#was ignoring some of the last arcs of boruto

[scarecrowofthefields]

HUH?!? KAKASHI RETSUDEN WAS ADAPTED IN BORUTO?? it had 3 scenes over the course of the Sasuke Story arc. BUT HE'S THERE, KAKASHI'S THERE. thought his last appearance was in episode 260- time to update my list

also nanara is so cute :(

[irontragedyreview]

People who are saying "you can't criticize Horikoshi, it's his story and he can do whatever he wants", etc. Yeah, it's his story but he's made it public so I can do whatever I want and if I want to be a bitch and I call hi, mediocre I’ll do it. Like I love Naruto with all my heart and I have defended Kishimoto over certain criticisms in relation to female characters, etc. I have also criticized him for the absolute shit that Boruto is, even considering that as a manga Boruto isn’t 100% his work considering that at the beginning he was involved in the movie but on the manga he was only a supervisor. What I'm trying to get It’s that if you believe that just because a mangaka creates a story it should be free from criticism then you aren’t ready to get involved with any type of media or sincerely the public believes that consuming a movie, book, etc. means being a passive subject without critical thinking.  

That being said, Horikoshi largely deserves as much criticism as he can get because these chapters were truly a shit show since this last arc began. Let's just start listing first, AFO vs Endeavor and every hero in existence was too long and repeated for a large number of chapters the formula "villain takes the advantage, heroes take the advantage, the villain takes the advantage again and finally wins and move on to something else", all of this perhaps understandable to give some prominence to characters who were forgotten for entire arcs.

Shouto and his arc plus his relationship with Dabi, Shouto had a very interesting arc and incredibly much material to exploit but his arc and his relationship with Dabi never managed to take off because he was so tied to Endeavor that the interactions between them felt empty. 

Ochako and Toga were honestly the only thing that was worth it, you could see the commitment to giving them both a great moment and the way she wanted to approach Toga and truly have a conversation. The only thing I can criticize about their ending is that obviously there is no completely satisfactory closure in giving Toga an answer to what happens next, apart from Ochako's offer of understanding, there is no easy way out of what the other heroes will do, therefore which I can’t criticize her for not giving an answer to a complicated situation in this way. 

Also Horikoshi added things to his story that in the end he didn’t finish closing or that surely even if he touched them again it would no longer make sense, what happened to Spinner? What happened to everything about heteromorphic discrimination? I have to believe that everything is fixed by the good heart of Shoji telling Spinner that his way of doing things only makes the "achievements" of equality go backwards by giving them a bad image. In other words, we know that quirk society is discriminatory, especially in less urbanized towns, that those heteromorphs who reach places of power are the least and no real change has been achieved, but of course the victims of discrimination have to keep quiet and be good. So, maybe in the future they will no longer be discriminated. I'm going to be fair here, touching on issues like discrimination is complex, but putting an idea like this in the manga and then going for a simplistic or rather completely ignored resolution, because while a person may not share Spinner's actions, it’s understandable why he does it and simply saying that you have to be better because then people will see that you are good and not discriminate against you is stupid, Horikoshi covered a topic that he honestly didn’t know how to deal with or wasn’t interested in doing so. 

Kurogiri/Shirakumo being just a plot device for Aizawa and being resolved in 5 panels, I'm going to be understanding and say that this arc had the least to explore, but in the end it was meh. Tbh I'm not going to criticize this because it is so empty of content that it is no longer worth criticizing it. 

About Tomura and Izuku, the truth is what can I say the most that I haven't said in previous posts? from all the fights or confrontations it’s the most ignored, neglected and rushed of all, we don't know anything about them other than loose panels for a whole year, they barely interact and now Tomura dies, Izuku is "well, I honestly don't give a damn and I want you dead", if no one who has followed these two characters realizes the damage that this chapter has done to their conclusions then I'm not going to explain it. If Horikoshi felt incapable or was tired of his story he could have ended it with something else, however perhaps this was always the plan, we are talking about a guy who said that the second movie was the end of his manga,that is Midoriya without quirk giving it to his childhood bully. It's obvious that he doesn't care about Izuku as a character and I think he did care about Tomura but he didn't know what to do with him, which is why we have this ending.

Final note for any comments I may surely receive for calling bk a childhood bully. Don't waste your time replying, commenting or trying to argue, Horikoshi took it upon himself to make bk a gary stu who never faces real consequences for his actions (dying is not a sign of karma) and his abuse is never treated seriously by the author, because his victim never reflects on himself, which is ironic considering how many BK fans recognize that Midoriya has self-esteem problems, contempt, and poor self-care but do not recognize BK's role in this or minimize it.

[decadentboat]

"Whenever she is chubby, thin or giant, it doesn't matter... But her essence that remains fresh and pure in any shape she takes."

That's the kind of thing he would say, huh?

The following are some thoughts of the recent chapter and some RL stuff, feel free to ignore or read.

I see the spoilers and I think "Is there a way for mch to interact with the current lineup of fights" and even if I can think of some scenarios, I doubt they would happen. I feel it's just designed to not make them interact, which means there won't be any mch at all...

And that makes me wonder, what was the point of Chouchou's arc and that episode of Mitsuki's arc? I mean it could be bait of course. But isn't bait meant to be there to deceive? Who aside from the few last living mch fans believes it's going to happen? Ask any Boruto fan and they would tell you it won't. Then to reinforce their friendship...? But not even that came after those episodes. I simply don't understand.

What remains within me is just hope.

Other than that, things aren't that good here lately. My mom has been delicate this past week. She is still going through exams to find out what she has. I am terrified it's something really bad due to her age(She is turning 80 in September) Just to let you know if I do disappear completely it's because my mother is first.

[awinterrosesstuff]

Naruto the last could have been a decent movie (and love story) if SP decided to build the story from the end of the manga/the war. There was no point to add a scene from Naruto & Hinata's childhood. Kishimoto did a better job at starting a bond between them in the chunin exam. I can't believe anyone would agree that the scene they made in the movie (aka Naruto trying to help Hinata against bullies with a jutsu he couldn't know) is great or better than the chunin exams.

Because in this arc, you get e v e r y t h i n g (I mean everything) for the origin of a possible love story with Naruto acknowledging Hinata as strong and nice and making an oath to avenge her, then Hinata being able to tell him what she liked about him and to cheer him. Naruto helping Hinata against bullies is great in theory, but then he forgets about it/her for years (how many ? 8 ?) until the chunin exams isn't.

Plus Hinata admiring Naruto's bravery/determination/enthousiasm was already enough to develop a crush. It was never the problem with Naruhina anyway. It was the development and the lacks of positive interactions in the second part of the manga. Hinata fainting for their reunion, Naruto being polite to her or Hinata confessing her love (then getting ignored) or Naruto and Hinata holding hands on (my poor boy) Neji's body are not something I'd call great development.

But if they added scenes of one another after the war, it would have been far better than what they did. You can explain that Naruto "forgot" Hinata's confession because of losing himself to Kurama. After all, he forgot what he did under the influence of Kurama's chakra when he was fighting Orochimaru. Not really a very creative thing, but it's better than Naruto thinking Hinata meant she loved him like someone would enjoy ramen or shogi (not me creating anything, it's in the novel version of the last).

About the genjutsu... simply erase that thing. It's stupid with the canon material... I like the idea of Sakura being resistant to genjutsu, but Kurama can easily help Naruto with it (it stated by B that a perfect jinchuriki can't be affected by genjutsu). And Naruto hearing several times how much Hinata loves him (since she's seven, eigth ?) isn't great... it's annoying. Honestly, it looks like Naruto has to love her back because she loves him. Idk if this was the thing they were going for - I hope not - but that's literaly what it sounded like.

