#why. do we go through this. every fucking year. and continue to harp on bullying past years!

[adelle-ein]

anyway i googled the number of episodes in a gbbo season to see how long i spent crocheting something and. yall are still picking on ruby and rahul in 2023 huh

[mst3kproject]

615: Kitten With a Whip

Watching this movie is a very frustrating experience for me, and not for the reasons you might think.  Everything that happens in it just makes me squirm.  Every one of the characters is an idiot.  I hate them so much.

A young woman named Jodie Dvorak (like the keyboard) escapes from reform school and climbs through an open window to hide in a suburban house.  This happens to belong to ambitious politician David Stratton.  He finds her there in the morning and she spins him a story about how she was running away from her abusive stepfather.  For some reason David believes this, so he buys her some clothes and a bus ticket and heads home feeling like he’s made the world a slightly better place.

He’s wrong.  When he gets back to his house she’s there again, and she’s brought a heaping helping of blackmail!  Turns out Jodie not only ran away from school, she set the place on fire and stabbed one of her teachers.  Now if David doesn’t do everything she and her friends ask, she’ll accuse him of rape and ruin his career and his marriage.  He tries to make her see reason, but Jodie and her fellow delinquents aren’t reasonable people.  David will be lucky if he gets out of this alive, never mind with his political ambitions intact.

My god, this movie is terrible.  The idea had plenty of potential: David’s in a bad spot, being held hostage at the whims of this unpredictable young woman who has already demonstrated she’s happy to hurt people who get in her way.  But everything about it is done wrong, in a way that makes me want to throw things at the screen.

For starters, there’s the most noticeable problem, the acting. Kitten With a Whip was intended to be star Ann-Margaret’s big break, the movie that would prove to Hollywood that she could be a serious dramatic actress as well as a pretty face.  The character of Jodie is designed (very, very obviously, without regard to consistency or motivations) to showcase her range, running the gamut from innocence to evil, from elation to tears, terror to rage… and Ann-Margaret acts her heart out in every single scene and she’s absolutely terrible.  Not a single word out of her mouth is convincing, even on the rare occasions when Jodie is supposed to be telling the truth.  Her ferociously melodramatic delivery just screams look at me!  I’m acting!

John Forsythe isn’t much better.  He’s supposed to be a man who is trying to stay reasonable while surrounded by unreasonable people, but he never gives the impression of impotent anger (as, for example, I feel at the thought of continuing to watch this movie without actually being able to reach into the screen and strangle anybody).  Instead he just stands there bemused while everything goes on all around him.  At several points he has the opportunity to just leave the damn house with people who will listen to his problems and stand up for his character, but he never takes it.

The side characters are annoying, too.  David’s well-meaning friends and family are all stagey and false, and the situations that bring them into contact with him are painfully contrived. There is nothing to them as characters beyond the bare minimum needed to further the plot, and even that is forced and formulaic.  They’re there to ask questions and notice things and give him opportunities to escape or ask for help which he never takes.  None of them sound natural, because the things they’re doing and saying are not things any person would naturally do or say.

Jodie’s slang-talking friends are no more than an extension of her. It feels like the writers couldn’t think of any much more to do with Jodie on her own, so they decided it was time to call in more delinquents – but they can’t think of anything to do with them either, because they just go on doing exactly what Jodie’s already been doing.  It feels like the movie’s starting over.  Then, having realized it doesn’t know what to do with these people, the movie awkwardly dumps them one by one.  They leave the story having barely had any effect on it besides wasting the audience’s time.

If they were at least funny or in some way memorable maybe they wouldn’t feel so useless, but they aren’t.  The Girl is stupid, The Thug wanders around threatening people, and The Guy In The Hat rattles off pseudo-philosophical dialogue that’s supposed to be deep but transparently makes no sense, and you can tell the actor is reciting it from memory without a clue what it ought to mean.  All three of them, plus Jodie herself, go out of their way to annoy each other for no reason.  For about twenty seconds the movie attempts some kind of love triangle with them, but then realizes it’s pointless and gives up.

