Episode 035 - February 11, 2013 - What is Shonen Manga? | Shinmai Fukei Kiruko-san

Manga^3 Episode 035

Welcome to Manga^3, your one stop for manga news and commentary, for the week of February 11, 2013. This week we start the first of a four episode mini series discussing the four main classifications of manga. Any fan of manga should already know these, but anyone new to manga could use a crash course on what the different types of manga are and what to expect from them. We also talk about one of the newer series in Weekly Shonen Jump that has not yet made it into Weekly Shonen Jump Online yet. 

Listen to Old Episodes Here!

Buy The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia Here!

Episode 034 - February 4, 2013 - Overarching Goals and The Legend of Koizumi

Manga^3 Episode 034

Welcome to Manga^3, your one stop for manga news and commentary, for the week of February 4, 2013. This week we talk about overarching goals in manga, and whether having them is a good or bad thing, and which kinds of manga need them more than others. We also discuss a series that will probably never be released in the West, no matter how much mahjong or how many Moon Nazis it throws at our faces. 

Listen to Old Episodes Here!

Episode 033 - January 28, 2013 - What Does Simultaneous Actually Mean and Bood Lad

Manga^3 Episode 033

Welcome to Manga^3, your one stop for manga news and commentary, for the week of January 28, 2013. This week we clear the air about why the latest chapters of Jump series seem to be floating around the internet, and why they are the chapters after what we get in Viz's Weekly Shonen Jump. We also take a break from Fairy Tail and talk about a series that only just came out in the States. 

Listen To Old Episode Here!

Buy Blood Lady Vol. 1 Here!

Episode 032 - January 21, 2013 - Shonen Hero Asexuality and Fairy Tail Vol. 5

Manga^3 Episode 032

Welcome to Manga^3, your one stop for manga news and commentary, for the week of January 21, 2013. This week we take a look at one of our biggest pet peeves. Teenage shonen heroes that just don't notice girls. We also continue in our discussion of Fairy Tail with volume 5. 

Listen to old episodes here!

Manga^3 Episode 031 - January 14, 2013 - Don't Be a Jerk Just Enjoy Your Manga and Fairy Tail Vol. 4

Manga^3 Episode 031

Welcome to Manga^3, your one stop for manga news and commentary, for the week of January 14, 2013. This week we take yet another relevant topic and talk about the penchant of manga fandom to split into argumentative factions. Or, people that look for the littlest thing to argue about with other fans. We might also mention shippers in there at one point. We also continue our look at Fairy Tail with volume 4. 

Listen to old episodes here!

Weekly Shonen Jump Alpha Recap April 30 and May 7, 2012

Derek: So, we never did get around to doing last week's commentary, did we?

Monorum: No, we haven't.

Derek: Yeah… wonder why that happened.

Monorum: I have no idea but as that saying goes, "Better late than super late."

Derek: Mh, yeah, it couldn't possibly have anything to do with both of us being horribly lazy slackers, would it?

Monorum: Err, let's cut to the chase. So, how about you summarize what's happened in One Piece?

Weekly Shonen Jump Alpha Recap April 23, 2012

Derek: Hey there folks, in our ongoing effort to provide content for this blog, we're starting a brand new weekly segment, Weekly Shonen Jump Alpha Recap or WSJAR for short. In it we'll summarize the events of the most recent chapters published in WSJA, and provide a little commentary on said chapters. I'm Derek...

Monorum: And I'm Monorum.

Derek: And we're two lazy hacks that need to force ourselves to actually update this website.

Monorum: I'm not a lazy hack, I just have a lot on my plate besides writing itself.

Derek: Sure… So anyway, why don't you tell the good people how this column came to be?

Monorum: Well Derek and I happen to frequent a forum on fanfiction.net. A One Piece forum, mind you. Ever since I bought my subscription for Weekly Shounen Jump Alpha to show my support for making digital manga more fruitful, I had to cut down on reading manga online. Which also meant that I had to avoid any spoiler threads on forums. At first I was reluctant to stop, but I wanted to provide my input on the recent chapters of series I enjoy reading so as to enjoy them more, even if I am just expressing my own heartfelt opinions on them. Derek here, happened to catch on to that and decided that since we both are subscribed to WSJA, why not do the WSJAR together and that is why this article is here.

