640 replies to this topic

[Xar]

You have good points Xarai, but for the first one, I don't mind honorifics actually. Actually it's a good thing they do use it. It keeps the "made in Japan" feeling, and it also indicates to me that these guys are familiar with Japanese culture.

That's another problem, a lot of authors completely forget about Japanese cultural influence in the manga. I've played enough JRPG's and have enough knowledge about the culture to know where some things come from.

One of the things that authors, and westerners mostly miss is how the magatamas are used in Japanese entertainment. Anywhere the magatama is, or whoever weilds it, or basically is associated with it, will have strong powers. They will also have powers to either control demons, or be granted demonic powers as well.

This is why Sasuke being able to suppress Kyuubi's chakra isn't so surprising to me, nor is his power either. After all, the Sharingan eye is based off of one of the three sacred objects/jewels of Japan; the Yasakani no Magatama.

Tad bit off-topic but...

Thanks. It's true that the "made in Japan" feeling is a nice touch, but when Sakura goes from "Sasuke-kun" to "Sasuke-teme", or when Naruto says "Sasuke-teme" when he usually just says "Sasuke", that's when it gets annoying. I might have mis-explained that.

Also, I've never heard of these magatamas... Maybe I should do a bit more japanese cultural research before I start writing =X.. Gotta give it a certain feel, ya know? =D What are the other three sacred objects/jewels if you don't mind.

[MagusKyros]

Tad bit off-topic but...

Thanks. It's true that the "made in Japan" feeling is a nice touch, but when Sakura goes from "Sasuke-kun" to "Sasuke-teme", or when Naruto says "Sasuke-teme" when he usually just says "Sasuke", that's when it gets annoying. I might have mis-explained that.

Also, I've never heard of these magatamas... Maybe I should do a bit more japanese cultural research before I start writing =X.. Gotta give it a certain feel, ya know? =D What are the other three sacred objects/jewels if you don't mind.

Ah, yeah, I don't like quick character changes. I could forever see Sakura call Sasuke, "Sasuke-kun." But I hope she never changes how she calls Naruto as "Naruto."

As far as I know, it's more intimate if you call someone with their name with no suffix attached to it, and you have a pretty good relationship with them; either that, or they are disrespecting you, which we know that Sakura no longer does, or hasn't for awhile. Which could easily be another proof as to how comfortable Sakura is with Naruto.

Naruto, to my knowledge, has never called Sasuke, "Sasuke-teme" before. I don't know where people got that from, and Sasuke has only called Naruto "dobe" once in his life, that's it.

The magatamas thing isn't very well known in the western world, unfortunately. Only the sharp eyed ones, or the ones that have knowledge about Japanese mythology would know about that. The other two jewels are the Kusanagi, the sword that Orochimaru has, and the third one was a mirror. The mirror, and magatamas was once used to lure out the Shinto Goddess Amateresu from a cave once when she wanted to hide herself in the world. It's a pretty interesting read.

Another interesting this is that Sasuke's life somewhat resembles a part of the Shinto god Susanoo's life. Susanoo fought a snake named Orochi and took the sword Kusanagi from him. Sasuke fought Orochimaru, and now weilds the Kusanagi. Susanoo was also awarded a girl for marriage (which he asked for) if/when he defeats the snake.

It's a pretty interesting tale. You can find it by just googling Susanoo or something.

[Xar]

The magatamas thing isn't very well known in the western world, unfortunately. Only the sharp eyed ones, or the ones that have knowledge about Japanese mythology would know about that. The other two jewels are the Kusanagi, the sword that Orochimaru has, and the third one was a mirror. The mirror, and magatamas was once used to lure out the Shinto Goddess Amateresu from a cave once when she wanted to hide herself in the world. It's a pretty interesting read.

