749 replies to this topic

[TouKen4Life3g]

Statement: Kishi was never serious about (potential) romance thoughout the entire run. Movies and after chapter 700 not included.

Agree or disagree?

I have to disagree. Some would think that he was only focusing on battles and such but no romance alas Oda's One Piece; however, he gave focus on it with the love triangle without really going that deep that makes you cringe. That's saved for part 2. Anyway, it was clear that whether NS do get together in the end or not, it will still fall with them as a potential and highly likely if it were to end with one, which I wouldn't mind.

The main argument is not just the development, but chapters 296-297. That was a scarred moment that nobody can ignore it as in story structure because why is that moment even there in the first place. It's likely an old idea that never saw the light of course. Change of plan can really change everything and not just ongoing form but even in the past. There were just too many of one potentially romantic focus that a movie with all in romance is the only way yet comes out clumsy, messy, and shoe horn in all the moments that feel like NH is meant to be.

It's not that Kishi was making this romance/romcom, but you don't need to change genre in order to have one. Anyone can pull off romance, whether it has the least focus or not. What it's written, it is present.

[TouKen4Life3g]

Statement: To my knowledge, I recall people always praising characters as one of the strong perks of the series. That was in part 1 reviews/thoughts. After the end of the series, it's deemed as one of the weakest. That said it is likely that Kishi is only good on writing side characters or not Naruto/Sasuke, for a short term, rather than a long term (ex. Over 300 chapters). Otherwise, his writing will be exploited as not as good on what the former said.

Agree or disagree?

[rocci]

Statement: To my knowledge, I recall people always praising characters as one of the strong perks of the series. That was in part 1 reviews/thoughts. After the end of the series, it's deemed as one of the weakest. That said it is likely that Kishi is only good on writing side characters or not Naruto/Sasuke, for a short term, rather than a long term (ex. Over 300 chapters). Otherwise, his writing will be exploited as not as good on what the former said.

Agree or disagree?

I agree.

Minato, madara, itachi, and hashirama are the character with great hype but unable yo live to the hype.

I will give you about the romance aspect in the other time.

[Nostradamus]

I agree.

Minato, madara, itachi, and hashirama are the character with great hype but unable yo live to the hype.

I will give you about the romance aspect in the other time.

Well nothing can ever live up to the hype. Especially if you hype it/he/she/them to extreme.

[NeonRanger]

Agree. Kishi is a short term type. He is only as good for a certain time. He gave a lot of his secondary characters, like Shikamaru and MinaKushi a great background for us to work with. All of his main characters suck towards the end. 

 

I really wish he hadn't made SNS such a pivotal plot point, especially when Sasuke contributed zero in the relationship. I really loved NaruGaa. 

[HalfDemonInuyasha]

Yeah, Kishi definitely does things better when he doesn't have to focus too deeply on a character and/or for too long which is why a number of key side characters are now more liked than the main characters. It's because of seeing what a train wreck the main characters have been turned into that I'm actually glad we didn't go diving deeply into Minato's background, the Uzumaki Clan, and other things.

[rocci]

@halfdemoninuyasha
He already did with minato, he's a weak compare top dog in war arc to the point kishi give him sm and km despite never become a Kyubi host.

[TouKen4Life3g]

I have to agree. I actually remember those old reviews about the series with its characters. They were pretty good if you end at part 1. After that, people always wonder "Where are they?" That's where it should click that Kishi has no long term plan for many of them. It's not that they need to be focus all the time but they never got their own spotlight, even when they are brought in. Team Gai, Gai only. Team 10, Shikamaru only. Team 8, that one bug from Shino.

After that, they went to absent and they don't get anything out of it, development or not. Same for Sai. Picture book, then...long wait until war. Kage Summit Arc shows promises, but nope, just a messenger boy that don't even get any credit from Naruto or Sakura. Just "thanks for pushing a forced drama."