Derek: Mostly I figured that if he was going to be sharing his opinion on the chapters, he might as well do it on the site. And since I wanted to do the same, I decided that we could try out a conversation kind of piece. Now, here's how it's going to work, one of us will summarize what happens in the chapter, and then we'll both give our opinions. Starting, this week, with Bleach. 

Magazine Reviews: Shonen Jump October/November 2011 - Issue 9

Introduction
I'm always on the lookout for new things to review, new blog posts to write. I'd been toying with the idea of reviewing the American Shonen Jump every month, but hadn't ever gotten around to it. But since this issue is a pretty important one, I figured that now was as good a time as any to try this new type of review out.

And yes, this is a little late, I was debating whether I should even write this at all, considering the magazine will be going away soon. But in the end I'd already done some work on this, and figured I might as well. It may not be as relevant anymore, but if nothing else, it'll be good for progeny or something.

Manga Reviews: Naruto Volume 10

I was going to complain about the fights still going on for a third volume, but to be honest, the fights are the most interesting part of this manga, so I don't think anyone could complain.  Or if they would complain the excessive fights won't be the only part they complain about. 

The battle between Lee and Gaara starts off poorly for Lee, as he is unable to penetrate Gaara's sand defense.  Sakura wonders why Lee doesn't use ninjutsu to attack from a distance, and Guy reveals that it isn't that Lee won't use ninjutsu, but that he can't use ninjutsu.  However, instead of being a weakness, Guy claims that this is Lee's biggest strength.  He calls out to Lee and tells him to remove them.  Lee then proceeds to remove a pair of ridiculously heavy weights from his legs.

As expected, dropping the weights allows Lee to move at superhuman speeds, and almost get through Gaara's defenses, and actually landing a few blows on him.  Guy explains how Lee's inability to use ninjutsu or genjutsu, allowed him to focus on taijutsu, making him unbeatable when it comes to the purely physical aspects of combat. 

Lee's attacks crack the layer of sand that Gaara wears directly against his skin as an armor, and it is clear that Gaara is loosing control of his blood-lust.  As illustrated in the illustration that will haunt my nightmares.

Lee uses the Fordward Lotus technique, and for a moment it looks like he's beaten Gaara.  But the Gaara he was fighting is just an empty shell that Gaara slipped out of.  Lee turns around to find himself facing a pissed off Gaara, who is loosing control of his inner demon.  If that weren't bad enough, the Lotus technique damaged Lee's body, to the point where he starts to have trouble moving. 

Guy flashbacks to when he first met Lee.  Lee was a failure much like Naruto, except that in many ways he was even more incompetent.  When Lee is unable to get strong enough to beat Neji, even though he trains four times harder than him, Guy tells him that while he may not be a genius at genjutsu, ninjutsu, or even really taijutsu, he is a genius at something much more important.  He is a genius of hard work. 

Remembering this gives Lee the strength he needs to keep fighting, knowing that Guy is standing on the sidelines, cheering him on.  So, am I the only person who thinks that Lee would have been the better pick for protagonist?

Lee uses the reverse lotus, a technique that allows him to override his limits, by opening several of the eight gates, points along the chakra network of a human body that limits how much chakra is allowed to flow, in order to keep the body from damaging itself.  Consider it like this, the human mind places mental limits on ourselves that keep us from using the full power that human muscles can use.  From what I've heard the muscles in a single human arm are strong enough to lift several tons, which is where you hear the stories of adrenaline allowing people to lift insane amounts of weight to help someone trapped under them.  The muscles are capable of producing that much power, but the tendons and bones can't stand the stress.  The eight gates are the same concept, only magic. 

Lee beats the crap out of Gaara, but at the very end Gaara turns his gourd into sand and traps Lee's left arm and leg, crushing them into uselessness.  Before Gaara can finish him off, Guy stops his attack, defending Lee.  By all accounts Lee should have won, but Kishimoto likes him some one trick, overpowered ponies.  Get used to it, it's going to happen a lot.

After the fight the medics take Lee away, while telling Guy that with the amount of damage Lee took, there is no way he could become a Ninja again. 

