, or, my preferred possibility, when Kyo met Kyoko, since Kyo mentions that her comment of, “That sounds pretty lonely,” once she learned Kyo’s situation felt to Kyo like “forgiveness.” If that’s the case, then Kyoko’s friendship with Kyo formed the first major fracture, and Tohru unwittingly (at first) continued her work by growing close to the rest of the Sohma family and giving them the courage to defy their oppressive environments.

Finally: reused character designs. Shigure is the spitting image of Colonel Hil, the main antagonist from Natsuki Takaya’s previous work, Tsubasa: Those With Wings, and Kisa’s mother also bears more than a passing resemblance to Kotobuki, the series’s protagonist. Finally, as Takaya herself points out, Ritsu’s mother’s character is wholly recycled from a bit character from the same manga.

#fruits basket #fridge brilliance #tohru honda #kyo sohma #akito sohma #natuski takaya #ren sohma #tsubasa those with wings #long post #furuba

245 notes · View notes

officialotakudome · 3 years

Text

New Post has been published on Otaku Dome | The Latest News In Anime, Manga, Gaming, Tech, and Geek Culture

New Post has been published on https://otakudome.com/aew-double-or-nothing-2021-review/

AEW Double or Nothing 2021 Review

Double or Nothing has come and gone and AEW put on a a spectacle of an event for a good four hours or so of pro wrestling action. In what definitely felt like a star making show Double or Nothing featured five title matches, and tons of great wrestling. Though it did suffer from some small duds the show overall was an incredible presentation.

AEW Double or Nothing is a 2021 pro wrestling event, it is produced by All Elite Wrestling and aired on May 30, 2021. It is available on demand as a replay on Fite.TV and other services.

Editor’s Note: Medium to complete spoilers for AEW Double or Nothing 2021 may be present within this review.

Double or Nothing was probably AEW’s strongest PPV to date.

Following it’s debut on Friday nights AEW once again returned with a packed house. This time for it’s annual Double or Nothing event. The show was nearly a complete sell out with The Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer reporting that only 352 tickets were left available for purchase just hours before the show began. The show opened with AEW’s free portion known as the buy-in which featured NWA Women’s Champion Serena Deeb defending against former AEW Women’s World Champion Riho. While I’m in agreement with those that this should have been on the main card, I think this was the perfect way to wake up the live crowd and get the energy flowing from the jump. Deeb has been killing it with strong performances since debuting in NWA & AEW and this one was no different. Riho is another well-received worker so this match was expected to deliver and it did. The finish saw Deeb who was working Riho’s leg all match slam her knee down on the mat several times following with a Serenity Lock for the win.

Winner: Serena Deeb retains **** stars

Double or Nothing opens with a very fun title match.

Next it’s the main show and Taz is out on commentary to rep his (soon to be former?) man Brian Cage as he takes on former Number 1 Contender Adam Page in a rematch from Dynamite a few weeks back. Cage promised Page a man to man contest after screwing him out of title contention much to Taz’s chagrin. The match was very good but Cage was doing a lot of really odd moves for the sake of it and it looked hilarious in motion. The finish saw Ricky Starks coming in with the FTW Championship calling for Cage to use it. Cage refuses keeping his word to Page only for Page to turn the tables with the distraction and hitting the Buckshot Lariat for the win. This would be lame otherwise, but the storyline made up for it. Cage is also clearly turning babyface very soon.

Winner: Adam Page **** stars

Adam Page makes another comeback while Brian Cage prepares for a different direction.

The second title match of the night is up as those dastardly heels The Young Bucks take on Jon Moxley and long-time companion Eddie Kingston for the AEW World Tag Team Championship. The feud all began because Kingston got involved with Kenny Omega and Moxley’s beef during the finish of Revolution leading to the Bucks joining Omega & The Good Bros. and reforming The Elite as a heel group. Since then, Moxley and Kingston have reformed their friendship entering the tag division. I really like Kingston & Moxley together, but as a wrestling duo they don’t always click for me. Their match with the Bucks however, is probably the best match we’ll see the two together in during their tag team run (prove me wrong AEW). The match opened with a trademark AEW brawl before the match began. There was a hilarious bit where Moxley shoved the streamers from the Buck’s entrance into Matt’s (God I hope I got the right Buck) mouth. There were tons of Superkicks and even an even an Indie Taker on the ramp. At one point Moxley got color on his face and looked like a badass throughout the rest of the match. After a couple of Paradigm Shifts and some very realistic near falls the finish saw the Bucks hitting the BTE Trigger for the win.

