Kishimoto Masashi - Naruto, vol. 16-20

[oyceter]

I read vols. 16-18ish before the PotC 2 Debate of DOOM and IBARW, so my memory is rather fuzzy.

I still haven't been entirely sucked into the story, but I suspect that may be more because my reading keeps being interrupted by discussions of racism. I think this confuses my brain a lot.

First things first: I met Itachi! I had a very difficult time telling him apart from Sasuke before realizing that Itachi had deep grooves framing his nose. These are obviously marks of Moral Depravity.

Also, Sasuke continues to be emo as Itachi and co. hunt down Naruto. And yay to Gai and Kakashi fighting people back to protect Naruto!

But more importantly, female Hokage! Tsunade emerges! There is backstory! I probably should have realized that ninja die young, but for some reason, I thought they would at least last longer than their twenties. Naruto's age suddenly makes much more sense (aside from the demographics and etc. of the readers).

Tsunade rocks. I was a little scared she'd be pushed to the side and stereotypically feminine like Sakura and Ino and Hinata, particularly after I discovered that she's a horrible gambler and a healer to boot. But then, I found out that she kicks ass as well! Also, giant slug. Really, what more could you want? And! She has her own extremely tragic backstory, involving people that she wants to protect (or did?) as well! I feel like too often in shounen, the women become the tragic backstory figures or the people being protected, while the guys get tragic backstories often involving their mothers, sisters or lovers, and an increased desire to protect people.

So I was very glad to have Tsunade.

Also, I just love the idea of Tsunade, Orochimaru and Jiraiya maybe once having been a team like Team 7.

My current on-crack theory is that Tsunade is Naruto's aunt or somehow related, just because her little brother looks so much like Naruto.

I continue to completely not care about anything that happens with and/or about Orochimaru. He just keeps coming back!

And I continue to adore Jiraiya and his training of Naruto: "Go try this! I'm going to go look at girls."

Comments

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Tsunade, Orochimaru, and Jiraiya were definitely a team like Team 7; the three of them have a lot of parallels with Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto, individually and as a team. You will see more of this later.

Yeah, Tsunade's brother looks just like Naruto, and Yondaime does too. I suppose it would be spoilery even to say whether or not anything has been revealed about this, so I won't.

I actually thought that Tsunade being a compulsive (and bad) gambler was part of the not-stereotypically feminine thing, but more in line with rogueish characters like Han Solo or Spike, who are typically male. And definitely in manga, the character with the most tragic backstory wins. I loved her flicking Naruto with her finger-- an echo of Itachi poking Sasuke in the forehead with his finger, before he went all evil and black-cloaked.

[oyceter]

Ahhhh, I didn't think about that wrt the gambling! Mostly I was irritated that she was so bad at it because the women in Naruto don't seem to get to be competent at too much yet (with the exception of Temari).

I love her relationship with Naruto and how he reminds her of her brother!

[rilina.livejournal.com]

Don't forget that Itachi went evil, black-cloaked, and purple nail-polished. The nail polish never fails to amuse me.

I also felt that Tsunade's gambling was a not-stereotypically feminine thing.

[oyceter]

Itachi has purple nail polish?! WTF?!

I thought her gambling was not-stereotypically-feminine, but that her losing was, but then, that may just be me!

[rilina.livejournal.com]

Purple nail polish is part of the Akatsuki dress code. It does with the black and red cloaks. Hee.

I mostly found Tsunade's losing amusing--as with Jiraiya's writing of pr0n, it was a way to bring the larger-than-life members of the legendary Sannin down to earth.

[oyceter]

*snork*

At least they don't have dorky little capes like Ishida!

Also, yeah, I can see Tsunade's losing being like Jiraiya's porn-writing and women-watching. Hee.

I bet Orochimaru secretly gets facials and pedicures all the time.

[rilina.livejournal.com]

Orochimaru has no dignity that needs to be cut down the size: after all, he's a drama queen with a snake fetish and a very sketchy interest in young boys.

