Little House in the Hidden Leaf Village
Wednesday, July 6th, 2011 07:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
retsukoAfter swearing to myself that I wouldn't get into Naruto (because the manga is up to Vol. 51; it's hugely popular, and I'm a bit of a snob about that sometimes; because there are several feature films that have nothing to do with the main plot and everything to do with merchandising and making money, etc. etc.) I picked up the manga and read a few chapters and I was hooked. It's an odd experience, made slightly more surreal because I'm simultaneously watching the anime and switching between them when the plot in one gets dull or I run out of volumes from the library. (With the anime, I'm also at the mercy of what's on Netflix instant view, so I'll probably have to stop before Shippuden starts.) A very entertaining experience, of course, but an odd one nonetheless. I keep thinking to myself "I wish this were paced a whole hell of a lot differently!" Also: "Why don't the female characters get more time in the spotlight?!" Both these questions are easily and annoyingly answered: Because it's a shounen manga, and I am not the target audience. Still: when you're juggling *four* important battles occurring in as many separate locations, and decide to parcel each one out, piece by piece in each episode and chapter, it's a bit frustrating. And when you have the main female character decide she's going to start kicking ass and taking names instead of being a hanger-on, it would be nice if you were to continue to have that character development stay developed, instead of evaporating instantly after the need for it has vanished.
Still, for all my complaining, I really do like this manga/anime. It's exciting, and the random ninja powers are very compelling to try and guess before they come into combat. For the most part, the animation company didn't cheap out on the fight sequences (yay!) and the voice-acting is great.
I have to say that I really, really would just love to read a story where Kakashi-sensei and Guy-sensei do nothing but banter and try to make the other one look bad. That would be the best installment, ever. Aside from them, there's a lot of comedy in this story, which is good, because there's a hell of a lot of dark material, too. I've just been introduced to Itachi Uchiha (and can I just say, great naming job, Kishimoto--"weasel"/itachi is almost too nice for him!) and his power... well, Jebus. That's pretty freaky. The villains in this so far have been very good. Not just paper tigers for our heroes to fight, but real nasty characters with reasonably complicated plans. (Kabuto, as an undercover agent, is the trickiest one to gauge, although I realize he's not the Biggest Boss.) Orochimaru, in particular, is a very good villain, although I could have done without the Depraved Bisexual/Transgender vibes I was getting out of his storyline.
I also have enjoyed the political machinations between the various nations... I could really see a story just about that, and that only, with ninja being only tangentially related.
Kishimoto's artwork is very dynamic and he has an excellent sense of composition. I also love the sense that the story is unfolding organically, not forced or overdone too soon for the sake of "so and so has to look cool!" I also like realizing that each character has an important backstory, and that Kishimoto intends to tell them all. My only real point of confusion with the story and its setting is the level of technology. What sort of alternate universe is this where there is electricity, VCRs, voice-activated headsets, but no cars? And in what sort of society do parents let their 12-year-old children take part in a ninja achievement test that could result in death? Wait, I don't want to know the answer to the second question.
Still, for all of my questions and grumblings about pacing, this is satisfying and fun. Despite knowing the resolution for one of the major plot points (thanks a lot, interblag), I'll stick around for the rest, as long as there aren't too many filler episodes along the way.
On the complete opposite side of the spectrum, I read the delightful The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie, which made me run to the library to borrow whatever volumes of the Little House books that they had on hand (I ended up with By the Shores of Silver Lake and The Long Winter.) Wendy McClure's book is an excellent introduction to Laura/Little House fandom, and although I loved the books as a child, I cannot see churning butter or making haysticks by hand as McClure ended up doing in an effort to connect further with the material. She chronicles all aspects of Laura-dom, from the fans who are obsessed with the TV show to the slightly creepy church groups who try to live "off the grid" because they think the End Times are upon us. She also traces the geographical locations of the books and pieces together the real chronology of the events in the books, which was slightly altered by Laura and her daughter, Rose, in order to make for a more interesting story. I don't want to give away all the wonderful and juicy details in this book, but if you ever had even a tangential relationship to this series, this book is something you should take a look at.
