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justxtalking · 6 months

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my thoughts on this hxh ABCD mess

Being a Togashi fan is such a roller-coaster of emotions. I think I went through all the stages of grief in only one day.

Half of me believes he's trolling.

To be honest, it's better to just take it with a light heart. Togashi is known for joking around about himself, his health and his own story. (I wasn't in the fandom at that moment, but I wonder how everyone reacted when he said everyone was going to die). I consider ending D to be so uncharacteristically him for so many reasons I could talk for hours about it. I find it ironic how he gave a stereotypical-shonen-like ending when he talked several times (even in this interview) about how he likes to surprise himself (and his readers) when he writes. Some other times he explained he likes to play with these shonen stereotypes and just do something different. I mean, he's been doing it since the beginning of his career.

And I'll be honest, ending D sounds like a mockery of shounen.

(And I feel a bit dumb taking this so seriously if he's joking.)

(Though, this also may be the case of "the boy who cried wolf" and he's actually saying the truth this time.)

The other half of me thinks he's being honest.

If he is actually giving us a back-up ending, I find it incredibly sad. Not only because of his health, but also because he felt pressured enough to give us an ending, no matter its form and no matter if it's an ending he doesn't even consider anymore. He shouldn't have been on that position.

It is important to take into account that this is not an ending he wants or even considers anymore, it is an ending we can take if he's not able to finish HunterXHunter. We need to realize there's a lot of circumstances we don't know about or may not be considering for him to give us this ending as an option at that moment. And what type of ending too.

I seriously want for him to be able to finish Hunter X Hunter the way he truly wants, not worrying about anything else. He's thinking about three plausible scenarios that may see the light of day or not. And no matter what he ends up choosing, he should choose whatever he wants. It's his story, no ours. And it may even be his last story (I know it's sad, I want him to keep on writing forever, but it's true). Honestly, a part of me wants him to choose the A scenario because that's where seems to be less drama, but actually I want him to choose the C scenario. Even if that ending is Gon married to a lizard with beautiful lizard-babies in the Dark Continent. And that's because that ending is what he would actually want to do with the story.

(I really am curious about it, though. I know I wouldn't be able to guess even in a million years, but I'm still curious. And I so want to read the whole interview and see the whole episode, since there were more questions about other things.)

For the shippers

I know this feels like a punch in the gut or something even worst. I felt it too. And it's totally valid to feel like we do and not agreeing with ending D. Even as a non-shipper because what do you mean, Gon did what?

Everyone who follows me knows I'm a proud Killugon and Leopika shipper. And I will keep on being one even if Hunter X Hunter transforms into Boruto and I have to see Grandpa Gon (the more I say it, the more it sounds like a joke).

Honestly, I always considered the gay ships were never going to be explicitly canon.(Kishimoto traumatized me). Not because of lack of material, but because there's a whole context and a lot of external circumstances we sometimes forget about (and Kishimoto traumatized me). There was a reason why Togashi couldn't make his queer manga in the 90s, which, I'm sorry, I don't consider it to be that long ago. And there is a reason why he can't explicitly say that characters like Pouf or Hisoka are gay (despite being totally obvious and them being villains).

I still find it admirable how Togashi included so many queer elements in his stories and got away with it. And he's a mangaka that does shonen. And not just any shonen, a battle manga in Shonen Jump. (He included a trans man in Level E and made him transition. The way Togashi explains some things about this character may be a bit problematic, but Togashi still did this). And those queer elements are still there and are still as canon as when he wrote it the first time. Pouf is as gay as he is dramatic. And Ging and Pariston still have that sexual tension (and I'm 100% sure they fucked or they are going to fuck in the near future or both). And Killua is still the queerest boy I've seen in the longest time.

Sometimes, I think there's a possibility of Killugon being canon. But only because of Togashi's history and tastes. He may feel a bit rebellious and just go with it, he's so unpredictable that I'm always expecting anything and everything from him (I mean, he did what he did with Hisoka and Illumi and so many other things). However, he's an introvert, I'm not sure if he actually wants the attention he would get if he actually goes with it. And that is something we should also respect. (I do think the most plausible option is Killugon to be as ambiguous as they are now.)

In relation to ending D, I don't think we should worry that much. At the end of the day, it is an ending he doesn't consider anymore. (At least we can sleep well knowing that the ending he wants to do doesn't have to do with Grandpa Gon). What's important is what he writes and does in the manga. That is what speaks louder than anything.

Though, I do think it's going to be a pain in the ass interacting with other fans. I'm not looking forward to it. (At least they are going to stop saying that Kurapika will die, I hope!). What I'm looking forward to is the new Killugon content in the fandom.

My personal take

Gon =/= Ging. I could say a lot about this, since one of the things I love the most about Hunter X Hunter is what he did with these two and Gon's arc, but I think this is clear enough.

So!

After saying all of this, I think the only thing we should consider as canon is the manga. If he doesn't write it, it didn't happen.

If he's saying the truth, he may be thinking about how to finish Hunter X Hunter sooner or later. Even though so many fans say that they want an ending, I feel like we are not ready. Not even for Gon marrying a lizard and having beautiful lizard-babies in the Dark Continent.

I hope I was coherent enough. I have no answers, only thoughts and thoughts! I feel like we can only speculate and ending D is so confusing because how did we even get there?

I may be going through all the stages of grief again tomorrow, but I wanted to share my thoughts (at least partially). I may erase it if I feel too uncomfortable, but yeah!

Conclusion: Let's just take it with a light heart and wait to see what happens! (I know it's hard).

#i hope this post doesnt grow old badly lmao #togashi is the only one who actually knows what he wants to do by the end of the day #everything can happen #i find it sadly hilarious how i was traumatized by kishimoto found peace with togashi's work and then savage option D appears lmao #hxh #togashi #hunter x hunter #hunterxhunter #hxh manga #yoshihiro togashi #killugon #justxtalking #btw my mom read ending D and didnt like it either lmao #the dudebros can take ending d if they want it I'll just have my leopika wedding with killugon enganged ending

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tayuniyunichan · 9 months

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oh that scene again

boruto's design is so detailed and always takes a lot of time. i started a week ago, but i couldn't finish or just wanted to sleep. anyway, let's remember the last episode before the timeskip, haha.

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love-sapphirerose · 2 months

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Yashahime: Awful Sequel

When the first of the information came out that Inuyasha was getting a sequel, everybody was excited but it was a really awful show that was overhyped. It became a failing sequel to the Inuyasha franchise just like Boruto became to the Naruto franchise. It's a show about a hanyo version of kagome and/or rin who inherited the obsessive clingly nature, a hanyo female version of sesshomaru who barely has a personality that doesn't involve slaying and playing the violin, and a weak comic relief shihanyo who inherited her parents worst traits, who are majority of the time always winning fights.

Rushed

Just like with Inuyasha the Final Act, Yashahime was extremely rushed and boring. The Final Act was quickly wrapped up in 1 season as the manga was longer.

