Bleach and Naruto are supposed to be in their final respective arcs already, and are implied to be ending this year or next year. And I am much disappointed by these two mangas’ developments and plots at the present. Reading them is not as delightful as before; it almost felt like a chore that I have to get through every Wednesday.
Bleach, at its early chapters/episodes, has been extremely kick-ass. It had stood out from other mangas/animes for it was filled with electrifying twists,
interesting characters, and badass action.
However, its best arc, for me, has always been the Soul Society Arc (the
rescue mission for Rukia). It was
well-written, well-paced, and just totally awesome. It was Bleach’s
peak, in my opinion, and its quality has been in a gradual decline
afterwards. I also approve of its
succeeding arcs up to the Fake Karakura Town Arc, but they weren’t as exciting as
the Soul Society Arc.
Bleach started actually sucking during the final battle between Ichigo
and Aizen. It felt to me that it lost
its kickassery, creativity, and immense enjoyableness. The Lost Substitute Shinigami Arc (with its Fullbring nonsense) was bland and needless. And
this current arc that features the Quincy – though it provided us the true background
of Ichigo and his parents, which was fascinating – is generally
underwhelming. Of course, there were
still flashes of awesomeness – like every time Kenpachi Zaraki makes an
appearance since his character development remain fantastic and we are assured
that something badass will happen with him around, or when the captains who
lost their Bankais seemed to have figured out the way to win even without them –
which kindle my enthusiasm and delight; but the manga fail to sustain those
flashes.
Kenpachi Zaraki's badassery... |
...makes him Bleach's most consistent awesome thing. |
Too bad that reputation took a dive when Ichigo has to save him from some girls. |
Compared to Pain and Orochimaru, Tobi and Madara fail in comparison as antagonists in Naruto. And the “big reveal” of Tobi’s real identity was a game-changing development but not at all mindblowingly awesome (it actually felt like “meh” instead). Still, the stakes and plot kept Naruto in “must read” status. There were still lots of badass action and developments. In fact, it looks as if that it was heading to an epic finale. Sasuke joins Naruto’s side. Team Kakashi is reunited. The four dead Hokages are resurrected – or, rather, re-animated – to aid Naruto. The Third Shinobi War was heading to its climax. It was great.
And then everything went downhill
when Obito (who adopted the name “Tobi” and had been pretending to be Madara)
had a change of heart. The real Madara was
able to manipulate Obito into truly reviving himself and stealing Hashirama’s
chakra from him. As a villain, Madara is
powerful but boring. Further
developments didn’t improve the blandness that Madara as a villain infused to
the story. It was revealed that Naruto
and Sasuke are reincarnations of the sons of the “Sage of Six Paths” (ugh). And
the revelation of the origin of chakra did not appeal to me. These made Naruto unreadable and it totally undermines the ludicrous but
awesome ninja mythos it has. But the
thing that pissed me most is that Kakashi lost his Sharingan! When that
happened, it finally made me realize that I’ve lost all enjoyment reading Naruto.
I could have eventually forgiven the horrible costumes, the boring villain, and unexciting mess of plot developments... |
...but this was the last straw. Naruto sucks. |
Still I read Bleach and Naruto even
though I am not pleased with these two mangas now. Why? It’s
because I’ve been following and loving their stories ever since I was in high
school, and since they are supposed to be in their final arcs already, it felt
that I owe it to them to see it through the end – even when they are generally
sucking. That is the curse of
fandom.
Besides, I am also holding on to
the hope that, eventually, things will get better. It’s still not too late for improvements happening
on their plots. The stories can still
become epic at moment’s notice. It’s
still possible for them to end in a high note.
And I can’t miss that. (Again,
the curse of fandom)
Still, I wish they have been
consistently good as One Piece and Fairy Tail. Despite the slow pace sometimes, these two
are legitimately the most delightful reads among the major mangas (Kuroko No Basuke is my most favorite manga nowadays but I don’t consider it a “major” title).
No comments:
Post a Comment