Now... how to develop the love story. Simply. Lets them interact before the mission. I know it sounds basic, but them being friends, grieving Neji, training together (after all why not ?), just talking together... many possibilities there. Since SP made the joke that Hinata can eat lots of ramen (I think it's in Boruto ?), then do it in the movie, have Naruto be impressed by it, then laugh about it. Idk it makes sense.

She can even create the red scarf (it's cute actually) because he complained it was cold or because she was starting to learn about knitting and wanted to do something for Naruto. (How many scarfs my mom made for us when she was learning ? I can't even count.) After the war, Hinata wants to learn new skills (outside of being a kunoichi) because it's finally peace time and she doesn't have to fight anymore. Then Naruto finds it cute/nice/sweet (choose your favorite word).

Then you go with the mission, Naruto tries to confort/protect Hinata... Hinata going with Toneri has him distressed actually, because he doesn't want her to be hurt and marry this man (asshole ?). And since he has some empathy, he understands (with the help of Sakura if you want) that she's doing it to help/save her sister. And he likes her even more for it because she's emotionally strong and resilient for example. And goes to her research to help her (it was the original mission after all). Well, Toneri is boring, but I could have accepted it if the love story wasn't rushed.

With everyting there, there's development and we finally get why he falls for her...

[halfamask]

Ok idc if I get hate for this but I HATE Sakura haters. “Oh she’s so useless oh she doesn’t do anything she lets naruto and sasuke do everything” I-

Sakura is the only main character we see who’s not overpowered in some way or part of a shinobi bloodline. We know how important those are in terms of powers, allies, mentors, etc. sasuke unlocks the sharingan and gets powerful. Naruto has the nine tails and also incredible heritage. Her best friend ino is from a major clan with special mind jutsu. Everyone else- shikamaru, choji, kiba, hinata and even neji, shino, even gaara + sibs, most of the main characters have some sort of familial/clan support and power. The only other one we see who doesn’t is rock lee but what does he get? The unwavering dedication of guy sensei. I love Kakashi but damn he did Sakura dirty with training when he focused on naruto and sasuke.

So she comes from no shinobi background, masters chakra control before naruto and sasuke to climb the tree, is one of the only if not the only person to solve the written part of the chunin exam without cheating just because she’s so smart, and people have the audacity to shame her? Oh she’s scared in fights YEAH OF COURSE SHE IS? Naruto and sasuke aren’t scared of zabuza and haku and orochimaru but she’s not a 12 year old boy with unlimited power and even more audacity?? She’s a girl who has no special abilities and learned a week ago to climb a tree.

She was done really dirty in shippuden too bc she finally got tsunade to be her master after being ignored by kakashi, mastered healing and was the only one of her disciples to actually master the thousand healings and she’s still relegated to being useless bc she’s not as good as naruto and sasuke. The first arc of getting gaara back shows what she could’ve been as a character: a selflessly brave shinobi who’s intelligent enough to think of new solutions like forming the antidote to sasori’s poison and letting chiyo control her to fight sasori. She’s the one who formulates the antidote to save gaara. Yes she’s manipulative at times and uses Naruto’s crush on her to try to get him to come back to the village but yk what? She’s a fucking shinobi. That’s what she does. She manipulates and fights and uses all her resources to complete her goals.

I’m tired of seeing her called useless bc she doesn’t stack up to classmates with clan support, is weaker than the two overpowered main characters in the show, and has appropriate fear responses to things.

Edit to add this includes boruto era Sakura hate. Ppl hate bc she wears the uchiha insignia UH YEAH she married into the clan and also do you remember what happened to the last kid who was the only person who wore the uchiha insignia hint his pain of being alone got to him and he ran off to orochimaru. Oh but hinata/temari/ino don’t wear their husbands’ clan insignia YEAH BECAUSE they’re already part of powerful clans they can’t switch up on loyalty like that Sakura has no clan so she can. Oh lol Sakura’s the only one who could have an uchiha kid who needed glasses yeah ykw she’s the one who can make her vision perfect with healing I’m betting this comes from sarada’s dad who destroyed and switched up on his eyes like 1836283 times. Also she’s a brilliant doctor and tsunade’s best legacy it’s not her fault that sasuke is an absent husband and father when she’s done nothing but be a present, active wife and mother who doesn’t hold back on her love for her family

[natsubeatsrock]

The Lucy Paradox

I'm going to get murdered for posting this on Tumblr, huh?

Somehow, I've never talked about this. I've made this joke in private. However, it's worth discussing in this format. Think of it as a celebration of International Women's Day.

Incidentally, Lucy isn't the one who I named this paradox after. The original name of this was the Sakura Paradox. For the record, I mean Sakura Haruno from Naruto.

It feels like a given that Sakura is a weak character. The way some fans talk about her, you'd think she was the worst character in the series. The closest example I can think of is Yamcha, whom no one takes as a threat past the first arc of Dragon Ball. After the big-time skip, he's treated as the joke of the group, especially by fans.

Here's the problem. Sakura's very strong. That's true in a literal sense, but she has more ability than fans give her credit for. It's not a stretch to say she's the strongest civilian in the series universe.

"Yeah, that's true in the second half. But what about in part 1?"

Do you mean the part where she has a better grip on chakra control than her teammates? Or the part where she's shown to ace the first part of the Chunin Exam without having to cheat? What about later in the exam when she breaks out two separate genjutsu? Yeah, I'm not hearing it.

Why do people say she's weak? Simple, she'd been dwarfed in power by monsters. It's not controversial to say Sakura is the worst member of Team 7, with the potential exception of Sai, if you even count him. It's not a close race between her, Sasuke, and Boruto's dad. She's a distant third. The only debate is how badly she's lapped.

If this sounds like I'm insulting her, it's not. Those two might be the strongest characters in the universe, with no qualifiers or exceptions. From what I've heard about Boruto, they're still doing crazy things years after their time in the spotlight should be over.

I call this the Lucy Paradox because fandom might not be fully aware of how incredible Lucy is. She's on the level of magic to use two gold Celestial Spirit Keys at the same time. It's impressive if someone's able to use two keys. She can mix and match between any of the ten she has.

Remember that she's the only wizard capable of Celestial Star Dress. At its introduction, it was just being able to take the abilities of her spirits. In the sequel, it's also the ability to combine the powers of two different spirits.

Let's take that for granted for a second. Lucy comes up with strategies that are helpful to her friends. And it's not just helping Natsu's fights. She's the one who recognized the true meaning behind Daybreak. She's the one who saw through the Eclipse Gate in two different timelines. She rewrote the entirety of the Book of E.N.D. after reading it once. Most importantly, she's the one who revises Anna's plan to make it possible to defeat Acnologia.

I say all that, but she's the weakest human member of the Strongest Team. She's never been on Natsu or Gray's level. Erza's not an S-Class mage for nothing, even if you want to argue that Natsu's overtaken her. While Wendy started weak, she's surpassed Lucy in the last arcs of the main series. I'm not cruel enough to say that Carla is even close to better than her. However, if your only meaningful competition is the Exceeds, that's not great.

Though, let's back up and think about that last paragraph. Lucy is the weakest member of the Strongest Team, no doubt. She's not the weakest member of Fairy Tail. Let's ignore the no-named scrubs who show up for a couple of lines every four volumes Lucy clears. If Lucy joined Shadow Gear, she might be the team's ace. She was able to hold her own with Cana as her partner. (Speaking of which, Tenrou Island is another situation where her planning came in the clutch, and I can't believe I didn't talk about it earlier.) She's more powerful than the Strauss kids not named Mirajane. I'd even go so far as to say she could make a solid member of the Thunder God Tribe.