2. Constant Copying

In one of kohakuxrin's post there is massive recycling from the previous inuyasha content and especially the final act manga material that wasn't made in the rushed anime. As they

Ex.

1) Mistress Centipede with Mistress Three-Eyes

They're trying to remake the first villain from the past.

2) Hitokon

3) Bone Demon and a Father

4) Cat Demon

5) Meioju

6) Ginka and Kinka

7) Mizuchi and Nuwamatari

8) Nikosen

9) Sayo

10) Yuki and her brother

11) Wakana

12) Kodoku

13) The two onis

14) Snow Panther

15) An incarnation of the main antagonist interested in a member of the dog demon clan

16) Not alone anymore

17) A moth demon destroyed by a hanyo in a mindless state

18) Kao and the bug in the chest

19) Shibugarasus, Toads, Kumogashiras

20) The giant bug with someone within

21) The Rainbow Crystals

- The Silver Crystal was split into the seven Rainbow Crystals so as to seal away Seven Great Yōma. And as Sailor Moon shed a tear for her lover Tuxedo Mask who was mortally wounded, it caused the seven Rainbow Crystals to react and merge into one, forming the Silver Crystal itself. - As Zero shed a tear onto the Sacred Jewel, upon learning the death of Toga whom she was fond of, the seven rainbow pearls came out of it.

22) Chibiusa and the Door of Time

- Chibiusa has a key that leads to the door of time which leads to the future, and she was being hunted by bad guys. - Akuru has a pinwheel that activates the windmill of time opening a path to the future, and he was being hunted by Kirinmaru.

No question in those two because Katsuyuki Sumisawa was involved in the first anime version of Sailor Moon and in the same episodes in which the rainbow crystals assembled and Chibiusa took the Sailor Warriors to the doors of time (episodes 34 and 82).

23) Walking Around Naked

24) Pulling Out A Sword

25) Wondering About Name and Bullying

26) Recycled Moves

In episode 20, 2 lizard yokai attempting to break into the hanyo village look very similar to the two lizard yokai in the original series.

moroha trying to touch rion's ears like kagome with inuyasha's ears.

3. Contrived Powerups

Majority of the time, you would notice that towa, Setsuna, and moroha get these power ups to easily defeat an opponent by emotions or hearing about something.

4. Miroku and Sango's Family

Other than Hisui, they are barely seen.

Miroku spent the majority of the series on a 1000 day training and in the last episodes of the season he was suddenly powerful and taking on the grim butterfly. In episode 22, miroku was easily defeated by zero and had kin'u take his place.

Sango, who was known to be a strong female fighter in the original, was reduced to simply miroku's wife and hisui's, kin'u's, and gyokuto's mother. In the last episode of the final act, sango retired from being a demon slayer but could've come out of retirement to lead the new demon alongside kohaku but instead she's reduced to making mask and supplies. In the last episodes of season 2, sango comes out of retirement to fight with a rushed weapon called the black hiraikotsu.

Hisui could've continued to learn under miroku while being a demon slayer despite kin'u being a monk first. Sango, who was the original owner of the hiraikotsu, should have been the one to inspire hisui to be a demon slayer instead of kohaku. The hiraikotsu doesn't have the abilities it achieved in the final act.

The creators of yashahime decided in season 2 to give hisui feelings for setsuna, making it offiical in episode 48, to make it opposite of riku and towa since hisui is a full blooded human riku is a incarnation of a full blooded yokai.

Kin'u and Gyokuto, who appeared the least in the show, only appear to make a character shine. sango, who is a skilled fighter, didn't even train kin'u and gyokuto in combat as the only thing they do is throw sutras and powders. The creators didn't put any thought into their character designs as kin'u and gyokuto should've had different hairstyles and lengths from each other as the only difference in kin'u's hair was the small ponytail and gyokuto's hair didn't change at all. While kin'u's attire did change, the difference between gyokuto's attire from childhood was her apron and woven sandals.

They could've appeared more in the series and developed their personalities and abilities.

And when shippo appeared again especially in episode 48, kin'u and gyokuto reverted back to their personalities when they were little children.

5. Kohaku and the Demon Slayers

kohaku's face looks like iruka from the naruto franchise. Despite opposite character designs and weapons, rokuta and nansuke barely have personalities and don't even have backstories

How could the demon slayers, especially kohaku and hisui, not know setsuna was a hanyo after seeing her abilities and sensing her aura.

Kohaku and the Demon Slayers really don't think things through sometimes and aren't very bright.

Ex. Nikosen was poisoning a mountain and instead of thinking of other ways to defeat him, the only way they thought to defeat him in their minds was to burn the mountain.

6. Secrets

It seems to me nobody wants to talk about the past.

Despite living in the modern era for 10 years, the higurashi family never mentioned or seen pictures of kagome to towa until she was about to leave for the feudal era.

kaede never told kohaku, hisui, and the other demon slayers that setsuna was a hanyo or was sesshomaru's daughter. After 10 years of not seeing setsuna, kaede never once told her about sesshomaru, rin, or towa and even when she returned she still didn't explain. It only took 21 episodes for kaede to tell towa about rin and even then it was quick information about how they lived together for many years and she disappeared shortly after she and setsuna were born.

kaede never even told moroha about inuyasha and kagome.

I wonder why nobody especially miroku and sango told kohaku about towa and setsuna being sesshomaru and rin's daughters and not even a letter.

Even when kohaku found out about towa and setsuna being sesshomaru's daughters, he only mentioned something to them in episodes 5 and 31.

When miroku first met towa, he was informed that she was setsuna's older sister and instead of telling her about their parents he just stood there silently.

When the higurashi family realized that moroha is kagome's daughter, they never told her information about her and inuyasha and tried to fix this in season 2 especially in episode 28.

7. Underage Pairings

The creators of yashahime really don't care about the sick relationships.

sesshomaru and rin, knew her ever since she was 7-8 years old.

riku and towa, he knew her before she was born

homaru and tamano, kidnapped and tried to force her to love him.

moroha flirting with bokuseno.

I don't have an opinion on hisui/setsuna or hisui/aiya.

8. Rushed and Failed Backstories

They really didn't think much into the childhoods.

In episode 15, towa and setsuna were taken away and placed in a forest for 4 years and moroha was sent away to the koga and ayame by hachiemon.

In towa's childhood after being separated from setsuna, there's not much known as we see her meet sota, have a weight set and trophies to explain her life, a flashback of a pinky promise, and they gave of these rushed memories in episode 36 like they gave kagome rushed memories in the final act.

With setsuna, her being taken away from the burned forest, being accepted into the hidden hanyo village, training under 2 orders, defeated 2 lizard yokai, flash forward 6 years later, a recycled flashback from episode 3, returning to the hanyo village, a quick copy and pasted of episodes 51 and 52 except the soldiers are yokai, and leaving the hanyo village.

With moroha, a quick flashback of her last training day with yawaragi, battling a recycled character kodoku, being sold to jyubei, battling the birds of paradise, and giving quick images of her as a baby in episode 39.

