#about masashi
Explore tagged Tumblr posts
madarathediva · 1 year ago
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
the similarities... !!
2K notes · View notes
trssshh · 1 year ago
Text
this was AA1 btw i'm capcom!! :3
Tumblr media
Original pic:
Tumblr media
187 notes · View notes
rocketbirdie · 8 months ago
Text
Tumblr media
destiny intersects with the ruined reactor...
little details!
Tumblr media Tumblr media
77 notes · View notes
dravencroft · 2 months ago
Text
Tumblr media
I think 14-year-old me would be delighted to find out we can still draw these two from memory
28 notes · View notes
comikadraws · 2 months ago
Note
Hello. I really like your analysis of the political stuff in naruto, and I just read your latest one in regard to Hashirama's odd neutrality towards 'the curse of hatred™'. But I kind of want to know now: could you say the same about Kishimoto himself? Does he agree with the 'curse' in a simular vein as H.? Or is H. a deliberately flawed character rather than something that the narrative primarily sides with? (because that's the impression I've got but it's been a while, so idk, I didn't really get the nuance of the plot in the way that you explore when I first watched it)
Authorial Intent and the Curse of Hatred
Okay, so I've got like ten other Naruto asks in my inbox but I will prioritize this one real quick because it is actually very central to a lot of my posts. I already went a little bit into this mess when I analyzed the "Curse of Hatred", but I feel like this topic deserves a post of its own.
This particular part of the discussion leaves the confines of Naruto as a fictional universe entirely and instead delves into the realms of authorial intent analysis and criticism.
My TL;DR is Kishimoto very much intended for the "Curse of Hatred" to be real and the narrative sides with Hashirama and Tobirama (and that is problematic). In the longer version, I am particularly focusing on Tobirama as he is the founder of the Uchiha Clan Genetic Theories™.
I also apologize in advance because pointing out Kishimoto's shortsighted writing is something I have gotten harassed over in the past. Hence I believe some theoretic knowledge is needed.
<Analysis under the cut>
Note: As always, blue links are external links or other people's posts. Red links are my own posts that add context to my thought process.
The problem with Kishimoto's intent is that the guy almost never explains the intention of his writing. This is why discussions like "Was Itachi retconned" or "Does Kishimoto hate Sakura" persist to this day. The only thing we are left with is to instead infer the meaning from other sources (such as the manga itself or minor remarks from interviews).
My conclusion is influenced mainly by four things: The social and political context behind Naruto, Kishimoto's usual treatment of sensitive topics, the narrative of the manga itself, and fantasy genre conventions.
But before all that, here's a little info dump.
Death of the Author
In opposition to the idea that the "Curse of Hatred" is real in canon stands the idea that it was just Tobirama's racist propaganda piece - and this is actually a fairly widespread thought. Not necessarily a misconception, however, as it depends on your school of thought when it comes to engaging with fictional text - Extreme intentionalism (full submission to the author's intent), Anti-intentionalism (complete disregard of the author's intent), or anything in between. While extreme intentionalism can probably be considered the "truest to canon" (as opposed to anti-intentionalism, which is more like a subjective interpretation or "headcanon") it is also incredibly limiting to our fandom experience.
Before I continue this, I need people to understand that both approaches are valid. Especially in instances in which the author's intent translates very poorly into our contemporary understanding of the world, as is the case with the "Curse of Hatred". Both authorial intent and the audience's interpretation are vital puzzle pieces when engaging with a piece of media critically.
To clarify, I do not support Kishimoto's writing decisions in this. I am not pushing an anti-Uchiha clan agenda. What I am going for is analyzing Kishimoto's intended canon. As I have already pointed out, it is a canon that is problematic and nobody should be forced to submit to.
With that out of the way, back to the main topic.
Social and Political Context of Naruto
Personally, I believe it is possible that Kishimoto intended to portray themes of prejudice in his story. Mostly in the sense in which people get defined for their worst character traits (as we can see when comparing Tobirama's and Hashirama's characterization of the Uchiha Clan).
I do not believe, however, that he was aiming for racism specifically - and definitely not for scientific racism, let alone eugenic ideologies. And this has a lot to do with Japan's lack of sensitivity when it comes to racism.