The plot depends on a series of coincidences, one after another. Things happen, people arrive, the doorbell or phone rings, always at exactly the wrong moment.  Jodie’s picture was on TV exactly when David was there to see it, on a screen exactly facing the table he and his friend were sitting at.  Why not have him see her in one of those stupid newspapers he’s been ignoring? That would have added some irony, in that if he’d actually read the damned things he wouldn’t have helped her in the first place.  Both his friends and Jodie’s just happen to want to go to Tijuana where they can run into each other.

The thing that makes me angriest in this entire infuriating movie, however, is what a fucking idiot David is.  Not only does he have chances to leave with his friends or tell them what’s going on and ask for help, he has multiple opportunities to just walk or drive the hell away and he never does it!  He could have told the couple who turned up to deliver the flowers!  He could have left Jodie at the motel!  He could even have said something in the strip club!  Mike and the bots talked about this a lot and sometimes I get fed up with them when they harp on a point over and over, but here they’re right.  You idiot, just leave!  Cut your losses and fucking go.  What is wrong with you?

Worst of all, it just goes on and on.  Again and again we reach a place where we could have stopped but then David’s an idiot, another coincidence happens, and the fucking movie just continues.  It never feels like there’s more to this story that we still need to see. It feels like somebody was counting pages and went, “we’re not at feature length yet, what else can I do?” So not only is everything that’s happening just frustrating, it’s also completely gratuitous.  There is no reason why I am still watching it, and yet here I am!  When Jodie steals David’s car keys at the motel, it’s all I can do not to throw my laptop across the room or stab the screen with my knitting needles.

Does this movie have a point beyond showing us how nicely that dress fits Ann-Margaret?  It tries to have a couple, but like the love triangle, it gives up pretty quickly.  One is that it’s a modernized tale of the succubus, the female sexual demon who drains a man of his will and turns him over to the devil.  David is helpless to resist Jodie and she leads him merrily down the road to hell, knowing that if he refuses she’ll ruin his life but helping her is ruining it anyway. This could actually have been a pretty nice metaphor if The Guy In The Hat hadn’t spelled it out for us letter by letter.  I guess the writers were afraid we wouldn’t get it.

The movie’s other point is the idea of respectability, and how fragile it is.  David’s friends are constantly urging him to do things that will make him seem respectable. Meet this newspaper man, tone down these points in his speech, be as appealing as possible to as many people as possible.  In order to lay the foundations of his election campaign, David must be squeaky-clean… but the thing the public loves most about squeaky-clean people is the opportunity to sully them.  This is particularly plain here on tumblr, where a person may be a popular blogger one day and then go down in flames the next, as somebody takes something they said or did in the wrong way.

Jodie seems quite drunk on the power David’s need for respectability gives her, and while I don’t understand why he doesn’t make the effort to escape, I think the reason she forces him to stay around is because she simply enjoys being in that position.  If she really did have an abusive stepfather and was then mistreated at reform school, she’s not used to being in a position of power.  Having been bullied yourself can make being a bully that much more intoxicating.

Of course, this plot thread comes with a side of ‘women only cry rape to ruin innocent men, don’t listen to them’.  That’ll be the reason you guys were expecting me to hate this movie.  Make no mistake, it does contribute, but it’s a measure of how fucking bad the whole thing is that it’s not actually the top of the list.

There have been all kinds of awful movies on MST3K and there will, I hope, continue to be.  There are ones that intrigue me, ones that amuse me, and ones that put me to sleep, but I honestly can’t think of one that makes me angrier than Kitten With a Whip.  Only Project Moon Base comes anywhere close but Kitten With a Whip still edges it out.  I’ve only seen the episode once before and I barely managed to finish it, I hated the movie so much.  Now that I’m done with this review I am never going to watch it again.  Ann-Margaret is actually still acting and she eventually won a number of Golden Globes, but I bet this movie set her career back by years. Fuck Kitten With a Whip and the horse it rode in on.

