#source: shueisha

[iris-nonsense]

Oh my god we are already introducing wano, like it's going to become relevant in the near future and not 40 volumes from now

[primnroses]

— An insight about summons: Katsuyu, the slug of the Shikkotsu Forest

The information presented in this post has been checked and revised. My aim is not to hate or to discredit any of the characters mentioned. Please read about me for further information.

This post will contain evidence in picture format directly from the manga Naruto (1999 - 2014) created by Masashi Kishimoto and published by Shueisha in 1999. I will also use information from the official databooks of Naruto.

This informative post will analyze the concept of animal summons in the world of Naruto and highlight Katsuyu’s unique abilities throughout the series providing evidence. This meta will also mention other animal summons from the Three-Way Deadlock. I will not use information present in the novels because there is none.

This meta is crossposted in AO3.

I give my permission to use or share this thread with informative purposes as long as you credit me.

I do not support the anime or the work of Studio Pierrot in regards to Naruto because I consider it over exaggerated and beyond biased. Furthermore, these fillers include some actions that these characters are unable to do in the canon according to official sources and they also generate unnecessary debate.

Please, take this into consideration.

Katsuyu, also known as Katsuyu of the Shikkotsu Forest, is a giant slug from the Shikkotsu Forest, a secret and legendary place from the Three Unexplored Sage Regions (仙人三大秘境, Sennin Sandai Hikyō). 

The Three Sage Unexplored Regions according to the Fourth databook.

She is the personal summon of the Fifth Hokage Tsunade, and later, her disciple Sakura Haruno; both women are probably the only people in the world that have been able to summon the slug.

Katsuyu possesses one of the most unique qualities and abilities among animal summons, most of which are still a mystery within the series. 

— WHAT IS A SUMMON AND ANIMAL SUMMONS?

A summon is the ability to invoke objects, weapons, people or animals. This action is carried out through a Summoning Technique (口寄せの術­, Kuchiyose no Jutsu), a special hand seal based jutsu to transport any element to the user’s location for a limited amount of time. 

A Summoning Technique is classified as a space-time ninjutsu and a C-Rank (chūnin level) difficulty jutsu. 

Summoning Technique according to the First databook.

Usually, in order to summon objects or weapons, users apply scrolls or special sealing techniques to contain the desired material. This is the case of Tenten, for example; she uses scrolls to seal multiple kunai, shuriken and any weapon of her choice, granting her the title of “Master of space-time ninjutsu”.

However, for animals and living creatures, this is different.

An animal summon is a technique that adds to the ninja’s ninjutsu repertoire, as a shinobi can take advantage of the animal’s abilities for battle or other purposes.

Before any animal can be summoned, the animal and the user must sign a contract with the species or the specific creature using their blood. In order to summon said animal, the user applies some of their blood, normally by biting their fingers, and channels their chakra to their hands thus invoking a sealing pattern that transports their summon to that same location. The amount of chakra used to summon the creatures determines the size and number of summons. 

The summoning contract of the Toads of Mount Myōboku, Naruto chapter 92.

In the case of the Three Unexplored Sage Regions, the summoning contracts vary. 

Naruto Uzumaki Jiraiya and Minato Namikaze sealed a contract with the toads of Mount Myōboku using their own blood, so when they perform a Summoning Technique, any available toad can offer their services to them. 

Orochimaru has his contract with the snakes of the Ryūchi Cave tattooed on his arms. The methods his disciple Sasuke Uchiha uses to summon snakes from the same location is unknown. 

Tsunade and Sakura Haruno do not have a physical contract, or at least it has never been revealed. However, by reading the manga, the contract with the Shikkotsu Forest might be through their Strength of a Hundred Seal, as it is only possible to summon Katsuyu if the summoner possesses this seal.

It is unknown if there is a blood contract involved, but it is likely that there is since the method of summoning is blood like his companions. 

Orochimaru's contract Naruto chapters 165 and 344.

— KATSUYU AND HER ABILITIES, WHAT MAKES HER SPECIAL?

Katsuyu is a very intriguing and interesting animal and the only one whose past has never been explored.

Summon’s habitats and the Three Unexplored Sage Regions are home to a single species of animals. 

The Ryūchi Cave is home to snakes such as the White Snake, Manda or Aoda, and Mount Myōboku is home to toads like Gamakichi, Gamamaru or Gamabunta.

But, unlike those, Katsuyu is the only organism living in the Shikkotsu Forest. She does not have any other slug companions. 

Following the same scheme as the rest of summons, Katsuyu resembles a real slug. 

She is white or ivory in color, with three turquoise stripes running on her head and sides that start on her head and end in her tail. 

One special feature about her appearance is that her true size has never been seen. Using one summoner, Katsuyu is bigger than the Hokage Residence, and using two summoners, Katsuyu is the size of the roots of the God Tree, which is just one tenth of her real size according to Tsunade. 

Katsuyu's size summoned by one person or two, Naruto chapters 422 and 650.

Her size changes depending on the amount of chakra used to summon her. She can appear as a small slug used to gather intel or help in supplementary tasks, or she can appear as a giant creature using one or two summoners. 

Small Katsuyu summoned to assist Headquarters Naruto chapter 561.

Her age is a true mystery. It is known that toads and snakes live many years and have descendants, such as Gamabunta and Gamakichi’s father and son relationship, or Aoda having great grandchildren; or certain summons retiring when they reach an age while their companions or children replace them. 

The Three Unexplored Sage Regions are legendary places known for many generations. 

Katsuyu, on the other hand, is the only inhabitant of the Shikkotsu Forest. She does not have descendants or companions in her home habitat. Her age or her true origins are a mystery. The first shinobi to discover her existence or previous masters before Sakura Haruno and Tsunade are also unknown.

The first and most important thing to point out is that Katsuyu can only be summoned by users of the Strength of a Hundred Seal. This seal is an extremely difficult jutsu to learn and achieve, so there have only been two summoners in history.

The reason for this is that Katsuyu is such an enormous animal that it requires an immense amount of chakra to summon, and that chakra is stored inside the seal. 

Tsunade and her disciple Sakura Haruno are the only beings able to summon Katsuyu Naruto chapter 650.

The primary skill Katsuyu has is the ability to divide herself in many fragments, hundreds or thousands of them in fact. This technique is called Slug Great Division (蛞蝓大分裂­, Katsuyu Daibunretsu) and it can be used for supplementary purposes, as well for battle. 

In a fight, thanks to her rapid ability to transform her body and divide herself, she can separate herself to nullify attacks by avoiding any strike at incredible speeds. She can do this as many times as she wants without exhaustion. Each of these fragments are also quite fast, able to throw themselves in front of people to shield them from danger.

Manda trapping Katsuyu but she escapes Naruto chapter 170 and Second databook.

She also has the ability to spit a sticky and elastic acid, a jutsu called Tongue Tooth Sticky Acid able to melt stones and vaporize everything it touches (probably senjutsu although never truly revealed). It is also very difficult to dodge due to its unpredictable nature. 

