Naruto - Part 1

[Colossal Spoons]

Can anybody hook me up with a place to read manga online? My usual site went down. Thanks

 

[Lord]

My favorite is kissmanga since i don't have to click in order to advance to every page, as it displays all the pages in a row, all i have to do in each chapter is scroll down, saves a lot of time.

 

[Liam_H]

I use mangapark which also gives you the option of displaying chapters that way.

 

[Avangarde]

Can anybody hook me up with a place to read manga online? My usual site went down. Thanks

Depends on how eager you are on the release. If you want it asap before it even goes to print in Japan then MangaPanda is where it's at.
http://www.mangapanda.com/93/naruto.html

....or if you want to wait an extra day for better quality scans and include translator notes then Manga Stream is the way to go.
http://mangastream.com/

 

[Herolee10]

On another note, anyone else puzzled as to why the Nine Fox made it a big deal at times in the past on helping Naruto so that he (Nine Tails) won't die if Naruto Dies, but that it's later established by Minato that the 9 tails can come back to life?

 

[Lord]

Kishi probably retconed that, but it could be explained as the nine tails not being exactly evil and having grown atached to Naruto.

 

[Herolee10]

Kishi probably retconed that, but it could be explained as the nine tails not being exactly evil and having grown atached to Naruto.

A lot of things have been rectonned since the start of the series, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.lol

Heck, I would have never have thought that "Tobi" was as young as he was until it was revealed that he was really Obito, let alone on how he was no older than kakashi when he created the mess in Konoha involving the Nine Tails.

And anyone else feel like a the biggest theme that this story is trying to tell is that..."No matter how evil you once were, all will be forgiven if you had a sad reason for becoming that bad or if you do one final great act before you die?".lol

 

[Lord]

Well, Star Wars had that in a way, with Darth Vader's redemption being only killing the Emperor, even with all he had done, like being partly responsible for blowing a whole planet.

Either way, i also don't like this theme they seem to have gone with, However, for me the worst ofender was the child of prophecy bit, damn, how i hate that. Tired of "chosen one" prophecies being put in fantasy stories, and Naruto was definitelly one that was more interesting when it was the story of a "loser" winning over his village through his oun willpower to improve and be accepted.

Remember his Neji fight, talking about how destiny is not yet written and going against what is expected of you, now he is a messiah and there was a whole prophecy about him, they say that it may not be about him, but still...

I still remember the good old days where Zabusa had a heart but still wasn't exactly a good person, or Orochimaru who may have been influenced by the death of his parents but was still an incredibly f****d up sadist.

 

[Herolee10]

Well, Star Wars had that in a way, with Darth Vader's redemption being only killing the Emperor, even with all he had done, like being partly responsible for blowing a whole planet.

Either way, i also don't like this theme they seem to have gone with, However, for me the worst ofender was the child of prophecy bit, damn, how i hate that. Tired of "chosen one" prophecies being put in fantasy stories, and Naruto was definitelly one that was more interesting when it was the story of a "loser" winning over his village through his oun willpower to improve and be accepted.

Remember his Neji fight, talking about how destiny is not yet written and going against what is expected of you, now he is a messiah and there was a whole prophecy about him, they say that it may not be about him, but still...

I still remember the good old days where Zabusa had a heart but still wasn't exactly a good person, or Orochimaru who may have been influenced by the death of his parents but was still an incredibly f****d up sadist.

Ah, those were the days.

I think the thing that I miss about Naruto the most, back when it was at its best, was the feeling of the characters being on a grand adventure to unravel a mystery/plot, that was laced with great character development (that wasn't rushed) and a healthy amount of action and suspense.

Now, almost everyone is all powerful and it's been a overdrawn and prolonged battle between Naruto and everyone against the Ten Tails.

Plus, for a guy that's supposed to be one of the strongest right now, Naruto has like the least amount of skill set and techniques available to him when it comes to diversity. Most of his abilities derive on transformations or modes.

He can't do anything else with his wind element other than using it for his Rasengan.

He doesn't really know how to use scrolls to conjure up things all that well and he can't do other types of ninjitsu other than shadow clones and transformation techniques (aside from his rasengans of course).

Plus, I find it so unbelievable that almost every character that used to hate each other with a passion and for understandable reasons, are now all suddenly best of friends, whether it be Naruto and Kuruma, or Itachi and Sasuke, etc.

And I still find Sakura a pain to watch.lol she's like the most spoiled and shallow female character within the entire anime, and it's just pitiful to watch Naruto still pining for her when she's clearly friend zoned him when he could be getting it on with the much better choice in Hinata.lol

 

[Lord]

Yeah, i allways thought that it made more sence for Naruto/ Hinata, in Part II it even seemed like Naruto no longer cared for Sakura, but nowadays i'm not even sure what Kishi wants to do when it comes to pairs.

