#you were still writing the story! you didn't need to change it from shounen to seinen

[stackslip]

the more i get into fma 03 the more of an fma manga/brotherhood hater i become

[comicaurora]

I watched Castlevania: Nocturne the otger day and liked it a lot less than you seemed to, so I want to hear a more detailed opinion if you have one. Am I in the wrong to think it was more shounen and less "deep" in some way?

I'd say it's definitely more shounen. Introducing the "Richter can't do magic because unresolved trauma" thing right from the jump meant a Believing In Yourself powerup was pretty much inevitable, but I liked the execution of that scene enough that I didn't mind much.

It doesn't quite have the backbone of the original Castlevania, which was grounded so strongly in Dracula's apocalyptic grief - a motivation the audience is directed to find deeply understandable from minute one - that it gave the characters a solid thematic core to play off of. This let the writing stay pretty tight by letting Trevor serve as a foiling mirror for Dracula in their mutual disgust with the failures of human kindness, Sypha for Lisa in their altruistic use of their knowledge and their vilification for "witchcraft", and Alucard in the middle torn between worlds.

Nocturne is more loose and character-driven, but it still has a core theme - the argument over "the natural order" and how that plays into a fear of change from those currently on top. However, Richter doesn't really have a horse in that race, since his motivation starts and ends at Kill Vampires while everyone around him is more complex, trying to overthrow the aristocracy and free the enslaved and such. I think this makes Richter feel a little less important than Trevor was, narratively, because he sort of stands apart from the core philosophical debate at play. It took me a few episodes to get what his deal was and start caring about his self-actualization, and I think he's definitely got further to go. Possibly Alucard's presence in season 2 will give him more to play off of.

I think Nocturne has several independently interesting villains instead of one really good villain, which is a complaint I also saw about Castlevania season 4 - I liked Death just fine, but he really didn't work for everyone, and the secondary villains like Saint Germaine were much more interesting and complex. Nocturne does, however, pull off something Castlevania didn't as much, which is most of the characters acting on their own internal consistent motivation without cleanly falling into the "good guy" or "bad guy" box, causing them to slide into and out of conflicts and alliances depending on the circumstances.

I feel like Bathory is kind of a weak core villain with almost no human-level motivations or ideas beyond General Villainy, and the extent of her development being a darkest hour shonen villain powerup/frieza transformation doesn't help much, which is why I'm kind of holding out hope that they just bite the bullet and bring back Dracula. He's the nemesis from the Castlevania games, and while they gave him and Lisa a happy ending in Castlevania season 4, I don't think they need to keep him on the bench forever. It's been 300 years, Lisa is almost certainly long dead again and Dracula doesn't need to be full Mad With Vengeance Burn Down The World to still be a credible problem in need of a little Belmonting.

I had fun with season 1 of Nocturne with the understanding that the first four-episode "season" of Castlevania wasn't representative of the final shape of the story either. Sypha's character, for instance, was very flat before she and the gang went on their season 2 bonding adventure, not much more than some banter and infodumps. I think Nocturne did solid setup of the cast and the theme they'll be unpacking, and it has lots of room to explore these characters in interesting ways once they energy-ball-tennis Bathory out of the way first.

[codenamesazanka]

The story reads very differently when you take off those villain stan googles, so much that Shigaraki dying feels kind of obvious in hindsight. There's at least more of a set-up for an ending where he dies than for one where he gets rehabilited. Deku never taking a stance of the killing issue and only ever saying that he wants to 'stop' Shigaraki/'save the little boy' should have been a red flag. It's not even subtle. Manga follows a very b/w morality too, always has. I feel dumb now lol

That is indeed one interpretation! That Shigaraki was always fated to die, that Deku's 'save' was going to just be 'saving the heart' so Shigaraki can at least be killed in peace.

But specific to this manga - isn't this story about Heroes being heroes? About saving people? About making a bright future? About touching hearts and taking that first step and going PLUS ULTRA? Doing more than just 'rewarding good and punishing evil'?

It's not even about b/w morality, I don't think. As far as we know, none of the people committing heteromorphic hate crimes are going to be punished. Neither does it seem like the fact that HSPC had a black ops operation going on using trained child soldiers is going to be fully exposed and dealt with and the people involved (who haven't been killed) punished (like such a thing goes all the way up to the top; and has deep roots; if there's any real justice, a whole governmental department should be put on trial). Overhaul and Muscular and Ujiko and nearly all the other less sympathetic villains are alive, so clearly 'horrific crime = mandatory death' is not a thing.

And there were lots of Japanese villain fans who wanted the League to all die not because they're criminals and should be punished, but as a way to escape jail and consequences. To go out with a bang. To never renounce their friendship and ideals because they weren't necessarily wrong, but the world they live in simply can't handle them, or because unfortunately the needs of the many outweighs the desires of the few. Plus, as @stillness-in-green points out:

Firstly, and to get this out of the way, that is a false binary that totally ignores the long history of Shounen Jump villains getting absurd Karma Houdini endings where they walk off into the sunset free as birds because they’ve changed their minds and resolved to be better, or at least have decided mass murder is no longer worth their time and effort.  (Vegeta wasn’t the first mass murderer a Shounen Jump story rewarded with freedom and friendship, nor was he the last.)

And like, Shigaraki dying didn't have to be so badly done. You can write a incredibly good and satisfying character death. This wasn't it. imo.

You had high expectations for the manga. You're right to want something that's hopeful and engaging. If it does turn out that's not what the manga was going for, then it is what it is, but it doesn't mean you were dumb. Sorry, I know I'm relentless in criticizing Deku and saying that his 'save' sucked from the start, but I still fully believed it was just Shonen Punch Therapy. So did a lot of other people. So please don't feel dumb!

