#look I have issues with the ending and Boruto too

[weepingnightmarenaruto]

*Poorly written manga has a poorly written ending*

Naruto fandom:

[decaffeinatedcupcakekid]

If I had to change something about Boruto, it’d be the characters. Not that they don’t have a good basis, it’s just that their potential was absolutely wasted. They feel soulless. Like they have no personality whatsoever.

And I know that factually they’re all very unique like Chocho, Sarada and Kawaki, they all have the potential to be very motivating characters in their own right.

Except they aren’t.

Kawaki is a mirror to Sasuke, we’re meant to see him as Boruto’s rival with a tragic backstory. A brother, a sun and moon narrative that’s a complete replica of Sasuke and Naruto.

And that’s where the problem lays. They’re all just replicas of someone else. The og series also had this issue of making new characters like old ones e.g. Sakura & Rin, Sasuke & Madara etc. but those were actually well done. This is just a cash grab trying to replicate the previous series.

The Boruto series should stop trying to be something it’s not and actually embrace itself as a new idea while also NOT ruining previous characters. Ame was left in ruin, something Naruto never would’ve stood for, the boy we grew to love in the previous series is unrecognisable. And I get it, people change, which would’ve been cool and all to see if it wasn’t so poorly done.

For what reason does Naruto genuinely have to act like this? Yeah, he has a village to run that’s been booming ever since the war, except he has advisors in Ino, Shikamaru, Sakura and literally every clan head is on his side. His village is best friends with every other village. There is hardly any conflict. And you’re telling me he can’t come to his children’s birthday party? Mr ‘I want to be Hokage so people won’t look down on me’? But also he wants that because he has no family so he wants the villagers to love him. And he forsakes his family, who’ve loved him since the beginning, so easily?

They ruin old characters to the point where they may as well be from another universe because if they were half the people they actually were, that’d stop the conflicts before they start. And yeah, maybe the previous main character overshadowing the new one is a bad thing, I get that.

But if they were going to character assassinate Naruto as a way to solve this, I’d rather they have him killed before the main Boruto series started. That’d cause conflict. The pillar of peace just dying. Or like, anything else. There was no need to ruin Naruto for a soulless series like Boruto that only focuses on power ups.

And I know there’s going to be people who think the power ups are cool, that the two blue vortex is actually kind of cool. But that’s because literally every other character from the Naruto series is gone so that they can’t overshadow Boruto.

Naruto and Hinata? In another dimension. Kurama? In Himawari and weaker. Sasuke? In a tree. Gaara? Also in another dimension. Everyone is gone, and yeah, it’s tragic, but the shock effect wore off after Sasuke, it’s overdone now.

Every single character with depth is gone or hardly in the series. Sakura gets to stay because she’s a medic ig but as soon as Sarada needs a more dramatic route to her story, I guarantee she’s getting sealed off too.

The authors are scared to kill off actually important characters from the og series but are more than willing to ruin them. Everything is about them. Not Boruto.

No one was going to be happy with Boruto, I get that, people hate sequels. But the genuine apathy radiating off of that work kills me. The shock factor is over, move on.

I have so much more to rant about but I’ll end it here or I’ll never stop.

[princess-dirt]

Dan Da Dan is going to be a complete paradigm shift in Shonen manga/anime.

TL:DR ~ Shonen was too slow, then it was too fast and never slowed down, Dan Da Dan let itself slow down, and it's the biggest anime of the season.

For the longest time, Shonen anime was dominated by long-running manga with extended fights, long often drawn out training arcs. This alongside filler made the anime adaptations of shonen manga to be comically long and often painfully slow. This paired with Jump Magazine often pressuring their successful mangaka to write a series as long as possible while dumping dozens of mangaka less than 10 chapters into their run led to intense burnout for some authors and diminished product for others.

Naruto spent 50% of its run time in a long boring war. Kishimoto brought back literally every character from the grave to pad the run time. This intense bloat eventually led to several twist villains at the end, each meaning less than the other. Bleach kept reusing the same plot line with diminishing returns.

Then the Big 3 all but ended in the mid-2010s, and there was this insane vacuum of content alongside anime studios dying one after the other. Until My Hero season 1 dropped. Ik it's not exactly the most popular anime ever or even the best of its generation, but MHA saved shonen anime. The seasonal format, alongside the constant and quick pace of the action and story beats, literally changed how shonen anime were adapted. Black Clover and Boruto became the outliers and essentially misfits with boruto suffering from being 95% filler.

MHA was big. Each season was more popular than the one before it. Season 3 airing when tik tok was the single biggest app in the world and cosplays were becoming massive on it. It was a perfect storm. From MHA came other seasonal shonen, none bigger than Demon Slayer. Suddenly, a wave of fast-paced high action shonen started coming out and then soon airing. Look at the most popular shows of each of the last 6 years, and you'll see at least one seasonal shonen in the top 3. There was a real discussion online in the mid-2010s if shonen would accept the seasonal anime format that had become the norm for airing more than a decade ago or continue with long-running series.

We got our answer. MHA then Demon Slayer were proof the landscape of shonen manga had changed completely. There were seasonal shonen shows like Kuroko who were massively popular inside Japan, but it didn't change much.

Also, the advent of streaming services was also big. Suddenly, anime was more accessible than ever. Everyone had watched Attack on Titan by that point. But it was the streaming contracts that really saved the anime industry. Suddenly, these studios no longer had to rely on ads, blu-ray, and merch sales to fund their anime. Now, they could get these lump sums every year to license out their shows.

Another tangent, but the real indicator that anime had survived the mid-2010s and was on the up was Your Name. The single biggest movie from Japan at the time. My mom went and saw it when I told her about it. An anime original movie was successful in US theaters.

Shonen manga/anime eventually got to the point where slice of life moments were barely any more than gags or one to two chapter things in between arcs. The plot and action was just constant with no break to let us experience characters or their dynamics outside of serious situations. Jujutsu Kaisen is the clearest example of this issue. While super hyped in both of its seasons, one of the best episodes of season 2 was the one where nothing insane happened, where our main cast hung out like teenagers.

This type of atmosphere ends in the next episode, where it is then nearly non-stop drama and action the entire show. This can be fine, but a lot of people have turned on the manga for reasons relating to characters dying. They will die, and readers will reflect on them and realize they never really knew the character outside fighting.

I love every manga/anime I've mentioned. I think they are all great, but it's clear, at least to me, that shonen has almost over corrected itself in terms of pacing. MHA got backlash for having a calm mini school festival arc because some fans had become conditioned to expect nonstop plot beats and action. These manga and shows in pursuit of faster pacing speed ran character development and depth. So many side characters in these shows will get cast off or stay one note. Limited screen time means some characters get more time than others.

