Fenris

Wow! I haven't been on here in forever.. but since I have a renewed interest in ranting against the ending, I figured I'd come back and say hi and stick around. Glad to see there's still activity here :) I hope to see some familiar faces.

- Fenris / Amanda.

I hate it.

 

But not just because the design is boring and uninspired. It's more than that.... The feeling it imparts is isolation.

 

This is not a happy, feel-good cover. It says nothing about Naruto finally meeting his goals. It says nothing about his happiness. It says nothing about his love of his team (or Sasuke). It does not tell a story about the character (Naruto).

 

Look at every other cover up until now. They are dynamic, involve multiple characters and are almost always engaging the audience. And if they're not, then the characters are fighting each other. But in almost every one, Naruto is looking at the reader.

 

Like the ending — where the Naruto we knew disappears while Sasuke is narrating, only to return in the epilogue as a hardened Hokage, with the hopefulness and boundless enthusiasm of his youth washed away by the burdens of adulthood — this cover reflects a Naruto that is alone in his responsibility for the village. This is his life now. And the fact that he doesn't engage the audience is a very strong statement of how much he has changed. 

 

A good image tells a story, without having to use any words or cutlines or cues to inform the viewer. The viewer "reads" the image. 

 

But there is no true story to read in this image. This is the end. Naruto has turned his back on the viewer. We can't know if he's happy or sad. Stressed or angry. We know nothing about the person he was before. We only know that he is the title that's on his back. And that he is alone in his responsibility of the village.

 

Think of the alternative way that the visual story of Naruto as Hokage could be told by simply having Naruto turn around:

 

- Naruto leaning against the balcony rail, smiling at the viewer, with the Hokage hat and cloak flung over his shoulder in a jaunty manner. The message here is that even though he's alone, he's happy and he's succeeded in his goal. He is making direct eye contact with the viewer, his number one fan, the only one who has truly been with him since the beginning. The message is "I did it! We did it!"

 

Or an alternative image of a more dynamic nature:

 

- Naruto leaning against the balcony rail, smiling at the viewer, the Hokage hat and cloak flung over his shoulder, and behind him is the whole village, with the rookies and Kakashi, Tsunade, etc. looking up at him smiling and cheering and holding signs saying congratulations. The message is that he's finally met his goal and the village is acknowledging him. 

 

So that's just with him standing there. But the cover could also show Naruto as Hokage in any other way:

 

- Naruto laughing with Tsunade at the Hokage desk, but now he's in the seat.

 

- Naruto with the hat on, leaning his arm on the next youngest Naruto, and then the next, with the whole line of Naruto's looking up at the oldest, the Hokage who's finally achieved his goal

 

- Naruto with the other Hokages, standing around him smiling, while Naruto is in the center in brightest color being acknowledged by them.

 

So yeah.... If you think of all the choices that Kishimoto could have made for a dynamic, rousing sentimental ending...this cover — Naruto alone with his back turned to the viewer — is not it.

 

My honest opinion is that the cover reflects more about Kishimoto's feelings than it does about Naruto reaching his goals or being the last volume of the series.

 

I think Kishimoto was ready to be finished. So he drew the quickest, easiest, most non-sentimental cover he could. He portrayed Naruto as turning his back on his fans and his youthful adventures and giving himself up to his life and duty. (The show's over. The doors are closing, everybody out.)

 

I think Kishimoto wrote the end to Naruto with himself in mind. Naruto is jaded and tired, putting his work responsibilities above everything else. He is so tremendously OOC, it's like you're not even reading the same character. I think Kishimoto started his time writing Naruto as youthful and hopeful, but now he's 20 years older and tired of it, and sees how different life is now instead of when he was just starting out. He's jaded. 

 

There are two take-aways from this cover: First is that Naruto is standing watch over his village. Second is that he's turned his back on everything else. 

 

It's not a positive message.

 

So I can't help but think that somehow it reflects Kishimoto's feelings at the end of the series. He's turning his back too. He's ready to be done with it.

 

Yes, the cover shows Naruto as Hokage, but there were lots of different, more positive ways to show that. The image could have imparted a range of emotions such as humor or achievement or nostalgia or camaraderie. But instead the only emotion that is shown is closure.

