The neglect of secondary characters in Part II is hurting the manga.

D

Dark World Lightning

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A huge selling point of Naruto back when it was still just a mid-tier manga was the huge cast of secondary characters. Without the chuunin exam, it would've never become the breakout hit that it did.

Fans of characters like Neji, Hinata, Rock Lee, Gaara, heck, even Chouji and Tenten MADE the series what it is. Naruto would've just been, at best, a solid manga only really known to people who are into the series, like Jojo's Bizarre Adventure or D-Gray Man.

One Piece and early Dragonball were set up in a way such that you knew ahead of time that appearances by the secondary cast were supposed to be temporary. But not Naruto. Kishimoto introduces characters that are as interesting or even more interesting than the main crew and then shuffles them to the side.

I firmly believe that the neglect of secondary characters is what is causing Part 2 to flounder so much, which is him being extremely ungrateful and exploitative of his fans of Part I. I often feel like Kishimoto intentionally introduced the amazing secondary cast in the Exam/Invasion arc so he could get a big enough audience to tell the story he really wanted to tell: that of the Sharingan and Uchiha.

I bash Sasuke's character a lot, but my most serious complaint about his character is that he has almost no connections to any of the Sand Siblings/Rookie 9/Jonin in Konoha. With the emphasis on Sasuke in Part II I find it no coincidence that the only character that has gotten any development from the aforementioned group is Shikamaru.

I'm hoping that when the focus shifts off of Sasuke we get a little spotlight on the secondary cast; but Kishimoto has wasted his chances in Part 2 even when the arc wasn't about him. So I doubt it.
 
Dark World Lightning said:
A huge selling point of Naruto back when it was still just a mid-tier manga was the huge cast of secondary characters. Without the chuunin exam, it would've never become the breakout hit that it did.

Fans of characters like Neji, Hinata, Rock Lee, Gaara, heck, even Chouji and Tenten MADE the series what it is. Naruto would've just been, at best, a solid manga only really known to people who are into the series, like Jojo's Bizarre Adventure or D-Gray Man.
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You are correct, sir. The huge cast is also what makes a story longer, because you can go into so many details. If it weren't for the cast, not only would it be less popular, it'd also be much shorter.


Dark World Lightning said:
One Piece and early Dragonball were set up in a way such that you knew ahead of time that appearances by the secondary cast were supposed to be temporary. But not Naruto. Kishimoto introduces characters that are as interesting or even more interesting than the main crew and then shuffles them to the side.
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Yes, but here's the deal with Dragonball; the temporary secondary cast was acceptable because he was consistent with that throughout the whole series. The reason we Naruto fans don't accept a lack of the characters we saw in part one, is because it is a radical shift from what we're used to. We're used to Naruto being part of a larger conglomeration that works together. Now, it's become The Adventures of Naruto and Sasuke. It's a complete 180. Now, if it had been that way throughout the whole manga, at least it would've been consistent. Not that I'm saying it would've been good (because it would've sucked), but it would've caused less complaints, because we would've been used to it from DBZ.

Dark World Lightning said:
I firmly believe that the neglect of secondary characters is what is causing Part 2 to flounder so much, which is him being extremely ungrateful and exploitative of his fans of Part I. I often feel like Kishimoto intentionally introduced the amazing secondary cast in the Exam/Invasion arc so he could get a big enough audience to tell the story he really wanted to tell: that of the Sharingan and Uchiha.
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I agree. The Uchiha are obviously the most important plot element, a fact that makes me very sad for how little character development Uchihas have gotten. And before you Uchihatards see my rank and insignia as an Anti-Sasuke-ian, realize that even YOU must admit that very little development is given to the Uchihas.

Dark World Lightning said:
I bash Sasuke's character a lot, but my most serious complaint about his character is that he has almost no connections to any of the Sand Siblings/Rookie 9/Jonin in Konoha. With the emphasis on Sasuke in Part II I find it no coincidence that the only character that has gotten any development from the aforementioned group is Shikamaru.
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I bash Sasuke because of the fact that he's a horrible person. His emo attitude, his stupid circular logic and wanting to kill the only family he's got, that doesn't bother me. I could care less. What bothers me is the fact that he'd gladly kill anyone he knows to get more power, when I'd take a bullet for someone I care about. Even taking his personality and the fact that he betrayed everyone he once knew out of the picture, he has a severe lack of depth. His backstory is deep and rich; his character itself, is a huge anime cliche.

Dark World Lightning said:
I'm hoping that when the focus shifts off of Sasuke we get a little spotlight on the secondary cast; but Kishimoto has wasted his chances in Part 2 even when the arc wasn't about him. So I doubt it.
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There are people in hell hoping for ice water. There are people hoping Chinese Democracy will come out in Axl Rose's lifetime. There are people hoping LotU never comes back. Do you see a recurring pattern in these hopes?
 
Yes, so true!!!! All the other characters have their own problems that need to be solved. I want answers!
 
Win...win....you win!!! where the hell is anko!!
Where is she Kishi?????????

