Naruto Chapter 700 Discussion

Terrestrious said:
700 chapters and finally done. I set here not entirely sure how I'd rate the series as a whole so I'm probably going to ramble on about my thoughts on it until I reach a decision but before that, this chapter wasn't very good. It clearly felt like an epilogue type chapter with 699 being the true "finale" so to speak, and it kinda works well as that. I wasn't that interested and I kinda forgot a lot of the stuff that happened and it was just a few days ago that I finished it. It's mostly just shipping, which I don't care about, and I knew most of these results from earlier. Sakura & Sasuke ended up together is gross.

But time for it as a whole. Or rather part 2, as a whole. Part 1 was a fairly solid shonen series that was really good at executing the emotional core of the protagonist and those he paralleled with like Gaara. I'd probably give that an 8, it was generally good stuff. The second half, and the far more lengthy portion of the series of course, is a lot more of a mixed bag.

You know, I convinced myself I was going to go and ramble on about my thoughts. About my disappointment in the use of the supporting cast (sans Shikamaru, honestly think he feels more like a main character than Sakura does, which is fine, Shikamaru is awesome), about how several of the plot-lines ended up (Kaguya for example, or how after getting caught Yamato's plot is told resolved in like six panels spread out across hundreds of chapters it feels like). But I think ultimately, if I'm going to spend my time ruminating on Naruto, I should just be concise and talk about it's central conflict, the one between Naruto & Sasuke.

Outside of just being spoiled of it, it was obvious that Sasuke was going to end up being redeemed. It was obvious Naruto was going to win him back, it was all throughout the manga's DNA that it was going to, hence the Talk no Jutsu. Which by the way, I like because to me Talk no Jutsu just translates to the series caring more about the characters than the action, which is where my interests typically lie anyway. Especially with the direction Part 2 took, I found a lot of the fights kinda boring here but that's neither here nor there. I'm a bit conflicted on the Sasuke arc because I want to love it.

The most frustrating thing about Sasuke's plot-line is how well it should gel with me. To copy what I wrote to a friend because I'm too lazy to reiterate my points, "I do like the direction Sasuke takes after joining the war and I do like, not necessarily the final fight, but the aftermath of the final fight. I think Kishimoto executed that moment really well, the use of the flashbacks and thoughts from Sasuke, the expressions, he drew that chapter really well and several moments were effective based on the drawing (like Sasuke's expression after Naruto said it hurt seeing Sasuke isolate himself again), and the final imagery of the lack of arm, and blood hand holding reinforcing their relationship was pretty strong too, and came as a shock when turning that page. I want to praise that but the thought running through my head was "I really wish this worked for me, I really wish the build-up matched" because like, this kinda ridiculously loyalty, saving someone trying to martyr themselves, is totally up my wheelhouse. But the two biggest problems is that I don't think what we saw of Naruto & Sasuke's relationship prior to his departure warranted the dedication that Naruto held for him (which granted, they did pin somewhat on Sakura making him promise), and I feel the stuff about their childhood probably should've been established prior to the arc where he was basically leaving. Like I really liked Gungrave which had a similar best friends turn enemy kinda thing to it but that worked a lot more for me because it did a much better job of establishing a strong bond between those two protagonists. Here, it just seemed like kinda your typical shonen rival relationship, until Sasuke decides he's going to run off to Oorochimaru, once that threat's established, we start getting deeper insight into what Sasuke means to Naruto, and while I think it connects fine to what we know about both of them, coming in at that point feels a bit forced. The other problem being Sasuke just going completely off the rails after finding out Itachi's backstory and deciding that everyone in Konoha needed to die. Like, if he didn't have that extreme drop, I think this could've really worked for me because in isolation, I do really like that conclusion chapter to their conflict, but as a whole, Sasuke was too all over the place."

The short version of that is if their relationship dynamic was a lot stronger earlier on/if got more time to absorb into it prior to the threat of Sasuke's departure and/or if Sasuke didn't nosedive into insanity against all inhabitants of Konoha, I think this plot line would've really worked for me because in a bubble I do think Kishimoto nailed the ending of their arc. Like, even Sasuke's reason for fighting Naruto after the whole Kaguya stuff, I thought that logically lined up with his character profile, revealed some essence of likability in the manner that he was trying to essentially martyr himself, and made it more plausible for him to be brought back. It's just, I can read that chapter and tell that if things were handled a little differently in the middle of the story or near the beginning, then this would've really worked on me. I could've loved this, instead I have a detached appreciation for the ending execution and a frustration at what the build was.

Anyway, I've been mulling between whether or not Naruto is a 6 or a 7 for me and ultimately I decided to go for a 7. It's close but ultimately I always lean more favourably. And there was still a lot of this series I really liked, even if the moments became fewer and fewer between in the final stretches. Also, just cause I never mentioned it anywhere else, one of my favourite moments of the past two hundred chapters, maybe my favourite, was Naruto's goodbye to Minato where he was answering everyone of Kushina's words from before she died. It was really sweet, their was a long space between them so it felt more touching revisiting it, and I think it's moments like that that Kishimoto really nailed.