With the fate of the world in the balance, Naruto decides to bet everything on THAT justu to win. It doesn't go well -- in every sense of the word.
The Good
Once we get past an astoundingly idiotic opening that literally makes me embarrassed for all involved -- from the creator, publisher, staff, and all the way to the readers who have to endure it --, the action picks up to have a pretty exciting battle.Kaguya is a powerful opponent that can create dimensions on a whim. However, her abilities are so impressive that it's confusing how she hasn't defeated Naruto and Sasuke yet. All she ever seems to do is counter and evade. Let's see the lady get more proactive.
The Bad
Last week when Naruto and Sasuke were putting their faith in "that" jutsu, I honestly thought this was going to maybe be the thing Hashirama gave Sasuke earlier or something the Sage of Six Paths taught them. I'll certainly admit this. I really didn't see this coming **he said in a sullen tone**.
We are coming ever closer to hitting the four year mark of this war "saga". As a writer with as much experience as Kishimoto must have gained, he should know better than try to pull something like this. He seems to want me to think of Kaguya has the ultimate in evil for this world, a vengeful god among humans to be taken deadly serious. Yet at the same time he honestly expects be the believe that she could be shocked by a bishōnen gag? You have got to be effin' kidding me!
This sort of thing can't be undone. Now that I know that she's vulnerable to something so stupid, I can't take her seriously anymore. She's been diminished. Having this at the beginning of the chapter undermines much of the following events that are far more interesting. This sort of humor is best kept in the ROCK LEE Spin-Off series and not artificially shoe-horned into canon plot line.
Verdict 2/5
Any responsible editor should have made sure that ham-handed attempt at comedy had hit the cutting room floor. I honestly believe that Kishimoto is attempting to break some sort of record for the longest war arc in manga history, and he's needlessly stretching events out in the practice of reaching that goal. This war officially began some time in the later months of 2010, and we've just started crossing the half way point of 2014. The problem is that this arc should have concluded years ago. My patience has worn well past thin and into the realm of nonexistent. Extending things with such a poor taste in humor does little to improve my mood with this series.
I would have seriously considered rating this issue at least a 3 out of 5 or higher if that embarrassment hadn't wasted valuable time and pages. The only reason I'm even giving it a 2 is that events actually started to get interesting about half way through. I could have gone far lower. As a writer, you can't tell the audience that time is short then spend so much of it messing around on bad jokes.
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About the Author
 | Kristoffer Remmell (FoxxFireArt) is a freelance graphic artist, writer, and over all mystery geek. Follow for news updates: @AnimeVicers/@FoxxFireArt / http://kristofferremmell.tumblr.com/ |
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