It's also worth noting that the old generation was more "important" to the fans because of how much disappointment new generation were. Because old gen can bring out the hype and high level materials like Hokages. So yeah, not sure that's entirely a plus.

[tricksie]

Statement: To my knowledge, I recall people always praising characters as one of the strong perks of the series. That was in part 1 reviews/thoughts. After the end of the series, it's deemed as one of the weakest. That said it is likely that Kishi is only good on writing side characters or not Naruto/Sasuke, for a short term, rather than a long term (ex. Over 300 chapters). Otherwise, his writing will be exploited as not as good on what the former said.

Agree or disagree?

 

I don't know whether I agree or disagree. It's like there's two different stories - Ch1 through the Pain arc, and the War arc till the end. In the first part, the characters were great and worked for the story; in the second part, new characters were coming and going like crazy. 

 

I think Kishi had a good editor in part one, keeping him on track, making him focus on developing the characters and the plot. After the editor left, I think Kishi was given more control, and the emphasis shifted from creating a good story to drawing it out to make more money. 

 

Sure, Kishi introduced a ton of new characters during the war arc, but they were for the sole purpose of extending the story. They had no bearing on the plot, or Naruto's development. The main (original) cast of characters were forgotten. Sai is a perfect example. Same for Yamato. There was nothing that brought them full circle, so that their stories supported Naruto.

 

 

(That's why I keep saying it's a story without an ending. The story that was developed early on was discarded for a hookup with Hinata and a redemption of Sasuke.)

 

I don't think Kishimoto is necessarily a short-term writer, as everything up to the end of the Pain arc held together really well. But when the franchise switched from storytelling to selling a brand, it all went downhill. Kishimoto's flaws were exposed - he was a writer who needed good guidance.

 

Even if the ending had still been NH/SS, there could have at least been a story leading up to that moment. Instead it was a bait-and-switch after chapters of stalling the story. Kishimoto could have been good in the long-term, but he lacked the guidance to get there.

[HalfDemonInuyasha]

 

I don't know whether I agree or disagree. It's like there's two different stories - Ch1 through the Pain arc, and the War arc till the end. In the first part, the characters were great and worked for the story; in the second part, new characters were coming and going like crazy. 

 

I think Kishi had a good editor in part one, keeping him on track, making him focus on developing the characters and the plot. After the editor left, I think Kishi was given more control, and the emphasis shifted from creating a good story to drawing it out to make more money. 

 

Sure, Kishi introduced a ton of new characters during the war arc, but they were for the sole purpose of extending the story. They had no bearing on the plot, or Naruto's development. The main (original) cast of characters were forgotten. Sai is a perfect example. Same for Yamato. There was nothing that brought them full circle, so that their stories supported Naruto.

 

 

(That's why I keep saying it's a story without an ending. The story that was developed early on was discarded for a hookup with Hinata and a redemption of Sasuke.)

 

I don't think Kishimoto is necessarily a short-term writer, as everything up to the end of the Pain arc held together really well. But when the franchise switched from storytelling to selling a brand, it all went downhill. Kishimoto's flaws were exposed - he was a writer who needed good guidance.

 

Even if the ending had still been NH/SS, there could have at least been a story leading up to that moment. Instead it was a bait-and-switch after chapters of stalling the story. Kishimoto could have been good in the long-term, but he lacked the guidance to get there.

The funny thing is that a bunch of those (undead) new characters came off as more interesting the present cast because of how things went/were going with them...

And that's also what extremist NH/SS/pro-end fans can't seem to get through their heads - a lot of NS/SK fans actually don't mind NH/SS in general (even if it's not what they prefer), but rather they just hate how they came about; with no good/meaningful/consistent development, no focus (Hinata gets one moment, then is buried in the background for literally a couple hundred chapters before being in the front again), no improvements of the relationships (primarily SS-related), nothing.