[kysoncat]

Eeveelution Squad Journeys (My ES AU)

Hello everyone. If you saw on my introduction post I mentioned having an ES AU called Eeveelution Squad Journeys and I'd like to talk about it here. Hope you guys enjoy my first ever post about it here on Tumblr since I've talked about it before on other sites like reddit and Discord.

History I feel like before I explain what my AU is I need explain how it came to be so here's the backstory!

Way back in 2021, I was first introduced to the Eeveelution Squad comic from the dub and then found the actual comic and began reading it myself for the first time. While I was reading it a lot of stuff bothered me like Speed being stupidly overpowered, complex lore that I could not process, shipping moments being shoved down my throat every 3 pages, and more. I kept up with the comic till it ended and I was sad as I saw the comic could've had potential specifically with the characters but it didn't do anything with most of them.

After the comic ended I began thinking how I would write ES while fixing a lot of the problems I had with it. I dug through EV's account and found that ES was originally supposed to be about the cast as a Rescue team instead of living together. Around this time I was watching the Pokemon anime and while watching it I thought what if Eeveelution Squad was like the Pokemon anime. What if they were an actual squad, an actual team that would actually bond with each other by going on adventures like in the anime. It was at that moment that my AU was born. After developing it for a bit and sharing this AU idea with some people in the ES Discord Server (Now known as Astral Treehouse) with it receiving positive feedback, I would continue developing it for myself as it was fun developing and for what ES could've been with its missed potential. I decided to name the AU "Eeveelution Squad Journeys" after a friend suggested in the name in the Discord Server.

Premise So this AU is basically what if the Eeveelution Squad were a competitive battling team in a humanless mainline Pokemon world where they would take on the regional leagues and go on adventures as they bond and strive to become the greatest team ever.

The AU takes the series in a more action/Shounen approach rather than the Slice of Life or whatever the hell the Vacation Arc was trying to be. It takes inspiration from some animes I've watched like Pokemon and Fairy Tail.

While making the AU I have these goals in mind for it:

Have the characters be used to their fullest potential. A lot of ES' characters either had very little or nothing at all and after scrounging through the comic and certain journals I knew they had so much potential and I want to use them to their fullest.

Make the main cast actually bond. To me, the main cast in the comic had no real bond, they didn't feel like a squad, or family, or roommates. Also the title does not fit the comic with its story or genre. I want the main cast for my AU to actually feel like a team and make the "Eeveelution Squad" in the title actually make sense.

Don't make the AU stupidly edgy or confusing. Pretty simple with this goal.

Don't prioritize romance. Characters with their development and building bonds comes first.

Don't let anyone influence my AU. I'll listen to feedback and criticisms but I will not listen to someone who tries to change my AU into something that's unrecognizable. Toxic fans and shippers can go away if my AU isn't for them.

AU Changes

The World ES Journeys takes place in a humanless mainline Pokemon world where competitive battling is the most popular sport in it. The world has the Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos, Alola, and Galar regions only so no Paldea as well as some anime locations like the Orange islands. Rescuers are still a thing in this AU but they're part of the police. Because this AU has a more modern setting, there's no such thing as Wild Pokemon. Technology in this world is not as stupidly advanced as the comic so no Iron Man suits or other junk like that (I hated ES' technology), only modern technology like computers and stuff we have today.

The Lore ES Journeys does not focus on the Timeline Lore or Berserker Virus Lore because they do not exist. These two things should not have been in the comic but did because one comment said ES was boring which made EV add them. 90% of people either do not understand it or don't care about it. The only lore in this AU is backstory on characters.

The Cast While ES Journeys does have all 9 main characters (10 counting Axel) they're not going to be together right at the beginning. The reason I made this decision is because giving focus to that many characters right at the start of the story would be difficult to pull off. I want each character to get focused on without another one hogging it up like how Speed, Flare, Lazuli, and Silvia did in the comic. With the cast starting off small, focus can be put on them and when the characters join the main cast over time, focus moves on to them. The cast starts off with just Speed, Crystal, Flare, and Sunshine but when the group are in a region where the other main characters are they join them like how Ash gets new traveling companions when he arrives at a new region. So... yeah. That's Eeveelution Squad Journeys with what is had and how it came to be. Does this sound interesting or is this a stupid AU idea? I might make posts on my AU about the characters or story in the future. If y'all have any questions about the AU, feel free to send me an ask and I'd be happy to answer. Well until the next post that's all I have to say so bye everyone!

[sillsif]

↳ 8 Shows To Get To Know Me

thank you @jyuubin for tagging me! sorry it took me a while to type this up.

i have decided to pick shows that i rewatch for comfort or keep me awake at night thinking about every little detail and emotion inside. here we go!

Bones (2005 - 2017) i grew up with this show and i just love temperance brennan with my entire life. i love the smithsonians i love booth and brennan i love i love i love and i rewatched s1-s3 sooooooo many times because iykyk it just kills me in the best way everytime.

Because This is My First Life (2017) my comfort feel good kdrama. i love how this drama focused on telling the stories of three women fighting for their dreams, and how every one of them had their own definition of happiness. oh i feel so much for the three of them and i love love love their love interests too. such a well-written show.

The Good Place (2016 - 2020) another comfort and feel good show. the good place is fun, intelligent, and most importantly, kind. it came out during a time when we all needed that reassurance: that things can be changed. things can be better. things SHOULD be better. WE should be better, and we CAN be. i'd even say it's another version of everything everywhere all at once's philosophy. it also has chidi anagonye, the love of my goddamn life.