Slug acid, Naruto chapter 170 and Second databook.

Unlike Shadow Clones or other regular clones that are independent from each other and are not interconnected, what Katsuyu does is divide her own body in equal parts, so she is in as many places as she wants at once. She is one entity divided into many other independent and interconnected parts while remaining one single body. Each of her divisions behaves like their own person, so she can complete different tasks while also knowing what her other parts are doing in other places.

Being the summon of medical ninjas, Sakura Haruno and Tsunade take advantage of Katsuyu’s ability to divide herself in order to channel their healing chakra and treat as many people as necessary. 

With a technique called Immense Network Healing (蛞蝓・網療治夥­, Katsuyu: Mōryōjika), Katsuyu collects chakra from the Strength of a Hundred Seal to transform it into healing chakra and treat the injured. 

Using the Great Division and Immense Network Healing in tandem, Katsuyu has the ability to heal and protect everyone she makes contact with. Healing any kind of injury or absorbing people inside her in order to shield them from attacks or sudden explosions is her specialty. Her body is able to resist explosions and even Kurama's corrosive chakra.

Katsuyu divides her body and heals the Alliance Naruto chapter 634 and Fourth databook.

In fact, Katsuyu's power is not only limited to healing wounds, but regeneration too. One of her most impressive feats is the ability to maintain a patient in suspended animation, keeping them alive for as long as she possesses chakra from the seal in order to ensure their survival. 

Katsuyu was able to keep Tsunade alive despite having her body bisected, which on normal circumstances, would mean instant death. However, the slug's regenerative abilities allowed Tsunade to remain alive until she obtained a chakra boost from a third party. This fact is known as Tsunade does not really present the unique Uzumaki Clan ability to keep themselves alive for as long as possible.

Katsuyu kept Tsunade alive despite having her body cut in half, an impressive feat Naruto chapter 635.

This jutsu also acts as a sensing technique due to Katsuyu being connected to the chakra of the injured in order to heal them and her master. Katsuyu is able to relay Kakashi Hatake and Chōza Akimichi’s conditions to Tsunade through their connection, as the slug is connected to the Strength of a Hundred Seal; as well as being able to tell Sakura that Kurama’s chakra was still connected to the Allied Shinobi Forces.

Katsuyu can transmit the chakra levels and the condition of everyone she is in contact with Naruto chapter 427.

This way, Katsuyu was able to protect Konoha’s citizens from Pain’s Shinra Tensei and even survive Kurama’s toxic chakra. 

Able to be in many places at once, her ability to cover infinite distances while her parts remain interconnected allows her to fulfill communication and intel gathering roles. Being in many places and her clones being part of the same body, Katsuyu relays information to one person or multiple people, something she could do by attaching herself to someone’s shoulder and speaking. 

It was Katsuyu the one giving Naruto Uzumaki information about Pain and also told him that Nagato had revived Konoha citizens through the clones that stayed in the village, kept every villager informed about the situation and followed evacuation protocols when Naruto transformed into six tails, and told Tsunade everything that was happening in the battlefield thanks to having another body summoned by Sakura on the other side of the country, and vice versa.

Sakura instructing Katsuyu to evacuate the area through the multiple clones Naruto chapter 438.

This communication ability can cover immense ground at once because the communication is instant. It works similar to regular telepathy, but instead of hearing the other person's voice in their head, people are talking to Katsuyu, and Katsuyu in turn is actually talking to herself through her clones.

Katsuyu's clones on different parts of the Land of Lightning tell Tsunade and Sakura the events that have taken place on both ends Naruto chapters 635 and 647.

An animal summon can only perform at the top of their abilities for a limited amount of time, what is known as the summoning time limit. 

It is unknown exactly how long the invocation lasts, or whether it varies between animals. A summon will help its master before the jutsu runs out or the summon has exhausted its power. 

Gamakichi mentions the summoning time limit Naruto chapter 642.

However, for Katsuyu, this is not the case. 

The slug can be summoned for unlimited periods of time and several times a day, as seen when Katsuyu spent the Fourth Shinobi World War by Tsunade’s side in the Headquarters, primarily helping Shikaku Nara and participating in the planification of the troops, and later with the Five Kage against Madara and Sakura with the Allied Shinobi Forces.

This could be explained by the symbiotic bond Sakura and Tsunade share with Katsuyu through the Strength of a Hundred Seal. 

The seal stores unimaginable quantities of chakra inside, which are used by Katsuyu to perform healing on people. As long as Katsuyu has been transmitted every drop of chakra in the seal, she will continue her work, as seen when Tsunade gave the slug all the chakra inside her Byakugou to the point it disappeared but Katsuyu physically remained in Konoha until her services were no longer needed.

Tsunade's Byakugou disappears but Katsuyu still serves her purpose as a summon to evacuate Naruto chapter 430.

Still, like any other summon, Katsuyu can be exhausted from battle and disappear. When the Ten Tails absorbed the chakra of every shinobi in the battlefield as the Kurama Chakra Cloak, every Katsuyu fragment attached to them was also absorbed and vanished, but the main body remained intact protecting Sakura Haruno form the tree. 

Katsuyu's clones disappeared absorbed by the God Tree Naruto chapter 647.

— THE PERFECT SUMMON?

Katsuyu is very different from the rest of summons. 

From the immeasurable amount of chakra it requires to summon her, to her multiple multitasking and supplementary abilities and her mysterious origins, Katsuyu might be the perfect summon and the strongest animal summon of Naruto and Boruto.

Her ability to divide herself in thousands of fragments, a body and chemical composition resistant to blasts that can reshape her own state, no summoning time limit, outstanding healing and regeneration factor, the unlimited wide range communication she offers, acidic attacks, useful to gather intel by herself and turn small enough to offer battle assistant, and a sensory connection with her master and other people she is attached to. 

Katsuyu is the ultimate creature.

Without a doubt, the most essential ally in desperate times. A valuable help in case a village is being attacked by powerful enemies that threaten to destroy everything around them, Katsuyu is the only weapon able to protect thousands of people from any attack and offer assistance while in contact with her master and everyone she is with.

Thanks to her, every Konoha villager that had not been killed by the Pain Paths previously could survive the Shinra Tensei explosion that destroyed Konoha, which later allowed the surviving shinobi to handle evacuations, as well as allow Naruto to obtain intel about Pain and Nagato or be told that Konoha's villagers were revived.

Katsuyu is an unrivalled intel summon Naruto chapters 431 and 449.

She was also the main link of communication between the Headquarters and the two different fronts of the war, Five Kage and Allied Shinobi Forces, and the reason why the Five Kage survived the fight despite their fatal injuries.

Lastly, it was also Katsuyu who protected the Allied Shinobi Forces against the roots of the God Tree, saving a large portion of the shinobi from death, and later offered a healing area for their future fight against the Kanzeon Lotus King.

— CURRENT WHEREABOUTS.

Ever since the death of Madara Uchiha, Katsuyu has not been summoned again.