But seeing Dan Da Dan focus on this teen romance equally to the main plot has been so refreshing. Seeing each of the two leads sit and worry and overthink. Seeing them be awkward with each other and casually talking, it's all just so fun to watch. It feels like the mangaka themselves doesn't feel pressured to skip over stuff in favor of moving the plot along faster.

This, combined with the other biggest show of the year, Frieren, convinces me that anime will begin to slow down once again. Frieren wasn't supposed to blow up. It was not supposed to be as big as it was. It's a classic high fantasy where the big adventure ended 80 years ago. It's about an immortal elf walking around this world with her new party, and there really isn't much else happening in the grand scheme of things. It's a show where the characters often just find a place to stay and then stay there often not doing much of note.

It just speaks to the confidence of the writer to be able to stick their cast in a room and just have them talk. Tensura (the slime isekai) did a similar thing where season 3 spent about 40% of its runtime focused on characters sitting around a table talking about politics of this fantasy world. The anime could've just skipped the cabin scenes in Freiren, and they could've condensed all of the talks in Tensura, but the original writers and the studio writers recognized not doing that, was in service to the overall story and characters.

I think and hope anime studios and mangaka will see the reaction to Dan Da Dan and come away knowing that you don't need to always be going a mile a minute.

[leportraitducadavre]

Wiat stop omggg i’ve been reading these posts about the anti-Hinata Hyuga stuff and how she is infact privileged and ngl it lowkey hurt but also omfg???? I never realized how bad the Hyuga situation was or how Hinata is unable to pick a side, I just assumed she’d obviously dissolve the slavery practices because I see her as a good person(and i read too much fanfiction)

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA now i definitely need Hiashi to die in the war and for Neji to become leader(yeah no Hinata can’t lead to save her life) because it would be such a good step to take down the old system by replacing it with a Neji as a symbol of change. Media is making me go crazy again but that’s probably my room mold 😭😭😭😭

Also the Naruhina fan in me kinda wishes that Naruto learned sealing from Pervy sage because like imagine if they worked together to make a new Hyuga seal to actually protect the byakugan and then it gets worn as a clan marking, like the red fangs from the inuzuka and oh my god im so sorreybfor rambling all over this asks i just really really want more Hyuga content and for ny faves to be happy, also you are really well omg id love to have ur attention span for politics because i can barely understand my highschool civics like ibshoudl probably stop now-have a nice day!!!!!✨

Hello there,

It's okay to like a problematic character and it's okay to like a ship, the problem starts when people justify such problematic characteristics to make them "acceptable", like justifying Neji's treatment at the hands of the Main Family because he was "mean" to Hinata, despite him warning her about fighting him and asking her to forfeit multiple times.

I never realized how bad the Hyuga situation was or how Hinata is unable to pick a side

I'm sorry to be the one to tell you, but Hinata chose a side. Ignoring the matter or not giving it the relevance that it has even after her cousin's speech during their match or his match vs. Naruto, is to actively support the system in place; she might truly believe that is for the "greater good," as so his Konoha's mantra, but it doesn't change the fact that she agrees with the practice.

I just assumed she’d obviously dissolve the slavery practices because I see her as a good person(and i read too much fanfiction)

I don't see her as a good person for the reasons mentioned above, no good person sees her uncle being tortured and her cousin being enslaved and believes to be the bigger victim in their dynamic. Furthermore, she did pretty much nothing for anyone who wasn't Naruto; being shy and quiet is not the same as being a good person; she never mentioned being kind-spirited and thus, unable to be a shinobi (like Chöji, which was a full small arc of his character when fighting the Sound Four), but rather, weak.

now i definitely need Hiashi to die in the war and for Neji to become leader

I understand your wish for Hiashi to die, but Neji succumbing to his fate put an end to the "Hyuga's conundrum" as that's an issue that involves Konoha in itself and not addressing it in Boruto would've been a major problem; furthermore, the problem wasn't just about stopping the Main Family from creating slaves but also them giving reparations to those they enslaved, like Neji. His death was also used to give Hinata a "moment" with Naruto.

(yeah no Hinata can’t lead to save her life)

She can't, not just because she's weak (Shikamaru doesn't shine because he's particularly strong, he isn't), but also because she often puts her wishes above the safety of those under her command (Koü Hyüga) and can't come up with a basic strategy to fight her opponents. She perhaps modeled her attack pattern following Naruto's (who mostly attacks before coming up with a strategy, as he often relies on overwhelming his enemies), as she often states to look up to him and has spied on him multiple times, but he's far more strong and has much more chakra (plus healing chakra) than her.

Also the Naruhina fan in me kinda wishes that Naruto learned sealing from Pervy sage

I'm not sure Jiraiya knew much about sealing techniques (we only see him erasing Orochimaru's seal), Minato learned from Kushina and not him. Tsunade is likely far more versed on the matter and she never even attempted to take Neji's seal off, so that's where the village stands on the matter.

have a nice day!!!!!✨

Thank you. You too.

[rainboneish]

as someone who is up to date with/finished all of the 00s big three shonen animanga (and has been for years in the case of Naruto and Bleach, i was reading the manga weekly for the end of both) i’ll say, my favorite will always be Bleach, even though i have spent more time actively having Naruto brain rot

one piece is probably the best written of the three, but it’s not fully my kind of story (i get very invested in some characters (hence the fact that this side blog is law themed) and the world building but the art style and general tone isn’t fully my cup of tea), hence why it took me two attempts around at decade apart to get into the series (i got to Marineford with some skipping the first time around and then gave up on the whole thing, only to be sucked back in by seeing a few too many law edits after getting into the live action like 10 years later)

Naruto is extremely fandom friendly (both from a shipping pov and a marketing pov) (very merch friendly) but it’s probably the weakest of the three writing wise. (i’m not including Boruto cause i dnfed it and also it wouldn’t be a fair comparison)

Bleach just appeals to my little goth heart and i think Kubo’s style is the most visually compelling for me, all of the characters just look so cool and even if it’s kind of restarting now i found the temporary ending it got more satisfying than the Naruto one (though that one might be me being slightly influenced by my dislike for Boruto)

The biggest weakness Bleach has compared to the other two (power creep (deeply shared with naruto) and anime filler issues aside, though i think some people give the bleach filler too much shit cause i personally found a lot of the naruto filler more annoying) is that Bleach is far less fanfic friendly… there are the straight ships, which never get people writing as much, and then there’s Ichigo/Grimmjow and Ichigo/Ulquiorra and Ichigo/Hichigo (name outdated for spoiler reasons), plus Renji/Byakuya and some other ones, but there isn’t really a massive queer ship for people to get deeply invested in, and there isn’t really very much in the way of big scenes between characters that people want to dig into for fanfics (like people do with the numerous Narusasu confrontations or the constant Zosan bickering or the impact Marineford or whole cake island had on OP Characters)

it’s not like there isn’t anything to write bleach fanfics over, i’ve read my fair share of them through the years, in a bunch of different ships…but despite how much i love the series i couldn’t really find much to dig my teeth into that way… hell, the most compelling ship in the “traditional” sense is probably Kyouraku/Ukitake (or Yoruichi/Soifon but no one ever appreciates f/f ships enough)

[sagemoderocklee]

Hello, I hope you’re feeling well :).