9. Contrived Emotional Moments

The scenes that are supposed to be emotional are bland, rushed, and cringe-worthy.

Ex.

sota and towa's relationship wasn't sad for me as in season 1 and 2 they had very little interactions and were forced.

Ex. in episode 4, sota and towa talking and saying goodbye and in season 2 sota and towa meeting again and goodbye again after he tells he will always see her as his own blood daughter as they transform appearance when they first met.

A female wolf yokai named yawaragi was mentioned in episode 14, appeared as a small cameo at the end of episode 15, and official debut. She has a few flashbacks, a quick fight, then they tried to give us this emotional dying scene of her with moroha but i'm not attached to the character and everything goes back like nothing ever happened except for a new ability.

towa and setsuna tearfully hugging each other and apologizing when setsuna regains her memories.

riku tearfully killing zero.

moroha reuniting with Inuyasha and kagome while towa and setsuna, which is weird for her, tearfully watched.

moroha keeping the black pearl with the beni.

towa and mei's moments plus the final goodbye.

riku confessions of love to towa especially before everyone battles the grim butterfly and him dying.

Inuyasha, kagome, and moroha having a family moment on the bone-eater's well.

rin hugging towa and setsuna while sesshomaru and jaken having a conversation while 2 other families watched them.

towa and Setsuna hugging moroha in their new attires.

towa confronting a disguised riku in jyubei's shop.

moroha hugging Inuyasha and kagome before leaving their home.

Basically episode 48 was one of the worst episodes in the entire two seasons.

10. Terrible Characters

Majority of the yashahime series characters were boring and confusing.

Ex.

In season 1, she looked more like she was the big bad of the series than Kirinmaru, who didn't even act like the villain.

Zero possessed much more of a threat to our main characters, as she is responsible for the forest fire that separated Towa and Setsuna and indirectly separated Moroha from Inuyasha and kagome. She's done various other things, blackmailing Sesshomaru by cursing Rin. She feels very much that she had the same level of connection that she had that the same connection Naraku did with Inuyasha.

zero's back story as well seemed uninteresting and confusing, having feelings towards Toga, and when he dies her love for him drives her to kill his descendants. She could have become more interesting as the series progressed. If the rainbow pearls sealed away her emotions, then why is zero taking revenge on toga's descendants and got angry at sesshomaru's mother.

But that was not the case, as when season 2 aired, is when Zero started to run down downhill by gathering the rainbow pearls, for revenge, kidnapping towa, and basically holding rin's life hostage, and it all ends in episodes 36 and 37.

To start with, Setsuna learns from Rin that she must save Zero to stop the curse from killing her. Really wished we knew that before. Thanks, Rin, which leads into the next episode.

At this point, Zero has been emotionally torturing Towa for the entire night by reminding her of her sadness and suffering, and is pretty much trying to get Towa angry enough so that she can kill her, and in doing so kill Rin. She's almost successful when Setsuna shows up, shows Towa the dream butterfly, and suddenly Towa loses all the anger she has towards zero in a matter of seconds.

towa then thanks zero for what she's done and it is really annoying. zero prepares to kill herself and Setsuna cuts the thread of fate tying Zero to Toga and she removes the curse from Rin and commits suicide by Riku.

All of these in a matter of minutes, they make Zero, this threatening and uninteresting villain and rendered her more pathetic. They had to give her a redemption arc when she's been the most villainous character in this sequel. Kirinmaru felt more like an obstacle the same way Koga was in Inuyasha. But this, this was so dumb, and when I was watching episode 36 and heard what Rin said, I knew what this was leading into but it was so much worse when Towa thanked her for it. She really didn't need to thank the person who separated her from her twin sister and tried multiple times to kill her, sister, and rin because it's just wrong.

The creators of yashahime couldn't even give zero an actual conclusion that fitted with her character, and she's forgiven so easily. You didn't see Inuyasha thanking Naraku for setting him and Kikyo against each other and killing Kikyo, Sango thanking naraku for killing her village and controlling her kohaku, and miroku thanking naraku for cursing his bloodline. Could you imagine how messed up that would have been?

11. Timeline Error and Wrong Ages

The story takes place after 18 years after the final act but they keep getting the timeline wrong.

In episode 3, kaede said the bone-eater's well stopped working after 15 years.

In episode 39, kagome said she hasn't seen her family in 14 years.

Despite the yashahime creators making jaken and the tree of ages saying that rin is supposedly 18, she is really 15.

The true creator, Rumiko Takahashi, explained in databooks that rin is 7-8 years old in the beginning, sota is 8-9 years old, and kohaku is 11 years old.

In the 3 year time skip at the end of the final act rin is 11, sota is 11-12, and kohaku is 14.

4 years later when towa, setsuna, moroha were born, rin would be 15, sota would be 15-16, and kohaku is 18.

When they were 4 years old, Rin was 19, sota was 19-20, and kohaku was 22.

10 years later in the present as they are 14 years old, rin is 29 not 32, sota is 29-30, and kohaku is 32.

The reason the creators tried to age sota and rin up is because they forgot.

12. Copied Information

If you watched yashahime, you would immediately notice the constant copy and pasting from the original series and the final act. They're trying to do this to bring back memorable feelings to the new series.

Ex.

Even though the rainbow pearls were created from the sacred jewel and have its essence, as they just copied lesser powerful versions of it.

towa, setsuna, and moroha fighting mistress three eyes to remember the fight between inuyasha and kagome with mistress centipede.

setsuna not wanting to be a hanyo is a reference of sesshomaru disliking hanyo.

towa being controlled by the hitokon like the little boy, but how did it appear in the modern era without being seen.

setsuna remembering mei thanking her is to remember rin smiling at sesshomaru.

moroha appearing in the room naked without shame just like inuyasha.

grandpa higurashi giving moroha, who had a weird look on her face, a kappa foot just like he gave kagome, who also had a weird on her face, a kappa foot as well.

13. Sesshomaru

Personally, I've never really liked sesshomaru as just like miroku, jaken, sango, especially shippo and kagome. As in yashahime, sesshomaru became bland and terrible.

Out of all of the characters whose personalities and motives changed from the original series, The one who got it the worse was Sesshomaru. Despite him not being on screen for very long in the first season and the currently ongoing second season, he's barely said anything. To be fair, Sesshomaru wasn't having full-blown conversations with everyone, but he at least has some conversations with other characters. Here he barely says anything.

He's also not very emotional, which was the same in the original series, but with what has happened in the second season of Yashahime, you'd think the writers would give him some kind of emotional moments not the sick ones of sesshomaru holding rin when the curse was placed on her in episode 27 and it being taken off her in episode 37.

In season 1, sesshomaru has barely appeared and mostly made short cameos and flashbacks.

Ex. In episode 18, sesshomaru only appeared for a short time to quickly fight kirinmaru, orders jaken to not say anything then they leave.