[Bail o' Lies]

Trickse I don't think it was entirely kishi fault or that it was solely him deciding for focus on his created brand more then the story. But i do think you're right about kishi being "a writer who needed good guidance." From the interviews I read and from what other people have said about them reading kishi interviews before the ending and after. What I gather is that yahagi was the best thing that happened to his career and him leaving was the worst. Now i don't think yahagi was the real writer of the story while kishi was just the face but i do believe that yahagi had a lot of influence in how the story went. I believe yahagi gave kishi a lot of advice on the story and the characters especially early on. For example kishi apparently wanted to do more stories like the zabuza arc early on (which to be honest was a good idea) yahagi wanted to skip that a skip right to the tournament arc (which lead to the early introduction of hinata). Also Yahagi said that Naruto needed a rival but it was still kishimoto's job to create one.(...by mixing traits from other shounen rivals)

 

Eventually i think they got a good working relationship together (especially after kishi met his wife and started basing his females off her) kishi creating the story yahagi deciding what reaches the masses. Then yahagi got a promotion and kishi got stuck with a new editor. Kishi is a very weak will person and his past experience with yahagi probably made him what to try the same close editor/mangak relationship with the new guy. The problem is that who ever was in-charge of the pein arc clearly didn't really care about the story and only really wanted his waifu hinata to get what she deserved. And since they didn't really care about the morals they narrowed down what naruto was trying to accomplish in the end from "reforming the corrupt ninja system" to "break the cycle of revenge" (or maybe kishi came up with it). Then we got the arguments between mangaka and editors of who the heroine was ksihi sticking with Sakura the girl who been the heroine for ten years by that point and was increasingly based off his wife against hinata who his editors said was popular. Eventually kishi capitulated by the end and has been regretting that ever since.

[NeonRanger]

A lot of outside forces kinda gave us this ending (his editors/assistants, SP, CC2, other parts of the franchise, the fandoms--especially stans and haters). Kishi was just went with the flow of their opinion. 

 

I feel that Kishi should have had a Twitter account or something, so he can see other views outside of his bias studio. But then I remember how Kubo deleted his because of harassment from fans. As well as KyoAni. So I will just shrug it off. 

[Bail o' Lies]

A lot of outside forces kinda gave us this ending (his editors/assistants, SP, CC2, other parts of the franchise, the fandoms--especially stans and haters). Kishi was just went with the flow of their opinion. 

 

I feel that Kishi should have had a Twitter account or something, so he can see other views outside of his bias studio. But then I remember how Kubo deleted his because of harassment from fans. As well as KyoAni. So I will just shrug it off. 

Kishi really needed a plus on his fan base. Their were things he could have done either ignore the fanbase and just focus on the story or spend some time trying to learn about the fanbase to find out what they like about the story and what they really want. Instead his editors sent him videos of sawyer and hate mail about sakura. After years of that, he became convince sakura wasn't popular and wasn't what the fans wanted and what the fans wanted was "hinata, hinata,hinata." Now, he probably learned it was the exact opposite. Which is why his later interviews, he not even trying to explain the ending or trying to justify it.

[Bryon_Konoha_Ninja]

The funny thing is that a bunch of those (undead) new characters came off as more interesting the present cast because of how things went/were going with them...

And that's also what extremist NH/SS/pro-end fans can't seem to get through their heads - a lot of NS/SK fans actually don't mind NH/SS in general (even if it's not what they prefer), but rather they just hate how they came about; with no good/meaningful/consistent development, no focus (Hinata gets one moment, then is buried in the background for literally a couple hundred chapters before being in the front again), no improvements of the relationships (primarily SS-related), nothing.

 

Buddy, that's what I've said since the ending happened last year when we've chatted on Skype. If things had been different, I could respect the decision Kishi made, but since he failed to follow writing 101, and trying to not do good meaningful development, focus, and improvements, as readers, we got a right to criticize. 

