Kishimoto Masashi - Naruto, ch. 330-344

[oyceter]

Naruto! I was a little bored of late, but thankfully interesting things are happening again!

So, I didn't care all that much about Asuma, just because we didn't know that much about him. And I was sort of sad when he died, but not really. And then Kishimoto had Team 10 reminiscing, and there were moments like Asuma's funeral, the images of his face and the dead Sandaime's, and Kurenai standing there, silently, hand on her belly. (By the way, did we know she was pregnant before? Was this something I just completely forgot, as I am wont to do?)

Kishimoto's so good with the visual imagery and symbolism, from Shikamaru taking up Asuma's cigarettes to the craggy profiles of the Sarutobi men.

I love watching Shikamaru in action; there were quite a few "Eeee! So cool!" gasps from me when I was reading, starting from the many reveals about Shikamaru's shadow distractions to the vessel of blood (so cool!) to the final revelation that he had lured Insane Sadistic Guy out into his own family's forest, just so they could keep an eye on him. And then the cigarette slowly falling from his fingers as he buried the guy alive...

So very good.

And despite the endless power-ups that Naruto is getting, I still love him finally getting to impress Kakashi with his special whirlywhig thingy of DOOM. Awww! Kakashi is proud of him! And I love that even now, when people are advising Naruto as to how his water element can defeat Sasuke's fire element, Naruto is happy that his wind element will help Sasuke's fire.

Then... EEEEE! Sasuke goes after Orochimaru! Die, Orochimaru! Die! May your confusing face-shifting boring evil cackling slimy self never show up again to massively confuse those of us who already have a hard time keeping all the characters straight even without throwing in villains who can look like anyone!

Very excited to see what's going to happen next, although this does feel like the start of the final or penultimate Naruto arc.

Comments

[yeloson.livejournal.com]

You. don't. know. how glad I am that Sasuke decided to actually DO something, anything, other than sit there and emo out all day.

I also felt there wasn't enough connection to Asuma to really do it right, which is too bad (especially since, come Halloween, I can totally cosplay Asuma...).

I'd also like for more development on Yamato and Sai, since they're pretty much power batteries as far as I'm concerned.

[oyceter]

I was very glad when Sasuke actually did something! Even though I giggled a whole lot at his "More special than you" form.

I completely forgot about Yamato and Sai, aside from once again noting Sai's belly-baring outfit and wondering why.

[yeloson.livejournal.com]

Well, they're easy to forget, seeing how they don't really have personalities... Hence my irritation.

[rilina.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure we didn't know she was pregnant before.

It really did become the Shikamaru show for a few weeks--not that I mind, given how cool it was. And I love that Kakashi is finally, finally acting like a teacher.

And I was very amused to see that Sasuke is not quite as stupid as I've been thinking since the end of Part I, even if his statements still make me guffaw at all the "more special than you"-ness.

[oyceter]

Gotcha. I can never tell what I just miss because I don't read closely enough, or what I forgot, or what just wasn't there in the first place.

I think I yelped at my laptop screen when Kakashi actually taught Naruto stuff and told him how strong he was!

I totally giggled at the re-emergence of the "more special that you" monster form for Sasuke.

[rilina.livejournal.com]

The other weird thing for me was Kakashi actually talking about Yondaime, because I don't think he ever used to do that. I mean, I wasn't even sure Naruto knew that Yondaime was Kakashi's sensei.

The only thing that could have made more special Sasuke funnier was color, like in the anime. Hee.

Overall, it's just nice to feel like the story is going somewhere. :)

[oyceter]

Oh hey, you're right about Yondaime!

It is very good to feel like things are finally happening! Also, I'm glad that the extremely irritating villains who could not die have finally died. Or were buried alive, but, you know...