The other characters do need more attention!!! However to Kishi the sauce is bringing home the bacon!!!

anyway here is some bacon in form of a rep+
 
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I always loved how Kishimoto cited Anko and Tenten, out of anyone, as the female characters he liked the most or was most interested in. Seems now that it was just his way of saying, "I don't give a shit."

Anyway, I fully agree with the thread. It baffles me whenever Naruto apologists try to explain this fact away.
It's a complete and utter waste of good characters, and a real shame.

I have hopes for the same, albeit microscopic ones. But, after his lackluster past efforts, and such literary disasters as 310, 340 and 376, I don't have much faith.
 
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Yeah i agree. I have been syaing it for ages. But they only way for kishi to effectively use his secondary characters he needs to have an arc that can incorporate all of them just like the chunin exam arc.
 
Canute87 said:
Yeah i agree. I have been syaing it for ages. But they only way for kishi to effectively use his secondary characters he needs to have an arc that can incorporate all of them just like the chunin exam arc.
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Then! Its time for a jounin Exam arc !!!.............did u see what I did there!!

However! aren't jounin just promoted by the hokage or the higher arcs!!
 
It's a waste really, and a shame too. The rookie 9 had such potential both in terms of storylines and character growth...oh the fight scenes that will never come to bare, truly a waste. But that's what you get for concentrating on a select few characters, oh well back to reading One Piece.
 
That's what's so precisely frustrating.

Let's tell a quick little story about a man named Pein.

Pein, at least as far as advancing stories go, was the perfect character for this kind of series. His signature jutsu is that he is six bodies with flaw teamwork and vastly exaggerated abilities between the bodies.

Furthermore, he is in charge of the most technologically advanced city in the manga and his city is full of angst-filled fanatics hardened by war and misery.

See where I'm going with this?

If I was writing this story, the climax of the manga would be everyone in Konoha taking on the entire city of Amekugure. Rock Lee would take on the body with perfect taijutsu, Shino would bust out some crazy insect summons against the summoning Pein, so on.

This would, by the way, be after having everyone's power and skills tested to the near-limit with the Konoha Invasion arc. And of course they got plenty of practice beating up on Akatsuki, even if the organization had to recruit new members.

But... with the direction the manga is going, that's not going to happen.

After what happened with Team Gai and Team Shikamaru/Kakashi I doubt that the mangaka is very interested in his secondary cast anymore. Just two more chapters per each arc to show that everyone else on the team but the stars weren't totally worthless. Sigh.
 
Dark World Lightning said:
That's what's so precisely frustrating.

Let's tell a quick little story about a man named Pein.

Pein, at least as far as advancing stories go, was the perfect character for this kind of series. His signature jutsu is that he is six bodies with flaw teamwork and vastly exaggerated abilities between the bodies.

Furthermore, he is in charge of the most technologically advanced city in the manga and his city is full of angst-filled fanatics hardened by war and misery.

See where I'm going with this?

If I was writing this story, the climax of the manga would be everyone in Konoha taking on the entire city of Amekugure. Rock Lee would take on the body with perfect taijutsu, Shino would bust out some crazy insect summons against the summoning Pein, so on.

This would, by the way, be after having everyone's power and skills tested to the near-limit with the Konoha Invasion arc. And of course they got plenty of practice beating up on Akatsuki, even if the organization had to recruit new members.

But... with the direction the manga is going, that's not going to happen.

After what happened with Team Gai and Team Shikamaru/Kakashi I doubt that the mangaka is very interested in his secondary cast anymore. Just two more chapters per each arc to show that everyone else on the team but the stars weren't totally worthless. Sigh.
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You forgot about Danzou. We need Danzou in the equation there somewhere...
 
I'm not losing sleep over this. :amuse

OMG!! Lee can't talk about his inner angst with his balls!! Kishi sucks!!

I can say alot of things, but ultimately, only one thing needs to be said. The. Manga. Ain't. Over. Yet.
 
Gritz said:
I'm not losing sleep over this. :amuse

OMG!! Lee can't talk about his inner angst with his balls!! Kishi sucks!!

I can say alot of things, but ultimately, only one thing needs to be said. The. Manga. Ain't. Over. Yet.
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Guh...

The manga sure is winding down though. Nice thread btw DWL. I agree with you on this.
 
I'm not losing sleep over this.
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Then you aren't one of the fans that Kishimoto owes a great big debt to into making his manga what it is.

Seriously, Part I Naruto was advertised as Naruto and the next generation of ninja learn, grow, and fight battles!

OMG!! Lee can't talk about his inner angst with his balls!! Kishi sucks!!
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Talk about a failure of imagination.

I know you don't give a care but Lee's fans do. For example, just how good is Rock Lee now? Has he hit a wall with his taijutsu-only advancement? Rock Lee is a chuunin while his rival, Neji, is a jonin. How did this happen? Does Rock Lee feel that he is losing ground? There were tiny hints of Tenten changing her views on her loser teammate; how does she feel now?

This sort of thing is endemic to all of the characters.

