Board Thread:Naruto Discussions/@comment-24168857-20141106193428/@comment-8284722-20141111185956

Top 10 Moments

10. SN Makeout (lol)

9. The lifetime promise

8. Itachi's final forehead tap

7. Naruto saves Sakura from Sasuke, reuniting Team 7

6. Naruto unleashes the Nine-Tails against Haku

5. Sasuke places his hand on Naruto's shoulder then tries to slice him

4. Obito's "first death"

3. Sasuke kneels over the unconscious Naruto

2. Naruto returns home after defeating Nagato

1. The Bell Test

Don't worry, Vinny; I only started following over the summer, though thanks to this website that was a breeze. It'll probably affect me for a bit but I'll get over it. I'm just excited for when I finally get the opportunity to make my own Naruto film adaptations! (That may sound farfetch'd, but how is being Hokage any different? I'll explain more in another thread).

As for Kishi being a bad writer, he's more of a bad characterizer and dialogue writer. His themes and stories are amazing, but the characters and most of their developments are stereotypical and the dialogue is something that, like almost all manga, drags on, states the obvious, and leaves you bored. However, the way he blends action and comedy, long a SJ staple, is revolutionary. SJ didn't make him quit; he did it on his own creativity (Naruto's too big of a moneymaker to just cancel). The epilogue did have several faults, though. There were many things unresolved and a lack of characterization in several areas. Even worse when you consider that Kishi had the epilogue done BACK IN JUNE 2006.

Not sure about the Kakashi spin-off, but I would be fine with it not happening since we know enough of his background. I did hear, though, that Kishi was considering a Minato spin-off, which would be great since we don't know that much about him or ANYTHING about his teammates and comrades outside Kushina. When Kishi starts up again, I'd love to see him get started on Karakuri, a story about androids he was trying to publish in SJ before finding it unsatisfying and creating Naruto. He's also supposed to be a very good seinen writer, which would be a stretch from Naruto's shonen roots but would be great to see.

Then there's my Naruto memories. If I can recall, the first time I heard of Naruto was when I was a little kid with these old fighting games, one for the Xbox and the other for the GBA. I thought the thing was cool, but I didn't think much of it. My first glimpse of the anime was the dubbed episode where Team 7's in the Forest of Death. Hands down one of the scariest moments of my life, since I was only a tad bit older. Seeing Naruto get eaten by a snake, Sasuke pull a kunai out of his leg, and Orochimaru (who I thought was a girl, mostly because of the hair and voice; I still have that problem with Frieza) acting creepy throughout made me want to just ignore the series all together (I was one of the few kids who actually OBEYED rating systems; I even kept my distance from Avatar: The Last Airbender for a while). Not long after, though, I found myself introduced to the manga, specifically volumes 4, 17, and 21-26. I don't remember much, but I do remember nearly vomiting at the sight of Haku's death (I also thought HE was a girl; at least there I wasn't alone), weeping at the thought of the Uchiha clan massacre, and then becoming a white slate after seeing Sasuke defect. Sadly, I also had some bad pronunciation with names from that, calling the Hokage "Hah-kij" and Sasuke "Shah-suuk". I mostly didn't have much interaction afterwards, although I did read 47 several years later and thinking "Who the heck is named Pain?". It was only this summer that I really found this series and started getting into it, binge-watching the whole Introduction Arc (and skipping dinner) and becoming obsessed with Sign, A World That Was Transparent, and some of the other themes. And now I love it to death. Thanks, Naruto, for everything.