 

Naruto is alone. His duty is more important that goofing off for readers anymore. This is the end. Show's over. You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here.

DAMN SON.

Said it like it is.

With the movie coming out tomorrow in Japan....

I want to say one thing.

I kinda feel bad for the NH fans.

Yes, NS wasn’t canon in the end.

But we still have stacks of volumes worth of moments while they have pages.

Yes, you became canon in the end.

But you weren’t developed.

Your pairing became canon.

The pairing that had a character trip and fall into the dirt and prayed to her dead cousin to help out while another woman saved Naruto became canon. 

The pairing that had less than ten chapters ago had Naruto say that he was in a relationship with that same woman who saved him to his father.

The pairing that still has the data book (that released a day before the manga ended) say that he’s in love with that other woman.

I’m not even being salty.

It’s just laughable and sad.

And the way you became canon? Floating in the sky like some sailor moon disney channel  bullsh** with sparkles and glitter.

And the way to justify it?

"The movie follows the manga"

Yet laughably the movie had to add filler scenes that never happened in the manga to try to justify the lack of development for a pairing.

The way it was done as brutal and kicked character development to the curb.

If Narusaku was done like the acid trip the movie is shown to be, I wouldn’t of wanted it to become canon. .

Congratulations on your canon pairing 

x ( where i originally posted this ) x 

for fun;

http://yuzu-x.tumblr...naruto-the-last

http://yuzu-x.tumblr...st/103841383973

Posting all my Naruto tumblr photoshop edits here! :)

Click to see the photoset:  http://yuzu-x.tumblr...st/103605767388

Will update when I make more C: 

It's been on my mind.., and while telling my mom I wanted to sell all of my Naruto stuff, she stopped me and told me something that made me really think about things. 

She told me about the poster that has been hanging up in my room. The one of Naruto. How it's been hanging there for years. How I would eventually regret taking it down. How it was the creators fault... not Naruto's. I agreed on that last part, however.

Naruto was apart of my childhood.

I grew up with all of it... the anime, trying to copy Sasuke and Naruto's chidoris with my cousin.

My cousin who I grew up with watching Naruto, fell into drugs many years ago, went down a very dark road.. I made it my goal to get him back like Naruto did with Sasuke.

It worked, eventually, after many years... he came back.  Likewise... sort of, So did Sasuke.

If I discarded it completely and just didn't care anymore. that would be ripping apart a piece of me.

The anger will fade.

I'm still not completely done being angry myself... regarding the ending, I don't think I'll ever be happy about it.

But, there is one thing...

One thing will make me happy about Naruto.

Is seeing this.

And this

And also this

.....

That wont change.

I cannot erase him completely.

Salada's mother and father:

As you can see, the ranch dressing, AKA the father, is optional. Cause clearly he's it is not around.

As for Bolt's mother and father....

It tends to vary.

I don't know how this guy manages to keep a wife at this point.

Another mangaka even said his wife reminded him of Sakura. 

Lol oops.

I'd laugh if that whole thing was fake and the real chapter released had a bunch of NS

not gonna happen, but y'know.

Foolish can't become a villain. Literally impossible. He's the sweetest guy I know.

So, with that 'fact' debunked....

you're on a one way ticket to banville if you keep this up, sadly.

Look, I know you feel bad about the manga... we honestly all do, but its over - time to move on to other things, Kishi copped out, there's nothing we can do. Factories are publishing the millions of SJ's with the chapter in it right now as we speak. There's not much you can do about it, it's not good to not let things go and keep going on about it. 

I feel bad because I see you making endless threads and it might put some people against you, and I'd feel bad if that happens. 

We're all upset, but it's over. That's all that can be said.

Meeting all of you guys.. talking to great people, my blog becoming a array of craziness (that definitely holds tons of memories), becoming very close to others, and sharing experiences with friends here. And definitely Xat chat stuff.

This goes for all my friends I've met here and have shared good memories with and especially those I've grown close to over these years.

I love you guys. We're wacky, classified insane, and just great all around. We've had so many laughs and I'm sure through all of this we'll continue to have more.

I will never get over the fact that Naruto's son looks like a gangster.

The Doctor is the only one we can rely on, now.