The plot for him is really bad and doesn't make any sense, sesshomaru takes towa and setsuna shortly after they're born, stay away from them and refuses to help them when they were 4 years because homura and zero, who he can easily defeat, who kill them herself and kill rin, who said she would rather die than let them be sacrificed for her sake, but changed his mind when they were 14 years old. And sesshomaru idiotically listened to jaken sealing into the tree of ages and sealing inuyasha and kagome away into the black pearl because they thought they would go after zero and killer which would also kill rin, even though they would find another way to save her.

Even though, sesshomaru secretly gave setsuna items and tasks over the 6 years she's lived in the hidden hanyo village, he's a terrible father as he doesn't tell them anything, basically an absent father, left towa and setsuna to face kirinmaru and setsuna was killed, completely left the task of setsuna saving rin to her and didn't do anything as kohaku and sota were more fathers to them instead of himself.

The creator of yashahime could've made janis or kaname kururugi canon in the series and giving them a story of how they came to permanently live the feudal era, or a new female character with a background but instead they disgustingly chose rin, a girl he knew since she was 7-8 and mostly treated like a daughter.

In Yashahime, sesshomaru is a terrible husband as he doesn't see rin as an equal and majority of the time still has the father-daughter dynamic and treats her like a pet.

Ex. shortly after towa and setsuna, sesshomaru didn't say a word to rin and took the twins without a single explanation to anyone other than a rite of courage and cowardice, commanded her to follow him and stay like a dog especially in episodes 46 and 47 when he commanded her watch him battle kirinmaru, and even in episode 48 when he still ordered him to follow him. The only time sesshomaru is ordered around is in episode 35 by rin.

In season 2, sesshomaru majority of the time just stands and watches things happen for plot, even when he's in the grim butterfly, in a coma, and letting others such as towa, setsuna, and moroha to do the work.

For an example, In Inuyasha, the final act, when they are in the underworld and Kohaku tells him that Rin isn't breathing. Sesshomaru shows genuine fear and concern, which I believe is the only time he acts this way. Then when he learns that Tenseiga can't revive her, he blames himself for it and says that nothing was worth losing her. It's one of the most powerful moments for Sesshomaru and shows just how far he's come. Whether you see Sesshomaru care towards Rin as Fatherly or not, this scene shows just how much he cares for her.

Let's compare that to in Yashahime.

After Sesshomaru kills the dream butterfly, it causes the Silver scale curse to spread more quickly, which will eventually kill Rin. She's pretty much dying in front of him, and he has no way to stop it himself. So how does he act?

He says nothing, even when she talks to him and he keeps the same face.

sesshomaru separated moroha from inuyasha and kagome for 14 years and the one who gets scolded for badmouthing him was inuyasha, who was rightfully so, and he was instantly forgiven, kagome saying 'i'm sure he had his reasons', sat inuyasha, and scolded him for blaming towa and setsuna, even though he wasn't. setsuna also shouldm't have to apologize on sesshomaru's behalf.

He later kills the dream butterfly to motivate Setsuna to be able to use her Yukari no Tachikiri, which nearly causes Rin to die because of him and finally, he doesn't go and save Towa when she is being tortured all night by Zero and Nanahoshi by his minature galaxy.

It feels like they were trying to frame it as Sesshomaru could be genuinely working with Kirinmaru, but in doing so, they make him look like he's the worst father of the year. And with how long this mystery dragged out, it didn't make Sesshomaru look any better.

It definitely it's completely different writing when it comes to Sesshomaru in both series, with Inuyasha, Rumiko wrote him a clear goal and a conclusion. In Yashahime, they're trying to one-up the audience with their mystery and are unintentionally wreaking his entire character.

14. Not Naming Characters

Despite new characters such as moe higurashi, mei higurashi, and aiya receiving names there are lot of characters that still don't have names such as sesshomaru's mother, weasel man, gokoku village headman, northern demon slayers leader, the granny, the lady, the muscle, the ninja, and so many others.

Despite knowing that his name is toga, they still refer to him as the great dog demon.

15. Nerfed

Just like Boruto and Dragon Ball Super, the power scaling doesn't make any sense. In Super, beerus, who is a god, is fighting goku, who turned into a super saiyan god, after a period of time transforms back into a simple super saiyan but doesn't make any sense that he can still can fight beerus, they tried to explain away this through beerus but it doesn't work. In Boruto, there have been many multiple fights where the older generations are nerfed to make the younger generation shine like when jugo hit konohamaru and he couldn't move for a few days but when jugo hit boruto he easily recovered, when karin had to become weak with her chakra chain in order for sarada to be strong, or when in the time travel arc with urashiki that sasuke was constantly weak in order for a genin naruto, boruto, and jiraiya to shine. It also happens in more sequels like in yashahime.

Ex.

kirinmaru, who is equal to toga, can receive massive injuries from towa and setsuna, hanyos, and moroha, a shihanyo.

Zero, who possessed all of her 7 rainbow pearls that contain her immense yokai power that can summon an even greater demonic power that is far too strong and dangerous to even exist and the essence of the sacred jewel, can easily be killed by a feral towa.

The grim comet/grim butterfly, that has vast amounts of demon energy that it took toga, kirinmaru, sesshomaru, and inuyasha to defeat small fragments of it, was being completely held back by miroku and kagome, not even combined can match midoriko and kikyo.

towa creating the twin azure dragon wave but not sesshomaru.

16. UnInteresting Fights

Majority of the fights are boring and rushed.

Ex.

In season 1, you would notice that more than half the fights are recycled from the final act manga and the original series.

towa battling the human boys.

totetsu battles against miroku, hisui, towa, and setsuna.

totetsu and riku battling each other.

In season 2, the fights are stale and lack originality.

towa and setsuna battling rock fiends.

riku and rion battling kirinmaru.

osamu battling riku and towa.

Ex. In the final fight against kirinmaru and sesshomaru, the fighting moves sesshomaru uses are recycled from his fight against magatsuhi.

17. Bland Characters

Most of the yashahime characters lack character and are boring.

Ex.

Despite Raita and Futa having their parents killed by different species, different abilities, and opposite appearances, they're basically the same as one said something and the other agrees and repeats what the other said, they say 'take this' and attack. Raita and Futa's appearances didn't put much thought into them and when they're older the difference they get is armor.

With Mei Higurashi, we're told about her personality from towa but she's annoying and reminds me of kagome and rin when she wants to run into dangerous situations to resolve problems, bossy, and whiny.

Moe Higurashi rarely has a personality as the naive overly cheerful person that reminds us of ms. higurashi and her appearance looks like a light brown haired kagome and the only thing we know about her is that she's a traveling violinist.

takechiyo wasn't much of a character as is a less annoying version of shippo and a boring background story with his twin brother.

18. Sudden Recovery

In the original, inuyasha sustained damages from powerful and mst of them took him a while to heal but in yashahime mostly everyone, including towa, setsuna, and moroha, heals instantly from their injures even hisui.

