tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-907838825424302762024-03-05T21:52:46.784-08:00Anime Talk ZoneAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08506754224547697152noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90783882542430276.post-44139120774174444912014-09-29T20:44:00.000-07:002014-09-29T20:48:02.242-07:00Examining Naruto's Ending: Did Kishimoto Get It Right?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This is probably my 3<sup>rd</sup> or 4<sup>th</sup> article
in regards to Naruto’s forever ongoing “ending” but at last it seems like we’ve
finally reached the end of the road for this long journey. We’ve arrived at the
inevitable conclusion of Sasuke flipping the script and deciding he will do
things “his way” and that Naruto stands in the way of his goals, as of course
he always has. While several fans of the series are sharing in a collective
orgasm over the thought of finally settling the score once and for all, I want
to take the time to reflect on how we got to where we are now and whether or
not it was the correct way to end the series. When I say correct, I am merely
speaking from a subjective standpoint in analyzing the content in which
Kishimoto has laid out for us.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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As we have seen in recent chapters, as all looked to be
wrapping up in a nice fashion Sasuke, as stubborn as ever, turns on his Team 7
comrades that he just risked his life with in order to save the world, in order
to start a revolution. He has captured all the Tailed Beasts and trapped them
each within their own Chibaku Tensei. Naruto swears that he will stop Sasuke
and become Hokage first in typical Naruto fashion. Thus, the two leave for the
Valley of the End to settle the score once and for all because apparently the
two can’t have a fight anywhere else for some reason. In all seriousness, the
reason for this is to call back to how Part 1 of the series ended with the two
having an inconclusive end to their battle. So what better way to have them
settle the score once and for all and end the series.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Naruto has been pushing towards this climax since the end of
Part 1, but does that make it logical or even good for that matter? Well, as
far as the logistic side of things, it both makes sense yet at the same time
doesn’t. Anyone who is familiar with this series knew of the apparent inevitability
of this clashing occurring. It has been foreshadowed throughout the entire
series. Part 1 left us with an inconclusive finish to the battle between the
two as neither one could finish off the other. Later in the series as the two
clashed again, it was a draw between the two and Sasuke swore that next time
they fought; he would kill him to which Naruto responded that if they fought,
then they would both die. Itachi also added some foreshadowing into the mix as
he asked Naruto what he would do if Sasuke turned against the leaf which Naruto
replied he would stop him and told Itachi to leave Sasuke to him. Further signs
were shown during the war itself when Sasuke claimed he wanted to “burn
everything down” and that he’d be the one to “sever the ties from the past”
indicating his desire for revolution.<o:p></o:p></div>
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All of the signs were there for Sasuke’s eventual turn and
for an ending in which the two would once again be forced to clash with a
decisive winner. However, with that
said, I still feel as though this ending was incredibly rushed and forced. One
could argue that this has been a slow build and we are finally receiving the
payoff, but in the context of the story that isn’t quite the case. We strayed
so far off this path that at this point, this not only seems forced but
contradicts everything that Kishimoto has established to this point in the convoluted
events that have taken place since the beginning of this war.<o:p></o:p></div>
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All throughout the final saga of the story, Kishimoto had
worked on building this idea of an ultimate peace. The entire purpose of the
war was the clashing of ideals on how to create peace. Obito (and by extension
Madara) waged the war in order to achieve their goals of casting the Infinite
Tsukoyomi on the world. The Allied
Shinobi forces were founded on the premise of protecting the world and preserving
peace. We are shown all throughout this war how untied the shinobi world has
come. Even traditionalists such as Ohniki have changed as a result to this war.
All the shinobi in the world dawned the moniker of “Allied Shinobi” as opposed
to representing their individual nations, showing their union in order to
obtain peace. Kishimoto founded his entire ending on breaking the “cycle of
hatred” and had made strides to do so in earnest. However, Kishimoto has lost
sight of that goal caving to the fan demand in order to see Naruto and Sasuke
clash. Kishimoto has stated he had this all planned from the beginning, but the
events we have seen unfold in the past year of the series are so convoluted and
disorganized that if this was all actually planned out as he has said, then he
didn’t put much effort into his planning.<o:p></o:p></div>
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This isn’t to question Kishimoto’s abilities as a mangaka as
much of the story he has produced has been phenomenal, but it is hard to stand
by an ending with so many holes in it. The ending of a story is paramount.
Without a good ending to the series, the fan base does not feel a catharsis in the
way they should. Instead, we are left with an ending that not only makes all of
the events that have happened in the series thus far seem meaningless, but the
only consistent thing about this ending is how much it contradicts previous
events in the series. One could even go
as far as to argue that the entire purpose of Obito, Madara and Kaguya was just
to segue into a scenario in which Sasuke and Naruto could become as over
powered as possible and fight without interruption. We have seen too many “plot
twists” in who the main antagonist of the series is. Obito was a pawn of
Madara, who was a pawn of Black Zetsu, who uses Madara’s body to revive Kaguya,
who essentially is a pawn herself for Black Zetsu as he directs her in what to
do throughout a majority of her time as the main villain. The entire purpose of
all of these plot twists was to get Naruto and Sasuke to literal God-tier power
levels. <o:p></o:p></div>
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There is no catharsis in an ending with a revolving door of
villains in a very short span who accomplish nothing and in return essentially
waste our time in order to segue to Naruto vs Sasuke. Fans of the series need
to take off the nostalgia goggles and lay off the nerdgasms over the epicness
of Naruto vs Sasuke to realize that the events that have led to this fight make
absolutely no sense and overall do nothing to build towards this ending. Let’s
assume Naruto does defeat Sasuke. Then what? If Sasuke doesn’t die after being
defeated, how do you justify letting him to continue to roam around freely
knowing he is a much bigger threat than Madara was? You can’t necessarily put
him prison either as it is clear no prison at this point can keep Sasuke incarcerated
unless he is sealed away somehow. Even if the world is saved, the cycle of
hatred has not been broken. Peace cannot be established based on an ending in
which, once again, the incarnations of Asura and Indra waged war. Naruto has
not overcome hatred; nothing has been gained from such an ending.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The only real way to break that cycle while still executing
this fight is for Naruto to talk no jutsu Sasuke, which much like their
impeding battle, appears to be the all but inevitable end for this series as
Naruto seems to win all of his battles like this. It’s not a matter of if, but
when. I know I have said it before in previous articles, but I still firmly
believe despite much detest from fans who thought that the series could not end
without a Naruto-Sasuke battle, I felt as though the series was better off
ending with them not fighting. In fact, I believe Kishimoto should’ve ended
awhile back with Sasuke and Naruto defeating Madara to save the world. That
would have been an ending that would bring catharsis as it is the greatest
representation of this generation learning from the mistakes of their
predecessors and finally putting an end to the cycle of hatred, and what a
better representation for this than Madara, the embodiment of what has become
of the cycle of hatred. Even when the
spotlight was turned over to Kaguya, it still would’ve been a sufficient
ending, albeit a lackluster one. At least that same message could be conveyed
as the reincarnations of Asura and Indra were able to seal the embodiment of
all chakra in the world. Kaguya, despite being a very underwhelming antagonist
and failing to live up to the hype, would have served for a more fitting final
opponent than what we are currently receiving.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I am not arguing against a Naruto-Sasuke clash happening,
but the set up for it was deplorable. After finally defeating Kaguya and saving
the day, Sasuke, as stubborn as ever, decides to selfishly act on his own
desires for revolution. What exactly does this gain? Not only does it show that
Sasuke hasn’t learned a damn thing from any of this, but it also feels
unnecessary at this point. In the past year, we have recycled the spot of main
antagonist FOUR TIMES. This not only discredits every single predecessor who
carried the moniker prior to Sasuke, but also is a testament to Kishimoto’s
indecisiveness to figure out how he wants to execute the ending of this series.
Even though I feel that the story was better off without doing this fight, it
still could have been salvaged due to the massive amounts of buildup and foreshadowing.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Instead, we are left with a discombobulated jumble of
confusion and convoluted plot twists to forcibly shoehorn this fight into the
story. Even the Sage of Six Path’s role in this story has been greatly
diminished. The once thought of legend and God of shinobi has been resorted to
a means to not only massively power up Naruto and Sasuke, but also serve as the
one who sets up their battle. While I am
just as excited as everyone else to see how the events of this battle will play
out, I simply can’t ignore the fact that the set up that has got us there has
been downright awful. Hopefully we can
see some signs of salvation in the upcoming weeks, but I remain doubtful that
Kishimoto will be able to save this train wreck he has presented us with. As
much as fans might not want to hear it, even Naruto vs Sasuke is not enough to
salvage where we have gone with this ending. Instead, Kishimoto has been forced
to pander to fan demand in what has been nothing short of a disaster of an
ending.<o:p></o:p></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08506754224547697152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90783882542430276.post-1897532194564576042014-06-04T23:52:00.002-07:002014-06-04T23:52:35.534-07:00Naruto Chapter 679 Rant - Everything Wrong With This Chapter<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Guys, let me start off by saying that I have really been on board with a majority of the things Kishimoto has done with the ending of Naruto thus far. You guys have witnessed me speak praise about the ending, talking about the ending with Madara "bringing things full circle". But these last two chapters have made it impossible for me to continue to stay on board with what Kishimoto is doing any longer. The worst part about it is, he had such a good ending in place that made perfect sense within the boundaries of the story, and just took it and threw it all right out the window. All of the progression we have had built up towards the end of the series has been destroyed by these past two chapters in specific.<br />
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Unlike some people, I have really been a fan of the way Kishimoto was handling the ending to Naruto. Everything that was being done had purpose. I know some people specifically whom were not fans of the introduction to all of the stuff dealing with the Sage of Six Paths, but as I stated in some earlier articles I felt that it was a necessary plot thread that needed to be tied together in the ending of the story. It made perfect sense too, especially in regards to the fact that towards the very beginning of the Fourth Great Shinobi War, we began to head towards a mythical ending dealing with the Sage by involving the legendary Juubi into the mix. These were necessary pieces of the story that couldn't be ignored. So Madara, being the only person to awaken the Rinnegan through natural means (kinda) and the only person to read the full contents of the tablet in the Uchiha hideout, was the perfect choice to be the main antagonist of the series. Not only was he a myth in and of himself to the shinobi world similar to that of Hashirama, but he was the only person to come in contact with the Sage's power. So ever since Madara gained the power of the Sage of Six Paths, it was a point in the story that still made sense towards a logical ending. However, all of that, like much of the rest of the series thus far, has been thrown right out the window.<br />
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It only took me about 10 pages into this chapter before I had to stop to take a break due to the sheer amount of backtracking and just straight up bullshit. That's all there is to it. Usually I am more eloquent in my choice of words when writing, but this chapter was so bad that I'm just going to call it how it is. First off, this chapter continues to expand on the shock of last chapter when Black Zetsu turns on Madara. That was just the beginning and it only got worse from there. We learn that Black Zetsu was not Madara's will as we had initially thought but was instead that of Kaguya's and has been manipulating Madara this entire time. If I remember correctly, Black Zetsu wasn't even manifested until Madara had recruited Obito to do his bidding. So in what context could Black Zetsu possibly have been manipulating Madara if he didn't even exist until right before Madara's death? It is entirely possible that Black Zetsu was present the whole time inside of Madara before being given a physical presence, but we just can't confirm that fact at this point in time because we simply don't know if this is true or not. Now don't get me wrong, I love unpredictability and plot twists of this magnitude, when they are executed correctly. Black Zetsu back stabbing Madara (literally, right through the heart) was one of those things that seemed to be done to more or less drag out the ending of the story.<br />
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We have been foreshadowed throughout the entirety of Naruto that Madara was going to be the main villain. As much as I favor Tobi/Obito as the main antagonist, the second he was hiding under the alias of Madara Uchiha it was clear who the true villain of this series was. Everything about Madara being the final villain made sense and was executed nicely up until now. What was the point of not only deliberately making Madara the main villain to reach the very end and not only dispose of him in favor of another villain, but to literally one shot kill him and reduce him to nothing more than a pawn? Nothing about it makes sense. There was a point in those first 10 pages of the chapter when Black Zetsu started referring to the things Kaguya had done where I thought that Kishimoto was literally about to make Black Zetsu the main villain as opposed to reviving Kaguya. The manner in which he was speaking made it appear as though Black Zetsu wasn't just the vessel for Kaguya but just the remnants of her spirit left behind. That would've been a whole different rant entirely had that been the case.<br />
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After this, we are revealed another shocking revelation that I'm calling bullshit on and that deals with the other form of Zetsu which is the White Zetsus. You're really going to tell me, that after 600 odd something chapters of telling us that White Zetsus were created from Hashirama's cells that all of a sudden in actuality White Zetsus are the result of people being cast under the Infinite Tsukoyomi? Really Kishimoto? I've come to expect those types of mediocre, convoluted plot twists from Tite Kubo, but I thought you were better than that. This doesn't account for the fact that Madara had been pumping out White Zetsus using Hashirama's DNA or that Obito and Kabuto were able to use Yamato to mass produce White Zetsus for the war. Either you forgot that fact or you think that we're just too stupid to put two and two together. It just doesn't work that way. I heard the argument that it is possible that Madara found a means to produce the White Zetsu's using Hashirama's DNA and the Gedo Mazo but you can't have it both ways. We're basically starting from scratch here in saying that the White Zetsu are actually what becomes of those cast under the Infinite Tsukoyomi because there was nothing in those first 678 chapters to support that claim and there is no way to spin how Obito and Madara were able to mass produce them if this were the case. Keep in mind people, I've written a full page worth of complaints and I haven't even started yet on Kaguya's revival.<br />
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After taking a break after those first 10 chapters to type out my complaints in a message to a friend, I figured it was time to continue the chapter with no further expectations for this chapter to be salvaged. The more I read from this chapter the worse it got. After those first 10 pages I proceeded to continuously message my friend as I gutted out the rest of the chapter. Shortly after the point I stopped to take a break, Madara and Black Zetsu both disappear and we are left with none other than the Rabbit (Demon) Goddess herself, Kaguya Ootsutsuki. I had no problem with the introduction of her character because it expanded on the origins of the Juubi, the Sage of Six Paths and chakra but in no way shape or form does it make any sense for her to be the main antagonist of the series. Unlike Madara, she had no ties or connections to anything that was occurring in the present world. It would have made more sense for Madara to be the inheritor of her will and power and to battle the reincarnations of Asura and Indra in Naruto and Sasuke who possessed Hagoromo's power. The torch needs to be passed and let the current characters resolve their own issues in order for the world to progress forward towards true peace. Madara represented all the things wrong with the current shinobi world and also represented that obstacle that Sasuke and Naruto were going to have to overcome to break the cycle of hatred. Kaguya's presence as the main villain attributes nothing to the overall ending of the story. I was fully on board with Kishimoto's decision to introduce the Sage's history and the history of how everything we've come to know in this series has come to be, but Kaguya coming back offers nothing towards providing closure at the end of this series.<br />
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The worst part of Kaguya being the main villain, is we literally know nothing about her. The only thing we know is that she was the first human to use chakra and cast Infinite Tsukoyomi before in order to stop the fighting. It's obvious that her character is designed to want true peace as opposed to having an inherent evil agenda which is another thing that doesn't make sense. From what we were told, her intentions are pure to bring about peace, yet her methods were very forceful and brought about an era where humans weaponized chakra, which is the problem we are dealing with today. Everything from her power, to her motives in reviving herself, to why she is the main antagonist are all unknowns. At this stage of the story, we need clarity on all of these facts which is what we had with Madara to a good extent. Now all of that has been tossed aside and we are again starting from scratch.<br />
