Bail o' Lies

Sundays are awkward because I rather read the other manga that come out.

Best not to jinx the election by talking about it, this close to the finish. So Dragon Age is finally releasing another game. The last time they did that was around the time Naruto ended ten years ago. All things I been hearing, it seems to be a giant bomb. Honestly Bioware has gone down hill about as bad as Naruto-Boruto has.

Summary Time: A Vibrant Life...is not something I associate with this manga.

Cover page is the new tree person (Ryu) they been showing for 3 chapters now.

Ah so that's who it is Gaara's son from the movie's chunin exam of...no wonder I didn't recognize him with how little he has appeared. So a flashback of Gaara fighting the tree people...how did he know the tree people existed. Granted I can't tell how long they have been around. As far as I can tell it could be under an hour with how condense this story is. OK. He was on Bolt's trail and stumbled on the Tree People. He was about to send his kids back to the village while he held off Tree-Moegi. She allows Gaara to send them away but the Son breaks free, get trapped, but before he gets trapped he seals Gaara away so he wouldn't die.

Oh by the way Gaara is near death from just fighting Tree-Moegi just to remind you their level on the power scale and Only Bolt can fight them.

Kankuro is here to try to figure out how to release Shinki as only he can release Gaara from his seal...I really wish Kishimoto had explained sealing jutsu like he did every other power in Naruto. So Ikemoto couldn't use it as a convenient excuse for everything. As there are no real rules or restrictions for it, so seals can do whatever the story needs. Sealing is probably the only power stronger than even the new BS Shinjutsu. By asking if the Leaf know anything about the tree people...baring Clone Jiraiya forewarning by Bolt, how the hell would they?! The tree people just came into existence, they would know even less than the Sand does because Gaara was at least at their base!

Ryu can apparently mean "Grain of Sand." Reminder, they have been given themselves meaningful names like Tree-Sasuke's name meaning "left handed." He uses the metal belt clothing he has...sigh. Turns it into metal sand in order to grab Punk through the belts...to show how quickly he became ineffectual when he released a power beyond his control. They surprisingly don't kill him or feed him to a tree seeming to know they own their sentience to him...so they don't know if they would keep it if they get rid of him. He thinks that means he can give them orders and questions why they aren't trying to eat Bolt and Nail. They make it clear they are only humoring him, but the idiot doesn't realize it. He declares that the Chakra Fruit is his but it is clear they want it instead. He tries to assert his authority by slashing Tree-Jenga but Jenga cuts off his arm. Tree-Jenga making clear where Punk stands in the pecking order tell him to hunt down Bolt and his accomplice. Then, as a further show of dominance they seal his stump with their belts so he can't regrow his arm.

Tree-Shinki, I haven't updated the nickname list for the tree people because I am using their actual names and adding tree- Infront of it, already wants to eat Gaara and can release the seal on his own...If I update the nicknames again I'll probably make a new post about everyone and the changes that have occurred in Part Two with the character if any have occurred at all.

Cut to Bolt on the monument. Nail finds him and ask why he didn't tell them the truth...Bro talk if it just that I'm going to skip it. They talk about stuff that was already explained and Bolt tells him to talk to Madoc to adjust his limiters. As at the moment his offensive power is reduce as it is all being poured into defense and regeneration to keep him alive...remember his Karma contains Madoc's daughter's memories that he needs to revive her. Also, ah so this is how they are going to try to justify how lame Nail has been. "His power was reduce by settings Maodc put in place." Madoc is of course listening and realizes Clone Jiraiya is alive. They agree to an alliance to deal with the tree people.

It just goes to show how the pro ending head cases will try to sell you anything to say what they got was successful when the evidence of Borutos failure as well as how its hurt the Naruto franchise as a whole is obvious.

I'm in a better mood today so to be fair. Boruto is likely an above average selling manga that might bring in some money. But the problem is, that's not what the companies wanted. They wanted Naruto numbers which is still one of the biggest manga in the world. So, its a failure, it is at best a disappointment.

The two bits that stood out to me were the digital sales, and we shouldn't compare Naruto-Boruto to Dragon Ball.

So, the guy tried to say that the sales were fine because they really all went to digital and those numbers are good. But didn't show these new numbers just leaving people with the impression they must be good. Just trust the Youtuber, Bro. When it wouldn't be at hard to show them. 30% is physical? Ok that is X. 3X+1/3X=the total*. Which the average being 100,000 is 333,334 or 330,000 to what I rounded it up. Now that's a decent number for a manga, but nowhere near Naruto's numbers in its prime. Also, digital sales percentage has not been 70% throughout Boruto's entire run. As digital sales had reached that level either this or last year. He doesn't go through and try to show how digital rise matches Boruto physical number's decline. Which it doesn't. Boruto just declined till it hit around 100,000 and was around that level for years. If he was right, that wouldn't be the case.