 

 

Kishi really needed a plus on his fan base. Their were things he could have done either ignore the fanbase and just focus on the story or spend some time trying to learn about the fanbase to find out what they like about the story and what they really want. Instead his editors sent him videos of sawyer and hate mail about sakura. After years of that, he became convince sakura wasn't popular and wasn't what the fans wanted and what the fans wanted was "hinata, hinata,hinata." Now, he probably learned it was the exact opposite. Which is why his later interviews, he not even trying to explain the ending or trying to justify it.

 

Yeah, I know what you mean, Bail. I wonder to myself if he regrets it and feels he can't go back to fix it even if it could be a simple fix!

 

 

 

I don't know whether I agree or disagree. It's like there's two different stories - Ch1 through the Pain arc, and the War arc till the end. In the first part, the characters were great and worked for the story; in the second part, new characters were coming and going like crazy. 

 

I think Kishi had a good editor in part one, keeping him on track, making him focus on developing the characters and the plot. After the editor left, I think Kishi was given more control, and the emphasis shifted from creating a good story to drawing it out to make more money. 

 

Sure, Kishi introduced a ton of new characters during the war arc, but they were for the sole purpose of extending the story. They had no bearing on the plot, or Naruto's development. The main (original) cast of characters were forgotten. Sai is a perfect example. Same for Yamato. There was nothing that brought them full circle, so that their stories supported Naruto.

 

 

(That's why I keep saying it's a story without an ending. The story that was developed early on was discarded for a hookup with Hinata and a redemption of Sasuke.)

 

I don't think Kishimoto is necessarily a short-term writer, as everything up to the end of the Pain arc held together really well. But when the franchise switched from storytelling to selling a brand, it all went downhill. Kishimoto's flaws were exposed - he was a writer who needed good guidance.

 

Even if the ending had still been NH/SS, there could have at least been a story leading up to that moment. Instead it was a bait-and-switch after chapters of stalling the story. Kishimoto could have been good in the long-term, but he lacked the guidance to get there.

 

I know what you mean, Tricks, especially since Kishi seemed to only care about the money and not much else if he couldn't do stuff with the characters you mentioned. Especially too when you think aboiut his willy-nilly nature to kill some characters just for "development" and yet failing on it, since when he killed Asuma to develop Shikamaru, all Shikamaru did was try to replace Asuma out of his self-perceived guilt of failing to stop Hidan, even if there was no chance in Hell he could have, or with killing Neji to develop NaruHina, since that failed SO hard since she was just forgotten and did her usual "I won't believe in Naruto" crap when he was dying.

[Bail o' Lies]

Yeah, I know what you mean, Bail. I wonder to myself if he regrets it and feels he can't go back to fix it even if it could be a simple fix!

I think i said this before but I think kishi went with nH with extreme reluctance. Even the pro hinata fans working on the last knew this pairing was a difficult sell and they would have to start from zero and go to a hundred. The reasons he did it was. He was tired of Naruto especially after years of arguing with his increasingly nH favoring staff about who was the heroine. As well as being convinced by his increasingly pro nH staff that the fans wanted hinata to get what she wanted. So to give the fans what they apparently wanted for years and in order to get his staff to stop fighting him he agreed to nh very close to the end. The fan letters he received early on convinced him that it was the right decision at first. Then the backlash hits, the flop of the last, and everything else. He learned that what his staff was trying to shove down his throat for years was wrong, and he has help destroy his series and increasingly his reputation.

Edited by Bail o' Lies, 15 April 2016 - 03:51 AM.

[tricksie]

I know what you mean, Tricks, especially since Kishi seemed to only care about the money and not much else if he couldn't do stuff with the characters you mentioned. Especially too when you think aboiut his willy-nilly nature to kill some characters just for "development" and yet failing on it, since when he killed Asuma to develop Shikamaru, all Shikamaru did was try to replace Asuma out of his self-perceived guilt of failing to stop Hidan, even if there was no chance in Hell he could have, or with killing Neji to develop NaruHina, since that failed SO hard since she was just forgotten and did her usual "I won't believe in Naruto" crap when he was dying.

