questdrivencollie

Heeeey. I've logged back in in the first time since forever. So since leaving.....well, I went to mental health and got diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, went to therapy, learned how to tackle problems with executive functioning, finally got a steady job, and.....that's the highlights. Oh, I also just about three or four weeks ago got diagnosed as a type 2 diabetic......

 

As for what I'm into these days.....

Persona games, Dragon Ball, Date A Live light novels, My Hero Academia, Clannad (the visual novel), Blue Exorcist......and lots of stuff. I have too many interests to properly keep up with. Gone are the days when I focused only on one fandom and burned myself out on it.

I am back with a new sig--whoo!

 

Still working on a job. Been doing volunteer work, which is helping me spend my days productively. ^^ 

http://vocaroo.com/i/s1eg37c7Yt47

Hoping more people will post :)

That's basically sex.

Sex will always sell regardless if it's good or not.

For me I have to ship the couple or I'm not too interested.

Lessons I learned from the Naruto fandom: When it comes to huge fandoms with some major shipping camps, STAY THE HAIL AWAY FROM THE CROWD. Sit in your own little corner and enjoy your fandom experience from there.

Even in my current fandom, I find things that bug me and make me want to stay away from the fandom at large, including gross misinterpretations of the main characters. And I'm usually like super easy to get along with, I don't know why it agitates me so much.
Most of my fandoms have been nothing but positive...or close enough. It's mainly the huge ones, I guess...the larger the fandom, the crazier the fandom.

*hasn't caught up on the posts here*

 

In a way I can see why people don't want us to criticize. Not that I agree, no. But I understand because I am a highly uncritical person myself. Before the ending came along, while I agreed with some of the criticism, I really hated how negative people were about it. I was like "we're fans, seems like it makes more sense to try to see things in as positive a light as possible"--I'm not saying that this perspective is correct or the "right" perspective, it's just how I tend to see things. Everything, really. It's in my nature to see everything in as positive a light as I possibly can.

 

The ending, though, destroyed so many things I enjoyed that I don't mind being more negative about it.

I don't see how any SK fans would be happy with the current arrangement. If we assume for the moment that Salad is Karin's daughter, it would have had to essentially be...a one night stand? Or something like that. Not very shippy. Though I guess some do go for that kind of ship...

Mm, though...I did see some art for an AU where Sakura was raising Karin's daughter for her and I liked that. (And I assume she wasn't married to Sasuke, because she was actually working as a medic.) Similar premise, different circumstances.

While a large part of my disappointment about the ending was pairing related, I never felt the NS had to be involved for it to be good. There was more to the plot than pairings, and the plot could have wrapped up nicely without my preferred pairings ending up together. It didn't.

I have no interest in the next gen projects because the last two chapters were badly written and disappointing, and because I resented that 700 wasn't a real ending but yet another extension to the story. And while I am not reading Gaiden I do hate that Naruto has been reduced to soap opra drama.

 

There's no saving the story at this point and I no longer care. Not that there ever was, not once 699 and 700 were finalized.

When I look at the list of my OTPs, for most of them, what stands out to me is their emotional development. NaruSaku definitely had it, and it was easy to see Sakura finding love in Naruto.

 

I don't have a ton of OTPs, I'm no shipping junkie. I'm a fluff addict and I love fictional relationships (which is broad and includes friendships and familial relations in general), but my list of actual OTPs is small. I don't tend to have opinions like "hey, these two should get together" or "these two would work because _____". That can be the basis for supporting a ship, but an OTP is when I become obsessed with the pairing.

 

I think for most of my OTPs, I either have to see them bonding in canon or there has to be some really good fan material of them.

In the case of NaruSaku, I think the fandom did make my shipping feels stronger. But I definitely shipped NaruSaku because of the manga.

 

Only three of my OTPs are my OTPs for reasons other than their bond.

I searched and couldn't find a thread like this? Sorry if there already is one.

 

Anyways, another forum I'm on has a thread like this and it's a lot of fun actually. This is a good site to record on.

To be fair, they do have to be physically fit for their line of work. But yeah.

 

Though, to some extent, big muscley guys is more about a power trip than sexual objectification...at least, from the male perspective. (Well, unless the guy is gay, I guess.)

Myself, I have never quite understanding ogling shirtless guys. I mean, I'm definitely attracted to guys, but I don't find shirtless or muscle-bound dudes enticing the way girls seem to be expected to. But then I have heard other girls who do like that, so....

Why does it seem to be such a thing in shonen to give female characters such exaggerated traits to the point that a majority of the fanbase cannot look past that even if they actually do have more to their character?

 

In any case, yeah...Kishi reversed a lot of Sakura's development by making SS canon. To me the solution is simple: 699/700 and the new era project is a lie. I pretend they never happened and I can still love Sakura for what she could have been.

Sakura's love for Sasuke makes me sick. I don't even find it romantically poetic. It's not done right.

Oh crap, my last post was meant to read "signs and hints of getting over it". Like Kishi was toying with the idea of Sakura getting with Naruto.
I do agree with you. Fictional relationships are hardly realistic in the first place, but I dint know of any girl who would have an obvious preteen crush on a guy, then not only to continue to pine after him for years, but despite being betrayed by him. If a guy did that to me, I would most certainly not continue to pursue him.

I'm rather apathetic towards the Naruto franchise right now, including Naruto and Sakura. (Though I still ship NaruSaku and love Shina-chan. They're just not much of my focus right now.) But I can't and won't hate either of them. I love their characters, just not what the ending and beyond made of them. I will never consider the ending canon. I acknowledge it as canon, but to me it simply isn't.