The official Naruto thread

[Etrurian emperor]

32 minutes ago, vanguard333 said:

What did you think of the most recent arc, now that it's over?

7/10: Too much water. 

I think its an arc of high and lows. Several good moments but also moments that were dragged out or were really, really clumsy. Phasing is its big weakness. I think its akin to the Mitsuki retrieval arc where they used three episodes for plot points where one episode could have sufficed. 

It reflects well on the arc that they actually made Metal Lee a character. It reflects poorly on the arc that they kinda took a big dump on Denki's development though. 

Edited June 21, 2022 by Etrurian emperor

[vanguard333]

Just now, Etrurian emperor said:

7/10: Too much water. 

I think its an arc of high and lows. Several moments but also moments that were dragged out or were really, really clumsy. Phasing is its big weakness. I think its akin to the Mitsuki retrieval arc where they used three episodes for plot points where one episode could have sufficed. 

It reflects well on the arc that they actually made Metal Lee a character. It reflects poorly on the arc that they kinda took a big dump on Denki's development though. 

I can't believe I didn't think to make that joke.

Yeah; that's how I'd sum it up as well: "an arc of highs and lows". I'm guessing there's supposed to be something in between "several moments" and "but also moments"?

Yeah; it is definitely like the Mitsuki arc in that regard; that one definitely had places where it could easily have been shortened without losing anything.

Yeah; Metal Lee's development and dynamic with Hebiichigo was really good. What do you mean though by the arc taking a dump on Denki's development? Sure, the arc didn't have him do much, but I remember him being reasonably confident and even standing up to the delinquent swordsmen when infighting broke out over how to deal with the Funato.

By the way, what did you think of the character deaths in this arc?

[Etrurian emperor]

1 minute ago, vanguard333 said:

Yeah; Metal Lee's development and dynamic with Hebiichigo was really good. What do you mean though by the arc taking a dump on Denki's development? Sure, the arc didn't have him do much, but I remember him being reasonably confident and even standing up to the delinquent swordsmen when infighting broke out over how to deal with the Funato.

Last arc made kind of a big deal of showing Denki's growth and him shedding his status as the weakest link. Then in this arc he's one shotted by a single mook as if he's still the non combatant he was in the first few episodes. After beating Samurai girl he should have been beyond the point where mooks could easily take him down. One could argue that its because he didn't have his armor but the arc's first episode made it a point that armorless Denki was far tougher then one would assume at first glance.  

Granted Iwabe had the same problem but that just makes things worse rather than better. 

3 minutes ago, vanguard333 said:

Yeah; that's how I'd sum it up as well: "an arc of highs and lows". I'm guessing there's supposed to be something in between "several moments" and "but also moments"?

Several good moments but also moments that were stretched out or clumsy. I typed it too fast at first.

6 minutes ago, vanguard333 said:

By the way, what did you think of the character deaths in this arc?

Kinda clumsy but also rather admirable. Its a long running problem with fillers that there aren't any stakes because the status quo most always be maintained. So Boruto making it clear that characters can die during fillers is pretty novel. But the deaths themselves also came sorta out of the blue and with Kagura's rival still on the prowl I don't think this was quite the time to have killed him off. Also the episode where he died was also....not very good. 

[vanguard333]

On 6/21/2022 at 3:40 PM, Etrurian emperor said:

Last arc made kind of a big deal of showing Denki's growth and him shedding his status as the weakest link. Then in this arc he's one shotted by a single mook as if he's still the non combatant he was in the first few episodes. After beating Samurai girl he should have been beyond the point where mooks could easily take him down. One could argue that its because he didn't have his armor but the arc's first episode made it a point that armorless Denki was far tougher then one would assume at first glance. Granted Iwabe had the same problem but that just makes things worse rather than better. 

Several good moments but also moments that were stretched out or clumsy. I typed it too fast at first.

Kinda clumsy but also rather admirable. Its a long running problem with fillers that there aren't any stakes because the status quo most always be maintained. So Boruto making it clear that characters can die during fillers is pretty novel. But the deaths themselves also came sorta out of the blue and with Kagura's rival still on the prowl I don't think this was quite the time to have killed him off. Also the episode where he died was also....not very good. 