With no threats to the destruction of Konoha or the need to establish connections between battlefields, Katsuyu was not summoned in the Blank Period. 

In Boruto, Katsuyu’s debut is strictly linked to Sakura’s appearances: if Sakura does not appear, neither does the slug. This is something that is hard to fathom considering that the village has been exposed to explosions, invasions and multiple deceased shinobi ever since the start that could be prevented by Katsuyu like previous times.

Katsuyu appeared in the anime arc “Kawaki and Himawari in the Academy” where the students had to put on a play about the Sannin and Kawaki dressed as Katsuyu.

Kawaki representing Katsuyu in Boruto episode 267.

-

[oldbrain]

SHUEISHA 集英社 Ribon Deluxeりぼんデラックス

Spring Issue, 1978

Summer Issue, 1977

Autumn Issue, 1977

Source

[luckystarchild]

STOP SHARING THIS TWEET.

This is 99.99% likely to be fake. As someone who works in the anime industry, let me tell you why.

This has been sent to me dozens of times over the past few days, and it's pretty obvious to me that it's fake.

I work in the anime industry. Here's why I don't put any stock in this "official" announcement at all.

1. THE 'SOURCE' IS A TOTAL RANDO

The source is a random Twitter/X account. It isn't a studio or licensor. It's not even one of the "reputable" leakers. It's just some random person making a claim with zero backing and slapping the words "official" and "confirmed" on it.

Accurate leaks have happened, but they're usually accompanied by some kind of source claim (a leaked press release, a leak within the company, etc.) and a claim that an announcement is coming soon. This has nothing. This is just a random person saying shit for clicks.

Every one of their posts has "FOLLOW FORE MORE" in a subtweet. They're just farming for followers. The rest of the account is just random anime edits and posts + promotions for a discord they run.

I could literally write anything in a tweet and slap "OFFICIAL, CONFIRMED" on it, but if you see those words, you need to be asking, "Who confirmed it? What makes this official?" And in this case, it's NOTHING and NOBODY in the world of anime.

Media literacy, folks. It applies to Twitter/X. It ESPECIALLY applies to Twitter/X.

2. THIS 'SOURCE' DOESN'T UNDERSTAND THE ANIME INDUSTRY

"Studio has not been announced" is a WILD thing to suggest here, because YYH's rights are LITERALLY OWNED BY AN ANIME STUDIO. Studio Pierrot is still a license-holder for this IP, and it would be weird as hell for them to not handle a remake.

(Also, "studio not announced"... NOTHING has been announced. The wording here is very sneaky, as it implies an announcement was made but the studio was just left out of it. If an announcement had been made, it would be Pierrot/the studio/Shueisha doing it.)

Not only has Pierrot made animated content for the series as recently as the 2018 OVAs, their copyright info is on literally every piece of YYH merch being produced this year (alongside Shueisha and Togashi). They still have some rights. They (in part) hold the IP. They still make art for it. They will be the studio for any remake unless they willingly let go of that license. Considering they're still making money off of it through merch sales and the liveaction adaptation (tho that's another can of licensing worms we could discuss), that's highly, HIGHLY unlikely.

The likelihood of Pierrot letting some other studio handle the remake is very, VERY slim. It's one of their hallmark, legendary series. Why would they ever let that go to a competitor?

The "studio hasn't been confirmed" bit tells me this person doesn't know who actually owns the rights to YYH, and when they don't even know that basic piece of information, it puts everything else they say into question.

3. THE TIMING IS SUSPICIOUS

Anime series are in production long before they air. How long in advance depends on the project. You can't keep a lid on a high profile project for an extended period. For big projects, studios want to start the hype train sooner rather than later. (Obviously there are exceptions to this (see the Fruits Basket remake) but we'll get to that later.)

This tweet claims the project is coming out in 2024. We are at the VERY TAIL END of 2023. It is basically 2024 already. That tweet isn't an official announcement (despite the word "official" on it), which means the studio/license holder would have to announce it even LATER than this tweet did. The latest anime seasonals begin airing in Q4/October/the Fall Simulcast season. That gives Pierrot less than a year of lead-up time to market the anime before its latest possible air date in 2024, and for this particular property, that does not seem realistic OR wise.

Let's examine Pierrot's recent treatment of the latest Bleach installment as evidence. They announced the project in March 2020 via a livestream event. They began airing the project in October 2022, MORE THAN TWO YEARS LATER. That gave them two years to market the series.

YYH, like Bleach, is one of Pierrot's hallmarks. The idea that they'd give it less than a year of marketing is just not realistic. They'd likely give it the same kind of treatment as the new Bleach arc, given it's one of their past tentpole titles getting revived.

(Also note that Pierrot animated the new Bleach installments after years of no new Bleach. They didn't let go of those rights. They held on and made more content later. Now apply that logic to YYH, and arrive again at: To suggest another studio would handle a new series is farfetched.)

If the tweet had said the series was dropping in 2025 or later, it would be much more believable. But the details they gave, again, discredit their claims from the jump.

If a new YYH was coming out in 2024, btw, the series would already be well underway and likely have been in production behind the scenes for quite some time. They probably would've announced it last year if they intended a 2024 release.

4. THE LIVEACTION OF IT ALL

A liveaction adaptation for YYH is about to drop (December 14 on Netflix).

I can already hear the argument of, "Oh, well maybe they'll announce a new anime for 2024 when the liveaction comes out," and while that might be a possibility, I think there's another, far more likely alternative.

If the liveaction does well and the license holders make a fuckton of money on it, or if they at least see a large resurgence in interest in the IP, THEN I think the license holders/anime production committee would start thinking about a new anime adaptation to cash in on that interest. But I do not see them making that decision before the streaming numbers for the liveaction come in, and I do NOT see them working on the anime before the liveaction has even aired.

The anime world moves slowly. The execs and committees behind the scenes like numbers and sales figures. If they see good numbers, balls might start rolling. But it's unlikely they're already in production NOW, let alone far enough into production to support a 2024 release for a remake.

If the Netflix show gets the ball rolling on a new YYH anime, that anime won't come out in 2024. There just isn't time.

And I can now hear some muttering the argument of, "Oh, well they probably just held the news to time it with the liveaction," but see again their habit of announcing projects with lots of lead-up marketing time.

CONCLUSION: THIS SEEMS FAKE.

BUT...

Given the details above and the COMPLETE LACK OF EVIDENCE supplied by the tweet, I do not expect we'll get an ACTUAL "official, confirmed" announcement for a remake anytime soon.

In the event that I'm wrong, what I'd predict is the announcement of a remake (one made by ACTUAL official sources, AKA Pierrot and Shuiesha) sometime in Q1 or Q2 2024. Pierrot would be the studio, and the project would be slated for late 2025, or even more likely, sometime in 2026. (And yes, projects slated for 2026 and later are in the works right now.)

I think the above is a longshot, but it's possible. The timing suggested in the tweet everyone is sharing isn't realistic at all, however.

Long story short:

DO NOT TRUST RANDOM TWITTER ACCOUNTS.

