54175 replies to this topic

[RedFaction]

I did not expect another viewer of the show since it was kind of unknown show and niche. Did you finish it? After season 3 I stopped.

I made the mistake of investing myself in this ship mostly because of the actors. They had amazing chemistry plus Frank Spotnitz's of telling their story intrigued me. Spotnitz was the creator, showrunner and main writer.

In terms of longevity yeah you're right. Naruto had 15 years and all was destroyed in weeks. It had a lot of impact due to being so long and being apart of people's lives for all this time. Imagine starting reading the manga as a kid when it came out and then 15 years later you read the last 10 chapters and watch the last movie and then everything else that came after them.

Yeah, I finished it. I watched all four seasons, and the ending was acceptable enough but I did think it was the weakest season. A lot of people were angry about a bunch of culture war stuff in season 4 and I steered clear of that drama.

 

I can't imagine people that started reading Naruto since it's inception and had been a NaruSaku fan for that long. I only started watching Naruto in 2012 when I was in high school and believe it or not I was actually a casual NaruHina shipper until it got to Shippuden and things started to gradually change for me as Naruto and Sakura got to spend more time together in the early days of Shippuden. I only became a member of this board a week before the ending and I was firmly convinced NaruSaku was going to happen.

 

I was really crushed from the ending and I can remember everyone at the time thought the Last movie would bring some sense to the ending (maybe even save NaruSaku), but that movie really was like twisting a knife into an open wound and I was done following any new Naruto content after that.

[Namaenash]

...
 
I can't imagine people that started reading Naruto since it's inception and had been a NaruSaku fan for that long. I only started watching Naruto in 2012 when I was in high school and believe it or not I was actually a casual NaruHina shipper until it got to Shippuden and things started to gradually change for me as Naruto and Sakura got to spend more time together in the early days of Shippuden. I only became a member of this board a week before the ending and I was firmly convinced NaruSaku was going to happen.
 
I was really crushed from the ending and I can remember everyone at the time thought the Last movie would bring some sense to the ending (maybe even save NaruSaku), but that movie really was like twisting a knife into an open wound and I was done following any new Naruto content after that.

I suppose I was one of those folks. First encountered Naruto back when I was studying in Japan. If I recall correctly, the first volume was launched near Spring 2000. It wasn't that big back then. But it gradually gained momentum. I used to have most of the volumes, all of the DVDs before 2014. Most of the collectibles.

I stopped buying when volume 64 came out (the NH handholding cover). I wasn't particularly pleased with the cover and I thought it was totally out of context. And if you are following the series, you'd know that the year in which volume 64 came out, Naruto's annual sales fell by 15% year-on-year, and keep declining until today (it's barely in top 50).

After volume 64, I thought Kishi was playing his card by drawing Minato saying that Sakura looks like Kushina and the CPR scene.

In hindsight, I'd like to think that he was trying to give reasons for NS fans to keep supporting his manga by giving ambiguous pairings scenes. We learned years later, NS fans turns out to be the one financing the series. With NS, the series was always in the top 3 for the longest time. Without NS, it's barely in top 50.

There's a good two years period from volume 64 to final volume 72 to develop NH/SS if he wanted to. It took 2-3 years for anime movie to be produced, so, I'd like to think that by volume 64 release, they were already starting to produce The Last AND Boruto movie afterwards. Boruto was advertised in The Last movie.

I'm not sure why he didn't develop NH/SS properly in those timespan. Two years would have been enough room. He don't have to draw Minato comments on Sakura looks like Kushina. Naruto introduced Sakura as his girlfriend to his dead father, in front of Hinata. Not to mention the CPR scene and Hinata tripping over a rock when Naruto was about to die.

All these were unnecessary.

Unless, of course, someone realised there was "canary in the coal mine" situation, and told Kishimoto to be as ambiguous as possible when it comes to pairings.

Then the ending happened.

Followed by a huge backlash from fans.

No more new movie every year. Hardly any new games. The latest AAA games from them didn't fly.

NH and Hinata was hardly seen after the ending. Don't even talk about about SS which was depicted as unhappy distance couples in the Gaiden.

Manga sales from 2000-2015 was 250 million. In 2019 they didn't even managed to sell 1 million for the whole year for Boruto.