As I said, reading it made me think back to the ways I loved the books as a child. I could recite the events of some of the books almost perfectly ("And then, Ma slapped the cow to make it go into the barn, but it turned around and looked at her and she saw that it was a BEAR!") and I was privately ecstatic every time Laura was victorious over her rival, Nellie Olsen (whose character turns out to be a composite of three women/girls Laura knew and disliked. Ouch!) I also sympathized with Laura when she didn't want to sit still and sew, like her good older sister, Mary. Actually, what these books really gave me was a sense of perspective. I might get mad with my parents for not letting me buy jelly shoes or take horseback riding lessons, but they didn't expect me to be "seen and not heard" or be entirely quiet on Sundays. I also realized that I had it pretty good; my father was not in danger of freezing to death on the way home from work, and our food supply didn't depend on what he could shoot or harvest. It was sobering, and I was a serious little kid.
On the serious side, though, I was always pretty freaked out at the racist language/action in the books. (McClure, in her book, spends quite a lot of time trying to speak to this, too.) It was mortifying to read about Pa, who was otherwise a smart and dignified character, dressing up in blackface to entertain the townsfolk. It was also pretty sad to read Ma's talk about those "dirty Indian half-breeds." I remember skipping these parts when I was reading the books myself, thinking that I was smarter than that and didn't need to waste my time on such stupidity. (My mother, when she read these aloud to me, must have said something as well, but I cannot remember what it was.) I especially remember being disgusted with Laura as a character and a person when she said she didn't want women to have the right to vote. Now that I read the books again, it's sort of disillusioning. Pa and Ma are not the saintly characters they were when I was kid--they're real people, and their flaws are floating around near the surface and I'm annoyed that I didn't see that before. Laura was raised in an extremely conservative way, and my disappointment in her anti-suffrage talk was probably my proto-feminism rearing its head.
But this reading experience is like lying on your back in the ocean, letting the waves pick you up and carry you. Wilder's words are simple, but the pictures she paints (with the help of the lovely Garth Williams illustrations) are complete and encompassing. I feel like I'm standing next to Laura as the story unfolds, or riding with her on her cousin's wild ponies. And it's impossible to dislike her as a character: she's curious, bright, and honest. Being a pioneer girl was tremendously taxing and, at times, terrifying. Reading these books, whenever I read them, is a transporting experience, and whatever problems they have, I do like to be transported.
Still, for all my complaining, I really do like this manga/anime. It's exciting, and the random ninja powers are very compelling to try and guess before they come into combat. For the most part, the animation company didn't cheap out on the fight sequences (yay!) and the voice-acting is great.
I have to say that I really, really would just love to read a story where Kakashi-sensei and Guy-sensei do nothing but banter and try to make the other one look bad. That would be the best installment, ever. Aside from them, there's a lot of comedy in this story, which is good, because there's a hell of a lot of dark material, too. I've just been introduced to Itachi Uchiha (and can I just say, great naming job, Kishimoto--"weasel"/itachi is almost too nice for him!) and his power... well, Jebus. That's pretty freaky. The villains in this so far have been very good. Not just paper tigers for our heroes to fight, but real nasty characters with reasonably complicated plans. (Kabuto, as an undercover agent, is the trickiest one to gauge, although I realize he's not the Biggest Boss.) Orochimaru, in particular, is a very good villain, although I could have done without the Depraved Bisexual/Transgender vibes I was getting out of his storyline.
I also have enjoyed the political machinations between the various nations... I could really see a story just about that, and that only, with ninja being only tangentially related.
Kishimoto's artwork is very dynamic and he has an excellent sense of composition. I also love the sense that the story is unfolding organically, not forced or overdone too soon for the sake of "so and so has to look cool!" I also like realizing that each character has an important backstory, and that Kishimoto intends to tell them all. My only real point of confusion with the story and its setting is the level of technology. What sort of alternate universe is this where there is electricity, VCRs, voice-activated headsets, but no cars? And in what sort of society do parents let their 12-year-old children take part in a ninja achievement test that could result in death? Wait, I don't want to know the answer to the second question.
