Well, I didn't read the manga and probably never will. Looking at the images, it's his typical style to introduce and establish "boy doing his best for the girl/crush/love interest". He'll introduce conflict and rivalry on this area to keep the audience hooked. And will do the NH/SS stunt again by the end of it.
This is coming from someone who keep saying "I'm not good at romance", yet the stories he made are based on male/female relationship.
What I really want to know is the volume sales, which will be released on October. It's a huge indicator of people's sentiment on him as manga author.
While I agree with the wait and see the sales to see if its successful. As far as the romance is concern from someone who has been reading the chapters. The most important and prominent part of the story so far is beating the readers over the head with the notion that Hachi and Anna are getting together, for at least a month if not more that has been the major point of the story.
Kishimoto was always tepid with Naruto and Sakura. Yes, we knew Naruto always had feeling for her and Sakura was growing fond of him, but Kishimoto was always reluctant to take it farther then that. Then when he got new Editors whose main goal was making Hinata the heroine is what led to the ending. Now admittedly, I think NS was better in most scenes then anything Hachi and Anna have had so far.
But. Here. In this manga. The writer has spent chapters beating it into the reader's head these two are destine for each other.
As for if there will be a love triangle? We will see.
I was mainly just referring to her appearance is all, but you do make an excellent case here that Kishi is giving Ann more attention than Sakura got in Naruto. Frankly, based your analysis and my own Kishi definitely is "selling" us the idea that HachiAnn is endgame pairing, and he's more than likely aware of that given by how the romance in Naruto turned out and what he's already setup within the story thus far even if it is still early. You and I both know there's at least something in each chapter since Ann's been introduced.
Kishimoto is clearly trying to not make the same mistakes he made with Naruto. One of those being romance that pretty much destroyed Naruto and badly damaged his reputation. Beyond that, with Naruto it clear he only ever had a vague idea what he wanted to do and relied on his editors to guide the story (to a damaging degree). Here, he at least has a general idea of what the story is and where its going to go.
I've just been sharing what I'm seeing each chapter just to know where things stand currently, and where it'll go in the future. Though, like you; I do also believe that Kishi doesn't repeat any of the sins he committed with Naruto like the romantic pairing at the last second. It's also the fact that he's been crafting this story out for the last five years since the Naruto manga ended.
Now could he very well pull a fast one? Yes, but I don't think that's going to be the case because he's aware of the backlash Naruto got from the romantic subplot department, and he doesn't want to repeat that again. Considering the progression Hachi and Ann already have practically from the last nine chapters since Ann's introduction in the story.
The whole lying stunt Hachi could've been something Kishi dragged out for chapters upon chapters like the Tenchi Bridge scene or even something like Sakura's confession in the Kage Summit Arc that never gets brought up again, but he addressed that issue within the same arc in this week's chapter during Hachi and Ann's conversation after she asked to go with him.
Even Hachi's father passing is blatantly telling him to keep her safe at all times, and even saying protect one another with the way he was talking to Ann just moments before he died. As much as I despise Chapter 614, I have to admit the scenario is similar (minus the big strong hand - thank god!).
I mean the other thing be it positive or negative is that Kishi's only penning the story this time around, the art is done entirely done by Akira who based on what I saw has been pretty consistent in mimicking Kishi's style while making it his own. Unlike um... the other guy sketching Boruto.
The lie reveal really isn't compared able to the NS build up. If he couldn't with his fifteen years experience in writing manga pull off a liar reveal. Then this manga has more problems than Naruto's legacy.
NS had a lot of build up for a clear revelation which Sakura would look back on and realized she had fallen in love Naruto...It just never happened due to to the new editors. Again, here, it was a obvious lie that was going to be found out sooner or later. Since, he was lying about his entire life before he became a samurai.
The difference between this manga and Boruto is this manga isn't a sequel to Naruto. So, it gets a pass not looking like exactly Naruto, but it has a similar story and art style derived from it. That it feels like Naruto while being allowed to not look exactly like it. Boruto's art is either a person that can't draw Naruto character in the style but is desperately trying to, or trying to make them look more realistic while not going all the way that leads it to be simply off putting to the reader.
And yet again, you misunderstand me. I am seeing that it is Ann and Hachimaru and YES I know that the story has been doing but nothing but pushing for them the last few chapters. I have not forgotten anything that others have typed on the thread nor am I ignoring the story. So PLEASE stop assuming I am ignorant of these things because I'm not. I'm only talking about the fact that AS LONG as the story is not repeating Naruto's mistakes, to which YES I KNOW it is not, everything is fine. You seem to miss out on the fact that I just enjoy not letting go of Naruto's failures but that does NOT mean I think this is ending up the same as Naruto. I just have no real interest in reading it but I am paying CLOSE attention to what you and Lucky and others are saying about it. For instance Hachimaru's dad just succumbed to his wounds and passed away right? and that lead to Hachimaru admitting to Ann that he lied to her about being some sort of prodigy of a Samurai and that he is not such an amazing person, but he will protect her regardless? STILL think I'm not paying attention to the story or what you are saying about the story?
I will state this once again. I type some of my comments with sarcasm and sattire, not because I actually type those things in ignorance, nor am I ignoring what is said. So the next time you come across these comments either ignore them or just pm me if it bothers you that much, if you don't mind.
How do you know what mistakes they are or are not doing if you don't read the manga, and don't believe the people telling you what happening in the manga?
The mistakes of Naruto? Again, yes, Naruto had feelings for Sakura. Sakura clearly was developing feelings for Naruto. But Kishimoto was too tepid with it, which, allowed the editors to force him to switch with Hinata in the end. Here, almost out of the gates "these two are destine for one another." For chapters this has been beaten into the skulls of the reader. Kishimoto cannot back out of this relationship without look like a complete fool -even more then after Naruto-. It is clear to me from reading interviews and this manga Kishimoto does not like the Naruto ending or at least how it came about. So, the first thing he does in this story is make sure everyone knows the main pairing are getting together at the end, and repeating it over and over until everyone gets it. So he can not back out of it and any editors he may get cannot make him back out of it.
Edited by Bail o' Lies, 28 August 2019 - 02:18 AM.