317 replies to this topic

[TouKen4Life3g]

I just think this art would be a major turnoff because there are fans that will solely go by original work and if it's not by the same creator, this would be seen as a major negative point. I haven't even address that in my review but I do address that in general, it needs work. Not to be exactly like Kishi, but it has to be clean and consistent. It doesn't tell us what art style we should expect because it only tells us that it looks messy.

But I will say that it's odd on how much he's changing the already established character designs. Not many people redo the look.

Edited by TouKen4Life3g, 06 May 2016 - 11:16 AM.

[tricksie]

Wow, a parody? Already?

http://www.shroomsda...ons.com/boruto/

That "This is my story" part killed me.

omg that's funny

 

I just think this art would be a major turnoff because there are fans that will solely go by original work and if it's not by the same creator, this would be seen as a major negative point. I haven't even address that in my review but I do address that in general, it needs work. Not to be exactly like Kishi, but it has to be clean and consistent. It doesn't tell us what art style we should expect because it only tells us that it looks messy.

But I will say that it's odd on how much he's changing the already established character designs. Not many people redo the look.

Yeah.... It's so surprising that it's so unpolished. It's not the the style either. The new guy doesn't have to copy Kishimoto's style identically. He certainly could bring his own touches to this new manga and I don't think anyone would complain. In fact, I would expect that.

 

The promblem is it looks so amateurish. The flat poses, the sometimes squashed perspective, the absence of dramatic scenes (with a dynamic perspective like Kishimoto brought in the first panel), and the massive amounts of white space.

 

It looks more like a rough draft than a finished version. And you'd think with the first chapter they'd want to have it really high impact to make a big splash after Naruto. After all, with a good plot and characters, this could grow to be just as popular and moneymaking as Naruto.

 

But the art looks really rushed and amateur.

 

About the white space: This is the one thing I noticed right off the bat. There are whole panels where there is no background at all! Just two characters walking in white space! Kishimoto would never, ever, ever do that!! He always put in wood paneling or stone or something. Something to anchor the characters so they didn't look like they were floating in mid air. 

 

I could see a slap-dash chapter like this — with minimal background and details — coming later in the series when they're rushing to get things out. But not the with the first chapter, where they've had months (if not a year+) to plan and work on it. And the lack of background detail doesn't make it look clean or minimalist, or an intentional break from Kishimoto's highly detailed style. It just looks unfinished. 

[TouKen4Life3g]

Yeah, that's the feeling I had with this chapter. I know everyone has their own style, but here feels like it's not ready. I don't know what's his style since the panels keep unmatching with others, so I'm lost on what exactly am I expecting? A replica of Kishi or completely new style? It's a mix that ended up bloated.

[Hanabi]

got this from other forum 

The only person I can think right now that would to draw a manga from Kishi and folow his style is Lady GT. Even that she draws NaruSaku fanart and doujins (it's not relevant, I'm just pointing this because I'm a NH fan, so it's really unbiased), she has a nice trace, draw great poses and I think she can follow the schedule.

 

The other artists also make great doujins and have their own style, so why is it not okay to Ikemoto to has and to use his own style too? Also, when you draw a doujin, you make something you wish to draw, the way you wish to draw, your time, you draw your faves etc. Ask some of those artists the time it took to make those doujins and if they can follow Kishi's style and his schedule.

 

I'm just replying this because I don't mean to intend to despise fanartists' work, because I do fanart too. It's just to draw a comic isn't really that easy and i think most of them agree with me regarding that.

 

ladygt ftw

Edited by Hanabi, 06 May 2016 - 01:41 PM.

[TouKen4Life3g]

got this from other forum 
ladygt ftw

I actually saw that mention elsewhere as well.

I'm not saying "I can draw better than him!" That's like food critics saying they can cook better than them. It's just that if he was ready to do this, he should have practice many times. You don't get a second first impression. That's the mentality of many and now, he has a lot of challenges/expectations to make up for.