ANYONE CAN SAY "OFFICIAL" or "CONFIRMED"

THE ONLY OFFICIAL SOURCES FOR ANIME NEWS ARE STUDIOS AND LICENSORS

QUESTION EVERYTHING

[tamelee]

First of all, hi, how have you been? :)

So there is this Sasusaku account on Twitter who loves to use novels to defend their ship. I know, nothing new.

But this person recently made a thread to debunk the idea that novels are not canon, and their thesis was that every work published by Shueisha is canon because they have ownership of Naruto; therefore, saying the novels are not canon is the same as saying the Naruto manga isn't canon either (according to them).

I know you have talked about this before, so I apologize if this ask comes off as repetitive and/or annoying, but I was just interested in knowing your opinion since you know more about these topics, so feel free to ignore this ask if you want to!

Have a nice day ^^

Hi! Doing alright thank you ^^! 

“every work published by Shueisha is canon because they have ownership of Naruto; therefore, saying the novels are not canon is the same as saying the Naruto manga isn't canon either”

Oh yes, of course. 

Which means that aside from the novels that retcon the original, the… 

Random, OOC storylines in games 

Third-party interpretations, subjectively written data-books or fan-books

Merch, promotional art and other marketing material 

Filler episodes/Movies

Dash generation Manga or whatever 

Sasuke- and Lee’s chibi-adventures Manga

etc—

...are also all canon.

[click to enlarge]

Because "Shueisha published it".

Please make it make sense.

“But this person recently made a thread to debunk the idea that novels are not canon, and their thesis was that every work published by Shueisha is canon because they have ownership of Naruto; therefore, saying the novels are not canon is the same as saying the Naruto manga isn't canon either ”

No.

This is an incredibly flawed argument, because it’s already a non-negotiable fact that the Naruto Manga is canon. It just is. No question about it whatsoever.  

CANON=

The Naruto Manga is the authoritative framework that is the source material. This holds things like the rules, core elements of the story like: characters, themes, messages, the author’s intent etc- And fundamental canon holds the most significance of all within a franchise and provides consistency to the fictional universe in case publishing companies decide to expand on it.. 

By nature its intent is to reflect the original author’s vision; the Naruto Manga = Kishimoto’s vision. 

And everything that doesn’t align with it is simply not canon. 

Therefore the only thing left to argue about is whether legal “ownership” by itself can determine whether something is canon or not. But that isn’t how you measure it alone because it ignores actual canon. I mean yeah, who would’ve thought you’d have to look at canon in order to determine whether something is canon??? 🤯 Wild, huh?

So no: you can’t and that’s not how it works.  

Everything Shueisha decides or publishes through their distributors is official. 

It is official because they are copyright-holders and own the intellectual property (IP) at large which has many different aspects to it. They do own most of them in order to manage it all.

But not everything that is official is canon.

These are two entirely different things.

In fact, the only thing they themselves consider to truly be part of the ‘official’ timeline (which would establish ‘canon’ if it wasn’t such a retcon either) on the official site is Brt. It’s technically canon because chapter 700 exists, though it still makes no sense as it doesn’t stack up against the other 699 chapters and it still means nothing in terms of actual storytelling. Alas:

And even if they did claim ‘canon’, it’s only as significant as the source makes it out to be. Not the amount of profit they can make because they are legally allowed to exploit the work as much as possible through distributions, adaptations, translations, trademarks at JPO and handing out licenses left and right to third-party organizations (‘Namco Bandai’ for example) which then get their own rights or having entire licensing devisions handle individual IP regarding characters (yes your little blorbo is intellectual property) who manage it in terms of advertisements, marketing/promotion and merchandising (think about these pop-up shops), like: ShoPro

*Shueisha used to be owned by Shogakukan if I’m not mistaken and then separated at some point

It’s a business. And an insanely large one at that. They own so much more than you’d think, it’s a HUGE company (2nd largest publisher in Japan I believe) that doesn’t only own multiple magazines like Shonen Jump and its Manga, they also published the ‘weekly playboy’ and publishes things like many (light/erotic/graphic) novels and nsfw picture-books/manga etc. They will do anything as a business to make sure to profit commercially as is legally permitted within the established contract that varies per published IP and which they’re incredibly tight-lipped about. 

In the case of Naruto’s franchise, information that came after the Manga constantly contradicts not just actual canon, but also each other. Contradictions can’t all be canon or equally as significant at the same time because it needs a source— which we have; the Naruto Manga. It’s what holds the most significance.

That’s how you measure whether something is actually canon or not. 

“… therefore, saying the novels are not canon is the same as saying the Naruto manga isn't canon either”

Besides, if this was true, then canon wouldn’t even exist. Jfc. 

And yes, you can expand on canon like I said. That’s the whole point. It indicates a framework that allows publishing companies to stay consistent and keep their audience happy if they care to do so. But consistency in story or consistency in business doesn’t mean the same thing because it's motivated by two entirely different motives. The willingness to sacrifice artistic work and its audience in order to profit from it financially literally kills creativity in the industry as well as opportunities and it gives them way too much power. The stuff that’s coming out lately is garbage and it’s mostly thanks to people pointing fingers at someone random with their eyes closed, unconcerned about the consequences, and grant them and the business the authority to decide whatever the hell they want about things that already exist— and it never improves. (I’m always free to rant more about it but yk.) 

Like the person you’ve quoted, the motive isn’t to actually convince people that their terrible novels are canon, it’s that canon should give a ship in this case some significance when there wasn’t in the first place. To "fix" something that didn't need any fixing. It has nothing to do with the actual story. 

But canon does because it just is.

Non-negotiable.

Oh! you have a nice day too🌷 I apologize for the rants ><

[shojoqueendom]

Works by Riyoko Ikeda at Shueisha Manga-Art Heritage

Sources:

https://mangaart.jp/news/tokyo_gallery_0217RC

The Rose of Versailles

The Window of Orpheus

[fullscoreshenanigans]

Is CloverWorks entirely at fault for TPN S2's mangled production?

I see so many people default to blaming CloverWorks for being the sole arbiter of S2's horribly disappointing production (sometimes Shirai is added into the mix too, especially by anime-onlys), but every time I do I'm genuinely asking the question of whether that's true and where they're pulling their information from.

I'm not involved in the animation industry at all so I'm interested in receiving input from people who are more familiar with it, but my understanding is the people in charge of the decision to truncate S2 would be The Promised Neverland Committee listed at the end of the opening credits.

(I could not find a single video of the English dub that aired on [adult swim] for the English credits of S1, so a screencap from the Japanese credits)

TPN Committee is comprised of the following entities: Aniplex (Distributor), Fuji TV (TV Station), Shueisha (Manga Publisher), Cygames Anime Fund, Dentsu (ads)

(Sources 1 | 2 | 3)

kViN from Sakugabooru details what a production company is in this post:

"I personally find it enjoyable to see who is involved in a show, and as you’ve seen there is plenty of information to draw from that. Animation production studios are listed in the credits for each show, so it’s understandable why audiences would imagine they have a ton of influence over a production. It’s even natural to think that the company that is actually manufacturing something would have great input! If you start paying attention to these committees though, you get a clearer picture of the finances of production and how each show is actually made rather than assume that studios that often don’t have much of a say are in charge of everything."