Naruto not learning any more jutsus is one of the things i don't like either, him learning summoning Jutsu and Rasengan brought some great moments, after the timeskip he should have returned with some new techniques. I liked how in Part I he seemed easy to beat, but then in battle would have some very inventive strategies, not the best tactician, but he would see things other ninjas didn't and use that in his advantage.

Maybe this is more of a personal preference, since many seem to like this being about kids, but i wish Kishi had waited until the characters were closer to adulthood before they became top tiers. Kakashi was already a prodigy, then Orochimaru, Itachi and possibly almost half of the Akatsuki were even bigger prodigies, Prime 3rd Hokage possibly the top you could get in the power scale, that was a good roof, there was a maximum of power and the characters could reach the end of the story as powerful ninjas, but didn't necessarily need to reach the absolute top of the scale.

Naruto was pretty much like Jiraiya, seemed like a failure but had the will to improve and more heart than most other ninjas, therefore, he had potencial to become top tier with time, then he also had the 9 tails to give him a boost, so he could stand on equal ground against a prodigy who traines as much as he did (Sasuke).

I think Part II didn't start bad, the Rescue Gaara arc was entertaining, and while that revival technique needed a little more information, it was on a whole good, Sakura did defeat an Akatsuki, but it was mostly that old lady who defeated Sasori, she was like any other puppet, so it was an acceptable defeat. Sai arc was kinda boring, but it was when Naruto had a power boost through training in a few days and then defeated Kakuzo that it started to go downhill for me.

I didn't really have a problem with Tobi being serious and having his oun schemes, but i don't think he should have been revealed as the leader of the Akatsuki, Pain had already been hyped way too much by that point.

 

[Herolee10]

Yeah, i allways thought that it made more sence for Naruto/ Hinata, in Part II it even seemed like Naruto no longer cared for Sakura, but nowadays i'm not even sure what Kishi wants to do when it comes to pairs.

Naruto not learning any more jutsus is one of the things i don't like either, him learning summoning Jutsu and Rasengan brought some great moments, after the timeskip he should have returned with some new techniques. I liked how in Part I he seemed easy to beat, but then in battle would have some very inventive strategies, not the best tactician, but he would see things other ninjas didn't and use that in his advantage.

Maybe this is more of a personal preference, since many seem to like this being about kids, but i wish Kishi had waited until the characters were closer to adulthood before they became top tiers. Kakashi was already a prodigy, then Orochimaru, Itachi and possibly almost half of the Akatsuki were even bigger prodigies, Prime 3rd Hokage possibly the top you could get in the power scale, that was a good roof, there was a maximum of power and the characters could reach the end of the story as powerful ninjas, but didn't necessarily need to reach the absolute top of the scale.

Naruto was pretty much like Jiraiya, seemed like a failure but had the will to improve and more heart than most other ninjas, therefore, he had potencial to become top tier with time, then he also had the 9 tails to give him a boost, so he could stand on equal ground against a prodigy who traines as much as he did (Sasuke).

I think Part II didn't start bad, the Rescue Gaara arc was entertaining, and while that revival technique needed a little more information, it was on a whole good, Sakura did defeat an Akatsuki, but it was mostly that old lady who defeated Sasori, she was like any other puppet, so it was an acceptable defeat. Sai arc was kinda boring, but it was when Naruto had a power boost through training in a few days and then defeated Kakuzo that it started to go downhill for me.

I didn't really have a problem with Tobi being serious and having his oun schemes, but i don't think he should have been revealed as the leader of the Akatsuki, Pain had already been hyped way too much by that point.

Agreed with all of this.

Yeah, it's weird on how Naruto came out of his 2-3 year training with Jiraiya from the skip with virtually nothing really big to show for and yet mastered all of these complex forms and nature manipulation within an year's worth during Part 2 itself.

And I just think that they went overboard with trying to make almost every major villain into a tragic figure who only became a villain because of some sad upbringing or moment in their lives.

It's like, can't a character be evil just for the sake of being evil?

 

[Lord]

Yeah, the early villains didn't get that much of that, poor Gato died an horrible man, poor guy Yet, people like the Akatsuki leader and Kabuto now get a flashback explaining their behavior. I think Kishi has become tired and changed his views way too much with these years passing. You can see the begining seeming to be a very well tied narrative, while as years pass his writting becomes more sloppy.

What did you think of the Itachi twist by the way?

 

[Herolee10]

Yeah, the early villains didn't get that much of that, poor Gato died an horrible man, poor guy Yet, people like the Akatsuki leader and Kabuto now get a flashback explaining their behavior. I think Kishi has become tired and changed his views way too much with these years passing. You can see the begining seeming to be a very well tied narrative, while as years pass his writting becomes more sloppy.