It feels like when characters are facing powerful enemies they instantly get up without a scratch despite having injuries. I know they're hanyos from a powerful dog demon but it's contrived.

Ex. setsuna becomes injured after being restrained by mistress three eyes but quickly recovered to defeat her.

towa was weak after being released from hitokon's control but instantly recovered when setsuna wanted to remove the hitokon from mei's face.

miroku battled gaga gozen and was instantly defeated and weakened but instantly recovered when he battled setsuna.

In episode 18, towa, setsuna, and moroha battled kirinmaru and easily lost but instantly recovered.

19. Plot

The plot was really stupid and to be dramatic.

Ex.

In season 1, ever since episode 2 when towa and setsuna separated, they constantly remind us for drama by memories and/or through other people in episodes 3, 4, 8, 10, 11, 14, 15, and 20, especially episodes 8, 10, and 14.

placing a seal on setsuna and her main weapon to keep her demon blood in check but during the series she's never fully tries to master it, only a small piece of it known as the blood blade. they made setsuna have a seal but not towa, that's not fair.

Throughout season 2, everyone was saying that towa needed to fight with a demon weapon and not something made by humans but at the last episodes she's fighting with the kikujmonji, a weapon made from humans.

moroha getting through mount musubi's barriers.

In episode 17, setsuna, who doesn't even know anything about sesshomaru and the dog demon clan, suddenly knows the dog demon clan is capable of discovering demonic energies from a distance with their unusually sharpened sense of smell but in episode 23 she questions her clan.

In episode 24, riku stabbing kirinmaru, who had his guard down, to weakened him for towa, setsuna, and moroha and towa stabbing kirinmaru.

In episode 24, setsuna dying so towa and moroha can instantly power up.

In episode 38, towa, setsuna, and moroha attacking kirinmaru and sesshomaru taking kirinmaru's attack and sending them into the black pearl.

In episode 39, kirinmaru showing up and demanding sesshomaru to come out before battling inuyasha, kagome, and moroha.

osamu kirin, who barely appeared in the series, was suddenly the villain of the last episodes of season 2.

riku and rion battling kirinmaru and later riku, who was heavily injured, easily taking rion away from kirinmaru.

In episode 47, towa dying so rion can face fear who ended up dying again anyway.

It doesn't make any sense, Rin was stuck in the tree for 4 before the silver scale curse slowly started to spread but suddenly when the dream butterfly was killed it spread all over her body within a few episodes.

20. Rushed Abilities

The abilities within the yashahime series are quickly inherited and lackluster.

Ex. towa instantly receives the energy blade after meeting the mistress three eyes.

towa receiving the azure dragon wave.

after myoga explains inuyasha's tessaiga absorbing demon energy, towa instantly receives the skill to absorb demon energy with her energy blade.

moroha receiving the crimson backlash wave.

towa receiving twin azure dragon wave.

In the original, the tenseiga was able to revive people once with no time limit as it revived goshinki and rin but in yashahime they decided to give it a stupid 1 hour time limit.

setsuna quickly mastering the yukari no tachikiri after 2 incidents with sea snake woman and mayonaka.

towa instantly mastering the zanseiken.

setsuna instantly achieving vermilion bird ambush.

moroha instantly mastered the bow she received from her parents.

21. Background Characters

The creators of yashahime really didn't put any thought into what to do with the characters.

Ex. The higurashi family basically didn't do anything as in episode 2 they were just get kidnapped and standing there and in episode 3 when towa, setsuna, and moroha were interacting with each other, all they did was silently standing there and didn't speak to them.

With shiori, they barely changed anything about her appearance except she now wears woven sandals and different hairpins and worst short as she doesn't and let's little children fight for her.

With koga and ayame, they only make a very small non-speaking cameo at the end of episode 15 and don't even have children of their own.

22. Hairstyles

The creators of yashahime really didn't put much thought into most hairstyles such as takechiyo, kikunosuke, kin'u, gyokuto, rion, and futa have the same styles.

23. Bad Animation

In episodes of season 1 and 2, you can see multiple terrible animation mistakes.

Ex. Setsuna flying away from towa and moroha.

zero laying on the ground and rin coming out from her slumber when zero died.

#anti yashahime #anti princess half demon #anti hanyo no yashahime #anti sesshomaru #anti sessrin #anti sesshomaru x rin #anti kagome higurashi #anti kagome x inuyasha #anti kagome #anti inukag #anti miroku #anti sango #anti riku #anti rion #kirinmaru #anti shippo #anti mei higurashi #anti mei #anti rin

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canonmisogynyvictimstournament · 9 months

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PROPAGANDA

HINATA HYUUGA (NARUTO)

1.) When Hinata was introduced she goals, weaknesses, interesting interactions and relationships with characters other than naruto and a personality of her own. Post timeskip in shippuden, however, she was reduced down to simply 'naruto's future love interest' and little else. The entire Hyuuga plotline was dropped and she no longer had any relevance or personality outside of naruto. Part 1 hinata was shy and insecure on the surface but underneath that she was determined & hardworking, even to her own detriment. Her struggles were compelling. Her interactions with neji and her family are something you look forward to seeing more of. In shippuden she's like a flat carboard cutout of hinata. Her shyness exaggerated, her relationship with her family suddenly perfectly fine and boring. In part 1 naruto inspires her to keep trying but he isn't the reason she's working so hard, in shippuden he's pretty much all she thinks about. Her change in character design really highlights these changes - the perfect little wife for cishet men to fantasise about.

2.) Her entire personality and arc is boiled down to “shy uwu waifu in love with Naruto” and basically any development she gets, which is barely at all because Kishimoto hates women, is as attributed to NARUTO and Naruto only. Even her reaction to her beloved COUSIN’S DEATH makes her be like “omg I love Naruto” and serves to further NaruHina, which is absolutely insane she would Not react like that. Naruto only starts being romantically interested in her at the beginning of like, The Last movie, which is after 500ish episodes of her being treated as the sidelined love interest who is devoted to a guy who only cares about her when she’s a damsel in distress on a fight.

There are so many parts of her character that are/could be interesting, like her part in the Hyuga Clan due to being born as a superior and her dynamic with her cousin Neji as a result, (which could have had SO many great moments of reconciliation and standing up for each other grrr grrr) an exploration of the impact of her bullying & being looked down upon (even when she’s supposed to be a superior member, which adds to the shame) LIKE MANY OF THE CAST, seriously the people Naruto trauma dumps to are mostly consisted of people unfairly treated like that and it could have been used to further NaruHina WHILE showing her struggles

She is an incredibly capable fighter but the moment Naruto is there, she instantly becomes defenseless and needs to be saved by her crush, mostly as a “wow look at him isn’t he so brave and kind to do this for her?!”

There’s an episode where she is literally used as a defenseless punching bag for Pein by trying to sacrifice herself for Naruto and telling him she loves him, JUST so he can be more angry and have more motivation to beat Pein’s ass (aside of the yknow. Killing his loved ones thing) AND her confession is ignored by Naruto for the rest of the series. Just like any moment she shows her crush for him is met with obliviousness, which would be fine if they weren’t the main couple and didn’t go on for THE ENTIRE SERIES!!!!