I see; that makes sense. The only case that I remember off the top of my head of him being beaten the pirates was the time he and Iwabee got ambushed and beaten while they were protecting that group of kids, and in that case, they lost because they were exhausted, hungry, and more focused on making sure the kids could get away.

Ah; that makes sense. Yeah, I agree.

I agree that, conceptually, being willing to kill off characters to show that these arcs are anime canon and not typical filler was a good idea for showing that the status quo can change in certain ways. Most of the time, previous Boruto anime arcs changed the status-quo by fleshing out character developments that were largely skipped over in the manga, which is a good idea, but it still seemed like they were restricted in what they could do. But yeah; I didn't like the character deaths either. Kagura's death I thought was the least bad out of them as it was at least given weight and it significantly affected the plot and the characters; Hebiichigo's and Isari's deaths were far worse in my opinion because they were largely pointless. Nothing came of either death.

I was so certain that at least Isari's death would be used for something, like maybe Ikada saving Boruto would cause the dad to admit that he (the dad) killed Isari, causing the Funato to turn on him. Instead, Kawaki just barges in and slashes the dad's throat rather anticlimactically and no one even learned that it was the dad that killed Isari.

 

EDIT: Lately, I've been thinking that Boruto should've just been an anime and not had to be constrained by a monthly manga, and the most recent episode reinforced this thought. It was a silly filler-episode plot where Inojin and Cho-Cho help out a former shinobi that's recently opened up a ramen shop, and yet it also had Inojin and Cho-Cho wondering if they might be holding Shikadai back, and I couldn't help but think, "This is still more interesting than what's going on in the manga".

The anime writers seem to know what they're doing, while the manga's writers don't. The manga is a mess right now: the plot is going nowhere and moving at a crawl even for a monthly release, there are no stakes that feel like they'll amount to anything, Boruto is boring and without motivation, and every interesting plot thread is immediately undermined: "Momoshiki might take over Boruto" nope; he can't anymore, "What is this thing that Amado's been building in secret" it's just Delta programmed to be loyal to the leaf village, etc. At least the anime was able to provide an arc with interesting antagonists and a competent beginning, middle and end.

Edited July 4, 2022 by vanguard333

[♠Soul♠]

v:?

[vanguard333]

The most recent episode of Boruto was a bit of lighthearted fluff centered around Konohamaru, and the moment I saw the preview for it, I was thinking, "I am going to be counting the seconds until Konohamaru is hospitalized in order to prop up a new villain; aren't I?" Thankfully, that wasn't the case, but it wasn't like Konohamaru really got to show off any new skills or anything either because it was just a bit of fluff.

I honestly didn't think too much of Konohamaru when watching the original Naruto, but I liked his character overall, and the moment he brought down one of the Pains was pretty cool. I wasn't expecting Konohamaru to be a copy of Kakashi or anything like that, but I was expecting more than him repeatedly losing fights over and over again without ever getting the chance to show how much he's grown. It doesn't help that, where enemies that bested Kakashi showed respect for his abilities (both Itachi and Pain were impressed by him), the villains Konohamaru kept losing to showed nothing but contempt for him and were completely dismissive towards him.

Edited August 9, 2022 by vanguard333

[Etrurian emperor]

So we all agree Mitsuki's cat is going to die next week right? The episode title being ''a wound that never heals''. 

[vanguard333]

On 7/20/2022 at 7:13 AM, Etrurian emperor said:

So we all agree Mitsuki's cat is going to die next week right? The episode title being ''a wound that never heals''. 

Yeah, Mikazuki is probably going to die. The inevitable pain that comes with having a pet.

EDIT: Well, you made a good guess, but ultimately incorrect.

 

Anyway, on a happier note, what did you think of the most recent episode?

 

EDIT: Based on the preview for the next episode, Himawari is finally going to enter the ninja academy. As someone who felt that she probably would've been a more interesting protagonist than Boruto, I've been wanting to see what they ultimately decide to do with her character. This should be interesting. And Kawaki having to take the same class as her... that's just hilarious.