Still, for all of my questions and grumblings about pacing, this is satisfying and fun. Despite knowing the resolution for one of the major plot points (thanks a lot, interblag), I'll stick around for the rest, as long as there aren't too many filler episodes along the way.
On the complete opposite side of the spectrum, I read the delightful The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie, which made me run to the library to borrow whatever volumes of the Little House books that they had on hand (I ended up with By the Shores of Silver Lake and The Long Winter.) Wendy McClure's book is an excellent introduction to Laura/Little House fandom, and although I loved the books as a child, I cannot see churning butter or making haysticks by hand as McClure ended up doing in an effort to connect further with the material. She chronicles all aspects of Laura-dom, from the fans who are obsessed with the TV show to the slightly creepy church groups who try to live "off the grid" because they think the End Times are upon us. She also traces the geographical locations of the books and pieces together the real chronology of the events in the books, which was slightly altered by Laura and her daughter, Rose, in order to make for a more interesting story. I don't want to give away all the wonderful and juicy details in this book, but if you ever had even a tangential relationship to this series, this book is something you should take a look at.
As I said, reading it made me think back to the ways I loved the books as a child. I could recite the events of some of the books almost perfectly ("And then, Ma slapped the cow to make it go into the barn, but it turned around and looked at her and she saw that it was a BEAR!") and I was privately ecstatic every time Laura was victorious over her rival, Nellie Olsen (whose character turns out to be a composite of three women/girls Laura knew and disliked. Ouch!) I also sympathized with Laura when she didn't want to sit still and sew, like her good older sister, Mary. Actually, what these books really gave me was a sense of perspective. I might get mad with my parents for not letting me buy jelly shoes or take horseback riding lessons, but they didn't expect me to be "seen and not heard" or be entirely quiet on Sundays. I also realized that I had it pretty good; my father was not in danger of freezing to death on the way home from work, and our food supply didn't depend on what he could shoot or harvest. It was sobering, and I was a serious little kid.
On the serious side, though, I was always pretty freaked out at the racist language/action in the books. (McClure, in her book, spends quite a lot of time trying to speak to this, too.) It was mortifying to read about Pa, who was otherwise a smart and dignified character, dressing up in blackface to entertain the townsfolk. It was also pretty sad to read Ma's talk about those "dirty Indian half-breeds." I remember skipping these parts when I was reading the books myself, thinking that I was smarter than that and didn't need to waste my time on such stupidity. (My mother, when she read these aloud to me, must have said something as well, but I cannot remember what it was.) I especially remember being disgusted with Laura as a character and a person when she said she didn't want women to have the right to vote. Now that I read the books again, it's sort of disillusioning. Pa and Ma are not the saintly characters they were when I was kid--they're real people, and their flaws are floating around near the surface and I'm annoyed that I didn't see that before. Laura was raised in an extremely conservative way, and my disappointment in her anti-suffrage talk was probably my proto-feminism rearing its head.
But this reading experience is like lying on your back in the ocean, letting the waves pick you up and carry you. Wilder's words are simple, but the pictures she paints (with the help of the lovely Garth Williams illustrations) are complete and encompassing. I feel like I'm standing next to Laura as the story unfolds, or riding with her on her cousin's wild ponies. And it's impossible to dislike her as a character: she's curious, bright, and honest. Being a pioneer girl was tremendously taxing and, at times, terrifying. Reading these books, whenever I read them, is a transporting experience, and whatever problems they have, I do like to be transported.
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no subject
Date: 2011-07-07 03:53 am (UTC)Re the racism/sexism, it is disheartening to think back on (especially since the TV show depicted everyone as oh so progressive!), however I think it serves as a good point of discussion for children. I know my paternal grandparents and others like to white wash history, saying that minorities weren't all that oppressed and other BS. Stuff like this is a living testament to the mentality of people then and serves as proof that stuff like the Civil Rights movement were drastically needed. Even if it is hard to come to terms with the fact that people who (I at least) idolized during childhood were less than perfect...if that makes sense.
