The same can be said for Naruto fans, or Bleach fans, or any fandom with a long-lasting history.
People roll their eyes because they watch an episode or two and think “this is basic level convoluted drama”, and they’re completely right. But they haven’t seen the history, the implied context to which these dramas came to be, and what these characters have overcome to get to where they are now.
Not really… Especially for most of the points that it made.
Exactly what social issues did bleach or Naruto cover like real social issues. Not (NARUTO SPOILERS)
it’s hard being a kid with a demonfox soul inside you, or “my brother killed my family but didn’t really. He was actually trying to make me super strong so that I could avenge my family and the only way he thought that would happen was if he wanted a revenge on me”…
Seriously, they think I turned off Naruto because of the basic drama? No, I turned it off because hearing the orange jumpsuit ninja(???) Talk for 5 seconds made my ears crave chopsticks.
Mine too. But I stayed as I watched him compete and fail with his peers, reach their level through sheer force of will, and then come into his own.
I stayed because that world has fought 4 world wars in a very short amount of time, mostly with child soldiers and the wounds of the last war are still fresh.
I stayed because of the coup d’etat that threatened the destruction of the whole village was subverted in the worst way possible, and the redemption arc that led up to its revelation bore out throughout the entire series.
I stayed because even the worst of the worst were still redeemable in the eyes of this single child who grew up ostracized from the community he was raised in. They say that the child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth, and it’s a path he could have chosen, but didn’t.
No parents picked him up from school, other kids were encouraged to stay away from him, and instead of feeding the monster inside of him by giving in to the despair and loneliness, as many of us would, he chose unwavering love and camaraderie in face of adversity.
Naruto breaks my damn heart, and I’m inspired by his example every day. Yes I know it’s a child’s cartoon.
The real hero of Naruto rock lee and Guy Sensei as some random YouTube video I watched years ago explained it 100% correctly.
To sum it up, basically Naruto says he’s going to be the best through hard work and being the best ninja and the only person who actually does that is rock lee and eventually guy sensei. Naruto cheats with his free power-ups and sacrificing his allies throughout the series and Guy is the ultimate ninja for obvious reasons for those who finish the series- I could not get past the point where they split the stories and started doing giant animal battles, but did get a summary video that explained as much as I needed
The same can be said for Naruto fans, or Bleach fans, or any fandom with a long-lasting history.
People roll their eyes because they watch an episode or two and think “this is basic level convoluted drama”, and they’re completely right. But they haven’t seen the history, the implied context to which these dramas came to be, and what these characters have overcome to get to where they are now.
Shonen series are for children, it’s literally in the name.
Not really… Especially for most of the points that it made.
Exactly what social issues did bleach or Naruto cover like real social issues. Not (NARUTO SPOILERS)
it’s hard being a kid with a demonfox soul inside you, or “my brother killed my family but didn’t really. He was actually trying to make me super strong so that I could avenge my family and the only way he thought that would happen was if he wanted a revenge on me”…
Ok but Naruto is pretty trashy compared to Star Trek.
Not a bad thing, it’s just a kids/teenagers show mostly.
Seriously, they think I turned off Naruto because of the basic drama? No, I turned it off because hearing the orange jumpsuit ninja(???) Talk for 5 seconds made my ears crave chopsticks.
To me it was the constant flashbacks and slow pace story telling.
Seriously, the first battle in Naruto against that mist ninja took literally 9 episodes.
In Dragonball Z there was an entire episode about drawing names for the upcoming tournament.
Mine too. But I stayed as I watched him compete and fail with his peers, reach their level through sheer force of will, and then come into his own.
I stayed because that world has fought 4 world wars in a very short amount of time, mostly with child soldiers and the wounds of the last war are still fresh.
I stayed because of the coup d’etat that threatened the destruction of the whole village was subverted in the worst way possible, and the redemption arc that led up to its revelation bore out throughout the entire series.
I stayed because even the worst of the worst were still redeemable in the eyes of this single child who grew up ostracized from the community he was raised in. They say that the child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth, and it’s a path he could have chosen, but didn’t.
No parents picked him up from school, other kids were encouraged to stay away from him, and instead of feeding the monster inside of him by giving in to the despair and loneliness, as many of us would, he chose unwavering love and camaraderie in face of adversity.
Naruto breaks my damn heart, and I’m inspired by his example every day. Yes I know it’s a child’s cartoon.
The real hero of Naruto rock lee and Guy Sensei as some random YouTube video I watched years ago explained it 100% correctly.
To sum it up, basically Naruto says he’s going to be the best through hard work and being the best ninja and the only person who actually does that is rock lee and eventually guy sensei. Naruto cheats with his free power-ups and sacrificing his allies throughout the series and Guy is the ultimate ninja for obvious reasons for those who finish the series- I could not get past the point where they split the stories and started doing giant animal battles, but did get a summary video that explained as much as I needed
Guy is genuinely amazing, agreed.
Still nerdy if one also enjoy other anime stuff more than the average person. I consider anime nerds as nerds.