I just wanted to have your opinion about Temari x Shikamaru? I love the way you write about them. I think Kishimoto would be jealous lol.

I also cannot wait for your updates, especially for “The Art of Love”. Please take care!

^///^ thank you so much anon! for the compliment and the well wishes!

all updates are currently only being done through my fundraising campaign for Palestinian families, but if you would like to see TAoL updated, that IS one of the fics that can be sponsored! The next chapter of TAoL is estimated at around 15k words for a total of $60USD in donations, which do not have to be all one person donating! I hope you'll consider donating to help families!

i absolutely LOVE ShikaTema and i love writing them into all my fics, even when they are barely there. their relationship had so much potential and then boruto ruined it.

kishimoto's problem--and thus Naruto's (and Boruto's) problem--will always be misogyny. i love all the girls (minus hinata), but no matter how bad ass or fun he makes them, they always suffer under misogyny (including Hinata), and so do their relationships--especially the romantic ones.

and this is getting extremely rambly so more under the cut

i think shikamaru and temari suffer more in boruto than in classic or Shippuden--i'd even go so far as to say that relationship suffers the most out of all the ones presented to us because the building blocks in Naruto/Shippuden never supported what Boruto delivered--but i cant speak broadly on that since i refuse to engage with boruto beyond some old silly jokes about metal looking like gaara. i do know through just hearing about it that temari gets the like the shrill, overbearing wife treatment, and obviously she went from being an active duty shinobi to being a housewife, which is so insulting.

if anything, shikamaru should be the stay at home parent. temari should continue her diplomacy work, she should not have just up and left her village for good, and she shouldn't be treated like an overbearing wife.

my preference is to always have Temari and Shikamaru split their time in Suna and Konoha. Shikamaru might ultimately end up being a stay-at-home dad but i do think he still wouldn't abandon his duties as the head of his clan. he'd have a proxy for when he's not in Konoha, but they'd still need to report to him regularly while he's in Suna, and he could always be recalled back to Konoha for big issues within the clan. i think at a certain point he does retire from being a shinobi to focus on the kids, while still being willing to be like a consultant for strategy if need be

but ultimately i think Shikamaru is just a wife guy. i think that's what was being set up for us. Shikamaru being this dumb pre-teen kid who thought girls were gross and was falling into these misogynistic ideas, only to have his world view rocked by Temari. i think she's the catalyst for his growth but not the sole reason for it. i think it was just like the women around him on a daily basis and his own just like growth as a person, but he needed someone to come in to put the first chink in the armor, so to speak. Temari was someone he didn't really know or have any notions about beyond her being a girl and what that meant to a 12 year old boy.

once she proved to defy his expectations and also challenge him, i think that's where he starts to grow.

i think temari and shikamaru's relationship has to be built on equity, respect, and understanding, which kishimoto and anyone else writing these relationships don't grasp.

one thing that should have been emphasized more, imo, is that Temari is on par with Shikamaru. i think she's a genius too, but she's not as lazy and bored by the world as he is, and i think that challenges him. i think she's interesting to him because she's his equal, and often times his better. like she pushes him. he's a lazy mf, but he's brilliant; she's brilliant AND not a lazy mf. she's driven, she's passionate, she's funny, she's playful, she's a lil mean sometimes but has a big heart...

like deadass shikamaru should WORSHIP the ground she walks on. he should be so in love with her, but he always keeps it close to the chest. he's not like tryna play it cool he's just like that. it's not like he's scared or even embarrassed, i just think he's reserved in how he shows that to he world, which works well cause i dont think temari is publicly very lovey-dovey either.

i think temari is just as in love with him--again equity and so on--but i do think she also has other priorities like her career. i think shikamaru could give a rat's ass about being a shinobi and the only thing he really cares about related to shinobi work is his teammates and his clan, but that's still all wrapped up in duty. temari is his choice. which i think is something that anyone from a clan really would be drawn to--clans are about duty, shinobi life is about duty. but loving someone outside of the clan, choosing who you marry--that's choice and that's freeing.

i think temari is freedom for shikamaru, and she needs freedom from him. he's not overbearing. he's not insecure. he's willing to do shit a lotta other guys wouldn't do--like be a stay-at-home dad. and he loves her without reservation and without expectation. i think for temari, expectation is the root of all evil.

she's the daughter of the 4th Kazekage, people expect things from her because of that. she's a shinobi--a kunoichi--a woman, so people expect certain things from her because of that.

get married. retire early. have kids. can't be too ambitious. not allowed on the council. so on and so on.

all these gendered expectations of her from the world around her, but not from Shikamaru.

like obviously he does wanna marry her and have kids, but it's not a demand. he never expects her to do anything she doesn't wanna do. and it's not like she doesnt want kids. she absolutely wants to get married and have a family, but she also wants her ambition. her career. her passion. she wants to change the world alongside Gaara, not sit idly by while the men in her life do and do and do.

shikamaru gives her that. she defied expectations because she didn't marry a man from Wind, she didn't retire, she's having kids who'll have dual loyalties which means from the council's pov her children aren't viable heirs to the Kazekage title, she retains all of her ambitions and passions and keeps fighting for the equity of women in the shinobi world.

Shikamaru is for Temari, what she is for him. he challenges her as much as she challenges him; he gives her what she needs from a partner, as much as she gives him what he needs. emotionally, mentally, and physically they both challenge the other, support the other, and understand the other.

they just make a good team. they make each other stronger and smarter and better, and they make each other happy.

anyways, this is all really rambly. not feelin that great today so i hope this rambling mess is fun to read!

thanks for the ask and for reading my fics <3

[ac-liveblogs]

The thing that bugs me the most about Boruto is they really started off the series with Naruto Uzumaki so busy being Hokage he neglected to spend time with his family and that's just character assassination done on an absurdly malicious degree.

I remember that... I haven't seen Boruto the Movie in ages, but they really capped off Naruto's parental neglect and inability to spend any time at home with "but he's so cool and strong and look at his relationship with SASUKE" man I don't even know what I'd be feeling if I watched my absent dad cradle another my best friend's even more absent father that tenderly when I knew for a fact he couldn't be bothered coming to my sister's birthday in person. Probably not admiration.

I'm actually kinda mixed on the whole situation, because I can see how Naruto's character could have been interpreted this way. And if I had to write a series focused on Naruto's kids where I couldn't afford for Naruto to be a super present character, that's probably the direction I'd end up taking too.