You know, up till the end of the Pain arc, he had some really meaningful character development, and really painful weighty deaths: Azuma and Jiraiya, but also Zabuza and Haku, the 'hero'/stepdad of the kid from that same Wave arc, Sasuke's family, Dan's death scene, and Kakashi's almost-death. Kishimoto wrote tragedy and heroism equally well.

 

But I think he backed off of it after the Pain arc. I wonder if he wished he hadn't killed everyone off. Or if he hadn't written the death scenes so realistically (or with so much weight). Because he was so light with the death scenes after that.

 

After Pain, every single person was redeemed somehow before he died. Or at least shown to be a justification for their death. There weren't any more senseless tragedies or heart-wrenching, character-developing losses of mentors/loved ones. There were supposed to be lots of deaths on the battlefields, but none of them were known people.

 

The only death that comes close was Neji, but come on! In the next page it's blatantly shown to be a pedestal to showcase Hinata, with her gross speech. His death doesn't carry the same weight as Asuma or Jiraiya.

 

Anyway, sometimes I wonder if Kishimoto didn't regret killing off some of those anchoring characters, in light of the fact that the manga kept going another 7 or 8 years, you know?

 

I think i said this before but I think kishi went with nH with extreme reluctance. Even the pro hinata fans working on the last knew this pairing was a difficult sell and they would have to start from zero and go to a hundred. The reasons he did it was. He was tired of Naruto especially after years of arguing with his increasingly nH favoring staff about who was the heroine. As well as being convinced by his increasingly pro nH staff that the fans wanted hinata to get what she wanted. So to give the fans what they apparently wanted for years and in order to get his staff to stop fighting him he agreed to nh very close to the end. The fan letters he received early on convinced him that it was the right decision at first. Then the backlash hits, the flop of the last, and everything else. He learned that what his staff was trying to shove down his throat for years was wrong, and he has help destroy his series and increasingly his reputation.

I think Kishimoto just gave up. Because no one character got a satisfactory ending. Not even Hinata and Sasuke. I think Kishi was just done with the whole thing and wanted to move on. There are some scenes that feel like the Kishi of old, and then there are some things that are so disjointed and broken — so out-of-sync with the rest of the story — it's like Kishi just didn't care. He wrote what he wanted, till someone came in and told him to insert and image or a speech or a storyline (like hinata's). Then he did, and went back to writing what he was doing before (NS). He just didn't care. Slap on the NH ending, and it's done. 

 

No matter what the fans and editor's pushed, it was Kishimoto who ultimately gave up on his story.

[Bryon_Konoha_Ninja]

You know, up till the end of the Pain arc, he had some really meaningful character development, and really painful weighty deaths: Azuma and Jiraiya, but also Zabuza and Haku, the 'hero'/stepdad of the kid from that same Wave arc, Sasuke's family, Dan's death scene, and Kakashi's almost-death. Kishimoto wrote tragedy and heroism equally well.

 

But I think he backed off of it after the Pain arc. I wonder if he wished he hadn't killed everyone off. Or if he hadn't written the death scenes so realistically (or with so much weight). Because he was so light with the death scenes after that.

 

After Pain, every single person was redeemed somehow before he died. Or at least shown to be a justification for their death. There weren't any more senseless tragedies or heart-wrenching, character-developing losses of mentors/loved ones. There were supposed to be lots of deaths on the battlefields, but none of them were known people.

 

The only death that comes close was Neji, but come on! In the next page it's blatantly shown to be a pedestal to showcase Hinata, with her gross speech. His death doesn't carry the same weight as Asuma or Jiraiya.

 

Anyway, sometimes I wonder if Kishimoto didn't regret killing off some of those anchoring characters, in light of the fact that the manga kept going another 7 or 8 years, you know?