Kishimoto's new series get axed. He came back to the franchise. Interestingly, Naruto franchise fans in Japan was not seem to be happy with Kishi's return to the franchise when the news first arrived. Months later, it's clear from the sales that his involvement won't change much. I won't be surprised to see the declining trend continues with his involvement.

[Bail o' Lies]

I suppose I was one of those folks. First encountered Naruto back when I was studying in Japan. If I recall correctly, the first volume was launched near Spring 2000. It wasn't that big back then. But it gradually gained momentum. I used to have most of the volumes, all of the DVDs before 2014. Most of the collectibles.

I stopped buying when volume 64 came out (the NH handholding cover). I wasn't particularly pleased with the cover and I thought it was totally out of context. And if you are following the series, you'd know that the year in which volume 64 came out, Naruto's annual sales fell by 15% year-on-year, and keep declining until today (it's barely in top 50).

After volume 64, I thought Kishi was playing his card by drawing Minato saying that Sakura looks like Kushina and the CPR scene.

In hindsight, I'd like to think that he was trying to give reasons for NS fans to keep supporting his manga by giving ambiguous pairings scenes. We learned years later, NS fans turns out to be the one financing the series. With NS, the series was always in the top 3 for the longest time. Without NS, it's barely in top 50.

There's a good two years period from volume 64 to final volume 72 to develop NH/SS if he wanted to. It took 2-3 years for anime movie to be produced, so, I'd like to think that by volume 64 release, they were already starting to produce The Last AND Boruto movie afterwards. Boruto was advertised in The Last movie.

I'm not sure why he didn't develop NH/SS properly in those timespan. Two years would have been enough room. He don't have to draw Minato comments on Sakura looks like Kushina. Naruto introduced Sakura as his girlfriend to his dead father, in front of Hinata. Not to mention the CPR scene and Hinata tripping over a rock when Naruto was about to die.

All these were unnecessary.

Unless, of course, someone realised there was "canary in the coal mine" situation, and told Kishimoto to be as ambiguous as possible when it comes to pairings.

Then the ending happened.

Followed by a huge backlash from fans.

No more new movie every year. Hardly any new games. The latest AAA games from them didn't fly.

NH and Hinata was hardly seen after the ending. Don't even talk about about SS which was depicted as unhappy distance couples in the Gaiden.

Manga sales from 2000-2015 was 250 million. In 2019 they didn't even managed to sell 1 million for the whole year for Boruto.

Kishimoto's new series get axed. He came back to the franchise. Interestingly, Naruto franchise fans in Japan was not seem to be happy with Kishi's return to the franchise when the news first arrived. Months later, it's clear from the sales that his involvement won't change much. I won't be surprised to see the declining trend continues with his involvement.

I would say it was less tricking and more not fully convince nH was a good idea. Doing the scenes his editors wanted him to do to see if it was popular and then falling back to NS quickly after just in case. Of course, the reaction to Neji's death counter to what SP claimed should have been the biggest red flag. Then the execs made the decision for him and that's all she wrote. Granted part of why he never fully committed to nH was he didn't get her appeal and why she was popular. I don't think he ever liked SS though.

 

In the end the details don't matter because he is paying for it. There is not much anyone can do to fix Boruto by the time he came on. So it will continue to decline. He will be forced to work on it for several more years while it poor showing further damages any rep he still has.

 

Oh the Viz manga is finally doing their first Boruto character popularity poll. 4-5 years after the manga started. Has there been anything else recently?

Edited by Bail o' Lies, 12 November 2021 - 01:35 PM.

[Nostradamus]

Yeah, I finished it. I watched all four seasons, and the ending was acceptable enough but I did think it was the weakest season. A lot of people were angry about a bunch of culture war stuff in season 4 and I steered clear of that drama.

 

I can't imagine people that started reading Naruto since it's inception and had been a NaruSaku fan for that long. I only started watching Naruto in 2012 when I was in high school and believe it or not I was actually a casual NaruHina shipper until it got to Shippuden and things started to gradually change for me as Naruto and Sakura got to spend more time together in the early days of Shippuden. I only became a member of this board a week before the ending and I was firmly convinced NaruSaku was going to happen.