This is probably where someone else would make this about feminism and how shonen writers aren't good at writing women. (Except for the rare female writers.) I get this for Kishimoto whose writing of women is indefensible. Akira Toriyama (R.I.P.), who influenced much of the genre as we've seen it, isn't much better with how he handles his women.

But Mashima?

I know the fanservice can be way too much at times. But, as I mentioned years ago, his women are better written than fans often give him credit for. Lucy loses to two women on her team. Some of the best story arcs in Fairy Tail revolve around characters like Lucy, Cana, and Erza. I'd put Erza's character up against almost any other female character in a similar narrative role in the same genre. I don't care that she punched that meteor that one time. She's still a better character than a lot of them.

No, this issue is more the fault of fans and their pesky expectations. They see characters who aren't the strongest and assume they're weak. Fans do this despite the advanced strength of other characters and the narrative role of the characters.

I wouldn't say that we have a feminist problem. I'd say we don't recognize the strength of femininity.

I'm just going to come out and say it. Women are great because they're not men, and vice versa. I'm in favor of getting rid of some of the restrictive gender roles culture places on both genders. That shouldn't come at the expense of making women more like men.

"Doesn't that mean that we can't have women who fight and have active roles in media, similar to typically male characters?"

You know what? That might be the most eloquent I've made this voice sound.

My answer is simple. Why can't we have both?

Why can't we have our Rukia and our Orihime? Why can't we have our Tifa and our Aeris? (Or is it Aerith?) Why can't we have our Lucy and our Erza?

Now, don't get it twisted. I love seeing physically strong women in fiction. She-Hulk is one of my favorite heroes in Marvel comics. (I hate that I have to specify comics.) Jupiter is my favorite of the Sailor Guardians. Homura is my favorite member of the EZ Crew. However, a strong character is a good character, and vice versa.

The best thing about the traditional female characters is how they manage their lack of physical strength. They use their wit and charms to their advantage instead of brute force. Men rely on power and speed. Women focus on flexibility and accuracy.

I like to think of it in sports terms. If traditional masculine traits are more offensive, feminine traits are considered more defensive. Both are necessary for teams to succeed. Some sports require people to switch between both roles. However, players usually excel at one of the two.

"What about sports like fencing and the martial arts?"

You need to switch between offense and defense quicker than other sports. However, is it good if a fencer only parries attacks and never thrusts? Is being able to throw punches without blocking a great boxing strategy?

What makes characters compelling has nothing to do with either masculine or feminine traits. (At least, it shouldn't.) What matters are their virtues and determination. It may manifest itself differently in male and female characters. However, it's not as if women can't show strength without sending people through walls. It's not as if men can't show tenderness without caring for children.

The most essential trait for characters might be weakness. How do characters make up for their failings? How do they overcome the conflicts they face? These things draw us to good characters, no matter their gender.

Let's compare two fictional women. Sophie Hatter from Howl's Moving Castle and Captain Marvel.

Carol Danvers is an unfortunate case. She started as a character with solid writing in the comics as a side character. Her solo series as Ms. Marvel in the Civil War era is pretty good. However, since becoming the new Captain Marvel, she's been defined by her power and little else. Despite Marvel's best efforts, fans have not latched onto her new persona.

The MCU didn't help. Captain Marvel was one of the weakest movies in Phase 3. Even at the time, it was clear that its success was attached to the Avengers' success. Few people praised the movie on its own merits. Even fewer had meaningful defenses for its many critics.

Captain Marvel was a physically strong character with no weaknesses. She was so strong that the government she was working for had to limit her powers. However, Carol wasn't the best character the MCU has put out. She didn't endear herself to the audience, had no real connections to the main cast outside of Fury, and became a textbook example of a strong female character without the character part of the equation. Ironically, the best movie to handle her was the one where she barely showed up.

Then there's The Marvels.

It's unfair to say that the movie only flopped because of Captain Marvel's character. That movie's failure has much more to do with the current state of Disney and Marvel Studios. However, part of the plot's failings is because of Carol's lack of weaknesses. They had to find a way to nerf her and chose to tie her to the other characters. They had to find a way to show her connections to the universe and married her off-screen to a South Korean actor on a planet where everyone communicates through singing. No wonder it bombed the same year Guardians of the Galaxy did well.

Sophie Hatter (it took me an embarrassingly long time to realize that was her last name) is the protagonist of Howl's Moving Castle, one of Hayao Miyazaki's most beloved works and one of my favorite anime. Miyazaki is no stranger to writing strong women. While I could pick either of the women from Princess Mononoke, Sophie is for the point I want to make.

She is by no means strong. She has no magic and has to rely on Howl and Calcifer many times throughout the story for protection. In a cast of magical individuals, she might be one of the weakest members of the cast.

However, she is far from a weak character. Even at her most insecure, she shows great inner strength and determination. She's determined to find a way to get back to her younger self. She doesn't shrink at the task of cleaning Howl's house. Not to mention, she becomes the heart and soul of the castle. (No pun intended.) It makes sense that she gets younger as she becomes more assured in herself. Ironically, she proves to be braver than Howl. He gains strength and courage from her.

Sophie's strength doesn't come from her ability to use magic or how many soldiers she can knock out. Her strength is more of an inner strength. It's an unshakeable will to achieve what is necessary. That causes her to push past her insecurity and grow throughout the movie. It's no wonder that so many people love her and the movie.

In Conclusion:

If you want to make a strong female character, that's a fine goal. What matters is that you focus more on the "character" than the "strong."

[obitobi-simp]

Everyone who understod that and tryed to change it in there way were all the ''villains'' in the pain arc it's the first time the audiance is told gow fucked up the system realy is

I think that's also another parallel obito and naruto have

While naruto was stubbern af and didn't change himself per se as he didn't do anything the shinobi way but admired it and wanted to be a kage

Obito realised the flaws even befor he got crushed and manipulated by madara many ignor his 2 part of his famous line "(...) i'm scum anyways so i chose to break the rules and if that makes me less of a true shinobi then i'll go and crush all the so called real shinobi"

And in the war he tells kakashi to the face the problem is the shinobi system itself

The way he goes about this is like a shinobi tho he kills manipulates uses others and is used like a tool shut off emotion and even says it dosen't matter who he is(personalaty and identatiy issus aside) aslong as the mussion(project tsuki no me ) is completed . Intresting how he's considered evil monster by some when he did what was in the job desc shinobi kill whoever for the higest bidder and a bunch of other stuff

Nagato was tottaly right too abt the shinobi system and naruto even aknowliged that

The argument that x person is bad cuz they killed ppl and inicants is not an argument that can be used in narutovers cuz everyone does that kakashi did and so did many other charakters the only diffrance is who told tham to and why . It's not enougth to change the system but it needs to be removed intirely but most few it as a normalaty that not many realise how fucked up it is and thous that do can't do much abt it

Obito was right in his final words too they are both powerless(not in a fighting sense) shinobi that coud't fix the issu itself but naruto managed to improve on some conditions but that's it

Madara too he also realised mskingcthe village system did nothing to fix the actul issu

(Kaguya (and black zetzu) is kinda bad to argue but tbf humans weren't suposed to have chakra in the first place and a bunch of alian bulshit i don't want to go into rn cuz they aren't related to the shinobi system set in place directly)

Depending on boruto it's also intresting naruto was a nobody who had nothing and faught for everything including the shinobi system while his son who had everything from the start loeses it all and will be the last shinobi finnaly fixing the issus in a more fucked up way by finnaly ending the shinobi system in no longer being needed worth it

it’s so crazy how, all the way from haku in the very first arc to minato after pain arc (i would argue haku and minato are considered to be some of the most sympathetic and good characters by the narrative) , the common consensus is THE NINJA WAY IS FUCKED UP. haku says that if he is forced to kill innocent children (naruto and sasuke) for his master’s employer’s profit he will finally have embraced the ninja way. minato’s ghost says that despite the many improvements over the warring clans period, the ninja way is extremely broken and perverted by both greed (wars are started purely for profit destroying entire villages caught in the crossfire) and grief (infinite cycle of revenge etc) and needs drastic change.

and naruto understood this from day one it’s his literal catchphrase. he is consistently told by adults how the world works but he refuses to budge. “that’s my ninja way!” <- he’s literally stating he has his own ninja way separate from society. obviously kishimoto (and therefore naruto) ‘s mindset is very uhhh. moralist. but even he seems to clearly get that the military state working on behalf of profit is yknow. bad and needs immediate change

and then boruto smash cuts 15 years into the future and everyone is heterosexually married to people they hate and the political status quo is completely unchanged lmao

[mintichoco]

'Boruto' series re-envisioned

tw. opinions (and the wording is all over a mess so read at your own risk), plot-bashing (is that even a thing?)