Winner: The Young Bucks retain ***** stars

AEW continues to show that the tag division is probably the strongest quality wise.

The next bout is the annual Casino Battle Royal featuring 21 men vying for a future AEW World Championship title match. This match also featured two of my favorite moments of the show which I’ll get to in a bit. So for a battle royal there isn’t much to go about talking on the wrestling of the match. However, I will say that when Max Caster made his entrance he continued with his no fucks given epic rap entrances. He even had no issue giving Christian an Edge dig. The Acclaimed was one of my favorite teams on Dark just based on their ring work alone, but since being featured on TV more that fandom has only grew. Speaking of Caster, there was a nasty spot during his elimination where it looked like he injured his leg hopefully he’s ok. This was an extremely fast paced match and the eliminations came quick. Following Double or Nothing doesn’t look like the Rhodes Family is done with The Factory just yet as they teased Dustin feuding with Nick Comoroto moving forward. Now on to favorite moment number one, Lio Rush made his debut. Yes that Lio Rush and I have no idea what it means for AEW as a business moving forward. And what I mean by that is, is this the beginning of a talent program with Major League Wrestling? If so awesome, last I checked Rush was still signed to MLW and he’s been working NJPW’s US-based show Strong. So is Rush gone from MLW or is this the start of a partnership? So many question unanswered with this one. The second favorite moment was of course the winner of the match. Everyone and their ancient ancestor expected Christian Cage to win. However, AEW went for the swerve and gave the win to a fresh face in Jungle Boy. And yes I’m aware he’s been on AEW TV for well over two years now but he’s really come into his own as someone they see a future in the last year. There was a moment post-match where it looked like Christian was dangerously close to turning heel with the story being he’s pissed he lost. However, Christian continued the moment by pumping up Jungle Boy and telling him to win the gold which was a neat moment.

Winner: Jungle Boy ** 2/4 stars

Quick Update: Turns out Lio Rush is signed to NJPW who allows him to freelance elsewhere and they have a deal with AEW so this all lines up.

AEW provided us with a star making move by giving Jungle Boy the feel good win.

Reaching the middle point of the show it’s time for The “American Dream” (yes that’s the name he used for this match) Cody Rhodes to face off against The Guv’nor Anthony Ogogo. So this match should have been way better than it was given the hype. However the point was to show off Anthony Ogogo’s wrestling training from the last two years. Which I think they ultimately succeeded in doing. After a gut punch Ogogo opened the match with an Olympic Slam and showed off some really strong wrestling talent. I’m glad they didn’t go too far with Ogogo’s “former boxer” gimmick (yes I know Ogogo is a shoot boxer). They definitely teased it in the beginning of Ogogo’s run, which I was always worried about, but I’m glad I was wrong and the wrestling came above all else. Cody picked up the win with the Cross Rhodes.

Winner: Cody Rhodes ** 2/4 stars

While the match itself could have been much better Ogogo showed off his two years of training impressively well.

It was time for the big HOSS fight in TNT Champion Miro defending against “The Murderhawk Monster” Lance Archer. This was a really short but sweet match between two very solid big man workers. Strong showcase of power style wrestling from both men. At one point Archer slammed Miro through a table. Jake “the Snake” Roberts brought out the snake (in bag), but Miro attacked him and tossed the snake for huge heat. Finish saw Miro taking advantage of Archer being distracted from another Roberts attack with Archer being choked out with the guillotine hold.

Winner: Miro retains *** stars

A good big man wrestling match which featured two monster workers.

Our next match was the second Women’s Championship with Britt Baker facing off against AEW Women’s Champion Hikaru Shida whose held the belt for over a year. So this one kind of hurts as I’m a bit of a Britt fan and I was looking forward to seeing her win the belt with a great match. Unfortunately this match seemed to suffer from going on a tad too long. And it especially sucks because it was just last year that Shida and Britt had a fantastic match in which Britt had to deal with a broken, bloody nose afterwards. Here the chemistry just felt off again I don’t know if there was too much time given or what. But something just wasn’t clicking here. There was a ton of near falls, Rebel (Reba?) interferred but was caught. Shida hit the Tamashii, but Britt kicked out and caught her in the Lockjaw for the win. I really wanted Britt and Shida to have another great match to start Britt’s run and cap off her & Shida’s feud. Hopefully things only improve from this point.