First Kill (2022) if i were a zombie ♪ i'd never eat your brains ♪ a lesbian vampire x hunter show that got fucking cancelled by netflix bc netflix hates lesbians. i miss them sorely. this show was fun and intriguing, it has the right tone for teenage romance — dramatic and heart-wrenching. the cast is incredibly charming — gorgeous women from mothers to daughters and beautiful men too. talia burns you are everything.

Racket Boys (2021) coming-of-age sports kdrama. i had a visceral reaction to insol when he [redacted] and then i had a mini phase where i had intense brainrots over haesol ( haekang x insol ) which in retrospect is sorta like me with palmchopper. you get what i mean? i still love insol very much and i still have brainrots about them in fact i'm looking at my gifsets right now.

The Get Down (2016 - 2017) I WILL NEVER FORGIVE NETFLIX FOR CANCELLING THIS SHOW. the get down was about the bronx and the beginning of hip hop. ezekiel figuero and shaolin fantastic. mylene. dizzee kipling. i love them so much. so many iconic scenes and lines. justice smith has remained one of my fave actors since then.

Better Call Saul (2015 - 2022) i watched this show during the airing of its final season bc it was all on netflix and i did not expect how easily i grew attached. i watched breaking bad a long time ago and never thought too much of saul goodman the funny lawyer, so i didn't rush to watch bcs when it first aired. but damn how glad i am to have binged it when it delivered its finale too. incredibly tight-knit and immaculate in writing and filming. the details are so intricate it's almost impossible to pull off but they managed. it's quite heavy from time to time, and such a tragedy too. but that's the story. and it does get the ending it deserved. i can say it's the best written tv show i've seen with such a long run.

Scissor Seven (2018 - ) happy, feel good, comfort show. it's a chinese animated series with a lot of canto humour, which just hits home for a canto like me. it follows the regular shounen anime formula but with less self-importance. it's just about a guy who wants to live a good life with people he cares about on this island he calls home. well, with the past coming back for his life.

tagging anyone interested!

[chromotps]

🤝🤝🤝 it really is fun to discuss and like, work through these feelings.... I ended up writing a lot about One Piece as a show and its tone, which is one of my favorite things to ramble about, so, you know! thanks for the opportunity. ahaha

omg I felt the same re: "frustrated that Ace's death wasn't really mentioned post time-skip until Dressrosa really". Like, I get that the time-skip was meant to speed up Luffy's training as well as his grieving, but I was still kind of unprepared as a viewer to enjoy things like the Sabaody reunion and Fishman Island Arc. Maybe it would've been different if I hadn't been bingeing the show and instead had been watching/reading it week-by-week? That way as a fan we'd have had time to process, like Luffy did... but...... hmmm :\\

I don't want to spoil too much (I'll try to be vague!!!), but there are a few other characters that die in later arcs, but to your point, they're mostly side characters, and especially ones that feel like part of the "older generation".

Mmmm regarding Ace's death as a "punishment" I'm still uncertain... Like, I think Oda maybe meant to frame it differently (but didn't execute it 100% perfectly, since some fans clearly walked away from Marfineford blaming Ace for what happened :[ ). Oda gives a few current-timeline characters (like Whitebeard!) deaths that focus on how they were taking a stand for honor/the ones they love/an ideal they had/etc, and those deaths seem like badges of honor in a weird way? I know that's a terrible way to word it, but I'm having trouble getting at it--but it's that thing that shounen manga does a lot, where honor is such a tangible virtue that dying with integrity (especially in some badass show of strength) is framed as more valuable than living with ''''cowardice''''.

(Which makes me think about the toxic masculinity in a lot of shounen stories, when they frame being "tough" as better than being "weak"/vulnerable/asking for help. Though I'm generalizing like, a tonnnnn here 😅. But still, in a One Piece world where there wasn't so much emphasis on characters shouldering suffering alone to be manly (thinking of like, Zoro insisting on taking Kuma's pain thing instead of Sanji, or... some more stuff in Wano I don't want to spoil 😂)—in a One Piece world like that, Ace wouldn't have ended up in that final predicament anyway!!)

I very much agree with everything you said about Luffy's Journey... especially "we're told that it adds weight more than we're shown that it does". Like, Sabo's post-timeskip actions fit with that too—we get one quick, and admittedly very heartbreaking scene of him becoming aware of Ace's death......... and then he's fine! Ready to go kick some ass and protect Luffy and do what needs to be done. Though, again, this kind of feels like a One Piece... trait? I don't want to say flaw, bc tbh I like the overall tone of One Piece, but a lot of characters (Nami, Sanji, Robin, most SHs 😂) go through deeply traumatic things and then act just kind of... "normal" within a couple episodes? I guess? Anyway, it would have hit a lot harder/more effectively if we did get just a little more direct evidence of Luffy being changed.

But thennnn like........ I don't know if it would still feel like One Piece at that point! Like, I saw some bit of trivia that I'm 65% sure is true, that Oda confirmed in one of those Q&A things, that Luffy has nightmares about Marineford. (actually, there's a one-off line about Sabo having nightmares, too!) That detail's incredibly touching and adds so much depth, but I also do think I'd be kind of put off if I actually saw something like that in an episode of the anime. Like, OP walks this weird line by having some intensely dark moments, but never giving them too much weight/attention so that the optimistic tone is carefully preserved. Comparing it to a show like Attack on Titan (which I stopped watching bc I honestly got sick of characters being killed off for shock value and people thinking that was good writing), I'd much rather have One Piece's manner of showing death and grief...

ajksgldfh I keep saying this and then waffling, but ok yes. 100% agree about Ace and Worth. Like, through a shounen manga lens, I can see Oda really thinking Ace had a full satisfying emotional arc. But when you start applying anything even slightly more nuanced to it/more modern thinking, he clearly had so much hurt left to resolve. Totally heartbreaking, totally agree, ugh.

