- Last OnlineFeb 24, 2015 10:35 AM
- JoinedFeb 19, 2015
No friend yet.
RSS Feeds
|
![]()
Feb 23, 2015
Realizing that reading 15 years of Naruto doesn't really make one a ninja, I decided I wanted to make a review of Naruto, but ended up just discussing the impression it left on me.I picked up Naruto in probably, oh fuck, mid 2000s?, and pretty much got hooked from the start of the series. The whole beginning arc resonated well with me, as I could really relate with Naruto with the feelings of pain, loneliness, and wanting to be accepted by others, plus I was still in high school at the time and who didn't go through that, ya know? Plus there was this whole
...
pregnancy thing that happened and trying to figure out who the baby daddy was and just lot of other shit happened, but I'm getting off topic. So yeah, I really like the opening arc to the story as I could relate to the main character and plus the side characters were interesting; by the side the characters I mean of course the rest of team 7, Kakashi, the only ninja in the entire series that conceals his fucking identity, Sakura, the bipolar ninja, and Sasuke, the heart-throb and the cause of lady (and mine) boners everywhere. I kept up with the series up to the point of the final stages of the chunin entrance exams and then sorta of fell out of it for awhile, idk, I guess i kinda lost interest. It stayed that way for awhile until I heard that it was ending, back when it was in the mid-600 chapters and I marathoned my way through until I had finally caught up with the most current chapter, the beginning of the fourth great ninja war; after that it was same thing, wait for it to continue, rinse, repeat, yadda, yadda. Having finally finished it though, and looking back on it, it's definitely a good shounen adventure, would I go back read it again? Probably not. I like Naruto, just not a super die-hard fan of it, but then again I would rather spend my time finding something new to read. It's not just Naruto though, a lot of manga I'm the same with, I just do not have the desire to go back and read through them, unless your Claymore, and Claymore is just fucking cool, but that is beside the point. The story to Naruto, while entertaining (this is where the good part comes in) does have its moments of being just down right goddamn boring ( I'm looking at you chunin exams, pre-shippudden arc, and fourth great ninja war). The beginning of the series start off dark and depressing as your first introduced to Naruto and his story of how he is an orphan and has this monster living inside of him that causes the whole village to straight up treat him like shit, but gives him the drive to become great and have the people one day respect him, that's a good beginning. The whole Zabuza arc was really good as well as it introduced that first real major threat, and one the cooler bad guys for the series, for the team to come together and defeat, plus it has the touching ending of redemption and forgiveness at the end between Zabuza and Haku. The chunin exams is really where there story takes a nose dive for me; not only does it introduce a lot of new characters into the story, but the whole arc moves at such a slow fucking pace that it is painstaking to get through. The worst part of this arc, to me, is that it introduces one of the most down right evil villains to come from manga, and that is Orochimaru. Many of the villains in Naruto have some tragic back story and which sets them down the wrong path in order to achieve their goals, Gaara ( more on him later), Madara ( who had the same vision as his old rival the first hokage, but due to prejudice against his (Madara) clan, the uchiha, made him set out to acquire power to make everyone equal in his mind), and Pain ( who through a childhood riddled with war, strife, and the lost of a dear friend made him resent the world and set out correcting through force). Orochimaru had none of those qualities of the other villains, he was just evil. The boogeyman of the ninja world who studied black magic to prolong his life and seek out even more powerful jutsu. Throughout the story, just the mere mention of his name made the other ninjas of Konoha be one their guard for they never knew when he would strike at the village. This is where my problem comes into play for the introduction of him though, the slow ass forest death portion of the chunin selection exams. Do not misunderstand, it was awesome how he infiltrated the village, but my beef with it is that main focus of it is focused on the kids, who just have boring fucking powers and really have no fucking clue what is going on besides just trying to survive and make it to the next part of the exam; it would have been cooler to me, to have this part of the story more heavily fixed on the jonin of Konoha, and the other villages, just to see the whole political aspect of the Naruto universe. That is what the chunin election exams were mainly for, yes, it was a rite of passage for the children of each village to prove their worth of becoming a ninja, but it used by the adults to gauge each nations military strength. The presence of Orochimaru completely threw the chunin exam in chaos and it would have been cool to just all the jonin sitting around discussing their next move and planning how to counter Orochimaru and also know more about the dark dealings between the villages of sand and sound. One of the arrangements that was between the villages of sand and sound in the plans to overthrow Konoha, was the sand's secret weapon, Gaara. Gaara was played, the same way as Orochimaru, as being very mysterious and threatening, but came off as being emotionless; though later, the story shows that is not the case as he gives his back story explaining that he is also a vessel for one of the tailed beasts, but unlike Naruto, he never had anyone that could comfort him and his life was in constant jeopardy. Through this harsh reality, he came to conclusion that he would only love himself and care only