[This is my opinion on what Boruto, as a sequel to one of the greatest Shounen franchises should have been. Remember, this is entirely my wishful thinking and I don't mean to disrespect any of the writers, animators or the fandom.]

Boruto, as an MC, had immense potential. This point has been chanted to the ground but it is true. He is a third gen Uzumaki and second gen Hyūga. And we all know Uzumaki have monstrous chakra reserves. What he needed was to work hard for it. Where was the training arc?

Think about it. We never got much backstrory about the Uzumaki clan and what their motives and morals were. It would have been cool to see another character use the chakra chains (beside Kushina and Karin). He could have explored Uzushio, the plot could've called for contacting the remaining Uzumaki who supposedly scattered all over the globe.

Maybe Boruto could have worked with seals? Minato, his grandpa, is known as one of the greatest seal masters. If the writers were going for symbolism, why not use that?

Same goes for his Hyūga lineage. We get so much info about the Uchiha in Naruto, it could have been refreshing to see the Boruto lore delve into the Hyūga faction, which isarguably the third (or even the second, not counting the Senju) strongest clan in Konoha.

Think of all the jutsu Boruto could have had in his arsanel with a Byakugan. It's hightime they get the deserved recognition.

Coming to another member of Team 7, Mitsuki is a clever character idea but ultimately wasted postential as well.

If the power scaling continues to get upped in the pace as it is now, there will be nothing left for the Time Skip. Shippuden gave us Sage Mode but Mitsuki already has that. Viewers will look for something new and we all know even Kishimoto wrote himself up a wall with Rinnegan and the Otsutsuki race. What will Ikemoto give then?

Speaking of Otsutsuki, it was sort of dissapointing to see them getting introduced this fast. Some will say Boruto is slow paced and yes, I agree, but in terms of keeping that air of anonymity, it fails terribly.

It would have worked better if instead of Momoshiki landing like a bug out a tree, they got clues and rumors instead.

The whole Code and Kara situation should've been handled first and then led to the reveal of an Otsutsuki nest, perhaps?

Or a portal like the one in Last to a mirror dimension or somthing where the Otsutsuki live? Maybe a dive into how they came to be? It is revealed that humans are an entirely different race and what we see of the Naruto cast are a mix between Otsutsuki and humans.

Also, WHERE IS THE BACKSTORY? Same thing with Hyūgas really. The Hamura thing came out of nowhere. The Last is a below average excuse to tie up loose ends.

Now, Kawaki, I have a love-hate relationship with him. On one hand his backstory provides the perfect intro to post-war tragedies (and a hc of mine that smaller villages in the outskirts still get ignored in favour of the capitals)

But he just feels like a dollar-store Sasuke. As if the writers were like, oh Boruto needs a rival? Add in an angsty guy to contrast his sunny demeanor. I know this is a recurring trope in shounen but it works because it is handled well.

And people say Boruto is handed everything on a silver platter? Kawaki basically lives with the freaking Head of the Village, the elite of the elites, is looked after by the former heir to the Hyūga and gets to be a genin because he has a cool explody power? And all that why? Because he is a mistreated orphan? (what about the kids who lost their parents in the war? what about aforementioned kids in small-sized villages? what about cases like sumire? what makes Kawaki SPECIAL, naruto?)

Kawaki shouldn't have been given any of those benifits. Let him figure out how the world works, let him make mistakes, show his potential as a good guy, let him prove himself as a character worth stanning. Give him a serious politics-based arc explaining that part of the Boruto era rather than some murderers chasing a boy with some magical cure.

Coming to the side characters (yes, I'm saving Sarada for later and there is a reason behind it), let's start with Shikadai. First thought, he is the most carbon-copied version of his dad out of every next gen character.

It's no news that scenarios and often characters revered as prodigies are dumbed down to make him shine but imo most of it is owed to the factor that there is no element of suspense or an ultimatum for that matter.

Kakashi, Minato, Itachi, Orochimaru, Shisui worked as prodigal characters because of the situation. It was war time and kids were forced to grow up. The stakes were high and even then, the plot revolving around them was such that it made them raise the bar higher.

Shikadai seems flat compared to many characters. Remember, Shikamaru was not called a prodigy, he even flunked tests because he was too lazy, but whenever the situation was tense, us viewers could count on his snippets of thoughts for a clarification, or little behaviors to show he realized and often times refused to work for what is right over what is needed because that is smartness, taking a level-headed decision with the least collateral.

On the other hand, Shikadai is fed information and he just 'explains' stuff like a NPC.

I can't help but think, what if Shikadai inherited Temari's temper? Mix that with Shikamaru's actual genius (not the baby puzzle-solving we see in that one arc with Kakashi) and he could be one of the team members to look for clue about the Otsutsuki's existence. Also, I'd like more windstyle-user Shikadai plz.

Moving on to Inojin. He is also one of those characters that I neither like nor dislike. He's just... there.

What Boruto needs is better world-building and ain't no better way to accomplish that than exploring side characters. Inojin doesn't have an affinity for the Yamanaka mind-body-switch so make him train for other stuff.

Let viewers know where jutsu like that stems from (yin and yang release), give him some productive time with the border patrol, stress on the fact that Konoha's citizen don't go to sleep at peace just knowing Naruto will pull some god-level jutsu.

The Yamanaka are an extremely important part of the security system. Remember how Inoichi was part of the team figuring out Pain's black chakra recievers? Make Inojin do something similar with, perhaps some Otsutsuki relic or remains (going with the mystery au)

Then comes Chocho. How to put it simply? At first I despised her. And no, it has nothing to do with her appearance. Actually, I find her and that new girl from the recent Labyrinth Game arc, Batta, amazing.

The fact lies with her attitude. Tell me one attribute that comes to mind while thinking of her other than Butterfly mode and eating chips. Sure, she loves to eat, we get it. The fact again boils down to her falling flat as a character.

Chocho could use her lightning release in many ways and it must be strong too, considering her mother comes from Kiri. She could have earth-release, that would be great to see as none of the main cast prior to this have that.

And if they are going for a Ino-like character, let the girl have some reality to her. A twelve-year old girl is far mature and has other troubles than just thinking about cute boys and girls.

She can retain that aspect but make her serious when it comes to missions, or her family, show her spending time partaking in her hobbies that do not include eating, ogling at movie stars and muttering un-funny jokes and inuendos. Give her depth, for a lack of better words.

And for Hagoromo's sake, LET THESE KIDS HAVE SOME SORT OF GOAL and not just exist because their parents hooked up smh.

Last but not least, Sarada. I, like many others, really like her character. She isn't yet another girl who despises anything remotely 'girly' and is not afraid to show her emotions and voice her thoughts loud and clear. She is practical and relatively smart without being an overkill.

What bugs me is her very existence.