For starters, Japan has a very ethnically homogenous society with about 98% of its population being ethnically Japanese and therefore having one of the lowest diversity scores in the world. On top of that, Japan has no national human rights institutions or laws against racial discrimination. The Japanese population is rather unsensitized to themes of racism.
To not turn this into a fallacy of composition, a different user pointed out that Naruto (as a story) was possibly influenced by Japan's reactionary right-wing movement (possibly revealing Kishimoto's own political standing). The movement responded to an increase in anti-Japanese sentiment across Asia. Said sentiment was sparked by a controversy in which Japan omitted its war crimes (which is a well-known pattern in Japanese politics).
At the very least, it is correct that Naruto is very pro-state in its way of protecting the state's reputation by hiding its crimes from the public consciousness. Kishimoto himself demonstrates an incomplete understanding of Japan's war history by unintentionally paralleling WW2 crimes in his story or claiming that the war was the result of mere grudges when, in reality, it was racism and imperialist ideologies.
While this is just my hypothesis, Kishimoto's lack of political and social awareness could easily influence his perception of social injustices, such as racism. Insensitivity, meanwhile, might reduce any motivation to engage with such themes.
Inadequate Realization of Sensitive Storylines
This might actually be less of a hypothesis when we look at Kishimoto's repeated failure to address sensitive topics in his writing with dignity and/or a critical lens. I've also ranted about this in an older post.
We are talking about child soldiers and death matches between children (Chunin Exams), slavery (Hyuga Clan), human experimentation (Orochimaru), human trafficking (Kushina and maybe Mito) genocide (Uchiha Massacre), and the invasion of neutral territory (Amegakure). In all of these cases, crimes are not further acknowledged than a brief admittance of "damage was done" before the plot forgets about them entirely.
It is a larger pattern in which social injustice is primarily introduced to add flavor in the form of "tragic backstories" but not actually to resolve it. We are supposed to condemn those tragedies, to feel sympathetic - but we are not supposed to criticize Konoha as a main perpetrator, enabler, or apologist.
Chunin exams? Never talked about again.
Slavery? Naruto promised to change the Hyuga clan but never mentions it again.
Human experimentation? Orochimaru is welcomed back after his exile.
Human trafficking? The Jinchurikis got Stockholm, so everything's good!
Genocide? Addressing that might tarnish the Uchiha Clan's reputation. So we don't.
Invasion of neutral territory? We never see Amegakure again after Konan's passing.
To me, it doesn't seem like Kishimoto ever truly cared about those social issues.
The Manga's Narrative
The story does not engage critically with itself. And frankly, it also does not demand such critical thinking from its readers either.
In the manga, we are often presented with incorrect or incomplete exposition from unreliable narrators. Obito lies all the time, Madara gets the wrong story from Zetsu, Itachi gets the wrong story from who-knows-where, and Sasuke doesn't know what's going on half the time. The interesting part is how the truth behind those lies is usually uncovered.
Usually, we do not know that any of them are perpetuating a lie until said lie gets corrected by another character. Said character is usually a "source" in the sense that they have personally experienced the (until then) falsified events.
It is very rare that the audience gets to pick up on little clues to realize that a character is lying. One such instance is when Obito directly contradicts Itachi in his rendition of the story. But even then, the conflict between their two renditions gets resolved by a "source" character in the form of Kushina retelling the events from sixteen years ago.
Tumblr media
Now, let's compare this to the "Curse of Hatred".
I have already mentioned this in another post (where I analyzed the curse and its contents), but the "Curse of Hatred" is first officially introduced by Obito. He focuses on the Uchiha's war-torn history. Tobirama more or less builds on that, adding his hypothesis about the Uchiha Clan's Sharingan and its effect on the user. Then Hagoromo adds some things about the reincarnation cycle that might play into this. In the end, Zetsu wraps it all up by revealing that he manipulated the Uchiha Clan for centuries.
The problem is that not one of these puzzle pieces contradicts the other. Therefore, no lie gets officially "disproven" in the story itself. Tobirama's Theories are treated as though they were perfectly fine fact that does not require revision.