Winner and NEW AEW Women’s World Champion DMD Britt Baker ** 3/4 stars

The doctor is in as Britt Baker’s moment continues as she ends Shida’s run as Champion.

Sting’s first in-ring match since 2015 is here as he teams with young Darby Allin against the newly formed team of Scorpio Sky and Allin’s old rival Ethan Page. This match likely surprised many who watched as Sting, especially for his age of 62 went above and beyond in his performance. It starts with Sting & Darby attacking Page & Sky and he does a crossbody dive off the ramp. We even get to see Sting wrestle without a shirt on for God knows how long. Commentary even made what looked like a jab at the shirt wearing Sting joke by immediately pointing out that the “old Sting is back” after he ripped it off. Sky hit Sting with a suplex on the ramp, which I’m sure made people watching shit bricks with worry. However, Sting almost instantly got back up and no sold it which was cool. There was also a fun spot where had Page in the Scorpion Deathlock and Sky had Allin in a hold of his own. The two were face to face and began beating the hell out of each other while in their respective holds. Finish saw Sky going for what looked like a cutter only for Sting to reverse it into the Scorpion Death Drop for the win. Really fun match that saw Sting being in much better shape than initially thought.

Winners: Sting & Darby Allin *** 1/2 stars

Sting made his return to the ring in a very solid tag match.

The penultimate match arrives as the AEW World Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega defends against “Freshly Squeezed” Orange Cassidy & “The Bastard” Pac. Don Callis is out on commentary and I love his character. He has the obnoxious, talentless heel using the talent of others to boost himself gimmick down to a T. Wrestling wise this was probably the strongest match on the card, but the tag title match had a lot going on that give it a bit of an edge in overall quality. A lot of focus on Pac and Kenny going at it basically ignoring Orange in the process. When Orange got some work in it was great. Some fun near falls. There was a spot where Kenny & Orange were trading pins and Pac broke it up with the Black Arrow onto both men. Don got involved with a very convincing Orange fall. The finish had Orange giving Omega an Orange Punch with an extremely close fall only for Omega to reverse the pin into a crucifix pin for the victory. Really supreme back and forth wrestling from all three workers in this match. They had a perfect opportunity to have Cassidy regain the moment he lost with the pandemic effecting attendance and took full advantage of it establishing him as an upper midcarder & potential main eventer.

Winner: Kenny Omega retains ****

Kenny Omega successfully retains in a very fun world title match.

The main event arrives as The Inner Circle take on the Pinnacle in a Stadium Stampede match where if the Inner Circle loses then they must disband. The Inner Circle made a neat entrance by coming in on hanging wire from the big tron. Fun fact the John Wick stunt coordinator apparently helped AEW pull this off among a number of other sequences in this match. It starts off on the football field with most of Inner Circle & Pinnacle battling it out. MJF who had began taunting them earlier alone hid jn a limo thinking he one upped the group only to be outsmarted by Chris Jericho who was waiting for him. The two battle across the arena and there’s a bit with a staple which MJF was a champ for being on the receiving end of. There was also a funny moment with a cardboard cutout of Tony Khan’s dad Shahid being used as a weapon and Jericho “protecting” it afterward. We got a couple of NFL cameos one of which being Urban Meyer who responded to Jericho & MJF busting into his room with a “holy shit”. We see Wardlow and Jake Hager beating the hell out of each other before it becomes completely one sided on Wardlow’s end. Wardlow beats Hager with water jugs and eventually spears him through a wall. A very surprising lack of Santana and Ortiz in this we get a couple of moments of them facing FTR but nothing too special. However, there was a scene in a bar with a Konnan appearance that was awesome. Jericho & MJF eventually spill into the live arena and beat each other between the crowd. Sammy & Spears appear next in what I can only describe as a “chair war” they toss and beat the hell out of each other with chairs before heading to the ring. The crowd was in absolute love with Sammy. The finish saw a call back to the Pinnacle’s debut where Sammy got his face mashed in by a chair in the corner. He did the same spot to Spears before ending it with a 450 Splash for the win. There was so much going on in this match. Sammy winning was the right move he’s gonna be a huge star for AEW when he has his solo babyface run. I thought this match was a bit weaker compared to the first that had stronger wrestling, but this year the match was way more about the story and it told an excellent one.

