Naruto is still rather blah to me, and I suspect he'll only truly grow on me when Neji and he fights in the third exam (that's what happened in the manga). Sasuke does indeed kick major arse, and the boy is a ball of hatred, NOT bitterness, that, is reserved for Neji. And I think I'm in love with Neji, so much bitterness, so much anger, and to be fair a bit of a bastard (not as much as Sasuke, but a bastard nonetheless). I can't exactly pinpoint why I love the boy but I do.
Shikamura is becoming the Kewlest Dude to have Eva Walk'd the Earth. Brains and lazy, how can you not like that? Sakura actually became the Kewl for 10 minutes there....then she went and screwed it up *sigh* But Hinata is adorable, and I truly feel for the girl *huggles*.
Something that finally clicked while watching the anime is the amount of characters (on the side of Good) is prepared to kill. Sure Naruto is all very anti-killing like 99.9% of shounen heroes, but the rest of the cast are all, how should we say this without sounding callous, hmm, trained killers.
Not that I don't adore Neji, Sasuke, or the rest, but it has been seen that they would kill anyone standing between them and their goals. Hell, even the other good guys would kill to protect themselves, or complete a mission, which brings me to my point, yes, I had a point.
The series is really quite morally ambiguous, hell, just listen to the Hokage's speech on what purpose the Chunnin exam actually serves as. Their world isn't nice, and it's interesting to see that the 'good' guys can be as ruthless as the 'bad' guys. The fact they are children makes it all the more interesting.
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chasethestars
chasethestars
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See, that's right up my alley. I was thinking of giving the series another try because I watched a few episodes a while back, but was then sucked into several other series so it kind of got left in the dust.
I read the manga first and liked it very much. The first arc of the anime series wasn't overly spectacular, and to tell the truth didn't impress me much (although it made cry like a baby. I'm trying to figure out how the end of the first arc made me cry when I'm not even remotely impressed by it). But it gets BETTER!! Give it a try.
You've said the magic words. I'm sold. Gonna have to squeeze in time to watch this one too. I'm okay with series that start out slow as long as I know that it gets better, because most things I watch do take a while to get into.
But I think it's also honest. The entire village is set up to promote the ninja way of life; in a way, Naruto being made outcast also left him out of the entire mindset of kill thy enemy. Kids see Daddy come back and they won't be asking, did they have to die, but how many bad guys did you kill today, Daddy?
Naruto is the most innocent
Exactly, Naruto is the most innocent of them all, and even when the possibility that he has to kill does become apparent he'll -not- kill, instead he will think of some other way to deal with the situation. I love him for it, but I want to see him take a life because when it happens I'm expecting the fox demon to make a nice appearance ^^^
Kids see Daddy come back and they won't be asking, did they have to die, but how many bad guys did you kill today, Daddy?
And that's what I find to fascinating about Naruto. The truth isn't sugar coated but it's so down played, so the norm that as an audience the actual horror of it didn't click with me until ep 40 or so.
I really like the series at the moment ^^
But you're right, I'm highly doubtful that Naruto will kill anyone, which annoys quite a bit. And, including the characters you named, I can imagine Kiba and Shikamaru killing. Most of the other children, I'm not sure. There just hasn't been enough occassions where killing was needed.
Love the icon. Ore-sama deserve to be praised *snicker*
Although with the latest manga arc, all bets are off on death mode.
Shikamaru is the Kewl ^^ I just really like him!! I think it's the whole Genius pretending to be an idiot that amuses me greatly.
The current arc is making me very jumpy. Chouji, Neji... I don't want to know what else happens. I don't want any of them to, you know (refuse to say it, if I don't it might not come true). NEED to know what happens. I'm almost tempted t scream 'JUST ABANDON SASUKE!!! HE'S NOT WORTH IT!!!