In Boruto, the shitty sequel, Naruto is basically her deadbeat husband in her bland lavander marriage and Boruto is rightfully mad about Naruto’s distance from the family and even says he left her basically a single mom and barely pays time to the family, and Hinata’s role in the show as the housewife is being like “no you see Boruto you have to understand your father’s pov as the Hokage” and the narrative treats NaruHina’s marriage as a Good, Healthy Thing as if the characters are not miserable in this marriage.

3.) Man I don't even like her that much but she deserved SO much better. She was introduced as the heiress of a really powerful and renowed clan with complex dynamics, yet the author somehow decided to do almost NOTHING with the potential she had, and gave her very little personality besides being shy and fawning over the protagonist. She gets slightly more active in Shippuden (part 2), but her character still pretty much revolves around her love for Naruto, which sucks because again, she has so much potential. It's no secret that women in Naruto are badly written, and Hinata certainly is no exception. The male characters get dozens of episodes/chapters about their motivations, their backstories, what pushes them to keep going, and Hinata gets almost nothing besides her lifelong crush on Naruto that we are reminded of literally every time she's on screen.

NIKI NIHACHU (DREAM SMP) (CW: Bullying)

1.) Ohhhh my FUCKING GOD okay. So first off, MCYT (Minecraft Youtube) is not synonymous with the Dream SMP. The Dream SMP is MCYT, but not all MCYT is Dream SMP. I just want to make that clear before I start. (Also, the DSMP characters are referred to with a c! in front of their name, and the person playing that character is referred to with a cc! in front of their name.)

Anyway. So Niki, right. The Dream SMP had a LOT of ccs, and I can’t remember all of them off the top of my head but I think there were like…four women? Out of…god, at least fifteen people, maybe twenty? Which would have been fine, I’ve seen worse ratios. But the thing is, a lot of the male ccs’ fans were uhhh…not great about treating cc!Niki like a person. We’re gonna move on to her character in a bit, but cc!Niki got bullied, harassed, and criticized no matter what she or her character did.

c!Niki is either a mean girlboss or gentle and nice. When I saw people talking about c!Niki while the DSMP was active, their views of her were very one dimensional. Maybe part of this was because cc!Niki didn’t get a chance to develop her character as much as someone like cc!Tubbo did. One of the DSMP’s fatal flaws was a lack of communication and organization, and…yeah. It was very difficult for white male ccs to organize people for lore, but for cc!Niki it was…also bad. The misogyny that cc!Niki experienced from fans is inseparable from the misogyny that c!Niki also received. It’s a really shitty package deal.

OH AND ALSO. You know how the DSMP ended by getting like, wiped from existence or some shit I don’t remember. And Dream did this without letting the majority of the ccs resolve their character’s stories/arcs? Will it surprise you to learn that afaik cc!Niki wasn’t informed about this at first? Yeah. Overall she was just treated horribly by everyone and so was her character.

2.) Literally only like three people ever did storylines with her, two of whom immediately dropped it as soon as something else came up. She didn't even get to officially participate in the revolution despite repeatedly offering aid, and eventually ended up just. Building her own underground city. To have something to do. The only people to actually include her in storylines consistently ever were the anarchists, toward the end of the server.

3.) ok, so, the thing is, this isn’t just about the DSMP. historically, in mcyt spaces, women content creators have been harassed and treated terribly by fans (and talked over/ignored by other ccs and the fandom) for, essentially, daring to be women, and niki has been subject to that. cc!niki (the real life person, for those who don’t know mcyt player/character differentiations) was/is really good friends with cc!wilbur soot (i haven’t been keeping up with this corner of streaming recently but assume this is the case). however, despite being close irl friends and working really well with one another, niki had to deal with endless bullshit from people who shipped her and wilbur (and people who didn’t!!), so much so that they stopped streaming together for a while. this is just some background so you understand the baseline we’re working with here. (this is going to be more of a meta analysis on how cc!niki was treated by other ccs, as that’s my specialty and also in a rp space it affects how her character was played) (fan treatment of her also factors in a lot here since fiction is highly affected by realities like this in mcrp) niki’s character in the dream smp, and the lore she had (she went from a kind baker to one of the last holdouts against a tyrannical government, to a broken girl resorting to revenge for stability, to someone who was finally able to find healing and support in a safe space and worked to do the same for others) was largely ignored or disregarded by both fans and the other content creators on the server. hell, when her best friend died nobody even bothered to tell c!niki! she had to find out from his own goddamn ghost! (can you tell i’m mad about this?) she put up with so much shit on that server, in-character and out, and never even got to have a fucking break about it. justice for c!niki!

#polls #round 1 #week 1 #new #cw bullying

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just-jae · 8 months

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Eyo- So this is why I love OG Naruto

CW: Cursing.

Random projectile vomiting what I love about the first part of Naruto. Mostly from memory (so like, a decade+ ago) I decided to play the the Chunin Exams Arc while writing this to refresh my memory bc honestly, even though I dipped after tasting Shippuden and don't even care to aknowledge Boruto (even if it's good, i don't care) the fact that Part 1 is still so enjoyable shows how it's virtues were in that it actually executed, not just in what it promised. I'll probably be editing this as I rewatch-- like, apparently Choji and Neji also have arm wraps :,V

The theme around hard work. It wasn't a "Work hard to earn a comfy life/ those at the top deserve it" theme it was a "Go after what you love, be passionate, be persistent, build upon yourself to overcome obstacles," kind of hard-work theme. It encouraged chasing your passions and applying yourself to challenges. There was value in just doing that, even if you failed. The meaning and value in your life was tied to your own efforts and decisions, not your status or position in a heirarchy or social conscience.

Positive Father Figures: Forget that Naruto punches his dad in Shippuden. In the first episode, Iruka emotionally adopts Naruto after opening up to him and allowing himself to relate to Naruto as a fellow human being who was suffering and responding to that suffering in similar ways to himself. Before, he pretended not to understand Naruto for the sake of "evil demon kid" narratives and ignoring his own grief. Iruka scraggling Naruto's hair like a big bro/dad wasn't just a bonding moment; it was a found family moment. When Naruto hugs Iruka in the Forest of death, you can tell he adores that kid and is ready to sign the adoption papers.

One of Naruto's icon characters is Ichiraku, the ramen guy who basically serves as Naruto's Grandad. He fills this kid with soup ramen near-every damn day. He's probably why Naruto loves ramen so much.

The spooky, nature-y understones and setting: Giant dark forests, thematic, nature-inspired ninja techniques, the spooky music, the semi-traditional japanese instruments in the sound track (flutes, drums, lutes, etc.) It's got electric guitar too but the traditional texture of the music made it earthy and cultrally touching in the same way that Avatar: The last Air Bender's natural and spiritual eastern inspiration colored it's visual and audial aesthetic. The "HUH"s and "HUAH"' in the background music added so much bomastic, earthy energy, I LOVED hearing them. I'm telling you there's a healthy reason why I like screaming/yelling/hollering. I haven't articulated it yet, but Naruto's soundtrack scratch that itch well.