Hm!!!!! What you said about the live action!!!!! god part of me is terrified for my heart if they do make it to the Marineford Arc, and the other part of me is terrified they won't. 😂 But dang it'd be cool to see an Oda-approved........ alternative? Or just, yeah, what changes would they make, considering they've already tweaked a few other plot points to make them stronger or more appealing to a more modern audience!!

I just watched MelonTeee's video on Ace and Worth and man the internal debate I have with myself on whether I agree with the choice or not...

Her video explains the fandom's love for the character so well, as well as why the tragedy hit so hard. For me personally I have not been that affected by a character death in a LONG time.

And I understand it from a certain narrative perspective – mainly how Ace's past continues to feature in the story a decade later, and Whitebeard's line that someone would carry Ace's flame, because that clearly describing Luffy. He goes after the mera mera no mi and finishes what Ace started in Wano.

But there are two major narrative reasons given for Ace's death that I disagree with. And are largely why I think it shouldn't have happened, and also why the death has hit me so hard.

This is going to get long, but I would really love to hear everyone's thoughts on it if you choose to read!

To give Luffy the push he needed to be stronger: I am pretty confident this is Oda's stated reason (in addition to Oda wanting to prove he could kill characters which I guess he said at one point and which is bleh). Anyway. That push already happened on Sabaody when Luffy lost everyone to Duma. He was HELPLESS. More helpless than he was through most of marineford. And when Rayleigh convinces Luffy to do the 2 years training, Rayleigh only brings up their epic defeat on Sabaody. He does not bring up marineford or Ace's death as a reason Luffy needs to get stronger. Because Luffy did not need that reason. The only argument I can think of is that maybe once he landed on Amazon Lily, and he realized the strawhats were likely alive, the terror he felt on Sabaody abated slightly. And therefore maybe he needed a reminder of what "loss" truly is to re-motivate him. However, I don't think that is really fitting with his character or the story.

Ace's dream was fulfilled: Oda has talked about the reason he doesn't kill villains is because not having your dream fulfilled is a worse fate than death. I think part of the tragedy of Ace's death was that his dream wasn't fulfilled. Even for those who accept his last words - that he had only one regret which was not seeing Luffy accomplish his dream - the amount of time he got to live with that dream was literally the last moments of his life. But I don't think just because you die with no regrets, does not mean your dream is fulfilled. Especially when Ace never truly internalized what his dream was. His final choice to turn around showed HOW MUCH he still was that lonely, scared little kid he was at 10 despite his warm smile and his growing family. The most heartbreaking part of the flashback was not Sabo's death. It was watching Ace asking the question "do I deserve to exist?" and giving all his devotion to those who said yes. It was him making the exact same decision he would make 10 years later, to refuse to run, because he felt like if he ran he would lose everything and Luffy was standing behind him. Ace's final words do more than state he has no regrets. He also gives the answer to the question he'd asked Garp, and that Garp had said only his actions could decide. Ace died thanking Luffy and his family for loving him despite the "worthless" or "good for nothing" person he was. Ace was moved to tears to hear his family emphatically saying "YES. You do deserve to live! We want you to live!" But Ace never actually believed it. His last words were a reflection of gratitude for the love he was given that he didn't feel he deserved. And thus his final answer to the question "Do I deserve to exist?" was no.

That he was too "good" This is kind of the most upsetting one I've heard (thankfully not a lot) and also the one easiest to dismiss. Ace, being the actual son of the pirate king, being super powerful, growing in strength and reputation faster than Luffy (debatable), put him narratively in competition with Luffy. What I mean by that is it positions him as too much the golden character, the mary sue, the typical protagonist, when One Piece is about Luffy's story, not Ace's. I disagree with the premise of seeing Ace's character that way. But also even he was "that" character, it's pretty clear Ace's dream would have taken him to becoming Whitebeard's heir - whose dream it was to build a family - while Luffy is Gol D Roger's heir. So Ace's journey would have supported the main story of One Piece and also be narratively satisfying.

---

What Was Ace's Dream?

The dreams Ace stated out loud were more reflections of his actual, deeper dream. "I want to be the king of the pirates" - because he wanted to prove his existence and his worth to the world. Which switched to "I want to make whitebeard the king of the pirates" - because Whitebeard loved him despite his blood, and so even if that wasn't what Whitebeard wanted, it was how Ace understood he could repay Whitebeard.

Both of those stated dreams get back to this question he'd been asking his whole life - that of worth. Worth and Love, which, for Ace's character, are inseparable.

For Ace's dream to truly be fulfilled, it's not enough for him to accept he was loved – which he did on the scaffolds, crying from happiness – he had to believe he was worth that love. He had to love himself.

Ace died with that dream tragically unfulfilled.

---

The Purpose of One Piece

Of course the decision to kill Ace makes the story more realistic and of course it is heartbreaking, tragic, moving, and obviously inspires deeper discussion.

However, what rankled me from when I first learned about his death, which was way before I was even introduced to the character in Alabasta, was that he is the only character of the younger generation (outside of flashbacks) to die.

Honestly when I first heard Ace was one of the only characters to die, I was just worried it would make him seem weaker or stupider than every other character, which is a personal pet peeve of mine. Luckily for most fans, it didn't do that.

Instead, what wound up upsetting me was how it seemed to contradict the purpose of the story that is One Piece (at least what I think the purpose is). In doing so, it opposes the meaning that many fans find in this absurd, ridiculous, inspiring, heartfelt, heroic tale about a boy made of rubber.