[tricksie]

Skimmed through it. Hinaturd and the swiffer mophead look uglier than ever. And of course instead of disciplining Burrito, she starts crying like the useless idiot she is and is probably begging him to not be mean and to understand why his father is never there.

 

The way Sakura looked at the Naruto clones was kinda nice in a way.

 

The village being destroyed though. I can only hope that it permanently kills Hinaturd and the swiffer.   But that's probably wishful thinking.

Yeah, I thought that too. It was nice the way Sakura looked after Naruto's clones. It was the only flash of anything even remotely Team 7 to connect with this kitten.

Scattered toughts:

 

• The only redeeamble Hinata's trait (the boobs) is gone...
• If I did a manga in such a way I'd get kicked out of workplace then and there!
• At the Sasuke's apparition I was: "Uh? What is Severus Snape doing here?

 

But seriously, how is it possibile to make Hinata and Himawari even UGLIER?!?

Hahahaha! Sasuke=Severus Snape! Too funny!

http://sparda3g.tumb...uto-naruto-next

 

It's a long one, but here it is:

 

My Impression

It has been a year and a half more or less since the ending of the original Naruto series. After series of novels and movies taking place after the event of chapter 699, Weekly Shounen Jump spawned a sequel. Boruto: Naruto Next Generations. People speculated on what to expect from this project. Now that it’s out, I have to at least check one chapter.

The first chapter is well over 50 pages, but unfortunately, it only covers the last year movie, “Boruto -Naruto the Movie-”. Those who are looking forward to a brand new story have to wait for a while. However, the beginning did start off with a future scene that pretty much sets in the finale or the last piece of the story. The new writer is trying to keep the people interested by having a lot of vague and questionable appearances.

Boruto in the future is more aligned to Sasuke as a wanderer appearance. It’s basically going for the story of a wanderer or more like what if we see a consistent Sasuke as the protagonist. While it could be interesting, it’s being dragged down by the premise that is done already. The hint of bromance collapse, Konoha once again being attacked/destroyed for the fifth time, and potentially sticking to the core of the later DBZ over the top power frenzy.

The journey has a potential to be decent but with its pacing, it’s going to be for a while to tell. It has the sense of fanfic, which I can’t really it’s all that bad but it already feel like this is solely not needed to be made. DBGT did go to boundary such as permanently kill Piccolo, but that story was subpar, so any risk here won’t be that shocking because the story it happened beforehand already exist.

Honestly, it should have been much further in the future, alas The Legend of Korra. It would leave more “imagination” and open more exploration to something more than rehash. Also, Naruto and Sasuke possibly defeated just seem unbelievable and if it is true, then that would mean the power level will go extreme once again, done by Boruto.

As for the chapter itself, I haven’t seen the movie, so this is all new to me. That said I’m sure the movie paced better, but this one was dull. The middle is what dragged out and perhaps the fact the art, which we will discuss soon, didn’t bring life to it, so I couldn’t get engage with its world.

It does feel odd that the first chapter doesn’t end with a hype or anything to present itself. For example, the first chapter of the series presented the world, the protagonist, his dreams, the action, his style of action, personality, and the expectation for the future. Here, you don’t really get all of that and none of it left an impact. That said it was based on a movie, so I would let it pass since the timing must be hard. Still, I couldn’t understand the redundancy in this chapter, like it’s trying to hammer it in.

Now, let’s talk about the art because this is where many people really want to know, now that it’s not drawn by Kishimoto. I can’t say it’s exactly night and day, but you can really see how much it does benefit from Kishi’s artwork. Say what you want about his writing, but his art is good. The art here is not the worst, but it really feels like there’s a long way to improve.

