0. Minors do NOT interact please. I'm too old for this stuff.
1. This started as a Naruto focused blog, but now I want to talk about some other mangas that interest me, there's a masterlist below where you can find what I'm writing about and what I'm planning to write about.
2. This is going to be somewhere between a rant, an analysis and a critic. Expect a lot of overanalyzing and exaggerations.
3. Take this blog with a grain of salt. I make mistakes. I do my best to avoid them, but sometimes I still make them.
4. I’m also to writing some fanfic and stuff (just for Naruto).
5. Manga only.
6. Some cool reblogging of fanart will be added to the mix (under the tag #r (again mostly Naruto)).
*These are just my thoughts, feel free to disagree (just try to be nice about it).*
I need to talk about the Next Dimension and its ending...
And I mean the Saint Seiya manga continuation that took 18 years in the making.
To be honest, I love this series, but I'm not really sure if it is good. It has a lot of issues. And yet it has some very good moments. But I'll save that for another time.
If you want to check it out, go ahead, it pretty short compared to something like Naruto, about 250 chapters between Saint Seiya and Next Dimension. And be warned that there are spoilers under the cut.
On a personal note, what I like about Saint Seiya is that mix of epic fantasy with mythology elements and the shonen structure. And in that aspect Next Dimension delivers.
I like how it all starts with Athena going with Shun to talk to Artemis in an attempt to save Seiya, and seeing more of the Olympus.
I like the plan of destroying Hades' sword in the past so that it wouldn't exist in the present. Of course, this would mean that the story uses the time travel theory that the present can be changed by altering the past, which is really tricky because it present a lot of questions like why not kill Hades instead? Or to go back and prevent Saga to take over the Sanctuary, so that Seiya and the others wouldn't been dragged into the Holy War?
I don't know, time travel is hard to pull off in my opinion.
But overall I think that Next Dimension fails to deliver in other aspects.
Allow me to explain.
Every story makes some kind of promise at the beginning. In this case, the first volume of the manga is about Shion and Dohko meeting Tenma and Alone (Hades). So of course they will be relevant at some point, right? If not, why are they in the story?
And then it goes to Athena and Shun, and their time travel.
This translates to:
Chronos: Athena, your life is in my hands. I'll grant you 3 days before the sand in the cosmic clock runs out. If you have not returned by then. You will have to stay in the past forever, do you understand?
Athena: Yes.
So the promise, as I interpret it, is: Athena is about to join with previous Gold Saints to steal and destroy Hades' sword in a rushed battle because they only have 3 days. It should be about Athena vs Hades, right?
Right...?
But the story takes a very different turn in the middle, making it about a confrontation between Shun (and Hyoga and Shiryu who arrive later (and obviously Ikki, who is always late)) and the Sanctuary and Odysseus. Which I think is the biggest complain about Next Dimension (the guys crossing the 12 temples again).
And while Odysseus had the potential to be a great middle antagonist. The story closes without a confrontation between Hades and Athena. There's a bit of Tenma vs Hades/Alone, but it's too rushed. And then it jumps to a magical solution that makes no sense and the trial of Athena in the hands of Artemis and then Apollo. And so, the story doesn't deliver on its promise.
It feels so strange.
Definitely rushed.
What I mean by rushed is that everything starts slow, the development in general is slow. There are backstories for the Gold Saints, which is actually a nice change, but these are new-old Gold Saints that did not get a chance to do anything, and that have no connection with the protagonists (unlike the XX century ones). And then it all wraps up in the last 10 chapters with Odysseus/Asclepius vs Athena/the Gold Saint's Cloths (because the Cloths did more than the Saints).
This translates to:
Athena: I understood that, by coming to this era, it will cause the collapse of the Universal Laws. But there's no way I'll let it (the Universe) to be destroyed. I'll stop it using my own life.
While the solution it's just weird and nonsensical, it's interesting that Athena faces the consequences of her actions. Here and later on the Olympus.
This translates to:
Apollo: Elder sister... do you understand what it means to say that you'll stop being a goddess? You'll have a few decades left of live. It's like having the live of a worm.
Athena: I'm prepared.
So, my hot take is that the ending itself is not bad. It's pretty interesting (the part involving Athena, the Bronze Saints, and the Olympians). A bit generic of gods looking down on humans, but still an interesting turn to the story after centuries of Athena being reborn to protect the Earth, like what will happen now?