Edited July 31, 2022 by vanguard333

[Etrurian emperor]

I think she's rather well liked but I've never really been attached to Himawari. She always struck me as more of a plot device then a character. The precious little sister figure meant for the occasional wholesome line and not much else. I guess its a good attribute that she brings out Boruto's better side even back when he was more bratty, but that reflects more on Boruto's character than her own.

Maybe her getting her own arc will be a good way to change that. I guess so far her dynamic with Kawaki's pretty good, and there are some implications she's more on the ball then you'd think. Maybe I'll like her a bit more if she does a good showing as a main character, however an episode title suggest she's going to be demoted from being the main focus of the arc and put more into a side role.

 

[vanguard333]

On 8/29/2022 at 5:10 PM, Etrurian emperor said:

I think she's rather well liked but I've never really been attached to Himawari. She always struck me as more of a plot device then a character. The precious little sister figure meant for the occasional wholesome line and not much else. I guess its a good attribute that she brings out Boruto's better side even back when he was more bratty, but that reflects more on Boruto's character than her own.

Himawari is generally well liked, though there were growing concerns among many that the anime & manga had no idea what to do with her character outside of her just being the precious little sister character (that said, is there a single character where there aren't concerns that the anime & manga have no idea what to do with them?).

 

I quite like the most recent Boruto arc so far; I like the reason they gave for Kawaki being in the academy (secret mission to discreetly protect one of the students), I like that they gave Himawari some actual agency and had her figure out what's going on within the first episode, and I like the character that Kawaki's trying to protect.

One thing I will say is that, while it makes sense to do a more lighthearted and funny arc after the Mist War arc, the humour can sometimes be rather cringeworthy, though thankfully that's mainly in the first episode. Plus, while the class having wacky hijinks is fun, I would like to see the class, well, training.

 

EDIT: I enjoyed the academy arc overall. Sadly, however, I've given up on Boruto. With the manga content right now being really bad and, honestly, having always been bad, and the anime becoming increasingly desperate in its efforts to both pad for time and improve upon the source material, I just can't keep watching. The series had a lot of promise, and it was sometimes able to live up to some of that promise, but it's increasingly becoming just not enough.

Thinking about it, I'm reminded of a number of bad shows and movies like BBC Sherlock and The Force Awakens: they're bad, but they were able to trick many into thinking they were good because they were flashy and, more importantly, they left enough hooks to create the facade of quality; enough bait to make people think 'any minute now, the story's going to get good', but eventually the curtain falls and the facade unravels. I don't think Boruto was another case of this, but I can't help but be reminded of it when I think of how I now feel about the series. I feel like I was tricked into thinking there was ever a cohesive plan; that everything was organized, and everyone knew what they were doing, and it's increasingly obvious that that's not the case.

Edited November 28, 2022 by vanguard333

[Etrurian emperor]

The idea of Boruto crossing over with Saw and Squid game was always really stupid but the premise defies expectations. Its actually among the better fillers out there.

The games and their solutions are passing clever and each 'game'' taking place over one episode fixes the typical Boruto filler problem of them taking three episodes where one would suffice. Also the cast of characters is pretty neat. You've got a wholesome Rock kid Boruto's age who's either gonna die horrible or turn out to be evil, and who's got cute character interactions with Boruto, and a cynical but helpful girl who totally isn't inspired by Hapi or anything. 

[vanguard333]

5 hours ago, Etrurian emperor said:

The idea of Boruto crossing over with Saw and Squid game was always really stupid but the premise defies expectations. Its actually among the better fillers out there.

The games and their solutions are passing clever and each 'game'' taking place over one episode fixes the typical Boruto filler problem of them taking three episodes where one would suffice. Also the cast of characters is pretty neat. You've got a wholesome Rock kid Boruto's age who's either gonna die horrible or turn out to be evil, and who's got cute character interactions with Boruto, and a cynical but helpful girl who totally isn't inspired by Hapi or anything. 

Interesting. I wouldn't know; I stopped watching when this squid game arc began. I just can't keep watching, especially in the knowledge that they'll have to resume the manga content at some point, and the manga content is complete garbage.

You will love this: the manga recently introduced yet another Otsutsuki, with this one's corpse (with Amado speculating that they're not dead but merely achieved a non-corporeal form) being the source of the new villains' powers.

Edited December 12, 2022 by vanguard333