To begin with, the colored panels does look good, almost you can say that the color hide the weak points, but once it goes back to black/white, it really shows faults. Even with the future Boruto, you can tell there’s something odd about it in black/white. That or its position made it standout, I’m not really sure. It’s like seeing second draft before finalizing. But that’s not really a problem, it’s after that scene.The art can be said that it is inconsistent. It’s not like one chapter is really good and the next chapter is a bit off. In this case, each panels doesn’t match well with one another. Boruto seems decent in closeup, but when turning corners or draw distance, his proportions don’t match up and you can see the angle and size change-up. The eyes seem like it wants to resemble Kishi and then another part, it wants to be a new franchise manga.

The far distance drawings are weak, like Studio Pierrot outsourced animation weak. The body proportions are inconsistent at times as well. The one thing I realized is that these characters seem to have no chin or something. Like their chin and neck connects. Even when Naruto was looking down at Boruto, he seems like he has none. Faces of these characters are on and off point as well, most notably the mouths. It almost remind me of Sonic Adventure the video games. Look it up on YouTube.

I know one would argue, “He just started. Kishi started off rough too. So eventually, he will get better.” That may be true, but the problem is that he has been Kishi’s assistant for years, and the character designs are already made for him. Granted, he changed it up with Sarada, but the hair, the face, the clothes, etc. are in placed. It’s understandable when you’re drawing a new set of characters, because you’re not sure if this is “perfect” or you feel like you can improve with this fresh design, but when it’s already there, that’s hard to forgive for many. As for me, well I can see what he's trying to do, but really, the problem lies in consistent to old designs in terms of body size and consistent to itself.

Lastly, it came to me that in comparison to Kishi’s artwork, this one is missing shades or textures. Like there’s no shadows casting from their hair or chin. It’s no wonder I realized that the designs are “clean.” You can say it’s a nitpick, but I think those can really emphasis the character’s emotion when utilize right.

Of course, anyone can improve and hopefully, it will happen much sooner for everyone’s sake. I know the backlash can be over exaggerating, I’ll say it’s understandable. Just know that it can improve. That said there’s a lot to be desired. The one thing to note is that the art likes to have a character design to be busy. By that I mean a lot thrown in accessories and such, such as a cape, tattoo, scar, headband with scars, and so on. Even the newest character Kawaki has such things, who by the way seems like I’m watching Hokuto no Bolt. Sarada is also another example.

In the end, it probably don’t matter much if this is solely done for the fans, whether they asked for a sequel or not. It’s nothing something that I will continue following, though I’ll get updates and when it’s done, I most likely finish it off and see whether it was necessary or not. The future has potential but it’s a teaser, so it’s a way to make it feel like it’s a intense story. Time will tell on that.

As of now, it doesn’t hold my interest for its story that seem like a fanfic, inconsistent art, no clear story theme, and a long wait for new progress due to being monthly. I wish the best of luck to the creators of Boruto, because with fans rampaging on the art and twisted turn of event, it could get nasty.

Great review! I agree with all of it! It feels so much like a fanfic. Interesting, but it remains to be seen if it can be compelling throughout the whole series or if it will lose its steam. Responding to bolded:

• I kind of like the flipped idea that Boruto leaves and becomes the renegade Sasuke character. I'm ok with it, and I think it's enough of a hook to base a sequel story on. Some people may not like it, but I'd read it. It's sad and compelling at the same time. And since they were jonesing to put Sasuke out front during Naruto's whole manga, now they've got they're chance. Hope they don't screw it up.

• I agree - I wish there was more hype in this first chapter. This one should be big and showy, hooking as many readers as they can with dynamic scenes, great illustrations and conversations with some depth (or at least clues to deeper suspense). Everything should say 'keep reading! there is so much more to come!' This is the chapter that has to make the biggest splash. Instead it feels like a rough draft.

• You said the art is inconsistent — totally agree. The outlines are all the same thickness. The eyes look like they float on the flat faces instead of following a natural curve. And some art looks like it has just been submitted while others looks like it's been worked on over and over. Makes no sense.