And that last part of Saori crossing paths with Seiya with both of them not remembering anything with Aioros' testament as backdrop is... I don't know. Nostalgic. Tragic. Perfect.
But the biggest issue it's also that the story does not build up to have this ending. The side quest with the Gold Saints and Odysseus/Asclepius/Ophiuchus is just too long and doesn't tie up with the larger narrative (it ties a little with the consequences of Asclepius waking up because of Athena going back in time, but that is revealed too late imo). And that side quest is erased from the timeline, which makes no sense because the story established in the beginning that the changes made in the past would be permanent (again time travel is so hard to pull off). So it left me thinking what was the point of all of it?
Then the other problem is that there's little character development, which makes the side quest even more pointless. Though Shiryu had the most character development. And Seiya has some interesting moment at the end, where he begs Apollo to take his life instead since he was the cause of all this cosmic mess, proving that Seiya is able to take responsibility and not just fight anyone who opposes him. But that's kind of it.
And I usually admire mangakas for keeping up with crazy schedules (check out my post about the weekly format). But this time the author had so much freedom it took 18 years to complete this saga. That is 6,5 chapters per year. Which mean, he had a lot of time to plan and make sure the story was solid, without plotholes such as... did Athena really spend 3 days in the past before the time ran out?
Honestly, what makes me the most sour about this saga is that the Gold Saints feel too similar to the XX century Gold Saints (with obvious exceptions) (which is also my issue with the Lost Canvas spinoff). And then... why introduce this new characters? I don't know...
Anyway, this is often the feeling I get about this series, there's good stuff with a lot of potential, and then there is all of its flaws. And I love it so much, but I really struggle to recommend it.
If you'd like to read more of my thoughts and rambles about Saint Seiya, let me know.
Do you feel the Naruto Manga was restricted by the Shounen Genre?
By that I mean the way things are resolved quickly i.e. the Major Nations being at peace because of 1 speech from Gaara.
Or not being resolved at all.
Sasuke not wanting justice aganist the other 2 elders.
Hi there!
This is a very interesting question. In a way, yes, the genre marked some strong guidelines -so to say-. For example, having a male protagonist is just part of it, because technically it's a manga for young teen boys.
Also shounen is supposed to be positive, and talk about friendship and overcoming challenges and all that.
In that aspect, Naruto had some revolutionary elements for its time. Probably, that's why it became so popular on the west. Like the level of violence. Just think of Gaara in the Forest of Death or Orochimaru and his human experiments.
Though, you can argue that there were some other series before it, like Rurouni Kenshin that is also considered a Shounen and has a high level of violence and dark themes.
Anyway, I agree that the resolutions feel rushed in contrast to how dark is the worldbuilding. I mean, Madara and Hashirama tried to achieve peace and the conflict was the lack of trust between each other. So what changed in Naruto's time? Nothing. I mean, sure, Naruto and Gaara became friends and that's why Gaara as the Kazekage formed an alliance with Konoha, which has a long build up throughout the story, and that's why it works so well (even though the change in Gaara is abrupt to say the least). But I guess it was too much to ask for the story to make the same with the other Kages.
But I don't think it the genre was necessarily a limitation.
In my opinion, the problem with Naruto is that it introduces too many things and then it doesn't take its time to solve them. For example, the whole thing with the Hyugas, if they were not going to be relevant anymore (as it turned out to be), why not just say that they got rid of the Caged Bird Seal during the timeskip and everything was sunshine and roses between the Main and the Branch family? It was simple.
Now, if you think why Sasuke didn't demand for the execution of the other 2 elders... totally a genre limitation. Especially at the end because Sasuke had to either become "good" or die as a "villain." But, in my opinion, his arc was forced by the author being fixed by the idea to end the manga with Naruto and Sasuke fighting, I mean, this fight is so forced... It's good, but it just doesn't make sense for either of them to fight each other. It's like the ending of How I Met Your Mother, the writers had the ending ready for years prior, but they failed to see that their characters didn't fit the ending anymore, they had grown and changed.
So I don't know if there's a conclusion to be made lol. But thanks for the ask, it was fun.
I really miss when adults were portrayed like that, like actual soldiers who had to indulge in several vices to control their PTSD. They smoke or do drugs or read porn or drink or become addicted to work or physical exercise. They are all perverted in their own ways, broken, traumatized, damaged.