And CloverWorks is the more prominent name, especially for English speakers watching the subbed version of the series.

This is also something that Geoff Thew brings up in the last seven minutes of this video around the 18:50 mark:

"I'd bet good money that the last credits were supposed to roll right after that big stone door slammed shut, and I'd further wager that a combination of fan reactions to and dipping ratings for early episodes is what caused the production committee—who are the ones who actually have final say in this, not Cloverworks or even Shirai—to cut their losses and turn that cliffhanger into a skeleton of a conclusion."

I disagree with him on them making the call to retool the series during the clipshow episode between S2e05 and S2e06 though. It doesn’t seem like they had enough time to do that when a single episode of animation takes on average nine months to complete, even with the ridiculous crunch they seemed to be in. My guess is it was made back in early 2020 after Shirai made everyone involved in production aware the manga was ending that year, with the pandemic potentially factoring in to a degree.

He also mentions this a bit earlier:

"It's just such a slap in face to anyone who ever gave a shit about any version of this story. Including the people telling it, apparently, since neither of the anime's screenwriters nor mangaka/series composer Shirai wanted to take credit for the last two episodes. They probably didn't have much say in how it all went down. That's important to keep in mind before you start yelling at animators or even studios on twitter. I guarantee that every adaption that hurts you personally was ten times harder on the people who actually had to make it. As hackishily slapdash as this finale is, a lot of people probably slept under their desks to get it out the door, if they slept at all."

I always come back to this tiny addition toward the end of S2 episode 2 as an indication that on the creative side of things, in storyboarding and animation at CloverWorks, the care was still there at some level.

It was just squashed down in order to cut and condense 146 chapters into 11 episodes for a production that, as ZersEditor puts here, was "bleeding money."

But CloverWorks is less to type out, so they get the majority of the ire over a tragically butchered production in casual conversation.

[hetalianhistorian]

New cover revealed for World Stars Volume 8! Featuring the Baltic Trio + Poland!

Source Link: ヘタリア World☆Stars 8／日丸屋 秀和 | 集英社　―　SHUEISHA　―

Thanks to the people at the Hetalia Region Discord for this information! They rock in keeping up to date with these things!

[primnroses]

— Explaining Konohagakure’s Intelligence Department from Naruto to Boruto:

The information presented in this post has been checked and revised. My aim is not to hate or to discredit any of the characters mentioned. Please read about me for further information.

This post will contain evidence in picture format directly from the manga Naruto (1999 - 2014) created by Masashi Kishimoto and published by Shueisha in 1999. I will also use information from the official databooks.

This informative post will explain the role and utility of the Intelligence Division from its debut in Naruto to its development and role in Boruto. I will use information present in the novels and the Boruto manga because it includes character development within canon compliance.

This meta is crossposted in AO3.

I give my permission to use or share this thread with informative purposes as long as you credit me.

I do not support the anime or the work of Studio Pierrot in regards to Naruto because I consider it over exaggerated and beyond biased. Furthermore, these fillers include some actions that these characters are unable to do in the canon according to official sources and they also generate unnecessary debate.

This meta does contain anime scenes from Boruto because it is a monthly manga draft that depends heavily on anime for context. 

Please, take this into consideration.

This meta will include a small discussion from my own point of view about the Intelligence Division and its members. There will be strong criticism and complaints, comparisons with other characters, previous leaders, etc. 

Important: I will also refer to this Konoha branch as the “Intelligence Department” to distinguish it from the Allied Shinobi Forces Intelligence Division. This post includes a small discussion from my own point of view about the Intelligence Department and its members. There will be criticism and complaints, comparisons with other characters, previous leaders, etc.

The Intelligence Division (情報部, Jōhō-Bu ), or (in this meta) Intelligence Department (情報部 門 , Jōhō-Butmon ) is an organization formed by shinobi in charge of extracting information from people via interrogation, gather intel or study material that could be useful for the village or the security of the village. The Intelligence Department is part of the “Special Forces”, a group of other major village branches separate from the three main departmental divisions of Konohagakure. 

This branch is currently headed by Ibiki Morino as department head, hailed as a master of interrogation and t0rtur3 in many countries. He is officially known as the “Leader of the Intelligence Division” (木ノ葉隠れ情報部のリーダー, Konoha kakure jōhō-bu no rīdā ) although the translation says "Intelligence Team", versions change depending on who translates. 

Ibiki Morino according to the fourth databook.

HISTORY:

It is unknown for how long this team has existed, but the Intelligence Division/Department officially debuted in chapter 418 of Naruto, at least the organization and its headquarters. The concept of interrogation, t0rtur3 or extracting information directly from a target debuted with the introduction of Ibiki Morino as the Captain of the T0rtur3 and Interrogation Force (拷問・尋問部隊隊長 Gōmon jinmon butai no taichō ). 

Ibiki's early description as the "Captain of T&I before the Intelligence Department was created.

I want to add that the reason why Ibiki was never stated to be the Head of the Intelligence Department was because it had never appeared until chapter 418, so the existence of this Konoha division was unknown. In the fourth databook entry shown above, this division also debuts and Ibiki's profile reveals that he is in charge of this organization and its multiple units. In previous entries like the first databook, he was only described as Captain of T&I because it was the only unit that existed.

Debut of the Intelligence Department in chapter 418 contrasted with the first character description of Ibiki in the first databook ch. 1-119.

The organization, division or department and all of their subdivisions wear their own unique uniforms. Members of interrogation teams wear a dark gray two piece uniform and a black belt, while other teams prefer other uniforms. 

Some members of the Intelligence Department wear uniforms to distinguish themselves from other departments or regular shinobi in a similar way the Medical Department’s Medical Corps wear their standard coats and medical uniforms.  

Naruto:

As soon as Ibiki Morino was introduced in the story, we learn about Konoha’s T0rtur3 & Interrogation Force and their crowded unit; as well as getting a general idea about the presence of a team trained to interrogate targets using various methods. 

However, the existence and the work of the Intelligence Division would not be known until chapter 418 of the manga. Everything else mentioned before was only the name of the team, but not their work.

During the era of the Fifth Hokage, the Intelligence Division was gathered in a building located in an unknown part of Konoha. The headquarters have different rooms dedicated to the different labor each of the teams carry out.

For example, there are rooms for regular interrogation (in the picture reconstructed after the Pain Arc), rooms for mental interrogation with special machinery, libraries for decoding teams, medical rooms for autopsies and a prison. 

T&I Team room, Analysis Team room, Cryptanalysis Team room and Autopsy Room.

