#:naruto

The first story arc, i.e. pre-time-skip, is a bit rough sometimes but is fairly tightly written and fast-paced. It has a set of coherent themes and character arcs. Unfortunately, this is only 27 volumes, ending with Kakashi Gaiden.

There are 72 volumes total so that's only about a third of series. The second post-time-skip arc (Shippuden) starts off okay as it reintroduces all the new characters. Kakashi vs Itachi (and Gai's rescue~) is vol 29. As some variety from going to rescue Sasuke they go to rescue Gaara instead. I appreciate this arc because we get some more Sand Siblings and Team Gai. Most interestingly, Sakura gets her one and only battle victory. As far as battles go, it's a well-written one as Sakura shows off her new skills, intelligence, and determination. She gets a W on the board and we get two women fighting together! Chiyo's relationship to Gaara changing is genuinely touching.

The introduction of the chakra types in Shippuden feels like a very late retcon. Even though Kishimoto may have been using those concepts from the beginning, it really doesn't feel like it, especially when he avoids explaining more how more complex jutsu fit the system. It's impossible not to compare to Hunter x Hunter (although I'm trying) because as Gon and Killua progress through that story and learn more about the magic system of that world you definitely get the feeling that all the battles previously still make sense and a lot of things fall into place for the audience as well the characters. It's a bit like hitting a twist in a mystery. In order for it to feel satisfying you have to be able to look back and say "oh, I see it now". For examples of this not being done well see also: midichlorians

While Togashi is definitely the master of shonen battle manga when it comes to coming up with intentional magic systems, it's Oda who is probably the best at coming up with new powers and plot twists and making it seem like he was planning it all along. Fans call him GOda, but in interviews he's always like "at the last minute I had a sudden inspiration on how to finish this battle!" and then fans find some detail from volume 2 that has come back to pay off in volume 200 or whatever. I'm not sure sometimes how much of it is planned and how much is completely flying by the seat of his pants. If you write a manga for so long, there's no way you can remember every detail the way fans do.

And then back into the story... I cannot overemphasize how boring it is to rehash the same argument over and over again. Yamato and Sai are added to Team 7 in vol 32 and this starts the Pain arc which is... painful. It can't help but feel a bit cheap that after only a few years of training Naruto surpasses basically everybody else including his mentors. Pain apparently seeks to derive world peace from essentially causing equal pain to everyone. Fair enough, people in real life have made that argument. However, Naruto's response inspiring him to revive everyone and also kill himself so Naruto doesn't have to bloody his hands feels even more cheap and childish. I can't help but feel the philosophical questions of why is there war and how to solve cycles of violence is beyond Naruto as a character but also Naruto as a narrative.

This is also what strikes me about Sasuke vs Itachi and his interactions with Tobi afterwards. Naruto's response to "how do we solve war and heal emotional wounds" is generally a big shrug and "be nice to people". His unintentional method of seeking peace is befriending world leaders one at a time which isn't completely ineffectual. Sasuke's response to "how do we stop people from suffering" is "who cares, fuck you, my pain is more important than yours". Which is even more childish. An interesting theme that doesn't seem utilized is being trapped in one's childhood / not progressing as a person because you choose to hold on to your pain otherwise you feel you'll have nothing. Gaara's character arc towards accepting and giving love after alienation and suffering is way better by comparison. The manga keeps bringing up more mature big questions like the economic value of war but never actually addresses the various viewpoints and keeps skipping back to the interpersonal relationships. Which I mean sure, is important. But since there's no intentionality about it it just ends up feeling muddied.