Since the bandwagon for this has appeared...
- Thread starter Captain Cadaver
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Put it on-hold since whichever chapter I last talked about in the Returning from Hiatus thread due to the text walls becoming intolerable as well the references damaging the world building and being a step down in quality for Togashi. I will pick it up again eventually, though not until I have nothing better to view.
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What were some good things about the 2003 Clone Wars series for you?
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Grievous being presented as a beast, having another non-Force user play some significance on the battlefield with Durge and giving the minor characters on the Jedi Council like Kit Fisto and Sasae Tiin some shine.
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What about Anakin vs Ventress? That's certainly worth mentioning too. It's amazing how so much can be done with little to no dialogue. That series is much better than i expected, though the Jedi are too OP, what makes Order 66 and Palpatine taking down 3 Jedis in seconds even more ridiculous.
Would you agree Mace Windu is quite overrated on this series?
Would you agree Mace Windu is quite overrated on this series?
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Anakin VS Ventress was good in choreography, but didn't have enough emotional weight behind it for me to find it worth talking about compared to most of the fights in TCW where the characters are given enough personality to make each battle seem important. Also, Anakin's scream at the end seems pretty unnecessary and unintentionally hilarious.
I agree that Windu was too much of a Gary Stu in this series. Taking down an army of Super Battle Droids was cool, but too ridiculous when considering how he wasn't doing the same in the Geonosis arena.
I agree that Windu was too much of a Gary Stu in this series. Taking down an army of Super Battle Droids was cool, but too ridiculous when considering how he wasn't doing the same in the Geonosis arena.
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The first part was decent overall. Back then, Naruto was far more relatable and engaging than most other Shonen protagonists of the "dumb but strong" variety such as Goku, Luffy and Gon who had pretty weak justification for their goals by comparison. Battles also had far more of a focus on tactics and teamwork than any other Shonen at the time other than JoJo and maybe Hunter X Hunter (though HxH had yet to reach it's peak in that area), even if most tactics boiled down to substitution jutsus. It also had a pretty creative, somewhat steampunk, world with a combination of the magic of Japanese mythology with some level of modern and futuristic technology.
It's first arc, the Land of Waves, was a pretty decent way to start a Shonen, with a relatable protagonist, decent focus on teamwork and Zabuza being a good initial villain in that he wasn't immediately redeemed like say, Yamcha, or reduced to comic relief like Buggy, instead being presented in a sympathetic light without tarnishing the antagonistic elements of his character. The arc wasn't great though, since there was a lack of planning shown in many areas. For instance, the first chapter presents gaining Ninjutsu as incredibly easy if all Naruto needed to do was read a scroll, as well as Konoha's security as being poor even by typical teenage power fantasy series. Also, there's Naruto and Sasuke being able to put up a fight against a Jonin tier like Haku, which made their later fights feel inconsistent. Still, whilst not as good an initial arc as say Hunt for the Dragon Balls or East Blue, it still had a lot of good qualities and was the best arc of the series. 6/10
Chunin Exams was kind've average. The idea of it stealing from the Hunter Exam held it back a bit, but it did enough different and better to warrant it's existence such as giving all the characters enough focus that most of them felt like main characters who had equal justification for winning, rather than there only being a handful to care about like in the Hunter Exams. I wouldn't say it was an overall better exam arc though due to it's tournament section being very standard and Orochimaru being nowhere near as unconventional a villain as Hisoka.
