Naruto is winding downFollow

re: Naruto

I'm more than willing to bet that sharks will be jumped.

lol

And I stopped reading the manga right after Naruto Spoilerdefeated Nagato.

I got to the point where the Spoiler8 tails was introduced. And I realized that I hated way more characters than I liked, and was consistently disappointed by the amount of plot per chapter and the ratio of events to reaction shots or panels that were just pieces of scenery or close-ups on leaves or flashbacks.

As someone who knows only a little about Naruto but has no plans to read/watch it, could someone explain to me what ever happened to Sasuke? I know he turned evil or something but I would have assumed that that would have changed. I guess he's still a bad guy? Is he a major presence throughout the series or not really?

Sasuke is an important element in the Naruto storyline throughout, and it pretty much Naruto's raison d'etre. He isn't the ultimate big bad from the perspective of the characters, but he is the narrative embodiment of everything Naruto must conquer, and so it is likely he will be the final confrontation.

Most everything that has happened in Naruto since the beginning of the 4th great ninja way has been another high point for the series. Also, I realize Naruto became the butt of a lot of shounen mockery, but honestly it does have the most literary value of any of the big 5-6 shounens.

Edited, Jul 13th 2011 3:01pm by Allegory

Abridged history up until I stopped reading (two to three years ago):
Spoiler-Sasuke is an emo kid who hates everyone.
-Sasuke ends up as a rival for Naruto.
-Naruto's powers, which only occasionally appear, are a point of jealousy.
-Sasuke comes to care about his teammates, begrudginly, but is still jealous of Naruto.
-He gets bitten by Orochimaru and is branded with a cursed seal.
-His jealousy of Naruto hits its boiling point after Naruto learns an extremely powerful technique that he can use at will. Plus, his brother (who killed their clan) comes to take Naruto, and pwns Sasuke's ***.
-Sasuke leaves to join Orochimaru.
-He and Naruto have a battle that culminates in Nartuo left unconscious after Sasuke fully unlocks his seal, but Sasuke chooses not to kill him (as he had pledged to, to unlock his ultimate power).
-Sasuke isn't seen for 190 episodes (FILLER!) or... 50 chapters?
-Sasuke meets his old teammates and almost kills Naruto.
-Sasuke kills Orochimaru.
-Sasuke forms a group.
-Sasuke kills Itachi (his brother) and renames the group. (I say "kills" but Itachi was dying from a disease, had just given some of his power to Naruto, was nearly blind, and was TRYING to lose... and Sasuke only just managed to win).
-Sasuke joins Akatsuki, the main villains, who want to rule the world or something and are led by the guy who probably set the nine-tailed fox on Konoha.
-Last I heard, he was trying to destroy all the ninja villages or something.

Honestly, the fact that Sasuke was consistently making retarded, illogical choices that make no sense at all in the context of anything was one of the main reasons I lost interest in the series.

Well, that and the fact that you got about 3 panels of plot a chapter, and the anime (if you lucked into it not being filler) was about 90% flashbacks.

I actually really enjoyed the SpoilerPein battle.

The SpoilerItachi-Sasuke battle was one of the biggest let-downs ever.

But yeah, the Chuunin arc was great. It helps that it was basically the last time that team-based combat was a part of the series... After that, it was almost completely 1v1, even when teams were fighting. They tried to pretend like they'd include more of it at the start of the Shippuuden chapters, with Naruto and Sakura working together, but nope. That's about it for the rest of the series.

You do get SOME teamwork with Sasuke's group. But I hate the lot of them, so I didn't really enjoy it.

Seriously? That's stupid. >.<
Meaning the parts in the manga that happened after I stopped reading.

Have they ever given ANY reason Spoilerfor why Sasuke turned against everyone? I mean, it used to be "I WILL KILL ITACHI!!!!!!" Then it was "THIS IS ALL KONOHA'S FAULT!!!!!"

I'm assuming he's found out that Madara set the kyuubi on Konoha, right? (Which I am assuming is true).

I'm glad I stopped reading. Sasuke as a villain was never even remotely compelling to me, story-wise. Just seemed stupid.

Also, what happens between Hinata and Naruto after the Pein battle? She confesses to him, then almost dies, and he kicks Pein's *** afterwards. Never saw what happened after they made whatshisname hokage.

Oh, and is whatshisname Madara? Because I always suspected he was.

Sorry for all the questions, lol.

Oh good lord...

Did they ever reveal what Spoilerpower Itachi gave to Naruto?

There was this ridiculous scene with a raven forcing itself down Naruto's throat...

.....

I'm so happy I stopped reading this.

On that note, is the Bleach manga worth reading after the soul society invasion arc (most recent anime non-filler arc) is over? It strikes me that there's good reason to suspect that this would be the climax of the series. I've never actually read the manga--just trying to decide if it's worth starting where the anime left off.

I'd ask in the actual bleach thread, but spoilers and stuff.

:/

Have they at least come up with an interesting solution to Ichigo Spoilerlosing all his Shinigami powers?

...no.