No, I do not want to get roped into a 'sasusaku : good or bad' debate but they just don't make sense to me. And this is coming from someone whose first anime ship as a ten-year-old was sasusaku.

In any case, Naruto (not citing the last few chapters) made it clear that Sasuke did not see Sakura nor Karin as a romantic interest. And honestly, I still am onboard with him being an aro ace because, hello representation!

And whatever happened behind the scenes post The Last are only headcanons, so the idea of Sasuke suddenly marrying Sakura seems a stretch to me. Let alone him having a kid who he suddenly cares so much about after ignoring her for twelve years...(coming to the problem of 'as to why he did that anyway' later)

Sarada, in my opinion, should not exist.

Like, okay, Naruto has a kid but why should Sasuke as well because of that? PTSD is a thing and we are repeatedly shown that Sasuke has grown a fear of familial bonds due to obvious reasons.

If we calculate their ages, the new gen was born sometime when they were 20-23 y/o. Yeah, I'm willing to bet Sasuke did not get past that nagging anxiety of eighteen years in just three or four.

If they wanted to make Sasuke the mysterious sensei figure who is rarely in town and is always going in these crazy amazing solo missions, don't make him a deadbeat dad. Come onnn...

Canon!Sasuke would never just abandon his wife and child for the sake of the village that ruined his family (again, trust issues), the village that he saw ab*sing a child because of something out of his control (who's to say Sarada was not picked on and scrutinized because she is a former nuke-nin's kid and an Uchiha like Naruto was due to Kurama?)

Instead, Sasuke should have just been a traveller. He should still be wandering the nations to find his way in life, being someone beyond an Uchiha and escaping the burden that was placed on his shoulders at a very young age.

You know how I keep mentioning the small villages that probably get ignored? Show him helping them, him cleaning up traces of corrupted organizations like in the last few episodes of the anime.

Show his kinder, softer side in a believable way (not the comic relief that Boruto provides), show us him seeing the beauty in life and finding a reason to live.

The Sasuke we see now just feels like an empty shell. I remember seeing a post the other day saying that he showed genuine emotions in Shippuden but now he looks like he has lost all motivation to even stay alive. And he was definitely guilt-tripped into returning to Konoha.

Yes, that would mean Sakura would remain either unmarried or marry some no-name character. Though, that seems unlikely as her pining over Sasuke eliminated all chance of relationship progress with any other character.

It would be refreshing to see her let go of her childhood crush and just moving on, leaving behind the last link to a Sakura she did not accept, the one she changed. I don't mind having an episode dedicated to them having a heart-to-heart as good old pals, all romantic feelings aside.

Maybe on that bench too, if you get what I mean. It would show us how far they have come, as shinobi, as Konoha's ninja and as people, from naïve kids to being the village's pillars.

Now, as to what the overall plot of Boruto should be, I have this idea of the war still going on when Naruto ends. Just hear me out.

If Ikemoto wants to resolve the Otsutsuki matters in this series, why not begin it with an intense fight scene where the generations following the main cast (Konohamaru and the rest) are fighting some low rank entities who serve the Otsutsuki.

It could lead to multiple of these strange class of aliens attacking from portals like ones the Rinnegan creates and base the entire series as a survival genre. Not only would that raise the stakes from being a one-episode conflict resolve, as it is now, it would mean the generation in the middle would become hardened veterans who the kids could look up to, not cannon fodder.

Make the prior war times return, but this time with an unknown race altogether. Make rifts between the Alliance, comment on how that affects the social and economical standings of various nations, involve the Daimyo.

Naruto can still be the all-powerful Hokage but make the rest of the caste equally useful.

Another idea that just popped up while writing this: what if they made mosters like in the Worm series appear? That threaten the world and some villages are forced to break the truce as they believe some ancient jutsu caused these attacks but cannot figure out from which nation.

Not even jutsu, it can be scientific modelling too since the Boruto era are scientifically far advanced.

Maybe I'm just reaching but with the huge power scaling like they have done, the stakes actually need to be high. Or else, every situation that they come across, we know they will get through it because of high rank jutsu they possess.

And for the last issue, just 'Boruto'. As in, the name. I'm aware it is supposed to be an homage to Neji but it feels so rip-off. There are so many good ones like : Hiro(for its irony as he is to be a hero and it starts with 'H'), Akihiro (personal favorite, means bright), Kaito (means ocean, an homage to the land of whirlpools), Asahi (mirror's Hinata's name meaning which is sun), Shinya (genuine, personal favorite), etc. etc.

A/N : That is it for this part. I can make another as I have ideas just buzzing in my mind and no time to turn them into fanfiction. Let me know if you enjoyed these and feel free to PM or reblog adding your own ideas too!

Also, anyone wanna be friends? 😅 I really want to rant about Naruto with someone and none of my friends watch enough anime to even comprehend what I'm saying most times.

[sueske]

Hi! I hope youre doing well 💕 i wanted to know if you see the last as canon? If not how could we explain how naruto married hinata... I can't picture him noticing her at all. I can't even picture them ever having a conversation 😭

Hi, hope you are doing well too 🧡

i wanted to know if you see the last as canon?

No, I don't consider the last canon. The only things I consider as canon are the things written entirely by Kishimoto himself. I watched the last years ago and heard tidbits of interview info outside of it, but essentially I believe it was SP's idea to have a NH movie in the first place. Kishimoto wrote parts of it, yes, but I think he was given a general plot outline of the movie and asked for his ideas for some scenes. For example, it was his idea to have the 'token of importance' be a scarf. It's not like Kishimoto proposed the main ideas and plot himself, otherwise why would he write things that directly contradict his manga that he spent 15 years working so hard on? Like Naruto's use of shadow clone, getting trapped in a genjutsu, not knowing the difference between love for another person and love for a bowl of ramen. I could go on and on. There's no way Kishimoto proposed that. It's also funny because Kishimoto also stressed the fact that he was in charge of the Boruto movie's screenplay from start to finish which is something he didn't do before.

If not how could we explain how naruto married hinata...

That's the thing. This movie was supposed to convince watchers of their relationship and it just contradicted canon material and ripped of sns moments. It's actually funny when you think about it. Even when it was the movie's purpose to explain how NH happened, it wasn't believable and I think that says a lot. Maybe it’s not possible to write their relationship in a believable way?

I can't picture him noticing her at all. I can't even picture them ever having a conversation 😭

Well 😂 He did consider her weird and frumpy, but they did have some 'moments' when he noticed and conversed with her in the manga, like in the exam. But usually it was in direct relation to Neji LOL (chuunin exams and war arc). Hmm now that I think about it has Naruto ever sought her out by himself and not due to some external stimulus forcing them together? I think he does consider her a comrade but nothing more than that. She literally confessed in front of Pain and Naruto ignored that confession. Why would he ignore her confession if he actually recipocated her feelings? Is Naruto shy now too?

I also got a similar ask here if you're interested.

[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.

[alteredphoenix]

So the reason why BNHA was starting to dip in quality was because of that one editor that worked on a bunch of manga a’la Samurai 8 (which I haven’t read but some of its ideas are sort of being worked into Boruto, which explains why it’s veering more toward tech over ninja), Red Hood (which had an interesting premise but just took way too long to get the ball rolling after, like, Chapter 5, which culminated in it going fully meta by the end), Earthchild (which is the biggest tragedy out of this list because that went downhill after the first chapter), and Ayashimon (which I honestly don’t understand how it got popular as it did in the West, but you can only write so many fight scenes that can be boiled down to as ‘punch harder because I’m a manga protag’ before it gets old fast) that got quickly axed?