We can further infer Tobirama's credibility on the matter by judging the present characters' reactions.
Hashirama, as explained in my previous post, tolerates if not accepts Tobirama's ideas. Orochimaru shows himself hostile toward Tobirama but does not take the chance to contradict him. Sasuke, who is an Uchiha and has personal experience with the Sharingan, shows no signs of protest. Skepticism, yes, but it slowly fades away until he seemingly accepts Tobirama's words as truth. He does not even attempt to argue against it.
Tumblr media
Add to that that Tobirama is generally presented as a truthful character, described as "rational" and "principled" in the databook. He regularly criticizes or insults other characters without the bat of an eye, seemingly having no problem with tarnishing his own reputation, unconcerned with keeping up false appearances. He is not the type of character to lie.
Yes, Tobirama comes off as a bigot regardless, but that's because he's essentially an asshole and not because he is actually intended to be racist.
Tumblr media
Fantasy Fiction Conventions
In fantasy, none of what Tobirama says is actually uncommon. In fact, if anything, his theories concerning the Sharingan resemble popular fantasy tropes.
In Anime, many powers are awakened through trauma. This is called "Traumatic Superpower Awakening". The Sharingan is just one of many offenders, even in the story of Naruto. This reflects Tobirama's idea that the Sharingan is triggered through great emotional pain.
Tumblr media
It is also a common trope that characters who gain too much power eventually go insane. This is called the "With Great Power Comes Great Insanity" trope and reflects the Uchihas' to essentially take away psychic damage alongside each newly awakened Sharingan power. Kishimoto just specifically linked that insanity or pain to the Sharingan (which represents the power of the Uchiha).
Tumblr media
Yet another trope is the "Personality Powers" trope. This one can be seen in the Uchiha Clan's tendency to feel deep love and hate - at least one of which is essential for the awakening of a Mangekyo Sharingan (and, depending on the circumstances, a regular Sharingan). Hence Tobirama calls it "the eyes that reflect the heart". In other words, the personality facilitates the power.
Tumblr media
Last but not least, we've got the fantasy races trope. The author invents a race and then assigns it distinct characteristics (both physiology and behavior-wise).
In its most extreme cases, this can be used to create an "enemy race" (such as orcs, vampires, demons, etc.) for the good guys to fight. It usually removes complexity from the story by dumbing down the enemy to simply just being "born evil".
Now, notice how the Uchiha Clan's Hatred could be considered a reflection of Kishimoto's idea that wars are caused by grudges? Furthermore, Kishimoto makes that comment at a point in time (February 2012) when all three main antagonists of the story are Uchihas (Madara is revived in chapter 559, which was released October 2011), and then releases Tobirama's theory a year later (February 2013).
This one, unlike the other three, is particularly controversial as fantasy races often get conflated with real-life ethnicities. This is not always the intention of the author, however, as they often never intended to portray racial stereotypes. For two particularly popular examples, take a look at Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" or Itagaki's "Beastars".
On one hand of this debate, you have that fantasy races are unlike human ethnicities and do not necessarily reflect reality, simply because the author decides what is real in canon or not and because fantasy is always a lie from a real-world perspective. Hence the Curse of Hatred, or rather, Tobirama's Theory is canon.
On the other, fiction does not exist in a vacuum and it is impossible not to apply our contemporary understanding of racism and ignore what are otherwise screaming red flags of racist ideology. Hence we recognize Tobirama's explanation as racism and wish to reject the Curse of Hatred as a concept.
But these two ideas can coexist.
The problem is just that Kishimoto likely only accounted for one thing and not the other. His intention translated very poorly into our contemporary understanding of the world, making Tobirama (and therefore, Hashirama as well) the victim of short-sighted writing.
Who cares anyway?
In the beginning, I explained that regardless of what Kishimoto intended for his story, any interpretation is valid. So why should we care about what the author thinks?