Winner: The Inner Circle *** 1/2 stars

While not as good as the first, the second Stadium Stampede provided some cool moments to send fans home happy.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: AEW’s second PPV for 2021 was one of it’s strongest shows in quite sometime. Most of the matches were good, but there were some duds of which were disappointing to be unimpressive matches. This was a show meant to invest in the promotion’s future and I think they succeeded for the most part. Otaku Dome gives Double or Nothing 2021 an 88 out of 100.

0 notes

recentanimenews · 5 years

Text

THE GREAT CRUNCHYROLL NARUTO REWATCH Continues with Episodes 8-14!

Welcome to the Great Crunchyroll Naruto Rewatch! I'm Kara Dennison, and I'll be your host this week as we make our way through all 220 episodes of the original Naruto. Last week, we covered episodes 1-7, and we continue this week with episodes 8-14.

This week, Team 7 pushes through on a bodyguard mission that is way above their pay grade. Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, and Kakashi-sensei deal with a town living in fear, a ninja who's as pretty as he is deadly, and another who just refuses to die. And the new Genin continue their training with their toughest challenge to date: Chakra-assisted tree-climbing!

Before we discuss these episodes, let's check out some questions and comments you had from our last installment!

Several people asked if we would be doing a Dattebayo/Believe It count.

Kevin: As the person actually doing the counts, I am totally willing to add another to the list. Admittedly, this one would be a bit more difficult, since I would need to actually pay attention to find all of the instances, instead of just noticing when there are multiple Narutos or a bowl of ramen on screen, made more difficult by the subs seeming to be inconsistent with how the phrase is translated. Someone who actually speaks Japanese might be a better choice since they’ll catch it more easily. Regardless of who though, if we’re adding it, the earlier the better so that the counter can go back and get the count for all previous weeks.

We were also asked about doing reaction videos rather than write-ups. We'd love to do this! Unfortunately, the spread of our Features team across several time zones combined with how long it would take to assemble and edit videos like this means that we couldn't move at the speed we currently are! We hope you enjoy the write-ups as we go!

Remember, you can leave us questions in the comments for the next set of episodes, and we'll answer them together in the next update!

Now, let's see what the Crunchyroll Features team thought of this week's episodes!

We’re into our second week of viewing. Has anything happened to change your early-stage feelings about the series last week? On the flip-side, has anything happened to cement early feelings?

Joseph: Despite the fact that this leg of the series introduces the whole “spend the first 10 minutes recapping what happened during the last 10 minutes of the previous episode,” Naruto is surprisingly fast-paced. In many ways it reshapes my previous feelings about this being a total shonen crawl, because Naruto and the team do manage to learn quite a bit in under a dozen eps.

Paul: It's still too early for me to offer any specific criticisms about the show or its qualities. Naruto is still a shouty shonen protagonist, Sasuke is still the broody support character with the tragic backstory, and Sakura is, well, still the generic love interest. I hope she doesn't get left behind in terms of development and cool character moments. On the flip side, Naruto and Sasuke teaming up against Zabuza does cement my opinion that the fight scenes are pretty cool.

Peter: I forgot how fantastic the early dynamic amongst Team 7 was, especially how Sakura was every bit the little piece of shit Naruto and Sasuke were. I’m actually afraid of new plot developments now since I can’t recall exactly how long this equilibrium lasted before… Well… Maybe that’s why One Piece and Black Clover make me feel so nostalgic, both have similar character chemistry but have stretched it out for their entire runs.

Danni: This batch of episodes established some of the characterization that felt absent from the initial episodes. I like that we’re already seeing a friendly rivalry develop between Sasuke and Naruto rather than an antagonistic one. I’m looking forward to seeing that relationship grow.

Carolyn: There were still many moments when I felt quite bored. I can’t say why exactly, but the show doesn’t fully capture my attention. That being said, I was glad to see a lot less Sexy Jutsu and for the most part less pining over Sasuke. It’s starting to become more of what I seemed to remember. I’m very impressed with how driven Naruto is and how much he dedicates himself to his goals. He’s a much better-written character than I realized the first time I watched the series.