No wonder I was losing interest in this manga right after the Paranormal Liberation Front War Arc ended. Okay, the Villain Hunt Arc was decent - but that was the point where it should’ve gone down the darker route and lasted much longer than the Nagant fight (and we still don’t know why she broke Overhaul out of prison, but that’s either going to happen later on or probably ended up becoming an Aborted Arc). I think if I had to pinpoint the exact moment where my interest went from ‘I want to see what happens next’ to ‘okay quit dragging your feet and get the hell on, man’, it was during the Shigaraki/Star and Stripe mini-arc. Plus there were these...odd decisions to end some of these chapters on cliffhangers that should’ve, say, resulted in more danger for the cast than they should’ve been in instead of coming out of it unscathed without any explanation...? Like, the most notable case I can think of for me is the end of that one chapter more than halfway through the Villain Hunt Arc where Deku and the Pros go into that one mansion to square up against AFO, and I’m still trying to figure out what the actual fuck the point was for that random-ass explosion. Don’t even get me started on the current arc where it feels like the rest of the cast that aren’t Deku, Endeavor, Hawks (sort of, and I say this as a person that loves Hawks), Bakugou, and Shouto are...kind of Just There to make the scenery look pretty, if you catch my drift. We still haven’t seen Ochako and Toga trade blows yet nor learned who Deku’s father is (rather insignificant and nonexistent his presence actually is in the canon story, and that’s if you completely ignore the AFO Is Deku’s Father theories).

I’m not sure how much you can look at BNHA and say ‘this has all been planned out’ or ‘this is where I can tell it was planned and this is where I can tell either the author’s winging it or going by what his editor’s telling him to do’, but I can at least say it hasn’t been planned this far ahead to get to this point (I’m at least aware that the traitor and Dabi reveals were meant to happen much earlier than intended but the negative reaction toward the villains in Japan put a wrench in that). It’s kind of sad in a way that this is the conclusion I’ve come to as to why my interest has waned because for the longest while I thought this would be the shounen manga whose endgame wouldn’t go up in flames (and I’ve noticed it’s always a war arc that causes this to happen, and as much as I think the Kaguya twist would’ve worked a lot better if it’d been planned sooner and better I’ll forever blame Naruto for making me realize how much I utterly hate how drawn-out war arcs are in manga). I think the only shounen manga I’ve read so far that sticks its landing during and post-war arc is Rave Master - and that’s a manga that made Mashima Hiro sad (which is why Fairy Tail isn’t so heavy on the kill count)! But I also feel bad for the old editor, in a way, because I honestly think he’d work better as a trend-setter for a different profession that isn’t the manga industry; it’s pretty clear the guy’s just not cut out for it (because having that many axed manga under your belt in such a short amount of time should’ve been a cause for alarm instead of just keeping him on hoping he’ll get something right). So hopefully him getting “transferred” - which is a polite way in Japan to say “we canned your ass” - will lead him to opportunities that’ll allow him to grow into a skillset that’ll work for him that’ll benefit those around him rather than as a detriment.

I don’t know how much left there is to BNHA (and I’m beginning to wonder if it’s going to get that fabled sequel a’la BNHA Shippuden I’ve seen people talk about), but with this new editor I’m hoping the story will...I won’t say ‘course correct’ because I think it’s a bit too late in the game to be doing that, but maybe get things back on track and take some time - but not too much, that’s One Piece’s job because of how massive it is - to breathe. Like it doesn’t have to rush to get to the end, but there’s really not much left to the story other than the Ochako/Toga fight, the AFO fight, whatever Sero and Shinsou are going to do,  Deku’s involvement, that thing with Touya, whatever the 2nd OFA Holder’s deal is, and maybe the Nagant/Overhaul storyline getting picked back up.

I can’t say if the change in editors will be enough to renew my interest (I kind of think the damage has already been done), but fingers crossed BNHA won’t fumble on its way toward its ending. And I’m saying this as someone that’s in the WoW fandom and has heard (still hears) the griping and criticisms of its storyline on a daily basis for over a decade.

[madara-fate]

Long post but tired of people claiming that Sakura fans are making things up lol. SP changing Sakura’s line in Gaiden from ‘that child of mine’ to ‘I’m a failure as a mother’ didn’t make their work easier - it just added to the anti-Sakura sentiment. The SP director admitted that it was his interpretation i.e. he prioritised his personal negative opinions about Sakura over Kishi’s writing. And he removed her from the council scene and made it look like Sasuke left without telling her anything. 1

They made Sasuke look uncaring over her kidnapping in Gaiden when in the manga we see him rushing in Orochimaru’s hideout and shout at Naruto for taking too long. SP added a scene where Sarada asks him if he’s worried about Sakura and he just gives her a blank look. They also removed Sarada’s flashback of being with her parents. Also they added that scene saying SS first date lasted for two minutes which doesn’t even make sense since they were supposed to be travelling together at this point. 2

In the manga Sakura hit Naruto for comic relief around 30 times (someone counted and it was around that figure) and only when he was being perverted/disrespectful. In the anime she hit him more than 200+ times even for really silly stuff which made everyone call her a bully. There’s also the scene in RtN movie where she complains about her parents to Naruto which every anti always bring up to hate on her. And ofc the scene you mentioned about not knowing who to save between Naruto and Sasuke. 3

And these are just the more notable examples. There are dozens of posts that compare the manga and anime added/altered scenes and the latter almost always portray Sakura negatively, especially if the scene relates to Sasuke in some way. Let’s not forget the omake SP made where Sakura bullies Hinata, even though in the manga she has always been nice to Hinata. In the omake SP even said it’s because they liked Hinata more - again allowing personal preferences to seep into the work like you said. 4

Yeah SP gave her a nice fight scene in Gaiden. But Sakura’s absolute best fight in canon happened in her novel where she single-handedly defeated a powerful pseudo-jinchuriki despite being weakened with drugs. But SP never adapted it even though it sold really well and had great reviews. It would have been a great Sakura arc since it had amazing action scenes, character growth where she sets up mental health hospitals for traumatised children, and had ship development for both SS and SaiIno. 5

And speaking of the novels, there’s also little things like SP removing the scenes of Sakura saving Temari and many others in Shikamaru’s novel adaptation. Adding in an unnecessary and frankly insulting scene where she is rudely mocked for being flat-chested in the Konoha Hiden adaptation. And giving Sakura’s line about Sasuke protecting the world like a police offer to Naruto and changing the fact that it was her words that prompted Sasuke to finally return home in Sasuke Shinden adaptation. 6

Honestly saying SP wrote Sakura/SS better than Kishi is laughable when all the best Sakura/SS moments come from either the manga or the novels. People really think that SP adding in a three or four positive Sakura/SS scenes in Boruto undoes all the anti-Sakura/SS scenes that they have added in throughout Naruto and Boruto. If antis are gonna keep using those scenes to justify hating Sakura/SS even now, then why should we ignore that one of the root causes of it is SP's extremely poor handling? 7

Yep, no disagreements there. Studio Pierrot are a competent animation studio, but some of their decisions just leave a lot to be desired.

[maoam]

(1/3) I read your last posts and I think it's really interesting how men perceive Naruto and Sasuke relationship and their interactions and development make them uncomfortable and affect their interpretation of the characters. If we centre in Sasuke from comments in spanish and english when they talk about his sexuallity they don't centre a lot about him being gay, bi, etc.

Yes, people love the Pain arc because it shows Naruto as the hero and he sort ot gets attention from two girls as well as the villagers, if you self insert into Naruto as a man it’s validating. But then comes the Kages arc where Naruto again shows where his priorities lie and he totally ignores confessions from two girls. Even many men who are neutral (not homophobic) say this was the moment that sealed the deal for them that Naruto can’t be straight lol

Kishimoto writes Sasuke when it comes to this like how male writers usually write female characters, as an object of desire, it doesn’t matter if it’s girls his age or boys his age or older women or older men. I have seen some men realize this too, but like you said Sasuke comes off often as someone who is not interested in any of that stuff so it’s easier to ignore it unlike with Naruto who is constantly thinking about Sasuke and saying crazy stuff about him.