I know a little about her real life having read two biographies through the years, yet there seems to be a lot more info now. I'm going to have to keep an eye out for the book, it sounds fascinating (hopefully my small town library will stock it...)
no subject
Date: 2011-07-07 03:06 pm (UTC)You're right that these are a good jumping off point for discussion. The way that the Native Americans are treated in the books is really just deplorable, and mostly ignored. (McClure's book has the sad note that most modern Little House fans aren't into that part of the history, apparently.) I wish that there had been more education on this point, whether at home or in school.
So I have to ask, one fan to another: what was your favorite book? And favorite part? I have to say that I wanted to read about any and all of their Christmas celebrations, or the part when Laura gets that teaching job and has to live with the angry woman and her husband... that was riveting.
(I would happily share the McClure book with you, but it's my Mom's copy!)
no subject
Date: 2011-07-08 02:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-08 04:11 am (UTC)Yeah, the clothing and hair parts were sort of crazy, too. I couldn't understand why Laura and Mary each had their designated colors for dresses and hair ribbons (my own Mom never did that with my sister and I.) I never did want to wear a sunbonnet, but in the book, McClure confesses that she owns *6* of them!
no subject
Date: 2011-07-08 09:53 pm (UTC)Yeah, I was having the hardest time remembering if she did on purpose or fell.
Yeah, the clothing and hair parts were sort of crazy, too. I couldn't understand why Laura and Mary each had their designated colors for dresses and hair ribbons
People do crazy things when it comes to dressing their kids. Like people who dress identical twins in the exact same clothes every day.
When I was younger I had a sunbonnet that I'd wear. I liked doing dress up stuff and I wanted to see what it was like. Now I don't have much care for them...except when I go for a walk in this scorching Texas heat and forget to bring a hat! Then I'll take anything that would shield me from the sun!
no subject
Date: 2011-07-07 04:42 pm (UTC)But I beta-read for a friend who writes Kakashi/Iruka, and she's very thoughtful about the gender roles in Naruto (and writes excellent gender-bending fic!), and about what the hell kind of society sends 12 year olds out on possibly fatal ninja skills exams.
So reading your comments made me smile, because so much of Naruto fandom is _not_ the mature thoughtful kind, but there are interesting issues to explore if you're up for that.
And yes, what is UP with the technology level?
no subject
Date: 2011-07-07 05:03 pm (UTC)To be honest, the general immaturity of the fandom was a turn-off for me as well. (Although it's not as wanky as, say, Avatar: The Last Airbender.) My rule of thumb is that if I read about the fandom more than a few times on Fandom Wank, it's something that I take great care approaching. It's too bad, because I think there's a lot of room in this particular story for general fannish projects. Kishimoto leaves a lot to the imagination. (Especially the answer to that pesky technology question!)
no subject
Date: 2011-07-07 07:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-07 08:20 pm (UTC)I have to say, that I am dying of curiosity, now, to find out what your reaction to the manga and the anime would be if you read or watched them. Would it be what you expected, or something completely different?
That would be me! And it is totally fine, DL. :)
Date: 2011-07-07 11:21 pm (UTC)--
I have to say that I really, really would just love to read a story where Kakashi-sensei and Guy-sensei do nothing but banter and try to make the other one look bad.
I would totally watch that.
--
Also: "Why don't the female characters get more time in the spotlight?!" Both these questions are easily and annoyingly answered: Because it's a shounen manga, and I am not the target audience.
Once you get into Shippuden (I suggest Hulu.com instead of Netflix) there is an early arc in which Sakura and another character take on a super badass bad guy, and all my hopes for "wow, maybe women don't suck in this universe!" were nurtured. Unfortunately, it went back to being a shounen manga shortly after that -- but there are moments of hope among the fail.
What really got me hooked on Naruto was the Wave Country arc, because when Kakashi went from "guy who reads some kind of questionable books and harasses pre-teens" to "totally, ridiculously badass" I went from mildly-interested-but-not-really to ooooooh.