I do get Naruto struggling with parenthood. It's not like he had any real consistent parental role models - the best he has is Iruka, and that's not going to translate very well into a traditional father-son dynamic. Boruto has the kind of childhood Naruto could have only dreamed of - even if he's not around as often as he'd like, Boruto has a loving family and friends. It'd be pretty easy for Naruto to figure things were fine.

Plus, despite being such a compassionate/empathetic person, Naruto might struggle to get Boruto at all. Naruto could reach out to his enemies quite effectively - he could relate to them and speak to them from a place of understanding. Boruto's experiences might just be totally out of the realm of his understanding. (I would totally get Naruto being able to relate to Kawaki more, honestly. I hope that's what happened, it's what I would do!)

It's a pretty bitter pill to swallow, though. Seeing Naruto as a peacetime Hokage with infinite self-duplication powers apparently incapable of realising he he should - and has the means to! - spend quality time with his family absolutely sucks. It's something that should be a total non-issue for him. Sure, maybe by Naruto's own messed-up childhood's standards, Boruto should be fine! That... doesn't mean Naruto couldn't make time for him extremely easily, so it's... really frustrating for the audience to see Naruto finally achieving his goal and yet fucking up something that is SO easy for him to fix!

And! They really started off the series this way?! This is the first time we see him as Hokage, and with his family! Him fucking up with his family in such a stupid and obvious way! It sucks! (Though maybe the writers realised that too, since the Boruto anime set the movie quite a ways into the runtime? So it might build into that drama a lot better once you get to the new status quo?)

Tbh, I buy this a lot easier than I buy his character in The Last.

In the same way, I get Sasuke not wanting to stick around Konoha and raise Sarada with Sakura. He's been driven by a purpose his whole life, I get him not being happy sitting around at home being domestic with his wife and daughter. That's just as foreign to him as it is to Naruto, and probably has way more baggage attached to it than he's emotionally equipped to deal with.

It just absolutely sucks for it to be the first thing you see of Sasuke "i will restore my clan" Uchiha's future. His daughter so unable to comprehend why he's not around she believes it's impossible that he actually loved Sakura enough to have a kid with her. Especially when that relationship was already a really tough sell.

Deadbeat parents as tropes are way easier to swallow when you didn't spend 700 chapters getting emotionally attached to them first, haha... and realistically, very few people that did would actually want to read those characters acting like this. really bad situation all around.

i don't think boruto's entire like. concept. plays well with naruto's world-building. trying to reconcile a domestic family life that resembles the modern day with the inherent tragedy of child soldiers and how fucked up this world is hits me right in the cognitive dissonance. didn't even get to keep the hyuuga clan as a backdrop for flavour, damn.

[mediacinemtographyartetc]

Blue Exorcist: Rant

Okay I was literally in secondary [Highschool to americans] with Season 1 in 2011 and then Season 2 in 2017 THEN season 3 in 2024? Do I have to wait ANOTHER decade for season 4 after? Like what I'm gonna be 84 by the time BE ends????? But overall even though it's been years and my obsession with BE is kinda flagged and the manga also put me off some stuff...I still like Blue Exorcist. So not many people talked about this so I was wondering- what story has been covered and how many more do we have to wait for? And also- why not just make Blue Exoricist a movie like Sailor Moon or evangelion? Make a trilogy/more instead of seasons at least that way if it takes forever it's understandable?

But then a quick google search and uh...

So season one [2011] season 2 [2017] we waited six years for that then another seven for season 3 so thats a thirteen year wait-

And then suddenly TWO seasons in ONE year??????

And what chapters have been covered? So Season one is Manga 1-4 Then Season two is Manga 5-9 And then season 3 the illumanti series will cover manga 10-15

Blue exorcist Season one had ended with a tied bow BUT season 2 starts off with a cut off episode, if you stop at this episode then start season 2 it creates a linear story. Like an alternate ending.

In Season one Yukio became a demon possesed by Satan. BUT this ending and storyline may be similair to the manga or has been reworked to tie in, there is a drastic difference to later manga updates.

The manga is currently on number 29 and still seems to be going. So thats 14 more books to cover and since season 1 and 2 had four manga done figured it would take FOREVER to get there. So others speculated if Season 3 is also a reboot and if thats the case then what's the point?

But because of the tied up ending in s1 it doesn't make sense to do it again if anything the continued seasons is to be more faithful to the manga. personally I usually watched BE season 1 and cut off at the episode then read the manga on HOW it could've ended. But because it's been so long, I can't even remember season 2. And looking at the updates of s3 and thinking wow some parts seem so fast paced I wonder if they condensed some stuff-

Even so...

I don't want to say bald but...some of the faces don't quite...look right, the hair is too short- it's giving Boruto naruto compared to Shippuden- Look how they massacred my son! Not only has it been years not only does the animation look jank, theres also the story line-

Truthfully the manga has been losing me lately, just some of the girl characters who used to be badass who were then given moments to...level up and gain strength later in the manga some moments felt as if they just kinda...got shafted. lets just say I hated Manga 17 with Shura it after lmost made me stop reading it but thats just my personal opinion. Overall tho -

The whole fight between Yukio and RIn and when Yukio just straight up became a bastard was straight up painful to watch, only given that I've already SEEN that in supernatural where two siblings end up fighting and one's being an idiot just for angst but continuing on made it worth it my issue-

is that if the anime cuts of AGAIN and then fans have to WAIT for it to be concluded is just straight up going to kill me.

[sueske]

why did kishi do a complete 180 on the themes hes already presented if there are other mangas under the same publisher that have anti-government plots with no issue? i just dont understand the motivation.. is it only for the alien plot for the sequel??

I think at one point the franchise became really popular and it just got way out of his control... he was struggling with the writing, I remember once he mentioned he was losing sleep over the pein arc and he didn't know how to defeat madara. I also think it would be difficult to change the shinobi system because how would you go about that exactly? how would you write that? how would everyone, including konoha, be held accountable? and what would the outcome of that be, what would that mean for shinobi everywhere? I've thought about it a lot and spoken to others too and it's really difficult to do... but how would you fit all that into a shonen genre manga when it'd be much much easier to just make aliens with cool powers the next big bad to defeat? politics and reformation and change vs cool new jutsu? genre limits content. and what is the main purpose of sj? to make manga that sells. creating a sequel that rides on the success of its predecessor with an already established fanbase is much more lucrative than creating a manga from scratch and building up a fanbase as you go along the way. if your manga doesn't sell, it gets axed no matter who you are. just look at what happened to kishi's samurai8.

who knows what went down behind the scenes.... kishi mentioned that he had ideas that were un-shonen like and there's been times where he had to argue for what he wanted (like the reverse harem jutsu, vote2 being close battle fight) and other times where he was told to change the direction of the story by his editors (like after the low arc he was told to have a tournament arc rather than what he personally wanted, which was more mission type arcs like the low). he and ikemoto also received the script for boruto, so kishi and ikemoto worked from that, even though kishimoto was fine with ending the manga and said he had done everything he wanted with it.

series like one piece are different -- you have the world government which is the big bad everywhere, rather than individuals states with their own mini world governments doing their own thing with their own agenda. so it becomes more complex and layered.