 

I was really crushed from the ending and I can remember everyone at the time thought the Last movie would bring some sense to the ending (maybe even save NaruSaku), but that movie really was like twisting a knife into an open wound and I was done following any new Naruto content after that.

I mostly know what happens in it, when it came out I've skimped the whole season in like a couple of minutes to get a general idea of what was going on hoping that they would fix it, I also know some things from other people, but I haven't watched it entirely so I don't know exactly what happens in its entirety.

I do know about the shift that happened with the culture stuff, but that happened with season 3 with the new showrunner.

I've heard they promoted or said that communism is a good thing with the Black Communist Rebellion Underground or whatever the new faction that came out of nowhere were called and some black guy burned an American flag saying what have you ever done for us or something like that. Can you confirm that?

 

I also started following Naruto when I was in high school. I was going through some things in life and Naruto actually helped me get through them. I loved that never giving up attitude that he had. I remember checking YouTube videos and everyone there was talking about pairings about how NH is the only pairing because Naruto clearly loves her and Hinata loves him and Hinata deserves him.

And I didn't understand what was going on because I was wondering are there chapters or episodes that I'm missing because there's nothing that indicated any of that. I got people liking NH, but there was nothing in the story that was saying the things that they were saying particularly from Naruto's side. So I started talking to people on YT and then I discovered this forum.

 

The Last didn't help at all especially with all the fake advertising that they did. At first they promoted it to be a Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi focused film, then they showed Sakura's new design with the narrator saying "Sakura is so beautiful now, surely Naruto....." or whatever that line was. It was the definition of fake advertisement. Then after they got the money from the sells of the tickets before its premiere, only then did they reveal what it really was. And yeah it was the knife twisting in an open wound, but not just to the pairing fans, but to the whole fanbase. Retcon after retcon after retcon, insulting the fans.

[NaruSaku fan in Kentucky]

I didn't really follow Naruto until 2010. I started watching the anime on YouTube and shipped NS since. I remember people liking NH but I was skeptical because I didn't see it. Even when I wasn't that big a fan.

[Phantom_999]

Yeah, I finished it. I watched all four seasons, and the ending was acceptable enough but I did think it was the weakest season. A lot of people were angry about a bunch of culture war stuff in season 4 and I steered clear of that drama.

 

I can't imagine people that started reading Naruto since it's inception and had been a NaruSaku fan for that long. I only started watching Naruto in 2012 when I was in high school and believe it or not I was actually a casual NaruHina shipper until it got to Shippuden and things started to gradually change for me as Naruto and Sakura got to spend more time together in the early days of Shippuden. I only became a member of this board a week before the ending and I was firmly convinced NaruSaku was going to happen.

 

I was really crushed from the ending and I can remember everyone at the time thought the Last movie would bring some sense to the ending (maybe even save NaruSaku), but that movie really was like twisting a knife into an open wound and I was done following any new Naruto content after that.

 

I actually did support NaruSaku since back in 2002-2003 when I started watching the anime and it was a good few years before I found out about reading manga online. I was all for Naruto winning Sakura's affection and the two of them having a better relaitonship over all. all of the moments between them like when Sakura was smiling when she heard Naruto went all out to save her from Gaara or the promise of a life time when Sakura started to see NAruto for who he really is always made me happy on the inside. Again I was an anime watcher before I ever read the manga but I don't see what NHfanatics see. I occured to me even back then that even though Hinata LIKED Naruto there was no focus on her. Just like other characters that are suppose to be in a love triangle or romantic web, if there is no focus on them then developing a relationship is not the author's intent it is just to create friction to develop the intended couple. That is basic reading comprehension and it doesn't only extend to manga or anime either.

 

I'm just saying that fans that liked or supported NS since day one DID exist.

Edited by Phantom_999, 22 May 2021 - 12:41 PM.

[Namaenash]

I would say it was less tricking and more not fully convince nH was a good idea. Doing the scenes his editors wanted him to do to see if it was popular and then falling back to NS quickly after just in case. Of course the reaction to Neji's death counter to what SP claimed should have been the biggest red flag. Then the execs made the decision for him and that all she wrote. Granted part of why he never fully committed to nH was he didn't get her appeal and why she was popular. I don't think he ever liked SS though.
 