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Speaking about Kaguya's abilities, we may not know a whole lot about what she is capable of, but one thing is for sure, there is no way in hell Sasuke and Naruto are touching this bitch in combat. Kishimoto once said that he had no idea how he was going to kill off Madara because he was too powerful, so not only did he make Madara overpowered to the extreme, but he then has him killed off in favor of a villain who not only one shot killed him but also dwarfs him in comparison to their power level. To put things into perspective about how overpowered Kaguya is in comparison to Sasuke and Naruto, it would be like sending Naruto and Sasuke from part 1 in to fight Pain. This is with Hagoromo's power mind you. She even calls them out on their bullshit that they currently are only even at the level they are because they possess Hagoromo's power. These guys weren't even on Madara's level once he obtained both of his Rinnegan, and this bitch one shot him before she was even revived. There is no way they are disposing of her through Sasuke and Naruto playing the heroes here. This brings me to my final point.<br />
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Does anyone remember a few chapters back when Tenten realized she was in possession of the Sage's magical tools and that they could be helpful in this fight? Yeah well that happened and that's clear as day foreshadowing for how they're going to dispose of Kaguya. As much bullshit as Kishimoto has pulled out of his ass recently, this is the only for sure thing I can say about the ending of Naruto anymore. Those tools are going to be critical in the end of it all. They are going to have to use them to dispose of Kaguya because their power alone won't do it. This leads me to believe that the ending will go one of two ways. They are either going to A) be forced to use the Sage's tools and work together as a team to distract Kaguya and seal her away for good or the more likely scenario because it is almost to cliche to not happen B) they work together to seal up Kaguya, which they will accomplish. Our heroes will think everything is over, the world is saved and then bam! Kaguya is still alive, their attempt to seal her fails and it looks like all hope is lost when Naruto goes Super Saiyan 5 in order to stop Kaguya. Either way, it's complete bullshit. I can't help but feel betrayed at this point because I feel like everything that has been built up for over 600 chapters was all bullshit and is completely irrelevant to the story. It feels as though if someone wanted the gist of Naruto, all they would have to do is read these last 40 chapters and even half of the information in those is bullshit and lies.<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08506754224547697152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90783882542430276.post-206178137816428382014-04-24T00:05:00.001-07:002014-04-24T00:06:24.329-07:00Examining Naruto Chapter 674 - Is Madara Too Powerful?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Well it's been a week since I wrote my article in regards to chapter 673 of Naruto and what the future holds for us. A few of these questions have been answered, especially in regards to my speculation about Naruto and Sasuke's abilities using their new found power of the Sage of Six Paths. Other questions such as Madara still hiding a few tricks up his sleeves in terms of his power as well. With that said, there were even more questions raised this week and now it's time to discuss what has happened this week and what it means for the future of Naruto.<br />
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For me, this chapter got off to an amazing start. Last week, we left off with the battle between Madara and Naruto and Sasuke was about to kick off and we sure jumped right into things here. The chapter was titled Sasuke's Rinnegan and for good reason. A lot of the early going in this battle gave Sasuke the chance to shine and show off the true power gap between someone who has awakened the Rinnegan naturally as opposed to having them implanted such as Obito and Nagato. His visual prowess was increased exponentially as well as his speed. Sasuke was not only able to keep up with Madara, but at points was even able to exceed Madara's speed. There was a huge sense of nostalgia here for me in watching Sasuke and Naruto battle as a team. I'm not even referring to the fact that they've walked two completely different paths and are finally on the same page again. No, here I am referencing the fact that their first true main fight in the series was together when they battled Haku. In that fight, Sasuke was the one coming up with the strategies and the same thing could be said here. This fight is a true reflection of where we started, and where we are going to end. In that battle with Haku, Sasuke was able to (truly) awaken his Sharingan and Naruto was able to unleash the Kyuubi's chakra for the first time as well. In the fight with Madara, both have maxed their potentials as Sasuke not only has his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan but the Rinnegan as well and Naruto has maxed out the full capabilities of senjutsu as well as having the capability to use the chakra of all nine tailed beasts. We really are at the end and it's so uncanny how similar the first main fight for our protagonists and our last main fight (as far as we know) for them parallel each other so much. As stated, we got to finally see the capabilities of the duo. While Sasuke truly shined this chapter, Naruto still had his moments of greatness but not as much as the previous two. I believe this was done intentionally by Kishimoto due to the lack of Sasuke the past two chapters, but it still felt a little disheartening to see Naruto differing to Sasuke. I understand why with Madara's limbo ability (which I will discuss here in a minute). Naruto could sense it, but he couldn't actually see Madara's movements with it so he needed Sasuke's visual prowess to know what to do. However, Naruto should still be giving input in how they should be approaching Madara instead of completely deferring to Sasuke, but it is still early on so I'm sure there will be more collaborating as the fight continues onward. I really have no complaints about the beginning of the fight. For about 11-13 chapters, I was hooked, completely on the edge of my seat for every single thing to ensue in this battle. After that point though, the chapter plunged downwards.<br />
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For the first time since his revival, it felt like Madara was finally in real danger. In all respect to Gai, he did his best and did some major damage as he was almost able to kill Madara, but that was the point. Madara wanted the thrill of being able to fight a true master of the eight gates ability. While obviously it was not Madara's goal to die, he was enjoying being taken to the brink by Gai. Here, there were no fun and games for Madara. You could tell from the very get go, he was in some serious danger and he was not too thrilled with the threat that was posed to him. For the first time since his battle at the valley of the end with Hashirama, Madara was in serious danger of being defeated. I have to comment here on the limbo ability which Madara has been utilizing. Using the abilities of the Rinnegan, Madara is able to cast an undetectable shadow of himself into the other dimension known as limbo. This was a very unique ability as it gives quite the spin on the shadow clone as well as the dimensional attacks which were utilized by Obito and Kakashi's Kamui. It was quite the intriguing ability and it was cool to see how Sasuke could see through it as to this point, we only knew small hints of what the ability was from Naruto's ability to sense it.<br />
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After these points, this is where the problem starts for me. Madara, for the first time feeling danger, almost wilts to the competition that is presented before him. For a power hungry, battle loving maniac, he didn't seemed to be too thrilled with the challenge. I've never been the biggest supporter of Madara, but I don't outright dislike him as a villain. I just think a lot of what he does is predictable, such as his actions in this chapter. Madara, sensing that he is in danger, swoops behind Kakashi and steals his Sharingan in order to leap over to the other dimension. His intentions in stealing Kakashi's eye were obvious, he is going to the other dimension to take back his Rinnegan from Obito before he has the chance to crush it. This is the point where my problems with the chapter really begin. We've been made to believe throughout this series that implanting eyes is a complex process, not just something you do on the fly in mid battle. Every instance where we have been shown eyes being implanted in this series, it was a process and not just something you did. Madara on the other hand, throws that idea out the window when he implants Kakashi's Sharingan mid battle. Although, I suppose he did kind of do this earlier on with the Rinnegan. Either way, it's been Madara bending the rules every time with no clear explanation given to why he is able to do so. Sasuke had the same chakra from Indra as Madara and had to take time to recover from having Itachi's eyes implanted. So that excuse is thrown out the window. I assume some would make the argument about him being the Junchuriki of the Juubi and having the power of the Sage of Six Paths, but he implanted his original Rinnegan before accomplishing that feat. I don't like the idea that these eyes can just be taken in and out with no repercussions. It'd be like getting a Bijuu extracted and being able to live because fuck it why not. At least we got explanations for why Naruto is still alive, Madara on the other hand can just pick and choose what eyes work and which don't like they're freaking Mr. Potatohead pieces. I feel as though people just brush aside all these inconsistencies with what Madara is doing just because it makes him even more badass. It also bothers me that Kakashi was so vulnerable and helpless at this point, considering all the things he has done throughout this war.<br />
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This brings me back to the title of the article. Is Madara too powerful? I know a lot of people will just be mesmerized with the stunning accomplishments Madara is achieving, but this creates a real problem for the story. There is nothing wrong with creating an insanely powerful villain, but what if it damages the plot? What if Kishimoto is writing himself into a hole here where the only foreseeable outcome is to resort to some form of deus ex machina? Would fans of the series still be so captivated by Madara if there becomes no way for him to be defeated in a fitting matter? Clearly, there is no chance in hell that Madara just wipes out the face of humanity and successfully utilizes the Infinite Tsukoyomi. So there has to be a way for the heroes to match him and overcome him. However, Kishimoto is setting himself up to create a situation where there is literally, no believable way for Madara to be defeated. Yes, Sasuke and Naruto have achieved the power of the Sage of Six Paths, but they were barely on par with Madara when he only had one of his Rinnegan, what happens if he gets both? I remember reading that Kishimoto stated that he couldn't figure out a way to write off Madara. Whether or not this was a joke is irrelevant, he keeps pushing towards that point. Even worse, if he was serious and doesn't know a believable way to write off Madara, making him stronger and stronger isn't going to remedy the situation.<br />
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Obviously, we don't know whether or not Madara will actually obtain the Rinnegan as there are a number of options that can come from the current predicament facing Obito and Sakura. Obito could potentially sacrifice himself and use his Kamui to teleport Sakura back. Then this would raise the question of whether or not he'd be able to do so with or without the Rinnegan. If they are able to send the Rinnegan over, what do they do with it? Do they give it to Kakashi in order to fill the void left by his Sharingan being stolen? I find this to be highly unlikely, but then again, crazier things have happened in this series. Obito and Sakura could also still crush the Rinnegan before Madara could get it, but would they even have the time to do so at this point? Madara would clearly have the speed advantage on them. Even if they do so, wouldn't it be a death sentence for the both of them? The only way Sakura survives that scenario is if Obito either, somehow, finds a way to use the Kamui and send her back over after the crush the Rinnegan before Madara kills them both, which is unlikely. The other scenario to arise there is that Obito uses the Kamui to send both Sakura and the Rinnegan over and she crushes it asap. Otherwise, if none of those scenarios come to fruition, it would appear as though both Sakura and Obito are on the verge of death. I don't believe Sakura is going to die, so I believe the most likely outcome would be for Obito to sacrifice himself in order to save Sakura with him losing his life and his Rinnegan to Madara in the process. At this point, there would be no telling how powerful Madara would be. I will go on record as to say that I believe Madara, at this point in time if he gains his other Rinnegan, has virtually become the definition of hax or overpowered or whatever you want to call it. There is no other way around it, while others may argue that this adds to his greatness, I am of the opinion it has made him virtually one dimensional. At the same time though, even if I don't find him to be the most intriguing villain, he definitely earns the title of being a formidable final villain and a good choice as the final obstacle for our heroes.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08506754224547697152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90783882542430276.post-14489452589624879102014-04-17T02:18:00.000-07:002014-04-17T02:20:56.061-07:00Current State of Naruto - Examining Up to Chapter 673 and Onwards<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Credit goes to: DesignerRenan and gaston18 form DeviantArt</div>
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Following the completion of Naruto chapter 673, I was left in such a euphoric state of excitement for what was to come in the climax of this series. This was, in my opinion, the best chapter Naruto has produced in a long time (despite some minor problems I will discuss here in a moment). So I figured, after such an amazing chapter, what a better time than now to discuss my thoughts on the recent events of the series and what is still to come. Let me say now before I get into any further detail about the current events of the series, IF YOU HAVE NOT READ UP TO CHAPTER 673 OF NARUTO, NOW WOULD BE A GOOD TIME TO LEAVE UNLESS YOU WANT TO BE HEAVILY SPOILED OR DON'T CARE TO BE SPOILED!</div>
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Credit goes to: MitchB3 from DeviantArt</div>
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With that said, onto the details. Now, as I hinted in the introductory paragraph, this chapter got off to a very disappointing start for me. The past few weeks, we have finally been introduced to the true power of opening the eighth gate. We've been teased with the legendary power of the eighth gate for a long time now, so seeing what a person is truly capable of after opening the eighth gate was a remarkable moment. Gai reached a point that if it were not for the power of the legendary Sage of Six Paths possessed by, now, a multitude of characters, he would be the strongest shinobi in the entire manga, and that's saying something with the incredible feats we've seen accomplished throughout the series. Eight Gates Gai was able to nearly defeat Madara in his Sage of Six Paths mode. The hype surrounding the eight gates was real and well warranted. However, as we saw in chapter 672, Gai had reached his limit and tanked Madara with his final attack. This however, was not enough to kill Madara and Gai was left completely devoid of life and quickly approaching his death. At the end of the chapter, right before Gai died, Naruto came in and re-lit his chakra flow in a sense. Now, it still was not yet confirmed that Gai was going to live until this chapter. Naruto reassured us that he is in fact Ninja Jesus and is able to bring people back to life (half joking sadly). Naruto was able to use his newly acquired So6P power to save Gai's life. Now, it's not that I wanted to see Gai die, but imagine how much more of an impact his opening of the eight gates would've had if he would've been forced to exchange his life like we were led to believe one must do? It would've given his efforts great merit and given a meaning to what he was doing. Now, not only do I feel cheated by the hax power that eight gates is since the consequences aren't as meaningful with Gai keeping his life, but I also feel that his efforts were a giant waste of time. Not only did Gai use his ultimate attack against Madara to, virtually, have no affect since Madara was able to absorb the Chakra Tree to regain full strength and even get stronger, but his entire fight was more or less just used with the intent to buy Sasuke and Naruto time to gain the power of Asura and Indra from the Sage of Six Paths himself. This is more of a gripe for me from a plot standpoint than what Gai actually attempted to do since, obviously, he wouldn't have known what was to come with Naruto and Sasuke's massive power increase. From his perspective, both were on the verge of death and someone needed to attempt something drastic to stop Madara otherwise they would've been completely wiped out. But from our perspective, knowing what we know now, it feels as though this legendary power we were foreshadowed was used as a stalling tactic to give Madara something to do while he awaited Naruto and Sasuke's power up more so than anything. I feel as though Madara's regeneration after absorbing the Chakra Tree wouldn't have felt like such a slap in the face had Gai died in his last ditch effort to tank Madara, since Madara obviously wasn't gonna be defeated by Gai but it was nice seeing that Gai's power was almost capable of completely tanking Madara.</div>
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Credit goes to: EspadaZero from DeviantArt</div>
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With that rant out of the way, I can focus on the second point that I wanted to talk about and that is Madara. If any of you keep up with my blog consistently, you would've read my character analysis of Obito and his impact as an antagonist for the series. While Obito grew on me and was such a compelling villain, Madara is the opposite for me. I know a lot of people would disagree with me on this point, but I believe that Madara is one of the weaker antagonists of the series. For me, a great antagonist has a lot of psychological elements involved in their characterization. Not only this, but they have several layers to there character and can become more than just a one dimensional character. For me, a lot of what Madara does that doesn't involve fighting is very dull and uninteresting. A lot of what he states in his dialogue is just regurgitated lines we've already heard from Obito. Now, one might argue that these were Madara's viewpoints to begin with since he was the one who warped Obito into doing his bidding. However, Obito had the benefit of being present throughout a good majority of the series so we got to grow with his idealism and experience it first hand. At this point, even if these were all Madara's views being spoken through Obito, it greatly hurts Madara that it's all stuff we've already seen and heard. Originality is a villain's best friend, so the fact that a lot of what he has said in his dialogue is all crap we've been hearing for years from someone else greatly hurts his characterization. I do like Madara's cocky, brash arrogance that he has consistently displayed since his introduction, but other than the "cool" or "badass" factor, Madara is pretty bland. I do enjoy watching Madara's battles as he is clearly a two-timing, evil mother fucker who will sacrifice anyone and everyone to get what he wants, but other than those aspects of his character he is pretty much your standard generic idea of what a villain is. He seeks power, and nothing but power to rewrite the world that has wronged him (or at least that appears to be his motivation). Madara, as stated before, is power hungry and all of his methods seem to involve violence and the only thing that interests him is battle and warfare. This doesn't mean Madara is a bad villain, he is doing his job just fine as what I would expect as your standard "final" hurdle for our heroes. But for me, a villain is more memorable based on their depth and characterization more so than anything. For me, Madara is just the Kenpachi of the Naruto-verse. His methods aren't very complex and from what we have seen thus far neither is his motivation or characterization. Obviously, he still has a lot to offer us in which he can redeem himself for these perceived insufficient traits, but as of now it appears as though everything he does is one dimensional and what you see is what you get.</div>
