I can see both sides. On the one hand, just because your parent had a rough childhood does not mean that their failures in parenting don’t hurt. You also can’t expect children to understand the past if they are not TOLD about the past (and there doesn’t seem to be much evidence that the Bort generation is told much of anything about their own parents history–Boruto knows nothing about Hyuuga branch slavery, Sarada doesn’t recognize Team Taka, etc).
Naruto is not a competent Hokage. He is overwhelmed by paperwork in a way that previous Hokages were not shown to be, despite having as many or more people to delegate to, and being younger and more vibrant to start with. He is also hypocritical with regard to how he uses his clones. He doesn’t make significant changes with regard to the shinobi system, in particular the fundamental unjust basis of it, which is “military and police work based on ability to pay”. The daimyo and his son feature prominently in the Bort manga and it’s made completely obvious that the ninja world economy and government is some kind of bizarre feudalist/capitalist hybrid, the literal worst of both worlds if you’re a have-not. Nor has anyone apparently learned any lessons from their recent history. The whole Sumire plotline for example–what the fuck were the Sixth and Seventh Hokages thinking with regard to Root that they let that situation happen?
On the other hand, Boruto’s predicament just can’t be as compelling and attractive to the reader as Naruto’s, and the reader is comparing them as stories. Moreover, what makes Boruto annoying to me personally is how much the narrative keeps giving him unearned rewards of people’s adoration. The whole “Boruto is Mitsuki’s sun!!!” trope is annoying as fuck to me, especially in light of the entire thing being shown to be Snakebert brainwashing Mitsuki into becoming obsessed with Boruto, so when next gen fans act like this is sweet and wholesome instead of creepy af, that annoys the hell out of me.
Mitsuki is not a sweet healthy boy with an appropriate crush; Mitsuki is a massively traumatized child who has been literally drugged and brainwashed into an obsession with the son of an extremely important man. Brrrr. Heebie jeebes. Y i k e s. But the franchise itself is so eager to recreate the S///NS “dynamic” for the $$$$ and is treating it like ship teasing and agah;dslfkjs it’s gross okay.
And it’s not just Mitsuki; Bort gets all kind of “barely adolescent male power fantasy” shit that only makes sense when you realize it’s meant to appeal directly to 12 year old boys. Like a lot of people shit on Hinata for the way she blesses Boruto going off into deadly danger even though he just failed the chuunin exam for cheating and there are certainly many experienced adult ninja available (including Hinata herself!!!), but you need to understand Hinata isn’t a three dimensional character anymore; she’s purely “Boruto’s mom” in this power fantasy where the 12 year old boy gets told “oh yes, sweetheart, I, your mother, think of you as equal to an adult male–no, BETTER than the average adult male, a HERO among males, TOTALLY ready and able to go and SAVE THE WORLD while I stay here!”
To me, THAT is the annoying shit.
The problem isn’t that silly adolescent power fantasies shouldn’t exist. I have no problem with Dragon Ball type franchises where there’s no societal depth and everything is pure escapism about power rankings and people’s hair turning colours even though it isn’t their final form yet.
But original Naruto teased us with so much more than that. But either they didn’t have any intention of following through or they chickened out.
I liked Naruto because he was a boy who wanted to become Hokage to get validation, and then he was a boy who wanted to become Hokage to DO things with that power to help others.
Boruto wants to be like Sasuke, because…? He’s a “real” ninja? He’s cool? He fight real good?
That’s annoying, and off-putting. All style, no substance.
Fool me once, I’ll fuck off to fanfiction land before I ever let you fool me again, Naruto franchise.
yeahhhh and ending defenders are like “oh but it was already resolved before the end of the manga 🙂 Hiashi told Hizashi that the branch house and main house now fight alongside each other as equals :)”
Yeah? Talk is cheap.
1. Neji, pre-Talk no Jutsu, told Naruto that his inescapable destiny as a branch house member was to die for the benefit of the main house.
2. Neji died to protect the heiress of the main house.
Some resolution of his storyline. Neji was “free” to “choose death” more or less exactly the way his father Hizashi was “free” to “choose death”.
And then his death was wasted! “Does Uncle Neji like sunflowers?” Let me tell you about your Uncle Neji, Himawari: when he was younger than you are now, he had a painful seal placed on his head that humiliating branded him as property, and his uncle, your grandfather, regularly punished him by activating the seal and causing him intense, seizure-inducing pain. Nobody stopped your grandfather from doing this, and he said sorry that one time so everybody forgave and forgot.
Sounds pretty horrible, right? I mean, God, what kind of horrible Hokage would let someone torture a child and just do nothing?!
Oh yeah, your dad, Naruto! He knows allll about this but he does nothing 🙂 🙂 🙂
Naruto’s Talk no Jutsu to Nagato is unsatisfying because Kishimoto didn’t have an answer to how Naruto was going to change the shinobi system and protect the little countries, leading to how Kishimoto didn’t make Naruto change the shinobi system and protect the little countries.
Sasuke vs. Naruto ended up being “bad idea” vs “no ideas” and the “happy ending” is that “no ideas” won. Konan and Neji were conveniently killed off and the plot lines they represented never brought up again.
As for why Kishi is like this, I can only make conjecture from his interviews. He’s never seemed like a person who had a strong artistic vision and message, but rather a person who sought to be adaptable to the market and to please. And he wrote the plot and developed the world as he went. And he started the manga as a young man (26) struggling to make it in a toxic environment, but ended the manga as a huge success… in an equally toxic environment. Young mangaka and animators in Japan are still working the same crazy hours; it’s hard not to draw comparisons to Naruto and Sasuke’s adulthood and fatherhood, and the post-Naruto Kishimoto emphasis that children need to forgive busy (Naruto), absent (Sasuke), and even abusive (Snakebert) fathers unconditionally.