[narhinafan]

https://www.tumblr.com/narhinafan/733630781661069312/httpswwwtumblrcomnarhinafan73337190584695193

what the heck you saying dude and what the heck that borusara fans hater saying I won't blame you if you hate Sarada for reasons other than that she is Sakura's daughter, because that doesn't make sense, and I noticed that you and the other are trying to ignore or run away from some things just because you hate Borusara for no reason other than that Sarada is Sakura's daughter

What the heck are you saying? You really don't seem to get what we were going on about at all. I have stated multiple time that I hate Sarada cause she is too much like Sakura it was never just cause she was Sakura's daughter, but cause she inherited the worse traits from her that made me hate Sakura in the first place.

There a lot of reasons to hate Sarada, her personality has many problems as well as many scenes in the manga that are just too much especially with how Ikemoto drew her early on. Even recent chapters Boruto loses any eye cause she didn't think to activate her sharingan when facing Kawaki and he was charging right at her, another life ninja got caught

I have never hated Sarada just cause she was Sakura's daughter I didn't mind her in gaiden nor the Boruto movie I even shipped her and Boruto at one point. It was only after the manga and anime got under way that I started hating and BoruSara cause there were many negative traits about her personality or how she acted that I had issue with many of which she shares in common with Sakura who I ended up hating for the same reasons.

Before you start throwing accusations at least try to understand what other people are talking about. Cause you clearly only selectively looked at the posts where I say I hate Sarada, but never any of the actual reasons why I said do even though I never once attributed it just being Sakura's daughter and stated multiple times that I don't like how Sarada is from her personality to actions in the manga and even the issues I have with the design of her character.

[mistninja]

not really what the ask meme was about but i'll bite. what do you think about boruto (the series)? i'll say i will save sarada and chouchou from that series and move them somewhere else

the thing about boruto is that all the issues i have with it started in naruto. like by far my biggest issue is that i find the alien stuff too silly to take it seriously, and that started with kaguya, so boruto was already set up for failure in my eyes.

i have said it before but for me the ideal ending for naruto was a world without ninjas, a complete dismantling of the ninja system, so boruto not only having to follow on the stupid alien concept introduced in the war arc, but also being set on a basically unchanged world, is already not going to be a compelling story for me. my favorite part of naruto was when the characters confronted the gritty and dark and morally gray aspects of their world, but all this has been left behind in boruto. boruto is not concerned with the faults of ninja society, because we are led to believe that despite nothing fundamentally changing about the world, theres no longer any war or hatred between the ninjas, the entire conflict (from what i have gathered) is just alien bullshit. every time i look at a screenshot from boruto it looks too sanitized, too clean and soft. not to sound like an old person but. In MY chunin exams people were killing each other. to me boruto feels like the entire thing is one long naruto filler arc. and also it looks kinda ugly. the character design is shit. the manga artstyle is awful, i think its an insane downgrade from kishimotos style. boruto the character is so annoying to me. the way naruto and sasuke are written is so out of character, why is naruto such a shitty dad and why would sasuke, whose entire story is about how much he loves his family, be a dead beat dad??? And i dont even want to get into how the women were nerfed.

i DO like sarada, and chouchous design is really cool, i think having sarada as a main character might have made the story somewhat better, but the entire set up of boruto is too dumb for me

[cartoonrival]

OK boruto verdict. thus far obviously. i assumed part 1 of the anime would be ending right before the timeskip shippuden-style but that isn't what happened lol. so i guess the split is kind of arbitrary. anywho its not as good as naruto which is to be expected. but its cute!

i was tbh pretty shocked that boruto stands out as his own character pretty well. he still has some of the Shounen Protag Syndrome that naruto had, meaning its not particularly difficult to guess what he would do in a given situation and there is an element of same-ness to him and every other cheery roughboy protagonist, and there's still a lot of overlap between him and naruto, but i think he's very cute. i love his stubbornness and black and white thinking. he reads as someone who grew up in a loving household but has a mounting frustration with feeling trapped without really knowing whats trapping him.

tbh my biggest issue with boruto thus far i think is that it feels very undercooked, like theres a ton of interesting dynamics that are introduced then barely explored, and if they are its in a kind of cursory way that doesn't really show a lot of respect for the characters involved. the biggest offender with this imo is naruto and boruto's relationship, but sarada and boruto, mitsuki and boruto (mitsuki and sarada on their own as well tbr), and sasuke and sarada are also big examples.

naruto's characterization sort of seems like its gotten lost in an attempt to make him more mature, which like Yeah he should be more mature and i don't think that "naruto is the hokage now and because of how dedicated he is to konoha and to maintaining peace and making everyone in the village feel like they belong, he ends up being stretched too thin and boruto starts to feel ignored and left behind by someone who should be his biggest supporter" is illogical, but his ability to verbally tell people he cares about that he cares seems to have taken a hit, not just his ability to SHOW it (which could logically be stunted by his role as hokage). there shouldve been more exploration into naruto's feelings about boruto as his wayward son who causes problems and doesn't know what he wants. boruto's pov was well and good, but the whole dynamic feels half baked because it's written in a way that naruto isn't supposed to be the focus of it, even though there are obviously two equally important sides to a parent-child dynamic. for naruto's feelings to be so unexplored beyond "i'm so busy" and "i don't want him to grow up" is just a bit of a let down. dgmw there were definitely still really powerful moments between the two of them, but considering parent-child relationships is sort of a focal point of the series i feel like the amount of direct attention that naruto's feelings towards boruto are getting is a disservice.

tbh though i think a lot of the naruto cast has been watered down at least somewhat in order to fill a role that needed to be filled, ive complained about temari a couple times, sakura is rarely seen without an apron on, etc. sasuke is honestly fine, but im genuinely sick with want for a look into how he feels about his and naruto's families in a way that doesn't feel like im being lied to, even though that will never happen. but to be honest his relationship with boruto serves as a pretty good indicator. lol.

i think its interesting that we're exploring a love/obsession/devotion sort of situation this round, again i think it could be made to hurt more but its fine. everything could be made to hurt more. but whatever. its an interesting way to expand on the power and value of love themes in naruto. its unique if anything, which is nice because there are a LOT of story beats that feel lifted right out of naruto. i quite like kawaki in a vacuum, he feels sort of like an odd one out in the cast though im not really sure how that could be remedied. i think he and boruto needed to interact more on regular terms before they started calling each other brother and saying i feel like i could do anything when im with you etc. slow down cowboy! but kawaki's situation as someone who was so horribly abused, finds a family that loves him and is truly and heartfully accepted by naruto as a son, then to become dangerously devoted to protecting naruto because he's the first person to make kawaki feel like his life was worth anything, is Quite interesting to me. if a bit sudden. but i guess thats intentional too.

the plot itself is very very much an ohhh you thought you defeated that guy? well he has SEVERAL friends! type situation. like this didn't need to happen and was clearly tacked on. but its p much exactly what i expected and its managed to create some pretty effective moments for what it is. the fights are really cool and don't drag their feet as much as the ones in naruto did, which is nice.

overall its good, its cute, the new characters are fun even if its at the expense of some of the OGs. there are a million things that i think need to be explored that aren't aliens, but i know they never will be etc. its fine. (it isnt.) it feels more cobbled together than naruto did. but its cute.