Jared: There was less of a pull on emotional storytelling in these episodes, although Inari’s backstory was a wild roller coaster. That continued the trend of this series really knowing when to make story bits impactful. I also liked Naruto and Sasuke’s rivalry becoming more friendly than the two of them being jerks to each other.

Noelle: These episodes are mostly refreshers for me, but it was nice to see Naruto and Sasuke’s rivalry really start to form, instead of the short initial bursts we got in the first few episodes. Now it really feels like there’s more of a competition. On the flip side, well, it is still a shonen show, and all that comes with that.

Nicole: Team 7 is really starting to come together. Naruto and Sasuke each have their desire to improve and be the best they can possibly be, but they won’t dare lose to one another! I wish Sakura did more though; yes, her control of chakra is exceptional, but I’d like to see her kick some ass too, please. Meanwhile, Kakashi remains my favorite character and I wonder if that’ll change as we watch the entire series.

David: I’m glad that there is some thematic meat to this arc. Naruto’s story is still relatively basic for the genre, but the dynamics of the bridge builder Tazuna trying to help his community while fighting against the much more privileged shipping magnate Gato are genuinely interesting. Zabuza and Haku are the main combatants but they are sympathetic, essentially also being tragically used by the real villain Gato. I wish Naruto and company were more closely tied to the conflict, but as it stands I’m impressed.

So we finished out the fight with Zabuza… and now we’re in the middle of the fight with Zabuza and Haku! What’s your take on the action in this batch of episodes?

Joseph: The first round of the Zabuza fight ends with what is probably the most exciting moment of the series so far: Naruto and Sasuke’s double-team trick attack that involves Naruto disguising himself as a massive shuriken to mount a sneak attack from behind. The physics implications alone send the mind reeling. I love this and some of the other key action beats, but I just have one beef: this early on, the move is too brilliant for Naruto. I just can’t even fathom that he came up with it knowing what we know about him at this point. It still kicks ass, though!

Paul: What pleases me about the action sequences is not just the presentation of far-out effects from the Jutsus, but also the little bits of business such as Naruto and Sasuke sharing a smirk when their Shadow Shuriken plan comes together. That reversal of expectations – from success to failure back to success again – is a dramatic structure that Naruto does well.

Kevin: In general, I quite liked the action. The end of Team 7 versus Zabuza showed off teamwork and ingenuity, Naruto versus Gato’s goons evolved the “Shadow Clones transformed into Shuriken” concept, and Sasuke versus Haku showed off 1-handed signs and Kekkei Genkai. The last one doesn’t necessarily have the most exciting action, but it develops the ninjutsu system nicely.

Peter: I’m once again awestruck how easy Kishimoto made this adaptation. They pull so many dynamic layouts straight from the pages of the manga. Sasuke’s windmill shuriken reveal was every bit as peak goth as I remember. With a lot of Shippuden and Boruto’s action more clear in my mind, it’s really awesome how many details have carried throughout the series. Also I totally forgot how bad Haku seems to eat it every time he actually gets hit. Two blows to the face and each time you get this lovingly animated neck snap and flop over.

Carolyn: I actually noticed a lot of thought processes going on that I found very interesting. Were those there last week and I just missed them? I enjoyed hearing Sasuke put pieces together to figure out what the course of action might be in the face of danger. Or Kakashi figuring out the fakeout death. I like that we get to see a little bit of the brains behind the brawn.

Danni: It felt a bit more slow-paced this time, like every move required a set of reactions followed by a complete explanation of what just happened. That aside, I appreciate all the trickery that’s been going into the current battles. It engages me to a point where I’m watching every battle trying to predict the moves right along with them.

Jared: These fights definitely ramped up the danger aspect compared to the first set of episodes. The teamwork shown from Naruto and Sasuke in the first Zabuza fight was great. I thought it was interesting that even though we’re still relatively early on, Haku’s jutsu was stuff that had never been seen before by even people like Kakashi, which I’d have figured would come later. Naruto and Sasuke both did get their moments of looking cool, so maybe Sakura will get hers soon? Hopefully?