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Credit goes to: DEOHVI from DeviantArt</div>
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With those points out of the way, time to focus on our two main characters. Naruto and Sasuke have both finally resurfaced and are ready for the final fight. It is clear now that our final fight is upon us and after much speculation as to how Madara will be defeated, it is clear at this point that it will almost certainly be Naruto and Sasuke who are the ones to do it. In the past few chapters, we were finally introduced to the Sage of Six Paths and got all of the loose ends tied up as far as connections between characters and the story. In a way, it finally makes sense now why Obito's Sage of Six Paths transformation felt so wrong. Obito, thus far, was the only person with the Sage of Six Paths power up to be almost completely transformed in terms of appearance. Now it is clear that this was almost certainly because he did not possess the chakra of Asura or Indra and was not one of the Otutsuki reincarnations. More so because he wasn't an Otutsuki reincarnation since he did possess Uchiha blood and Hashirama DNA, yet the fact that he wasn't a reincarnation explains why Obito wasn't able to awaken the Rinnegan himself. As far as Madara, he was the initial reincarnation of Indra and possessed his chakra while Hashirama was the reincarnation of Asura and possessed his chakra. These two, like Asura and Indra, carried on the war of hatred that seemingly has been passed down throughout the Otutsuki family. After which, Naruto and Sasuke became the next ones in line for the transmigration of being Asura and Indra reincarnations and inheritors of their chakra. Madara, due to his infusing of Hashirama cells into his body and awakening the Rinnegan, which were the eyes possessed by Hagoromo, broke the cycle of transmigration by basically not dying. Thus, Madara now was able to reach the power and as of 673, seemingly the will of Hagoromo's mother, Kaguya. Almost as if a slap in the face of his mother's idealism, Hagoromo taps into Naruto and Sasuke's hidden potential as the inheritors of his children's chakra and awakens their Sage of Six Path powers. This has created an ugly family war to end the series through a series of transmigrated vessels. I, personally, am incredibly excited for this final fight. I know there were complaints earlier at the beginning of the 4th Great Shinobi war that the powers were becoming too overpowered, and this obviously takes the cake as far as being overpowered, but at the end of the day it feels right in a way. We've been foreshadowed to the power of the Sage of Six Paths dating way back to the early stages of the series. There had to be an explanation for all the craziness of the power that was the Sharingan, the Rinnegan, the Byakugan, the Tailed Beasts, etc. It wouldn't be a fitting ending if we weren't presented with characters capable of bringing about the true essence of these legendary powers. There just was no other way to go about it without everything being left unexplained. This final clash will not only decide the war once and for all, but will also give us the chance to see virtually gods in battle. At this point, the power scales go Madara, Naruto and Sasuke, followed by Gai right below this trio when using the power of the eighth gate, followed by pretty much everyone else way below them. As much as people might complain about how overpowered the characters have become, there was really no other way to do it when we're talking about the power of gods. The power of the Sage of Six Path basically puts you on God tier, minus Obito who was an incomplete incarnation of the Sage of Six Paths, so there really was no other way.</div>
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As stated above, the climax to the war is upon us. We have reached the final battle that will decide it all. Sage of Six Paths Madara vs Sage of Six Paths Naruto and Sasuke. While Madara has the full spectrum of the So6P power, Naruto and Sasuke have split the power between the two of them with one reaching the full potential of Asura and the other of Indra. With that said, one has to wonder, how much power do Naruto and Sasuke really posses? We pretty much know the full scale of Madara's power, albeit maybe a few tricks here and there up his sleeve, but we really don't know what level Sasuke and Naruto will be on. In 673, we were shown that Sasuke awakened the power of the Rinnegan and Naruto got the full Senjutsu power of the Sage of Six Paths. Now the reason I ask the question about what kind of power they possess is based on these two points. With Sasuke, we know he is able to touch Madara's staff the same way Naruto is able to. So I assume they can both touch the black orbs no problem (we know Naruto can since he kicked one at Madara like it was kickball in gym class plus he possess that ability himself). These makes me wonder, do those mysterious black orbs have something to do with the ultimate power of Senjutsu since it appears that Sasuke won't be using them? Naruto also appears to be once again dawning his chakra cloak, the same way he did when it was his Bijuu chakra cloak, only this time obviously being the Sage of Six Paths chakra cloak. I find it interesting that the color pattern is still yellow (representing the sun element of Asura obviously) as opposed to white as all other incarnations of So6P modes have included white in some form or fashion. We still haven't seen the full brunt of what Naruto is capable of, but I think based on his appearance in his So6P mode it is a lot more clear what kind of power he is going to possess than Sasuke. Another interesting thing to point out from this chapter is that Naruto was able to use Son Goku's chakra to form a lava Rasen-Shuriken. Does this mean Naruto can borrow power of all 9 Tailed Beasts? Speaking of the Tailed Beasts, I know there are more important things going on.... but does anyone know what happened to Bee? He obviously got the Eight Tails sucked out of him, so is he dead? It's almost as if Kishimoto kinda expects us to just forget that he was an important player in this fight. Anyways, back on track. So we got at least somewhat of an idea of what kind of power Naruto now possess with his So6P mode, however to say we are completely in the dark with what Sasuke is capable of is beyond an understatement at this point. The only things we know for certain in what Sasuke is able to accomplish in his So6P mode is that he is capable of touching Madara's staff without taking damage (a clear sign he has reached So6P power) and that he has awaken the Rinnegan. Now, this is where we tail off. We know Sasuke has awakened the Rinnegan in one eye while keeping his Sharingan in the other. Was this done as a preference by Sasuke or was it actually a strategic move in order to fully maximize both the power of the Rinnegan and Sharingan? I'm going to guess the latter as that would also explain why Obito chose only to swipe one of Nagato's eyes as opposed to both since his Kamui ability was almost like a survival mechanism for him. So Sasuke would be able to access Amaterasu, his Susanoo and all other abilities of the Sharingan as well as all of the abilities displayed for the Rinnegan thus far in the series. Now, this does make for an amazing combination of power, but would it truly justify being a full transformation for Sasuke into So6P mode? Especially considering Obito, albeit strong, was nowhere near So6P power when he possessed both eyes. Another thing to note is that Sasuke's Rinnegan does not appear to be the traditional Rinnegan, as it appears to be similar in appearnce to the Juubi's eye, so maybe he possesses an even greater ocular power that would put him on the level of So6P? I believe that there is still a lot more to be revealed about both of their Sage of Six Paths powers (more so for Sasuke) in the near future, most likely even next chapter.</div>
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The final thought on my mind about the current state of Naruto is the unanswered question on everyone's mind: will Naruto and Sasuke still fight each other at the end of the series? As most people may know, Kishimoto has said that we are rapidly approaching the end of the Naruto series, with him actually planning to end the series before the 2014 calendar year is over. With that in mind, is it even possible to fit a Naruto and Sasuke battle in? While it is certainly possible, I have come to terms with the fact that for the sake of the story, it would be better to end the fighting with Madara. From a story point of view, it just makes way too much sense. As much as people would love to see a fight between So6P Naruto and So6P Sasuke to find out once and for all who is superior, it would actually make more sense for them to not fight. I know a lot of people are under the belief that a final fight between the two is inevitable all things considered. They had their initial brawl at the Valley of the End when they were children to end Part 1 of the series with no real winner as neither one really came out on top (even though Sasuke was able to walk away from the battle while Naruto was not). Not only this, but it had been foreshadowed all throughout Part 2 as well. Itachi hinted to Naruto before his own battle with Sasuke that Naruto may have to use force in order to bring his brother back to the village. Not only this, but after Sasuke's fight with Danzo when the two clashed again, it was hinted that they would fight again one day. So I can understand why people would almost feel cheated if the fight didn't happen but consider it this way: with all of the events in the story thus far, including all the stuff with Jiraya, Pain, Itachi and even Madara and Hashirama themselves, wouldn't it make more sense for the series to end not with another war, but with peace finally being achieved? A major theme throughout Part 2 has been about finding peace and overcoming the cycle of hatred, hell Madara is the embodiment of what the cycle of hatred has created. This has diverted the plot onto a different path than what we had been foreshadowed to before. Now, I'm not saying the fight won't happen since it is still uncertain how Kishimoto will handle the rest of his story, but in my opinion I would rather they don't fight. It brings the larger themes at play to full circle with the two reincarnations of Asura and Indra finally being able to overcome the bitterness and hatred that has been causing war for centuries and finally reach the peace their father, Hagoromo was seeking. While it would be cool to see these two fight, especially now having both obtained the power of the Sage of Six Paths, it would be better to bring the overall plot to a conclusion by having them conquer the embodiment of the cycle of hatred in Madara and the Juubi and finally restore peace to the world. I think that plot point is much bigger and more important at this point than Naruto and Sasuke being destined to fight. Obviously they were destined to fight due to the cycle of hatred, but for them to overcome the hatred to find peace would be a fitting ending. Not too mention this has been foreshadowed by other characters all throughout the war with Onoki even discussing his own desires to tear apart the current system of villages and keep the allied shinobi forces united in order to stop the hatred. I feel as though we've almost been building more towards that point than we have another impeding battle between Naruto and Sasuke. In fact, if that is the path Kishimoto chooses to take and does not have the two fight in the end, it would make even more sense as to why he decided to build it up as though they would. If he chooses that route, their previous confrontations would have created a foreshadowing to the fact that they were destined to fight due to the continuing nature of the cycle of hatred created by the Otutsuki family but were able to break free from that hatred due to Madara's road blocking of the transmigration by refusing to die. In the end, even though Madara and Obito came close to practically destroying the world, it could actually have been the best thing to happen to the world of Naruto... but first Naruto and Sasuke have to defeat Madara and that won't be an easy task.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08506754224547697152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90783882542430276.post-8280505256665137522014-03-29T23:16:00.002-07:002014-03-29T23:16:22.750-07:00Why Do We Fight?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Why do we fight? A question that is asked so often in media that it has practically become cliche. An element that is juxtaposed throughout the whole shounen demographic. In one form or another, fights are a staple in the battle genre especially from series serialized in Jump. The question I am offering up today is a simple one: Why? Why do we embellish the idea of people brawling it out in life or death battles? Why are we enthralled with the idea of who is the stronger competitor in battle? Why are we captivated by the magical moment of watching how the fights unfold and what twists and turns lie ahead? These are all questions that popped in my head as I finished watching this most recent episode of Hunter x Hunter. So today, I will be analyzing the art of the fight and strive to answer the question posed in the title of the article.<br />
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In analyzing the art of the fight, I think it is most important to look at the question of why. So why do these fights occur and why are we so fascinated by these competitions? Well, it's simple really. What it boils down to is it is human nature to be captivated with the sport of competition. This is why sports are popular, boxing and mma are popular as well as super heroes. People resort to these forms of entertainment to escape from their real world problems. Humans are competitive by nature, so this provides them an outlet to enjoy competition. These fights in anime also parallel the real world problems such as all the wars we experience daily. A lot of these battles are the perceived good guys defending the world from the bad guys. This concept is an escape from the real life fights and allows us to enjoy the good guys being able to overcome the bad guys since this doesn't always happen in the real world. Instead of more physical weapons (such as the guns and knives we use in real fights) they are substituted with more supernatural powers in this genre of anime. This isn't to say that guns and knives aren't present in shounen battle anime, but the primary weapon of war in anime is supernaturally based centering on weapon's made from human life energy. We want to be able to believe that embellishing war this way through magical powers is real because it makes it enjoyable and cool. This is why fights have become a staple for the shounen battle genre. We as humans are fascinated with the competitive nature of an all out battle.<br />
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Now that we've looked at why fights occur, the next step is to dissect the actual elements to what makes a fight so compelling. The first is the great conveying of emotions through battle. In my opinion, the emotional means to a fight is a critical element that is greatly overlooked in why certain fights are so memorable. There is no better example of this than a fight that occurred in Yu Yu Hakusho when Hiei battled one of three demon world kings in Mokuro. This was not the best physical brawl in history as much of the contest was heavily dominated by Mokuro, however it is still a very meaningful fights for fans because of the great emotional story that this fight centered around. Mokuro was attempting to get Hiei to accept wanting to live and they were in a sense professing their feelings for each other. It was magical to witness and is still one of my favorite fights from that series. But this isn't the only emotionally driven fight. Most of the best fight do have an emotional back story to go along with it. Just to name a few memorable ones off the top of my head: Gon vs Pitou (Hunter x Hunter), Naruto vs Pain (Naruto Shippuden), Luffy vs Arlong (One Piece), etc. The emotions that are poured into a fight really create a euphoric sense of "big fight feel" and keep them invested in every turn that comes to fruition in the fight. Emotions run high in situations that turn to combat, so often the combatant's judgement can be clouded creating for some intense and powerful moments.<br />
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Also going along with the emotional element of fights, story is just as pivotal in creating a special atmosphere for battle. People can debate this point as much as they want, but the best fights also have incredible build up and story telling throughout. Very rarely is a fight as memorable without a whole lot of story to go with it. To put it into perspective, Ichigo's fight with Aizen is viewed as a confrontation of epic proportions, but when examining the fight itself without the back story and build up to go with it, there really isn't a whole lot there to praise. In fact, that's probably one of the most one sided curb stomping's I've seen in any anime. So why is it so highly regarded? Well, the story telling and build up of Aizen's character really helped build fans' anticipation for the confrontation and gave them a sense of euphoria when Ichigo was able to put an end to Aizen's tyrannical dominance over the shinigami. It's just a simple, undeniable fact that often a fight can be derailed without a good story being centered around it. I honestly feel it is a critical element to what makes a fight more memorable. There is no better way to convey a story than through characters with opposing ideals having to clash in order to overcome their differences.<br />
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Another important aspect to what makes these fights is setting. Setting, in my opinion, is a crucial aspect for helping create the atmosphere of a fight. One of the first things our brains are able to recognize a fight by is the setting. The setting can be used as part of the fight as well. It has just such an enigmatic effect on fights that it becomes a key factor in what people will remember the fight for. One of the best examples of this for me is Natsu's fight with Jellal in the Tower of Heaven. That fight wasn't so great in terms of the actual combat, but it stands out for me because the Etharion background is so captivating and add such a cool element to the fight. Another fight that stands out for me primarily because of setting is Ichigo vs Ulquiorra from Bleach. Yes, this one was a very good physical fight but what I remember it for is the unique setting. The night time of Hueco Mundo was just so visually appealing with the soft white sand mixed in with the pitch black background of the sky. It was something that I'd never seen before having characters fight in a black and white space like that. So yes, in my opinion setting is a critical element of why we love fights.<br />
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The final element I think that is key to making these fights so compelling is the actual fluidity and innovative nature of these battles. We love fights because they provide a sense of entertainment like no other. The action and strategy presented keeps us on the edge of our seats and emotionally invested in what the outcome will be at every turn in the battle. Fights are more compelling when they are creative in their approach to it. We want to see the characters engaged in battle have to improvise and find new applications of their skills and abilities to overcome their opponents. We also are going to be more captivated by a back and forth confrontation where neither character readily has the upper hand. These are the types of aspects that make a fight memorable. We want to be thrilled by what we see. Fights need to be exciting while keeping your full attention with what is happening on screen. We, by nature, are excited by the unexpected and by competition. So the more these fights are smart, entertaining, competitive and creating, we are always going to be captivated by their magic.<br />