Another interesting this is that Sasuke's life somewhat resembles a part of the Shinto god Susanoo's life. Susanoo fought a snake named Orochi and took the sword Kusanagi from him. Sasuke fought Orochimaru, and now weilds the Kusanagi. Susanoo was also awarded a girl for marriage (which he asked for) if/when he defeats the snake.

It's a pretty interesting tale. You can find it by just googling Susanoo or something.

Hmm. That is interesting. Mythology in general always fascinates me, which is partly why I've read some books on it, such as Mythology by Edith Hamilton. Although not japanese, it's still greek mythology/etc. Interesting stuff. Pretty depressing stuff too, though, because all of the main characters die some tragic death after losing their loved ones or some such. .

I'll look it up. Thanks.

Oh, and a new fanfiction hate.

Reviewers who just review to say "Interesting story... Update soon." or some such nonsense. If you're going to review a story, tell what you liked about it, or give criticism! The later is the preferred for me (I know, weird.) But, yeah. heh.

[MagusKyros]

I have more new fanfiction hates.

1. Sakura constantly calling Naruto 'baka' or Sasuke calling Naruto 'dobe' all the time. Sakura calls Naruto baka when he does or says something incredibly stupid, and he usually deserves it. Sasuke has only called Naruto 'dobe' ONCE in the whole manga.

2. Naruto mindlessly does what Sakura wants him to do (aka, she has him super whipped).

Hmm, ya that's about it :o

[Cloud]

I have a lot of dislikes...

Yaoi. Seriously.. I don't want to log into Fanfiction.net and have like.. "OMG, NaruSasu story" I don't know why a majority of people write Yaoi... (no offense, but seriously...)

Bad spelling... ex: "Uzamaki Naruto and blah blah.. Sasuke does Bushins... or bad spelling in titles... uzamaki, uzamki.. etc.."

Stupid crossover stories... Naruto/Halo, Naruto/HP, Naruto/Star Wars. Unless they're good (which is only 5% of the fanfictions) don't do it.

A story that has bad spelling, grammar and punctuation... all the way through.

[Cloud]

1. When readers leave reviews that just say two words: update soon. I'm quite sure someone above me has already said this but I'm stating it again anyways. Those two words tell me nothing whether I did well or if there's a problem with how I wrote the story.

2. When I click on a story that recieved over a thousand reviews and find that the work is mediocore, dull, drab....why on earth, it recieved so many reviews when I know others should have recieved the same amount...? I have no idea. I admit I'm very picky when it comes to reading fanfiction but why shouldn't I not want to find good, quality work on FF. net or even here?

3. The amount of yaoi in Naruto fandom, which I think, is attributed to a severe misinterpretation by fans who claim Naruto and Sasuke are "meant to be together" or that Kakashi and Iruka "are the most adorable couple in the world." It is unfortunate that deep friendships between people of the same sex (guy-guy/girl-girl friendships) are automatically labeled as romantic, gay/lesbian relationships....honestly.....

I think Kishimoto has left more than enough evidence to show that Naruto is pretty much a straight guy. Secondly, Kakashi and Iruka barely even speak to each other and somehow, they end up being one of the most popular Naruto yaoi pairings....

Again, I seriously don't know why people write Yaoi.

I bet if you saw that kind of thing in real life, you'd go and erase all of your yaoi fics. And have nightmares for the rest of your life.

Guy on guy written lemons? *shudders* :shamefulcry0js:

[Coupe]

I also dislike bad grammar. I find it very annoying to find astory writen without any punctuation what so ever.

[DasDeke]

Ah, yeah, I don't like quick character changes. I could forever see Sakura call Sasuke, "Sasuke-kun." But I hope she never changes how she calls Naruto as "Naruto."

As far as I know, it's more intimate if you call someone with their name with no suffix attached to it, and you have a pretty good relationship with them; either that, or they are disrespecting you, which we know that Sakura no longer does, or hasn't for awhile. Which could easily be another proof as to how comfortable Sakura is with Naruto.