In the end the details don't matter because he is paying for it. There is not much anyone can do to fix Boruto by the time he came on. So it will continue to decline. He will be forced to work on it for several more years while it poor showing further damages any rep he still has.
 
Oh the Viz manga is finally doing their first Boruto character popularity poll. 4-5 years after the manga started. Has there been anything else recently?

Hinata / NH popularity has always been a myth. In hindsight, we all know that she probably single-handedly caused the series financial decline.

So, Kishi was probably right when he said he didn't get why she was popular: because she was never popular to begin with. That's why after The Last you never seen her again in the spotlight. No arc to develop her, she's clearly not involved in main arc, and get thrown back to become supporting character that has no bearings or influences in the story. lol. It's mostly availability bias. It's clear no one in the production team has the ability to differentiate which ones are noises, which ones are signals.

On Boruto character polls, frankly I am taking those with a pinch of salt, especially if it is being made by non Japanese entity. Manga market is largely in Japan, about 95% of it. The rest of the 5% comes from all the countries in the world combined. Whatever the outcome won't tilt the needle. One will still be based on the demand in home country (Japan).

According to recent report: "In 2020, manga industry earned a record 612.6 billion yen (about US$5.77 billion), up 23% from the 498.0 billion yen in 2019. The number is the highest since the association started keeping track of the industry in 1978. The previous record was in 1995 when the industry earned 586.4 billion yen."

What does it mean to Naruto franchise? Well, the market value is rising, yet the franchise manga sales keep declining. Overall manga market increase by 23% year-on-year was extremely good. Yet, Naruto franchise didn't get to enjoy it and steadily declining and shrinking (by an order of magnitude if you compare it to its heyday).

Will Viz polls be considered for the way the story will develop? Who knows, but I don't care really. Perhaps the producers realised they've lost the fan base in the home country and decided to venture and listen to what outside fan base wanted. Not sure if it's a good idea, 95% home country vs 5% all other countries combined.

But then again, these are the same people who thought NH/SS and Hinata was popular. lol. Would be an entertaining circus if the poll comes back with Sakura in the 1st place (similar like the recent Boruto poll). lol

[Phantom_999]

I've said it once, I've said it twice. I'll keep saying it. The so-called love for Hinata had nothing to do with her character, It was the fact that she was a secret Naruto admirer when he had none for most of his life. It was only a byproduct of how he made Naruto sympathetic and tragic TOO WELL. I only found it baffling that Kishi was the creator and never put 2 and 2 TOGETHER, It's kind of like he wasn't using his own brain when making the series 

[LuckyChi7]

I've said it once, I've said it twice. I'll keep saying it. The so-called love for Hinata had nothing to do with her character, It was the fact that she was a secret Naruto admirer when he had none for most of his life. It was only a byproduct of how he made Naruto sympathetic and tragic TOO WELL. I only found it baffling that Kishi was the creator and never put 2 and 2 TOGETHER, It's kind of like he wasn't using his own brain when making the series 

 

 

The sad thing is in Part 1 we were introduced to a few things about Hinata that were interesting such as being the underdog of the Hyuga Clan, being someone who was unfit to be the future leader of the clan, the hinted rivarly between her and Hanabi (her little sister), and at the very end of Part 1 her wanting to try her best to get stronger... All of that gets thrown away in Part 2 only to turn her into a token love interest for Naruto. 

Edited by LuckyChi7, 22 May 2021 - 11:34 PM.

[Bryon_Konoha_Ninja]

 
 
The sad thing is in Part 1 we were introduced to a few things about Hinata that were interesting such as being the underdog of the Hyuga Clan, being someone who was unfit to be the future leader of the clan, the hinted rivarly between her and Hanabi (her little sister), and at the very end of Part 1 her wanting to try her best to get stronger... All of that gets thrown away in Part 2 only to turn her into a token love interest for Naruto. 

And showing how pointless she was overall to the story even when people try to claim she was important for Narutos fight with Neji even if it was more of Nejis attitude that was the catalyst for that stuff.