• The perspective (far distance) and body proportions are noticeably off. And for someone who's illustrating mangas, that's a big problem to have. If it's only black and white lines in a small box, with no background, then you better take the time to make your drawing at least correct, if not dynamic. 

• I feel the same about him being Kishi's assistant. He doesn't have to be stylistically exact. But he have correct forms and mastery of panel space. And if he didn't, if those areas he needed practice and polish, they had plenty of time to work and make that happen. Especially for the first chapter.

• Yes, I too hope that he improves. It doesn't have to be identical to Kishi's art, but the new guy should be drawing something that would stand on its own in any manga magazine. Not just weak art that's riding on the Naruto franchise's coattails (but that otherwise would not be accepted or published anywhere else due to low quality). Hopefully he'll come into his own and improve.

Not necessarily. I like his design cause of his two hair color style. Of course we know nothing about his character for now but he has the best look

Yeah, I agree. New guy's design was the most interesting of the series, just because it was the most original. It was independent of any of the previous 'ninja' looks. Even though Boruto's look is scarred and older, he's still in the trappings of the last generation: a scar like Kakashi, Sasuke's cloak, slashed headband like Itachi. So new guy has the best look. 

They won't kill off Naruto. It's bait. And let be honest; who is really going to stay years up to Naruto's "death"? Considering that this takes place when Boruto is older and we are currently at the rehash of the Bolt movie in a monthly serialized manga. I can't even see Sasuke or even Sakura dying. I predict the same deaths similar to Pain and 4th War Arc.

I won't lie, the beginning was interesting. And I'm shocked that the author didn't wank Hinata sexually.

I'm just wondering what makes Sarada different; she is too sexualized for a 12 year old and so far she is the only sexualized girl...

I agree. I don't think they'll kill off Naruto or any of the previous generation. It'll be a trick in the end, or some sort of rejuvenation jutsu will be performed. And yeah, they've really flattened Hinata down (literally) into a forgettable character that's NOTHING like she was before, and they've given Sarada a very, very cutesy outfit that's entirely at odds with her declaration that she wants to be the village's leader, thus the de facto strongest ninja in the land. She certainly isn't dressed for that job! Looks more like a 1960s airline stewardess!

Out of curiosity how many Naruto fans/faction/groups are their left that are going to be interested in this manga?

Yes, I wonder that too. Because if it wasn't for the 'Naruto' franchise that this manga is floating on, I wonder how many people would read this if it were a standlone work? Neither the story nor the art is very compelling. I wonder how many old fans they are hoping to hang around for the long haul? Because they really aren't aiming at new fans with this lackluster story/art.

[tricksie]

got this from other forum 

ladygt ftw

my thoughts exactly!

I actually saw that mention elsewhere as well.

I'm not saying "I can draw better than him!" That's like food critics saying they can cook better than them. It's just that if he was ready to do this, he should have practice many times. You don't get a second first impression. That's the mentality of many and now, he has a lot of challenges/expectations to make up for.

No, but the quality is so far below what we've been used to from Kishimoto. Boruto is not even an attempt. It's just line art of Kishimoto's characters, with no background, bad poses and flat faces.

 

Lady GT makes an attempt to make it look very similar to Kishimoto's style and she does a great job of it.

 

However the new guy isn't in Kishimoto's style...or his own style. It's just a line-art copy.

 

He could illustrate Boruto in a futuristic manner, reflecting the changes of Konoha and the ninja world. (But he doesn't.) He could have used more dark shading than the Naruto series to reflect the more serious tones that Bolt is dealing with. (But he doesn't.) He could have used extreme closeups on the characters to make readers focus on the new characters and identify with them, instead of repeating the same wide scenes and full-3/4 body poses over and over. (But he didn't.) 

 

It's disappointing that this line art is the choice they went with. It could have been really powerful and interesting. Instead it just feels unfinished.