Naruto, to my knowledge, has never called Sasuke, "Sasuke-teme" before. I don't know where people got that from, and Sasuke has only called Naruto "dobe" once in his life, that's it.

I agree, it annoys me to no end when Sakura starts calling Naruto, Naruto-Kun. It just changes the field to much. I've heard that to, a name without a suffix is a bit more personable. Hence why I keep my Sakura in stories calling Naruto, simply Naruto!

Another thing just urks me to no end, is Sasuke getting the Mangekyo Sharingan by other means. Such as training it himself, or he killed off Orochimaru / Kabuto / Random person number 1. There have been a lot of fanfics that have had that, and just turned me off reading right there. I have forgiven a few though, cause the story was good enough.

Not a huge fan of songfics, though I did like Black Horse and a Cherry Tree. Something about adding the lyrics I think distracts from the story. It's ok to be inspired by a song, heck just toss that in your author's note, but not enough to add the lyrics to fill up space you should be writing something with substance in.

Not so sure about the rushed relationships. My Solstice Equinox fic already has them in love, so...yeah. Building up the relationship is fun though, not rushing things. Course SE is almost pure fluff lol.

[Cloud]

I agree, it annoys me to no end when Sakura starts calling Naruto, Naruto-Kun. It just changes the field to much. I've heard that to, a name without a suffix is a bit more personable. Hence why I keep my Sakura in stories calling Naruto, simply Naruto!

Another thing just urks me to no end, is Sasuke getting the Mangekyo Sharingan by other means. Such as training it himself, or he killed off Orochimaru / Kabuto / Random person number 1. There have been a lot of fanfics that have had that, and just turned me off reading right there. I have forgiven a few though, cause the story was good enough.

Not a huge fan of songfics, though I did like Black Horse and a Cherry Tree. Something about adding the lyrics I think distracts from the story. It's ok to be inspired by a song, heck just toss that in your author's note, but not enough to add the lyrics to fill up space you should be writing something with substance in.

Not so sure about the rushed relationships. My Solstice Equinox fic already has them in love, so...yeah. Building up the relationship is fun though, not rushing things. Course SE is almost pure fluff lol.

Sasuke in Part 1, always called Naruto a moron. Dobe was only used once or twice. I think the correct term was.. "Usladonkache."

[Blue Jeans]

And comes in WAY late in the discussion... as in it's over with but ah well.

1. Gender change. Why do people persist to make Naruto or Sasuke a girl? or even Kyuubi a girl? Why? They are male! Naruto likes his kitten in particular, shown when Sai insulted him multiple times about not having one! And... eventually Sai saw it in the baths and acknowledged that Naruto had one. Please, let Naruto keep it. His manhood is important to him as I'm sure Sasuke shares this same belief. (Stupid homophobes.) Seriously, getting the gender right is not that difficult! (And his name is NOT Naruko!)

2. MPreg. Not physically or logically possible. An Arnold Schwarzenegger will definitely be the last thing to convince me that it's not the most disturbingly overused idea ever created.

3. Naruto gay. God. He's straight. If he's not straight then I fear for all the rest of the "straight" characters. Sasuke, on the other hand, is still pretty ambiguous so I'm not going to point any fingers.

4. Character bashing in general. If you can't characterize the players in your story, just don't write. Save fans the pain of it.

5. Paste-its - what I dub Mary-Sues and Gary Stus (whatever they're named) while wearing the face of a beloved character. Nothing makes me hate fandom characters more than this and I really hate stories like this too. More than gender-bender/yaoi-fests that makes no sense, Paste-its is even worse than OOCs because it's a Mary Sue pretending to be my favorite character! The horror!

6. Melodrama. It cheapens everything. And I mean everything.

7. Change of gender preference. I don't care what fandom it is, if you know a character's straight or gay, don't make them something they're not. It's insulting and OOC and BAD. The end.