for himself. Now, the problem I have with this is that all this done through a super long flash back, but, hell, all this could have been done with a discussion between Orochimaru and the Sand Jonin, that went with Gaara and sibilings, instead of all this flash back bullshit from both the genin and jonin. Okay, I hate to do this with my so called "first review" of a manga, but at the time of me writing this I'm legitimately, like wrecking my brain, trying to being all analytically correct with the series, so if it becomes shit while reading, I'm sorry. So, yeah, after all that bullshit, Sasuke ends becoming cursed by Orochimaru and ends up down for the count until like the final part of the chunin exams, so its pretty much let's get rid of him for now and not really explain what is going on with him until much later on, Jiriaya is introduced and it is less than stellar, Naruto is learning how to control the nine-tails chakra without being devoured by it and also learning the power of summoning jutsu, and then there is a break thrown into the exam for the contestants to catch a break and to get ready for the final part of the exam, with, keep in mind, the konoha jonin looking for Orochimaru and turning up nothing; plus, flash backs and back story. Are fed up you with needless exposition, yet? No? Good, because here comes some more. So, like after the whole exam bullshit and the defeat of Gaara and the saving of Konoha, which barely makes it, Sasuke becomes all emo from realizing that Naruto has actually surpassed him and he has a total bitch fit and runs away to find Orochimaru to become stronger, plus that lost to Itachi only added fuel to the fire. Oh yeah, Itachi is in this as well. Now when I said Konoha barely survived, I meant it as the third Hokage gets killed from the battle with Orochimaru, and Konoha needs to find a new leader quickly, so Jiriaya takes Naruto to train with him (more training, awesome!) and also look for Tsunade, the third Sannin, to convince her to become the fifth hokage. Naturally, of course, she does not want to become Hokage as (get ready for it) another flash back shows that both her lover and younger brother both wanted the same goal and ended up getting killed for the same dream. Now, Orochimaru did not walk away from the battle with Third unscathed, as his arms were basically sealed away, which lead to constant pain and being unable to use jutsu, so he to is looking for Tsunade, as well, to get her to heal his arms, so that he can once again be able to use jutsu and destroy Konoha. This, however, leads to conflict between him and Tsunade, as she has had a change of heart because of ( you guessed it ) Naruto ( praise the Sage of the Six Paths for Naruto). Jiriaya and Naruto arrive on the battle scene and even with their efforts combined with Tsunade's they barely manage to fend off Orochimaru; with another pull-out-the-ass victory, they return to Konoha to have Tsunade become the Hokage and then Jiraiya and Naruto leave to venture around and train, which leads to the Shippuden arc. This is where the story actually picks up again for me, as before this, it just feels like needless filler. The slow pace and introduction of so many new characters just really bogs down the advancement of the plot and, truthfully, it could have probably been done in a much better way. It's like Kishimoto has all these cool ideas and characters to introduce, but decided to just throw all of that fucking shit into your face at one time. Shippuden is, thankfully, not like that; to me, this is where the story actually picks up again and is just one big fun ride after another, until the end that is, with the fourth great ninja war. That ending arc is just one big massive shounen power-up and de-power-up fest that drags way to long. The only way I could possibly compare it to anything is by using Gurren Laggan as an example, where I just found the power-ups in that show to be show over the top goofy that I just could not help, but to be entertained by it. Anyway, I think I have been harping on this for way too long, negatively at least. The main thing is Naruto is good, with really great characters, awesome fight scenes (watch Orochimaru vs. the Third Hokage and Naruto vs. Pain, just to get started) and there many feels to be had with the series. I know it seems like I just down right hate the show, but I don't, there was just a lot about it that I felt like needed calling out. Before I keep repeating myself, it's Naruto, I enjoyed it all the way through and that is basically it. BELIEVE IT!
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
What did you think of this review?
Nice
 0
Love it
 0
Funny
 0
Confusing
 0
Well-written
 0
Creative
 0Show all
![]()
Feb 23, 2015
I feel mixed about Tiger & Bunny; on one hand, I want to like it, and on the other, I just want to write it off as another under achieving japanese superhero manga that cannot come close to their brethren that reside in the marvel and dc universe. All things considered, I have not watched the anime, so I have not seen the animation of the heroes in action, and thus, my overall opinion of the series may change in the future.
The manga opens on the city of Stern Bild, a metropolitan that is paradise for the media, corporations, and those looking for fame, where
...
the superheroes, known as Nexts, live among regular citizens. Now, here is the cool premise of Tiger & Bunny, the heroes are filmed by a news crew, named HeroTv, that follows the heroes through city and broadcasts their actions to the general public; after each crisis is adverted (i.e. robberies, super villains) the heroes are awarded points based on how well they executed in saving the city (i.e. how many people were saved, keeping collateral damage to minimum, stopping the villain, and how well they made their entrance). Think of it in terms in sports, such as a player stats, and also who is also the better athlete like an mvp, excpet these athletes are gentically enhanced freaks.