5. Fugaku – Most of his bad parenting was him following tradition aka the best he knew how, but even so, his decisions with regard to Itachi are appalling responsibilities to put on such a young child; his pitting of Sasuke against Itachi was run of the mill crappy favouritism/pressure. On the plus side, he died!
4. Hiashi – Like Fugaku he basically just went along with the child abusing traditions of his clan, rather than creating new and exciting torments just for the hell of it; had a change of heart, although he never apologizes to Hinata on panel; his abuse is retroactively handwaved away as him being “strict”
3. Sauce-K (Naruto Gaiden) – Has a phone, two summons, and the ability to teleport, yet can’t write a letter or make a single call once in like a decade; nearly kills his kid when he first sees her, then belittles and invalidates her totally legitimate questions; the narrative basically absolves him of any lasting bitterness from his daughter from this, or any of his other shitty decisions (”lmao what do you mean I should train my own kid? I’d much rather train that kid over there that looks like NARUTO”). Remember kids, Father knows best!!!
2. Rasa – Specifically chose to create a child for the purpose of exploiting and manipulating that child, but intended something positive out of it (wanted to make a strong living weapon to protect the village he was responsible for); fucked up over and over until his ignominious death
1. Oroch!maru – Specifically chose to create a child for the purpose of exploiting and manipulating that child; said exploitation and manipulation was not in the slightest for any good purpose, but basically “for the lulz”.
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY I HOPE YOUR PARENTS ARE BETTER THAN THIS
Orochimaru: “People would be surprised to see me freely waltzing around Konoha doing whatever the hell I want.”
I WONDER WHY
I hate how Naruto just handwaves Orochimaru’s past away. His whole justification is “It’s in the past, but we’re cooperating now.” Apparently Orochimaru is analyzing Danzo’s old research, which is quickening Sasuke’s investigation. Which makes zero sense. Danzo didn’t do that much research on Kaguya and her alien brood. Is he analyzing Sumire’s seals? What was he doing all the years before Sumire showed up? Nobody cares. He can do as many clone experiments as he wants so long as he continues helping Konoha.
Even if Orochimaru is merely reading old reports, the situation is still sketchy. Poor Anko has her childhood abuser in her workplace and she has no clue. I strongly believe that Shino doesn’t recognize Orochimaru in the conference: it’s implied that Orochimaru is disguising his face, and Shino seems more confused/suspicious than shocked. If Naruto hasn’t told Anko or Iruka about Orochimaru’s identity, he definitely wouldn’t tell Shino.
Regardless, there is so much wasted potential with Anko. If she’d been Mitsuki’s teacher, we could have had some delicious drama and maybe even some karma.
Yamato has the saddest story in all of Naruto. From early childhood to adulthood, in canon, he is never TRULY accepted and included, and he is CONSTANTLY exploited, by everyone, including the heroes, and never appreciated. I love Kakashi, but one of the reasons why I don’t personally ship Kaka//Yama (even though I’m fine with translating etc for it) is that Kakashi’s behavior to Yamato actually really bothers me considering that there is no pay off. Yamato is constantly doing so so so much trying to get approval and he never gets it. He just gets dicked around over and over. One at a time, how Kakashi teases and manipulates Yamato is funny, but as a pattern it’s not funny at all. I just can’t stand the idea of Kakashi letting Yamato sit alone on guard duty like that for years, retiring, and Naruto being basically oblivious, to the point that Naruto, the fucking Hokage, seems almost surprised to see Yamato there in Scarlet Spring.
Yamato just wants to BELONG, he wants BONDS, which once upon a time was the goddamn theme of Naruto. All the other sad orphan boys get to have this (Gaara, Sasuke, Kakashi, Naruto himself). Yamato? LMAO Yamato we’ll call you if we need wood release or a bill paid. Otherwise nobody cares about you, nobody notices the pain you’re in, and nobody wants to spend time with you.
Orochimaru, the guy who had a finger in probably 50% of the atrocities in the series, gets all his dreams come true (eternal youth and the ability to study anything and anyone he wants without any pesky morality stopping him), Yamato gets worse than nothing, and that’s fucked up for a supposed happy ending.
Orochimaru: “People would be surprised to see me freely waltzing around Konoha doing whatever the hell I want.”
I WONDER WHY
I hate how Naruto just handwaves Orochimaru’s past away. His whole justification is “It’s in the past, but we’re cooperating now.” Apparently Orochimaru is analyzing Danzo’s old research, which is quickening Sasuke’s investigation. Which makes zero sense. Danzo didn’t do that much research on Kaguya and her alien brood. Is he analyzing Sumire’s seals? What was he doing all the years before Sumire showed up? Nobody cares. He can do as many clone experiments as he wants so long as he continues helping Konoha.
Even if Orochimaru is merely reading old reports, the situation is still sketchy. Poor Anko has her childhood abuser in her workplace and she has no clue. I strongly believe that Shino doesn’t recognize Orochimaru in the conference: it’s implied that Orochimaru is disguising his face, and Shino seems more confused/suspicious than shocked. If Naruto hasn’t told Anko or Iruka about Orochimaru’s identity, he definitely wouldn’t tell Shino.
Regardless, there is so much wasted potential with Anko. If she’d been Mitsuki’s teacher, we could have had some delicious drama and maybe even some karma.
Cheloneuniverse 