In my analyses (which are separate from my headcanons), I will usually take an "Extreme Intentionalism" approach in which I prioritize the author's intent over the reader's interpretation. Not because I am opposed to the idea that the reader's interpretation is relevant to the meaning of a text but because readers' interpretations are unique to the individual. Focusing on such an individual interpretation can easily alienate those who don't share it. Hence I like to focus on something that is more informative, almost objective in nature, such as the author's likely intended canon - which people can then mould into whatever suits their headcanon best.
I have also noticed that, sometimes, anti-intentionalist takes will devolve into full-blown lies (sometimes with the purposeful intention of omitting canon). This lie can then be upheld in an attempt to condemn or rather bully those with intentionalist interpretations. This unwittingly protects the writer (as well as problematic writing conventions) from criticism.
This is why I think even Anti-Intentionalists should inform themselves of an author's intention. This is, more or less, an aspect of media literacy as it allows us to identify biased or manipulative narratives and take purposeful action. In our case, this involves questioning and criticizing Kishimoto as an individual, raising awareness about his writing's shortcomings, and learning from his mistakes.
21 notes · View notes
blue-gypsophila · 6 months ago
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
"You... make me sick!"
43 notes · View notes
oc-beehive · 1 year ago
Text
Tumblr media
IM SO SORRY FOR DISRESPECTING MY FIRST EVER DROC BY NOT POSTING ABOUT HIM. please forgive me
This is Masashi Saitou (he/she)! Ultimate Cake Decorator. Above all else, he's very much prone to mother henning - constantly over-concerned for the people around him, to the point of coddling and stifling. It's done out of concern, really! She just wants everybody to be safe and happy. Bad at letting other people make decisions for themselves. Will shower you with too many gifts and a really elaborate cake display for your birthday.
He lives in the attic of the bakery he works at, having been taken in as a young apprentice by the owner. She's basically his mom, and he treats her as such. His biological family situation is... Not on speaking terms. That's all she'll admit on that topic. Said owner is getting up there in age, so the business might be passed on to him soon! Masashi's neuroticism and need for complete control definitely isn't related to that pressure at all. No sir. She's doing Just Fine. Would you like a cupcake. On the house.
(Side note - the burn scars are from an unfortunate oven accident when he was younger. He was making mother's day cookies. Should not have been unsupervised. She basically just tells it like a funny anecdote nowadays - "You should've seen me crying on the way to the hospital! What? No, not because of the burns, silly - because she was too busy worrying about me to even look at the cookies I made her!")
24 notes · View notes
kairunatic · 1 year ago
Text
Tumblr media
So Nobumichi is just one moth older than Yasuyori
Tumblr media
Nobumichi also Mentioned Masashi as "The best Eigh dog warrior"
Also, It's confirmed that Masashi is Yasuyori's Nephew here same in the novel
21 notes · View notes
fallloverfic · 2 years ago
Text
Why you should watch "The Deer King" (2021)
It's beautiful
He's not emphasized well in the marketing because most of it is Van and Yuna, but the actual deuteragonist of the film is Dr. Hohsalle, and he's beautiful. Imagine Xie Lian but he's a doctor. This isn't subtext, in the books the narrative switches POVs between them (well between Van, Makokan, and Hohsalle). Van and Yuna's relationship is still important obviously, but it kind of took over the marketing entirely for whatever reason (I think because they sort of animated a book illustration featuring them). DO NOT BE FOOLED
The music is a bit random but lovely. The credits song destroyed me.
It's kind of like Princess Mononoke in a lot of ways but more focused on lots of pyuika (flying deer), rebellion, and dealing with a disease outbreak. Still important themes of found families, imperialism, assimilation, and erasure of local beliefs and groups. Also if you like Sword of the Stranger, this is kind of that but with deer and wolves instead of swords and a Shiba Inu.
Did I mention Hohsalle I don't think I mentioned Hohsalle (here's some GIFs because I don't think I mentioned him)
Did you like Seirei no Moribito? Uehashi Nahoko, the same person who wrote that, wrote this (well the books it's based on), and it's pretty similar, just with a dad and a daughter this time, and a higher budget. Epic fantasy films based on books written by women 11/10.
Tumblr media
Seriously he's right there imagine I'm Kuzco circling him a lot
It's really a very pretty film and a good time. The fight scenes are great.
