gigguk
New Member
It seems to me that there is no longer any subtlety in this series, that cleverness has given way to obscene powers typically found in shows like Dragonball or Bleach. There doesn't seem to be any clever strategy or a reliance on a small but highly specialized skill set anymore. Everything in Naruto seems to be able landscape-altering power, creating new basic rules for the universe (one would think that the elemental tendencies one is born with would be a good place to start training), and ignoring old ones (Sasuke doesn't seem to need chakra anymore). Where did this series go wrong?
Early on the rules were laid down, that there are three schools of thought when it comes to being a ninja and each school could be mixed or specialized with an enormous potential. Ninjutsu, Naruto's equivalent to magic, Genjutsu, a kind of harnessing of an opponent's senses, and taijutsu, the basic ability to fight with or without weapons. We saw what the kids could do and it was astounding. But the important part was that we saw what the grown-ups could do. Kakashi was powerful because he was experienced, disciplined, and sharpened from years of combat. He wasn't strong because he could flatten a mountainside or level an acre of forest, he was strong because he was decisive and clever.
When other ninja appeared we still didn't see any villages sieged by one person or lightning harness without chakra. We saw speed and precision, power and grace, all carefully honed and specialized.
Now Sasuke is just running around with near god like abilities, thanks to his uber-hax jutsus (aka the sharingan), Naruto is just solving everything with the kyubi (What happened to those moments of cleverness that he used to have), and for a genjutsu type, sakura seems to prefer just smashing her way through (well at least she isn't useless anymore.)
What Naruto has become is quite disheartening for avid fans like myself who feel that the series has moved too far from what made it special to begin with. Gone are the moments where the turning point in a fight is a simple but clever trick, like the one Naruto used to force Zabuza to release Kakashi from a prison of water. These days people are immortal, can spread their consciousness through multiple bodies, or use 100 puppets at once.
It's all perfectly ridiculous, which is saying a lot for a shounen anime.
Early on the rules were laid down, that there are three schools of thought when it comes to being a ninja and each school could be mixed or specialized with an enormous potential. Ninjutsu, Naruto's equivalent to magic, Genjutsu, a kind of harnessing of an opponent's senses, and taijutsu, the basic ability to fight with or without weapons. We saw what the kids could do and it was astounding. But the important part was that we saw what the grown-ups could do. Kakashi was powerful because he was experienced, disciplined, and sharpened from years of combat. He wasn't strong because he could flatten a mountainside or level an acre of forest, he was strong because he was decisive and clever.
When other ninja appeared we still didn't see any villages sieged by one person or lightning harness without chakra. We saw speed and precision, power and grace, all carefully honed and specialized.
Now Sasuke is just running around with near god like abilities, thanks to his uber-hax jutsus (aka the sharingan), Naruto is just solving everything with the kyubi (What happened to those moments of cleverness that he used to have), and for a genjutsu type, sakura seems to prefer just smashing her way through (well at least she isn't useless anymore.)
What Naruto has become is quite disheartening for avid fans like myself who feel that the series has moved too far from what made it special to begin with. Gone are the moments where the turning point in a fight is a simple but clever trick, like the one Naruto used to force Zabuza to release Kakashi from a prison of water. These days people are immortal, can spread their consciousness through multiple bodies, or use 100 puppets at once.
It's all perfectly ridiculous, which is saying a lot for a shounen anime.
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