[a-merman-not-a-guppy]

BDRP QUESTIONNAIRE

Your Name: Lena

Characters: Anthony Coleman, Arthur Pendragon, Ashley Armbruster, Celia Gorgon, Fflewddur Fflam, Finn Flounder, Kanga DeRosa, Llewellyn “Louie” Mallard, Sora Hamasaki/Roxas

Pick one of your characters and talk about their growth: Oh man I think of my characters I’m the most proud of Celia’s growth? I mean a lot’s changed since I got her, and I’ve been able to see the progression and build up that change from her being and nervous and terrified about everything to starting to come into her own and be a confident woman. I’m proud of having taken that journey with her, and I like that she’s no longer the mousy shy character that I thought she would always be in the beginning. There’s a lot more strength and determination to her than I honestly expected. She’s been through a lot, she fell in love and everything and I think the amazing part is that she’s not regressing now that she’s heartbroken. She knows a little more about what she can handle. I find that super exciting for her. I’m really really pleased with how far we’ve come since I rejoined with her.

Pick another character and talk a little about where you WANT them to go. What are your plans for them going into the new year? So I honestly have a lot of plans for a lot of my babes that I don’t want to reveal but I can say in the vaguer sense where I want them to go. Anthony - honestly just want him to terrorize and go hard. Unleash his full villain in this next year. Help him do that friends. Arthur - I know I want him to do something heroic and noble, but on a smaller scale, I want him to form a proper attachment, maybe have feelings for someone. I think he’s so work focused it’d be interesting how that might affect him as a character. Ashley - I have a lot of change in mind for her. I want to see her move past the struggles she has with her family/find her own way. Celia - just see her continue to gain confidence and figure out what makes her happy. Fflewddur - I honestly want to see him really struggle. He’s always had everything handed to him. I’d love for things to go horribly horribly wrong for him. Finn - Honestly my plan is to go into who he is as a merman and more of the magical side to his life. I love the teen stuff but I am very very eager to do mer stuff with him. Kanga - It’s a secret. But it’ll be fun. Louie - As always I want him to get into a lot of trouble. lol. I also want to see a rift with family with him and see how he handles that. He has a tendency for the dramatic and I think that’d be fun. Roxas - see them figure out what’s going on/learn about Sora Sora - see him learn about Roxas. it’ll be fun.

Pick a thread or a plot that you’re proud of and talk about why you loved it. Honestly it’s still ongoing but I’m really proud of what I’ve developed with Arthur. The ongoing quest for the sword and everything around that. It’s the first time I’ve had a longer term plan with a character and known what I wanted to do with it and it’s so cool! It’s exciting to do, and I really really loved the thread lauryl and I had in the lake and writing the Lady of the Lake briefly. It was just COOL.

In terms of your own writing, identify 1-3 strengths and talk about why you think it’s one of your strengths. oh I’m so bad at this. ahaha. I’m gonna do my best but it’s hard for me to talk about myself and stuff like this. Let’s see...I think 1) Dialogue. I think I’m pretty good at making my character’s voices distinct and their own. It’s been especially fun with Finn because of his stutter and the way that he speaks. 2) Teen hijinks. I know this is an odd thing to put as a strength, but honestly I do think I somehow have my niche with teenagers. Maybe their drama just suits my dramatic cancer self who knows. I feel like all three of my teens are unique and quirky and idk is this valid? I find it far too easy to think of ridiculous teen plots. 3) Getting into character’s heads. Thoughts and stuff, I feel like I am good at sharing where my characters are at and how they feel and all that. I feel like I do a good job of diving right into emotions.

In terms of your own writing, identify 1-3 areas of improvement. 1) showing not telling more. You know trying to really give more detail to what’s happening around characters and their actions rather than a ton of their thoughts. I know I need to work on this more, sometimes I just get lazy and go with what’s easier and habit. 2) There’s another thing I want to work on and again get lazy, where with dialogue you don’t respond to every thing a person says cause that’s not natural to a conversation. You want to respond to like the last thing and then maybe something else after. I think about it but I forget about it and I could work on it. 3) Description. I want to do better at describing things and giving a better visual image of things happening and stuff. I feel like that’s something I’d really like to do better with in the new year.