[badgalsasuke]

I'm reblogging this post taking into account the replies in the comment section.

I think that the work of SNS veteran shippers and those of us who came later and have continue to defend the fact that Naruto and Sasuke are in love and the manga is a gay love story in a shonen/action-packed setting has paid off substantially.

Like this lady right here on tiktok. Although she enjoys BL, she is not a hardcore SNS shipper (like us lol) but still talks abt how Shonen authors could very much write BLs because they have already written gay love stories in their works and then goes on to use SNS and Satosugu as examples. The tiktok has over 201k likes and it's only one of many, it's clear the general anime/manga audience *knows* what we know. Maybe not with the same depth that the SNS community has discovered through analyses of the manga over the years but they can tell Naruto and Sasuke aren't just friends and their feelings for each other are romantic.

I think the issue we encounter right now more than ever as SNS shippers is that people in the anime/manga community still believe that:

Shonen and BLs are mutually exclusive. So if someone writes a shonen there can't be gay people there because gay characters only appear "traditional" BLs.

If a man and a woman get married that means they're confirmed as straight. For these people is simply inconceivable that a character could be bisexual or could be in a lavender marriage (Naruto and Sasuke's case) or any other scenario.

Now, in the replies people are talking about how Naruto dudebros and SS and NH shippers are more aggressive about the het!ships (which is true, I was in the fandom from 2012-2015 too) but I will have to say that they're not a huge mob or anything. There are less of them than there used to.

Here's the thing, no matter how gay and romantic the writing between Naruto and Sasuke was (and everybody in the fandom noticed) it was known they were not going to end up together so het!shippers did not see us as a threat. It was narusaku vs naruhina/sasusaku, sns was off the table.

But then The Last came out and this movie was really the first nightmare for het!shippers. They had expected a beautiful love story between Naruto and Hinata and it ended up being ass, disappointing everybody and I would know I was there! my favorite anime youtubers some of them Naruhina shippers didn't like it because they saw how OoC Naruto was and how stupid Hinata acted. My cousin who loved Naruhina stopped shipping them the minute he saw Hinata forgetting she could walk on walls with her chakra he was so offended!!! lmao. Keep in mind that NH was already walking on a thin line after Neji's death which pissed off a lot of dudebros that were also Hinata gooners. One of my classmates who shipped NH was so freaking mad about Neji's death he also stopped liking Hinata as a character.

The mockery NH went through after the movie premiered was off the charts and it would only get worse once Naruto Gaiden came out. Sasusaku was never a particularly beloved ship no matter how rabid its shippers are so you can imagine how bad it was once Kishimoto started trolling them with the whole "is Karin Sarada's real mom? and also Sasuke is never home lol". Then Boruto the movie came out and the gay ass scene of Naruto holding Sasuke like a princess really showed everyone how gay this whole thing is. The memes on Naruto and Sasuke being the gays dad taking care of their child? they've been a thing since forever! in fact it was the dudebros who started them.

What happened next is SNS-antis becoming extremely aggressive as more and more people clocked what Kishimoto was doing. There are less SS/NH shippers compared to what used to be back in 2013 for instance, people outgrew the ships and when they looked back to Naruto they realized what was really going on, I find a lot of these people on twitter. The het!shippers that remained became far more hostile and their "anti-arguments" far more ridiculous (like the whole pseudo-incest stuff lol whatever the hell that means). It's obviously insecurity tied with their homophobia.

So when it comes to het!shippers harrassing SNS shippers, there aren't as many of them as they used to but they're also so much more confrontational and violent to the point it gets disturbing so it's a "we won but at what cost" type of situation.

When I had started writing this blog, I was told by other SNS to tag my Sakura and Hinata posts as anti Sakura and anti Hinata so I wouldn't be hounded by their crazy ass stans. Well that didn't work. Lol. Anyway, I began to tag my posts as Haruno Sakura and Hyuuga Hinata, because even if I don't like them, my analysis of them is based on their characters, I am rock solid secure about it and I don't care who reads it and cries about it.

My suggestion to SNS fans would be, take the antis head on if you wish so. Take any anti SNS head on. Any single one of them. Confront them if you want, without hesitation or doubt. No need to be afraid.

As a SNS shipper, just know you are in the right. I am ready to sign it on a bond paper. Just know that they are ALL CATEGORICALLY WRONG, and you SNS stans are right, as long as you have sincerely read and understood the manga.

Know that you are backed by the author of the manga, media experts and aficionados and several casual fans who value accountability and have a mature outlook towards storytelling and life. Say it with arrogance and conceit even, because sometimes intimidation works just as well. Don't waste your energy on things that don't deserve it. But if you do choose to confront, never be meek, never surrender. Be cool about it or aggressive, your choice but don't feel disheartened at their takes, they don't know what they are talking about. Laugh at them if you want, that's what their theories are good for anyway.

Enough of this homophobic caterwauling. This is 2024, and this is a global fandom with many fans who are impressionable and naive. Let them have the advantage of understanding the true meaning of this manga. You are the torchbearers of Naruto's legacy, like I have said before, SNS fans are true Naruto fans, the rest are just posers and bigoted dumbfucks. No more bigotry, no more prejudice, no more bullshit. It's high time. Enough time has passed and all the 'they are just friends waaah' or 'they are just brothers waaah' or 'It is unintentional waaah' type of takes need to GO! Naruto fandom is your space to explore, take advantage and have your fun and thrill too. YOU own it. Go crazy. Saturate the fandom, open up the discussion, destroy the prejudice and dumbfuckery, confront whothefuckever you wish, and do it with relish because you are right and they are wrong. Period.

Do it. Be bold, be strong, be proud. You have the fandom's support, passionate support too because that's what this story engenders in responsible fans. Confront them without hesitation if that's your vibe and smack them in the face with panels from the manga and explain them too, they are quite easy to decode. Just know you can do it because that's what the story is supposed to be, you can't miss it. High time to change this heteronormative narrative. Naruto is a gay love story and there's nothing anyone can do about it.

[dorn-queen-of-thorns]

Silent comformation, that Kawasara might become canon?

