Although I was visualizing Boruto and Sarada (Caesar Salad!!!)

I was thinking of doing a dumb amuses-only-me gag where I just call characters by a new wrong name every post I bring them up, but I do like Ceaser Salad, so I might just have to refer to her as that only.

That's the age where, "If our parents don't want us to watch it, then it must be awesome", is our thinking, lol.

Yeah, definitely. I lucked out though. My mother never cared what I watched as long as I knew right from wrong, so I'd seen things like the Alien movies, Terminator and Robocop long before you'd usually want a kid to see that stuff. I'd always watched Beavis and Butthead, too, which I guess is the one I liked more compared to things like South Park.

And then, at that moment, he realized... he f***ed up.

SERIOUSLY?!! Like I'm sure that's gonna work for them  .  That just screams incompetence if anything else, this is also one of the major problems I have with today's storytelling they're basically treating the fans as idiots like we have no reading comprehension at all I mean how stupid do they think we are really? Fool me once and its over its why I haven't touch upon anything Nardo related since its ending nor do I care what's going on, they can reap what they sow with their new audience I'm sure its going "great" for them  .   

It's not working out for them, no, but that's the downside of them slipping into a hole of their own making. There's really nothing they can do at this point save continuing on the path they are or canceling it and moving on to something else. They're obviously reluctant to do the latter, since Naruto was once the biggest manga in the world and an international hit. Anything else is off the table, because short of completely rewriting the last two to three hundred chapters of Naruto into something cohesive and logical you can't fix that story. They made Bibibab and Ceasersalad and Himawiggiwoo and whoever else. Now they have to deal with them.

In this case, they're obviously hoping if they go back to the dynamic of the early days with a new coat of paint, they can try to recreate whatever magic was there that hooked people, but they're not only being too literal about it, they're ignoring the fact that it's easy to see it's shaping into the same story. It's the Walking Dead problem, where your stories hinge on a basic, easy to spot cycle readers/viewers eventually get wise to and question. They'd be served well by trying to break from the mold and do something interesting in another direction, but it seems they've hobbled themselves with a flash forward and while I'm a fan of starting with a shocking scene in the future and then building to how we got there, it's probably not a great choice for a years-long action-adventure saga you're going to deliver in monthly chunks that barely advance the story.

Such a weird choice of how to do things.

They already all but outright called a majority of fans idiots when called out on how BS the whole ending was. Not just pairings, but the ending as a whole with the plot-holes, @$$pulls, hypocrisy and contradictions, and the whole weak and pathetic "red herring" excuse afterwards when pointing out the non-existent NH development against the development of NS and the generational parallels made numerous times.

Literally saying we "didn't read the manga right".

There was never going to be any other reaction from them. They made their choice and they had to stick by it, even if it was clear it was the wrong one. They were, after all, hyping up the new next generation sequel they wanted to sell. They're not going to admit they blew it with the original because their choice is the entire foundation for their continuation. They're completely full of s***, but I find it easier to simply accept that you can't expect better from something like this.

It surprised me. The joke was getting old anyway because they kept reviving him every, single episode.

I was ten when that show came out, so just the right age to be totally into the kind of humor South Park had in its first season, and I just did not like it, partly because I thought the jokes were just dumb, especially the Kenny dies bit. I've never understood how that gag lasted as long as it did. Pretty much everyone else in my class watched it though (yeah, we were a little young to be watching South Park, but hell, that's never stopped kids even before the internet and cell phones). Hell of a cultural touchstone to not be into when all your peers are.

Thankfully I was watching WWF at the time, just as Austin was coming up, so I at least had that.

Don't worry, most Gundam fans I know love G Gundam. It's only the diehard, "grrr. Gundam is a serious sci-fi military drama" blokes that crap on it. And those guys tend to be in the minority, often being shouted down for missing so much. Or completely butthurt after IBO's ending didn't give them what they wanted.

 

Wing is still garbage though.

I have fond memories of G, but it's one I've made a point to leave to memories. I watched some scenes on Youtube and they came across as silly. Plus, the animations pretty bleh. Which shoudln't bother me as much, because I like the original Mobile Suit Gundam, but there's something about it. The designs, maybe? I don't know. It sucks, because I still love the silly ass premise and it has the right amount of crazy nonsense I usually love.

Wing has aged so horribly, though, and was probably NEVER good if we're being honest. Style over substance. Operation Meteor is the rock stupidest plan I think I've ever seen in fiction. Wu-Fei is a top tier moron. I did love the Gundam designs, though - especially the Endless Waltz variants - and some of the other characters worked. The original show is pretty bad but I feel like you could probably make something really compelling out of it if you did a full remake of the series and cut out some of the unnecessary crap (Wing is about the same size as most long form Gundam anime, yet it feels like it has twice the chaff it could cut out of any other).