I miss when they had big ass scars and when you could tell they were shinobis used to killing for a living just by looking at them.
I miss how Kishimoto used the kids view to make everything look kinda innocent at first, but slowly turned everything worse the more that they lived to reveal to real shinobi world, not how the kids dreamed it to be.
There was something so appealing to it, to the contrast of innocence vs a world submerged in war and violence.
Kakashi starts the Land of the Waves arc being a funny dude with hearts in his speech bubbles and it progresses to Kakashi putting his hand through Haku's heart with a chidori. There's suicide and there's extortion and there's old men molesting Sakura and people being crucified and genocide and corruption and—
There are moments when you can feel the reality of their violence, like when Orochimaru appeared on The Forest of Death. He showed Sasuke and Sakura with a genjutsu how he'd decapitate them. Like when Hiruzen gave his soul to a demon to try and seal Orochimaru's soul too. Like when Gaara started killing people by exploding them with his sand. Like when Rock Lee was told that if he went along with the surgery he could die and if he did not he would never walk again. Like Orochimaru experimenting with kids or like when Neji revealed the secondary branch of the Hyuugas were slaves marked like cattle that would only find freedom if dead. Like Itachi forcing Sasuke to live again and again the Uchiha massacre with a genjutsu.
Shippuden has a lot of it. It is brilliant at times, but doesn't have the consistency of the original.
Mostly agree. OG Naruto is my favorite for sure. Shippuden has its moments, like Shikamaru vs Hidan (which originally had Shikamaru smoking as a reminder of Asuma, not just the lighter), Sasuke vs Danzo, the Kages vs Madara... But yeah, it's ironic that when the characters age up things are less brutal.
I really can’t understand why Kishi never put this two in a confront, not because of Sasuke or whatever… But as team seven vs team hebi. Damn, can’t believe it, for real.
Shikamaru buried the murderer of his sensei alive and you don't call that "curse of hatred". Imagine what he would have done if someone exterminated his whole family and grave robbed them to implant stolen body parts on themselves. I honestly think you don't appreciate me for how trully chill and rational I am in comparison to the average shinobi.
While I love this part of the story, it is strange that Sasuke is treated like an anomaly, I mean, maybe it was necessary to have more revenge side plots gone wrong to have that precedent of 'revenge is bad' and stuff.
I find morality a fascinating topic because most people don't question it (why are things right or wrong?), yet it's a construct highly dependent of a social group (and it gets affected by questions), meaning that in different groups moral norms are likely to change (usually, not in an extreme way (though it could happen)).
Quick definition of morality to be on the same page:
morality, the moral (of or relating to principles of right and wrong in behavior) beliefs and practices of a culture, community, or religion or a code or system of moral rules, principles, or values. The conceptual foundations and rational consistency of such standards are the subject matter of the philosophical discipline of ethics, also known as moral philosophy.
(Source)
In layman's terms, is whether someone did something right (that adds value to the social group, or respects their values) or wrong (that diminishes such values). For example, suicide is universally consider "wrong", but why? Because it diminishes the population, therefore the working force of a community is affected negatively, therefore it subtracts value to what the group can produce and gain. It might sound like a utilitarian way of looking at morality, but it can also be applied to creating a happy environment, like why "being nice" is valued.
Then, what about the Narutoverse?
Well, there are values and moral rules that are not relatable. In the sense that most cultures in real life would find them wrong. And it's mostly tied to being a shinobi, because of the extreme way they operate (in general, life-and-death situations will turn values around to a more primitive state (based on the Maslow's Pyramid of Needs)).
There are a few things worth mentioning in these selected panels.
There is a disconnect between shinobi's values and "normal" people's values inside the same universe.
Sakura mentions that there are 100 rules but this is later forgotten, we will never know what the other rules are.
Mission comes first. Always.
Shinobi are sell-swords, their whole economy is based on mercenary work. The Hokage receives the missions and manages the teams to fulfill them, then they get paid. So values must be formulated accordingly.
A good shinobi follows the rules. They put the mission first because a good shinobi bring back value to the collective (the village) by completing missions and earning money. A good shinobi maintain the reputation of the village, therefore everyone will get more work. And more work and money (usually) means betterment in the lifestyle of the group (in theory, this is the goal of economy management).