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So there we have it. Fights are always going to capture a lot of people's attention for the sheer entertainment purposes of wanting to be blown away by the sheer power of competition and unpredictability. It's only natural in a society that promotes violent competitive sports such as football, boxing and mixed martial arts that we'd also love the the supernatural battles that occur in shounen battle series. I for one, will always be a fan of fights in anime and manga series because of the reasons mentioned above. There is just so much that can be added to a series by having stories end through battles. It is a euphoric feeling of enjoyment that can't be created by anything else. I will always be a supporter of the series that attempt to carry on this tradition and I am glad to have gotten to watch a vast variety of all different styles of battle in anime and manga to write about my love for them.<br />
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<span style="background-color: #444444; color: white;">Coming in at number ten is Madhouse's visual masterpiece, Redline. Directed by Takeshi Koike, <span style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19.1875px;">The film is set in the distant future, where a man known as JP takes on great risks for the </span><nobr style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19.1875px;">chance of winning</nobr><span style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19.1875px;"> the titular underground race.The film is famous for being in production for 7 years and ultimately producing one of the best looking animated films I've ever seen. The visuals of this movie are absolutely stunning. The film consisted of 100,000 hand made drawings and it shows in how insanely stunning these visuals are. Redline tells a simple story that is entertaining and action packed, but other than that there isn't really a whole lot to the plot. This is the main reason I can't put Redline further on this list is that it had such minimal plot. Obviously, this was done because the main selling point to Redline was for it's artistic visual masterpiece but it doesn't help the film. It is an exciting story and enough to keep you interested, but if it weren't for the art this movie would not have been as memorable or successful as it was. The minimal plot does fit in nicely though as it does not draw the attention away from the visuals and at the same time doesn't create too much to digest from what's happening on screen. This film will always be remembered by fans as a cult classic because of how brilliant the animation is. Redline will be remembered as the most visually pleasing film of all time.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #444444; color: white;"><span style="font-family: sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">Coming in at number 9 is Madhouse's psychological masterpiece Perfect Blue. Directed by Satoshi Kon, this psychological thriller tells the tale of </span></span><span style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19.1875px;">a member of a Japanese pop-idol group called "CHAM!", who decides to pursue her career as an actress. Some of her fans are displeased with her sudden career change, particularly a stalker named Me-Mania</span><span style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19.1875px;">. As her new career proceeds, Mima's world becomes increasingly reminiscent of the works of </span>Alfred Hitchcock<span style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19.1875px;">: reality and fantasy spiral out of control, and Mima discovers that Me-Mania is the least of her troubles. I credit this film as being the best horror story to ever be animated. This film has the feel of a real horror movie. This film does an amazing job of building suspense and keeping you on your toes the full way through. The story builds a very well told mystery that has you trying to figure out who the killer is throughout the film. The film's climax reveals the shocking plot twist that makes this film memorable. As a good horror movie should do, it keeps the killer a mystery until the very end when you finally figure out the whole story, This film is a shocking and twisted psychological masterpiece that will have you caught in the suspense throughout and is an incredibly good watch for adult viewers.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #444444; color: white;">Coming in at number eight is the sci-fi cult classic by Production I.G., Ghost in the Shell. Directed by Mamoru Oshii, host in the Shell follows the hunt of the public security agency Section 9 for a mysterious hacker known as the Puppet Master. With the assistance of her team, Motoko Kusanagi tracks and finds their suspect, only to be drawn into a complex sequence of political intrigue and a cover-up as to the identity and goals of the Puppet Master. This film is a philosophical master piece exploring self identity in a technology advanced world. I recognize that Ghost in the Shell is an absolute masterpiece and one of the landmark anime films in history, however my relationship with Ghost in the Shell is very complicated. I love the film but for some reason, in the 3 or so times I've seen it, it just seemed to fly by up until the ending. It just seemed like nothing happened for like an hour and then we reached the climax where you are just hit with everything at once. Maybe the philosophical undertones just went straight over my head, but I never really got much out of the dialogue between the Major and the Puppet Master. With that said, the self identity elements of the movie are clear and are enough to make the story of this film memorable. I also credit Ghost in the Shell to be the second best looking animated film of all time that was done completely by cel style animation. If Redline was a testament to how amazing modern animation is and what can be done with CGI animation and hand drawn scenes, then Ghost in the Shell is one of the films that is a testament to what can never be replicated by today's animation standards and the amazing backgrounds that you can create with cel animation. As being one of the most iconic and original animated films of all time, as well as being the inspiration for the Matrix, Ghost in the Shell earns a spot on any and all top 10 anime films lists.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3eDIOB_qbv3dsjvmqsqYcfsfUCF2DTrmfctchtql-U4xgPfrTnF528aRPBbGdPO_mLhP5m6GziNw3zdSJi6ppntgjvFuTIFJMB3iaH47kDEEp0G1Gww58d85prBGj_vsma-qfTuM5nyI/s1600/73176-b-princess-mononoke.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: white;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3eDIOB_qbv3dsjvmqsqYcfsfUCF2DTrmfctchtql-U4xgPfrTnF528aRPBbGdPO_mLhP5m6GziNw3zdSJi6ppntgjvFuTIFJMB3iaH47kDEEp0G1Gww58d85prBGj_vsma-qfTuM5nyI/s1600/73176-b-princess-mononoke.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: #444444; color: white;">Coming in at number seven is Studio Ghibli's Princess Mononoke. Directed by the legendary Hayao Miyazaki, the film follows the story of the young warrior Ashitaka's involvement in the struggle between the supernatural guardians of a forest and the humans who consume its resources. Mononoke was one of Miyazaki's most successful films, which is saying a lot considering the man's resume. Miyazaki tells the wonderful story of a young prince who is caught in a struggle between nature and progressive imperialism. Ashitaka is stuck trying to make peace between the struggle of the people of Irontown and the creatures of the forest who are led by a young woman named San. It's the old story of environmentalism and the damages of imperialistic expansion into the wilderness. Miyazaki, being an avid environmentalist brilliantly portrays this struggle well in this film. Not only is this struggle given in this film, but he also adds in the supernatural element in the forest spirits. The scene at the end where the Forest Spirit goes on a rampage after being decapitated was absolutely brilliant and made this movie memorable. This is still one of Miyazaki's best and with good reason.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #444444; color: white;">Coming in at number six is another Studio Ghibli materpiece in Howl's Moving Castle. Once again, directed by Hayao Miyazaki, the film is based on the novel of the same name by English writer Diana Wynne Jones. ynne Jones's novel allows Miyazaki to combine a plucky young woman and a mother figure into a single character in the heroine, Sophie. She starts out as an 18-year-old hat maker, but then a witch's curse transforms her into a 90-year-old grey-haired woman. Sophie is horrified by the change at first. Nevertheless, she learns to embrace it as a liberation from anxiety, fear and self-consciousness. The change might be a blessed chance for adventure. Putting this as number six was tough for me because I've always stood by the fact that I liked this film better than another Miyazaki film that will appear later on this list, but throwing my bias aside, I believe I was able to fairly place this film. The adventure elements of this film were outstanding and as all Miyazaki films do well, was chalk full of good moral themes for us to follow. The underlying love story between Howl and Sophie goes along exceptionally well with the background war elements going on at the same time in the film. The film was extremely unique and creative and handled the fantasy elements well along with the everything else going on in the film. This was one of Miyazaki's best films and one of my all time favorites.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #444444; color: white;">Comin in at number five is another film coming to us from Studio Ghibli in Grave of the Fireflies. Being one of Ghibli's first official films after the studio's founding, it also stands as one of their best. Directed by Isao Takahata, <span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> tells the story of Seita, a young boy who has to take care of his </span><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">younger sister </span></span><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;">Setsuko when their mother dies. Grave of the Fireflies is one of the most gutwrenching realistic films you </span><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;">will ever watch. Not only is it one of the best animated films of all times, but I would go as far as to say it is one of </span><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">the best war films of all time. This film offers us a different perspective than most war films. Instead of focusing on the war itself, what Grave of the Fireflies chooses to do instead is focus on the effects of war on the innocent civilians. Seita and Setsuko are orphaned at the beginning of the film after their mother is killed due to the air raids by US troops. Seita is left to take care of his sister and attempt to survive. It is hard to watch as these two struggle to stay alive and is probably one of the most depressing films you will ever watch. It is so grueling to see these children die slowly right before our eyes. Grave of the Fireflies will ultimately go down as one of the most beautiful and haunting works to ever be produced from Japan.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #444444; color: white;">Coming in at number four is Madhouse's Summer Wars. Directed by up and comer Momoru Hosoda, this film tells the story of Kenji Koiso, a timid eleventh-grade math genius who is taken to Ueda by twelfth-grade student Natsuki Shinohara to celebrate her great-grandmother's 90th birthday. However, he is falsely implicated in the hacking of a virtual world by a sadistic artificial intelligence named Love Machine. Kenji must repair the damage done to it and find a way to stop the rogue computer program from causing any further damage. Sporting a very large cast of characters, Summer Wars is an excellent feel good film with a lot to teach us. For such a short time to work with, Summer Wars is able to introduce us to such a larch cast and give them all screen time and development. You leave this film feeling like you knew each and every single one of those characters and that is a testament to what a great director Hosoda is. A beautifully touching film, Summer Wars makes you take a step back and appreciate your family. The film is very family oriented and displays the strong unbreakable bonds that exist within family. As stated by Granny, "never turn your back on family. Especially when times are tough". Couldn't have summed up why this film is so remarkable any other way. It is simple and entertaining but does a good job of telling a mixed tail about how close Japan is to falling into chaos due to the virus Love Machine. Not only are their undertones of family, but there is also a strong message about relying too heavily on technologically advances. Summer Wars makes us appreciate the simplicity of life, love and family.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #444444; color: white;">3</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ-p1eoqy5hGm0rUyMX3TUqU6V_szkKmo-OjnkNxi3FTLpaJ65B92qLx6teM8OqKmIORSJUUIm2A2FI_YX0hikQs4xxsIg-nPtmGknZKmZWoyxJltF0qTC6gtC0lCyGfvT9rn8jkUch7M/s1600/Spirited_Away_movie_poster_by_miemie_chan3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: white;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ-p1eoqy5hGm0rUyMX3TUqU6V_szkKmo-OjnkNxi3FTLpaJ65B92qLx6teM8OqKmIORSJUUIm2A2FI_YX0hikQs4xxsIg-nPtmGknZKmZWoyxJltF0qTC6gtC0lCyGfvT9rn8jkUch7M/s1600/Spirited_Away_movie_poster_by_miemie_chan3.jpg" height="320" width="256" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: #444444; color: white;">Coming in at number three is Studio Ghibli's highest grossing film, Spirited Away. Directed by Hayao Miyazaki, this film tells the story of Chihiro, a sullen ten-year-old girl who, while moving to a new neighborhood, enters the spirit world. After her parents are transformed into pigs by the witch Yubaba, Chihiro takes a job working in Yubaba's bathhouse to find a way to free herself and her parents and return to the human world. This coming of age film is ultimately Miyazaki's best and his all time greatest achievement as a director. This was the film that cemented his legacy as the greatest animation director of all time. Spirited Away was the first Japanese animated film to win an Academy Award. Spirited Away is full of memorable scenes that cement it's place in history, but none more memorable than when Chihiro is swept up into the spirit world. That scene is unforgettable and so memorable that it even garnered a parody scene in a recent Simpsons episode. This film is an iconic coming of age tale that so wonderfully captured the fantasy elements we are accustomed to seeing in a Miyazaki film. The imagination of this man is astonishing. How Miyazaki is able to come up with this awe inspiring, dazzling fantasy worlds is beyond me. This is one of the best animated films you will ever see, everything in it is close to flawless from the outstanding soundtrack to the exceptional tale we spend with Chihiro. Definitely, one of the greatest animated films of all time without question.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #444444; color: white;">Coming in at number two is Madhouse and Studio Chizu's Wolf Children. Directed by Momoru Hosoda, the film tells the story of <span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">Hana, who falls in love with a Wolf Man. After the Wolf Man's death, Hana decides to move to a rural town to continue raising her two wolf children Ame and Yuki. This is, without a doubt, one of my favorite movies of all time, Despite being relatively new, this is without a doubt, one of the greatest films I've ever seen, period. It is an instant classic that should be seen by all. This film is probably the closest thing to flawless I've ever seen when it comes to animated films. From the story, to the music, to the animation, just everything is on top of it's game here. The story is very simple but told in such an exceptional way that it is just nothing short of remarkable. We follow Hana's struggle to raise her two children, Ame and Yuki, as a single mother after their father is killed. This alone is a great setup, let alone throw in the same identity issues as a film like Ghost in the Shell and you have yourself one hell of an amazing movie.The film focuses a lot on the chose between the two children whether they want to live as humans or wolves. This portion of the story is excellently foreshadowed throughout and comes to a head at the very end of the film where the paths of the two children become clear. The scenes when Ame and Yuki have to go to school and they are leaving from their house where we are introduced to a right and left path are absolutely chilling. The left represents the way they take to school and the human life where as the right is the wilderness and represents the life of a human. Each time the paths are shown it sends chills down the spine because of how brilliantly this is executed. It is a very good watch that gets better each and every time you see it. Wolf Children is a special movie and nothing short of brilliant. With time, it may be the greatest anime film of there is. However, it is because of number one's iconic legacy that Wolf Children falls to number two.</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_8ekelUQohueQeWchrAEVkUWvRJh79YiGpmihgHGQbyGFVAkh3xS2M61ORPExrPsMhn2Zt5JnOJ8pXoUx9hzKRQgm3DkvmThiXdhzbu_9eK6yM43hw8IimP_A3y5jOnCiv9oGS-5E8Jo/s1600/Akira-Poster-Image-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: white;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_8ekelUQohueQeWchrAEVkUWvRJh79YiGpmihgHGQbyGFVAkh3xS2M61ORPExrPsMhn2Zt5JnOJ8pXoUx9hzKRQgm3DkvmThiXdhzbu_9eK6yM43hw8IimP_A3y5jOnCiv9oGS-5E8Jo/s1600/Akira-Poster-Image-2.jpg" height="190" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: #444444; color: white;">If it wasn't obvious by now then you need to go see this film. Coming in at number one is Tokyo Movie Shinsha's cyberpunk classic Akira. Directed by Katsuhiro Otomo, the film depicts a dystopian version of Tokyo in the year 2019, with cyberpunk tones. The plot focuses on teenage biker Tetsuo Shima and his psychic powers, and the leader of his biker gang, Shotaro Kaneda. Kaneda tries to prevent Tetsuo from releasing the imprisoned psychic Akira. This film packs in a lot of material stretching out to be a 2 hour long cinema masterpiece. This however, still doesn't feel like it was truly enough to fully dissect the entire plot that Akira had to offer. However, the story told within the movie, albeit differentiating from the source material, is still a very captivating story as it is altered well by Otomo. It is a very complex story and kind of a cautionary apocalyptic tale. With Tokyo being destroyed by the uncontrollable psychic power Akira. Now, in the year 2019, the military is once again trying to harness the "power of a god". Akira's power is both feared and praised throughout the film. Unfortunately for Tetsuo, he is the second coming of this uncontrollable psychic power and is doomed to his fate to ultimately loose control. This was the first feature anime film to really break out over in the United States and start a wave of anime popularity over in the states. It is held in high regard as the landmark anime film. Even though the film is 25 years old, it has aged exceptionally well. It's visuals still stand atop of the anime kingdom as the greatest feat ever accomplished by cel animation. the scenery and backgrounds are the greatest to ever be produced in anime. The amount of detail is unreal. This film is not only one of the most iconic animated films ever made, but it is one of the greatest films made in general. This film is considered a cult classic and is a landmark in what can be accomplished with animation. It is indeed, a truly unforgettable masterpiece in every sense of the word.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08506754224547697152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90783882542430276.post-9599191530661369442014-01-20T01:14:00.000-08:002014-01-20T01:14:25.788-08:00Shinobu Sensui - An Unconventional Idea of Brilliance<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Following up my post analyzing the complicated situation of Naruto's main antagonist Obito Uchiha, I thought it would be a fun idea to continue on with the topic but change directions in the character. This time, I will be analyzing Shinobu Sensui, the main antagonist of Yoshiro Togashi's series Yu Yu Hakusho.</div>