 

And you know, I think Kishimoto's illustrations at the beginning (although they are the best pages) do the rest of the chapter a disservice...because now you can compare the rest of the pages and how different the quality is. It would have been better to put Kishimoto's dramatic, highly detailed drawings at the end, and let the chapter build up to that. Then you would have ended the chapter with built up excitement as to what's to come.

[TouKen4Life3g]

I guess Boruto is ready to be animated rather than being its own kind. It looks like it's waiting for someone to flash animated the series.

[sushi.]

I guess Boruto is ready to be animated rather than being its own kind. It looks like it's waiting for someone to flash animated the series.

SP does a trashy job even when guided by great art, wonder what they'll do with trashy art as a guide. :)))

[TouKen4Life3g]

SP does a trashy job even when guided by great art, wonder what they'll do with trashy art as a guide. :)))

Almost feel like SP will be better by default.

[Namikaze Clan]

So, since we know what the final arc will be any theories on how this manga will end?

[Papaya]

 

Hinata no longer looks like herself. And it's not just the deflated chest. She looks entirely different. In fact, I thought she was a baby sitter or some other Hyuuga clan auntie in the first scene with her. Took me a few more frames before I realized it was truly Hinata.  They've just made her into a different character.

 

I think the worst part are her new & creepy arched eyebrows. Himawari has the same ones and they look even creepier on her. 

 

Yeah, that's the feeling I had with this chapter. I know everyone has their own style, but here feels like it's not ready. 

Maybe it's because he possibly had to redo at least some panels - the Salad panels - at the last moment? Remember how her outfit was supposed to be different? I think what she was wearing in the first promo art was what she was already drawn wearing in the whole chapter, too. Then they decided to change it for whatever reason (dunno if there was any backlash in Japan) and he had to redraw her scenes, maybe redrew some others too while he was at it. 

[soraandven]

So, since we know what the final arc will be any theories on how this manga will end?

it doesn't matter to me because naruto failed everyone oh btw i watched sawyer's rant and honestly i couldn't stop laughing

[TouKen4Life3g]

So, since we know what the final arc will be any theories on how this manga will end?

Boruto: I have to save Naruto!!!
Kawaki: Who's that?! How do you know that name?!
Sarada: It's his father! The Seventh Hokage!!
Kawaki: My God...We...are the same. Your father...isn't dead.
Boruto: I know...Which is why we can fix this together. Let's be friends.
Kawaki: Agreed.

The End

[TheFirstEvil100]

Okay guys and girls been ill so what have I missed and is this manga that NH/pro enders wanted so badly that bad?

[soraandven]

Okay guys and girls been ill so what have I missed and is this manga that NH/pro enders wanted so badly that bad?

the nh pro enders are raging its hilarious its like karma finally bit them in the butt 

[Yyubie]

Okay guys and girls been ill so what have I missed and is this manga that NH/pro enders wanted so badly that bad?

The don't care about anything except Hinata's rack ... and now that she lost it, they starting to rage quit or worse ... they starting to leave her.

[soraandven]

The don't care about anything except Hinata's rack ... and now that she lost it, they starting to rage quit or worse ... they starting to leave her.

its karma lol

[Bail o' Lies]

So hinata was wearing a ring. And nH are desperately making a big deal over it. You know with all the inconsistent varying levels of the quality of the art, the off putting character designs, and the fact that the plot was literally a rehash of the Bolt movie. I couldn't even bother my self to notice that. Thank god that nH were so desperate to find something good about this train wreck they were able to notice this.

 

Also apparently in the new opening Sakura punches off a purple mud hinata clone's head off. So even SP maybe starting to hated hinata's very existence.

[Nostradamus]

Also apparently in the new opening Sakura punches off a purple mud hinata clone's head off. So even SP maybe starting to hated hinata's very existence.

You mean this thing:

?

 

Because if this is what you're referring to, then yes this is the scumbag; and Sakura-Chan destroys her.

Edited by Nostradamus, 07 May 2016 - 02:42 PM.