The main character is named Kotetsu T. Kaburagi (aka Wild Tiger), an unlucky super who believes that experience is the only thing a hero needs in order to fight crime. Unfortunately, the public do not have the same ideology as Kotetsu, and his unpopularity has grown over the years, plus, his destructive nature has earned him the nickname The Crusher Of Justice. So basically, Kotetsu is a lot like American superheroes, except does not receive any admiration or respect. The bad luck only increases for Kotetsu as his employer is sold to a bigger company. This merger forces him to work with a new hero named Barnaby Brooks Jr. (aka Bunny). Basically the new kid on the block, Bunny is by the books new hero that solely does the rescuing for increasing his popularity with Stern Bild. There is more to the merger as well, as Kotetsu is a scapegoat for both Barnaby and the company they work for should anything bad happen while they are out on patrol. Of course the two naturally do not get along when they first meet, but after their first mission the story ends on showing who gave Kotetsu motivation to be a hero and foreshadows more ominous things to come with Barnaby.
Art
The characters are nothing new spectacular to view as they mostly have very ordinary street clothes with some fashion sense thrown into the mix ( it's not like some dude, in a fucking wife beater and saggy pants, or something), but the costumes themselves are very vibrant and colorful. Since this is manga, like ninety-eight percent of the heroes are fucking mech suit wearing supers, and yet there are like with actual costumes, from a flamboyant pyro, to an oriental dressed lighting user loli, and even a sexy cryo babe that could make even Mr. Freeze get over his dead wife ( cause it's time to move on, Freeze); Tiger and Bunny deliver on unique characters.
Background Art
Stern Bild feels like an enormous city,and that is a good thing to give off such a huge scale from me just reading the book. I mean, fights take place in the air, and through the city streets and eventually take place on a giant statue that makes the heroes look like ants! It's nuts! The best way for me to describe Stern Bild is by saying to imagine Times Square, or NYC for that matter, and like sci-fi the hell out of it, but not to the point of Ghost in the Shell neo Tokyo sci-fi, if that makes sense. It just needs to feel more realistic, like real metalish? I don't know if I'm making this easier to vision, lol, Stern Bild is cool, there I said it.
Overall
I have read Tiger & Bunny two times. The first time I didn't really give it much credit and just wrote it off, but the second time I gave it more of a chance and I'm still on the fence about it. I want to like this series, I really do, I jut need to read more of it to have a final opinion of it, but if you like superheroes then it is worth a look, it's not terrible by any means, I just found it mediocre at best. Also if you haven't heard of it (no sarcasm, and I know how that sounds) check out One-Punch Man, over- powered doesn't even begin to describe the main character, plus the story is really good, and if you want a more darker hero tale check out Guvyer: The Bio-boosted Armor (think Todd McFarlane's, Spawn)
-Later ( Laugh at how dark it can get in this place, as if your eating the soul of a Demon for strength) \\(T)//
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
![]()
Feb 19, 2015
Sup,
Before I go into detail on The Ancient Magus Bride (Mahoutsukai no Yome), there are things a few things you need must consider. First, it is a slow paced story, that does a good job of creating characters that have very solid personalities and introduces a nostalgic world that doesn't feel boring, but keeps an air of mystery to itself. Though the demographic for this manga is classified as shounen, there is little to actual battles that take place in the ( at the time of this writing) fifteen chapters. The story unfolds at at a slave auction where we meet Hatori Chise, a
...
young fifteen year old, who has been in and out of slave trading every since her mother died; add to the fact that she has been treated like an outcast and you have the perfect emo for our story. In all seriousness, she is a slay vega, think queen bee of the magic world, meaning her body has adapted to consume large amounts of magic and also be able to expel said magic. The effect does have a down side though, as it does damage to her internal system and shortens her life span. Of course, she has no idea of this until she meets her buyer/savior that comes in the form of a goat skull sorcerer by the name of Ellias Ainsworth. Now Ellias Ainsworth is very a odd character for several reasons, one is that he purchases Hatori Chise on a whim, and promises to find a way to be able to save her life; the other is that he claims that she will one day be his bride, but as to why remains a mystery as his past tell us that he has very little to with humans in general, so his purchase of Chise just seems like it is on a whim. Besides those aspects of him, there is very little that is told about him, and he mainly comes off as the badass, mysterious mentor, (compare him to kind of like Shinigami from Soul Eater, or at least I do.) Through Ellias, Chise is introduced to the magic world and the dangers that come with it. These span from the arcs that include her almost being kidnapped and taken to the fairy world, meeting a eccentric dragon tamer and actual dragons, purging the past sins of a murderer form the land, and coming across a sadistic wizard that loves to toy with dead and living only to try to fulfill his goals of self-worth; plus the wizard comes in the form of a young boy/girl (i don't fucking know, it's one of the those characters) which makes him all the more threatening. Of course, Chise is far from helpless as she as Ellias to help her, along with a cool reaper dog, and the support of a tech wizard named Angelica ( she basically makes gear to help harness magic power), plus learning how to use her powers as well. Since it's only fifteen chapters in, it's at the point to where you can pick it up and check it out to see if it's for you.
That's it for me
-Later!
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
|