 

I think Kishimoto just gave up. Because no one character got a satisfactory ending. Not even Hinata and Sasuke. I think Kishi was just done with the whole thing and wanted to move on. There are some scenes that feel like the Kishi of old, and then there are some things that are so disjointed and broken — so out-of-sync with the rest of the story — it's like Kishi just didn't care. He wrote what he wanted, till someone came in and told him to insert and image or a speech or a storyline (like hinata's). Then he did, and went back to writing what he was doing before (NS). He just didn't care. Slap on the NH ending, and it's done. 

 

No matter what the fans and editor's pushed, it was Kishimoto who ultimately gave up on his story.

 

So true on all parts, Tricksie. I will admit to myself, when I work on my fanfic again, if I have the motivation to do it, I want to try to make sure some events are ones that hold some weight, but I also plan not to just give up like Kishi did, especially considering that I want to show this AU as something better than the craptastic canon we ended up getting.

[Bail o' Lies]

You know, up till the end of the Pain arc, he had some really meaningful character development, and really painful weighty deaths: Azuma and Jiraiya, but also Zabuza and Haku, the 'hero'/stepdad of the kid from that same Wave arc, Sasuke's family, Dan's death scene, and Kakashi's almost-death. Kishimoto wrote tragedy and heroism equally well.

 

But I think he backed off of it after the Pain arc. I wonder if he wished he hadn't killed everyone off. Or if he hadn't written the death scenes so realistically (or with so much weight). Because he was so light with the death scenes after that.

 

After Pain, every single person was redeemed somehow before he died. Or at least shown to be a justification for their death. There weren't any more senseless tragedies or heart-wrenching, character-developing losses of mentors/loved ones. There were supposed to be lots of deaths on the battlefields, but none of them were known people.

 

The only death that comes close was Neji, but come on! In the next page it's blatantly shown to be a pedestal to showcase Hinata, with her gross speech. His death doesn't carry the same weight as Asuma or Jiraiya.

 

Anyway, sometimes I wonder if Kishimoto didn't regret killing off some of those anchoring characters, in light of the fact that the manga kept going another 7 or 8 years, you know?

 

I think Kishimoto just gave up. Because no one character got a satisfactory ending. Not even Hinata and Sasuke. I think Kishi was just done with the whole thing and wanted to move on. There are some scenes that feel like the Kishi of old, and then there are some things that are so disjointed and broken — so out-of-sync with the rest of the story — it's like Kishi just didn't care. He wrote what he wanted, till someone came in and told him to insert and image or a speech or a storyline (like hinata's). Then he did, and went back to writing what he was doing before (NS). He just didn't care. Slap on the NH ending, and it's done. 

 

No matter what the fans and editor's pushed, it was Kishimoto who ultimately gave up on his story.

I think the less death was either on part of the editors worried about losing darkhorse characters. Or because kishi became a parent. Kishi darkest material was in part one when he was single or at least dating and after getting married an having a kid made him much softer. It happens to a lot of actors/writers/artist normally their darkest works where either when they are in a dark place or they were single. Once they get married and have a kids you can start seeing them getting softer in their work with the obvious mentality of "I don't want my kids to see "something dark"." A lot of naruto kekkei genkai were biological mutations like changing eyes or pulling out your spine to use as a whip early on but the further you go into the story the more kishi starts to rely on elemental powers. Magnets was a incredibly popular one for some reason.

 

As for Neji death I'm pretty sure like with Hinata's confession the death was recommended by either his editors or staff. Either because clearly the idea was better than whatever he was thinking up Or they wouldn't let him do anything else.

 

I agree with you. The ending came out of more kishi tired of fight against his staff with the belief that no one liked the story he was fighting for anyways. Once he agreed with them the pairing will be nH they probably stop fighting him since that's all they cared about in the end. Remember one of kishi's friends said that the ending was only decided 3 months before the ending, and i don't recall people talking about the last movie being canon until very close to the ending. He still agreed to do it and still went through with it.