[Phantom_999]

 

 

The sad thing is in Part 1 we were introduced to a few things about Hinata that were interesting such as being the underdog of the Hyuga Clan, being someone who was unfit to be the future leader of the clan, the hinted rivarly between her and Hanabi (her little sister), and at the very end of Part 1 her wanting to try her best to get stronger... All of that gets thrown away in Part 2 only to turn her into a token love interest for Naruto. 

 

Exactly and were she a more prominent character that would have been the focus of her character, but that was tossed out the window because it affected Neji more than her and she was just used as a plot trigger for the Hyuga clan's dogmatic traditions. had Kishi wished it, she could have been a new figure head for change in the clan. Didn't happen. She had the set up to be a more interesting character but it was never utilized. but again her crush on Naruto was over appreciated BECAUSE Naruto was that neglected unloved orphan, and that was her sole defining feature

 

Same with Sakura, the crux of her character development was tossed out the window and she has no thought put into character except for being Sasuke's wife. On a side note If that is what would happen to her even if she married Naruto I would not accept that. That would be terrible to,o even if I did want their relationship to come to fruition

Edited by Phantom_999, 23 May 2021 - 02:19 AM.

[Bail o' Lies]

Hinata / NH popularity has always been a myth. In hindsight, we all know that she probably single-handedly caused the series financial decline.

So, Kishi was probably right when he said he didn't get why she was popular: because she was never popular to begin with. That's why after The Last you never seen her again in the spotlight. No arc to develop her, she's clearly not involved in main arc, and get thrown back to become supporting character that has no bearings or influences in the story. lol. It's mostly availability bias. It's clear no one in the production team has the ability to differentiate which ones are noises, which ones are signals.

On Boruto character polls, frankly I am taking those with a pinch of salt, especially if it is being made by non Japanese entity. Manga market is largely in Japan, about 95% of it. The rest of the 5% comes from all the countries in the world combined. Whatever the outcome won't tilt the needle. One will still be based on the demand in home country (Japan).

According to recent report: "In 2020, manga industry earned a record 612.6 billion yen (about US$5.77 billion), up 23% from the 498.0 billion yen in 2019. The number is the highest since the association started keeping track of the industry in 1978. The previous record was in 1995 when the industry earned 586.4 billion yen."

What does it mean to Naruto franchise? Well, the market value is rising, yet the franchise manga sales keep declining. Overall manga market increase by 23% year-on-year was extremely good. Yet, Naruto franchise didn't get to enjoy it and steadily declining and shrinking (by an order of magnitude if you compare it to its heyday).

Will Viz polls be considered for the way the story will develop? Who knows, but I don't care really. Perhaps the producers realized they've lost the fan base in the home country and decided to venture and listen to what outside fan base wanted. Not sure if it's a good idea, 95% home country vs 5% all other countries combined.

But then again, these are the same people who thought NH/SS and Hinata was popular. lol. Would be an entertaining circus if the poll comes back with Sakura in the 1st place (similar like the recent Boruto poll). lol

The size of the fanbase that loved Hinata was a myth but there were still people obsessed with her, and Kishimoto didn't understand why. Since one she isn't his type and two she never did anything he felt to warrant such devotion/obsession.

 

In most cases, the international fanbase is largely unimportant to anime/manga, but its different for Naruto because its international fanbase is its selling point. But the poll is largely unimportant still it would be funny if Bolt was near the bottom and Salad near the top, again. Doesn't mean Kishimoto would do anything with her more than what he did this last chapter, and he will likely do that same thing like what he did with hinata; well she is already popular without me doing anything so why changed that?

 

 

 

I've said it once, I've said it twice. I'll keep saying it. The so-called love for Hinata had nothing to do with her character, It was the fact that she was a secret Naruto admirer when he had none for most of his life. It was only a byproduct of how he made Naruto sympathetic and tragic TOO WELL. I only found it baffling that Kishi was the creator and never put 2 and 2 TOGETHER, It's kind of like he wasn't using his own brain when making the series 

The sad thing is in Part 1 we were introduced to a few things about Hinata that were interesting such as being the underdog of the Hyuga Clan, being someone who was unfit to be the future leader of the clan, the hinted rivarly between her and Hanabi (her little sister), and at the very end of Part 1 her wanting to try her best to get stronger... All of that gets thrown away in Part 2 only to turn her into a token love interest for Naruto. 