Well, Kakashi is actually right. Since the "rules" are heavily intertwined with the moral values of shinobi society, being a "good" shinobi would also mean to be a "good" person, because at the end of the day a "good" person (in a moral sense) is someone who contributes to the collective wellbeing.
Now, the big social issue is that these people live in a schizophrenia-like state. On one side, they have these principles that represses emotions, that are highly utilitarian and pragmatic to make their work more effective. The. Mission. Comes. First.
But on the other hand, they are still human beings with emotions, hopes, and dreams. These things that will be an obstacle on a mission, will also be their reason to fight to the death. Like what's the point of living without aspiring to happiness? What's the point of fighting if you don't have anything to fight for?
And this ties up with the question: what are "bad" shinobi?
As readers, we have no idea of why Sakumo decided to break the rules. Yes, it might be the "right" thing to do in real life, but again, this guy was a shinobi. As Minato tells Obito here, what Sakumo did resulted in "a great deal of damage". Therefore, what he did was wrong, and the social group made sure to let him know that.
Another example is when Shikaku talks to Shikamaru after he failed the Sasuke retrieval mission.
Here Shikamaru is upset because his friends got hurt, he failed and thinks he's not cut to be a shinobi. But Shikaku is hammering down on the idea that missions will still happen, Shikamaru just has to improve himself to avoid future failures.
However, the underlying message is about responsibility. They don't just stop being shinobis, that's the coward way out = it's wrong from a social perspective. The right thing to do is to train harder and be brave. To endure.
In real life? You're allowed to give up, change your mind, find another path. Sometimes you have to be even braver to admit that you no longer want to do what you've being doing for years, or to go against your family's wishes. Sometimes the coward thing to do is to stay in the place that you hate just because it's comfortable.
Of course, persistence can be valuable. Most artists and entrepreneurs would agree. But for shinobis, enduring is taken to an unhealthy extreme where change is not an option. It's inflexible. And everything can be justified at the convenience of following the rules/enduring/being a good shinobi.
It's a very contradictory moral system that gives room to all kind of conflict, which is perfect for worldbuild and great storytelling.
What makes it confusing is the inconsistency of how it's presented. Sometimes characters will be following their shinobi morality. But sometimes they'll be using real-world morals.
Following up with the Kakashi Chronicles example:
The moral of the story is that you shouldn't follow the rules as a strict recipe. You need to use your own criteria and know when to be flexible. Kakashi is becoming just like the people who caused (this is an exaggeration) the death of his father, instead of seeing the value of Sakumo's actions and how helping your friends can be more important than the mission, because what's even the point of completing missions if everyone is dead?
And don't get me wrong, I think this is good advise, but it's based on real-world morals, not on shinobi morals.
On the other hand...
For context, this panel is from the conversation that Sasuke has with the previous Hokages. And I'll try not to cringe to much at this dialogue... But Minato here is taking a shinobi moral stance, where he defends the actions of Hiruzen. Again, in context said actions led to the Uchiha massacre, which was Hiruzen responsibility as he was the Hokage at the time. But, the whole Uchiha massacre is justified within shinobi morals (not real-world morals).
And some parts of story are coherent with the toxicity of the shinobi morality. Like this quote here from Minato again:
I want to remark the term "shinobi culture". Minato doesn't say "morals", he talks about "culture". I think this is because he doesn't see it as something valuable. I could be mistaken. However, what he means is that the way shinobis act, the things that they value, they all turn the wheel of the cycle of hate. And if they want peace, they need to change everything. Now, of course, that would also imply changing their morals.
I'm not a Minato hater or anything like that. I actually think that he was able to see the problems in the shinobi system, so that's why I chose him as an example of how morality fluctuates in the story. Being a character that embodies a more real-world morality, reading that panel of him defending Hiruzen, for the Uchiha massacre of all things, it's upsetting, and it can be confusing. I imagine that Minato should be more disappointed about how Hiruzen managed the situation, letting his comrades die (because the Uchiha were Konoha's comrades).
A different example of how confusing things can be is the Akatsuki.
The organization itself is framed as evil because they killed and kidnapped people... Well, that's also what other ninjas do, like in every village. Their job is whatever pays. That's what sell-swords do. The only thing that the Akatsuki was doing "wrong", in a shinobi morality, is not obeying a Kage. They were independent of the village structure system.
So the story tells the readers that the Akatsuki is evil inside a real-world morality, and for some weird and unknown reason you shouldn't question the "goodness" of Konoha's government...