How many epic fantasy films do you know that star hot doctors
Spoilers under the cut
Seriously it's gay AF please watch
93 notes · View notes
Text
Guitar pick necklaces of each other's faces!!! Well, No One Can't Top That!
Tumblr media
72 notes · View notes
dangoulains-devotion · 2 months ago
Text
grips you by the shoulders
give FFXIII a chance
as much as I adore the game I will accept the gameplay isn't for everyone
but the story is so worth it
#you want found family? here it is#watch a playthrough on YT if you have to#and yes it might take a while for the gears to get going story-wise. but so it is with 99% of rpgs#the character development of the cast is SUPERB#it is exactly what you'd exprct from a FF story#FFXIII-2 also a banger game but it helped for me that i got obsessed with a side characters design#in the original XIII. and it just so happened that character became the protag of the next one LOL#but also noel baby boy. and caius one of the best FF villains i will not be accepting criticism#anyway. people love to hate the game but i have a controversial opinion on why that likely is#and id probably get mauled for stating it :-)#also the soundtrack (the thing that spurred this post on) is stellar. masashi hamauzu popping off as usual#but yeah. give it a chance. its a wonderful story of fighting fate while dealing with grief#amongst other things but tag character limit you understand#i will take this moment to share something about me i find so funny#my preferred name is snow. there's a character in XIII called snow.#i did not pick the name from him. he's actually my least favourite character in XIII LMFAOOOO#i appreciate how his character was built and i understand it. i just dont mesh well with overly brash hero types#(its why i didnt like kingsglaive.... sorry nyx)#all of the cast are so interesting with unique depths to them... even snow! and before i have to throttle anyone#that also means hope estheim too. grips you menacingly. that is a child facing the horrors .#ummm oops i be yapping again. my bad
2 notes · View notes
kunosiu · 8 months ago
Text
Tumblr media
2 notes · View notes
comikadraws · 6 months ago
Note
Another thing that's damning is the fact that Yamato, anko, Sasuke and many, many others, even kabuto, never receive any compensation for what orochimaru did to them and they're forced to live with the fact that orochimaru destroyed them and what they had completely and the fact that he violated then. Brings so many disturbing parallels to the many, many Asian victims and the genocide that Japan inflicted. The more I think about it, the damning it is.
On another note, orochimaru deserved worse. I mean, we're clearly supposed to be disgusted and horrified at his actions and he was a legitimately great villain because of how pure evil he is and I'm pretty sure everyone was rooting for him to be defeated and finally get the punishment he deserves, yet he doesn't even get a slap on the wrist?? In pretty sure he's STILL doing experiments so he hasn't changed, he's still the same person he was ever since then.
I don't know what Kishi is like as a person, but that's so many red flags in his writing.
For reference: We had a conversation on another post of mine about Orochimaru getting away with the atrocities he has committed. We thought that he could possibly be compared to individuals such as Ishii Shiro from WW2.
For Ishii Shiro, read up on unit 731. For Orochimaru, Naruto chapters 121 & 122.
The obvious comparison is that both Orochimaru and Japan conducted human experiments and were then pardoned for being "useful" (in the case of Ishii, he was pardoned by the US) - because crimes against humanity are not crimes against humanity if it's the Good Guys™ doing them, obviously. I trust that I don't have to explain why this is hypocrisy at its finest and, overall, morally deplorable.
It's honestly disturbing just how often red flags manage to slip their way into Naruto. And yes, it's a story about war and war is a messy and difficult-to-write topic but all that needed to be done was acknowledging Konoha as the fucked-up dumpster fire it is and hold the perpetrators responsible.
I love Kishimoto's philosophy on villains and redemption, that there's some good in everybody and that redemption is possible. I really do. But there's a line. And personally, I draw that line somewhere before human experimentation, genocide, and slavery.
I don't know why Kishimoto thought that Orochimaru's redemption was a good idea. The idea of letting him get away like that is ridiculous to me but I'd also rather not try to make any assumptions about Kishi as a person from that.