I have seen comments from both western and japanese men that they hate Naruto’s obsession on Sasuke and that it makes him look crazy, or that it’s gay. I actually think japanese men seem to prefer Sasuke? It’s probably because his goal is about his clan, which is very typical for japanese literature. A lone wolf is cool for men.

That being said, I have seen many who acknowledge they both act gay. I saw one japanese comment that said “Naruto and Sasuke are like a yandere couple, both so intense and crazy”.

Naruto marrying someone he is not attracted to is indeed pitiful but so did Sasuke and Sai marry women they didn’t find attractive, and in Sasuke’s case a woman he isn’t even comfortable around. Sasuke finds fixing Naruto and Boruto’s relationship more important than spending time with his family. Naruto too seems far more happy around Sasuke than any other time (no we do not count fillers in case there are those). Both male and female fans of each ships and characters are very insecure about who got the best marriage and life after the ending, it’s pretty funny, considering I think they are all pitiful.

But in short, Naruto and Sasuke’s relationship makes many men uncomfortable because they can feel it’s not how straight men act with each other, it’s simple as that.

[uzuma-take]

I don’t wanna be seem as I’m being rude and disrespecting anyone with this post. This is my opinion on some characters that where never confirmed nor denied being LGBTQ however they have had strong moments within there respective series that hints to them being LGBTQ. Let’s start with...

Joey ... I’ve been really into friends as of recently . And a lot of scenes with Joey make me think he’s either Gay or Bisexual. There’s a couple of moments that make stop and go oi that’s interesting. Let’s go through them

The biggest moment is Emma’s birthday episode when they are discussing the cake and Joey says something along the lines of “oi man I why did I like more as a penis.

Then there’s the gif below

Both him and chandler are enjoying that a bit too much for them to not like each other at least a little. Then there’s a bathroom scene I can remember it exactly but joey is very interested in seeing Chandler and Ross with no pants by looking over there stools.

Unfortunately back then TV shows weren’t a load to air any lgbtq stuff it would have been awesome to see joey in a loving relationship that didn’t seemed forced .

The next character is from friends too

Pheobe had more moments the Joey did flirting with the girls of the group she even had a massive falling out with Monica and Rachel when she picked Rachel as the person she’d date. There’s moments where she openly (unlike Joey accidentally) mentions how sexy some of the women are and mention there breast ect. However in the end she got married to Mike I think it was.

Lister and Rimmer what can I say I’ve shipped this for a while now . There is literally a Kiss scene albeit was a dream Lister had after rimmer left in season 7 but there have been other moments as recently as 9 April 2020 in the promised never land they had an extremely touching moment with Lister even stating the He was the sun the that was shining on Rimmers moon. “You can’t have Moonlight with out sunlight” that’s what a couple would say to someone the loved as it basically translates to I can live without you.

Oi he may be a science experiment but if you watch the show then you know he pretty much ignores Sarada unless she’s in danger it’s about his Sun Boruto the light that is guiding him I personally ship him and Chocho as I don’t think Boruto is into Mitsuki like that but I can see where people are going with it.

These two are my hardcore ship there is so much evidence even within Boruto / The novels. Out of every episode in shippuden there is only one ep I don’t consider canon and it doesn’t feature Kakashi or Gai. So my thoughts Kakashi is Bisexual cause of his heavy crush on the warden from his novel and Hanere .

Gai is at least Gay. I think the reason they didn’t get together at first is because after each of there traumatic experiences (Kakashi with Rin and Obito’s death . Gai with the eight inner gates) they pushed each other away Kakashi felt like he was gonna kill Gai and Gai being depressed not wanting to show Kakashi him being weak. (I feel he pushed Lee away for the same reason see the ep where he trains Metal Its heavily implied he hadn’t seen metal in a long time and Lee is very short with Gai later in the episode)

I also like to think that the movies are mostly canon unless stated otherwise (every ep unless stated) as we have had surprise confirmation from the manga and novels before . There’s a couple of moments in the third shippuden movie where they think Kakashi is implied to be gay . Near the end of the movie He actually makes a face of ‘well what did you think Naruto’ this causing Naruto to flee. Kakashi denies liking Naruto but not about liking other men . It’s also Lee who first points it out using Gai as an example stating “Gai sensei told me this was the spring time of youth” . Tenten replying with “I knew it” implying again Gai had that talk with Lee.

There’s also the whole Steam Ninja Scrolls arc where Kakashi literally gives Gai his food . The conversation at the end basically solidified the ship when Kakashi admitted that he’d make a dumbass move to save Gais leg even if it killed him . And we know for a fact he wouldn’t do that for anyone else at all. OK ENOUGH RAMBLING ABOUT MY FAVE SHIP... I need to talk about the last couples.

This is jus a shit posting ship but I think it’s cute so Toshi and Aizawa. Personally I don’t see any thing canon but it’s my personal fave ship in BHNA .

LOOK AT THEM . They are so cute yes Bakugou gets easily upset (but he does it with anyone) I DO NOT SHIP IZUBAKU OR DYNAKU (Dynamite x Deku) until recently that was a really abusive relationship. Kirishima was the only one Bakugou grabbed the hand of and Deku knew that. There’s been subtle hints but I unfortunately have the feeling if Bakugou ends up with anyone it’ll be Tsui as there’s been a lot of drawings with them together let’s hope KiriBaku wins tho.

Last one

These two are cute but it’s already been pretty much confirmed Deku and Uraraka will end up together

😭😞

[narhinafan]

Here, have the source as well. Like damn, it’s always the same isn’t it? These victors trying to rewrite the history of how things happen. But no matter how much they try, the reality of the facts is another one. As for NH/SS stealing dynamics well, look what we had in the manga prior the ending and what we have in the manga post ending. They did steal from NaruSaku and NaruSasu dynamics and gave it to NaruHina and SasuSaku because they had so little to work with in canonverse, given that well... they were undeveloped pairings compared to the aforementioned. You don’t even have to do any big research or anything. Just read the manga and you’ll see it for oneself. For NaruHina they mostly stole from NaruSaku (as well as NaruSasu) and for SasuSaku they mostly stole from NaruSasu. I even saw some comparisons in the Boruto timetravel arc, how they portrayed SS like NS (NaruSasu) imagery. People aren’t talking from their asses, pardon my french. It’s the truth. Hinata being bullied as a child is Sakura’s childhood 101. They just took that CANON MANGA FACT and copied and pasted it to The Last. Sasuke being Sakura’s confidante? LOL really? Who did Sakura went to when she felt down? Sasuke... Or truly Naruto? I don’t remind her going to Sasuke for the promise of a lifetime... or with him on a date to tell him about a dark secret her other teammate told her about. It’s truly laughable what these people try to do.

is true?

None of this true they are simply in denial.

Also Kishimoto didn’t get together with his current wife till after Naruto started, Sakura character design was not impacted by her.

NaruHina didn’t steal anything, the dynamics between them was always there both Neji fights and the proud failure speech prove it. Then the Pain and War arcs NaruHina’s dynamics is somthing unique to them cause it is two people who were both seen as failures and mistreated being able to understand and admire the other for being a proud failure. 

Neither Sakura nor Sasuke have that dynamic with Naruto they don’t know Naruto’s weaker side like when he started to doubt himself he told Hinata that and that he was really only faking his previous confidence. Neither of his teammates saw that side of him they only saw the mask he always has. Whenever Naruto starts doubting himself and straying from his ninja way it is always Hinata that is their to comfort and remind him of his nindo was like that during the Neji fight and during the war arc.