Anyway, I won't make this into a rant. I just wanted to explore the shinobi morality and share my thoughts about it.
Please feel free to disagree and/or start a discussion about it. I'd love to hear... read... your thoughts :)
Does shinobi morality have any effect on civilian morality? What does the normalcy of this kind of underhandedness do to a society?
Minato, minato, minato. You inscrutable handsome man. Why are you the way that you are. Personally, I feel like he recognizes that the system is harmful, but doesn’t believe it’s possible to change it. “It’s just the way the world is.” which is why he does shit like put kakashi into Anbu.
But, I think it makes sense for things to contradict each other. A lot of things in the real world do. It shows that their standard of morality doesn’t mesh well with how people actually act. And so they create wiggle room.
Yeah, that contradiction is very interesting. This is actually one of the things I like the most about Naruto. I think it does a great job at worldbuilding, I can almost imagine how people live their everyday lives, you know? (at least until it contradicts it's own rules lol).
Awesome work! That 6th division insignia is a nice detail. I don't know how truth it is, but I read somewhere that Kishi took inspiration from Byakuya Kuchiki for Neji's character.
1. I’m obsessed with the ending (basically trying to make sense of all the plot holes and incoherences).
2. Overall, I like the original story, though it’s not satisfying to me -especially the ending. It just feels underwhelming.
3. This is going to be somewhere between a rant, an analysis and a critic. Expect a lot of overanalyzing and exaggerations.
4. Take this blog with a grain of salt. I make mistakes. I do my best to avoid them, but sometimes I still make them.
5. I’m also writing some fanfic and stuff.
6. Manga only (no anime, maybe some light novels)
7. Naruto was one of the first mangas I read (alongside Bleach and Death Note). This was back in 2006. So I read it weekly (which will be important at some point).
MASTERLIST:
Starter kit:
Why Naruto's ending feels so dissatisfying? (imo)
Why is Naruto a plot-driven story? And not a one well done...
About the weekly format
Is there anyway to make Naruto's ending more satisfying?
Uchiha clan:
Why Obito having a change of heart is incoherent?
The Uchiha mess: intro
The Uchiha mess part 1: Sasuke
The Uchiha mess part 2: The massacre
The Uchiha mess part 3: Itachi
The Uchiha mess part 4: The curse of hatred
The Uchiha mess part 5: filling in the blanks of part 2
The Uchiha mess part 6: The military police force
What if... Madara
What do I think of Sarada
Sarada's Mangekyou: a rant about burrito
More on Itachi:
"Itachi was a good guy all along" was not a retcon, but I have issues about it
Comments on Itachi's death
Some kind of character analysis
"I had no choice" - A fanfic (Only chapter 1 is full on Tumblr)/ Posted in AO3 (in progress)
More on Sasuke:
Sasuke, a tragic hero?
The weird romantic choices in Naruto: Sasusaku
Shipping stuff
Hyuga clan:
The Hyuga mess
Comments on Neji's death
Hiashi headcanons
Naruto Uzumaki:
The Naruto Uzumaki Calamity
The weird romantic choices in Naruto: Naruhina
More metas:
The confusing morality within the shinobi system
The shipping question
Tsunade shouldn't have been Hokage (short)
Shounen as a limitation?
Characters in therapy (parody fanfic-ish) /Crossposted in AO3
So I've been MIA for a while 'cause life stuff, and recovering from burnout. But it gave me time to think, and I realized I'd like to talk about more mangas than just Naruto. Me and Naruto have a love/hate relationship, there's so much I love about this story and so much that frustrates me. And I guess sometimes that comes across as negative. So I want to explore some other mangas where I don't have such strong, conflicting emotions attached. However, now the question is, are you guys interested in that or would you rather me to keep it a Naruto focused blog?
I appreciate your thoughts
Keep it Naruto focused
Expand on other mangas!
Voting ended onMay 30, 2024
I'll expand anyway, but I'll open a different page for it if that's the option that wins.
So this is a character that is quite devise in the fandom. Some hate him, some love him. However, my intention here is to do a character analysis. And I know sometimes my analysis are unfair, but I'm working on improving that, let's see how this turns out.
Anyway, here goes my overthinking on this guy. Take a cup of coffee because this is a long one.
In my opinion this is a too complex and contradicting character. But I'll save that for later, since the core of it all is what was the story trying to achieve here.