[oyceter]

It is so true.

So true.

I am at a loss for words because I have just seen Orochimaru with his tongue fully extended, and can I say: EW!

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Itachi's purple nail polish matches [spoiler's] purple [spoiler] when, you know. (Yes, that moment was truly even more awesome in the anime, because it was in color.)

[rilina.livejournal.com]

Hee--you've gotten that far? The anime can be so awful at times, but moments like that one make up for a lot!

Oyce, let me know when you're caught up, and I'll put together a fic rec post for you.

[yeloson.livejournal.com]

Yeah, sadly, like most boy's manga, the women don't get enough time on the page, though at least the bits you do get (Sakura aside) are pretty competent and ass-kicking.

[oyceter]

Yeah... I did like what I saw of Hinata and Ino, but I just wish they got more screentime. But hopefully Tsunade gets to keep being cool.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Tsunade never stops being cool, though (as we also saw with Sandaime) being Hokage is primarily a desk job.

Also... um... spoiler spoiler spoiler, later in the series there is a feminist-related development that made me jump for joy.

[rilina.livejournal.com]

I think all shounen manga is best read in large chunks. I read most of Naruto in about a week, I think, which contributed to the brain-eating effect.

Kishimoto does a lot of interesting things with parallels between past and current teams. I'm being vague here, simply in the interests of not obliquely spoiling anything.

My interest in the series moved from liking to loving when Jiraiya showed up, and I was also thrilled by Tsunade. One thing I like about both characters is that they're pretty jaded, simply because of the times they've lived through, but that Naruto somehow manages to break through that. I find Naruto's interactions with Jiraiya and Tsunade often more moving than his interactions with his peers, even though those relationships are of course the heart of the series.

[oyceter]

I think all shounen manga is best read in large chunks. I read most of Naruto in about a week, I think, which contributed to the brain-eating effect.

I think so too. I still can't keep some things straight in Naruto, though I suspect it'll be a lot better in a reread. Also, I'm reading the scans now, so I concentrate on things less and skip over a lot more.

I love the Naruto-Tsunade relationship -- it's so unexpected and so touching.

[rilina.livejournal.com]

I'm honestly amazed by anyone who can keep things straight the first time through series with large casts like Naruto and Bleach. But my general impression is that you get reminded of key points about supporting characters whenever they show up again.

[oyceter]

After this, I stop spamming you and read more Naruto, I swear!

I can keep more things straight in Bleach just because all the characters look so different! Especially the crazier shinigami captains. But Naruto's character designs confuse me sometimes, and I kept getting Kiba, Shikamaru, and Shino confused, and then I'd get their special ninjutsu confused, and then... gah.

[rilina.livejournal.com]

I grok the art in Bleach just a wee bit more than the art in Naruto; I think Kubo's faces generally more expressive. But maybe that's probably just me. I know a lot of people get confused with Bleach simply because the uniforms are all the same, whereas in Naruto the shinobi tend to have distinct outfits. So it probably depends on what cues the particular reader uses to keep characters straight in their mind, whether faces, hairstyles, clothing, or whatever.

Go read more! You will like it!

[oyceter]

Ahhh, that makes sense! I try to do faces and hair and can't keep the clothing straight, so no wonder I can't figure out Naruto!

[jinian.livejournal.com]

The giant slug was bizarre and great. Made me wonder if there is some kind of slug legend in Japan (or Kishimoto is just a very odd person).

My favorite recent moment was: Dog-guy spinning in the air while dog or he or both pee; Bug-guy collecting bugs; Hinata thinking how she wants a hobby, too. So Hinata!

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Not to say that Kishimoto isn't a very odd person, but there is indeed a slug legend, The Gallant Jiraiya (http://www.kiseido.com/printss/ji.html).

[jinian.livejournal.com]

Neat, thanks! Snail magic somehow sounds more dignified than slug magic, but the commonality is clear.

[oyceter]

The giant slug was indeed awesome. Rachel told me that the Sannin are actually Japanese legends, which is even niftier!