Okay, I admit, I DESPISE NaruHina. I'm actually starting to like manga Hinata on the second time I'm reading the manga, but I simply DESPISE fanon Hinata. She's a Paste-its not only waiting to happen, but has happened and been happening for so long I just refuse to pretty much read any fandom concerning her unless it just happened by accident. I don't like NaruSasu, great eye-candy that it is, because Naruto is straight and no one can convince me otherwise. It's insulting to gay and straight people to change someone's gender preference... in a relationship or not, unless they're obviously bi or ambiguous, you just don't mess with that!

Just a quickie to explain the suffix attached to names because people seem to have a general confusion on how to use it CORRECTLY:

-chan 1) Term of endearment between girlfriends (used by girls towards other girls) or towards children; 2) Term of endearment (boys to girls; girls to boys - FAR less common); 3) An insult if not close to the person (ex. if Sasuke ever called Naruto "Naru-chan", canon-wise he's not showing respect and would be using it as an INSULT or to MOCK Naruto as someone younger or not-manly.)

-kun 1) Term of friendship used between boys (boys using it on other boys); 2) A semi-close anquaintanceship between coworkers, usually used with LAST NAMES; 3) coworker or fellow students, usually used to show familiarity; 4) When used on women it can be both a compliment and an insult, it's like -chan, it's all about context

-san 1) Mr/Ms/Mrs equivalent. Typically used on strangers or people you respect and usually with the family name (ex. even fellow high school students would typically address each other by [family name]-san), this is to show respect and not using it usually shows DISRESPECT when it comes to strangers; 2) Can also be an insult if you are already very familiar with someone and you use it out of the blue, this I don't think I need to explain; but also when used to passive-aggressively show that one don't really respect the other... context

-sama 1) EXTREMELY formal and only used for actual LORDS/LADIES of high standing in society. So Hokage-sama is okay; Kakashi-sama is not; 2) unless you want someone to insult Kakashi (or show that they worship the ground he walks on).

-sensei 1) Teachers; 2) Doctors

-senpai/-sempai 1) Younger student addressing older student; 2) New/lower coworker addressing high-ups (ex. Tenzo: "Kakashi-sempai")

No suffix 1) Intimate relationship - friendship or otherwise; applies to first and last names but FAR more true for first names. Please remember that using first names immediately shows familiarity in some form, even if used with -san. 2) VERY insulting if the person doesn't know you and is not very close to you, it shows a total lack of respect if done by someone who the person does not consider close (ex. Any member of Akatsuki calling Naruto by his given name is insulting him, especially if done without a suffix because said person is acting like they are close to him when they are, in fact, not; Naruto world seemed less strict about this particular bit of first and last names because Ninja tend to take up code-names and sometimes give up their given names, if they had any, all together... may or may not be true for Civilians as it may mimick Japan a bit more closely) The thing to note here is that if Sakura ever called Naruto "Naruto-kun", she's taking a step back, not forward, in showing intimacy and that is why it makes no sense. If Sakura, however, started calling Sasuke without the "-kun", it shows she's more familiar with him. Got it?

There's more but I think I've covered the most likely errors to pop up here.

[MagusKyros]

1. Gender change. Why do people persist to make Naruto or Sasuke a girl? or even Kyuubi a girl?

As far as I know, Kyuubi has no gender to began with. Plus foxes are usually portrayed as females in Japan anyway. That's why some authors make Kyuubi a female with a hot bod .

[Radon]

In regards to Naruto fan fiction specifically my main pet peeve is Sasuke suddenly waltzing back into Konoha, either with or without Naruto's help and suddenly hes in love with Sakura and they get married yadda yadda yadda... I've seen this done WAY to many times in SasuSaku AND NaruSakuSasu fics and to be honest it wouldn't bother me so much if there was more than ZERO development on the Sasuke's part. It ranks higher up than those weird 'Sasuke secretly loves Sakura' fanfics...

[Blue Jeans]

As far as I know, Kyuubi has no gender to began with. Plus foxes are usually portrayed as females in Japan anyway. That's why some authors make Kyuubi a female with a hot bod .