One Piece is an escapist story about a boy named Luffy who inspires every good guy he meets to pursue and achieve their dream. It's also about Luffy beating up every bad guy who punishments are that they cannot fulfill their morally reprehensible dreams.

Because of Ace's premature death, he is the only good guy character in the main timeline who does not get to pursue his dream. And what's extra tragic is that he is also one of the most deserving of seeing his dream fulfilled.

[sneezemonster15]

Naruto and Sasuke aren’t portrayed as the best parents in Boruto but I’m curious if they suck at being fathers because of who they’re with or simply because they’re not that keen on being parents. It’s weird because they both seem like family-oriented people. What did you think they’d be like as parents? Same as in Boruto or nah?

Hey anon.

Kishimoto never really meant for them to have kids, he didn't want Boruto, but as circumstances were, he had to say yes. It's not just about the money he would be earning, but there are lots of people connected with this type of production, it's a big production, an established earner. It's not only about Kishimoto. So he had to drop weapons.

Sasuke and Naruto weren't supposed to be married to women. Kishi wanted to give them an open ending. Which would have been the best option of all possible scenarios.

But in order to make Boruto viable, he made them marry women, and have miserable and dysfunctional family lives, because neither of them really wanted to. The story had to have some give at the end so Kishi could make sense of it. So the way he made sense of it was to keep Naruto closeted, make him overworked and do something he wouldn't find any joy in and hence changing his characterisation, make Sasuke distant from his family that was quite visibly forced on him, and make him work for the shinobi world for the sake of Naruto, because he loves Naruto.

They both were always motivated by family, but the tragic ending made both of them quite unlike them. The writing of Boruto needed for both of them to become unlike what they were, if they were the same people, Boruto wouldn't exist.

I never thought of them as being parents honestly. They were both kids in Naruto and Shippuden, they were both struggling, I just wanted them to be with each other, because the story made me feel that that's all they really wanted for families, each other. Sasuke never really considered anyone other than his family to be close to him, except for Naruto. Naruto could have the world as friends/family but would still choose Sasuke over all of them. Sure, he considers Konoha his family, but make him choose between them and Sasuke, he would rather die with Sasuke then be with Konoha.

If they can't be with each other after everything they both went through, and if they are forced to be with people they don't like or find simply tolerable, if they are hiding or denying some very important truths about themselves, why would they be happy? In Boruto, they both seem like they have given up. They have been trying to make it work for years, the way they are, living like two straight men given their wordly burdens, rearing families they never wanted, why wouldn't they be unhappy?

Kishimoto needed their story to end tragically for Boruto to exist. And Naruto being closeted while being burdened with heavy responsibilities and expectations, Sasuke being of the mind to keep loving Naruto no matter what but generally depressed because he is living a lie, and everything else had to fall in place for Boruto to exist.

If I had to guess what they would have been like if they ended up together and had a family, I think they would have been wonderful parents. They understand everything that needs to be understood about loneliness and the need of a family for a child. In an ideal world, they would have made their kids feel loved, I can bet on that.

It's not just about who they are with. It's the world they live in. Of which Hinata, Sakura are a part. Shinobi world is not the kind of world where they could have been together, Naruto wanted Sasuke to live and be by his side, Sasuke wanted to be at Naruto's side as well, but unfortunately, it wouldn't have been possible as lovers. And all of it fit within shounen guidelines, as in to not have two gay main characters. Kishimoto's world building, narrative and characterisation, all these factors worked together to give birth to Boruto at the end. And then he nerfed both of them, made them depressed, made their kids ugly and spoilt and pointless, made their wives invisible or entirely irrelevant, and the story of Boruto total crap.

This is what happens when Kishimoto doesn't get to do what he wants.

You think Kishimoto doesn't know Boruto sucks? Of course he does. Boruto objectively sucks and a lot of shit in it doesn't make sense. For Kishimoto, who took such care in building this world and the characters living in it, you think he doesn't know how inferior it looks and reads in Boruto as compared to his earlier work?

He pointedly nerfed the best looking and most popular characters in Boruto, when in the manga/anime world, the character design matters a whole lot. These characters need to look visually striking, remarkable, distinct and unique, the nature of this industry demands it. These character designs pave the way for merchandise being sold, there's a huge market for it in the otaku world. Why would Kishi deliberately make them look like tired typical 40 year old dads, the mainest of all characters? If money was the only objective, he wouldn't have done that. I just feel like he wanted to sabotage Boruto, in his own stealthy ways.

He was put under a lot of pressure for Boruto, and he had to give in. But he doesn't have to like it. And he makes a point to show it.

[goron-king-darunia]