In his defense, Japan is notorious for omitting its war crimes. And as a mangaka who gets like 3 hours of sleep per day, it's understandable that Kishi wouldn't have the time to properly educate himself on history or society. I don't know whether Kishimoto actually researched the war crimes that his characters have committed (though I personally doubt it) or if he just decided that "all wars are made up on people's grudges" because his grandparents told him once and thought of everything else as secondary. I can only guess.
In my ideal version of Naruto, Konoha's crimes would've been acknowledged, Danzo's crimes would've been made public and Orochimaru would've gone to prison. But none of that happened and I can only assume it is the result of Kishimoto's upbringing or a sacrifice he made to keep his target audience happy. I doubt he just deliberately decided to excuse any of these horrors and if he did, I'd argue it was born from nativity rather than malicious intent.
But man. The story sure suffered because of it...
27 notes · View notes
mashedpotatodragon · 1 year ago
Text
Naruto: Here are some of the most compelling background characters in the series. They are more intricately designed than 60% of the main cast, and their backstory reveals the horrors of this war-torn world in a way that will both devastate and intrigue you. They will have one dedicated episode or chapter and never be seen again. This will create a small but dedicated following for this character, and I will never acknowledge their existence again except for the third flashback in this transitional chapter, oh well, cry about it.
Bleach: I will develop a world packed with mystery and inspired concepts that set this story apart from its contemporaries. These background characters will be present at every significant story beat, and you will always want to learn more about them, but I will never elaborate. Instead, I will show my main characters exploring their powers for the fifth time this season. Also, there are four families of great power and influence and you will only ever know surface-level details about one of them, get fucked.
13 notes · View notes
its-coda · 2 years ago
Text
Tumblr media
Creature moment
38 notes · View notes
elegyofthemoon · 11 months ago
Text
no one asked but the music in argenti's quest was driving insane for a while and i was wondering why only to realize that they both sound very ff13-esque.
"Cosmic Sacrifice for Love" sounds like "Giant's Fist" by Naoshi Mizuta
"A Gentleman's Fantasy"... I can't even pinpoint exactly which Masashi Hamauzu song it sounds like BUT IT USES A LOT OF SIMILAR HAMAUZU MOTIFS AND ITS REALLY GOOD LMAO just like listen to "Blinded by Light" :)
#I WAS WONDERING WHY I WAS FIXATED ON THESE SONGS IN PARTICULAR I CRACKED THE CASE#THE CASE IS I HAVE NEVER MOVED ON FROM THIS GAME#i would ask to leave but unfortunately ff13 owns my soul and i don't really want to take it back#no this is not a push to make people play ff13 what hahaha hahahahaahahahhahah#nah i just. i miss ff13. but whats new LAKSJDHLFADSKJHLKJH#like every other day ill go 'man i miss ff13' and do nothing about it. bc i really cant#i MEAN TECHNICALLY YES I CAN BC BY IMPULSE I DOWNLOADED THE GAME /AGAIN/ GUESS WHY GO ON LMAO#but yeah#no anyways if you do like those songs i recommend masashi hamauzu ^7^ he makes such good songs#im not too much of a fan of naoshi mizuta i think... but i mean some of the songs in ff13-2 are super good#most of the ost is a little. funky though#but he did also make promptos theme? home sweet home? i think?#bro that song makes me baaaawl its very very beautiful but thats bc i do really likethe sound of cello myeheh#no one asked for the ff13/hsr ramble yet here i am :) ✨✨✨✨#i just thinkitd be funny if they looked into ff13 for inspiration for the ost 👀theyd get a + from me for that#i just wanted to share ff13 music. or. share. ff13 anything really. hi <3#hahahaha now if they did a wittle more and pulled more hamauzu style songs for penacony ? eheheheh <3 i think i might have found my favorit#favorite place <3 i already kinda see the potential for it being to my liking BUT WE SHALL SEE#okay im done rambling HI !!!#snow plays hsr#... should i tag my ff13 rambles?#i guess lmao#snow plays ff13#i feel like a different song sounds more like cosmic sacrifice for love but that was the first thing that came to mind probably bc#the only things that ever stick in my brain in ff13-2 is yaschas massif 10 af 😗😗
3 notes · View notes