The Intelligence Department can be divided into the following teams:

Konoha T0rtur3 and Interrogation Force (木ノ葉暗部拷問・尋問部隊, Konoha Anbu Gomon/Jinmon-butai): Captained by Ibiki Morino (拷問・尋問部隊隊長, Gōmon jinmon-butai taichō), their mission is to gain information from the enemy by t0rturing them or exposing them to arduous interrogation methods. They often work together with ANBU. Some members include Mozuku, Ibiki Morino and chūnin.

Analysis Team (解析班, Kaiseki-han): Previously led by Inoichi Yamanaka. Their role was to take over if the T0rture and Interrogation Force was unsuccessful. Using secret techniques to read the mind, they obtain information directly from the target’s memories. Some members include Mawashi Dokuraku, Kumadori, Tonbo Tobitake and Aoba Yamashiro.

(Medical) Analysis Team: Composed by members of the Medical Department such as Shizune, Sakura Haruno or Ranka, they perform autopsies to obtain information from deceased individuals such as a Pain or White Zetsu. (The name of this team is not Medical Analysis Team but they are included inside the regular Analysis Team. I came up with the distinction to make this list easier.)

Cryptanalysis Team (暗号解読班, Angōkaidoku-han): They are a special team with the mission of decoding secret passwords or messages led by Mitoku. Some members include Shiho, Mitoku and Yurika, as well as Shikamaru Nara and Sakura Haruno occasionally. 

Konoha Aviary: Although it is unknown if they belong to the Intelligence Division, this team collaborates with the Cryptanalysis Team. They receive messages from other villages by hawk, often encrypted or containing secret messages.

T&I Team, Analysis Team, Konoha Aviary, Cryptanalysis Team and (Medical) Analysis Team as depicted in the anime.

Other official teams dedicated to gather intelligence but not part of the Intelligence Division officially include:

Astronomical Team: Introduced in The Last: Naruto the Movie, their role is to study the moon and other celestial bodies and search for anomalies that could threaten Konohagakure. 

Analytical Study (解読班, Kaidoku-han): Founded by Naruto Uzumaki when he became Hokage, this new team is located in the Hokage Residence. It debuted in Boruto: Naruto the Movie. They are focused on deciphering ancient codes such as Ōtsutsuki scrolls and similar objects. According to Kakashi Hatake in Kakashi Retsuden, some members include Shikamaru Nara, Shizune and Sakura Uchiha.

I want to add that the Analytical Study is something Ūkyo Kodachi wrote in the novel that Naruto created out of the blue, without reason. It seems like he didn't know about he existence of the Cryptanalysis Team, a team dedicated to deciphering any kind of code. He must have not read the manga, although this team appears in the movie too, its origins aren't revealed. In Kakashi Retsuden, the writer Jun Esaka reminds us that Shikamaru Nara and Sakura Haruno/Uchiha are part of the Cryptanalysis Team not the Analytical Study. However, since the Intelligence Department make no more appearances in Boruto, I imagine this is the new Analytical Study Team. 

Astronomy Team and Analytical Study in both movies.

Blank Period:

The next time the Intelligence Division or any of its units appear is mainly Sakura Hiden and Sasuke Shinden novels.

Six months after Kaguya Ōtsutsuki was defeated, Sakura Haruno started preparations to create a Therapy Center, a mental health branch for children who are indirect victims of the shinobi world. Two years later, Sakura Haruno successfully founded the first ever mental healthcare institution inside Konoha Hospital ; and other villages like Sunagakure also followed her example. 

However, a former member of ANBU Root, Kido Tsumiki, was plotting against Konoha and undergoing private experiments using Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki’s DNA in order to replicate Sharingan and Kurama’s powers. 

At the end of the novel, when Sakura defeats Kido, he is taken to the Intelligence Department in order to be interrogated by Ibiki Morino. 

Sakura Hiden chapter 8.

Months later, a series of missing Konoha shinobi attacked the village controlled by a jutsu that made their bodies explode. In order to unmask the perpetrator, Aoba Yamashiro, a veteran from the Analysis Team and Inoichi’s successor, read the mind of one of the targets that had been previously incapacitated and was being treated by Sakura. He delved into minds two times successfully.

Aoba Yamashiro becomes the official successor of Inoichi Yamanaka.

He is also the only character that has been shown to be able to reads minds without the aid of the Analysis Team's machine and be successful. He interrogated Kisame Hoshigaki until he broke the jutsu by hurting himself.

Aoba performing Psycho Mind Transmission without a device, a feat only achieved by him.

Boruto:

By the era of the Seventh Hokage, the Intelligence Division does not make any direct appearance, just mentions of one of its units and one of its members, or arbitrary work done by people that did not used to be among their ranks. 

At the beginning of the manga, it is revealed that Ibiki Morino does still conduct interrogations, however, this time he is the only one present from the former T&I, now replaced by the help of Sai Yamanaka. 

The remains of the Intelligence Department.

In the anime, Ibiki debuts with a similar introduction as in Naruto, probably a rendition to his imposing aura and, since it was his anime debut, an honor to his Naruto debut and to the original manga. He introduces himself as the Captain of T&I, just like in chapter 43.

Ibiki's anime debut.

That is the only “relevant” mention and hint about the Intelligence Department in Boruto. There is one more mention about another one of its units in loose episodes but only in the anime, so they do not tie to the original story and can be dismissed. 

Although the Analysis Team no longer exists within the story as a whole, there are characters that fulfill the task of mental interrogation in anime arcs such as Ino Yamanaka in episode 72 and Sasuke Uchiha in episode 151 who after normal interrogation later proceeds to read Shojoji's mind, but they do this as a side ability rather than as part of a team. Characters from the original Analysis Team such as Mawashi, Kumadori, Tonbo and Aoba are no longer in the story.

Ino Yamanaka preparing for mind probing. The interrogators using the help of Sasuke Uchiha's Sharingan for interrogation.

How does the Intelligence Department work and what is their role?

Gathering information from targets in order to learn their motives or their people behind their organization.

DISCUSSION:

How important is the Intelligence Department?

The Intelligence Department is of very little use in Boruto compared to Naruto. However, being written out of the story does not equal being less important. 

Like many other teams, the Intelligence Department debuted fairly late into the story, only being fully introduced in the Pain Arc, but it is considered one of the major side supporting branches after the main tree: Shinobi forces, Medical Department/Corps and ANBU. The best example of their usefulness is interrogating Yūdachi from Amegakure, conducting the examination of the Animal Path in order to determine Pain’s Powers and deciphering Jiraiya’s message; all during the Pain Arc. 

The equivalent of the Intelligence Department at the time of the battle against Madara and Obito Uchiha, the Intelligence Division (going by the same name as in Konoha), was also one of the most important support systems during the conflict.

Their function was changed during the global conflict.

Rather than collecting intel from enemies, the Intelligence Division would receive messages from the several teams scattered across the battlefield such as the emergence of a new enemy, casualties, infiltrations, etc. They would also relay battle tactics from the Chief Strategist to the different divisions. 