They are ignoring the other parts of Hinata’s childhood like being an outcast by her own father and clan. That was a big part of Hinata’s character and somthing Naruto related to as shown when he defended her from Neji. Since when did Sakura copyright being bullied during childhood several characters in Naruto got bullied as children I don’t see anyone saying Choji stole from Sakura cause he got bullied, nor do I see them saying Sakura stole from Naruto who also got bullied. Even the reason Hinata getting bullied is different Sakura got bullied cause of her forehead, while Hinata it was cause of her clan and the Byakugan. Not only that, but Sakura wasn’t saved from bullies the same way Naruto did for Hinata. Naruto didn’t know Hinata before hand and the bullies were already insulting her when Naruto entered the picture, with Sakura though Ino saved Sakura from bullies only happend when they were already friends and during class at the academy. Ino drove them off by throwing a poison flower into their mouth, while Naruto the other hand got beaten up protecting Hinata. The two situations are completely different with the only thing they have in common is that both Hinata and Sakura got bullied, but everything else is completely different.  

This person clearly didn’t read the manga properly, you can tell by how they are favouring the anime fillers. In the manga Sakura never went on a date to tell Naruto about Sasuke’s curse mark and Orochimaru that was somthing specifically added to the anime and is filler. In the manga Sakura simply stopped and told Naruto there was no date or anything more. Also again really Naruto never went to Sakura when he feeling down, the only people have comforted Naruto when he was down were Hinata, Shikamaru and Iruka. Not once did it show Sakura or Sasuke doing that in either the manga or anime. 

Another thing to note is that source is only another author’s comment from 2003 Kishimoto’s wife doesn’t look like Sakura at all. In the last Kishimoto specifically had Hinata do somthing his wife did for him. The scarf idea was somthing Kishimoto added cause his wife did it for him, he even stated that a little bit of his experiences are included in Naruto and Hinata’s romance. 

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2014-12-03/naruto-kishimoto-unveils-secrets-of-the-manga-in-tv-interview/.81708

[secret-engima]

Are you in the One Piece Fandom? Wait what fandoms are you in? Overlord?? Akatsuki No Yona?? (THAT ONE IS A GREAT READ AND WATCH TBH—its so underappreciated!!) Undertale?? (Throws hands up)

Uhhhhhhhhh depends on your definition of “in”. If by “in” you mean “have consumed the canon content enough to know what’s up” then I am in a lot less fandoms than you’d think. If you mean “have absorbed enough of the canon and fanon via osmosis to kinda get the gist and enjoy the fanfic while ignoring the actual source material” then I’m in … enough fandoms I literally can’t remember them all off the top of my head but here’s a list of what I can think of rn:

Transformers (Animated, Prime-verse, Bay-verse, SORTA G1 but only for like- two fanfics and a couple one-shots)

Final Fantasy XV (obviously)

Final Fantasy 7 (this is one of those osmosis ones, the only canon content I have actually owned is the Advent Children movie. Have watched Crisis Core walkthroughs tho)

How to Train Your Dragon (movies only)

My Hero Academia (manga, anime, and vigilantes but I’m not up to date so no spoilers pls)

Katekyo Hitman Reborn (osmosis that led to watching some of the show. The fanfics are better. Hands down. Still glad the show exists tho, otherwise the fanfic would not.)

Harry Potter (solely via crossovers, I don’t tend to enjoy straight HP fanfic, but yeeting Harry into fandoms I do know is funny)

Naruto (I have watched exactly three eps of the original and up to the Diedara mocking Naruto with Gaara’s body in Shippuuden. Everything else is pure fandom Osmosis.)

Boruto (counting this as a separate thing because Naruto fans tend to be mean over the show (????). Which is a shame cause I adore it. Ninja school/youth slice of life with end of the world drama thrown in for flavor? Heck yeah. Also Mitsuki is My Bby Boi™ and I will hear no dissent)

Akatsuki No Yona (anime, slowly collecting the manga, it is The Best™)

One Piece (pure fandom osmosis. Have watched maybe the earliest eps before I got a headache from the animation/voice acting, after that I quit and live in fanfic only)

Undertale (have never played the game, no desire to, have absorbed plot through wiki entries and fanfic osmosis. Mostly I just adore the concept of a character who knows about save points and uses them for good or evil, as well as the whole “different runs” thing and the potential Angst and Hurt/Comfort having a Frisk with multiple runs under their belt could bring. Also Papyrus and Sans are the cutest things and I love them even though I hate skeleton characters as a general rule).

Sword Art Online (this is the anime that got me into fantasy anime. Period. My Fairy Tail fanfic would not exist without this anime making me interested in non-Case Closed and Detective School Q anime. SAO Progressive Light Novels are *chef’s kiss*.)

Log Horizon (anime is fun. I like the more political/economic take that makes it so different from SAO. Also the potential Shenanigans between Adventurers and Landers and the Lander POV potential is cool).

Star Wars (I have watched all the movies at least once barring Rise of Skywalker so no spoilers, am working through older Clone Wars seasons and gleefully have enjoyed Rebels and several of the games. I do NOT write for this fandom as a general rule because I have no desire to get involved in the flame wars, especially since the original trilogy was not my entry point? So I actually really enjoy a lot of the characters and shows outside the original trilogy and apparently my ability to like content that isn’t *raises imaginary holy grail* “the OG trilogy” is a crime against Star Wars and nature and possibly humanity. Let me enjoy my blind jedi and his crew of misfit pseudo-kids you puritans. Also Rey.)

Fairy Tail (anime, have yet to watch the last season, love this show with all my heart).

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood (have yet to watch more than a few eps on the show, for all its on my reading list, so most of what I know is fanfic osmosis).

Fruits Basket (I … actually have not read fanfic of this? But I adore the books with all my heart and am so stoked to see the remade anime).

Case Closed/Magic Kaito (anime and fanfic. Treating these as the same since they’re in the same universe and spot of timeline, just have different MCs and premises).

Detective School Q (My first anime! Thank you youtube for the collection of pirated anime eps I got to binge before they all got deleted. As far as I am aware, there is no fandom still living for this show, which is a shame because it was good).

Rurouni Kenshin (the original anime! Never got past the arc with the burned villain but I still enjoyed it up to that point. No idea what the arcs after it are like. Don’t really care.)

Hobbit/LOTR (read the Hobbit, have watched all the movies. AU fanfics ftw.)

Bleach (this … is pure fanfic osmosis. I blame @wolfsrainrules @north-peach and @akaluan they got me curious. Still a little iffy on the show itself but like- I enjoy the fanfic. I’m a sucker Akaluan’s Dragon Eclipse fanfic especially.)

Princess Tutu (haven’t been in the fandom in forever? But I have a few fav fics and the show is *chef’s kiss*).

Voltron: Legendary Defender (started with the fanfics out of accident and curiosity, then hopped over to the show because the crossover potential it had with TF got me interested. Am currently in the second season so pls no spoilers).

Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes (show, fanfic, I enjoy crossovers. Someone did the world’s most epic TF:P crossover with this show and I have loved it ever since.)

MCU (osmosis that led to watching the movies. I think I liked all of the ones I watched barring Guardians of the Galaxy and Antman. Tellingly, I have made a point not to watch Endgame, Infinity War, GoG 2 or Antman 2. I can tell that the first two are just- no. I haven’t seen a fandom go up in fire that fast in years I have no desire to experience WHY.)

Edit: AVATAR. Why did I forget Avatar: The Last Airbender? hgdhgf. Anyway I like both A:TLA and Korra.

Uhhhh that’s all I can think of atm. I’m definitely missing some but yeah. Brief rundown of fandoms I am able to at least hold a basic conversation about and a brief bio of how/why I know them.