I think people that hate the game are honestly 50% salty that the game would dare suggest that Lloyd could ever be the villain (not even using their critical thinking to realize that either "Lloyd" isn't actually "Lloyd" or that the PROTAGONIST OF DOTNW MIGHT BE A VILLAIN PROTAGONIST. And the other 50% were just salty that Emil wasn't "cookie cutter generic shounen protagonist #4534234234 with the serial numbers filed off for maximum self-insert potential" and that he actually had trauma, personality, and goals that didn't align with the player's goals 100% of the time where the player is just correct all the time (Like, I still love the original TOS but I'm salty that whatever Lloyd decides is right just HAPPENS to be right, even if it has no reason to be correct. Like, fucking with the Human ranch to save Marble and ONLY Marble instead of just performing a jailbreak because failing is the same consequence whether they save 1 person or 100 is treated as the "right" thing to do because "Lloyd was just trying to help." Like... no. I get that the narrative rewards Lloyd but it really shouldn't.) Like, I didn't like Richter either the first time I played because he was just "generic edgy bastard morally grey antagonist." It wasn't until I started writing for him that I realized he was insanely interesting and very complex and that a lot of the actions I disagreed with him taking made perfect sense for his character. Honestly, I think people are just big mad because DOTNW doesn't move forward like a typical story where all the characters are familiar archetypes. I think people are big mad that DotNW's characters are PEOPLE with FEELINGS that act IRRATIONALLY because HUMANS ARE IRRATIONAL IN THE FACE OF FEAR, PAIN, AND TRAUMA. DotNW doesn't give the characters plot armor and omniscience to just have exactly the right morals and values to make the good ending happen. The characters STRUGGLE to do the right thing and can be selfish and rude and fickle. Like, I absolutely hate Marta, more because the game frames her as being completely innocent even when she's doing things like deliberately ignoring Emil's consent. But if the game didn't treat Marta like a saint for doing terrible shit and let us form our own opinions instead of shoving "canon-love interest, therefore best girl" down our throats then I might actually LIKE her! She's selfish and smug and manipulative and is basically committed to doing one thing and one thing only: doing whatever she can to make Emil adore her because she's obsessed with him after he saved her. And even though what little change she goes through in the game (despite SAYING she'll change and then almost never acting on the things she said she'd do.) she DOES actually change a little (though her arc is worse than Emil's) She does get BETTER, even if it's not good enough to make me like her or see her as redeemed. Like, the fact that I hate her at all is kind of proof that she's a good character. Unlike ToS where the game tries to make you like and forgive everyone (Hell, you HAVE to pick one of two of the characters that fucking betray you to be part of your party and they treat that like a redemption) DotNW ACTIVELY writes characters that you can hate and, apart from Marta who gets a lot of grace thrown at her, the game just lets you form your opinions about whether these people deserve forgiveness, admiration, affection, or whatever. The only person the game treats as unquestionably saintly is Aster Laker, and that's just because he's fucking dead and we only hear about him through Richter and Rilena, who were the two people that liked Aster most. (And, arguably, Tenebrae suggests outright that Aster would need "the patience of a Saint" to put up with Richter, even though Richter is more of a tsundere dork and not like, annoying or an asshole which are traits that usually require patience.) The game just... lets you hate characters. And I think that's special. The game doesn't constantly feed you some diegetic crap about how even though Lloyd kind of sucks he's the best boy because he's the only one consistently being right by making the dumbest decisions possible. (Literally reverse idiot plot where the plot is only solvable because Lloyd is an idiot and almost never acts rationally. All the sane characters have some fatal flaw that prevents them from seeing the one longshot option that somehow manages to save everyone and everything.) The game doesn't constantly try to tell you that "Emil is best boy and you HAVE to like him." Sure, maybe Marta thinks that, but when Ratatosk decides to just go ape and start either letting people die or just beating the living shit out of people that are clearly done fighting, Marta is also capable of being like "Yo, that's fucked up, don't do that." IDK, TL;DR, I think the people that hate DotNW either hate it because they got the wrong impression and never gave it a second chance or they're just allergic to complex characters.

...Honestly there's something darkly ironic about the sheer number of times somebody would whine about Emil being a "bad" protagonist because of his response to abuse and then be so cruel to people who like him that over 10 years yrs later some of us are STILL wary about other fans of the series

[zotmoun]

Lmao well this is the most dumbest and saltiest rant I've read since the start of the year. Boy 4 years and these "invested readers" still missing tons of content written by Kishimoto then go online to show their ignorance.

Starting from Sasuke Uchiha , you say he's the one who came from a traumatized background of having his clan massecred. Yet in the continuous chapter Sasuke began being empathetic towards Itachi and that flew under the Radar since you put the blame on Konoha. As Konoha is the scapegoat you chosen to ignore Obito and Madara's influence surrounding the messed up state of the Uchiha clan.Now you turn around and say that Sasuke lays a follower to Konoha even though this did not happen in ending but during the war arc. Itachi's goal were mainly for Konoha's interest and Sasuke chosen to respect it. Yet I don't see one trace looking to call out how Sasuke respected his brother and family who supported the Uchiha massecre. Or did you just want to look dumb?

Ah yes the child Shinobi system, or what I like to call the "PLOT". Yes as much as shounen mangas love throwing kids in death battles from since earlier days of astro boy. It's now the era of Boruto have you ever noticed how they need to continue the plot? Wow hopefully you've stopped reading shounen mangas since all the newer one (my hero academia, black clover etc ) all feature children being placed into life or death situations.

Who cares about the Hyuuga branch system ? Not you especially lol as no matter how much Hiashi implies he's proud of changing the system that even in the war arc he stands with Neji (from the side branch ). Yeah that's right I'm sure you don't know who that chatacter was. What's that he's very supportive of Konoha and many Hyuugas will risked their lives for Konoha than the hyuuga clan , gee I wonder how that missed such a invested reader like yourself.

Sasuke would challenge the system , sure thing as he just stated he wanted to protect the system Itachi wished to preserve. Nice heading there that you are literally inserting your own fantasies upon Sasuke then claim Sasuke would do it. Boy you sure know how not notice anything that happened in the series.

Gotta know who the hell is "they" when Gaiden was written by one guy who said yeah Sasuke isn't gonna beat Shin Uchiha because I need to show how savage Sakura is. And you're complaining? Wow this is much as pathetic as watching the same fans whine that Sakura wears an apron then kept quiet after seeing that she's still running the medic team in the village.Nope need something to whine about , Sakura one upping Sasuke , there you go , chew on that bone.