One of the most important moves of this division was when the White Zetsu infiltrated the Logistical Support & Medical Division in order to take down the main battle support and their most skilled medics, as well as other battle divisions. It was thanks to Sakura Haruno, who defeated the White Zetsu and figured out their plans, and later contacted the Intelligence Division in order to alert the rest of the divisions, saving everyone from death as early as the first days.

Sakura Haruno defeats White Zetsu and relayed the intel to the Intelligence Division.

The Intelligence Division would receive and relay, not search info for themselves. Like a Communication Division with multiple members and machinery.

The difference between the Intelligence Division and Konoha's Intelligence Department.

The current problem of the Intelligence Department?

In Boruto, the Intelligence Department suffered a downgrade compared to previous appearances, so vast that the notion of the branch has almost completely disappeared. It is now down to one single member left and filler interrogations that serve no purpose to the real plot. 

The downgrade is in relevance and build-up.

We used to see Ibiki Morino, Aoba Yamashiro or Inoichi Yamanaka performing interrogations on targets who would invade Konoha or trespass Konoha with dubious intentions. 

The role of an interrogator has been simplified, with only brief mentions of Ibiki performing said interrogation sessions off-screen. Nothing of what we used to see in the past, but, of course, in peaceful times or times when the information about the enemy is on full display, there is no need for interrogators or intel gathering. There are other teams and individuals in Konoha, such as ANBU or Sasuke Uchiha, collecting information.

On the other hand, when it is needed or should be used, it is not. 

The Intelligence Department in itself is not a failure, nor do their ranks fail at doing their job or need other people to step in for them. The failure comes with the writing quality in the sequel compared to Naruto, rather than the organization itself. 

Could they be redeemed?

The Intelligence Division does not need to be redeemed or rewritten, the problem lies in how they are projected in the sequel. 

Their functionality is perfect, at least in Naruto. They have the world’s best interrogator as their leader, several members of the staff and many specialized units.

Some of the things they could do are:

Interrogate enemies and former Kara outers such as Amado Sanzu, so before letting them do as they please they would go through Ibiki Morino, or Aoba Yamashiro if needed, first.

Recuperate bodies of the enemy if possible in order to be studied by the Medical Analysis Team and other medics such as Sakura Uchiha and Shizune.

Considering Konoha is the most powerful shinobi village and the Intelligence Department has resources, the usage of their staff leaves much to be desired in the script.

Note: The Fourth Shinobi World W4r has been replaced by global conflict to avoid mature content flags. T0rtur3 has also been censored.

[gofancyninjaworld]

First look at Volume 28 Cover

Source: https://www.shueisha.co.jp/books/items/contents.html?isbn=978-4-08-883586-0

Due out 2nd June 2023

[the-monkey-ruler]

Chinyuki: Taro and his amusing companions (2009) 珍遊記 ～太郎とゆかいな仲間たち～

Director: Kasugamori Haruki Screenwriter: Haruki Kasugamori Starring: Tesshō Genda / Tomoko Kumai / Yoko Matsuoka / Rikimaru Touhou / Yorimitsu Sakamoto / Chie Kamiyo / Kujira / Tomohiro Nishimura / Kiriko Aoyama / Miki Fujitani / Minoru Torihada / Takamasa Nakao / Takahiro Sakurai / Kurumi Mamiya / Kana Asumi / Shoto Kashii / Kozo Dosaka / Hidenari Ugaki / Takaya Kuroda / Thank You Tatsuo / Sakuya Kunii / Shiori Yokoi / Momo Ito / Mai Hirose Genre: Animation Country/Region of Production: Japan Language: Japanese Date: 2009-06-12 (Japan) Number of episodes: 4 Also known as: Chinyuuki: Tarou to Yukai na Nakama-tach Type: Reimanging

Summary:

The original work is a gag manga serialized in Shueisha's ``Weekly Shonen Jump'' from 1990 to 1992. The third original video animation produced as part of the 20th anniversary project of author Man☆Gataro's debut as a manga artist, ``It's 20 years since I fell asleep! It's Man☆Gataro Festival, Bakayaro!!''.

The time is Mansei 2nd year. Genjo, a monk who was continuing his journey towards Tenjiku, is asked by chance to rehabilitate his delinquent son. However, that son is a monster who is causing trouble in the capital! Although Genjo has a hard time against Yamada Taro, a monster with strong magical powers, he succeeds in absorbing Taro's magical energy with his jewel and making him accompany Taro on his journey to Tenjiku, where he has become a monkey. During their journey, the two arrive at a certain town, but Taro, who was walking naked, is picked up by the town's evil gang, the Takeshi Corps. Taro steals Genjo's attention and tries to get revenge on the evil brat, but...?

Source: https://myanimelist.net/anime/6687/Chinyuuki__Tarou_to_Yukai_na_Nakama-tachi

Link: N/A

[highdio]

Cover and sample pages, ‘Rohan au Louvre’ Visual Book. Published by Shueisha, 160 pages, bound hardcover sized similar to the source material comic. ¥3520.

[yyh4ever]

104th Hop Step Award - H☆S (October, 1993)

Togashi-sensei's Direct Instructions! The road to conquer all areas of manga! 

Mass Recruitment for the 104th (October 1993 Term) H☆S Award!! This month's judge is Yoshihiro Togashi-sensei!

The Hop☆Step Award (H☆S Award) was a monthly recruitment project by Weekly Shonen Jump (Shueisha) that took place from March 1985 to July 1996.

I already translated Togashi's ten "4-koma" that he drew during the Yu Yu Hakusho serialization to give advice to the participants of the H☆S Award - October 1991 & 1992 Terms.

This time, I am translating the October 1993 Term, where he gives the newcomer manga artists more tips and advice on how to create different styes of manga. The winner of this edition was Eiichiro Oda with the one-shot "Ikki Yakō" (一鬼夜行). At the time, Yu Yu Hakusho was in the Black Chapter Arc.

Togashi gives instructions to help creating gag, love comedies, sports and fantasy manga. He used a little bit of all those elements in Yu Yu Hakusho.

Part 1. Gag Manga

T/N: Chain letters (letters of misfortune) were popular in Japan during the Showa era. A ''letter'' or ''postcard'' was delivered to your home/work in the style of ''If you do not send it to a certain number of people, you will be unhappy.'' The sender is unknown. Chain letters were also a hot topic in magazines and manga, like Doraemon and a bunch of gag manga. 

Source: Weekly Shounen Jump N°44, 1993. Shared by katsura_00

The funny versions of Yanagizawa, Kido and Kaito represent the editors in charge of:

Jungle King Tar-chan/DNA² (Kaoru Kushima);

Lucky Man/JoJo (KAITO Katsuhiko);

Yu Yu Hakusho/Monmonmon (Tomoyuki Shima)

Waiting for powerful works that will break these guys territories! !

They were responsible for the screening, checking all the applications and eliminating the mediocre works before passing them on to Togashi. Inside their territories, works with "characters that are all very similar," "characters with no strong personality at all" or "just imitations of existing characters" were mercifully discarded. 