I wouldn't care for the gender of Kyuubi if it weren't for its disgusting misuse of having it shag Sasuke or Naruto or both of them. Or go into heat. Um.. Kyuubi, at this point in time, would rather rip Naruto and Sasuke to pieces along with anything on legs that could walk, than shag them. It's an animal/demon... not your cute neighbor cosplaying evil.

It IS evil.

That's what ticks me off.

And any fic that doesn't deal with the political and social consequences of Sasuke's betrayal is a fic/writer in denail.


Urr... about Kyuubi... not to sound too snippy. If you like Kyuubi your way, go ahead. I just hate fandom that pairs Kyuubi with anything and anyone, especially a human. The way I see it, Kyuubi is this ancient monster and it probably views humans as ants or spiders or some type of annoying insect that it should be able to crush. So, let me use the insect analogy to better draw this picture of how I see the Kyuubi. If Kyuubi was a human and human to it were like insects, then it would be the type of human who goes around searching for ant hills to stomp on to kill time and call it fun. It would get annoyed if the humans faught back, but not threatened. Think of it as ant bit me, now I must kill ant and its colony of ants. Take that! Then, 4th comes along and seals big Kyuubi into little tiny cage. If you were locked away with an ant, do you think eventually you'll be sympathetic or attracted to said ant? Would you not be utterly frustrated and want to crush it more for living its life perfectly fine while your cramped into a small little cell?

So no. Even if the Kyuubi wasn't evil, he/she/it does not value human life. It just wants to be free and it will do anything to do it. Currently, getting Naruto to weaken the seal by using its powers looks to be the quickest way, so the Kyuubi will exploit that. But they will not bond over it. At least, IMO, girly bondy and being there for each other... not going to happen.

[MagusKyros]

I wouldn't care for the gender of Kyuubi if it weren't for its disgusting misuse of having it shag Sasuke or Naruto or both of them. Or go into heat. Um.. Kyuubi, at this point in time, would rather rip Naruto and Sasuke to pieces along with anything on legs that could walk, than shag them. It's an animal/demon... not your cute neighbor cosplaying evil.

We know next to nothing on Kyuubi except that it's a mystical beast that is known to attack villages every once in awhile; earning it also the title of a 'natural disaster' as well.

Also, it's not uncommon for malicious kitsunes to take on a form of a beautiful woman for the purpose of seduction.....or pleasure.

So some concepts found on FF.net about Kyuubi being able to turn into a red-headed, busty female isn't a new concept. Though, I will agree with you on how some authors portray Kyuubi as a benevolent fox out of the blue, especially when it's obviously not so benevolent.

[desaix]

As far as I know, Kyuubi has no gender to began with. Plus foxes are usually portrayed as females in Japan anyway. That's why some authors make Kyuubi a female with a hot bod .

Not quite correct. In Japan, kitsune (which is Japanese both for the normal fox and for the fox-spirits, but in this case refers to the spirits) are shapeshifters, and change from male to female periodically -- whichever is more convenient for the practical joke. Which is why Naruto's 'sexy no jutsu' is so perfect for him. This changes over time, however -- sometimes, it was more common to portray them as (steadily) male, others (steadily) female. In the specific 'nine tails' myth (from which the Bijuu all come from), kyuubi's sex is never mentioned. In the anime, the Japanese gave kyuubi a very male voice and speech pattern.