Exactly and were she a more prominent character that would have been the focus of her character, but that was tossed out the window because it affected Neji more than her and she was just used as a plot trigger for the Hyuga clan's dogmatic traditions. had Kishi wished it, she could have been a new figure head for change in the clan. Didn't happen. She had the set up to be a more interesting character but it was never utilized. but again her crush on Naruto was over appreciated BECAUSE Naruto was that neglected unloved orphan, and that was her sole defining feature

 

Same with Sakura, the crux of her character development was tossed out the window and she has no thought put into character except for being Sasuke's wife. On a side note If that is what would happen to her even if she married Naruto I would not accept that. That would be terrible to,o even if I did want their relationship to come to fruition

And I will keep saying, Hinata was a satellite character of Neji. Her importance to kishimoto was getting people invested in the Naruto v. Neji fight, and then marry Neji so he can become clan head to fix their clan.

 

As for Sakura he would have kept doing with her what he was doing under yahagi.

[BlueStarSaber]

Say I was on a stream with Retrospect Greg the other day and he asked about SS apparent popularity in Japan over NH, I wasn't sure to explain this to him so I'm wondering if anyone here might have an answer.

[VanitasDS76491]

has anyone seen those pyscho hinata video's on youtube done by kishinpain they are so good 

[Bail o' Lies]

Say I was on a stream with Retrospect Greg the other day and he asked about SS apparent popularity in Japan over NH, I wasn't sure to explain this to him so I'm wondering if anyone here might have an answer.

Moon_Girl just posted something on the general thread.

 

SS appeal is they are the standard Shoujo pairing. I mentioned this years ago but if your were to make Sakura the main character the dynamic between her and her teammates are very common in Shoujo manga. Sakura is the plain average quirky girl with some self esteem issues that wants to find love. Sasuke is the rich mysterious bad boy that secretly harbors feeling for main girl despite often pretending not to care. Naruto is the friendly energetic guy that clearly likes main girl but isn't going to get with her because he isn't as sexy as dreamy bad boy.

 

Read The Class President is a Maid as an example.

 

Sasuke is the cool dreamy bad boy the girls want to fix. Sakura is their insert character. Sasuke is popular in Japan.

 

Though like Moon_Girl says they like SS but they knew it shouldn't have happened because everyone over there knew NS was the story's pairing. They are continuing to watch Boruto because the anime feeds them scenes of their pairing every once and awhile when they need money.

 

has anyone seen those pyscho hinata video's on youtube done by kishinpain they are so good 

No. Link?

[RulesofNature]

I feel like part of what went wrong was a matter of timing. Naruto started at the turn of the millennium, a few years after Evangelion showed anime studios that the show itself could be a viable product to sell, when anime was just taking off in the West, manga was rare and those left unflipped even rarer, light novels were nowhere near as popular in Japan, and late night anime wasn't really a thing.

 

I feel like part of it was that the people funding Naruto had no real idea where the industry was heading as these changes were happening. They saw it's popularity in the West, wanted to be a part of that large market, and put their money there. You know, like Hollywood is now doing to China. But they didn't realize what the American market actually was, that anime was still niche over there and that weebs are well-beyond the level of your typical otaku in Japan. So what they wanted suffered a disconnect to the domestic market, who sided more NS.

 

If Naruto had come out a few years later or earlier, I feel it would have been a different story. Either it would have been more cemented by the time it reached America, or they would have had a better feel for what the American market actually is like through stuff like Gundam SEED flopping there.

[Bail o' Lies]

I feel like part of what went wrong was a matter of timing. Naruto started at the turn of the millennium, a few years after Evangelion showed anime studios that the show itself could be a viable product to sell, when anime was just taking off in the West, manga was rare and those left unflipped even rarer, light novels were nowhere near as popular in Japan, and late night anime wasn't really a thing.

 

I feel like part of it was that the people funding Naruto had no real idea where the industry was heading as these changes were happening. They saw it's popularity in the West, wanted to be a part of that large market, and put their money there. You know, like Hollywood is now doing to China. But they didn't realize what the American market actually was, that anime was still niche over there and that weebs are well-beyond the level of your typical otaku in Japan. So what they wanted suffered a disconnect to the domestic market, who sided more NS.