Part 2. Romantic Comedy

Source: Weekly Shounen Jump N°45, 1993. Shared by katsura_00

Part 3. Sports Manga

Source: Weekly Shounen Jump N°46, 1993. Shared by katsura_00

Part 4. Fantasy Manga

Source: Weekly Shounen Jump N°47, 1993. Shared by katsura_00

T/N: The fantasy illustration of Botan, Keiko, Yukina, Shizuru and Atsuko in medieval clothes was designed to the opening page of Yu Yu Hakusho volume 11, tankobon edition.

🏆 Winner: Eiichiro Oda

Oda-sensei was the inner of this edition! Togashi-sensei reviews his 31-page one-shot, "Ikki Yakou", that was published in the 1994 Shonen Jump Spring Special, and later reprinted in 1998 as part of Wanted!, a compilation of Oda's pre-One Piece stories.

Source: Weekly Shounen Jump N°2, 1994

[amuletduelist]

Series: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters Artist: Kazuki Takahashi Details: Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters: Hikari no Pyramid [Pyramid of Light] Novel (Japanese) Publisher: Shueisha Year Published: 2004 Source: Scanned from personal collection Other notes: The novelization of the Japanese version of the Pyramid of Light Movie. ...Yes, there's was a Japanese 'version' that contained additional/rearranged scenes. Even though the movie itself was commissioned by 4KIDS. Don't ask me anything else, I don't know and I stopped trying to follow 4K's logics year ago. In any case, @theabcsofjustice has done a liveblog of it on their blog, if you're interested! The novel also goes into additional detail about the creation of the Pyramid of Light, which I haven't actually found yet because as you can see, I need Google Translate to figure out what's going on. That being said, if people want me to hunt it down and beg a friend to translate it... I may be amenable under the right circumstances. Also, please forgive the jankiness of some of the scans in this and upcoming sets. Y'all are great, but I'm not wrecking my (close to) pristine books for the sake of a scan. PLEASE DON'T DELETE ABOVE COMMENTARY!

[skykashi]

I find it interesting that you lecture people about knowing the difference between canon and headcanon when it comes to kakashi. I agree because it is selfish to not let other people enjoy whatever they want but it sounds hypocritical. You’re doing the same as they are. You say you care about canon but quote fillers and novels, stuff not even written by kishimoto and say databooks are written by him as well??? 😂😂 no. What are you even saying? You’re also wrong about fanbooks dont use translation apps because I have one and its published officially but in no way by Kishimoto. I love kakashi too but wow

Well, I did already link my sources and explained why I think so here already, you're more than welcome to go read it again in case they weren't clear enough the first time you saw them or something, and I don't know, there is a literal interview with Kishimoto and his editor specifically stating that Kishimoto told them what to write in the Hiden novels in that link so I'm not sure how much more clear do you want it to be, plus a lot of events that happened in those novels are used in Boruto manga which is being written by Kishimoto now, like Kakashi's Purple Lightning which was invented by Kakashi the novel, if the novels aren't canon then why Kishimoto and Ikomoto are using stuff that happened in them as part of the canon story?! at least those are actual things that was stated in actual interviews not a headcanon I came up with and still I'm going to repeat what I said before, that this is just my opinion which you don't have to agree with. As for the databooks, every single databook and fanbook states on it's cover that it's an official guidebook authored by Kishimoto and here's a Chinese person confirming that my app translation to that Chinese cover was correct

Even the English versions, Japanese versions and official SHUEISHA website are stating that all the guidebooks (databooks and the fanbooks) are written by Kishimoto, you can go check them yourself, so if all of that is still not enough for you anon, then imho and with all due respect, that's straight up denial, but still, here I am telling you again like I said a million times before, that my opinion doesn't matter and you can go ahead and consider them not canon or whatever, you're free to believe whatever you want to believe, I don't really care, as long as that makes you happy, so be it, just don't go harass other ppl about it just because they have a different opinion or because they disagree with you!

[tokiro07]

Undead Unluck ep.22 thoughts

[If I Was Green, I Would Die]

(Contents: praise)

YESSS!!! THIS IS WHAT WE'VE BEEN WANTING!!!

GREAT ACTION! INTERESTING INTERPRETATION OF THE SOURCE MATERIAL! FOUR CHAPTERS WORTH OF CONTENT IN ONE EPISODE WITHOUT FEELING WEIRDLY PACED!!!

That said there were a few cuts here and there, like we didn't actually get to see Fuuko jumping ahead through the book as Victor killed her, and Victor sadly didn't start insulting Fuuko when she asked how she and Juiz were alike, but if it meant we didn't have to spill over into another episodes, I'm perfectly satisfied with what we got

The fact that we started the episode with Victor's conversation with Juiz about reincarnation was an interesting choice which I assume was there to save space for the second half, but even more interesting was the reveal that Juiz was the one who put the card in Victor's head! That's not supposed to be revealed until the 120's! I guess that would be around...episode 60-ish, at the current pace? Though if we were getting 4 chapters per episode like this, even my original estimate of episode 44 would have been a bit slow...

As for the scene where Victor was killing Fuuko, the way they interpreted it was really interesting; not only were they showing it in a shockingly subtle manner, using ripples in water (which has been a symbol of Andy's consciousness this whole adaptation) instead of loud bangs, but they had Fuuko defiantly take the shot rather than being blindsided by it repeatedly and crying as she ran through a crowded Shinjuku. Now I do think that taking the people out of the equation was...a bit deflating, but whatever. Seeing Fuuko stand up to Victor makes for an interesting take on where the director feels she should be mentally (I'm not sure if this was Yuki Yase or someone else), and kind of makes up for not letting her point a gun at the Shueisha lady

The bulk and main attraction of the episode was of course Andy vs. Victor, which was sick as hell! It really helped that it didn't have a glaring red gel over it this time, though the green was a little distracting at points. That said, if they were going to pick a color to filter the whole fight through, green was a great choice! The blood popped off the screen with that contrast! I have to imagine they put the filter over everything but the blood, as otherwise the blood would have come out a really muddy and unattractive brown.

The bit right at the end with the book closing was a little drawn out for my taste, I think they could have used some of that time for Victor being mean to Fuuko (my wife was so excited for that part, just like I was for the gun) but I imagine that that was a pretty expensive sequence to make, and aside from it feeling ridiculously slow, it was executed very well

Two episodes left, and six chapters to go. Now that we've covered four at once here, I think we could swing three each and be fine. It certainly makes the throughlines for each episode a lot clearer! Without spoiling anything, 23 should get all of the remaining preamble for Autumn out of the way, and 24 should be made up entirely of the Autumn fight, maybe with a little extra thrown in to tease season 2 or, if we're lucky, the entirety of ch.53 to give us some falling action. It's clearly possible to get four chapters without cutting the theme songs, so if we do cut them, then a dialogue-heavy chapter like 53 would be easy!

We'll find out soon for sure, and if the last two episodes are nearly as good as this one, I think we're in for a good time!

Until next time, let's enjoy life!