* 30% is the known 70% is missing and we are looking for the total. 70 is 2 30% and then a 10% left over. 10% would be a third of 30%. So 30%+30%+1/3X30%=70 then for total 30%+30%+30%+1/3X30%=100%. Of 3x+1/3X=Y.

10 years ago, Naruto was the closest IP Dragon Ball had to a peer in terms of sales. If someone were to say, 'that in certain years Naruto had even beat Dragon Ball in sales,' most people would find that believable. Now a days, that is consider completely absurd, apparently. What happened in the past ten years that caused such a shift? Well, for Dragon Ball, Toriyama got so embarrassed by Dragon Ball Evolution that he got himself involved in the IP again and revitalized it. For Naruto, a bad ending and a worse sequel. "But, no no no Naruto-Boruto is completely fine apparently." While all its contemporaries' sales have completely eclipse it, when it was once the King of International Sales.

Edit: Also, again overall notion of "its a sequel don't hold it up to the same standard of the original." The companies knew that sequel tend to perform worse than the original. That why when they were selling Boruto to the audience they were making it was to be seen as a continuation of Naruto; its Part Three. Also, they tried to make sure it was seen as continuous by doing such things as keeping the Naruto anime going till they were ready to switch over to Boruto. Having a movie to promote it. Finally releasing the manga about a year after the original ended. 

From what I gathered, it just a rehash of the previous game. And people don't like it.

I was being somewhat rhetorical with that bit. But lets look into it. 

https://steamcharts.com/app/1020790

Connections' overall peak was 1663 players at the same time nearly a year ago. 24 hour peak of 175.

Now that is with some caveats: 1, Played at the same time does not means bought, 2 its steam for PC and Storm games are normally PS games, and 3 its been over a year since it came out.

https://steamcharts.com/app/349040

Storm 4. 8,372 peak. 984 24h Peak.

https://steamcharts.com/app/633230

Strikers. 6,303 peak. 573 24h Peak

That said both Storm 4 and Striker have better numbers than it.

And for Dragon Ball for comparison.

https://steamcharts.com/app/1790600

Sparking Zero. Peak 120,000. 59,928 24h Peak.

https://steamcharts.com/app/851850

Kakarot made by the same company that makes the storm games. 25,715 peak. 1,186 24h peak.

https://steamcharts.com/app/454650

Xenoverse 2 the game that seemed to inspire strikers' creation. 13,570 peak. 1,428 24h peak.

Granted an aggregate take it with a grain of salt. But no wonder they want another dragon ball game if that is just a portion of people playing, and it already sold 3 million. If the percentages of people playing on steam to people buying it is similar to the Naruto games that is not good for them.

Also remember Connections, that SS manga, the...Mira manga, and an anime special that keeps delaying it release were all suppose to check how popular Naruto-Boruto was. Clearly they disappoint the companies. 

Well, before even watching it remember that Boruto will always be a disappointment because the companies that signed off on it were promised a return to Naruto's high selling glory days. What they got instead is at best a middling/above average/below average for WSJ manga, with an anime with OK sales, and most of the money was made from licensing distribution out to other countries because it was the sequel to Naruto. It would have been cancelled long ago if it was an original IP, but it survives because its a sequel to Naruto that brings in just enough money to not cancel it.

That said its clear they are not happy with it. The anime is still off the air and they never finished part one. While they clearly ordered Ikemoto to wrap up part one, as the manga would still be there with his pacing otherwise, and he clearly been order to pick up the pace in part two. Which I have seen people notice how bad the story is in part two because it isn't dragged out. Where before, they convince themselves it must be leading to something.

So, any one who goes, "its OK," to defend it. Can be answered by "they didn't want, 'its OK.' The companies wanted at the least Naruto's sales figures to continue with Boruto."

If the video is about digital sales vs physical sales. It is hard to often figure out how much digital sales are worth because most companies are reluctant to release their digital sales data. So physical sales are a good aggregate. For example, lets say physical sales are 90% and digital are 10%. So if 90 books sold physically then 10 were sold digitally; so 100 books were sold overall. Its the same reason people like to use Steam to show if a game is doing well or not. While not all people buy all their games on Steam enough do that it is seen as a good way to check.

Dear lord that avatar is ugly. Looks like a mix between a JoJo's stand and an Otsutsuki...So, it actually looks like it fits in Boruto. Naruto Explained, well that means the continuation of interest in Naruto-Boruto is important to the continuation of his channel and any money he may receive from it.

So the guy starts out with the volumes sales. I just want to point out there is more to Boruto's volume sales than just its volume sales. As it is important to remember Naruto's volume sales which average at what 2.1 million, but barely got 800,000 for it final volume its first week. Then Salad's gaiden had about 620,000. Then finally Boruto's started around 400,000 that declined till it eventually leveled out to around 100,000. If 100,000.is good for most manga that's nice, but the company are looking at, how far the IP has fallen. Which reminds me if he tries to say something like, "as a sequel, its ok on its own or something." Boruto was intended to be a continuation of both the IP and Naruto's story through his son. Like DragonBall Z is to Dragonball. Which is why one has to look at Naruto's sales as well. As they again, wanted those to continue with Boruto. To ignore Naruto and treat it as it own thing is admitting it is a failure.

