Ikemoto, you're turning me into a hater
My Unpleasant Thoughts on Chapter 25 of Boruto: Two Blue Vortex
Hello! I'm back and in utter disbelieve on how three simple panels can make me so unreasonable angry - and I just gotta say, Ikemoto is turning me into a hater with these three panels right here:
At least then this whole hassle would've meant something unless you're Yodo then it's a freebee, I guess!!
Now that I've calmed down, let's do a review on all that has happened in recent chapters of Boruto: Two Blue Vortex.
Okay but what in the ever living fuck did the Kazekage estate turn into? Is that a waterslide coming out the side?! Why does it look like an octopus from space? WHY IS IT SO UP IN THE AIR?!
Okay....Okay, alright. I'm calm now.
Typically I am opposed to criticizing artists for not being akin to other artists, and though I may admit that I do favor Kishimoto's style due to nostalgia and personal preference, I feel that the entirety of the Naruto franchise should be upheld to a certain standard, and I do not believe that Ikemoto is maintaining that standard at all.
Ikemoto's designs are simply unreasonable to me, and it makes for really uncanny feelings that pulls me out of the emersion I would have felt when reading. Everything is just way too extra, to overdesigned to the point of near vertigo as my eyes roll around the page, trying to figure out what's important and what's not. Basically, I don't know what I'm supposed to be looking at because I feel so overstimulated by how ostentatious (and inappropriate) the character designs are.
And that's not a bad thing in art - I think Ikemoto is better at drawing complex styles (such as hair) in comparison to Kishimoto - but it somehow Ikemoto's style seems to convey less emotion but with more crammed into the panels.
With Kishimoto, you always knew what to look at because the action or emotion of the panel caught your attention immediately, it drew you in so that you could really nestle into the story and feel out the characters. Then later, going back and rereading and noticing all the background details felt like a treat and an added layer to a complex world, and Kishimoto was good at background details! However, nothing was competing with what was going on front and center.
With Ikemoto, I feel like I'm going through a fashion magazine first. Everything is about the outfits, the clothes, the stuff that they're wearing. Emotions and actions come second because they can't compete with how overly detailed all the outfits are.
Too add to this, I know a lot of people have made their comments on this already, but I'm also going to add my two cents and say that the inappropriate portrayal of the female cast is stomach churning. Not only because they are ninjas, but these are children!!!! What are they doing dressing like that?! It's honestly horrible.
Not to mention that it's so, so, SO hard to hit hard with emotions like sadness, anger, fear, guilt and love when you're in the middle of watching one of the female cast die and suddenly you're eyes lock onto the literal whale tail thong straps that are just chilling. Right there for the world to see! It's just...Disrespectful? Trashy, maybe? Definitely inappropriate, and not to mention just basic poor design.
As I said, they are ninjas. Is dressing provocative suited for a ninja? Yeah, alright, maybe in some cases such as spy missions, but I don't think female ninjas should be going to battle with shorts so short that their pussy lips are hanging out it's inappropriate.
With Kishimoto sometimes I felt that the female ninjas weren't dressed for the part, but it always felt like a character fashion statement than anything else, and no where near as egregious as Ikemoto.
Even the stuff he changes, I don't understand. For example, the Kazekage estate.
What's the point of it? Who thought "Hmm, you know what we need? The Kazeakge estate to be as tall as a skyscraper! For what reason? Eh, just cause!"
It makes me wonder...Is this the same universe as the original Naruto? Are we on a different timeline separate from the original? If not, how did the Suna ninjas pull off LIFTING the entire estate? And why?
It doesn't even look good, it looks silly. Like before the estate looked like a place of business, but now it just looks like it's about to count down and blast off into space as some kind've weird space ship design, like what the heck.
And don't get me started on the fact that out of all the crazy designs, all the details and complexity of outfits, Ikemoto took away the ONE THING that is nearly synonymous with Gaara.
Ikemoto.....Ikemoto, you literally took away a complex design that is very marketable and very characteristic of Gaara and replaced it with a club I would rather beat myself over the head with
2. Misuse of Character Appearances
So does anyone know why Gaara and the sand fam were even in these last few chapters?
Did anything happen? aside from the most bogus death imaginable, more on that later
What did we learn from this entire ordeal aside from the fact that yeah, Gaara is still selfless and Shinki still takes after him and....And....and that's it.
Oh wait, no, that wasn't it. Actually, we had a set up for a really great character development moment between Shinki and Yodo (and Araya) BUT OPPS it's gone. Whoops, nevermind. Apparently that wasn't as important as just simply...letting a character die just cause.
Literally this page was the most emotionally invested I had been in awhile:
But now it's gone. Gone because apparently it was just intrigue bait and now it's over, which is really truly unfortunate because we finally get to see more depth to the successors of the sand sibs. Here it's implied that Shinki has taken after Gaara's denseness in subjects of romance, we see that Araya is actually really in-tune with his emotions and also selfless, as well. I read it that Araya has romantic feelings towards Yodo, but he feels Yodo is romantically interested in Shinki. Yet what does Araya do? Get jealous? Angry?
No, he instead asks Shinki to pay more attention to her.
That is good character building, and it's so interesting but yet THIS was the conclusion:
Basically a "thank god everything is back to normal." That isn't fair to the readers. You can't just bait and switch just because you want to drive engagement by bringing back fan favorites such as Gaara and Kankuro.
Well, I suppose you CAN do anything in writing, but don't expect your readers to me happy about it, especially when it's as mismanaged as this. Introducing beloved characters with the intent to engage them in a "high stakes" fight and then offscreen the conclusion is just plain lazy writing, and the pacing is horrible too, which probably contributes to how unfocused the story is!
Kishimoto pounded out chapters WEEKLY and he was able to really zoom into different scenes. Think about when the sand sibs rolled up for the Sasuke Retrieval Arc. Each one of the sand siblings had their time in the spotlight and because of that we got to not only enjoy their screen presence and their growth/new abilities, but after it was all said and done, it felt like a redemption...because it was one! I got the undertone from that entire fight that yeah, they were "technically" there on a mission, but the mission was more personal than that. That's even what Gaara says, "I owe the leaf a great debt."
It felt personal, but it also felt like they were ninjas. There was layers to it, just like how there were layers to Yodo and Araya and Shinki, but in the latter, it's basically vaporized, and I ask myself why?
Is it because it would've taken too much time given that Boruto is only once a month? Did Ikemoto forget? Does he not like the suna characters?
I said before that it wasn't fair to the readers, but now that I think about it more, hell, it's not even fair to the characters.
I've never felt more like they were pawns...
3. Misuse of Character Death
And this...THIS is the conclusion:
I keep reposting those three panels, but they make me angry. They make me angry because, as I said above, "everything back to normal!"
Not like Yodo died or anything!
I mean at this point they aren't even writing Kankuro correctly. As if he would really just say, "Oh, thank god Shinki and Gaara are okay. Looks like nothing bad happened! Oh, and that girl? What was her name again? Oh, well, thoughts and prayers to the family, I guess."
The Kankuro I know would have absolutely been devastated about it. Why? Because he cares. GAARA CARES! Shinki should care!!!
Yodo just died and they are just going to give us three measly, stupid panels that basically make Kankuro look like an asshole for only caring about the boyz, and not even MENTIONING that he lost a member of his squad.
Ikemoto doesn't even know what characters he's writing.
Plus Yodo's death scene is just so disrespectful to her. Instead of reflecting on her own life, she instead has some sage advice for Sarada, as if they are just the best of buddies and Yodo can see into her mind. Give me a break.
Yodo was used, and her death was a waste and a misuse.
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