Leaving aside the HxH comparison, there was a lot of other interesting things to the arc. For instance, the display of how the other villages and nations interacted showed that this was more than just a typical tournament in that it was a way of each nation testing each other's strength and showed the peace they had was very fragile. Moreover, Lee VS Gaara was a good fight in that Lee was an even greater underdog than Naruto due to his power coming purely from hard work and the repercussions of him using the 4th Gate showed that not all Shonen characters get stronger from breaking their limits, a very realistic lesson. The arc still had some poor qualities in areas such as Naruto being the only Genin to combat Gaara whilst the other ones that had been hyped up for a while played no role in defending themselves, plus the Talk no Jutsu was nowhere near as good as against Zabuza. Still it was a decent arc and infinitely better than the even more derivative shit that is the Hero Exam in it's watered down equivalent of My Hero Academia. 5.5/10
Tsunade Arc was pretty lacklustre. It was nice to see a strong female character in Tsunade, who had enough of a detailed backstory to explain her haemophobia as to not make her overpowered, Naruto's training segment was decent and it was good to have an arc without the annoyance of Sasuke or Sakura. However, it also felt far less interesting than previous arcs due to it's little stakes with it being apparent there was no way Orochimaru could win in a weakened state, plus Naruto beating a Jonin tier like Kabuto was a bad case of handling power progression in a similar manner to how his fight with Haku was. 4/10
The last arc of Part 1, the Sasuke Retrieval Arc, was complete shit. Naruto had little valid reason to save Sasuke when unlike most rescue arcs, Sasuke left the village willingly without being blackmailed like with Nico Robin in CP9, meaning trying to save him was going completely against his wishes. All the fights were highly contrived, with the support characters asspulling abilities to take down Jonin tier threats, though Shikamaru's at least relied on strategy. Moreover, this could've been a perfect opportunity to go against the Shonen status quo like Lee did and kill off the less interesting characters like Choji, Neji and Kiba for their mistakes and add some additional weight and guilt to Naruto's failure at the end of the arc, yet they survive to accomplish virtually nothing in Part 2. Speaking of Lee, the Chunin Exams were ruined by his sudden healing, returning to put up a fight against Kimimaro of all people. Aside from perhaps Kimimaro, none of the new villains had anything interesting about their character either and just existed to give the support cast a victory. Because of all mentioned prior, the climax wasn't that engaging due to it signalling a poor shift in Naruto's character. What was once an engaging underdog attempting to prove his worth now became someone obsessed with an edgelord boy to the point Sasuke might as well be his ex-boyfriend. Though it did have some good quality in Naruto losing the fight and needing to improve, it was ruined by him not taking a different approach to doing so beyond becoming stronger and didn't hold anywhere near the same weight as a similar 1st part climax like Marineford. 1.5/10
So, overall, the 1st part of Naruto had some good and creative elements, but started to drastically drop in quality after the Chunin Exams to the point I can't call it high tier by Shonen standards. I'd probably rate it as a whole a 5.5/10.
It's first arc, the Land of Waves, was a pretty decent way to start a Shonen, with a relatable protagonist, decent focus on teamwork and Zabuza being a good initial villain in that he wasn't immediately redeemed like say, Yamcha, or reduced to comic relief like Buggy, instead being presented in a sympathetic light without tarnishing the antagonistic elements of his character. The arc wasn't great though, since there was a lack of planning shown in many areas. For instance, the first chapter presents gaining Ninjutsu as incredibly easy if all Naruto needed to do was read a scroll, as well as Konoha's security as being poor even by typical teenage power fantasy series. Also, there's Naruto and Sasuke being able to put up a fight against a Jonin tier like Haku, which made their later fights feel inconsistent. Still, whilst not as good an initial arc as say Hunt for the Dragon Balls or East Blue, it still had a lot of good qualities and was the best arc of the series. 6/10
Chunin Exams was kind've average. The idea of it stealing from the Hunter Exam held it back a bit, but it did enough different and better to warrant it's existence such as giving all the characters enough focus that most of them felt like main characters who had equal justification for winning, rather than there only being a handful to care about like in the Hunter Exams. I wouldn't say it was an overall better exam arc though due to it's tournament section being very standard and Orochimaru being nowhere near as unconventional a villain as Hisoka.