Honestly? I'm not entirely sure of what is that. But there are a few things that I've narrow down to:
The deception
There's one theme that is present in the foundation of the narrative, that is that ninjas always lie, they always hide something to survive or win, right? Honor is not a word that is spoken often. And there's a panel somewhere (can't remember where exactly) where I think is Kakashi that says something like: "A shinobi is able to see the lie behind the lie". And this ties nicely to the idea that in this world, trust is not easy to build (which contributes to the cycle of hate theme).
Under this concept, Itachi is a great example of deception. He's playing double agent all the time. His major abilities relay on illusions (genjutsu). Even at the end he theoretically couldn't tell Sasuke the whole truth because theoretically he was bound by the Kotoamatsukami.
That's where the whole "don't display your emotions" come from. And it's also why Itachi was supposed to be a skilled shinobi.
The issue with this idea is that near the end, the story tries and fails to give honor to the deception with the idea that Itachi was "protecting from the shadows" because he had the "mind of a Hokage". Which can work, but in this case it doesn't because it's too big of a contradiction to the other core idea that people need to be able to trust each other to end the cycle of hate. Trust and deception are just not compatible.
Patriotism gone wrong
This is the idea that Itachi was meant to represent what happens when you trust too much on the government, especially if that government is corrupt or flawed. Blind loyalty turn into tragedy. It's a fascinating concept.
Again, even the way where Edo Tensei Itachi is controlled by the Kotoamatsukami to "protect Konoha" fits perfectly on this concept. However there are some contradictions that make it unviable.
The first is that he left Sasuke alive knowing that it was going to become a problem in the future if Sasuke ever found out about the true (and considering Obito knew the true, well, that was a time bomb). This is not a perfect argument, since can only be seen in retrospective, but it was still a big risk, after all, the whole point in annihilating the Uchiha clan was that no one tries to get revenge on the village later on (and Danzo being Danzo). My point is that a blindly loyal Itachi would have killed even his little brother.
The second is that Itachi was supposed to be a spy on the Akatsuki, but he barely passes any information to Konoha. And remember that Orochimaru had an spy on the Akatsuki too who passed on information. So it wasn't impossible. Itachi just did a poor job there, even if he was an ANBU.
And the third is that theoretically the character doesn't believe in affiliations, as he is presented in Sasuke's flashback. Which is debatable, because it could be that he was loyal to Konoha but not the clan.
The full tragedy
Itachi is a tragic character. He is forced to kill his family, live in exile, get a deathly disease, and die in the hands of his own brother who had no idea that Itachi did all that to "protect" him. He even plays the villain part so that Sasuke has no regrets on killing him. I'm more inclined to this idea, like the story pushes the flashbacks and the events to make it feel like this was the purpose of the character.
And it's mostly consistent from beginning to end. Because the story start with Sasuke being the only survivor of the Uchiha clan. It's evident that there is a reason to why Itachi didn't kill him. Even if at some point it looks like it's because Itachi wants Sasuke's eyes.
And it works pretty well...
But not without issues.
The keys to a great tragic dead, in my opinion, are: character sympathy, the sense of inevitability, and a finality.
At the point of the story where Sasuke fights Itachi, Sasuke has been missing from the story for a while, and his appearances have turned his character unlikable. He attacks his friends, he is cold, and the story doesn't show much of his thoughts. And this fight is like the final nail in him turning into a villain, I mean, he kind of killed his own brother (not even Itachi is that bad lol).
Itachi at this point is not likable. He is one of the antagonists. He is cool and all, but not likable.
There's no sympathy for either of them. Though the sympathy for Itachi is build later on with Obito's explanation to Sasuke about the truth. But the problem is it feels too much like something the author put there. Of course, everything is a creation of the author, but what I mean is that a story has a flow, the moment that flow stops because something is just too convenient or unbelievable, the hands of the author show up. Like "here you should feel bad about this guy because he wasn't that bad." And Obito knowing the truth and telling Sasuke about it after Itachi is dead, is too convenient.
The sense of inevitability breaks when there are not enough consequences or they are not foreshadowed. Like Itachi's disease that only shows up in his fight with Sasuke (it does make sense it shows up this way because of the screen time Itachi has in the manga, but it's too sudden, and again, too convenient). Or the fact that there was no other way to stop the coup d'etat that the Uchiha were planning other than kill them all (I'm writing a fan fic about that lol). (On a side note, if you want to read a story with that sense of inevitability, I strongly recommend Jade City).