What did you think of the Itachi twist by the way?

Agreed on all accounts.

In regards to Itachi, I'm kind of mixed on it.

On one hand, I thought that it somewhat provided a good twist on things, but on the other hand, I don't like on how they've tried so desperately to portray him as a saint since then.

I mean regardless of why Itachi did what he did, the guy went on to help kill and abduct several innocent people for Obito and Pain, and I seriously doubt that he could justify it by saying that he was trying to either prevent a war or to protect sasuke.

Plus, I feel that it also added another issue that I've been noticing as of late when it comes to the hidden Leaf village. Honestly, based on everything that's been revealed about its history so far, I can't expect to see on why anyone would think that the village or most of its hokages and leaders would be considered as admirable.

Heck, I didn't like it on how Naruto was just tossed into Jail and treated like a criminal right away from the 3rd and 5th Naruto Shippuden films, and how they justified it as duty and honor.

But then again, I think this all boils down to the cultural differences and how Japan, as a culture, seems to have derived from a time where sacrifices and bloodshed, no matter how cruel and twisted, would be deemed honorable if it was done for some "noble" reason.

 

[Lord]

I wouldn't put much stock in the movies, they're non-canon and Basically better animated fillers. shonen movies also usually don't show the quality of the anime/ manga they take from. One Piece has a variety of both, bad films and incredibly entertaining ones. Hunter x Hunter has had 2 films, i only watched the first, and it was very bad compared to the amazing main franchise.

Yeah, i allways though that the twist wasn't exactly bad, i allways though there was something fishy about the whole Uchiha massacre, or him not acting alone. However Itachi shouldn't have been portrayed as such a good person, his actions may be for what he perceives as the greater good, or he may have kept his brother alive for Uchiha pride or something like that, but turning him into the saint he is right now doesn't add up.

Once Sasuke learned the truth he should have gone: "alright, one down, three to go", no "my brother was a hero, i will avenge him".

It's also a shame we didn't see more Naruto travelling to learn about the world and what needs to be changed, i remember in another site a poster talking about that, and i have to agree.

 

[InJustice]

It's also a shame we didn't see more Naruto travelling to learn about the world and what needs to be changed, i remember in another site a poster talking about that, and i have to agree.

Thinking about that now...it would've been fantastic to have Naruto travel to other countries (who IIRC, have a rocky relationship with Konoha) to figure out political issues between Konoha and them, while at the same time making a name for himself by actually changing the world. In retrospect, Naruto's journey as it stands now is terribly barren...In fact, his whole demeanour and attitudes to issues are unrealistic (I know this is a shonen manga, and realism shouldn't be a factor...but I have a hard time suspending disbelief that Naruto's attitudes would help him solve tough issues).

 

[ares834]

Spoiler

I like how Minato just pulls sage mode out of his ass only to get punked by Madara. That's some good writing.

 

[Lord]

While i think the war arc is being particularly bad, i think the manga was bad way before that, though it's interesting that two years ago most negative opinions weren't as easily acceptable.

 

[TheLastBlade]

While i think the war arc is being particularly bad, i think the manga was bad way before that, though it's interesting that two years ago most negative opinions weren't as easily acceptable.

I'm starting to question if Naruto was even good to begin with.

 

[Lord]

I think it was, though i've seen my fair share of haters and even remember a guy who would even use "naruto fan" as an insult and still defends to this day that it has allways been a badly written and "edgy" rip-off of Hunter X Hunter

 

[InJustice]

I think Naruto Part I was a great manga to read, but Shippudden IMO is when things started getting lazy and wasted potential.

 

[Lord]

Agreed, Part I had some flaws, but it was still good and set up various interesting things. There was an interesting mythology and the villains were fascinating.

 

[InJustice]

Agreed, Part I had some flaws, but it was still good and set up various interesting things. There was an interesting mythology and the villains were fascinating.

Also, Part I had an emphasis on growth, team dynamic and missions that I feel were ignored (not emphasized as much, or cheapened) in Shippuden.

 

[Lord]

Agreed, Naruto was also progressing and had some good street smarts, he learned new techniques and tried to improve, he was an underdog and even if him being the 4th's son was obvious, he was still not naturally good at everything.

The team aspect was great, though it's interesting that the main team had the least interesting team dynamic, in least when it comes to the trios themselves, since Kakashi was allways great to see.

For me, the "child of destiny" part was a spit on much of what i loved in the series early on

 

[Crimz]

In part 1 the fighting was tactical and gripping, now it is all about who has the biggest flashiest jutsu. I am also extremely disappointed on how supporting characters were pushed to the back, there is definitely a dip in quality.

 

[Lord]

Forgot to post the image for volume 2 this week