We're all glad Boruto happened so that we have more content in the continuous milking that series live up to. If fans are happy and it prints money then why would shounen jump ceased all production?

Kishimoto sucked at writing a romance story but he still wants to say fuck you to fans who literally couldn't see Naruhina happening away. Have you not seen his promo for RtN he left a special present for people like you. The worse part about this is how salty fans are so delusional they think Kishimoto wants their interest. Even yet again Kishimoto jumped on another interview to say "fuck you if you still didn't get the message".Yet you can't get that processed.

In Naruto the last a movie created for Naruto and Hinata as interviewed by the media for Naruhina fans. Yet this person takes the time to not get all that to say how Sasuke and Sakura never corresponded the whole movie. Like we know The Last is like years old but really you still that desperate?

Ok so Sasuke shares his views of Naruto in Shinden series and in Sakura Hiden he goes to see Sakura in person. That's his priorities . That's what he did , sorry he's not like "oh look at how I should get everyone to do what I want and Shinobi system stuff". Nope, Sasuke turned out to be someone who wants to protect the people he cares about. So sad.

So you're an anti fan who just made up these "pro fans" reasons for supporting the materials while ignoring the real reason pro fans supported the Naruto hiden series was because they liked it. To push positivity in the hopes of looking forward to more content that shounen jump considers updating.

You're talking about investing time into a series that you mostly got into by illegally reading/watching. Now the series didn't care for your favour of shipping preferences, you don't lose any money or anything cause the author , editors , staff of the manga and anime didn't make a dime off you so really kishimoto doesnt care that you're still pushing a dead topic for years.

Why does everyone hate Boruto? Boruto is not that bad people just want give him the chance

I have deliberately avoided answering Boruto questions on this blog any longer due to the fact it gets me heated. 

However despite this, I still am sent questions regarding this shithole series and people are still curious about what I think of it now, 40 something episodes in. To the person who sends me continuous information on the series: I don’t care and never have. Please stop. To everyone else: I haven’t always been entirely honest about how I really feel about Boruto, sarcasm aside.

So here you go.

Warning: This answer is not pointed towards you individually (anonymous). Please don’t take everything I’m about to say personal or as a direct attack on you. 

Naruto might’ve “ended” fifteen years ago, and people who are still angry have every god given right to be.Because when you “end” a story in a mediocre, anti climatic, unsatisfactory bullshit way, it’s going to piss a lot of people off—as it rightfully should.Because when you disrespect your own characters the way Masashi Kishimoto did, a lot of people who spent most of their childhoods invested in the livelihood of the characters only to be told at the ending “I don’t actually give a single fuck about these characters or what they were primarily intended to represent” is a huge bitch slap to the face to the people who supported the creators work and art after all that time. It’s disgusting, it’s triggering and it’s horrifying. Sasuke’s character is primarily so popular due to how savage his creator treated him. Kishimoto started this universe off with a child suffering from traumatic loss by someone he adored with the essence of his existence—to end it by making that character not only a dog to the system that betrayed his entire clan, but rooted him to character that understood him the absolute least of all people. As an invested reader (as many of those were) this is disrespectful as fuck to do to a character. Kishimoto spent so much time reiterating to us about this broken, fucked up system only to have the one character going against it suddenly lay down and accept it, no more questions asked, silenced forever. If Sasuke Uchiha was at least handled and written correctly, people might’ve accepted the ending far easier, in time. However, this was not the case. Sasuke Uchiha represented oppression and injustice yet the ending made him even further ostracized. As in; his problems weren’t solved, his trauma wasn’t mended and his heart was still crushed. This hurt very many people, as it should. Your favorite character at the end of the story doesn’t even have a last word.

It’s the way that the Boruto series despite branching off into its own supposed direction and storyline continues to rob and borrow ideals from its predecessor in horrendous ways. In a way, I’m glad Boruto happened. I’m glad that the world sees something like Boruto because it highlights in clear depiction everything the studio and the “people” care about; ships, ships, rehash, ships, rehash. These are the people who watched Naruto and Naruto Shippuden to see Hinatits collapse while talking to Naruto, to see Sakura regress significantly when Sasuke is present—Boruto: Next Generations is aiming for those people and the studio damn well knows it and they are bringing what those people want to see, what’s going to get them to keep coming back. Because who cares about a child shinobi system highlighted as brutal in the original series? Not them! Let’s romanticize missions. Who cares about the Hyuuga Clan branch system? Not them! Let’s make sure we show everyone how important Hinata truly is. Oh and Neji? Yeah let’s never mention him again except for comedic relief. Who cares about punishing criminals and imprisonment? Not them! In fact let’s continue to bring in the main villain and even better let’s give him a child that he openly experimented on and portray him as a good parent! Who cares about all of those things? The true fans did. It’s the way they wash these important issues under the rug and never mention them again. It’s the way the issues that were tackled and prevalent in Naruto are no longer even discussed or mentioned. Because that was Neji Hyuuga, Sasuke Uchiha and Yahiko’s duties. Guess where all of them went. Notice that Sasuke is never seen in the village. Want to know why that is? Because he would challenge the system. Nope! Can’t have that—twelve years out on the hunt for a make believe villain you go Sasuke! The creators seem to not understand that the series can most definitely thrive if they were not continuously shitting on the old one; they could have created this universe in the Naruto realm that everything still exists without destroying the previous characters development. Naruto and Sasuke struggling against a battle with a weak minded villain with foolish ideals was atrocious—not to mention Sasuke goddamn Uchiha couldn’t dodge kunai. If the creators had actually paid attention during the original series, they would know that the Uchiha clan were one of the clans to master weaponry. So to have Sasuke—a Uchiha—struggling against them was a massive “fuck you” to his character and everything he made of himself. It definitely shows. Then they had Sakura attack the weak minded villain with a sneak attack, despite his entire cranium was shrouded in eyeballs and not seeing that attack coming. They really want us to buy this? Oh but wait—Boruto: Next Generations can’t have logic in it, people can’t read that deep into it. It’s a show for the new generation, it needs to be kid friendly. Maybe we just won’t notice, right? Yeah. Let’s pretend we don’t notice. In another way I’m glad Boruto happened, it reiterated to us significantly how unoriginal their ideals were as well as the incompetence of Kishimoto as a writer. Want to know a secret, my friend? We could have excused shitty writing if the story was satisfactory. We could have excused improper and rushed pairings with shitty writing, if the ending were justified and believable. Oh..but..that isn’t the case. In fact, the ending outright proved to us just how shitty of a writer Kishimoto actually is. So guess what? We’re pissed. The bullshit excuses of him being a young mangaka at the time is insanely inexcusable—it’s your profession to create stories and content and you fall back on discrediting your profession as undermining your own ability? My favorite outlandish lie that Kishimoto spoke was when he admitted he could not write romance—but Naruto was a series he wrote about the essence of the budding relationship between Naruto Uzumaki and Hinata Hyuuga. 

