Board Thread:Naruto Discussions/@comment-12509038-20141124214040/@comment-12509038-20150124020133

@Everyone- finally getting back to you; sorry for the wait!!!

@JintonRailgun: As I said, I have a lot to address with your message, so let's just get started right away.

Action: In a sense, I can understand where you're coming from when you say you don't like how it's escalated to the point where certain characters can easily destroy entire countries. However, those moments started becoming apparent in the latter half of Part II- it was mostly pretty calm for the rest of the series (excluding certain techniques like Rasengan, Chidori, Sharingan, etc- those were all established in Part I). However, one thing I vehemently disagree with is that there is no more strategy in any of the later fights in Part II. I can think of many examples in which even though characters were using incredibly potent techniques capable of obliterating the landscapes, they must use their brain to defeat their enemy. If you want, I can provide you with a full list of examples. Basically, I see it as not much of the battle aspect has changed besides the fact that characters have just become much more powerful than they previously were.

Plot: Once again, I can understand where you're coming from. For the most part, it's hard to disagree with your argument. In a sense, I tend to look at the overall story as Part I dealt with following the lives of many different characters as opposed to actually developing a solid plot, while Part II focused more on a coherent story and only used the important characters that could actively progress the story forward. That is the main reason why I do prefer Part II over Part I (though it's not by much and is a very difficult conclusion to come to). For the most part, I think Part II was handled very well up until the Kaguya stuff. But even then, that was only about for ten chapters- once she was dealt with, it was back to Sasuke and the story got very good again. One thing I will admit to is that it does seem like everyone coming together was a little contrived. Had Naruto reintroduced ninshu to the world, it might have transitioned a little better. Hopefully that will be expanded upon in the miniseries.

Characters: For the most part, I do enjoy Naruto as a character (though I do think he was a better written character in Part I than in Part II). My biggest issue is the one that you seem to have as well- him being the reincarnation of Asura/the Child of Prophecy. First of all, let me address the positives of this dilemma- he wasn't the reincarnation of the Sage of the Six Paths. For a long time it seemed like Naruto was going to end up being the reincarnation of Hagoromo; him being the reincarnation of the Sage's son humanized the character much more and it also added another interesting connection to the bond he shared with Sasuke- for what it was, I actually think this element was handled fairly well. However, other than that, I do think it is incredibly problematic due to the fact that it completely negates what Naruto stood for in the beginning of Part I when he was fighting Neji. I don't feel the need to dwell on it, as you pretty much covered all the bases. Are there any more characters you want to elaborate on? Also, as he is my favorite character, I'm curious on how you feel about Sasuke?

@Gemnist, Eric, and JintoRailgun- Now I'm addressing all the other miscellaneous comments following Jinton's original post.

Once again, not about the pairings, but since it keeps being brought up, I have no choice but to address it. First of all, I don't really care about them at all, but if I had to pick an ending, I would've done exactly what Kishi had done (NH and SS). As Gemnist said, it's not always right for a character's background to determine the fate of their characterization in the future, but at the same time, it's also possible that the beginning of a character's development starts from the point in which their introduced. This is especially true for the characters of Sakura and Hinata. For Sakura's part (even though it's an incredibly dysfunctional relationship and it is sending a bad message), she always wanted to get Sasuke's attention and to finally acquire his love. Though it seemed like she had developed over the course of the series to the point where she wouldn't need him, it was ultimately inevitable that she would eventually get with him at the end of the story. Regarding Hinata, I think her situation is very different from Sakura's for the sole reason that she is not a main character, unlike Sakura, and so she didn't have the opportunity to expand upon anything else other than what her goal was at the moment of her initial introduction. Her entire characterization revolved all around gaining Naruto's attention and affection. By that point, it was incredibly obvious that she would end up with Naruto at the end, as there would otherwise be no point in Kishi creating her character. While it's true that her idea of stalking Naruto isn't the best way of "professing her love", it's probably better than Sakura's relationship with Sasuke... just face it- when it comes to romance and love in Naruto, it's never been handled well and that's not what the story is about.

As I mentioned above in my response to Jinton, the whole prophecy element is problematic in a variety of ways. The only reason I like it even a little bit is because Naruto turned out to be the reincarnation of Asura (with Sasuke being the reincarnation of Indra), as opposed to him actually being the reincarnation of Hagoromo, which is what it appeared the story was hinting towards. However, the major issue with this is that it refutes Naruto's argument that he made while fighting Neji during the Chunin Exams. Had their been no prophecy and everyone had followed Naruto because he had proven his own worth through his life experiences, than this would have all been perfect. However, the fact that Naruto was destined to save the world just contradicts so many of the earlier themes in the story.

Despite all of this, I have thought of something even more flawed about Naruto being the Child of Prophecy that I have never seen anyone else mention but myself- when Naruto was proclaimed to be the Child of Prophecy by the Great Toad Sage and by Hagoromo (when it was revealed he was Asura's reincarnation), Naruto did not argue this with the two of them. As Part I Naruto was completely against the idea of fate and predestination, he would have debated the Great Toad Sage and Hagoromo, telling them there is no such thing as prophecy and that he can change his own future by his own actions. However, the Part II Naruto just blindly accepted this proclamation without giving it any thought whatsoever. The whole idea of Naruto being the Child of Prophecy is not so much a flaw of the character of Naruto Uzumaki, but more so of a flaw in Kishimoto's writing of the character; however, the issue that I mentioned is absolutely a flaw of the character himself, as the Naruto from Part I should have at least been skeptical of the whole concept of prophecies, reincarnations, and fate. What do you think about the flaw that I thought of (as I said, I haven't seen anyone else mention this, so I'm curious about what you think of it)?

Eric- I do share in your frustrations of Sasuke not appearing in the movie that much, and since he is my favorite character, it was very disappointing to see that be the case. However, as I mentioned elsewhere, I think this was a necessary evil in order to get people to care more about Naruto's relationship with Hinata as opposed to anything else in the film. Believe it or not, Sasuke is even more popular in Japan than he is in the USA, and so him taking up a lot of screen time would have served problematic to the core focus of the film. However, Kishi did mention that he will be playing a huge role in the miniseries and/or Bolt movie, so don't worry- we'll be seeing a lot more of Sasuke in the future! :D BTW Gemnist, Kishi said in an interview that the purpose of Sasuke's journey was not just to atone for his sins, but also in order to learn more about Kaguya in order to assure that she will never be revived again.