 

If Naruto had come out a few years later or earlier, I feel it would have been a different story. Either it would have been more cemented by the time it reached America, or they would have had a better feel for what the American market actually is like through stuff like Gundam SEED flopping there.

The biggest problem was the cancellation of toonami. With it gone there was no longer a constant stream of younger audiences watching anime casually on TV with little investment needed. Now the only audience in the west is streaming which requires some amount of dedication and interest to invest in doing so; with also chances of piracy. Granted anime and manga are on the rise in the west, but that's in part due to the decline in quality of western entertainment.

 

Prime Time Toonami ended with part one Naruto. Now Naruto shippuden was shown on Disney XD but you had to pay for that. So, for most Naruto in the US ended with part one. Not sure the Japanese companies knew that and just figured. That if they had nH happened those fans they lost would come back, not realizing most of those customers had moved on over six years before the ending even happened.

Edited by Bail o' Lies, 12 November 2021 - 01:34 PM.

[RedFaction]

I mostly know what happens in it, when it came out I've skimped the whole season in like a couple of minutes to get a general idea of what was going on hoping that they would fix it, I also know some things from other people, but I haven't watched it entirely so I don't know exactly what happens in its entirety.

I do know about the shift that happened with the culture stuff, but that happened with season 3 with the new showrunner.

I've heard they promoted or said that communism is a good thing with the Black Communist Rebellion Underground or whatever the new faction that came out of nowhere were called and some black guy burned an American flag saying what have you ever done for us or something like that. Can you confirm that?

 

I also started following Naruto when I was in high school. I was going through some things in life and Naruto actually helped me get through them. I loved that never giving up attitude that he had. I remember checking YouTube videos and everyone there was talking about pairings about how NH is the only pairing because Naruto clearly loves her and Hinata loves him and Hinata deserves him.

And I didn't understand what was going on because I was wondering are there chapters or episodes that I'm missing because there's nothing that indicated any of that. I got people liking NH, but there was nothing in the story that was saying the things that they were saying particularly from Naruto's side. So I started talking to people on YT and then I discovered this forum.

 

The Last didn't help at all especially with all the fake advertising that they did. At first they promoted it to be a Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi focused film, then they showed Sakura's new design with the narrator saying "Sakura is so beautiful now, surely Naruto....." or whatever that line was. It was the definition of fake advertisement. Then after they got the money from the sells of the tickets before its premiere, only then did they reveal what it really was. And yeah it was the knife twisting in an open wound, but not just to the pairing fans, but to the whole fanbase. Retcon after retcon after retcon, insulting the fans.

I haven't watched that season since it came out, but I don't remember an American flag being burned. I think they just said they weren't going to use the American flag for their new nation state they wanted to form. Which you could make the case for since in that timeline all they knew from the old America was slavery and Jim Crow. I guess the reasoning for them being communists was that they had only ever lived under American democracy and Japanese fascism and neither were ideal, even though obviously communism wouldn't have been any better.

 

Anyway with regards to Naruto, it seems like more and more Shonen writers don't want to make their male characters look bad by rejecting a female character that is interested in them. That's the lesson I took away from Naruto and I have noticed the same pattern in other Shonen series as well. I'm not necessarily for or against that being the case, but it seems to be a pretty good indicator of what the endgame is going to be regardless of there being tons of development or none at all. 

Edited by RedFaction, 24 May 2021 - 08:03 PM.

[RulesofNature]

Komi-san just had it's male lead reject a member of his love triangle when she confessed, and that's in Shonen Sunday. Considering Naruto was criticized as being the worst scumbag over the revelations of The Last, they probably don't want MCs to lead girls on.

[luans7]

Kishimoto copied the base of the Slam dunk love triangle and added

 secondary characters loving each of the major.

 

Sakuragi=>Haruko=>Rukawa  =   Naruto=>Sakura=>Sasuke +  Hinata=>Naruto, Lee=>Sakura and Ino=>Sasuke

 

 

Rukawa ignored Haruko because he was obsessed with being the best basket player = Sasuke ignored Sakura because he was obsessed with killing itachi