Naruto & Bleach
Jun. 29th, 2009 07:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
asaelSo, I spent some of this weekend catching up on manga - mainly Bleach and Naruto, both of which I used to love but which I no longer follow regularly. I have thoughts, both good and bad, and I guess this is part of the reason I have a fandom journal!
I've more or less fallen out of my Naruto love - it's a good series, but I'm not super attached to any of the characters and I don't feel a need to follow it every week. Aggy keeps me updated with what's going on, but I figured I should actually catch up for myself. The last time I'd read it was the beginning of Naruto's fight with Pain, a few months back.
And it's still pretty good! I mean, there was gratuitous shonen fighting in there, of course, but not too much. I hadn't really had any particular opinion about Pain before, but the scene with him and Naruto - where we learn about Nagato's past - actually made me feel for him. It turned him into more of a three-dimensional character for me, and I'd forgotten how good Kishimoto is at doing that.
Also, plot happened! Wow, quite a lot of it too. They did the magical-fixy 'hey, everyone didn't die!' thing, but Konoha itself was still destroyed, and Tsunade's down for the count. And of course Jiraiya is still dead. So Pain's attack did have consequences, possibly serious ones if Danzo runs amok (which I expect he will).
Naruto's adorable continuing love for Sasuke is, well, adorable. It's only slightly marred by the fact that Sasuke is a giant douchebag. After the whole Itachi incident, I lost patience with him. I mean, whatever you think about the 'Itachi wasn't such a bad dude after all' plot twist, it still HAPPENED, and Sasuke decided that he would continue being an asshole even after learning the truth. So I'm torn between wanting Naruto to succeed in bringing him back, because his love for Sasuke is really adorable, and wanting them to STOP giving Sasuke second and third and fourth and millionth chances. Because he DOES NOT DESERVE THEM. He made his choice, he should face the consequences.
I'm interested to see where Kishimoto ends up going, though. Though I'm not as caught up in Naruto as I was a few years back, I do still think he's a really good storyteller and I'm fairly confident that he's not just pulling stuff out of his ass.
Now if only he would START LETTING THE GIRLS FREAKING DO SOMETHING. I mean, are you serious? Nagato destroyed Konoha and Konan was just chillin' out there, being all worried girlfriend and 'don't use so much chakra!'? Can we have a female character who is NOT a medic nin and is actually a credible threat to the male characters? PLEASE?
Anyway. Continuing on.
I enjoyed Naruto. Bleach on the other hand... well, I haven't read it in over six months. And I feel like I wasted a few hours of my life catching up on it. Those are hours that I will NEVER GET BACK, and I blame YOU, Kubo Tite.
I mean, come on. It's been like six months and they are still fighting the same enemies? Oh, was there a plot? I'm sorry, I FORGOT, because it's turned into one endless mindnumbing fight scene with constant refrains of "You can't beat me!" and "Yes I can, because I haven't yet SHOWN MY TRUE POWER!"
The last fight I actually enjoyed was Yumichika's, which I read the last time I got caught up on Bleach. I do not care about any of the Espadas. I hope they die for reals and KT does not bring them back like he brings back every single other character ever. He's always fallen down on that - while Kishimoto can throw in a well-told, deep backstory and make me care about a character who didn't register to me before, Kubo Tite, um, can't. And usually doesn't even try, instead being all "Here's a bunch of new characters! Aren't they cool?! They are SO COOL! Let's watch them be cool! Now they're dead/gone BUT NOT REALLY! THEY'RE BACK BECAUSE THEY'RE SO COOL!" The only one of the Espada that got even a little depth in this batch of chapters was Ulquiorra, and even that wasn't presented in a way that made me actually care when he died. (Or 'died', I have no faith that KT will keep him dead.)
When did Bleach become so... BAD? Kubo Tite is good at writing character interactions. He's good at giving characters motivation, sometimes. He's good at writing humor. But now, all he writes are endless fight scenes, over and over and over. I have a decent tolerance for long fight scenes, because I do enjoy shonen manga, but this is TOO MUCH. They are also just not that interesting as fight scenes, because I don't care about the characters involved very much and because they follow the same basic formula every time (hint: the good guys will win, probably after getting beat down and then revealing their TRUE POWER!!).
It's disappointing because I even used to think Bleach was better than Naruto in some ways (Kishimoto is good at some things, KT is good at others), but Kubo Tite has pretty much ignored everything that made Bleach interesting and unique.