I have no idea what's up with technology in Naruto -- there are bits where you can see a computer in the Academy teacher's room, and it's clear they have vehicles and ear-radios, but what, no telephones? It is so weird. I do not understand. I would love to theorize, if there were enough internal consistency, but I haven't really looked into it. There are a handful of fic in which people theorize that chakra and electricity don't really work well together and so on, but iirc, I haven't run across anything that would explain there being televisions but people also using messenger hawks. i call Author Says So.
And in what sort of society do parents let their 12-year-old children take part in a ninja achievement test that could result in death? Wait, I don't want to know the answer to the second question.
I find this question fascinating. I think that when people watch TV shows they are often watching for different reasons: one of the threads I see in Naruto is "let's destroy children for the Greater Good" and that's always good for moral dilemmas.
(In conclusion: Hi!)
Re: That would be me! And it is totally fine, DL. :)
Date: 2011-07-08 04:34 am (UTC)I am so glad that I wasn't the only one who was needlessly snobby about it. The wank is a huge deterrent to me, but I do know that fandom is often like a mall, and the wank tends to center on the stores I'm not necessarily interested in (Forever 21, Abercrombie, etc..) Eventually, I gravitate to the less wanky/more interesting venues (bookstores and the like). (That was a good metaphor in my head, but reading it now, I'm not sure I like it so much. Huh. Anyway.)
Regarding the specific ship, is there more background on it that I need to read up on before I venture in? Or is Volume 18 good enough for now? (More volumes depend on the availability at my local library, somewhat annoyingly enough.)
I would really, really like to see Sakura do something neat again, and this is a reason to track down Shippuden when I get to that point in the plot. :) I want to like her and read more background story on her, but so far that's not been too forthcoming. (The dynamic between her an Ino was both sweet and depressing... I wanted them to quit being stupid about Sasuke and realize their friendship was more important!)
What really got me hooked on Naruto was the Wave Country arc, because when Kakashi went from "guy who reads some kind of questionable books and harasses pre-teens" to "totally, ridiculously badass" I went from mildly-interested-but-not-really to ooooooh.
Yeah, I liked that part, too. The whole sharigan thing was very cool, and I want to see more, more, more in order to understand more completely how it works. :)
There are a handful of fic in which people theorize that chakra and electricity don't really work well together and so on, but iirc, I haven't run across anything that would explain there being televisions but people also using messenger hawks. i call Author Says So.
Ha ha, that's probably the most likely answer. Chakra doesn't seem to mess with anything convenient to the plot, so yeah. Can I just say how much I've enjoyed reading the interesting and careful explanations of how chakra and manipulating it works? (It always drives me crazy when Naruto doesn't understand it, even after clear and reasonable explanation by the other characters! I mean, he's not he brightest crayon in the box, but really??) I also love the infinite combinations it has with the various characters' backgrounds and specialities. I never really quite understood the excitement over ninjas and their secret powers until I read this manga.
And in what sort of society do parents let their 12-year-old children take part in a ninja achievement test that could result in death? Wait, I don't want to know the answer to the second question.
I find this question fascinating. I think that when people watch TV shows they are often watching for different reasons: one of the threads I see in Naruto is "let's destroy children for the Greater Good" and that's always good for moral dilemmas.
Oh, that's an excellent question. I was just thrown by the sequence before the Forest of Death portion of the exam where they had to sign release forms (I guess releasing the Village from legal action in the event of their deaths/severe injuries--this was not clear... and there are lawsuits in the ninja world, but no cars? What?) and the legal side of me was like, "wait, are they legally adults? Are their parents signing the forms? What sort of parent--wait, you're overthinking it." Anyway, yes, that theme does seem to be cropping up again and again, and I keep wanting to know more about the extent of the conflict so I can evaluate it better. (The previous war, too, seems a bit confusing on all sides, although again, maybe down the road in future volumes? I am getting ahead of myself?)
Anyway, yes. I enjoy it in all of its vexing detail! There will probably be further entries as the plot warrants! (Already, I'm brewing some sort of talk about Tsunade, depending on her fate in the story.)