Leaving aside the HxH comparison, there was a lot of other interesting things to the arc. For instance, the display of how the other villages and nations interacted showed that this was more than just a typical tournament in that it was a way of each nation testing each other's strength and showed the peace they had was very fragile. Moreover, Lee VS Gaara was a good fight in that Lee was an even greater underdog than Naruto due to his power coming purely from hard work and the repercussions of him using the 4th Gate showed that not all Shonen characters get stronger from breaking their limits, a very realistic lesson. The arc still had some poor qualities in areas such as Naruto being the only Genin to combat Gaara whilst the other ones that had been hyped up for a while played no role in defending themselves, plus the Talk no Jutsu was nowhere near as good as against Zabuza. Still it was a decent arc and infinitely better than the even more derivative shit that is the Hero Exam in it's watered down equivalent of My Hero Academia. 5.5/10
Tsunade Arc was pretty lacklustre. It was nice to see a strong female character in Tsunade, who had enough of a detailed backstory to explain her haemophobia as to not make her overpowered, Naruto's training segment was decent and it was good to have an arc without the annoyance of Sasuke or Sakura. However, it also felt far less interesting than previous arcs due to it's little stakes with it being apparent there was no way Orochimaru could win in a weakened state, plus Naruto beating a Jonin tier like Kabuto was a bad case of handling power progression in a similar manner to how his fight with Haku was. 4/10
The last arc of Part 1, the Sasuke Retrieval Arc, was complete shit. Naruto had little valid reason to save Sasuke when unlike most rescue arcs, Sasuke left the village willingly without being blackmailed like with Nico Robin in CP9, meaning trying to save him was going completely against his wishes. All the fights were highly contrived, with the support characters asspulling abilities to take down Jonin tier threats, though Shikamaru's at least relied on strategy. Moreover, this could've been a perfect opportunity to go against the Shonen status quo like Lee did and kill off the less interesting characters like Choji, Neji and Kiba for their mistakes and add some additional weight and guilt to Naruto's failure at the end of the arc, yet they survive to accomplish virtually nothing in Part 2. Speaking of Lee, the Chunin Exams were ruined by his sudden healing, returning to put up a fight against Kimimaro of all people. Aside from perhaps Kimimaro, none of the new villains had anything interesting about their character either and just existed to give the support cast a victory. Because of all mentioned prior, the climax wasn't that engaging due to it signalling a poor shift in Naruto's character. What was once an engaging underdog attempting to prove his worth now became someone obsessed with an edgelord boy to the point Sasuke might as well be his ex-boyfriend. Though it did have some good quality in Naruto losing the fight and needing to improve, it was ruined by him not taking a different approach to doing so beyond becoming stronger and didn't hold anywhere near the same weight as a similar 1st part climax like Marineford. 1.5/10
So, overall, the 1st part of Naruto had some good and creative elements, but started to drastically drop in quality after the Chunin Exams to the point I can't call it high tier by Shonen standards. I'd probably rate it as a whole a 5.5/10.
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When watching/reading a show/book, do you ever write down notes to remember certain parts, or just rewatch/reread the parts?
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I tend to just remember most of the key details for shows/books, so never really need to make revisions unless I put the work on hold for a very long time.
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Galu's transgender lover who's name begins with T seems the most degenerate, so probably him.
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About the Dark Continent.. are you excited for what it could potentially become? How do you think Gin and Killua will potentially get involved in the story again? Also does Gin have nen again, or is he simply healed now? I can't seem to recall. Do you give a single fuck about the Kakin Prince storyline?
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I doubt Gon or Killua will get involved, since beyond helping out Kurapika or Leorio, there's no valid reason for them to get involved and inserting them into a storyline they're alien to would tarnish the arc's quality. Gon also has yet to regain his Nen, so I don't see him getting involved in the story for a long time. I would care about the Kakin Prince storyline if it wasn't becoming over-convoluted and kept it's focus as being a part of Kurapika's story. Really, I'm only interested in seeing what role the Phantom Troupe will play in that story.
As for the Dark Continent as a whole, I am excited to see where it leads with it causing many big names such as Ging and the Zodiacs to take action. Hopefully Togashi's writing quality will remain consistent and it'll be more than just an increase in power scale like with the New World in OP.
As for the Dark Continent as a whole, I am excited to see where it leads with it causing many big names such as Ging and the Zodiacs to take action. Hopefully Togashi's writing quality will remain consistent and it'll be more than just an increase in power scale like with the New World in OP.
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Yes, though nothing major. Just the occasional horse race.
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I'd probably try a casino at least once, though it's not a major goal when considering there's no point without a decent amount of money as backup and the fact that most casinos are designed to minimise any probability of paying out.
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Cider, particularly Rekorderlig Strawberry & Lime.