I can say, however, that he still gives the ladies a little better treatment than Kishimoto. I mean, sure, half the female cast has GIANT MELON BOOBS and the other half has none at all, but at least they do stuff. (The women, not the boobs.) Hallibel was a credible threat, though I didn't really care about her as a character. Soi Fon was actually pretty kickass, which might have been the one saving grace of these chapters for me. I like her, so it was nice to see her do something besides lose to Yoruichi, and nice to see that she really is very competent.
But Orihime... gah. I like Orihime. I think she's cute and funny and I like her as a character. But this arc is making me DISLIKE her. She doesn't do anything. I hated it when Rukia did it in the Soul Society arc, I hate it here. She obviously has strength and special powers, and yet she stands by and waits to be saved. People - her friends - are being injured and nearly killed because of her, and all she can do is stand there wondering 'What should I do?'. I had hope for a moment when she protected Ichigo against Ulqiorra, but that went nowhere.
I mean, let me be clear here, I'm not saying she should bust out with crazy Mary-Sue powers and save everyone, but... uh... maybe when Ishida gets his hand cut off and stabbed through the chest she could heal him or something? Maybe? Or throw around that shield a little so he's not getting his ass handed to him? Or protect herself a little against those crazy Arrancar girls? I dunno, just some suggestions. Standing around saying 'Kurosaki' is really not very helpful. The way she's written in this arc is making me dislike her as a character, and I don't like that at all. At least in Naruto, as much as it annoys me, I don't really expect much anymore. But I know KT CAN write (somewhat) strong women (never really as strong as the boys, of course, but women can't be THAT strong, since they don't have penises, and yes that was my sarcastic voice), he's just not choosing to write Orihime that way at the moment.
Anyway, I doubt I'll catch up with Bleach again until another six months have passed. Maybe by that time Kubo Tite will have remembered that his manga is supposed to have a story as well as fight scenes. And I can hold on to the hope that Orihime's character will be redeemed somehow (Rukia managed it, so she can too).
Sigh. At least Reborn is still entertaining me, although if Mukuro doesn't appear soon I may throw a fit. For now I am simply assuming that he can't show up in the manga because he's too busy being chained to Byakuran's bed.
Aaaaand now I have to get to work, despite the fact that it took me forever to fall asleep last night and all I want to do is SLEEP MORE. Curse you, capitalist society.
I've more or less fallen out of my Naruto love - it's a good series, but I'm not super attached to any of the characters and I don't feel a need to follow it every week. Aggy keeps me updated with what's going on, but I figured I should actually catch up for myself. The last time I'd read it was the beginning of Naruto's fight with Pain, a few months back.
And it's still pretty good! I mean, there was gratuitous shonen fighting in there, of course, but not too much. I hadn't really had any particular opinion about Pain before, but the scene with him and Naruto - where we learn about Nagato's past - actually made me feel for him. It turned him into more of a three-dimensional character for me, and I'd forgotten how good Kishimoto is at doing that.
Also, plot happened! Wow, quite a lot of it too. They did the magical-fixy 'hey, everyone didn't die!' thing, but Konoha itself was still destroyed, and Tsunade's down for the count. And of course Jiraiya is still dead. So Pain's attack did have consequences, possibly serious ones if Danzo runs amok (which I expect he will).
Naruto's adorable continuing love for Sasuke is, well, adorable. It's only slightly marred by the fact that Sasuke is a giant douchebag. After the whole Itachi incident, I lost patience with him. I mean, whatever you think about the 'Itachi wasn't such a bad dude after all' plot twist, it still HAPPENED, and Sasuke decided that he would continue being an asshole even after learning the truth. So I'm torn between wanting Naruto to succeed in bringing him back, because his love for Sasuke is really adorable, and wanting them to STOP giving Sasuke second and third and fourth and millionth chances. Because he DOES NOT DESERVE THEM. He made his choice, he should face the consequences.
I'm interested to see where Kishimoto ends up going, though. Though I'm not as caught up in Naruto as I was a few years back, I do still think he's a really good storyteller and I'm fairly confident that he's not just pulling stuff out of his ass.
Now if only he would START LETTING THE GIRLS FREAKING DO SOMETHING. I mean, are you serious? Nagato destroyed Konoha and Konan was just chillin' out there, being all worried girlfriend and 'don't use so much chakra!'? Can we have a female character who is NOT a medic nin and is actually a credible threat to the male characters? PLEASE?
Anyway. Continuing on.