Re: That would be me! And it is totally fine, DL. :)
Date: 2011-07-08 06:14 am (UTC)Short answer: no, hop on in. Someone described the whole Kakashi/Iruka 'ship as "not overly burdened by canon." I think that's pretty accurate. If you've seen Iruka protest the kids being nominated for the chuunin exam, you've gotten most of their on-screen interaction. And there's not much of a reason to theorize about the two of them, as one is a schoolteacher who spends the majority of his time with anklebiters and the other is a super badass high-powered jounin who spends most of his time reading questionable novels* and showing bad guys who's boss. It's apparently a very popular pairing in Japan, I'm told.
Sakura unfortunately suffers shounen-girl-character syndrome, in that she is awesome when the plot demands it and fades into the background the rest of the time so the boys can go be awesome.
There will be a lot more information on the Sharingan, though some of it occurs in a sort of DBZ power-up kind of way - but not for a good long while yet. I really love the explanations of chakra and so on -- and love that Sakura explains things almost as often as Kakashi does. Naruto is ... not my favorite character? I have limited patience for the not-smart-but-overwhelmingly-optimistic-and-powerful shounen trope, so he sometimes gets on my nerves.
I never really quite understood the excitement over ninjas and their secret powers until I read this manga.
I know! I remember friends watching it years ago and burbling at each other about that really cool move that Neji did or did you see when Ino ... or how about when Naruto ... (etc.) And I just sort of stared at them and chalked it up to mass insanity. But it's really awesome!
I've theorized that you become an adult in Naruto when you pass the chuunin exam -- because that's the point at which you'll have other people's lives in your hands. Perhaps you become responsible for your own life (i.e. able to sign release forms) when you pass the genin exam?
Parents in Naruto are kind of only there when it's convenient, partially because Naruto is an orphan and partially because any show/book about kids Doing Awesome Stuff needs to have the grown-ups safely out of the way.
--
* My first reaction when friends tried to describe Kakashi to me was "WHAT? There's a teacher who spends all of his time reading porn? He shouldn't be allowed around children, what on earth are they thinking?" Now of course I know better: Kakashi's reading habits are the least of these kids' worries. ;)
Re: That would be me! And it is totally fine, DL. :)
Date: 2011-07-08 07:42 pm (UTC)I'm always interested in the fans' reactions to this; the pairings people ship are so varied. Given that they have so little time together, I wonder what prompted the popularity of the pairing.
As for Kakashi's reading material, MakeOut Paradise never looked particularly scandalous (I mean, compared to other manga), but in the episodes I've seen, he doesn't get to read much of it? I also wonder: if your shadow/wood/water clone is reading a book, are you reading it, too? (I assume not, but wouldn't it be cool if you could?)
Sakura unfortunately suffers shounen-girl-character syndrome, in that she is awesome when the plot demands it and fades into the background the rest of the time so the boys can go be awesome.
Excuse me, I need to go and grumble about this for a while. Do we ever get a glimpse of her parents or family?
I have limited patience for the not-smart-but-overwhelmingly-optimistic-and-powerful shounen trope, so he sometimes gets on my nerves.
Indeed. He has gumption, and that's great, but I think gumption is best paired with characters who have the brains to back it up. I do love the "persevere in spite of everything!" trope, but it gets tiresome on occasion.
This manga does have a "cast of thousands!" thing going on, which is, for the most part, good, because we get to meet so many characters and find out things about other villages/ninja traditions, but every now and then, I think too many characters make the main plot overbalance a little. (I had the same issue with Lost, especially in the second half of the show.) That's why I'm impressed that villains are so good because they've kept the plot on its rails (so far, anyway.)
BTW, I really enjoyed your Avatar/Naruto crossover, particularly Sakura's consternation over airbending and Aang's lack of ninja moves. :)
Re: That would be me! And it is totally fine, DL. :)
Date: 2011-07-08 10:45 pm (UTC)As for Kakashi's reading material, MakeOut Paradise never looked particularly scandalous (I mean, compared to other manga), but in the episodes I've seen, he doesn't get to read much of it?
