Skimmed through the manga.
Is it just me, or all Im seeing is Naruto and Sakura interactions/parallels? Its NS all over the place: the tsundere traits, the signature smile to the girl, the kyuubi accidentally hurt the person dear to the host, the hug, etc.
One can put Kushina side-by-side with adult Sakura and wouldnt notice they are different characters.
Which begs a question: who is the target audience of this one shot?
NS fans left long ago and wouldnt put a dime on anything Kishi sells after the ending.
NH/SS fans wont definitely buy this since itll add to their insecurities and further proof that NS has always been the intention. They wont be able to draw any NH/SS parallels from Minato and Kushina. Imagine them saying aw look, Minato and Kushina looks so cute together, just like Naruto and Sakura. not happening.
Older fans have moved on and wont invest for the one shot. They wont be motivated to buy.
Younger/newer fans are pretty much a segment who enjoy reading Boruto. Nothing wrong with it, its just that the storytelling is very different than this one shot. For a start, no one in this one shot lives, Kurama included.
There are a lot of call backs to the Naruto manga in the one-shot.
This one shot is for Kishimoto. This him doing the story he wanted to do.
I think this is the result of that poll, where Sakura was #3 around the world, was that throughout the entire time the poll was taking place, and higher than Hinata; the supposedly more popular female character that was so beloved and more popular than Sakura that she had to replace her as the heroine. Like I said at the time, I think that became his favorite poll as it proved that doubt he had about changing the ending was right, and this one shot show he got a bit of his confidence back. I think the original assumption when they started the poll was that Hinata would win it and Kishimoto would have to do a nH manga as well as a poster where Hinata would be front and center. But, they were all shock, yet for Kishimoto happy, when the results came in.
There were two scene that pulled from nH and SS the hospital scene and Hinata's habit of hiding behind trees. But, showing how MK is better.
nH, Hinata hides behind trees because she is shy and she refused to talk to Naruto for the same reason for over 15 years. Kushina was hiding behind a tree because she was outside the barrier and was worried Jiraiya would drag her back when she just wanted to spend some alone time with Minato. The barrier is the main reason she doesn't spend more time with Minato when she wants to.
SS, Sakura hugs Sasuke after he wakes up in the hospital while he doesn't respond to nor does he ever do anything for her or ever show he affection. Minato is quite happy to receive the hug, has no problem proclaim or expressing his feelings for her, and the reason he didn't spend time with her is because he was working on a jutsu for her.
Oh here is NS parallel no one pointed out yet. Sakura doesn't realize that not having parents isn't a blessing and Naruto is miserable because he is alone without any parents; this was spelled out to her by Sasuke another orphan. Minato forgets that Kushina is pretty much trapped alone inside that barrier while he can do whatever he wants. He realize that after Kushina apologize for getting upset after he broke his promise, as what has likely happened to her with others before is they stop visiting her.
Is Boruto even being watched by children outside of Japan? And for Japan, that is because its on Sunday. Apparently, kids are watching the first part of Naruto on Hulu, not sure if they are even watching Boruto.
Edited by Bail o' Lies, 19 July 2023 - 06:23 PM.