I've talked a lot about the Uchiha massacre before on this blog, but it just bothers me so much that it lacks that inevitability factor. I'll give a quick example that I haven't mentioned before.
Okay, so Fugaku heard the whole clan getting executed, and did nothing. Don't get me wrong, I there is something quite sweet in the fact that Fugaku didn't want to fight Itachi because he was his son. However, one, Fugaku was the leader of the clan, and he let everyone died for his son, but he couldn't compromise to make peace with the Hokage, doesn't that feel kind of illogical? And, two, why Fugaku didn't face Itachi? He could have at least tried to make him change his mind about it.
I'm not saying anything about Fugaku himself. He obviously had plot disease. What I'm trying to say is that as much as bittersweet this panels are, it doesn't feel inevitable. There were so much more options.
If they were all going to die, why to try to scape Konoha? Big risk that could have ended the same way, but at least it was an attempt to live.
And of course there's the problem that Itachi comes back to life. Taking away the finality of his tragic dead. It's still tragic for Sasuke. But it also feels like a plot devise to make Sasuke backtrack on his plans to destroy Konoha.
The perfect shinobi
Itachi is depicted in a lot ways as the perfect shinobi. Skilled, controlled with his emotions, strategic, good at deception, great at following orders, not seeking glory for himself, you get it.
At the very end, with Sasuke talking to the previous Hokages, I think this is what the story was trying to achieve with Itachi. Because usually the end of a character arc reveals what the character is about.
But does it?
I don't think so. Because Itachi never achieves anything. He prevented an hypothetical war by killing the Uchihas. But did he? Later on the story there are two events that are equivalent to what a civil war would have caused:
Orochimaru invading Konoha and killing the Third Hokage.
Pain destroying the village.
And there are no international consequences of these events. No other hidden village tried to capitalize on this, which was the whole risk of entering a civil war with the Uchiha.
He does nothing inside the Akatsuki. And he fails to help Sasuke becoming a hero as he had intended.
Naruto on the other hand is who achieves things (because of the plot, but that's kind of the point here). If anything, the story frames Naruto as the perfect shinobi (not that I agree but...).
So what is the point of all of this?
A few things...
As I said in the beginning, Itachi is jack of all trades, master of none. It's a character that had many different interesting ideas that are explored but at the end there's not enough details. And the problem is that: he is a secondary character built like the protagonist. With secondary characters there's not enough time to explore so many complex and contradicting concepts. If he was the protagonist that would work perfectly. But he isn't.
Which is why the Itachi novels are such a wasted potential.
In that sense, it is a badly written character. But I'm exaggerating, because at the end of the day there's a lot of personality to Itachi, it's just not coherent with his actions (which are tied to the plot).
His actions are to tied up to the plot. But it makes things really strange.
In my opinion, for the Uchiha massacre to work as a grey conflict, it needed a lot of development (and the light novels somehow decides to make it black and white). What I mean by grey conflict? It's very clear that the intention of the story was to not make Konoha or the Uchiha evil or good, but just flawed, incompatible with each other. And it throws some ideas, like Madara's betrayal, the Uchiha being blamed for the Kyubi attack, that curse of hatred thing the Second Hokage made out, etc. But the negotiations between Fugaku and the Third are never shown, which means the real reasons why they couldn't reach an agreement are blank. It's all speculation.
My point is, Itachi is described as a smart guy. Does that exempt him from making mistakes? Absolutely not. But indulge me for a second, this smart guy really had no better plan than to makes his brother hate him so that Sasuke would be motivated to keep living and become stronger? They way Sasuke is depicted, if Itachi had told him the truth and ask him not to destroy Konoha, he probably would have listen.
And what about the Madara/Obito part? Itachi found out about who he believed was Madara living merrily somewhere. Now, it wasn't that hard to connect an Uchiha living outside Konoha with the Kyubi attack. If Itachi had told the Hokage about this Uchiha, wouldn't it stopped the blaming on the clan and saving everyone in the process?
Then there's the is Itachi's involvement in the Akatsuki. And I have two interpretations of this. One is more canon, because it is said in the manga that he is a spy there. So, wouldn't Itachi be planning how to kill Madara/Obito? (I'm thinking a bit of Bleach, and Gin and Aizen, sorry, I'm kind of in a Bleach phase rn). Making plans to ruin their plan of gathering all the tailed beasts?