Noelle: Really, the shuriken bit from the first fight was pretty great. Yes, it was cool but what I most enjoyed about it was that it shows that Naruto’s still learning. He may be stubborn, but he’s pretty adaptable too! That makes the small victories that come with it feel a lot more earned. As for the second fight, it is dragging a bit.

Nicole: That shuriken moment was totally brilliant, and the smirk both Sasuke and Naruto share as it catches Zabuza off-guard is gold! They worked seamlessly as a team, and this seems to be just the beginning of this beautiful teamwork. Getting to see their different styles is refreshing; Sasuke seems to do things in order, whereas Naruto is more of a experimental type of ninja. Sakura… well, we’ve yet to really see her in action, so can’t really say much about her. But getting to see how they work, how they think and how they’re learning as they go is pretty neat!

David: Unlike the first batch of episodes, where the action seemed like it had potential but was held back by stilted animation for the most part, the fights here are all fluid and impressive. The Naruto-shuriken gambit is incredibly cool, but even the more basic hand-to-hand combat between Sasuke and Haku is just a joy to watch. They have magic powers, but the fights still manage to avoid the ‘floaty’ feeling shows with magic-infused combat sometimes fall into - hits always feel like they have a real weight to them.

We also get a second viewpoint on the situation in the Land of Waves via Inari and his family’s history. How do we feel about that storyline?

Joseph: Episode 10 introduces one of my favorite low-key shonen tropes: the “jaded child who no longer believes in heroes”! I like the way this one plays out. Tazuna seems kind of shady when the squad first runs into him, but the story he presents about Inari and his family is really heartfelt, and cements this bridge as something worth fighting for.

Paul: I know I'm not supposed to want to drop-kick the small child who has been repeatedly traumatized by bullying, poverty, and the murder of his adoptive father, but if they wanted Inari to be sympathetic, they shouldn't have given him that awful hat. It looks like at any moment he's going to try to sell me crypto-currency or hector me about how the workplace wage-gap is a myth.

Kevin: The backstory was well constructed and made the characters’ motivations understandable, I just wish that I cared about Inari nearly as much as I do his dead foster dad. Did we really need a second kid for Naruto to impart wisdom on because the kid’s going down the same path as him? Wasn’t Konohamaru enough?

Peter: I’m sure everyone on the team who watched MHA before Naruto is starting to make some connections with Inari. Mostly I am, and always have been, fascinated with the world that Kishimoto has created. I heard he grew up in a military town, but I’m curious about what personal experiences led to him developing this world with such a laser focus on how the prejudiced and violence of adults pass down to their children.

Carolyn: This universe is not gentle to orphaned children, that’s for sure. It’s kind of sad how often they are treated badly for literally being traumatized. Also, screw that kid for throwing the puppy in the water.

Danni: Listen, I’m on board for any storyline where a monopolistic corporate a-hole is the bad guy.

Jared: I sure wasn’t expecting Inari’s backstory to feature attempted dog murder and then death by crucifixion and stabbing. Or the fact that this was going to be about class warfare. If anything though, maybe Inari will help bring the bucket hat back into style.

Noelle: Inari comes as the second of ‘kids that Naruto relates to’, and it’s slightly different than Konohamaru. I admit I don’t really care deeply for Inari, even though I certainly feel bad for him because his dad’s murder is a lot more brutal than I remember. It’s also a lot more ‘greedy businessmen are bad’ than I remember, I was definitely more focused on ninja action than the ‘existing power structures will backstab you’ part as a kid.

Nicole: So when are they gonna punch Gato? When is Gato gonna get his? I didn’t remember the Land of Waves being in such a dire situation. And I certainly didn’t remember Inari’s dad getting publicly executed! Yeah, Gato needs to go, ASAP.

David: The hero of the people being literally crucified by the unrelenting capitalist overlord was a little on the nose, but considering the entire theming of the arc already surprised me with its thoughtfulness, I’m not really complaining.

We’re also seeing lots of new moves! What’s been your favorite new Jutsu?

Joseph: My favorite Jutsu would have to be the way Naruto and Sasuke used the transformation move, which is something I’m sure was on a lot of minds during this batch. Beyond Jutsu, though, I gotta give a shout-out to some of the new concepts Kishimoto cooked up. I love the idea of tracker ninja and the notion of having to recover or destroy bodies before their ninja secrets can be revealed.