Horror: Naruto is one of the few anime I've seen with undertones of horror, without being a horror genre show especially for an action-oriented shonen inspired by feudal-age folklore hybrid with modern aesthetics like military vests and tvs. The realistic visual tone that Naruto leans toward compared to modern anime only helps this and makes how dark it gets believable when you consider how culturally and morally grey the base populations are. Sometimes the cultural vices are the main drive in a character's backstory, like Gaara, who's village was crumbling after betrayal and unreliable leadership reinforced the trust and connection issues that left him alone on a raft in hostile waters with the boogie man as his raftmate to where he couldn't even fathom caring for someone else. Bc of this, him being fucking insane, while Naruto wasn't made sense. It felt like the worlds they were in naturally led to the horrors.

Smarts and thoughtfulness being used to win battles. Earlier in the show, things weren't so flashy, not even elite ninjas were shown doing anything nearly as wild as what happens in the second and following parts. The limits of these abilities left room for the characters to use their heads to not only work around their limits but use them to their advantage to bamboozle and have some kind of chance even against physically stronger opponents.

The significance of jutsu also felt more thematic and narrative in nature. The First Hokage's super power was growing giant trees with his chakra.

Which not only suggests he created the very forest Konoha resides in, but also pointed to his approach to leadership, which was giving himself and his clan to stegnthen and lift everyone else up, not just through mixing blood with other clans but through building stregnth and resikience through connections and mutual care.

Much better than the brightest, fastest, most destructive energy bomb or powerup.

Look at the reaper death seal justsu and tell me that wasn't more terrifying than the tentails. Imagine how scared someone is using that jutsu. A demon ghost lady is gonna use your soul as a glove to grab someone else's soul, eat it, and then take you with her... him? It/they-- qhost.

Which leads me to another thing- vulnerability coupled with power. The imagery of the reaper death seal, reainforced a sense of vulnerability that is necessary for the power the user gains.

Gaara's insomnia and dangerously narrow buffer between him and Shukaku lead to him spazzing out in pain whenever something triggers an episode of whatever-the-fuck. Leaving him in a a state of disarray and uselessness.

He was supposed to be the nuke that destroyed Konoha but was too busy chasing after anyone who had a chance of beating him up. And then freaking out over hugs. His invulnerable body came with a trade off of a vulnerable and volitile psyche.

Even Zabuza only survived Kakashi because Haku incapacitated him with needles to his neck and then took care of him afterward.

The conversation between the 1st 2nd and 4th Hokage's was like. "Yo it's my bros!" "Hey bro. Sorry bro." "Bro i don't wanna fight you. But this is so cool. I miss you bro." "me too bro."

Now more character-specific stuff:

Rock Lee is my all-time favorite character. Not only is he the embodiment of part 1's major theme, but I just loved his design and voice acting (the green bodysuit could be awkward at times, but everything else is just pure "That's my son look at him go" vibes).

It's a simplistic, agile, adorable character. Pure serotonin. The way his hair flipped around when he fought was great, the (OMO) face, the scrawly, lanky body that moved a little too sharp bc he was legit always ready to explode-- just great. Rock Lee is so pasionate and just loves living. I got the sense that he isn't training just to prove ppl wrong. He loves the ninja arts, and learns to love taijutsu for its own sake not just for the sake of other's approval or besting someone in combat.

Kakashi Hatake was like the reassuring character. His calm and focused approach to conflicts and danger were a nice balance to everyone else's bamboozlement and dramatic/passionate personalities. Kakashi also comes off as a reality check sort of character. He's the one who makes team seven realize the mortality of ninjas via a monument echoing real-life monuments dedicated to fallen soldiers and victims of war/terrorism. You can tell that he cares about ninja as people despite his laid-back demeanor, and expects his team to understand the importance of respect for fellow ninja. His experiance with the inner workings of Konoha also make him more realistic and aware of the world's greyness. He knows how politically corrupt things are and wants his students to hold on to their morality instead of tossing it away to follow orders.

Zabuza- was not just eye candy-- okay Zabuza was 99% eye candy for me (looked a bit starved but-- damn Kishimoto knew what he was doing with that one)

Zabuza's situation of being emotionally dishonest with himself ties back to the whole vulberability associated with power thing. His cold world veiw ablut using and being used made it more obvious that he and Haku genuinely cared for eachother bc they acted in ways that didn't fit that narrative. This big, sharktoothed "Demon of the mist" having a soft spot that also had a soft spot for him was like 🥺

Tenten's affinity for weapon-weilding was legitimately cool and gave me mechanic vibes. They could have been so creative with that. But for now it's just sitting on its hands. I also just love her character design. She got those BUNS.

The Sand Siblings were my favorite team. They were scary as hell. Gaara was just danger personified. He was bloodthisty with a power that enabled it. Carrying around a gourd that reeked of blood-- like-- Garra was one of the horrors of the forest of death and the way he act and the way his siblings talk about him suggested he was chaotic and couldn't nessecarily be trust to keep to the plan. And I loved that he was this tiny scrawny thing with no eyebrows and eyeliner panda/racoon eyes. Some of his expressions were like- EXPRESSIONS dude.

He used have more expressions than 😐 and 😑. He was unintentionally adorable-- you can tell he was meant to look creepy and otherly but came out a little critter. His hair wasn't even meant to be red, that was an animation error. Like, a character even calls him a runt, Kiba's like "Oh no he's too small to be picking fights, run little dude" so he's canonically a little guy. Littler than normal.

Let me tell you, when I was scrubbing through the episodes (bc they spend so much time wasting time on nothing) my eyes would hook on a thumbnail of Gaara, and it'd be 2 seconds of him not reacting to something, and it'd be worth it everytime. Instant serotonin.

Seeing the smallest, most baby-faced member of the group, who looks even tinier with a giant gourd go:

Is just wild. At least for Naruto. And the fear in the other characters is just- a lot. He's not animated in a cuetsey way either. Like, he's not a loli character. He's a little eldritch horror. And I love that he's not infantilized or cutyfied by the creator for being tiny.

Kankuro was also pretty spooky. Not only did his technique look painful as a papercut, but his main puppet (Crow?) somehow managed to give off body-horror vibes.

They really milked it's spookyness by emphasizing the mechanical side of it (the clicking and the way it jerked) and its use of poisoned everything to make even the tiniest nicks a big deal.

Temari was the power house, aesthetically. Like, it's not even a girl-power thing. She just has shoulder-snapper posture. Her eyes , are this dark blue that I've rarely seen in a character design. She's got big sis vibes (bc she IS the big sis). Like, she's gorgeous.

And her explosive hair went well with her chaotic wind specialty. She just fucks the entire landscape up with the goddamned air dude.