Wait—excuse me? But Kishimoto, you just said you are not very good at writing romance. My god..so why did you aim to write a romance story if you cannot write romance? Is it because…that isn’t what Naruto was about, perhaps?It’s the way that the authors intended dream for the protagonist became so undermined that he had to change his entire wording in order to make us believe that..it made sense. Yeah..believe it! Get this: Naruto Uzumaki an orphaned Konoha resident is ostracized due to harboring a demonic beast within him that wreaked havoc on the village years prior. Despite the sour looks and disdain of others, he perseveres on the journey to becoming Hoka—marrying Hinata Hyuuga. How fucked up would that make you feel? An average reader in the beginning would not derive that bullshit notion upon first picking that manga up. Could you imagine Masashi Kishimoto using that as his pitch? They’d throw him out the door quicker than Rock Lee’s downfall of being a relevant character. It’s the way that the own creator contradicts himself with his own wording. Stating he could not write romance and goes on to develop multiple—mutual—ships that take a back seat to underdeveloped asspull pairings. It’s the way that Boruto also fleshed out his inner shitty writing abilities by creating light novels. Here’s the thing about Light Novels; they are intended to explain situations, storyline or anything that does not initially fit in the manga itself or did not have time to be explained or developed. They are meant to help the reader themselves understand certain aspects or criteria that otherwise they wouldn’t have found in the original/initial material. Masashi Kishimoto decided now was his time to help everyone understand just how it was Naruto Uzumaki’s dream of becoming hokage was actually a fluke—it was to marry Hinata Hyuuga instead. Now this is after the disaster film of The Last. We’re still asking questions and here comes our Lord and Savior Masashi Kishimoto about to deliver us some tea!What the—there isn’t anything? There’s just Naruto boinking Hinata and..creating two children? Fine. You know what—you win this round Masashi Kishimoto. As a reader, we’re still confused about Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno, though. The Last showed zero development between them—we’d like to understand how it was they got together. Bless us with your Light Novels Kishimoto. Deliver us answers!

Okay, well so far this prologue is looking promising. Looks like we’ll be given answers regarding Naruto and Sasuke…okay, then..

What the devil….okay. So this is Sakura and..Sasuke’s relationship? He just—returns. And says he’s back. I mean this would be acceptable if he just returned from grocery shopping but haven’t you been gone for years, man? Okay..let’s uh..see if Sakura’s provides some insight about this..relationship.

(couldn’t find pictures of her novel, I’m guessing because it was absolute trash, but here’s a video that goes through the story with hilarious commentary: https://youtu.be/_xBCABYy3qk)

For a summary, at the end of Sakura shinden, we are not provided answers regarding Sakura and Sasukes relationship in the slightest. Throughout her book she’s constantly..wet over him, that’s primarily all. In short, Kishimoto didn’t deliver us with answers to shit, except exposing his piss poor writing abilities. But wait! Wait, I forgot something! Oh that’s right—Gaiden! God how could I forgotten about Gaiden!? Maybe he provides some answers there for us?!Yeah to save you the trouble—he doesn’t. You’re welcome, I won’t torment your eyesight with the images. Kishimoto in Gaiden went on further confusing the relationship between Sasuke and Sakura. The point I am making here is that the reason those Light Novels and Gaiden became so popular was that people were expecting to read the material and gather information or answers that supported these relationships. To provide hindsight to their explanations or to at least give light as to how they started to develop that perhaps wasn’t in the manga. And the creator disrespects his fans so much that he doesn’t even give them that. He doesn’t provide answers, he doesn’t further explain information, he downright doesn’t do anything except appeal to what people want—I actually am not even sure what that exactly was for the Light Novels themselves, it all seemed like a mass of bullshit to me since they didn’t go on to explain particularly anything. People supported that man from beginning to the end and they were punched in the face repeatedly with the nonsensical explanations. Rightfully so, people should be pissed.

It’s the way the creator robbed a vast majority of people their time and investments to provide nonsensical endings with illogical pairings to support his work and art.People are pissed because he doesn’t care and all the evidence points to..he never did.

As I’ve stated previously; it’s not that we hate Boruto (the character included) it’s that we hate what it did to Naruto (the character included) and Sasuke for the sake of fan service and shipping bait. None of the questions we have were answered and absolutely nothing for these poor souls were justified. They are, instead, making a mockery of our childhood.

And that is what’s utterly disrespectful most of all.