Paul: I don't know if it counts as a Jutsu specifically, but Kakashi using his Sharingan to copy (and surpass) his enemies' techniques was pretty dope, if only for the imagery of dueling water dragons.

Kevin: While it’s not technically a jutsu on its own I completely forgot about the “Shadow Clones turn into shuriken” combos, and I love seeing them. It’s a level of strategy that Naruto doesn’t normally employ, and I hope that there’s more stuff like it in the future.

Nate: I'm always partial to Naruto's training, in this case something super basic (for a ninja) like running vertically up a tree--the series always does a great job breaking down a technique so the characters can fully understand it, which then means that we understand it. Later, when the characters use the technique, they don't need to explain anything and can just let the action do the talking.

Peter: Naruto loves breaking its own rules. No sooner did they bother talking about hand seals than a character is introduced who can do it with 50% less hand. That said, some of the shit Sasuke pulls later on with seals is some of the most awesome fight choreography in anime. Also Kakashi’s use of sharingan is really bizarre at this point. I’m really curious what Kishimoto’s original plans for the doujutsu were before developing it (or not) later on.

Danni: Does the sharingan count as a jutsu? I hope so, because that’s my favorite. It’s the shinobi equivalent of the kid at recess going “I just learned all your moves and can deflect all of them now.” It’s way too OP. I love it.

Carolyn: So. Many. Clones. I don’t think it counts as jutsu but I am a definite fan of the pretend death needles.

Jared: Haku’s hidden jutsu of ice mirrors is rad from the sense of a technique that could seem as if there’s no means of beating it, but also you could have a nice side business by having a portable house of mirrors.

Noelle: It’s not really a jutsu, but I still love the sharingan. I also completely forgot about the shuriken transformation so that was great to see it again!

Nicole: That would have to be that one scene of Zabuza doing the Water Style Water Dragon Jutsu and Kakashi copying all of it like it was nothing. It was so cool to see all the hand signs in motion like that for the first time!

David: Haku’s ice mirrors genuinely frightened me as a child - I was completely convinced Sasuke was just going to die there back then. It’s still very cool now. Getting a hint of the more high-powered fights watching Zabuza and Kakashi go at it is also neat but I’m more impressed by the smaller powers I think.

And of course, to close things out, what’s everyone’s personal high and low points of episodes 8-14?

Joseph: I think I’ve made my high point clear enough: LIVING. SHURIKEN! As for the lows, Sakura is still getting the short shrift. Naruto and Sasuke are constantly growing, yet she remains far from the spotlight. There’s one moment where she approaches Tazuna and says she’s in charge of guarding him while Naruto and Sasuke continue to practice climbing trees. I don’t really see how she can help; shouldn’t she be back there training, as well? At this point she seems like an afterthought that’s used more as a wedge to place between two characters who don’t really require any additional tension.

Paul: Low point–Inari's mom being menaced by a pair of leering, sword-licking samurai goons. High point–Naruto delivering a righteous head-kicking to said goons. Sometimes the baddies just need to get roundhouse kicked into next Tuesday.

Kevin: High Point- Naruto asking Sakura for tree climbing help. First, I’m a sucker for shonen training, so seeing the main characters get a week to practice a new skill is great on its own, especially since we see the start of Naruto and Sasuke being actual rivals. Even better though, the show builds on the previous idea of teamwork being more important than anything else by having Naruto realize that he can improve more quickly by asking a teammate for help instead of (in this case almost literally) running into a wall. Low Point- Sasuke in the Ice Mirrors. I know that he’s being pinned in and this is the first time that one of the kids is seriously in danger, but it’s also a problem that can be solved by covering your head and running in literally any direction to get out. Worst case scenario, you have a needle somewhere vital that it stopping you from bleeding out due to the needle being in the way.

Peter: Once again my highs and lows are mixed. I’m really loving the interactions between Team 7 but you can already feel a growing disparity between the characters that indicate it won't last. The relationship between Sakura and Naruto specifically is super rewarding. You discover they have a lot in common and she softens on him once she realizes he isn’t 100% a troublemaker. Him showing humility and asking for help is also A+ shonen stuff. Loved the “I’m not telling.”