I'm totally new to this ship and I might be wrong, but these both images from ch. 58 let me think about the Borusara and Kawasara relationship. If it exists a theory about this scene, then i have to apoligize. But i don't find something about this on tumblr and Twitter. 👀

So every Borusara will say, "OMG! He rescued her! They are in love!"

But in my thougts, that isn't the case, cause in this scene she doesn't blush to Borutos reaction or thinks something like " Boruto...". And it makes sence to me, that he protects Sarada, cause she's one of his team mates and it would be too risky to let one of his team mates get hurt before a fight against Code.

Boruto confirms my believes in this chapter. He asks Kawaki, why he acts flustered? This is because Kawaki is worried (maybe has feelings for her, but that's only my shipping heart 🥺 ), that he will hurt physically Sarada. And we see in this chapter, that Sarada doesn't want to fight against him, cause she will hurt him at his weak state.

Therefore Sarada has an intense eyecontact with Kawaki and i don't think , that she looks to Boruto. Kawasara shared multiple times of these eyecontacts through out the manga and anime and it is comfirmed once, that she's staring at him. It would be too obvious with the Borusara blushing scenes, that this ship will become canon in the end.

2nd Sumire arc was before Borusara content, and we saw, how Boruto acted around Sumire and she already has confessed her love for Boruto towards Sarada and they didn't talk about since then. Sarada is a 2nd Sakura, so she would act jealousy and emotional towards Sumire, if she would love Boruto. But nothing happened. The only reaction is, that she reacts thoughtful between Sumire and Boruto, but this can mean everything. After all Sumire is her friend, too and it could also mean, that Sarada wants to protect Boruto ( Sarada is a better Sakura for me. She protects and is worried for all of her friends and not only one guy), so that Sumire doesn't loose her first love.

The second interesting image is Mitsuki surprised, speachless scene. We know, he's an INFJ and he read the emotions of his friends. It would be a big spoiler, if he said something about this. But he realizes , what happened in front of his eyes between Kawasara and Kawaki's reaction . ( Headcanon for me : Would this happen in adult hood, he would think something like " Oh please! Take a room and fight your issues" 😏 ...). If it would be Borusara or a group content, then he would say something about them or the situation ( what he has done multiple times) . But this isn't the case .

I hope this scene will animated more clearer in the anime.

Update: After the last newest episode Mitsuki followed Kawaki to the docks and observed him. After this happening, Sarada and Mitsuki met again and they had this speach:

My believes are getting stronger, that we get a confirmation by Mitsuki, that Kawaki and Sarada fall in love in each other.

Excuse me, I hope, you can understand my english, cause it isn't my native language. I hope, you like my theory and thoughts. Maybe I'm delusional and wear only my shipping googles, but this is really noticeable.

I like to discuss about theories and would be happy to read your opinions. Also if you don't share my opinion, i like to read your serious and friendly thoughts.

[aloeverified]

Does it bother you that Neji got to nearly murder Hinata because of his anger and frustration but Hinata didn't get to so much as raise her voice? That he got an entire arc before he came to forgive his uncle(who wrote him an apology letter btw), but all Hinata gets is a half assed smile from Hiashi during her wedding. No apology. No acknowledgement that he underestimated her. Nothing. And still gets to play with his grandkids. That how much shit she put up through and not once at all curses the people responsible for it? That how the anime never allows her to express those emotions, ones that don't make her look as flowery as she seems(she's still kind and sweet but yk anger issues aren't something people would expect from her)? Because it bothers me a lot.

I hate Hiashi for so many reasons and I don't think that telling Neji the truth about how his father literally died was some noble act, it was something Neji should have always known.

Besides, I don't think Hinata would ever want to hurt Neji — if that's what you're getting at? Like, she understood why he hated her; despite being "better" than her, he was still reduced as a slave and he thought his dad died because of her and Hiashi.

I do hate how Hinata just always puts up with his abuse, though. I wish she actually proved herself to him only to tell him that she doesn't need his praise, that she made it on her own without him. Boruto portraying him as some amazing grandpa is so fucking weird considering he literally abused his daughter(s).

Neji and Hinata (and all of the Hyuga tbh) deserved better from him and I'm upset that Kishimoto was too obsessed with Uchiha bullshit plots to ever give the Hyuga Clan conflict a better ending.

[ravysu]

Sannin headcanons and thoughts

The last thing I would like to post for the sannin week. It is still 24.04 here! :D @sannin-central

This is long. Spoiler alert. Mostly Orochimaru, some Tsunade, a little of Jiraiya (because his story is pretty clear and spoken and idk what I can add). Also I recommend to read this meta about Orochimaru, it has influenced me a lot and has some good points. Sorry for any posible grammar mistakes. Also I really should put here a lot of references to the manga or anime but it was something that was piling up for a year and I'm soooooooo lazy. After all, those are just headcanons. Also: Im not excusing Oro's bad stuff here, Im trying to understand the reasons.

Ive already posted some hcs, here, here and here.

1. First if all, the chronology pic of sannin lifetime based on the info i found on naruto wiki and also some statements about wars from this post. It was tough considering what a mess naruto’s chronology is.

2. Sannin story shows what it cost to be a legend. They're like Team 7 but more realistic. Tsunade literally carried the war but left with nothing and developed a ptsd and have problems to just live on. Also anger control issues. I think she can be pretty bossy and stubborn which is not always nice. Jiraiya is the hero of the day but also very idealistic and can ignore some important details in the real word whether its the fight (he always injured during flashbacks maybe because each time he took too much to handle and on the one hand it's heroistic but on the other is a mistake that can lead your team to situations like in that Iwa cave) or your friends issues (I bet he saw what's going on but thought it's fine until Oro actually got red handed and left). He lives in his world and may have problems to get out to see it through someone else's shoes. As for Orochimaru, it seems like he was a normal guy for 20+ years (I mean, he didn't do crazy criminal shit and had something good in him and it was stated somewhere that it was his teammates influence. It is obvious they considered him as a friend, I don't thinks it was for nothing) but we mostly know his darkest side. Despite being a moster he is a human that have empathy and some ordinary human traits (man just decorates every bit of an environment he is in lol).

3. Tsunade was the leader of team Hiruzen.

4. Tsunade sometimes hit Jiraiya for some stupid things he did or said but never touches Orochimaru even if he did something same. Jiraiya complained about it once and almost got another hit.

5. Jiraiya had problematic parents that didn't care about him much and a lot of time he was wandering in the streets.

6. Judging by the look of Oro bangs and hair, he sometimes cut it off. A stress relief huh? And the fact that he doesn't do it now in Boruto..

7. It was shown that Tsunade and Orochimaru was acknowledged before they become a team. Maybe they did just before, or maybe some longer time before. I prefer the second option and hc that they met because both had no real friends - Orochimaru seemed weird and scary for everyone and Tsunade was Senju so everyone wanted to hang out with her but didn't really care. They weren't seen as what they were - people put the labels on them. But they didn't care about each other's labels and actually saw each other in true lights.