As a side note, the indecipherable sex is a better portrayal than the poor Tengu got. Tengu, who apparently were loosely related to the kitsune in distant Japanese mythology, morphed from dog-spirits into winged dogs into winged, ugly humans with giant noses, as time went on. They're actually portrayed a little more kindly, most of the time, nowadays, the portrayals now having sort of fused their physical appearance into the physical appearance of Christian angels, to make them much more handsome (even if they still are winged, big-nosed, often stupid tricksters). Tengu, btw, are mythologically the beings which are supposed to have taught Ninja all their secret techniques. (I was researching Tengu on an entirely unrelated... um, project, recently) Might be fodder for someone else to write about, if anyone's interested -- there were no Tengu among the bijuu, but tengu are often found in the mythological stories of ninja, so... someone might want to include them. (At the present time, there are no plans to include Tengu into any major role in my own fanfiction. I may have an off-mention of one, in some back story, but they never physically appear in my story)

[MagusKyros]

Not quite correct. In Japan, kitsune (which is Japanese both for the normal fox and for the fox-spirits, but in this case refers to the spirits) are shapeshifters, and change from male to female periodically -- whichever is more convenient for the practical joke. Which is why Naruto's 'sexy no jutsu' is so perfect for him. This changes over time, however -- sometimes, it was more common to portray them as (steadily) male, others (steadily) female. In the specific 'nine tails' myth (from which the Bijuu all come from), kyuubi's sex is never mentioned. In the anime, the Japanese gave kyuubi a very male voice and speech pattern.

As a side note, the indecipherable sex is a better portrayal than the poor Tengu got. Tengu, who apparently were loosely related to the kitsune in distant Japanese mythology, morphed from dog-spirits into winged dogs into winged, ugly humans with giant noses, as time went on. They're actually portrayed a little more kindly, most of the time, nowadays, the portrayals now having sort of fused their physical appearance into the physical appearance of Christian angels, to make them much more handsome (even if they still are winged, big-nosed, often stupid tricksters). Tengu, btw, are mythologically the beings which are supposed to have taught Ninja all their secret techniques. (I was researching Tengu on an entirely unrelated... um, project, recently) Might be fodder for someone else to write about, if anyone's interested -- there were no Tengu among the bijuu, but tengu are often found in the mythological stories of ninja, so... someone might want to include them. (At the present time, there are no plans to include Tengu into any major role in my own fanfiction. I may have an off-mention of one, in some back story, but they never physically appear in my story)

Ah, well I was normally talking about seduction. I don't think there were any prominent female figures in Japan. They were mostly a male-dominant society (like everywhere else >.>), so I would assume foxes would turn into females most of the time.

That's an interesting info on the Tengu to. I also heard about how the Uchiha clan's power were based off of Tengu mythology to. I didn't dwell much on it, but with Sasuke turning into a hideous monster with handed wings out of his back, it's not very surprising if it were. Especially since it's already been established that the Uchiha clan is cursed.

[desaix]

Ah, well I was normally talking about seduction. I don't think there were any prominent female figures in Japan. They were mostly a male-dominant society (like everywhere else >.>), so I would assume foxes would turn into females most of the time.

Are you forgetting Queen Kasuga? She was reputed to have issues with a kitsune.

So did Amaterasu, IIRC, though that might have been a different kind of shapeshifting critter (funny how kitsune, tengu, kappa, and tanuki -- the four major 'species' of Japanese mythological stories (i.e., the equivalent of the Western faeries, elves, ogres, trolls, etc., and as opposed to the Japanese mythological critters there were only supposedly one of, like the Orochi) are all shapeshifters of one type or another. Kitsune were the only ones who 'frequently' changed sex at will, however -- most of the others stayed as they were born).

Oh, and the one intended 'tengu' reference in Training for the Job was that both the Uchiha and the Hyuuga 'used' tengu to amplify their clan's powers. Again, no tengu are ever encountered, but I have thought a great deal about using what I learned about them somehow.

[Blue Jeans]

Well, I can see where the mythological ideas are coming from, but nowhere in the manga is the Kyuubi shown to exhibit any form of seduction through sex. It is 1) depicted with more male attributes than female; and 2) seduce using power than using sexual attraction. So, until Kishimoto show me another side of Kyuubi, it just feels very OOC to me. There's basis in the society that this story is coming from but no basis in the actual canon.

IMO.