Anyway, I love the core Universal Century to bits, but I've also been a little leery of it these days; the series has been trying a little too hard to pull a "see it from the other side" in some of the UC entries and that makes me uncomfortable, honestly.

Well do you try to debate civilly with them and it always ends up with them saying, "shut up, my pairing won!"? Or how about "you are just salty your pairing never came true"? Exactly.

That's the downside of being a shipper sometimes. In this case, we're easily written off because it's going to be assumed we're just mad our pairing didn't come through. Which, to be fair, it somewhat true. Everyone here's salty as hell. But it doesn't make the problems that are pointed out any less true. Still, it's going to be assumed there's an agenda. It's hard to separate the shipping aspects people are upset about with their opinions on the rest. It's easier to just look at the complaints in broad strokes.

I'm pretty chill about the whole thing, try to be relatively reasonable, am not really that upset about it all anymore - it's been too many years since it ended for me to still be upset about a pairing and I'd moved on from the series long before the end because it was poorly written anyway - and am not particularly invested anymore, but if I got into a discussion and let slip I'd been NaruSaku, guaranteed I'd be dismissed as just disliking the ending because my pairing hadn't happened and they wouldn't believe I'd left long before the ending. Just how it is.

And then they brought Orochimaru BACK at the very end with Sasuke stupidly intentionally doing so through Anko's Curse Seal, and so it actually made us HOPE that he would be some sort of wild card that would throw a wrench into Madara's plans with his own plans (before they pulled Kaguya out the @$$), especially with the reveal that he had (somehow) figured out the truth of things before ditching Akatsuki and his outright declaration that he STILL wanted to take over Sasuke's body,...only to just drop all of that, follow Sasuke, and magically succeed in getting immortality with no explanation (as usual).

I don't know why they even brought him back. It was so late in the game and from what I gather he did absolutely nothing. I'd assumed, back when I still thought the manga was going somewhere that made sense, that Orochimaru would come back through some means after a little break and take his role as ultimate villain again, but not only did that not happen, by the time he reappeared the entire manga had long since moved on from him and any threat he'd once posed. Like, he's done. It had been too long and he'd been squashed so easily.

I still feel like the manga was a bit more coherent when he was looking to be the big bad - with side threats cropping up - and he'd played a large role in the plot, even with his limited screen time. It felt like it had more focus. But I admit that might just be misplaced nostalgia from the time I actually still really, really liked the manga. I've never re-read the material from those days, so it could be messier than I recall.

The one thing I’ll never understand is if Hinata was the intended love interest for as long as people say, why on earth did Kishimoto do nothing with them during the Team 8 arc? There was plenty of chances for meaningful interaction and we got none. It didn’t even have to be romantic. Just something to deepen there bond or at least suggest some kind of mutual interest. I think there was a rehash of her fainting, which is the main manga in a nutshell. It repeated the same stuff it established in part 1, but never did anything to move the ball. Just restatements. That Team 8 arc neglect (and 297) are the biggest reason I’ve never been able to buy the idea it was intended all along.

The thing is, it's hard to believe it was intended all along simply because it's hard to believe anything was intended. The manga would shift directions on a dime and never really built to anything. I think it was very much a "plot as you go" series.

I wouldn't be surprised if (one of) the original intent(s) was for Pein to be the final, ultimate enemy (with the whole "the Rinnegan is the strongest doujutsu" talk, the capturing of Biju / Jinchuriki, and the way Naruto is celebrated afterwards), which would then leave the path open for Naruto to find and confront Sasuke and have an actual meaningful final fight between them as opposed to how pathetic Naruto was made to look due to his obsession with "saving" Sasuke and then constant Uchiha and Sharingan wanking leading into the whole "change the system" crap that doesn't truly go anywhere, and everything in-between, then perhaps they could work together to take down Itachi (without all the stupid double agent crap) thus giving Sasuke closure and could return with Naruto and accept responsibility for what he did and such.

I get the feeling that the original intent for an ending changed at least four times and nothing was ever planned beyond a final fight between Naruto and Sasuka. Orochimaru was built up for a long time in the manga as the main enemy and his actions drove a lot of the plot for a good while, enough it seemed clear he was going to be the "final boss". He was cast aside. Akatsuki stepped up and they built the leader/Pein for a while, but the actual group came off like kind of a joke, Pein was talk no jutsued into undoing anything he'd accomplished and it was all just forgotten. Then we got Tobi and the whole Madara thing and it just got out of hand from there.