Pick one of your plots, or even just a character, and come up with a list of 3-5 “mentor texts” where you can look for inspiration or research, then write a short (2-4 sentences) why you picked those texts So I noticed I used tv and film as inspo more than books and stuff but it’s still a reference material to go back to and I’m not sorry. Finn: -It by Stephen King. So this is largely chosen because the character of Bill Denbrough in It has a stutter, and it was one of the first real examples I could think of where I could listen to it and the sound via the movie and how that would work with Finn’s stutter. I go back to it every once in a while for reference. And I’d love to read the book one day and see if there’s more to uncover. -Ferris Bueller’s Day Off: Study of Cameron Frye. So this is a high school movie which also helps with the right vibe, but the most important thing to me is the whole vibe and fear of going out to do ANYTHING. Finn has a really hard time with that and Cameron Frye is honestly pretty good inspo on this sort of thing. Also he’s got two more outgoing friends in a sense, which Finn also has in the form of Ariel and Nemo. -Star Trek: Study of the character Bones. I think this is sort of a good reference as to where I’d love to see Finn in the future and it’s a cool thing to try to work toward. Bones has channeled his innate worrying into helping people, and I think that’s something that Finn could learn to do. How and in what way? I don’t know. But it’s a good reference point for the future maybe. -The Rugrats: Study of Chuckie. Yes is it a bit funny to find inspo from another animated character for Finn? Sure a bit. But honestly the more I think about it, Chuckie Finster is a very anxious child and that is basically Finn on the regular. And again a character that has a much more confident best friend and gets dragged along on the adventures. And even though Chuckie the character is an actual baby and Finn’s a teen there’s a lot to really look at and be inspired by. When I was little I didn’t think Chuckie was that relatable but when I got a little older I was like ‘oh man that’s a mood’ and honestly he’s anxious, I’m anxious, and I’m writing about an anxious character so it all kind of works.

And now, a wishlist!  I looooove wishlists and this’ll probably be the longest part of this whole thing so that if anyone wants to brainstorm stuff/looks at this list and goes ‘hey me too’ we can start scheming. -fake dating! -alexa play fake love- it’s a trope for a reason and I really really love it. Someone get in on it with me. -rags to riches (I want Louie to experience being rich for like a day or something. I think that’d make a really interesting story for him.) -murder. well. If anyone wants to get rid of a character one day hmu. -more magic based plots. I have magicks but somehow they HARDLY use it and that’s lame. I want more magic. I want to def explore mer stuff with Finn more especially, and generally just chaotic magic things. -i want Sora/Roxas to fuck with people. Like I want someone to date one of them just for an awkward scene in bed or something. That’s a very small plot thing but I think it’d be hilarious. -I really like romantic plots and I like the soft puff/seemingly cold slytherin relationship. idk I guess I want a duo like that. Or more romance in general. Date my characters. Long term, short term, to make someone else jealous? let’s go. -DISASTER AGENTS. I had a vague idea and I want it but who knows if/when that happens but two brothers with a rescue agency but they are completely incompetent. I like the witty characters sue me. Anthony: -i already said this but murder. -i also want him to hook up with/become friends with a sorcerer. i. have.an.idea. =D -continue to have him sink his teeth in the board and try to influence the town Arthur: -a slow burn love story would suit him nicely. i have plans for him and i think it would up the stakes. -a buddy cop story. idk Arthur is a workaholic so I feel like the best way to be buddies with him is to work with him. lol. this loser. Ashley: -i have her future planned mostly. she’s good i think. Celia: -turn a boyfriend to stone. seriously! -a hero moment for her? idk i think it’d be cool to have what she thinks of as a curse save someone’s life. Fflewddur: -someone let him spill your secrets with his harp. let him cause DRAMA. -connect him to other musicians. He’s got an ego and he’s kind of the worst, but I want him to talk more music and do more music things. Finn: -MER THINGS!!! -i want to explore some of his trauma from the bullying and everything. I know I’m gonna do a one shot, but I also would love to have him be able to open up to a friend about how things were/have been. I don’t think he’d even have told Ariel all of it. -touch. touch is his love language and I think that he’s probably fairly touch starved as he keeps to himself a lot and is afraid of like everything lol. So I’d love to explore his relationship with touch and see him learn to trust people and open up and more free with his affection and holding hands and hugs and that sort of thing. -first love/kiss. with him i think it would be a very slow thing but also it would be SO CUTE and yeah. he’s more of a romantic than my other teens so gotta ask for it here. lmao. Kanga: -board things. She’s on it now woo! I’m here to explore that more -it’s a secret. It’s coming soon to theaters. Louie: -again. Rich for a day, see how the other 1% lives that sort of thing. -family plot line. I want it to happen so bad. I want to see Louie sort of self destruct. Someone help him get there. -further down the trouble path. Drugs? Or fighting or something considerably more reckless? He’s still a fairly good kid, I’d love to explore something a little darker with him. -also to explore him being gay and let him really come into his own there. He’s too busy being Louie to notice so that’s a thing I really want to push with him and see him figure out feelings more. Roxas: -have them figure out about Sora first. Let him and friends struggle with how to handle that. so really mission a) make Roxas a few friends. then b) share the chaos of their life with said friends. it’ll be fun. -get in a fight with battle magic. I think it’d be interesting to see it in play, especially since they are not fully in control. A magic fight guys. Who’s in?Sora: -oo you know what might be fun? having him become good buds with someone and move in somewhere with them and then and have him and Roxas’ stuff make a mess of things. roommate drama HEIGHTENED. -Someone telling Sora about Roxas. Because he is not the smart one of the duo. He’s pretty damn oblivious -break someone’s heart. I feel like he’d be the type to do it without realizing and that’d be an interesting thing to go into.