Carolyn: I have been paying extra attention to the art style this week. I love the watercolor look of the backdrop and the occasional Ben-Day Dot style flashbacks. I also have been very much liking Naruto’s continued growth, being happy for Sakura’s success but still admitting his jealousy (emotionally mature in my book!) and coming to her for help. I continue to be surprised by how much depth he has when he isn’t being a punk. The low point, sadly, was still my girl Sakura. I swear I remembered her as being a stronger character but she just isn’t there, yet. She got much closer this week … when she had things to do. But then immediately followed that up by needing Sasuke’s approval before taking pride in her accomplishments.

Danni: The lowest moments in these episodes are easily the all-too frequent flashbacks. I know, they’re an easy way of filling extra time, but as a viewer I feel insulted! Please, trust your audience to have a memory span longer than that of a goldfish! That aside, I can’t tell you how psyched I got at the shadow shuriken throw Naruto and Sasuke pulled off. I live for tech like that.

Jared: This set of episode had to have at least 10-15% of them made up of flashbacks which felt like such a drag. Episode 14 is especially egregious with this since 10 minutes of it are just that for whatever reason. It didn’t help as well that the recap seemed to really nail what the series thinks of Sakura currently with that she just has the hots for Sasuke. Can Inari’s hat reminding me that I own a New Radicals CD be in between high and low moments? That said, the fights were a lot of fun, Haku proving that characters named that are cool and dangerous, and Naruto and Sasuke’s team up were all good moments.

Noelle: The fights were fun! Even though Team 7 is made up of kids and one (relatively young) adult, it’s good to see that the kids aren’t entirely outclassed. Normally you’d expect the adult enemies to steamroll them, but the team is holding their own, and adapting to new situations. It’s good, not just something stagnant. As for the low points, boy there were a lot of flashbacks! It’s standard, I know, but it felt a lot like padding, if that makes sense. Trust your viewer to remember something that happened recently! Also Sakura’s treatment, but that is well, unfortunately a genre staple…

Nicole: Low Point: Sakura not really doing anything. She is praised by Kakashi, but why hasn’t she really shown off what she can do? High Point: The overall growth of Team 7 as they trained and battled! Naruto asking Sakura for tips and then not sharing what she said with Sasuke was hilarious, but even in those moments of rivalry, they care for one another as a team.

David: High point: Again, the Naruto-shuriken strategy is incredibly satisfying to watch unfold. It is the first time it really feels like the show has not only a solid understanding of its own mechanics but also the cleverness to utilize it for cool and exciting moments. Low point: kind of cheating, but the half-episode of recap in episode 14 isn’t just boring, it is also horrendously placed. Right before that, Sasuke is trapped by Haku, everyone is in peril, and Naruto appears to save the day at the very end of the episode! There can’t be a worse way to follow that up than by riding that excitement and suspense directly into a recap of the entire show so far.

COUNTERS:

Ramen consumed so far: 2 bowls, 1 cup

"I'm gonna be Hokage!" count: 11

Number of Shadow Clones summoned: 52

And that's everything for this week! Remember that you're always welcome to join us for this rewatch, especially if you haven't watched the original Naruto!

Here's our upcoming schedule!

-Next week, on FEBRUARY 1st, we discuss EPISODES 15-21, with KEVIN MATYI hosting! Not only do we start the Chunin Exam arc, but we get our first FILLER EPISODE! THIS IS THE ONLY INSTALLMENT WE'RE ACCEPTING QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS FOR THIS WEEK!

-Then, on FEBRUARY 8th, we'll discuss EPISODES 22-28, with JARED CLEMONS as host! The Chunin Exam kicks into high gear!

-On FEBRUARY 15th, we'll discuss EPISODES 29-35, hosted by DANIEL DOCKERY as things heat up in the Forest of Death!

Thank you for joining us for the Great Crunchyroll Naruto Rewatch! Have a great weekend, and we'll see you all next time!

Have any comments or questions about episodes 8-14? What about our upcoming installment, featuring episodes 15-21?

-----

Kara Dennison is a writer, editor, and interviewer with bylines at VRV, We Are Cult, and many more. She is also the co-founder of Altrix Books and co-creator of the OEL light novel series Owl's Flower. Kara blogs at karadennison.com and tweets @RubyCosmos.

By: [email protected]

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

0 notes