I enjoyed Naruto. Bleach on the other hand... well, I haven't read it in over six months. And I feel like I wasted a few hours of my life catching up on it. Those are hours that I will NEVER GET BACK, and I blame YOU, Kubo Tite.
I mean, come on. It's been like six months and they are still fighting the same enemies? Oh, was there a plot? I'm sorry, I FORGOT, because it's turned into one endless mindnumbing fight scene with constant refrains of "You can't beat me!" and "Yes I can, because I haven't yet SHOWN MY TRUE POWER!"
The last fight I actually enjoyed was Yumichika's, which I read the last time I got caught up on Bleach. I do not care about any of the Espadas. I hope they die for reals and KT does not bring them back like he brings back every single other character ever. He's always fallen down on that - while Kishimoto can throw in a well-told, deep backstory and make me care about a character who didn't register to me before, Kubo Tite, um, can't. And usually doesn't even try, instead being all "Here's a bunch of new characters! Aren't they cool?! They are SO COOL! Let's watch them be cool! Now they're dead/gone BUT NOT REALLY! THEY'RE BACK BECAUSE THEY'RE SO COOL!" The only one of the Espada that got even a little depth in this batch of chapters was Ulquiorra, and even that wasn't presented in a way that made me actually care when he died. (Or 'died', I have no faith that KT will keep him dead.)
When did Bleach become so... BAD? Kubo Tite is good at writing character interactions. He's good at giving characters motivation, sometimes. He's good at writing humor. But now, all he writes are endless fight scenes, over and over and over. I have a decent tolerance for long fight scenes, because I do enjoy shonen manga, but this is TOO MUCH. They are also just not that interesting as fight scenes, because I don't care about the characters involved very much and because they follow the same basic formula every time (hint: the good guys will win, probably after getting beat down and then revealing their TRUE POWER!!).
It's disappointing because I even used to think Bleach was better than Naruto in some ways (Kishimoto is good at some things, KT is good at others), but Kubo Tite has pretty much ignored everything that made Bleach interesting and unique.
I can say, however, that he still gives the ladies a little better treatment than Kishimoto. I mean, sure, half the female cast has GIANT MELON BOOBS and the other half has none at all, but at least they do stuff. (The women, not the boobs.) Hallibel was a credible threat, though I didn't really care about her as a character. Soi Fon was actually pretty kickass, which might have been the one saving grace of these chapters for me. I like her, so it was nice to see her do something besides lose to Yoruichi, and nice to see that she really is very competent.
But Orihime... gah. I like Orihime. I think she's cute and funny and I like her as a character. But this arc is making me DISLIKE her. She doesn't do anything. I hated it when Rukia did it in the Soul Society arc, I hate it here. She obviously has strength and special powers, and yet she stands by and waits to be saved. People - her friends - are being injured and nearly killed because of her, and all she can do is stand there wondering 'What should I do?'. I had hope for a moment when she protected Ichigo against Ulqiorra, but that went nowhere.
I mean, let me be clear here, I'm not saying she should bust out with crazy Mary-Sue powers and save everyone, but... uh... maybe when Ishida gets his hand cut off and stabbed through the chest she could heal him or something? Maybe? Or throw around that shield a little so he's not getting his ass handed to him? Or protect herself a little against those crazy Arrancar girls? I dunno, just some suggestions. Standing around saying 'Kurosaki' is really not very helpful. The way she's written in this arc is making me dislike her as a character, and I don't like that at all. At least in Naruto, as much as it annoys me, I don't really expect much anymore. But I know KT CAN write (somewhat) strong women (never really as strong as the boys, of course, but women can't be THAT strong, since they don't have penises, and yes that was my sarcastic voice), he's just not choosing to write Orihime that way at the moment.
Anyway, I doubt I'll catch up with Bleach again until another six months have passed. Maybe by that time Kubo Tite will have remembered that his manga is supposed to have a story as well as fight scenes. And I can hold on to the hope that Orihime's character will be redeemed somehow (Rukia managed it, so she can too).
Sigh. At least Reborn is still entertaining me, although if Mukuro doesn't appear soon I may throw a fit. For now I am simply assuming that he can't show up in the manga because he's too busy being chained to Byakuran's bed.
Aaaaand now I have to get to work, despite the fact that it took me forever to fall asleep last night and all I want to do is SLEEP MORE. Curse you, capitalist society.
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Date: 2009-06-29 08:11 am (UTC)