OPTIONAL: Why do you RP? Well honestly I’ve been rping for so long it’s hard to remember a time before I did it. It’s a good escape from reality sometimes and I really love to write. Writing makes me feel good and unwind and I like that I can express things through characters that I might not be able to do myself places because I’m too awkward. It’s nice to be able to let things out and enthuse online and to get to know a great community. I’ve made some great friends through rp and I love that a lot about the whole thing. Plus it’s through rp that a lot of the time you can let out over enthusiasm. Or at least for me that’s the case. As many of you already know I tend to obsess over things and when I do it’s like I need so many outlets to get by. Right now BTS and then having Finn as my outlet for example. But before that it would be like my years long Steve Rogers fixation and how I’d be off and on in group rps with him as a character or on an indie blog and that would be how I expressed my love for this character and let some of that out. It’s so helpful and therapeutic almost, since I feel like I get too enthusiastic for people around me to relate a lot. 

[arachcobra]

Naruto Episode 11 & 12 Review

Got PTSD? Just walk it off, you baby.

Review of Naruto Episode 11 and 12: The Land Where a Hero Once Lived and Battle on the Bridge! Zabuza Returns!

ArachCobra

So in this one, we start out with having Sakura guard Tazuna on the bridge, all alone. I'm just like, what? Apparently, it's because Kakashi is still not feeling well and Naruto and Sasuske are still struggling with the tree climbing things. So they do try to explain it. But the problem here is that there is no fucking way Kakashi can know when Zabuza will be back. Yeah, he can make an estimate based on the guy's injuries, but he doesn't know if Zabuza has some super healing ninja in his employ. For all he knows, Zabuza is heading for the bridge at a speed of mach fuck you right that very instant.

He isn't and Sakura is not gruesomely cut into confetti, but that's just because Zabuza has no easy way to recover. But this is still very risky.

Also, Tazuna calls Sakura lazy for yawning, which I feel is entirely uncalled for. Some guy named Giichi feels working on the bridge is getting too risky, so he quits, with Tazuna yelling at him.

Later, Sakura and Tazuna goes shopping and we get to see just how badly Gato has ruined the Land of Waves. It's an admittedly effective scene.