He ask, if it so unpopular why is it still ongoing? Legacy of Naruto still means it makes money through distribution rights, and from what I recall when Kodaichi was fired they are under contract. They were given a contract to write a certain amount of chapters I think it was 60. When they hit that mark Ikemoto's contract was renewed his wasn't. It also what I suspect happened with the end of part one and the pacing of part two. They refused to extend Ikemoto's contract again when they didn't see improvements they desired. So he has the remaining chapters to finish his manga; which is about 40 chapters.

So he brings up that physical sales is outdate. Like I said an aggregate. So digital manga according to him makes up about 70% of sales in Japan. Let's see, if Boruto's 100,000 is 30%, Digital's 70% is around 230,000, and so total would be about 330,000 volume sales in Japan...Ok. Even that was the case for Boruto, that is again still far less than Naruto had in its prime. If physical sales were 1%, then it would be getting to where the company wanted its sales to be.

Also, Boruto's sales charts do not have a gradual decline that goes along with the rise of Digital sales. It falls till its sales stabilize around 100,000 and was around that for years. When it should continue to go down as more people buy it digitally.

You know, he brings up digital sales took off in 2014. Just proving that Naruto had the worse time to end. As it ended before streaming revitalized western interest in anime (so when Boruto started it had to face competition), right as digital manga took off, and continuous anime became outdated (which Boruto one of the last greenlit.) Boruto really comes off as a relic from a bygone era. An era that ended around the ending of Naruto.

So Boruto sells around 400,000 each year according to him.

Ah he brought up the sequel excuse...already covered that. They wanted it to be a continuation not just a random spin off sequel.

"We shouldn't compare Dragon Ball and Dragon Super success to Naruto." Wasn't Naruto once one of the top three selling manga ever at one point and was consider a peer to DragonBall? Now we shouldn't think of putting them in the same topic much less comparing them? How far has it fallen. What ever could cause such a fall? Maybe a bad ending and a sequel most people do not like for the past ten years? Hm. Maybe it could have maintain its position with a good ending and a good sequel. A possibility maybe?

Similar sequels to justify Boruto's low sales. Haven't read the Seven sin sequel so can't say. Fairy Tail 100 to be honest I kind of forget that still ongoing sometimes, also I don't think it help that the anime only started this year. Rurouni Kenshin Hokkaido...wasn't that put on hold for a few years due to the mangaka being arrested? I think that would affect the sales numbers. Also, it was made about 20 years after the original manga compared to 1 year for Boruto. The Inuyasha sequel which again came out years after the original's ending.

Ah the Boruto movie is strong...http://www.narusaku....showtopic=16678 For its time, sure. Afterwards, all its contemporaries eclipse it.

Now time to blame Naruto's volume count for why people aren't reading Boruto. Wait. Wait I thought Boruto was successful people were just saying it wasn't. Why the change?

It is the best selling manga in V-Jump! Well seeing as Super ended due to the Death of Toriyama, yes. But it was once In WSJ before it was moved to V-Jump. So, it like a loser in a major leagues moved to the minor and got second place. Not as impressive as it sounds.

Meanwhile in the video game industry, looks like Bandai Namco is cancelling projects involving One Piece and Naruto (yes, that's include Boruto), while Dragon Ball gain more success due to Sparking ZERO surpassed in sales by over 3 Million sold worldwide within 24 hours after release! That beat Capcom's Street Fighter 6, which managed to get 3 million in sales in only for a couple of months and also Mortal Kombat 1.

One Piece always seems to have problems with games. While Naruto once had a successful game franchise in Storm. How was the last one Connection everyone?

So Shiguma has stage 2 throat cancer. So like her father, he is "Dead" as a rakugoka. His personal branch The Shiguma School was dissolved and his students have been put under different Masters in the Arakawa School.

Issho has been given Akane. So she shall now learn under the man who expelled her father and the big bad. This is interesting. As it been said by various masters that she would fit best as his student.

Last week Shiguma taught Akane, "Shiguma's Art." An incomplete story that was passed down to him by his master, who refused to teach it to Issho, and a desire to study it was a factor in Shinta's expulsion. Issho's desire has been more to end it existence than to learn it. He also told her that there were three stories she needed to master in order to perform this one, but he was interrupted before he could tell her. When I saw him collapsed last chapter, I realized that would be Akane's struggle is that she will preform that story in her Shin'uchi promotional exam, it would meet Issho's approval, but she would not have her master to guide her. So, she would have to figure it out on her own and make the story her own. Turning it into Akane's Story or Akane-Banashi.