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Sensui, much like Obito, is known to be a very diverse character with conflicting opinions from the anime/manga community. It seems as though a vast majority of the people who have seen/read Yu Yu Hakusho tend to under appreciate Sensui's character. Whether this is intentional or not, I think it is clear that Sensui is at least the most interesting antagonist of the series. I think Sensui's role in the series is heavily overshadowed by the villain and arc that succeeded his own. I believe a vast majority of people think of the Dark Tournament and Toguro to be the high points of the story. However, this was just the tip of the iceberg for Togashi's series. He followed up this arc with one of a much grander scale. Here, we are introduced to Shinobu Sensui, Yusuke's predecessor to the title of humanity's Spirit Detective. Sesnui's plan is to open a tunnel to Demon World which will in turn, bring destruction to the Human Realm. Simple enough right? Well, this is just the start to what Togashi had planned for Sensui.</div>
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Sensui provides one of the most bone chilling on screen introductions I have ever seen and has yet to be topped as far as making a statement with an introduction. While Yusuke's group is on a scouting mission trying to discover the source of the vastly growing epidemic of humans gaining psychic powers as well as a correlation with the growing number of demon entities being present in the human world, they happen to discover a human whom has the ability to read people's minds. Yusuke easily defeats the inferior human and forces him to help in their search to find who it is that is digging a tunnel to demon world. It is at this time he takes an eraser through the skull that Yusuke is able to lock eyes on Sensui who has one of the most twisted looks on his face before he disappears through the crowd of bystanders.</div>
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After this, Yusuke duels Sensui and his subordinates several times before they are finally able to come face to face in a one on one confrontation. During this fight, everything we have seen and learned throughout this arc about Sensui and his plans is completely tossed right out the window. Yoshihiro Togashi, being the masterful author that he is, completely hits the readers/viewers from left field with curve ball after curve ball after curve ball. Sensui, being scarred from his final case as a Spirit Detective before going rouge, has been left emotionally unstable and unable to cope with the harsh reality he has come to know. This has driven him to split off his personality across seven different beings, thus being revealed to have multiple personalities disorder. Yusuke only faces three of the seven personalities but ultimately ends up fighting the main personality.</div>
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Sensui's plan of trying to destroy human world is also flipped as the arc goes on. We come to find out that Sensui's ultimate goal with, in truth, to travel to Demon World to attempt to find the meaning to his life. Sensui wanted to see the world through the Demon's eyes to find peace within himself for all the Demons he had slain throughout his life. Sensui is ultimately defeated by Yusuke, who was being possessed by Raizen, and is able to come to terms with the life he had live. Sensui, after already having his character completely unraveled and twisted throughout the arc, is revealed by Itsuki to have been terminally ill and would've died in a few months had he not been killed by Yusuke. Sensui ultimately dies and his body is taken away by his lover, Itsuki, where they will spend eternity together in the dimensions between worlds.</div>
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I believe that people don't appreciate Sensui's complex character enough. Whether it be a dislike for his ideals, his changing character, his personality or because he was one of the only antagonists to be written as a homosexual, people just haven't seemed to be able to connect to Sensui the way they were able to Toguro. Maybe the fact that Sensui's motives and character changed so drastically as the arc went on made it difficult for people to identify with him. For me, Sensui is, and most likely always will be, my favorite villain of all time (yes Hisoka is an antagonist and my favorite all time character, but Sensui is a better villain in the truest context of the term). Sensui had it all, he was: interesting, charismatic, charming, eloquent, well spoken, badass, powerful, original, an idealist and overall, brilliant.</div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08506754224547697152noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90783882542430276.post-16055053713505441882014-01-13T23:52:00.001-08:002014-01-13T23:52:56.735-08:00The Complicated Case of Obito Uchiha<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I was sitting in my literary analysis class today and we were doing an analysis of some short shorty about a store clerk coming face to face with a gangbanger whom he helped out when the gangbanger was 10 years old. My professor began to have us disect this story and I drew a parallel from the words he was saying to my feelings about Obito Uchiha.</div>
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By now, this portion of the story has been revealed to anime and manga fans alike. The man behind the mask and the Tobi alias was none other than Kakashi's childhood best friend Obito Uchiha. For those of us who have read the manga, we've know for awhile but with it just recently being revealed in the anime, it has become apparent to all fans of the series. It may come as a shock to some but I think there were enough clues leading up to the event that we all knew there was only one true possibility. The initial reaction to the unveiling was mixed. A good portion of the people were pleased by the reveal. However, there was probably an even greater number of people whom were dissatisfied with the direction the character headed. My reaction, now having gone through the material a different number of times and a varying opinion has led me to believe it was time to, in a sense, analyze the character and his importance to the series.</div>
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With the mysterious Tobi's identity now revealed, we are starting to get some backstory as to what happened to the charismatic troublemaker whom we were all left to believe was dead. However, this isn't our first introduction to the character. We are first physically introduced to Obito in the Kakashi Gaiden chapters/episodes of the series which tells the story of how Kakashi gained his Sharingan. Although this is the first time we physically see and hear Obito, this isn't the first actual introduction of his character. We learn about Obito right from the beginning stages of the story. Kakashi introduces Obito from the get go when he uses the line of his old friend that "a shinobi who breaks the rules is trash but a shinobi who abandons his friends is even greater trash." He also visits Obito's grave and says of him that he is a good friend he lost in the last Great Ninja War. So Kishimoto was making Obito's presence felt right from the get go. He was introduced as a huge plot point that would play a factor in this story. The foreshadowing here was imminent, but I believe was just missed by a great number of people, including myself at first. It wasn't until further re-examination that I noticed that Obito was being pressed hard in this story from the early stages and got more prominent the further the story progressed. So it isn't as if this wasn't set up from the get go.</div>
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I guess some people just found it hard to believe that this is what could've become of Obito. I personally have come to love the decision by Kishimoto to make Obito the main antagonist of the series and to mask him under the Tobi alias. It just works on so many levels. It was the missing story to how Kakashi was able to utilize his Sharingan. He had to come head to head against the man sporting the opposing one. Not only this, but it also completely tears down Kakashi's ideals as a Shinobi that he has instilled in his student, Naruto. Kakashi based a lot of his morals off of his heroic friend who died in battle saving Kakashi's life. For Obito to return, dawning the mask of a man who has committed multiple international crimes and also trying to bring an end to the world, completely breaks everything Kakashi had come to represent. It also works because Obito was an exact parallel to Naruto when he was his age. He was the talent less goofball ninja who could never get the girl he liked. Obito was the mirror image of Naruto, the only difference is he walked a different path than him and lost his way. Naruto would've repeated Obito's mistake and walked down the path of hopelessness and despair had it not been for Minato. In Naruto's fight with Pain, he almost gave in to his haterege and unleashed the Kyuubi but was saved by Minato.</div>
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So it's clear that Obito as the main antagonist makes sense. I think where my problem with the character lies was with the execution. Kishimoto has created a reasonable main villain who has a legitimate gripe with our main heroes. It's a great idea yet fans weren't able to appreciate it. The reason? It's because Kishimoto does a poor job of executing this story arc.</div>
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After Obito is unmasked, we begin to get more of his backstory post rock crushing. It was revealed to us that after Obito was crushed presumably to death by falling rocks in order to let his friends escape, he had somehow survived certain death by an elderly Madara Uchiha. As Madara put it, Obito was somehow able to just slip right through the boulders (indication that Obito was unconciously saved by his Kamui ability). Madara patched up Obito and gave him new limbs using Hashirama cells. He asks Obito in return that he return the favor and help him launch his Infinite Tsukoyomi plan. Obito refuses saying that he has to return to the village to help his friends. Madara convinces Obito to stay and rehab his new limbs. Obito, still having every intention on leaving, begins to wait out his limbs rehabilitation until he learns from Zetsu that his friends are in trouble. Obito uses Spiral Zetsu's body to break out and go to the scene where his friends are. Upon his arrival, he is shocked by the scene of his best friend Kakashi killing his long time love interest Rin. Enraged, Obito killed all the surrounding Mist Ninja and proceeded to cradle Rin's dead body in his arms. It is at this point that Obito believes in Madara's words and decides to help aid him in his plan. Obito abandons his identity and takes on the persona of Tobi in order to set the plan into action.</div>
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This sounds like a great motive for our main antagonist but it is somehow botched by Kishimoto's execution of this story line. He constantly gave Obito poor dialogue and explanations for why he would join the likes of Madara. His most famous and despised line being "It's because you let Rin die." Obito also when explaining his image of what he would envision during the Infinite Tsukoyomi would be with his friends when they were kids again. This also lead to the assumption that Obito was stuck at the age he was before he died. Obito was painted in a negative light where it looked like he was just a child trying to go back to the way things were instead of moving on. Besides this, Obito also often contradicted himself when he gave his reasoning for why he was doing what he was doing. For example, when he said he was trying to revive the Ten Tails and basically end the world was because Kakashi let Rin die yet later reveals to Kakashi that he knew the full story the whole time and told him that he doesn't blame him and it wasn't his fault yet still couldn't let it go. This helped cement the idea that Obito was stuck in the past and couldn't move on.</div>
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The plot for this story line was brilliant. Obito lost the love of his life and unfortunately his attatchment to the real world and instead tried to create a fantasy world where things could go back to the way he wants life to be. He, much like Nagato, was a direct parallel to Naruto's character in different aspects but the result was the same. They were both redeemable characters and were able to make a mends, or at least try to in Obito's case, at the end of their lives thanks to Naruto's polarizing charisma. His reasons were undeniably justified. He had a legitimate motive to lose faith in humanity after the love of his life is killed. Obito was captivated by Madara's whimsical speeches and unable to resist Madara's words in the face of the ultimate tragedy he could encounter. So the motive was there, the story was there, it was just poor execution on Kishimoto's part that made it a hard connection for the audience to grasp. Had Obito's story been executed better and painted in more of a traumatic light then perhaps we'd be talking about one of the greatest and most compelling antagonists of all time.</div>
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It's a love/hate relationship with Obito Uchiha. I started off loving the character, then despising him, then appreciating his character while still disliking him, to ultimately fully accepting the character and being completely captivated by the complexities of Obito. I understand people who are going to dislike Obito regardless, but I believe he is one of the most compelling characters in the series. Perhaps only being second to Itachi Uchiha. Obito is your classic literary tragic hero. He was the hero of Konoha who gave his life to save his friends in war, who fell from his pedestal due to the loss of his love Rin. It's just as Harvey Dent said, you either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain. In this case, those words have never rang so true, Obito's story is tragic, sad and overall brilliant. He is a very dynamic and complex character with many layers and a lot of depth. Obito is a complicated character, and that is one of the reasons he grown to be one of my favorites.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08506754224547697152noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90783882542430276.post-43976530819916094802013-12-04T21:05:00.000-08:002013-12-04T21:05:14.253-08:00Is Mamoru Hosoda The Next Hayao Miyazkai?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd2JMGfHWn6FWmiHhJhyphenhyphenqK3O5Ny5WhI9wUzFP0BqtmfCzEhIB5E7JlGcZAdn6hoYjrAFx2Of1n1jQPTD2KLa28A-F7b-xpqHCUGVvQX2BGNVWlKqXTOfuFqZL8cDWHrYjk2zXM82XMeqM/s1600/15796.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjifONdivtIJnQdkDtbeG-RNRKYsA2Q2XouElwY1oPGFGbQBbKsyRt1pyDhc6dmgsKcf74oQS40NN4XLVo4bHJInJArpBfEv6jrGdnsY1qo2mCoe_IA5y72JTLytCRsHZvbY79HyQ0orUA/s1600/2432.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjifONdivtIJnQdkDtbeG-RNRKYsA2Q2XouElwY1oPGFGbQBbKsyRt1pyDhc6dmgsKcf74oQS40NN4XLVo4bHJInJArpBfEv6jrGdnsY1qo2mCoe_IA5y72JTLytCRsHZvbY79HyQ0orUA/s1600/2432.jpg" height="200" width="143" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWeMJMfeoba7q5cRCrn14Hhzi3jIklBWRxSj_SJFIigK-A8vK42fl3lXjMxqxN9L1VvcLO1G4ATWLJiMeK1LJWXVUbQXzyRYM5Ns__2jYPR3laT5PhuDpM-fu8OvmKrsqfwYNHANBOM5o/s1600/35721.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd2JMGfHWn6FWmiHhJhyphenhyphenqK3O5Ny5WhI9wUzFP0BqtmfCzEhIB5E7JlGcZAdn6hoYjrAFx2Of1n1jQPTD2KLa28A-F7b-xpqHCUGVvQX2BGNVWlKqXTOfuFqZL8cDWHrYjk2zXM82XMeqM/s1600/15796.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd2JMGfHWn6FWmiHhJhyphenhyphenqK3O5Ny5WhI9wUzFP0BqtmfCzEhIB5E7JlGcZAdn6hoYjrAFx2Of1n1jQPTD2KLa28A-F7b-xpqHCUGVvQX2BGNVWlKqXTOfuFqZL8cDWHrYjk2zXM82XMeqM/s1600/15796.jpg" height="200" width="140" /></a></div>
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For those who don't know who Mamoru Hosoda is, you should get familiar with his work. The guy is building quite the legend these days directing the monster hits: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars and Wolf Children. Between the three films, Hosoda's works have grossed a total of approximately $75 million (in US dollars) and have won a multitude of awards. To simply state how successful Hosoda has been, he is the only Japanese director, other than Hayao Miyazaki, to be nominated for an Annie Award in an individual category. To put it directly, the guy has talent and is building quite the impressive resume for himself.</div>
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Having now established a pattern of success in directing animated features, it's clear that this feat would not go unnoticed. Hosoda has received massive amounts of praise from the media, whom have officially donned him "the next Miyazaki". I even recently noticed in Funimation's recent promotion for their release of Wolf Children that they have gone as far as stating so. Now, for those who are familiar with Miyazaki's works, this statement probably sounds down right ridiculous. But should it be? There is no denying that Hayao Miyazaki is the greatest animated director of all time and for good reason. He's earned the title. Not to discredit any other phenomenal directors, but all it takes is one look at the guy's resume to understand that he is the unquestioned greatest of all time. So why on Earth, is someone like Hosoda who's resume is nowhere near as impressive as Miyazaki's at the moment, receiving such incredible praise as to be put in the same sentence of the greatest there is?</div>
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Well, it's quite simple really. Hosoda has warranted the praise not only with the consistently astonishing films he has produced in the last few years, but also with the style he uses. Stylistically, has there ever been a director who mirrored Miyazaki's style more so than Hosoda? Other than those who produce titles for Ghibli, no one captures Miyazaki's style more so than Hosoda. All 3 of Hosoda's films feature a strong female protagonist in the same way that Miyazaki's films do. All 3 of his films tell a light hearted tale that in the end, we come out feeling like we learned something about morals and values the same way we do with a Miyazaki film. Hosoda films, however, often are not as politically focused as Miyazaki's films. This isn't to say that all of Miyazaki's films were politically driven, but it is pretty evident in a vast number of his works. A lot of Miyazaki's works also tend to have a strong societal message in them, often about the environment or our nature as people. This isn't to say that Hosoda shies away from the concept, he just applies it in a different manner. In The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Hosoda speaks to how our selfish actions can impact those who are surrounding us. In Summer Wars, he speaks to how too much dependence on technology can be a bad thing as well as the importance of family. In Wolf Children, Hosoda recycles the importance of family undertones but there is also present a huge sociological message about being different as Ame and Yuki are considered to be outcasts of society based on their genetic nature and how far their mother is willing to go to protect her children and make life as normal as possible for her children.</div>
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So stylistically, it is a fair comparison for Hosoda to Miyazaki as his films share a lot of similarities to those of Miyazaki's. More so than any other director I have seen thus far in animation. So what about Hosoda's works themselves? Do they justify the comparison? I know I will upset a lot of Miyazaki fans with this next statement but here it goes: I'd venture as far as to say that Hosoda's three major films right now stack up toe to toe with any and all of Miyazaki's films. Now I know that sounds crazy, how could anyone live up to Miyazaki's legend? No one can create better films than Miyazaki? If there was anyone who can tell a story more eloquently and dazzlingly than Miyazaki, it would be Hosoda. Albeit, the sample size is smaller, but the quality is on par, if not better than some of Miyzaki's works. Without letting nostalgia or the impact of the films cloud our judgement, based solely on pure execution and quality of the stories, Hosoda's works could rival any of Miyazaki's films. Without bias, I think after viewing all the works presented by both men, it is a fair statement that Hosoda's films are exceptionally brilliant and you walk out of every one of them with the feeling that you just witnessed a masterpiece. The same could be said for Miyazaki, however I believe that often times people allow the mystique of Miyazaki's legend to influence their opinion. Miyazaki is indeed a legend, but let's face it, he isn't god. With that I'm saying it's okay to say that one can produce a film that surpasses that of Miyazaki. I'm not saying that Hosoda is a better director, only time will tell for that, I'm saying there is nothing wrong with enjoying one of his works better than that of one of Miyazaki's.</div>