The GODDAMNED AIR.

AND THEN LATER WITH THE FERRET-- LIKE DUDE.

Anyways...

Orochimaru as himself is a creep, at least later on-- mostly bc so much of his character is spent obsessing over a little boy's body- obv. this was meant to be creepy, but it's like, pedo creepy, not spider on the wall/ posessed doll creepy. His introduction as the Grass lady, and this slippery immoral scientist who wanted to catalyze a war was a great time He felt like a force of nature.

I dont have Grass Lady photos yet but this is the next best thing lmao. As the mysterious grass village lady, he was HORRIFIC. I really wish she and her team had been real characters instead of just a skin for Orochimaru to hide in. The way she's introduced is exactly the reason why ninja are traditionally thought of as practicing dark, evil arts. Bc they did dark, evil, spooky shit like pulling at their eyelids and being gross with their tongues. The organs and spooky singing in the background, the predator/prey theme, knowing about Naruto's seal when (at this point) so few others did. On top of that, ya'll gotta know that I'm a sucker for those conical sedge/ coolie hats. The fact that Grass LAdy had a long face and droopy eyes made it all the better. Like, how many other feminine characters have those features? All the character designs of the Grass Village team and the relation of grass to snakes and big hats was pretty neat imo.

Kiba Inuzuka honestly seems like he was inspired by Princess Monoke, which is pretty neat on its own, but i honestly don't feel like Kiba really fits into a ninja village. He's loud and bombastic and rarely uses clever or sneaky tricks. It's just brute strength and prey drive. Which isn't to say he shouldn't be in Naruto, but that maybe he could have been from a different village? Or just not necesarily a ninja. Idk. I love that he's this wild-child who's entire theme is dog.

If a dog were a dude.

If only they were good at drawing dogs though.

Hinata was one of those characters I didn't realize I identified with. A LOT. If Rock Lee is who I aspired to be, Hinata was who I actually was. Not just in demeanor (I too skalked around in a jacket no matter the weather) but also in circumstance. Struggling with comparing yourself to others, or others resenting you for the way you're treated (I was the baby of the family) or constantly dealing with people who think they're better or scold you for poor performance, being pushed into something you didn't even really care for. It was all very relatable, and I didn't even realize it at the time.

The fact that they were willing to give her those "ugly" veins left an impression on me too. Bc, that was her kickass look. It wasn't cute, and she didn't have a delicate, pretty style of fighting. Even though she got beat up she really threw hands in a way that felt realistic. Homegirl was just tryna get by despite being surrounded by assholes, and the moment she stood up to Neji, who was in the middle of phsychologically manipulating her into an anxiety attack (not a literal attack but same energy) was like 🥳. I can respect that. Even though she lost, it really felt like Neji learned there'll at least be trouble if he tries that shit again.

Shino was another favorite (I'm gonna end up going through every character at this rate). Especially with his english dub actor. For much the same reasons as Kakashi. Shino was reliable and cool headed. He didn't strut power or look to intimidate anyone, he just paid attention and tended to his bugs-- which, the fact that he cares for and works with a bunch of bugs is oddly endearing. It's like meeting a cat person who's just really good with cats but doesn't gush over them. He comes off as sensitive, but not obsessive.

His angry-neutral design is pretty neat too. Big Soundwave vibes.

Sakura's wake-up call is honestly pretty iconic. She was a bratty character who realized her flaws on her own instead of being told "Hey, be better you goof", She reflected on how she's been up until the moment when it was all on her and she was eating dirt. Sakura getting serious and learning to be proactive, now that she didn't have anyone as a crutch or a scapegoat, was a pretty awesome moment. And even though The show could have done more with her in that regard, I still appreciate that they went there. Watching Sakura with empathy (especially now that we as a society aren't starving for strong female characters like we used to be) makes me notice how realistic her nievety and dependance is. And also how funny she is at times. Even Ino realizing having that wakeup call like "Bro I'm being stupid, I can't let this girl die over a crush". It even feels like their feud isn't just about a crush but just social insecurity. Sakura used to be shy until she met Ino. Ino enouraged her to be proud up until attention started to be drawn away from her toward Sakura. This also suggested that Ino actually did look down on Sakura and was using her to feel better about herself. Sakura outgrowing Ino put her in a position of facing her own flaws or reframing Sakura as an enemy who didn't deserve to be loved.

And when the reason they were enemies (Sasuke) no longer justified being a dickhead (letting Sakura fucking die) Ino not only had to face her own inadequacy but allow herself to care for Sakura again, from a more genuine place.

I wish they had done more with that, but the fact that they did that in the first place was iconic. There's nothing like having to learn that the world you were raised in is not reality. Breaking out of a sheltered and shallow worlveiw is its own struggle. Its a learning curve, and it leaves you emotionally and socially unprepared when you thought you finally had everything figured out. Sometimes people hold on to bratty behavior bc they think their only other option is getting bullied and hating themselves. Sakura's snootiness comes off just makeshift confidence she learned from assholes. She didn't look down on Naruto bc she interacted with Naruto, she looked down on him bc that's what she's been taught to do about people like Naruto. The whole village was like that. Which is realistic. We just aren't told nearly as much of her perspective as other characters, but her learning how her words impact people, and how dishonest she is about her own competence is worth exploring.

The themes in Naruto were pretty nuanced-- even if the character's dialogue was exposition hell (they spend so much time verbally explaining things that dont need to be explained in such a longwinded manner), they were human condition themes, not just a power fantasy or a romance, or a black and white, good and evil conflict. Ninjas are already pretty shady, with Naruto being the most overtly good character in the show. Everyone else's morality (beside's Lee) is questionable at one point or another-- in fact I think even Lee was introduced as an intimidating upperclassmen. It feels true to life that regular people are actually pretty mean and flawed, which makes Naruto's themes hit harder bc you know it's not just one special character going through a special time, making friends with other 100% good people. Its life. Its people dealing with life. Like, these assholes love and hate eachother at the same time all the time. Some of Naruto's friends did some morally questionable shit. Like Shikamaru pretending to be asleep during the attack on Konoha. We still love the guy, but, get the fuck up dude.

Looking back, this just makes me realize that I've always had an interest in thematic/psychological horror and character realism. I can't stand gore/torture, but spooky grass women that infect you with curses, cursed puppets that spazz and split their faces open, and tiny murderous gremlins who nearly give people heart attacks just bc they thought he was gonna do something, being my favorite characters of Naruto is pretty telling.

Add the inky, Hidden Rain water Clones to the list too.

Iruka needs to get a pen. Reaper needs more soul spagetti and Naruto needs to give back SOME of Garra's personality. Just a little. Let him be a little bit of a little bitch.

#naruto part 1 #chunin exams #forest of death #garra #kankuro #Temari #sand siblings #sabaku no gaara #kakashi hatake #rock lee #orochimaru #Grass village lady #horror #hinata hyuga #kiba inuzuka #shino aburame #Zabuza

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