This is then ruined by the dinner scene where Sasuke and Naruto are shoveling down food so fast they have to puke. Hey, assholes, people are starving right now. Least you could do is respect the food you're given by not choking on it, just because you have to prove you're better than each other. Seriously, this is not team work. Time and time again we see this competition between Naruto and Sasuke makes them take quite frankly idiotic decisions that are detrimental for the team as a whole. Kakashi should get his act together and tell the two of them to get their shit together.

And then Sakura stares at a slightly damaged photo on the wall and Odysseus, the dialogue. To paraphrase Sakura: “There's a picture here. But it's torn. How did it get torn? It seems very important. The one who tore it must have had some sort of reason. I wonder why.” Honestly, most likely explanation is that Kakashi noticed the plot point hanging on the wall and asked Sakura to point it out until someone would say something and move the story along.

So then we get the tale of Kaiza. About how he saved Inari from drowning thanks to a trio of child bullies straight out of a Stephen King story. About how he saved the village when the floodgate broke. It's an interesting story, but made kinda silly by being punctuated by so much overly dramatic music and flowery language about how Kaiza: “Taught people the meaning of the word courage.”

And then Gato has Kaiza tortured by a group of goons before publicly executing him.

How... How can he do that? Is there no government in the Land of Waves? How did he get so powerful that he can execute people? In front of a large crowd of people even. In front of the guy's family. Did he buy out the government? How does that work? I mean, have him killed, yeah, that I can imagine, but publicly executing him for disturbing the order of the land? Kinda ridiculous.

And that's why Inari doesn't believe in heroes. Naruto goes out to train because he wants to show Inari that heroes do exists.

Neat.

For the next episode, let me just start by complaining about the title. It's called Zabuza Returns and Battle on the Bridge, but that's a fabrication at best. Zabuza and Haku show up at the very end of the episode and there is no battle on the titular bridge. Its just misleading.

Anyway, Haku crossdresses and meets Naruto in the forest and they exchange some awkward dialogue about having someone important. And that only by having someone important will you be strong. I guess that really depends on one's definition of strength, so I'm not gonna harp on that too much.

Anyway, tree climbing continues and Sasuke and Naruto returns, sweating, panting and covered in dirt. If you told me that's because they decided to celebrate with a victory quickie in the bushes, I'd believe you. These two really do come off as if they have some closeted feelings for each other.

Anyway, Inari says its all futile and Naruto calls him a coward and a crybaby.

Yeah, doesn't matter that the kid is traumatized by the death of his father and the decline of his country, while constantly having to worry that any day now, his grandfather will be slaughtered. Doesn't matter that this constant oppressive atmosphere of fear and futility has made him a nervous wreck with PTSD. Just get over it, kid. Anything else is cowardice.

In case it isn't obvious, I find this scene kinda sickening and insensitive.

Now, Kakashi says that Naruto didn't say anything he hadn't already told himself and that Naruto has suffered too. Well, great. Two problems. One, Naruto has not gone through the exact same scenario as Inari and even if he had, he'd probably have reacted differently, because people are different. He has no right to demand that Inari ”gets over it.” Second issue, from a narrative point, how bad did Naruto have it? We have some general ideas that he was excluded and people looked down on him, but it hasn't really been elaborated upon. We're just told Naruto has it bad and that's it. So here, the story trips over itself trying to justify Naruto yelling at a traumatized kid who's not even had a chance to properly grieve and get over the soul-shattering losses he's experienced.

To put it mildly, it doesn't really work. No matter how much the show insists that Naruto understands Inari's pain.

Anyway, next day, Zabuza shows up, Naruto is late and Gato's henchmen are getting ready to kidnap Tsunami and Inari. Oh, who's Tsunami? Inari's mother. She's been around for three episodes, but does very little. I think we only learned her name this very last episode in fact.

Shame. You'd think somebody with the name Tsunami would be a character you should keep an eye on.

Anyway, first episode works just fine. Second one dragged down by Naruto's treatment of Inari. Seriously, that's not okay.

Givenea

Inari, grandson of Tazuna takes over the role as awesomest character, for telling Naruto how dumb he is.