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With Miyazaki recently retired, presumably for good (although no one knows how long that will be with a few other previous retirements and returns) it is time for someone to carry on the torch for a new generation with producing top quality animated features. If anyone was going to garner the title "the next Miyazaki" then I'm glad it is Hosoda. Hosoda has been the best director in regards to animated features in the past decade, so I believe the comparison was well warranted. Stylistically, technically, and story telling ability, no one has lived up to Miyazaki's standards quite like Hosoda. For future generations, Mamoru Hosoda is going to be a legendary animated feature director, so if you are unfamiliar with the name, now is the time to get familiar. Remember the name Mamoru Hosoda.</div>
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I'm sure by now, most of you are familiar with this subsection of anime and manga. I know that shounen is a demographic which is aimed at boys, but over here in the United States it is often inadvertently identified as a genre for a large list of series which share similar characteristics. I tend to usually identify these series as Jump series since most of the titles people readily identify as shounen come from Jump, but in this article I'm going to have to broaden my explanation as their are other series such as Fairy Tail outside of that magazine that use the same formula. Typically, I would tend to define these series as being an action adventure series or a battle manga, but for the sake of this article, I'm going to be politically incorrect and classify these series as just "shounen" so everyone knows what I am talking about.</div>
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<a href="http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090101150132/hokuto/images/a/a3/Kenshiro_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090101150132/hokuto/images/a/a3/Kenshiro_2.jpg" height="200" width="177" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEho3ezvX8wzZgJGEniUO-vVtlZlbdAcZx6oF6KA2OGfIxVOa7-R2-0WKCT_U96Yqa-i1cgodqNmSVFxUIBRrcpoMJtdjR6yvLDxid7e99pKgXEWNPLQSZGtWiwduRyjOjwm4WRw7U26Bb0Suhln2nMqqi4z8oCHqRE_JlPXqw=" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://lounge.moviecodec.com/images/polloption/goku-22483.jpg" height="159" width="200" /></a>Now on to the content of this article.What is the future of shounen manga and anime? When most of us (at least in the United States) think of the classic anime that have withstood the test of time, most of them were in fact the battle shounens. When most people are asked what anime are considered "classics" or "must sees" many, if not all of these lists will include series such as: Dragon Ball, Hokuto no Ken, Saint Seiya,, Yu Yu Hakusho, and Rurouni Kenshin (I know that there are other technical shounen series such as Slam Dunk, but I'm focusing on the subsection like Dragon Ball that the American audience readily identifies as shounen).</div>
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<a href="http://cdn.myanimelist.net/images/characters/4/33256.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://cdn.myanimelist.net/images/characters/4/33256.jpg" height="200" width="128" /></a><a href="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQfVaT768_rbj6iaj_KFbmarcly0hPTVn_rNFgNELzo4TjvV3hfgA" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQfVaT768_rbj6iaj_KFbmarcly0hPTVn_rNFgNELzo4TjvV3hfgA" height="200" width="141" /></a>I know there are probably a few series here that I forgot to mention, but these are typically on every one's lists. The era of Dragon Ball and Yu Yu Hakusho really paved the way as being the inspiration to a wide variety of shounen manga. There was a second generational boom in the late 90s and early 2000s that really cemented these types of anime and gave it validity. As classic as series like the 5 mentioned above were, they really had no idea what they were doing as far as the style they were creating. I bet Akira Toriyama and Yoshihiro Togashi had no idea that a decade later, their way of telling stories would be the base template of what many similar stories have used over the past decade. I consider the past decade to be the golden years of these style of stories, the "shounen" series. While many of these probably won't have the staying power of these 5 "classics" I mentioned above, mostly due to the growth of the "genre" but if it weren't for these 5 stories then there would be no Bleach, Naruto or One Piece today.</div>
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<a href="http://images.wikia.com/uncyclopedia/images/archive/f/fb/20081003001833!Edward-elric.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images.wikia.com/uncyclopedia/images/archive/f/fb/20081003001833!Edward-elric.jpg" height="200" width="151" /></a>I know we take it for granted since many of the series that were apart of this boom are still ongoing, but we need to look at this from a different perspective. The late 90s through mid 2000s provided us with several series which many people are familiar with today that have carried on the legacy of this art form of storytelling. Series such as: Gintama, Hunter x Hunter, One Piece, Naruto, Bleach, Katekyo Hitman Reborn, Fullmetal Alchemist (although considered by most as a "classic" and "must see" along with the 5 series mentioned above, it was a part of the new wave in the early 2000s), InuYasha, Soul Eater, D.Gray Man, Groove Adventure Rave, Flame of Recca, Kenichi the Mightiest Disciple etc. The point being, this was a golden period that released many anime and manga of this style of series that many of us have taken for granted the fact that it may not have the staying power we once thought. We became so complacent just expecting new series to continue this formula and find ways to make it unique and innovative. Maybe that is the ultimate demise to this subsection of a genre. Maybe the fact that every one of these series follows a similar outline is the reason why this boom has also started to fizzle out.</div>
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<a href="http://images6.fanpop.com/image/photos/35100000/-Ichigo-Kurosaki-kurosaki-ichigo-35125662-500-690.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images6.fanpop.com/image/photos/35100000/-Ichigo-Kurosaki-kurosaki-ichigo-35125662-500-690.jpg" height="200" width="144" /></a></div>
<a href="http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/268/b/a/2y_luffy_by_bocodamondo-d5fvhfc.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/268/b/a/2y_luffy_by_bocodamondo-d5fvhfc.png" height="200" width="160" /></a><a href="http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2013/005/2/4/naruto___biju_mode_by_onebill-d5qiiep.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2013/005/2/4/naruto___biju_mode_by_onebill-d5qiiep.jpg" height="125" width="200" /></a>In recent years, not counting the ongoing series, what have we gotten from this subsection of this particular style of story? Maybe the fact that shounen took some time to catch on with the fans should have been an indicator that it would, like most things, eventually fizzle out. I find it hard to believe that after at least 20 years of staying power that there isn't a future for this type of story in Japan, but recent history makes it hard to foresee a future for these types of stories. The main stories to come out in recent years that have seemed to catch on with fans are Fairy Tail, Magi, Toriko and Ao no Exorcist. Some other series such as Deadman Wonderland and Code:Breaker have showed signs of promise but never really took off the way people expected. I guess Ao no Exorcist could kind of fall into that category as well. The main trait between most of these series is that they were not being serialized by Jump. Jump seemed to be the main facilitator to shounen series of this kind but it just hasn't produced a home run in recent years. And why should it have to? With One Piece, Bleach and Naruto being serialized weekly still, it has some home run names it can rely on. As most already know, however, Bleach and Naruto are both in the final stages of their stories and will soon be over. So what is going to fill the void? It appears as though Jump has been shying away from green lighting battle series recently and they are beginning to fizzle out more and more in numbers. While there still are successors in this style of storytelling, as mentioned above with Fairy Tail, Toriko and Magi, there don't seem to be the number of success stories as there had been the decade prior. Stories of this kind just don't seem to be catching on anymore Ever since the mid-late 2000s and early 2010s, we really have seen a decline in shounen series catching traction with the fans the way it had a decade prior. <br />
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<a href="http://media.animevice.com/uploads/3/34507/685930-toriko.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://media.animevice.com/uploads/3/34507/685930-toriko.png" height="173" width="200" /></a><a href="http://th08.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/i/2010/252/a/5/natsu_the_dragon_slayer_by_drake___666-d2xb41f.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://th08.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/i/2010/252/a/5/natsu_the_dragon_slayer_by_drake___666-d2xb41f.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a>The question we have to ask ourselves is where do we go from here? Is there a future for battle shounens? I'd like to think there is, as I am a huge fan of these types of stories. There just seems to be something so special about characters having superpowers and having to rid the world of evils or fight injustices with these powers. There is some sort of magic in seeing opposing powers fight with aura as opposed to knives and guns. It's hard to foresee a future with series that show promise being cancelled prematurely. Series such as Hungry Joker looked like they had potential to carry the torch into this new generation and succeed the Naruto's and Bleach's of the world much they way the "Big 3" had to the manga of the 80s and early 90s. It's hard for me now to get into a new manga series that is under 100 chapters without having the fear that it won't gain the traction and click with the fans or that it will be prematurely cancelled when I do decide to follow the hype and attempt to catch a series early on in its development. Hell I didn't even give Magi a chance until it already announced the anime adaption because I didn't think it would be able to maintain. I did the same with Fairy Tail and yet still have yet to dip into Toriko. In discussing the future of the genre, it's hard to see a series like The Seven Deadly Sins be 50 chapters in and just now gaining a bit of traction and still not know whether I should look into it or not until it cements it's place. Maybe I'm contradicting myself here in complaining about stories gaining some momentum and not giving them a chance until they are established, but with modern day shounen series, it's just too hard to tell which ones will gain that momentum like Magi, Fairy Tail and Toriko and which ones won't like Deadman Wonderland, Code:Breaker and unfortunately the prematurely cancelled Hungry Joker.</div>
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<a href="http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130622124116/nanatsu-no-taizai/images/c/c6/Ban.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130622124116/nanatsu-no-taizai/images/c/c6/Ban.png" height="200" width="137" /></a><a href="http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120714113516/magi/images/4/41/Aladdin_anime1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120714113516/magi/images/4/41/Aladdin_anime1.png" height="200" width="125" /></a>So who knows what the future will hold, looking ahead as I have said, a series like The Seven Deadly Sins might be able to grab the reigns and take control of this new decade of shounen manga/anime. Maybe Fairy Tail, Magi and Toriko will have the staying power that One Piece, Naruto and Bleach had. It's just too hard to say at this point and maybe the fact that several of the shounen series from the late 90s and early 2000s boom are still ongoing keeping the subsection of this genre relevant today. Maybe it won't be until all of the players from that time period are gone that we will truly be able to determine where these type of stories will be. One cannot deny that the number of quality shounen battle series has severely declined since the late 2000s and early 2010s. Maybe the world today is just too impatient to start these series and watch them grow. Maybe the business is expecting boom or bust right away with these shounens and these expectations are leading to failure. Maybe the commercial failure of many of the anime that correspond to recent shounen manga is responsible for the decline in a demand for these type of stories. Only time will tell where we will be at down the road, but hopefully we will be able to have a clear crop of success stories to carry on the torch of shounen battle manga/anime.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipyT1reaa0HqZvHcfzi2GtoQX8aa5APgT7G4pe5LMP6AltkIc6dc-Z6zzb3MT7QBUFqz2p5GOB0qUFbq397_Y9GbjTidPmKW-3cioClPqe20dB613XEZ6UPU_gDjYWqSMfOm2qFYjJBgs/s1600/49916-hunter-%C3%97-hunter-phantom-rouge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipyT1reaa0HqZvHcfzi2GtoQX8aa5APgT7G4pe5LMP6AltkIc6dc-Z6zzb3MT7QBUFqz2p5GOB0qUFbq397_Y9GbjTidPmKW-3cioClPqe20dB613XEZ6UPU_gDjYWqSMfOm2qFYjJBgs/s400/49916-hunter-%C3%97-hunter-phantom-rouge.jpg" width="282" /></a></div>
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I have been anxiously awaiting this movie to be subbed to watch it, deciding to skip out on the raws to get the full experience in my first watch through. Knowing that this was Hunter x Hunter's first movie left me with great anticipation for what would be delivered by Madhouse and Hunter x Hunter Phantom Rouge did not disappoint (for the most part).</div>
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The movie starts out as what appears to be a flash back as we are show Killua standing atop a building waiting for the moment to attack his prey. After a brief conversation with Illumi who is lurking in the shadows, Killua hops down and takes care of business. After escaping from the murder scene which he had created, Killua is shown walking in an alley where he encounters a group of normal kids who ask him to throw them their ball back. Illumi then appears and gives Killua a pretty memorable reminder of how he doesn't need friends by ruthlessly killing all 3 of the boys. At this point Killua awakes from his sleep in a state of panic only to realize that it was nothing but a dream. This scene for me stood out because it was one of few times we actually get to see Killua do what he does (or did) best. Watching the days of him as an assassin, even if it was just a nightmare, was very entertaining.</div>
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After this we are rushed quickly into the plot of the movie as Kurapika is in the hospital after loosing his eyes. Gon and Killua search to figure out where the man who stole his eyes is hiding while Leorio stays behind to look after Kurapikia. During their search, we are introduced to the street performer Retz, who Gon accepts full heartidly but Killua is weary of. Retz, in my opinion, was a fairly useless character who was too involved in the story's plot. Retz's purpose was only to be a plot wedge to attempt to drive Gon and Killua apart, much in the sense Bisky initially tried to do (unsuccessfully of course) upon her introduction in Greed Island. Retz doesn't knowingly do so, but it is blatantly clear that this was the only purpose the director had in mind for her. She is almost successful too when Killua tries to stand in front of an oncoming train to end it all after he felt like he abandoned Gon. Of course, the shining ray of light himself showed up to push Killua at of the way just in time and then continued to put his friend at ease.</div>
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This all leads up to a final, action packed showdown between the four main characters and Hisoka facing off against Omokage himself and the Nen puppets he created of Illumi, Pairo and the remaining members of the Genei Ryodan. At the end of the day, Kurapika is able to capture Omokage in his Chain Jail and attempts to place the Judgement Chain on his heart before he is stopped by Killua who convinces him to not bloody his hands and to leave the dirty work to him. Before Killua can commit the deed, Retz shows up behind her big brother and stabs him in the back, which ultimately serves as his demise. Before this however, Omokage unleashes one final attack with his puppets of Phinks, Franklin and Nobunaga. At this time, the real three Ryodan members show up to destroy the last of Omokage's puppets. This leads to a stand off between Kurapika and the Spiders before they claim that as much as they'd like to, they can not strike him down until the remove Kurapika's Judgement Chain from Kuroro's heart. At this point, Kurapika collapses from exhaustion and the Ryodan leave. Our four main characters leave Retz and Omokage to die together and the movie pretty much ends at that.</div>
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The movie was a decent start for Hunter x Hunter movies, but it easily could have been better. My main problems with the movie had to do with the pacing. Movies pacing differs greatly from they way the shows pacing entails, and in the case of Phantom Rouge a fairly good amount of scenes dragged on much too long. Most of these were the scenes that involved Retz too, but there were some others that just drug out for way too long. Another problem I had was the misguided characterization that was on display here. This isn't anything unusual with shounen films, but I was hoping for a little more out of Hunter x Hunter. The characterization was mostly on par, but it felt a little too over the top, primarily with Gon and Killua. That scene where Killua was holding Gon's Hunter license and attempted to get hit by the train was way too over dramatic. There were just way too many occasions where Gon and Killua had some rehashed exchanges where Killua feels like he's not good enough for Gon and Gon reassures him why he is so important to him. These aren't anything new for these two, but it was way too over the top and kinda over did it. The action scenes were decent, but were nothing compared to what the series offers. They lacked the strategic element present in all the fights displayed in the series.</div>
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The highlight of the movie was definitely seeing Hisoka's badass skills on full display. Other than that, the main take away I have from this movie was it was interesting to see who Hisoka's predecessor was. Omokage wasn't a great villain by any means, but he did just enough to be entertaining and prove that he definitely fit in to the band of misfits known as the Genei Ryodan.</div>
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Overall, it was a solid movie, but it had several flaws and left much to be desired. I'd give it a 7 out of 10, but for the most part it was a pretty average shounen jump movie. It lacked that amazing ability Hunter x Hunter has to outdo the status quo and instead settled on being sub par. Hopefully the second movie learns from the mistakes of Phantom Rouge, but Phantom Rouge will definitely be a solid shounen movie I can watch for years to come whenever I am bored and in the mood for a solid anime film that isn't too heavy on content.</div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08506754224547697152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90783882542430276.post-73897538488869300322013-06-13T18:01:00.000-07:002013-06-13T18:01:46.603-07:00Top 10 Favorite Shounen Story Arcs<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Okay, to start this blog post off let me be clear:</div>