[TouKen4Life3g]

Yeah, I can see that being a symptom of why the series got much lighter in violence use, let alone young characters not killed off with an exception of Neji due to reasons. Still, it's no excuse to make things overly forgiven. Again, Disney trained kids (yes, trained) that hardship and pain is something we all have to go to, but in the end, there is hope. Naruto was losing that as the series progress. It's what happened to current DB now. There was nothing to be afraid of as new randomness keep on coming.

That said I have to agree with the characters use. It seems like Kishi only knows how to use newly introduced character in small doses. Once it continues on, they start to show a lot of flaws, starting with not appearing much to develop for themselves. One of the problems is that these characters don't have much going to get a development. In a way, we start to lose their identity and only grasp the tidbit of them. You can say there's no ladder for them.

In other words, what's their character supposed to go to. Shikamaru got the learning of being an adult in an ninja world, but everyone else, they're either have no purpose outside of Chuunin Exam or have something but never moved. Hinata has that underdog status and she lost the first time. You would think that she will start growing from there. Nope. All she did is reciting the same thing about Naruto and pretty much pulling off Nisekoi, only she won in a unsatisfying manner.

On top of it, it does seem like Kishi needs guidance to make the character stand out. I always feel like Kishi did want to do something with Sai in Kage Summit Arc, but for whatever reason, he failed to make it complete and stand out as a defining moment. War Arc showcase on how Kishi works with new characters and it was shown in a negative. Everyone start to contradict themselves, retcon the past, and it's always the usual "I trust in Jesus Naruto." Many of them got one-dimensional.

I remember by Search for Itachi Arc, people were starting to wonder where are the side characters as their focus seem to lack more and more. Is it because we overhyped them after leaving from a standout moment? Is it because Kishi did too much in one setting and have no desire for the future? I can't answer it with a complete confident because that's all up in the air until one confess.

[tricksie]

 

So true on all parts, Tricksie. I will admit to myself, when I work on my fanfic again, if I have the motivation to do it, I want to try to make sure some events are ones that hold some weight, but I also plan not to just give up like Kishi did, especially considering that I want to show this AU as something better than the craptastic canon we ended up getting.

I'm finally back to writing again.... chanting *not going to make kishi's mistakes, not going to make kishi's mistakes!*

 

I think the less death was either on part of the editors worried about losing darkhorse characters. Or because kishi became a parent. Kishi darkest material was in part one when he was single or at least dating and after getting married an having a kid made him much softer. It happens to a lot of actors/writers/artist normally their darkest works where either when they are in a dark place or they were single. Once they get married and have a kids you can start seeing them getting softer in their work with the obvious mentality of "I don't want my kids to see "something dark"." A lot of naruto kekkei genkai were biological mutations like changing eyes or pulling out your spine to use as a whip early on but the further you go into the story the more kishi starts to rely on elemental powers. Magnets was a incredibly popular one for some reason.

 

As for Neji death I'm pretty sure like with Hinata's confession the death was recommended by either his editors or staff. Either because clearly the idea was better than whatever he was thinking up Or they wouldn't let him do anything else.

 

I agree with you. The ending came out of more kishi tired of fight against his staff with the belief that no one liked the story he was fighting for anyways. Once he agreed with them the pairing will be nH they probably stop fighting him since that's all they cared about in the end. Remember one of kishi's friends said that the ending was only decided 3 months before the ending, and i don't recall people talking about the last movie being canon until very close to the ending. He still agreed to do it and still went through with it.

Yes, I've wondered to if the dramatic story shift isn't because of Kishi having to work on it exclusively and continuously from about age 20/21 to 40/41. There's a lot of differences in those ages!! Single to dating, married to having children!! And I definitely think that softening, becoming more aware of Japan's social issues right now leaked into the story and characters.

 

It's a shame he couldn't have stopped at some point, taken a break, let the story breath, then gone back and read Naruto from the beginning again. Maybe he could have remembered what the story was about before committing to an ending that was so out-of-whack with the main hero.