We then learn that Inari has lost all hope because a business tycoon turned his homeland into a dictatorship, everyone is starving and poor and his stepfather (who was the most amazing dad ever) was executed by said tycoon for trying to make things better.

Then Naruto calls him whiny.

Yup, Inari, an eight-year-old, who has lost his freedom and security and is struggling to cope with the loss of the only father he ever knew, is whiny. And Naruto is the right character to set him straight, because… a few people sneered at him…?

That’s all we’ve seen… Let me elaborate.

Back in episode 1, the big bad, Mizuki informs Naruto (and the audience) that Naruto is shunned and hated by the villagers because he is the container of the nine tailed fox. But this doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.

Within the first episode we see Naruto be chased down by ninjas, sneered at by his classmates and some random women and conned by Mizuki into stealing secret information.

This is not bad; it sets up that there is bad blood in between at least some villagers and Naruto. Next step would be to reinforce this idea over the next few episodes while establishing a norm for Naruto’s day to day life in Konoha. Naruto does runs into trouble with villagers a bunch of times within the first two episodes but only once or twice is their scorn unprovoked on his part. Going over them in order:

Episode 1:

Chased by ninja: He committed vandalism and skipped school. - Was punished by having to clean up his mess.

Sneered at by classmates - Because he mouthed off, they all had to redo a test.

Sneered by random women – Apparently unprovoked. Could be viewed to refer to the fox

Conned by Mizuki – Because he had the fox, Mizuki figured he could get away with it, taking advantage of him while he was vulnerable.

Episode2

Scolded by the Hokage – Naruto screwed up his ID and mouthed off.

Beaten by random woman – She was angry over Konohamaru’s botched transformation, unprovoked, but also nothing to do with the fox.

Thrown out of bookstore – Clerk did not allow reading before buying, had every right to toss them out.

Beaten by women in the bath - After attempting to sneak in and peep on them. They also immediately recognize, not only that Naruto and Konohamaru are transformed, but one also cries out: “Naruto, you again?”. Giving the distinct impression that this is a common occurrence.

Fight with Ebisu – while Ebisu does refer to Naruto as a fox, he seems far more miffed at Naruto taking Konohamaru all over town and distracting him from his training.

Ok, two things

Most people do not seem to care about the fox, whatsoever. They are instead reacting to Naruto’s actions, which are annoying at best and criminal at worst.

Nobody really seems to hate Naruto enough to step in and stop him from hanging out with the Hokage’s grandson. If Naruto was really shunned to the point we are supposed to believe, wouldn’t they try to save Konohamaru from the monster they believe the blond brat to be?

So while some people have treated Naruto pretty harshly, the whole thing fails in setting him up as an outcast through no doing of his own. It also fails at putting him through anything even remotely as bad as what Inari has suffered. So, when Kakashi later try to smooth things over, and encourage Inari, by explaining Naruto’s hardships and saying he got tired of whining and decided to do something about it, it falls flat.

Not only that, but when did Naruto ever stop whining? He pouts like a child whenever he doesn’t get his way.

Moving along.

After learning the tree-lesson instantly, last episode, Sakura is put on guard duty… well, it needs to be done, but couldn’t Kakashi have given her some other training since she’s ahead of the curve here? Not to mention, what is she gonna do if Zabuza or one of his people shows up? She is one lone genin, who has barely started her training as such. He, even wounded, is a highly trained jonin and we know that he has at least Haku to help him out.

Could be that this is just Kakashi’s way of paying lip service to doing this job.

So, Tazuna calls her lazy… I haven’t the foggiest why. After having lied to her superiors and then guilted her team into staying on a mission they are in no way qualified for, he should understand that just showing up is going above and beyond what anyone could expect from them.

So I guess these episodes are just here to make everyone look bad.

Oh yeah, and then Zabuza and Haku shows up.

Fluttersniper13

Sasuke and Naruto are having a dick measuring competition, Sakura is useless, family issues all over the place, Gato is god and everything is miserable. So, the usual shit.

Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13125294/8/Naruto-Rewrite-1-Road-to-Ninja