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This post will most likely contain spoilers, if you have not seen the series or read the arc in the manga, then skip over the section where I discuss that specific arc. Also, I am human when it comes to watching anime, which means that there will probably be several of your favorite shounen series that I have yet to see. If a particular series has no arcs in this it is either because I haven't seen it or just didn't like it.</div>
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Now with that out of the way, let's begin.</div>
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#10 Chunin Exams - Naruto</div>
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To start the list, I decided to go with a classic shounen arc that for me was the first sign of validation for Naruto. As much as I enjoyed the previous arc in Part 1 as it introduced two great characters in Zabuza and Haku and also provided some of the best moments in Part 1, the Chunin Exams were the first full sign of major character developments for our main cast with Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke. Not only were our main 3 protagonists on the forefront of attention here, we were introduced to pretty much the entire core of the next generation of shinobi in this arc. This arc also was the major setup point in Naruto to send the next paths of the story into action by introducing Orichimaru and his goal of making Sasuke his next vessel. The arc consists of several different phases that show us what a shinobi truly is in the sense of this universe. While the arc is undoubtedly the best of Part 1, it wasn't without fault. I probably felt a lot less attached to this arc than many Naruto fans due to the fact that I watched Hunter x Hunter before I had seen Naruto and was already familiarized with the Exam story perspective so it was nothing really new to me other than seeing how they could present it differently than Hunter x Hunter did. While this arc is the best of Part 1 and still one of the best in Naruto, it lacks an overwhelming sense of danger that really grounds the story and never really presents the same amount of danger that later arcs are able to.</div>
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#9 Tenroujima - Fairy Tail</div>
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Anytime a Fairy Tail arc appears on this list, I'm sure it will come with much disdain mostly due to how generic and cliche Fairy Tail can be at times. I, for one, appreciate the things that Fairy Tail does right. I feel as though most people get caught up in the things Fairy Tail doesn't do well instead of focusing on the enjoyable aspects of it such as the slapstick comedy, the great emotional bonds presented between the characters and great action. This arc includes all of that and really was only the 2nd Fairy Tail arc to hit me emotionally the way this one did. This arc starts off pretty easy going and slow beginning as nothing more than a test for the young mages of the Fairy Tail guild to see if they are worthy of the title of an S class wizard. Once we learn of the real Zeref's presence on the island, shit begins to hit the fan. After which we are introduced to the dark guild, Grimoire Heart and the war between Fairies and Demons begins. Grimoire Heart is led by the former master of Fairy Tail, Hades and his army under the name of the Seven Kin of Purgatory. This arc provides most of the best battle sequences to occur in the entire series and provides non stop action throughout the arc. The war provides many twists and turns and almost the complete annihilation of Fairy Tail's spirit after Azuma is able to uproot the Tenrou tree which seems to provide the mages of Fairy Tail with magic. This arc also shows the first confrontation between Gray and his teacher's daughter Ultear, whose past is finally revealed to us as a terrible misunderstanding that led her to hate her mother. This isn't even mentioning the fact that we get to see the first ever living dragon in this arc in Acnologia which takes the complete power of the entire guild and a miracle by Mavis (the first guild master) to escape. While many of the plot twists in this arc were completely predictable, it provided a lot of heart warming moments and great action sequences to be one of my favorite shounen arcs.</div>
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#8 Planet Namek - Dragon Ball Z</div>
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While I've never been the biggest fan of Dragon Ball Z as I feel it is heavily overrated by the Western side of the anime fandom, it is impossible to deny that it is one of the most classic series and is the god father of all shounen anime and what they aspire to be. No arc in Dragon Ball Z exemplifies this as much as the Namek saga. This saga includes the introduction of one of the greatest villains in all of shounen anime in the cold and ruthless monster that is Freeza. Freeza is the highlight of the majority of this arc as he ruthlessly wipes out the Namekian civilians without remorse. It also marked a landmark change for some of our main characters as Gohan showed some major strides in his character from the coward that was presented in the Saiyan saga. Not too mention Vegeta's slow transition from being an antagonist into a reliable ally of the Z fighters. None of this, however, compares to one of the most memorable moments in anime history when Goku takes the leap into becoming the legendary Super Saiyan. While the episode count for Goku's ascension to becoming a Super Saiyan is a little over dramatic, it still showed in excruciating detail what it took for Goku to achieve this transformation after witnessing Freeza kill his best friend in Krillin and Freeza's chilling murder of his arch rival Vegeta right in front of his eyes. My main complaint about this arc is primarily the overwhelming length of its climax. The final showdown against Freeza was extremely drawn out but the overall payoff was what I believe made Dragon Ball Z a powerhouse in both Japan and Western Culture.</div>
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#7 Kyoto - Rurouni Kenshin</div>
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I'm one of those people who feels that Rurouni Kenshin was a classic series, but wasn't the biggest fan of it. For me, the series had its flashes of brilliance, and at other times was too episodic and didn't have enough of a central plot for a majority of the series. The Kyoto arc is where the series truly shines as it is the culmination of all of the build up presented in the series as Kenshin must face off with his successor, Makoto Shishio, who is threatening the peaceful times of the Meiji era as a call for a more revolutionary time. Between Makoto Shishio and his right hand man, Sojiro, two outstanding antagonists are introduced to the series. Shishio is the definition of pure evil as he took on a much different approach to life after his time as a man slayer. Kenshin devoted his life to helping others to atone for his sins during the revolution. Shishio on the other hand decided that only the strong can survive in this world and decides to overthrow the Meiji government whom tried to eliminate him previously and failed, only leading to the creation of a greater monster and threat to the current peace. This dynamic between Kenshin and Shishio is incredibly entertaining to watch as every time the two are presented in a scene together their is so much hostility and tension in the air that you can feel it while watching. Kyoto is what every samurai/sword fighting anime should aspire to be when creating their atmosphere and their fights.</div>
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#6 Soul Society - Bleach</div>
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Yes, there is a Bleach arc included in this list. Back before Bleach got lost within its own convoluted plot, it got off to one of the best starts for any shounen series. This is the rare time in Bleach where the power ups achieved by the main characters weren't just bullshit asspulls because Tite Kubo doesn't understand what progression of characters through proper development means. Kubo was able to emulate many elements of Yu Yu Hakusho's first arc in his own work which proves to his benefit as this was the best overall arc of the entire series while being the most original at the same time. I don't think I can remember a more shocking moment then when it was revealed that Aizen, Tousen and Gin were all antagonists and were behind the attempted execution of Rukia. This was the only time in the whole series that the system of the Shinigami actually felt important as well and led to some of the most intriguing fights like Ishida's battle with Mayuri and Ichigo's battles with Kenpachi, Renji and Byakuya. In fact, these were probably 3 of Ichigo's most intriguing battles before the series went a little too over the top with the action and just trying to out do every fight with an even more epic fight. Fights have seemed to be the only thing to stay consistently good in Bleach, but Soul Society was really the only time the story truly elevated itself to another level that finds itself as one of the best arcs in all of shounen anime/manga.</div>
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#5 Battle Tendency - JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (2012)</div>
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I decided to count this as an arc because it technically is 1 part of an overall story. Thus, Battle Tendency easily finds its way onto this list as it is, from what I've seen, what made me fall in love with JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. Part 1 of the 2012 anime was my first experience with the franchise as I had not summoned up the intrigue to check out the manga or any of the prior movie/ova adaptions out there. I decided that it was time to see what the buzz was about when the new anime was released October of last year. Part 1 was enough to keep me watching, Part 2 however was enough to make me hooked. There was just something about Joseph Joestar's cocky attitude and swagger that made him much more of an entertaining protagonist than the righteous Jonathan Joestar in Phantom Blood. Right from the get go with showing 1940s New York I was excited for what was to come of this series. Watching Joseph's fight with Straights made me realize that this part was going to be a whole different beast then Phantom Blood. My suspicions were confirmed when the first of the Pillar Men, aka Santana, were introduced to the series. Watching JoJo struggle to defeat this unstoppable force was wildly entertaining only to come to the realization that he was actually fairly weak compared to the 3 Pillar Men who were about to awake. I was told by a friend that Cars was going to be a much more menacing threat than Dio but I honestly feel it was Wham who stole the show. He had an unbreakable warrior's spirit to him that made every single battle he entered a grueling fight down to the wire with all different kinds of twists and turns. He went out a true warrior's death against JoJo. The arc had a masterful conclusion that was edgy and really portrayed an overwhelming sense of hopelessness once Cars was able to practically become a God. There were so many unpredictable moments that took me by surprise. The first was the reveal of who Lisa Lisa really was. I literally went back and rewatched that part several times after she was revealed as JoJo's mother just to make sure I had heard that right. The other major part that clinched this arc's greatness for me was when they finally came up with a solution to defeat Cars. I thought they pulled out all of the stops but was pleasantly surprised by the conclusion when they send him flying into space. I would've never thought that they would resort to that but it worked and was an excellent conclusion to the arc. I'm hoping for a sequel series because I would definitely love to get a chance to check out Part 3 in anime format.</div>
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#4 Invasion of Pain - Naruto Shippuden</div>
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Spoiler alert now, Naruto is the ONLY series to have more than 1 arc on this list. Does this mean I think Naruto is that good? Hell no, it just means that I felt there were 2 arcs between the first series and the second one that really stood out. I know there are many people who feel that Naruto started to go down hill after the time skip due to the Akatsuki becoming the primary focus of the series, but I, on the other hand, loved the increased involvement by this group. There was a lot of build up from the previous arcs that I felt aided this one's greatness, but the arc as a stand alone entity outclasses anything and everything to be introduced in Naruto before or after, and yes this does include the 4th Great Shinobi War. Invasion of Pain is able to create a certain degree of panic and anarchy that is prevalent in a real war that even outclasses the true war arc of the same series. The pandemonium created by Nagato's 6 Paths of Pain and Konan was incredibly brilliant to watch as them alone were enough to tear apart Konohagakure. Pain is one of my favorite villains in this series as he starts off as a looming enigma with no back story. It isn't until Jiraya scopes out Pain's headquarters that we learned that Pain (Nagato) was actually Jiraya's student before Minato and Naruto. Nagato was a product that shows the viewer the darker side of the Shinobi universe created by the hatred bread from war. This is the first time where Naruto is faced with an opponent whom he cannot reason with and when posed with the question of "how to confront this hatred?" he has no answer. This is also the first time in which Naruto almost willingly gives in to the Kyuubi before being stopped by the 4th Hokage. This is also the first time Naruto meets the 4th before it is revealed that the legendary shinobi Minato was actually his father. His father is able to give Naruto some encouragement which allows him to gather himself and continue his war with Pain. The fight with Pain was, in my opinion, still the best in the series despite the latter portions of the fight hindered by some shitty animation. What's even more interesting is how Naruto was able to sway Nagato's blackened heart into realizing what a fool he had been. Nagato realizes that he has failed Jiraya in stopping the hatered and instead decides to pass on his will to end the hatred of the world to Naruto. This arc was the perfect storm of anarchy and is easily the best arc that Kishimoto has written.</div>
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#3 Enies Lobby - One Piece</div>
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I really, really struggled with what to do with this one. I knew it was going to be a One Piece arc at number 3, but it was a matter of deciding which one was more impactful for me between Enies Lobby and Marineford. While Marineford, like Invasion of Pain, is a perfect storm of anarchy and chaos and contains the only moment to make me tear up while watching anime in Ace's death, I felt that the overall whole of Enies Lobby was more memorable that the sum of the parts with Marineford. Marineford was an arc that was much less focused on the Strawhats or even Luffy for that matter but instead focused more on the end of an era, primarily for one of the driving forces behind the great pirate era in the Whitebeard pirates. Enies Lobby, on the other hand is the second half to the CP9 saga with the first being Water 7. Water 7 leads us to the shocking revelation that Iceburg had unknowingly been harboring CP9 assassins within his town who show up to kidnap one of the world's greatest threats... which just happens to be Strawhats crew member Nico Robin. After suffering a complete physical defeat at the hands of Rob Lucci and a moral defeat when Robin willingly leaves with the CP9 members, the Strawhats rally together in an attempt to save Robin. Robin, who decided that leaving to die was the best option for both her and the Strawhats, felt that she still hadn't found her place in the world. She still felt that she was a burden to the world as she was the only survivor to the disaster on her home island of Ohara. There is a very touching moment here where Luffy and crew finally catch up to Robin and show their determination to rescue her, but according to Luffy, only if she wants to live. Robin, finally losing her calm composure, yells out to the Strawhats that she wants to live and travel the seas with them. It is from this part on that the arc is in full gear and nonstop action with the Strawhats dueling it out against the CP9 assassins in a race against the clock to save Robin. The moments in which Robin tries with every ounce of strength she has to stop Spandam from handing her over were very hard to watch as he brutalized and taunted this woman. This arc also consisted of my all time favorite fight in anime in which Luffy has to pull out all the stops in order to defeat the top assassin in CP9 in Rob Lucci. The arc is thrilling and always had me on the edge of my seat, which is the main reason why I feel it is able to edge out Marineford because this was the Strawhats biggest time to shine as opposed to us getting a glimpse at the end of the Whitebeard pirates.</div>
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#2 Chapter Black - Yu Yu Haksuho</div>
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This was the first time in which Yu Yu haksuho went from a black and white fighting anime, and entered a huge area of gray. This arc gets off to a rather peculiar start, after the Dark Tournament winds down the viewer is left wondering where could Togashi possibly go with this thing to top what he had just done? We quickly get that answer as we are introduced to Black Angel saving the Elder Toguro at the ruined site where the Dark Tournament took place. Not long after this Yusuke is kidnapped by a group of ordinary humans which leads the viewer's to ponder how this feat could even be possible. Of course, this was all just the master plan of Genkai in order to prepare Yusuke and company for the trials ahead as someone is announced to be digging a tunnel to Demon World. It is later revealed through what I believe is still the greatest character introduction that I have ever seen that Shinobu Sensui was the mastermind behind this plan. The look on his face was enough to scare even Yusuke as he admits that there is something darker looming in Sensui that not even he can figure out what it is. After this, Yusuke and company face several moral trials, all of which are set up by Sensui who is trying to break them psychologically. Koenma later reveals the first shocking revelation to this arc that Sensui was actually the Earth's Spirit Detective before Yusuke. This creates an amazing rivalry between the two which is developed throughout the arc and shows us that the two are complete polar opposites, right down to their fighting styles in which Sensui is a master of martial arts and relies heavily on kicks while Yusuke has no formal training and prefers street fighting heavily relying on his fists. It is revealed to us that Sensui had a linear black and white view of the world until he encounters a demon named Itsuki whom later becomes his partner. Itsuki is able to break through Sensui's emotional walls and begin to broaden his view of the world. It isn't until Koenma gives him an urgent job in an attempt to stop the Black Black club's sick depraved torture of demons that Sesnui begins to lose all sight of what is right and wrong. His mind too fragile to handle what he had seen, he completely snapped and lost all hope for humanity. This is the reasoning behind his cause, why he is able to justify digging the tunnel. He feels that he is saving the human world from moral damnation. Yusuke has many excellent physical and moral battles with Sensui, in one of which we experience the shocking reveal that Sensui has 7 split personalities all of which serve different purposes. The main persona of Shinobu is able to land the killing blow on Yusuke which enrages his teammates to follow Sensui into Demon World in an attempt to avenge their fallen comrade. With the tunnel open, it appears as though humanity is doomed until it is revealed that Yusuke has dormant demon blood in his genetics which is awaken after his 2nd time of dying at the hands of Sensui. It isn't until after Yusuke defeats Sensui that we learn Sensui's true goals in Togashi's masterful way of storytelling. After portraying Sensui as this vile and twisted human who was seeking the destruction of the human world, it is revealed to us that Sensui was truly dying with only a short period of time left to live. His whole purpose for digging the tunnel was not to destroy the human world, but was rather his way of getting through to demon world in order to see life through the eyes of the species he had mindlessly killed without questioning whether or not he was doing the right thing. His true goal was to find the answer to his existence before he died so that he could justify the life he had lived. This arc was not only the beginning of Togashi's masterful art of storytelling while making the viewer question the philosophical perspectives that Togashi brings to light. Togashi was also able to create the most complex villain I have experienced in anime or manga to date, and I feel it is really Sensui's underrated brilliance as a character and what his motives were that make this arc one of the greatest of all time.</div>