And I do have one theory that is less canon... Itachi's goal in live was about peace. What if he joined the Akatsuki willingly? I mean, Pain talks a lot about peace and unity, in a bit of a twisted way, but you know... And Madara's ultimate plan was about peace and creating a perfect world...
So, imo, why does Itachi does what he does in the story?
Plot.
This is exactly why he gets sick and dies. His actions are designed to provoke a reaction in Sasuke. And in this the story achieves its goal. But it feels strange, again, too convenient. In other words, I think there was more potential on Itachi's character.
But I also think there are so many ways to interpret his character. Because it's so complex and layered.
I've seen that some people portray him like a tortured soul, and others like someone with a completely twisted morality, or just Danzo's lap dog. Which makes sense in the given plot.
I doubt there's a "right or wrong" way to interpret it.
And the richness of interpretations his character provides kind of makes it a very well written character.
I know, I know. I said this also made him a badly written character. But hear me out. The part where Itachi is treated as a plot devise and not given enough screen time (and he has a lot of screen time for a secondary character) to develop the themes surrounding him, that's a flaw. That's something a writer should avoid with his secondary characters and side plots. These secondary elements should be more simple, more black and white, so that the story, the main plot, the main character, have the room to explore the complex themes, the layered emotions, the grey areas.
Now, the part where it becomes interesting in trying to understand the character and his motivations and finding all these different things. That makes it fantastic. Art should provoke something in people, to think and feel stuff, to imagine what would it be to be in Itachi's shoes. I found myself wondering how did he overcome the pain of killing his own family? Because he can fight, he is not in corner depressed about it. Or why didn't he just hid from the world in some far away village? Like what motivated him to join the Akatsuki? (I know the canon explanation is that it was sort of a pact between him and Madara/Obito that implies that if he did what the Akatsuki wanted they will leave Konoha alone, but that's just insufficient, because it had an expiration date when a) Itachi died (and even without a plot disease, there where members of the Akatsuki that were literally immortal...) or b) when they had to go for the Kyubi. Besides, why did the Akatsuki where so fixated in keeping Itachi? Obito describes him as a "pain in the ass").
Anyway, I don't know if this analysis makes any sense. But these are my thought on Itachi Uchiha while trying to make some sense of his character. Please feel free to comment or complain. Maybe we can piece together something more coherent.
So I've been MIA for a while 'cause life stuff, and recovering from burnout. But it gave me time to think, and I realized I'd like to talk about more mangas than just Naruto. Me and Naruto have a love/hate relationship, there's so much I love about this story and so much that frustrates me. And I guess sometimes that comes across as negative. So I want to explore some other mangas where I don't have such strong, conflicting emotions attached. However, now the question is, are you guys interested in that or would you rather me to keep it a Naruto focused blog?
I appreciate your thoughts
Keep it Naruto focused
Expand on other mangas!
Voting ended onMay 30, 2024
I'll expand anyway, but I'll open a different page for it if that's the option that wins.
So I've been MIA for a while 'cause life stuff, and recovering from burnout. But it gave me time to think, and I realized I'd like to talk about more mangas than just Naruto. Me and Naruto have a love/hate relationship, there's so much I love about this story and so much that frustrates me. And I guess sometimes that comes across as negative. So I want to explore some other mangas where I don't have such strong, conflicting emotions attached. However, now the question is, are you guys interested in that or would you rather me to keep it a Naruto focused blog?
I appreciate your thoughts
Keep it Naruto focused
Expand on other mangas!
Voting ended onMay 30, 2024
I'll expand anyway, but I'll open a different page for it if that's the option that wins.
So I've been MIA for a while 'cause life stuff, and recovering from burnout. But it gave me time to think, and I realized I'd like to talk about more mangas than just Naruto. Me and Naruto have a love/hate relationship, there's so much I love about this story and so much that frustrates me. And I guess sometimes that comes across as negative. So I want to explore some other mangas where I don't have such strong, conflicting emotions attached. However, now the question is, are you guys interested in that or would you rather me to keep it a Naruto focused blog?
I appreciate your thoughts
Keep it Naruto focused
Expand on other mangas!
Voting ended onMay 30, 2024
I'll expand anyway, but I'll open a different page for it if that's the option that wins.