I can say alot of things, but ultimately, only one thing needs to be said. The. Manga. Ain't. Over. Yet.
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Okay, why don't you give me a guess when you think that this manga is going to end?

Kishimoto has already said he's looking towards doing his next project. He's also outright admitted that he purposely wanted to neglect some secondary characters. So why don't you tell me what you think is going to happen.

Or you can just keep throwing out thought-terminating cliches. I will always be around to make fun of you when you threadshit.
 
Gritz said:
I'm not losing sleep over this. :amuse

OMG!! Lee can't talk about his inner angst with his balls!! Kishi sucks!!

I can say alot of things, but ultimately, only one thing needs to be said. The. Manga. Ain't. Over. Yet.
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You're absolutely right, Sasuke has enough angst and emolameness to cover for everyone in the manga. No need to add to it.

So many potentially interesting plotlines will never be explored now; like the whole Hyuuga curse seal deal will remain unresolved, or even the world outside of that piddy little village Konoha (where the fuck is my Kumogakure?!) will likely remain a mystery, unless some other writer takes up Naruto after Kishi finishes.
 
Kishimoto is looking forward to his next project? You mean like in years, right? He's been talking about stuff like spending a year on Kakashi, Sakura, and Sasuke before moving back to the main hero.... It would be a shame if he is going to totally neglect many of the 'secondary' characters, who were far more entertaining than this whole Sasuke arc. Ok, Sasuke gets his revenge. We all knew it was coming. What I want to know is how does Naruto change the whole Hyuuga clan? What is happening recently with the whole Hinata and Hanabi heiress thing? How would Neji be involved in that whole mess? If you're talking about the Branch and Main structure, wouldn't Neji be one of the prime examples for at least a meritocracy?

I think that Kishimoto has used around 1% of the potential in the Narutoverse... Why start winding down so soon?
 
ZabuzaDemonGod said:
Making it out like Naruto is the secondary character is whats messing up the manga.
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Pretty agree, also hard to tell , but the way Kishimoto uses to develop characters, as we know, takes too many chapters, if he used the same amount of characters in part1 to develop in part2 ,that is more complex, then the manga could get a confuse storyline, also right now many readers complain that the manga isn't focusing Naruto too much, and this is all because of 1 character who is Sasuke, then imagine if were all of them of part 1 :wink
 
What I really enjoyed about part I was that with each episode you got to know more about each character, their personality, background, way of fighting, till you actually liked them all.
What i would've liked to see in part II would be the developement of each, now they're all just filler characters.
I guess kishi had way too many characters to handle
 
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What I really enjoyed about part I was that with each episode you got to know more about each character, their personality, background, way of fighting, till you actually liked them all.
What i would've liked to see in part II would be the developement of each, now they're all just filler characters.
I guess kishi had way too many characters to handle
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Then Kishimoto should stop introducing new characters and work with the ones he has.

Seriously, he literally threw in Team Hebi and said that he didn't want to give him any fights. If he doesn't care about three characters he created in the same arc then what hope do mere secondary characters have?

At least Dosu, Zaku, and Kin got fights.
 
Meh.

I always thought it was rather boring when completely unimportant characters got too much screentime.

It was kewl for Neji and Lee... Gaara.. But Ino? TenTen? I really, honestly, don't give a shit if they ever reappear in manga or not.
 
I agree with the OP.

I'm doing a team 7 overdose right now.

And why introduce team Hebi for not doing anything with them ? :pek

Part 2 is such a disapointment.

If part one was only about Naruto and Sasuke, I wouldn't have even cared about watching it. Now I continue to read the manga because part of me still has a little glimmer of hope concerning the support cast.
 
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SJ: Oda-sensei says he knows how One Piece will end ? do you know how Naruto will end?

MK: Yes, I have the last episode clearly drawn in my mind. I?ve already decided on the layout, text and scenes. Not just the story ideas, but the visual ideas are solid.

All I have to do is just head toward the ending I have, but there are still so many things that need to be resolved before reaching that point. Maybe I have thrown in too many ideas, so I need to wrap them up neatly.
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Yeh I agree here... I really enjoyed the whole chunin exam/meeting the ninjas from the other villages part of part one... and it seems like there isn't so much of this in part 2.
I guess kishi does have to settle all of this uchiha stuff (i mean its been going on for the whole series, it can't just not happen) but it is slightly long-winded, lame etc....
I really enjoyed the whole Shikamaru part, that was awesome!
peace!
 
I agree with you however I think the secondary guys all will have their time. it's very weird how he reintroduced characters and show their physically growth and then they don't do anything. it's pretty odd.
 
I agree completely that Kishi made all these likeable characters and then just tossed them aside like nothing. It wouldn't be so bad if - as you said - they're "Ginyu Force" characters who pop in, act goofy, fight a while and then off they go, but he made them all likeable in their own way.

Kishi has more characters than he knows what to do with and - sadly - most of the newer ones are sadly lacking as well. I'm thinking here of Hidan and Kakuzu as well as Jiraiya who was reduced to a few 'token' appearances...then death.
 
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