Next gen is pretty vague and could mean any number of things. Do you mean "starring the kids of the previous cast" specifically?

Here are the following franchises I know that done it, majority are fighting games

Mortal Kombat's done it a couple times, both in terms of a new cast and more recently in terms of the kids of some of the heroes. I do appreciate that about it. They try to make new characters all the time and try to keep a balance of old and new. Some fighting game series only add in a trickle and rely pretty heavily on the stalwarts to carry the load.

It's a "ninja" series that calls an extremely bright and loud move that requires the user to essentially banzai charge as fast as they can - but needing to have special eyes to prevent tunnel vision - and hope they manage to impale their target through the head or heart and then leaves them wide open for a counterattack an "assassination technique"....

Yeah, ninja were always an odd fit for what was essentially a DBZ style action comic. It never really involved spying, assassination and the like. The closest it came was the occasional mercenary work. Otherwise, it's like... theming aside, what made them ninja? They were basically superheroes or wizards by another name. I felt the same even back when I liked the series.

It's also sad that I feel the chemistry between father and son here than I ever did in Boruto.

The most recent God of War really shocked me in how much attention to detail and care was put into its own story of a father and son, too. Really moving story about trying to be better than you were and set an example for the next generation while acknowledging you can't just bury your past, no matter how much you want to. Kratos was the last character I ever thought I'd see get a story like that, but it worked.

Seems like fathers and sons are working out as a story choice of late.

It hard to find any data. We know the Naruto to Boruto game was a flop a few months back. As for the manga:  Lets see: Vol. 3: 180k Vol. 4: 130k Vol. 5: 124k Now Vol. 6: 96k."

Hmm. I don't know much about typical volume sales numbers for series that are supposed to be big in the industry, but those are some major drops, especially for something already a couple volumes in. Looks like a lot of people decided they'd seen enough with volume three and more decided the same after volume five.

... Wait, wait, wait. So if the series is "popular and selling", then why the manga numbers are going down on each volume?!

That's normal, actually, unless the work in question is a phenomenon. Normal in most mediums, from comics to movies to whatever. It's sales attrition. Usually as something gets further and further along, it loses readers/viewers, whether they've just lost interest in the series or in some cases something actively pissed them off. There are ways to shake things up and bring readers back, but it's generally normal.

The numbers quoted there are what do not seem normal to me. Those are big drops for something several volumes in. But I'm not as familiar with Japanese comic sales, just American, so I'm no authority on the matter. Hell, it may still be well within what they consider popular. We don't know what their metrics or expectations for Boruto are.

Ninjas in space, nuff said.

I don't know what is worse.
Ninjas in space or Ninjas with miniguns and lightsabers.

I dunno man, that sounds just stupid enough to be totally awesome.

In a better series, of course.

Not to mention that the new threats to create conflict has become "aliens from outer space!!!!!" So this is not even about ninjas anymore. And even if they are not aliens, the concept is the same since threats must be extraterrestrial now to one up the Kaguya fight.  

Was it ever much more than ninja themed, though? Hell, even that was tenuous. It was a series centered around ninjas that never really seemed to be about ninjas as much as people in bright colors engaging in DBZ fights in a world that couldn't even decide what technological age it was. You could have made them all samurai and I don't think it would have changed the story overly much.

ProZD is good internet content. I saw someone threw some of his videos up in here so I might as well vouch for him. Funny guy with amusing skits who knows how to get his s*** in and get out without belaboring a joke.

 

30 Volumes huh hmm lets see here 

 

lets see currently there are 7 volumes = 27 chapters (total of 3 years worth of content Including movie rehash) 

 

 

That means Boruto will go on up to Chapter 119 estimation wise (which means atleast another 9.5 years) = Boruto will have an 10-11 year run!

They're dropping about four chapters per volume. This thing's monthly, so a volume is roughly four months worth, leaving three volumes to comprise a years work. There are enough chapters out to comprise an eighth volume, so we'll figure going based on the past the four that are out will be volume eight. That leaves twenty two volumes from here, assuming this plan holds. Which, divided by three, suggests about seven and one third years worth of this thing to go, assuming no delays.

That's also assuming they get that far. I don't know what reader retention for this series looks like, but if it drops too far they might have no choice but to wrap it up. Judging by the chapters I've taken a peek at and the synopsis I've read for the rest, this thing looks like it reads at a glacial pace, similar to Naruto, and monthly material's a different beast. You can't write them the same way, since the gap between chapters is a lot longer. That said, I don't know what the portfolio of the people putting the manga together looks like; even if its readership bottoms out, they might keep it going if they don't have anything else to hinge their bets on. This happens in TV sometimes when a lineup doesn't have anything new to pick up the slack when an old, once popular show needs to go out to pasture.