I think that's basically fandom convention at this point that the books are really graphic / smutty / whatever. It's never (that I know) confirmed to be anything explicit -- the only real information we have is the kids' reactions to it, and a comment later in the series by the author that after his first book didn't sell, he'd "add racier bits" to the subsequent ones. We've been shown a handful of the first sentences on various pages, and none of them are scandalous.
We don't see Kakashi get to read all that much, but we don't really see him have much down time at all: I'd imagine when he's not kid-wrangling or being sent out on missions (the only reasons we really see him at all), he might be reading. You do get to see Kakashi read one book (the newest one!) in the first couple of episodes of Shippuden. He stays up all night to finish re-reading it! I just about died of awwww.
And I would imagine, actually, that if your shadow clone read something, when it dispelled you'd remember what it had read. But then we get into the question of how shadow clones are different from 'real' clones, or water clones, or wood clones, and it all gets very complicated. Thankfully, just about nobody other than Naruto has enough chakra to have clone-reading be a useful / possible exercise.
I'm not sure we've ever seen anything at all about Sakura's family. The only real flashbacks to her childhood we get are either her and Ino or her as part of Naruto's class.
There very much is a cast of thousands thing going on, and it's actually really bad right now in the chapters that are currently coming out, because he's added in shinobi from Mist and Stone and Sand and all over the place, so there are even more names and faces and powers and so on to keep track of. But overall I find that I'm not overwhelmed by it, usually: the minor characters tend to fade back, unless they're being featured in a particular arc. (This may not be true of the filler episodes of the anime: I skipped most of them. I'm under the impression that they often invent mini-arcs that involve secondary characters and Naruto doing something cool.)
And thanks! I had a lot of fun writing that one. :)
Re: That would be me! And it is totally fine, DL. :)
Date: 2011-07-09 01:59 am (UTC)Wait, is Jiraiya the author?? That would be highly entertaining.
You do get to see Kakashi read one book (the newest one!) in the first couple of episodes of Shippuden. He stays up all night to finish re-reading it! I just about died of awwww.
Aw, Kakashi! A man after my own heart... except with awesome killing powers and a complicated past.
I'd love to learn whether or not clones function as exact copies of the person casting them, or just placeholders. It's unclear to me whether they have wills of their own and all the knowledge of the ninja doing the trick, or they're just set up to do one set of actions. I'm assuming the more powerful the ninja, the more "complete" the clone.
I've heard the filler episodes are pretty filler-tastic. :p It's nice to be catching up slowly so I know what to skip!
Re: That would be me! And it is totally fine, DL. :)
Date: 2011-07-09 09:10 am (UTC)Wait, is Jiraiya the author??
DING!
There is a certain amount of confusion (http://chuunin.livejournal.com/6103057.html#comments) about clones. (In this discussion, things get even more complicated because some people are talking about transformations and some about clones.
I've assumed (based on pretty much nothing) that clones vary depending on how much chakra is put into them -- so a weaker person's clones won't have much personality, but someone like Kakashi or Naruto (well, if Naruto ever learns restraint) could vary the amount of chakra put into one, creating clones that are more or less intelligent/strong/real/something.
I watched a couple of the filler episodes. Skip 'em. It's really nice to have had the choice to just skip ahead: I only started watching Naruto last October.
Re: That would be me! And it is totally fine, DL. :)
Date: 2011-07-09 06:34 pm (UTC)Oh yeah--good guess for me. :D
Interesting speculations about clones vs. transformations... something to chew over as the story goes on. Clearly, Kishimoto has been doing quite a lot of thinking about the process.
Re: That would be me! And it is totally fine, DL. :)
Date: 2011-07-09 07:16 pm (UTC)That sort of sums up my feelings re. shipping wars in Avatar (the Last Airbender, not the movie) fandom.
I don't think Sasuke improves much, wrt healthy relationships of any kind, but there are apparently lots of fans who disagree with me. (I don't much care for Sasuke, overall: I find his pre-teen angst boring and his motivations questionable and un-considered, in that he never seems to try to find out why things happened, just fixates on Itachi.)