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#1 Yorkshin - Hunter x Hunter (2011)</div>
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If it wasn't obvious by now, then anyone who has ever had a conversation with me should know what number 1 was going to be. There was no way I'd have a shounen list without a Hunter x Hunter arc in it, and what better one to top the list than Togashi's artistic masterpiece in the Yorkshin arc. I know this may seem bias since my favorite series is Hunter x Hunter, but this arc explains every reason why Hunter x Hunter is at the top of all shounen anime/manga for me. It has had 3 different variations of the arc, and every single one of them were masterful. However, I will be using the 2011 series' adaption since it is the one that is most likely fresh in everyone's minds. Yorkshin is what every shounen series should aspire to emulate. It is the absolute perfect storm when it comes to story telling. This arc is much more about the story than it is the action, but that doesn't mean the action isn't present. This arc has some amazing battles between Kurapika's fight with Uvogin and Kuroro's fight with Silva and Zeno Zoldyck. Not too mention the Genei Ryodan's long standing massacre of the mafia and their own special forces of Nen users in the Shadow Beasts. The Spiders are, in my opinion, the best villain group to be portrayed in any shounen series. They are so dynamic in their goals and their actions and all of their differing personalities really mesh together well. Kuroro is such a dedicated leader, his orders are absolute but he, on the other hand, is not the Spider's top priority. This creates for some interesting scenarios towards to climax of the arc that I will discuss here in a bit. Kuroro is such a polarizing and charesmatic individual that it is really hard not to enjoy him as a character, even though deep down you know this guy is nothing but a cold blooded murder. This arc balances every aspect of the story brilliantly as it starts off following three different groups in showing us what Killua, Gon and Leorio are doing in Yorkshin. We are also shown Kurapika's movements as a bodyguard of the Nostrade family and we also get to see the Ryodan's plans in action as they terrorize the mafia in order to steal all of the items they are auctioning off. These 3 story lines are woven together brilliantly at the mid point of this arc and really tie the entire story together as all 3 groups begin to cross paths and have to deal with the others. While the Spiders may be a band of cold blood murderers, it is interesting to see how much compassion they have towards each other which is show most brilliantly through Nobunaga and Pakunoda. After Uvo is killed in battle by Kurapika, Nobunaga is able to shed tears in front of Gon and Killua for his fallen partner. This enrages Gon to see that these people could feel so much remorse and sympathy for one of their own, but show none of this compassion towards any of the innocent people they slaughter for fun or for their own personal gain. Pakunoda is quite possibly the clincher for this arc in showing how masterfully Togashi can tell a story. She is more than likely the most human of the Ryodan and is the catalyst for the major debate that occurs as an inner strife between the Ryodan members. After Kurapika kidnaps Kuroro, he realizes that he had left Gon and Killua behind as hostages. This lead to a very intriguing hostage negotiation as some of the members prefer to put the Spider first and let Kuroro be killed as others feel that they absolutely need Kuroro to keep the Spider moving. In the end, Pakunoda sacrifices herself to not only save Kuroro, but to also relay her story to the other Ryodan members so that they can be fully aware of why she made every decision she made and why Kuroro did not come back with her. After doing so, she dies due to Kurapika's Judgement Chain and the arc is pretty much brought to a close with everything resolved. This arc still has the best overall story of any shounen arc I have ever seen and also is the only shounen arc in which the climactic finally was not handled through a fight, but rather through a gut wrenching hostage negotiation in which Kurapika is able to win the battle against the Ryodan, but not the war. No other mangaka would dare to draw out an arc in which it takes a similar path that Yorkshin did. Togashi is truly one of a kind and one of the most innovative story tellers in terms of anime/manga. The main thing that the 2011 version did for me to make me want to use this version was that beautiful ending scene to the arc which is still my favorite moment in the entire series. That is the scene in which Gon asks Phinks what happened to Pakunoda and he replies by saying she died. Gon, showing sincere remorse and surprise on his face triggers Phinks to remember the final conversation Paku had with Gon and Killua in which she was genuinely moved by Gon and Killua's loyalty to Kurapika. Refusing to run away so that Kurapika's current fight with the Ryodan would be over without him having to kill anyone genuinely moved Pakunoda. After the flashback of this scene is replayed we are shown with Phinks staring at Gon and Killua soon who are about to leave. Phinks just says to them quickly "Paku wanted to thank you" before him and Feitan take their leave. This moment was so touching and really humanized Phinks and the Ryodan as a whole that they were able to honor Paku's last wishes. It was the perfect way to end off, what I believe to be, the best arc in shounen anime/manga. </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08506754224547697152noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90783882542430276.post-36532600322418399162013-05-26T23:04:00.000-07:002013-05-26T23:04:04.698-07:00Hunter x Hunter - Chimera Ant Arc Overview<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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With the Chimera Ant arc well underway in the 2011 adaption of Hunter x Hunter, I felt this would be a good place to start with this blog. Not many people have gone through the trouble to give an in depth analysis of this arc, but having previously re-read it and with the anime currently adapting the arc, it is fresh in my mind at the moment and I feel this is the right time to discuss the arc as a whole.<br />
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<strong>WARNING:</strong><br />
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<strong>The following overview contains potential spoilers, if you have not read the Chimera Ant arc and do not wish to be spoiled, please don't read past this point.</strong><br />
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The Chimera Ant arc picks up right where Greed Island leaves off, with Gon and Killua freshly completing the game and using the cards they acquired to take themselves to Ging. As it would turn out, Ging had already planned ahead for this and the two are instead taken to meet a familiar acquaintance in Ging's apprentice, Kaito, who had previously saved Gon 2 years prior to where the series starts. After getting reacquainted with Kaito, the arc gets underway introducing a new species to the series that had not yet been introduced in Chimera Ants. This introduction is met with an ominous feeling as the first we see of the Chimera Ants is the 2 meter tall Ant Queen who is in the process of her reproductive cycle in order to birth the next Chimera Ant King. After discovering the leg of the Queen, it is up to Kaito and crew to attempt to discover the Queen's whereabouts before she is able to birth the next King.<br />
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That is basically a brief overview of the premise to the beginning of the arc. Afterwards we are introduced to a lot of dark themes never explored before in any of the previous arcs with the only one coming close to it being Yorkshin. We are introduced to the intriguing idea of what would happen if a species existed that could reproduce offspring with a multitude of split genes in order to create a "superior" race. While this concept is introduced very early on in the arc and perfected in its presentation of the early soldier ants who serve the queen, it is really only carried out through the rest of the time spent on the continent of NGL before the weaker level ants beginning to branch off and do their own thing, only really being presented through the King and his Royal Guards. This is the first flaw to the arc that is truly a glaring issue with the underlying themes that Togashi presented. His story starts off slow and hardly develops any of the early ants only using them as a tool to show the budding storyline of the ants beginning to gain a sense of individuality through their inheritance of human genetics. These ants were left severely underdeveloped and then just brought back in the mid points of the arc to present a sense of danger before the eventual meeting with the Royal Guards and the King. They were just their to present an army in numbers of an evolving species that was a threat to the human race that were deemed to dangerous to keep alive and had to be exterminated, which most of them are.<br />
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Another glaring issue with this arc is there is no consistent flow to keep the events in the story moving along without any interruption or side tracking. Part of this could definitely be chalked up to the amount of hiatuses that took place during the creation of this arc, but also to the overall length of the story. It is damn near impossible to keep a plot smoothly going without losing momentum for 132 chapters. Unlike in the previous arcs, the Chimera Ant arc does not move directly from Point A to Point B to Point C. It starts with Point A takes a detour then jumps to Point B and then takes yet another detour before we finally arrive at Point C. This made the story feel very disconnected. An example of this are how Gyro's flashback is suddenly jammed into the story about 20 chapters into the arc. Pretty much we start with NGL which introduces us to the Ants, then after the King is born and the Queen dies all of these Ants go there separate ways and we are thrust directly into a competition between Gon and Killua and Morel's apprentices Knuckle and Shoot. After this we jump around between random battles with lower level Chimera Ants (some of which were former officers who also know Nen) mixed in with the few random times the King and his Royal Guards are introduced back into the story. Then after all of that we arrive at the brilliant storming of the King's castle and after which get a drawn out final set of battles where the situation looks hopeless for the human race before we finally arrive at the end of the arc, with the human race left in shambles trying to recover from the national tragedy that was insinuated by the Chimera Ant invasion.<br />
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The pacing for the arc overall is very erratic which also breaks the flow that was perfected in Togashi's other 3 previous major arcs to the series. The arc is also very battle heavy which isn't always a bad thing, but in the world of Hunter x Hunter took away what made Nen battles special. There were way too many unnecessary battles in this arc that were primarily used as stalling tactics to get us to the point of the storming of the King's castle which would serve as the arc's climax and as de facto training for Gon and Killua. Fights in which they are presented as Gon vs Snake, or Gon vs Bat and Owl, or Killua vs unnamed Chimera Ant served no purpose to the overall plot of the arc. Many of the ants were already past the level of mid level Hunters without knowing Nen, so providing them with Nen without them having to do any formal training whatsoever to improve their skills was rather disappointing. It would make sense for the frightening realization that these ants were able to evolve into learning Nen, but at the same point it eliminated what made the Nen battle system so intriguing. All Nen battles were predicated on strategy and the application of your Nen ability rather than having the most power busting ability. A character like Hisoka is revered to be an elite fighter due to the flexibility and creativeness of his ability. The Hunters who were left fighting the ants still used every creative application of their Nen possible in order to outmatch their foes, but this tactic was practically one sided as many of the ants weren't exceptionally skilled in their application of their Nen. To them, they felt as though if they had more powerful abilities, they could wipe out the humans. The only concepts of Nen that were even applied in fights throughout this arc were Hatsu and En. None of the more complex ideals introduced in Greed Island were necessarily exposed here in fights. While their entirely a need to point out when Ken or Ko are being applied, but they didn't even address that they were shifting their aura for offense or defense or that they were even using Gyo anymore. It was like Togashi was expecting the audience to forget that those were major tools in Nen fights and people would just assume that they were naturally being applied.<br />
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The arc was not all bad though, it did have its bright points. Other than Yorkshin, this is by far the darkest arc in Hunter x Hunter exploring the ideas of hopelessness, despair and tragedy. The overall plot for the arc isn't necessarily new by presenting a race of creatures who are trying to take over the world. It also isn't new in its presentation of the main villain, Meruem. Meruem is heavily inspired by Akira Toriyama's character Cell from Dragon Ball. Meruem is completely self absorbed and believes that he was created to be the ruler of the world. Meruem really starts to deviate from Cell when he picks up playing board games defeating every world champion at every board game in existence. Due to his exceptional ability to evolve, Meruem is able to absorb the knowledge through a few losses to each of these world champions before he outclasses them at their own game. It isn't until he meets human girl name Komugi who is the champion at a board game called Gungi that he finally meets his match. Meruem spends most of his time throughout the arc trying to defeat Komugi at Gungi but for some reason never can. Komugi is a young blind girl who can't even see the board and is very simple in her thought process, yet for some reason the ultimate being is unable to outwit her. Not only can't Meruem defeat this simple girl at her own game, but he also can't beat her in a test of morals. In fact, he begins to sacrifice his morals throughout the arc for this girl who he for some reason builds a special attachment to. Komugi, through her superiority over the King at Gungi, is able to humble him in a sense and begin to humanize the monster whom only acts according to his ant instincts. This leads to some of the finest philosophical moments in this arc in which Meruem begins to question why he exists and why some creatures deserve to live. As said by Netero, Meruem got caught in a dangerous internal power struggle between his ant instincts and his humanized emotional perspective.<br />
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The other major high point of this arc was presented in the beginning of the climax when the extermination team storms the castle in an attempt to take out the Royal Guards while Netero attempted to take out the King. The buildup to this moment was executed brilliantly and also provided a lot of tension that was much needed to present the oncoming danger they were about to face. After the incredible buildup to this moment, the execution of the break in was just as impressive as the build up. The moment was flawless and really provided a sense of hopelessness as the group of Hunters were clearly outmatched. Between the actual palace storming and the fights that followed, these moments provided not stop enjoyment and were executed nicely unlike a vast majority of the arc. The fights were well developed and clearly showed how outmatched the Hunters were as they practically failed to actually eliminate the Royal Guards. The only Royal Guard to successfully be killed by the person who was targeting them was Pitou, and that feat was only accomplished due to Gon's forced aging process in which he released all of his potential after realizing Kaito was dead. The climax to this arc provided many great Nen battles that didn't sacrafice the little details that made Nen battles so special. The groups collective fights with Youpi were enjoyable to witness as they were not able to overpower their foe. Youpi was able to defeat Shoot, Knuckle and Morel and would've most likely defeated Killua had he not ran off after successfully hitting Youpi. Netero's battle with Meruem not only presented the highest level of Nen battle to date, but also had a witty complex to it as Netero was clearly overwhelmed by the King's power, but at the same time the King was not trying to kill Netero. Netero was giving it his all to kill the King but the King was only fighting to learn his name. This also provided a very unique battle in which the main character was not fighting the main villain, another key element Hunter x Hunter displayed. That battle also displayed what Togashi does best and that is to do the unexpected. Netero did not defeat the King in battle, but was able to deal the eventual death blow. Through the miniature rose, Netero was able to deliver enough poison into Meruem's body to be lethal. The poison from the miniature rose ended up killing both Youpi and Pouf as they sacrificed themselves to keep the King alive. However, their efforts were all in vein as the King, realizing his inevitable death was approaching, chose to seek out Komugi to spend his final moments playing her in Gungi. Meruem and Komugi die in each other's arms in what leads to a very emotionally draining ending to the arc.<br />
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Meruem was definitely the bright spot to this arc in my opinion, his internal struggle and tragic relationship with Komugi provided for the most heartwarming moments in the series and really explored an emotional side that had never been shown in Hunter x Hunter beforehand. The support from the Royal Guards though is what made this dynamic so amazing too. The Royal Guards represented the conflicting ant instincts for Meruem as they were trying to persuade him to continue down the path he was destined to go down of ruling the world. They saw Komugi's presence as an obstacle and felt that the King's new found human emotions were a reflection of their own failure to guide the King down the correct path as his loyal servants. All of this combines for a very emotional ending to what was the longest and most controversial arc in Hunter x Hunter. I feel as though the Chimera Ant arc has its ups and downs, but overall is a solid shounen arc. In comparison to a vast majority of shounen arcs, the Chimera Ant arc still stacks up fairly well and is better than what most other shounen series are able to produce. However, in terms of the series, I felt the Chimera Ant arc was the weak point of the four major arcs. I say this arc is controversial because there seems to be a love it or hate it type of mentality and no people in the middle ground who didn't think it was the weakest but also didn't think it was the best.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08506754224547697152noreply@blogger.com4