Board Thread:Naruto Discussions/@comment-8284722-20141120180019/@comment-8284722-20141120205023

All right, here's my comment to you, TU3:

For starters, I apologize for thinking you were going to profanely insult me, which you clearly did not do; it was prejudicial of me and I should never have thought that a sysop like you would do such a thing. In fact, I'd actually like to thank you very much for all the information you gave, and I'll take it into consideration. So here's what I think:

For the tones, I've always liked to see it as this: it starts out all fun and games (and laughs), but as the events go on it slowly degrades into something more realistic. That makes it more like a true hero's journey: taking someone ordinary and then traumatizing the character more and more. It would be hard to make it flow, but I like to see it as more of an anthology film than a purely flowing film, kind of like Pulp Fiction (except it's linear) or The Dark Knight (except without all the darkness and Nolan-ness). You're actually wrong about the Chunin Exams thing; the film will mostly be focused on that. And yes, I am cramming in a lot of info. But I'm not M. Night Shyamalan. I actually know Naruto (in fact, know Avatar) and know how I can make it flow. Also, the things I'll cut out won't be the way it was in that film where they literally cut out everything to the point where it wasn't recognizable. Oh - and I (along with everyone else) am a FAR better writer than he has become.

Naruto: I'm keeping all that stuff, Sexy Jutsu and everything. But at the same time I'm going to show that he cares for the people around him. I want to emphasize that more because that is essential to who Naruto is. As for the catchphrase, I'm only really adding it to keep in tone with the series as well as to instill familiarity to old fans of the series (I'm sure the one thing they remember back when Naruto was in its prime here in the States was "Believe It" - even our logo agrees!).

Sasuke: Not quite sure if you understood what I meant. Sasuke's still going to show care for his team, jumping in front of Haku and what not, but the thing is he doesn't realize it, and the words he'll be saying will make it look like he's doing it for no reason, and it'll be left up to the audience (up until Ch. 698 gets covered) to decide what Sasuke truly feels. There's power in a villain like that. As for the characters liking him, it was all because of his skill and his "good" looks, and in Naruto's case he had never been able to experience his peer like that, finally being able to cooperate with this kid who just seemed to either ignore him or sit on him for what seemed to be no good reason, and very much touching him.

Kakashi: For the most part, Kakashi will be the same character he is. But the Third Shinobi World War had to still have some impact on him. It'll only be when there's a suggestion of a reference to Obito and Rin that it will be used. And he won't be crying; more like he'll become stone-faced. Also, a benefit of these films is the use of subtext. Making subtle hints to things that will get explained in future films really helps.

Hiruzen: Well, Naruto still lives in that apartment, but Hiruzen will still keep tabs on him and visit him occasionally. Of course, he can't do it all the time do to his duties, but Naruto could still see that Hiruzen looks out for him. Plus; he won't quite be walking around the Hokage Residence much at all.

Tenten: Exactly what I plan to do.

Sannin: the scars will be very internal, not external. No matter how many times Tsunade is Hokage, no matter how many bodies Orochimaru uses, and no matter how long Jiraiya roams the world, they're pained. And there'll be references to how Team 7 is just like the Sannin. Like I said, Team 7 is meant to fix the Sannin's mistakes. That gives them plenty of purpose, and I'd like to emphasize that more.

Itachi: Well, the "showing more emotion" thing will probably just be around people like Naruto who don't know what he did and in private places like that doorway where it was just Naruto and him for a time. He won't be helping kids on the street, considering he can't. Think of it as him being able to release stress after years of playing demon for Akatsuki and Konoha. Again, subtext. And yes, I'd really like to emphasize his care for Sasuke and Konoha in this first film, since while we know he destroyed his clan, we also know he isn't a bad person. It's kinda complicated to describe, but Itachi won't look purely good and will be plenty interesting and complicated. There will be those "little pepperings", whcih was actually what I was getting at, while going full force in the second and third films.