8. Tsunade knew it was an accident and it's not right but still she blamed Orochimaru for Nawaki's death for some time. It was something that seriously damaged their friendship and the team. Orochimaru was mad but also guilty, after all, he was responsible at least as a shinobi since Nawaki was under his watch. So he started to act cold and emotionless and was trying to distance himself from his teammates.

9. Jiraiya was in Ame while Dan died.

10. The whole his orphans mission was a bit irresponsible tbh. They already fought Hanzo and as he stated the conflict between Konoha and Ame is going to an end with Konoha's win. It's weird to stay here for three years in the middle of the war while there were other lands to fight. He left his teammates for some idea. Maybe that caused another crack in their team friendship.

11. If Tsunade would have find a way to live on with her trauma and follow the will of fire and stuff it would affect Orochimaru as well just as her grief affected him. It's like he would get an example that you can live on with this pain. So death isn't above human capability and we are not just the slaves of mortality (sounds stupid but i dont know how else to describe sorry). But as we know what he actually saw is that it broke her crucially to the point she couldnt be herself again. And so the death is above everything.

12. Oro wasn’t just acting as a cold pragmatic bitch in that cave but also tried to save Tsunade. Jiraiya knew it and that’s why he showed this sign to him like "I see what youre doing here" and that stunned Oro because he would prefer to look rather like a cold pragmatic bitch hehe

13. Just a thought. People in the village probably treated Oro as a foreigner or just wouldnt accept him because he looked so differently and had a weird attitude. That's why he sometimes didn't feel that Konoha is his home. After the wars where people were treated as means and tools, even the children, he himself developed this view on people - he dehumanized them and used as the means to his goals, just as his village did. Funny thing some people were straightly dehumanizing him too like Ibiki thought that he was a demon (tho he was a child). And he probably weren't the only one. Anyways the point is that it's logical that Orochimaru don't care about anybody but some few people, he's the product of his era. He's like Naruto that would chose the hatred way. But naruto had some good and understanding people around him and.. Orochimaru had them too, but match how Iruka treated Naruto and this Hiruzen's "I sAw tHe mAliCe in This cHiLd fRoM tHe BegGinNinG". And oro didn't even have a big ass evil fox in him. sry i hate hiruzen

ANYWAYS the moral of the story is not "go criminal if they hurt you" but always treat people like people. Waving my hand to Kant.

14. The reason why Orochimaru didn't pick some good morals to stick with through the hard times no matter what (like, idk, Jiraiya or Naruto) is because 1) I think he is/was pretty depending on people around him 2) the war fucked him and his friends up too much (Nawaki incident + Tsunade) 3) twisted addictions (though I don't think he's that sadistic, we never saw him torturing randoms just for fun, it was always some science experimental shit. He tends to get fun out of cruelty only when it's personal) that maybe developed as a way to sublimate anger and sadness caused by his parents loss (that's what they share with sasuke - unlicke naruto, they knew their parents and it's other kind of pain. Sasuke developed a revenge issue and Orochimaru - cruelty pleasure which... is kinda the same but less epic and more occasional lol).

15. Speaking of that, Orochimaru cared for Sasuke because he saw himself in him.

16. Oro hold grudges against Hiruzen for not choosing him to be Hokage not only because he was ambitious and/or egoistic, but also because Hiruzen was some kind of a father figure for him and his approval was important tho i doubt he was aware of that. He also probably could tell that Hiruzen was suspicios about him when he was a child and that led to many conflicts and was hurting as well.

17. Tsunade knew things weren't pretty with Orochimaru after the wars but she never expected them to be this bad. During the week that she was given in her arc she thought not only about how much she wants to see Nawaki and Dan again despite how wrong would it be but also was trying to bury all the good memories she had left of Orochimaru so it would be easier to kill him.

18. She poisoned Jiraiya exactly because she knew he would not let her do it. Jiraiya was always hesitant to kill and inclined to forgiveness, while Tsunade, as mentioned by Orochimaru, could be merciless (so much so that he was not surprised when Kabuto suggested that she wanted to use Jira for Edo Tensei).

19. That was one of her traits that scared Jiraiya and fascinated Orochimaru.

20. Remember how Oro grabbed Jiraiya's neck when the latter was trying to cover with hair jutsu? On the snake, in Tsnade's arc. Orochimaru could have easily kill Jiraiya by pulling the sword out of the mouth (arteries are right there) but he didn't. As well as he could kill Tsunade when she was still shaking - just aim for the neck or the heart. Instead, he just injured her lung and kicked her which is not a big deal for the kind of shinoby like her at all.. Also he helped Anko not accidentally kill herself but it would be way much profitable to let her do it. "Orochimaru has no feelings".

21. The reason he suddenly wanted to kill Tsunade instead of forcing her to heal his arms as it was planned (which is weird since it will not going to get him heals and he kinda said that he wouldn't want to kill her just minutes ago) is that not only she refused to help him (he thought he could work it out) but she also prefered the village over him (from his point of view). Out if everyone she was the closest to being able to understand him since the village caused her painful losses too but nevertheless she agreed to be on it's side.

22. He wasn't fighting her back in the end partly because he thought he deserved that. Somewhere deep inside hahah.

23. Tsunade got a fear to develop deep bonds so they probably weren't very close with Shizune (also the way she knocked her down in this hotel.. oh).

24. Orochimaru will be here when she'll die.

25. Orochimaru's eng dub to Tsunade: "I often wondered what it would be like to ring that pretty neck yours". No comments.

26. Orochimaru is either bi/pan or ace. Anything or nothing lmao

27. Hiruzen knew about at least some of the Oro’s illegal experiments and was okay just as he was okay with the Foundation all the time. Because it’s useful. Then he has discovered he went too far OR he knew everything and oro just became too inconvenient because of his methods. The way Orochimaru tells Sasuke about reasons they are well treated as the criminals is based on in his experience with Hiruzen.

28. As you may know the lyrics in Orochimaru’s music theme goes “don’t talk with the silence of the heart”. It was taken from one Indian song that also had lines like “don’t question life too much”, ”pain arose somewhere in the chest”, “don’t speak to the wounds of the heart”. Though I’m not sure 100% because I was translating it with some hindi dictionary with like zero knowledge of hindi

29. I like to think that this “silence of the heart” theme and the fact that he called his village a hidden sound village are somehow connected. The hidden sound is the possible explanation of all things waiting to be listened to but the truth is silent and you know it deep in your heart and it bothers you. The world is silent just like the life is meaningless but people can only hear. *Sigh* anyways

30. Orochimaru’s journey is the one about accepting death. When he saw Karin released her chains while was trying to get to Sasuke he understood that the death is a part of human’s strength.

Can’t wait to feel that everything I wrote is wrong or not enough or stupid and obvious lol. Anyways, it’s something that I wanted to share until I move to some other fandom.