My thoughts: Good and Bad

Maybe this time... they will kiss.

There's a decent chance what's in that cutscene is about as far as it's ever going to go. It's a Japanese game, after all, and culturally things like PDA and kisses are generally seen as "behind closed doors" things over there, which translates to the media as well. I suspect that's why the "indirect kiss" is such a prevalent thing. I'm actually trying to think of the last time I saw a kiss in a Japan made piece of entertainment and I'm drawing a complete blank; I'm sure examples exist and that I've even seen them, but hell if I can remember one right now.

Not trying to be a downer, I just think keeping the culture that made it in mind is good for tempering expectations. Honestly, given the lore and world of Kingdom Hearts, what they did there is probably a lot more meaningful anyway.

Wasn't that also the first time she saw him after he'd been missing for months because Piccolo basically kidnapped him for training? Or was it at a later point? I haven't seen the Saiyan Saga in about fifteen years. If so, it makes sense she'd go to Gohan first.

The "misandry" talking point is new, but otherwise nothings changed. I've never been into Love Hina, but hanging around fandoms naturally saw it brought up and even over a decade ago, plenty of people would kitten about the slapstick humor and the guy getting nailed. I don't know about whether it's ever been considered a classic, though.

I think the splits about the same. Unless things have changed, the last time I was into DBZ, people s*** on Chi-Chi a lot. She got a lot of crap for trying to keep Gohan away from the adventures and to keep him safe and people took the bits clearly meant for comedy seriously. Tsundere-esque characters are a bit more divisive here in the west than in Japan.

HAHAHAHAHAHA - Yes, that's sooooo true! NH-ers seem to forget that, don't they?!?

I'm sure they don't forget. It's just hard to acknowledge it. Seriously, who would want to deal with their ship ending up so bleak?

I actually feel kind of bad for them. Actually bad, not sarcastic or mockingly saying that. It can't be fun to like a ship and be as into it as shipper tend to be, have it become canon despite all odds only to realize that none of the build, the moments leading up to it, all the stuff romance stories in life and in fiction are made of ended up in the story at all. It was just thrown in at the end, with a movie trying mightily to justify it at the eleventh hour, when it's far too late to try and believably make a foundation for it. Then, worse than that, one of the two is so clearly miserable and unhappy with his life he skips any family event and spends almost no time with them to the point his son kinda hates him.

That's crushing. If NaruSaku had actually happened and the latter had been the end result it would feel like s***. I'm not shocked if they don't want to acknowledge any of that openly and get defensive.

She freaking walked up and slapped Evil Buu, not fearing him at all.

'nuff said.

Compare and contrast to the one time Hinata tried to stand up to a major villain, gave a speech and confession, then rushed forward just to get punked immediately without even getting a hit in.

Trying to compare them in any way is just such an insane prospect; say what you want about Chi-Chi, but the lady has a spine of steel. She's not meek about dealing with the people she loves, either. She'll get her hands dirty to keep everyone in line. Handy, given she's married to a manchild - a lovable one, of course - and has had a couple of kids with a habit of getting wrapped up in dangerous, deadly conflicts on a semi-regular basis. She got a little annoying from time to time but for the most part Chi-Chi's awesome.

DragonBall is usually the prime example, claiming that Kishimoto was inspired by VegetaxBulma (not realizing he hated DragonBall Freiza saga and thereafter), and trying to compare Chi-Chi to Hinata (uh, NO).

I assume they were trying to push the "well Chi-Chi just came out of nowhere and married Goku" thing, right? Because I don't know how else anyone could try to compare those two characters without being completely out of their mind. Their personalities are polar opposites. Even the "well Chi-Chi wasn't in Dragonball much" connection is suspect, because she showed up a couple times, had actual interactions with the object of her crush, extracted a marriage promise from Goku (who didn't understand at the time, but followed through) and was proactive enough to track his ass down at the World Martial Arts Tournament when they were both teenagers and even fought him in one of the official rounds when she got upset he didn't recognize her. Chi-Chi gets s*** done, man, even with as little screentime as she had pre-Z and with as little focus as was put on anything resembling romance. Hinata was just, well... she sure did exist.

For the story?

From what I gather the game isn't a definitive end to the series like some people expected or wanted and it draws things from the spinoffs, which people seem to prefer to be able to forget. Thus the story is getting mixed reactions from people.

I don't think you can really put One Punch Man in a fighting game, because once you do, you don't have a game anymore, you just have a winner.