The fight between Choji and Dosu is anticlimax in its purest form.  Not much to say but that Dosu is a strong fighter, and Choji is kind of useless right now.

With that the fights come to an end, and the plot continues.  Which means I actually have to put some effort into this now.  Oh well.  Not really a good idea to be writing this so late at night, but I really, really need to get this done.  Ah heck, it won't even ever be on the front page with how late I am. 

What follows is far too much talking.  I really want them to get back to fights, but I really, really don't have the focus I need to be able to read all of this now.  If it were interesting walls of text that would be another matter.  Volume 10 is essentially where at this moment I feel that I've lost interest in the series. 
Like I mention, I might continue these, but right now I see little point in continuing to review this series.  Especially when I hardly see the point in reading any more of it. 


Well, I hope you enjoyed these, because I've decided to take a break from my comedic Naruto reviews.  Sure I could keep doing these until I reach the timeskip, but as it is that would be adding too much work over what will be the course of my winter semester.  So instead I'm going to focus on reviewing more recent manga, in order to hopefully get some kind of deal set up with publishers so they send me review copies of manga I might otherwise not read.  Broadening my horizons might be good for me.

As it is, the Naruto manga at my local library isn't going anywhere, and hoarding all the volumes I intended to review right now is going to get a little ridiculous.  So instead I'm going to put it aside for now, and pick them up when I have more free time, and possibly fewer weekly anime series that I review.  Starting in January I'll be watching and reviewing the Beelzebub anime, so look forward to that. 

I'll probably pick these Naruto reviews up during the summer, depending on if I stay around home.  If I travel there's no way I'm going to have several volumes of Naruto checked out, just waiting to trap me with late fees. 

I'm considering trying something like this with other series, such as Bleach, or One Piece.  The Bleach reviews are a lot less likely, considering that I'm not as fond of the series as I once was.  One Piece is, and always will be, my favorite series, so eventually I will want to write reviews for the entire series.  Including all the manga and anime DVDs.  Despite the fact that such an undertaking will take forever to do.  Chances are I'll have to play around with whatever my schedule is at the time.  As it stands I have a ton of reviews already lined up, and it isn't like there's ever going to be a shortage of reviews, whether I decide to continue to write Naruto reviews, or start up with One Piece reviews. 

Before I do any of this though I intend to write reviews for the entire Fairy Tail manga series, considering that at the moment there are only twelve volumes released, and once I do that I can add it to the list of series I review when new volumes are released.  Chances are that I'll be changing up the format for any reviews for old series that I do.  I've had fun with these Naruto reviews, but I'd like for the rest of my reviews to be more professional.  Anime reviews are a more likely source of comedic reviews from me at the moment, while manga will get a more serious approach.

So, I hope those of you that have enjoyed my Naruto reviews, please enjoy the rest of my work.  My number one goal for this blog is to entertain, and maybe educate just a little bit.  I may get behind on reviews, especially when I have a lot of school work.  And my planning is more ambitious than my motivation most of the time.  Heck, come January I'll have a review posted five out of seven days of the week.  Really need to reconsider that.  Guess the problem is that I just like to have a large variety in what I write about.  So I need to set apart a day for book reviews, a day for manga reviews, and then however many days for my anime reviews. 

Eventually though the series that I watch will come to an end.  Bakuman is actually going to end its first season this spring, though it has a second season coming out in the fall.  Which should free up a day for me.  I'll probably end up filling that day with something or other.  I do know that I have a shelf full of anime that needs reviewing.  And not episode by episode reviews, which would just be insane, but reviews of entire series, which I've been wanting to do for a while.  Before I was distracted by my brilliant idea to review multiple series on a weekly basis.  Just watch, Fairy Tail is going to end up going forever.  And because I'm too stubborn to quit, I'll be there every week, reviewing each and every new episode.

Sorry for those of you that didn't really want to read this, even if nobody reads it because it isn't going to stick around the main page for long, but I had to do a little bit of mind cleaning, to sort out what I intend to do with my blog.  And if you can't stand reading huge walls of text online, it's good for you, so stop complaining.  It's not like you're being forced to read anything scholarly.

If you liked my review, Buy the Manga Here: Naruto - Volume 10

Manga Reviews: Naruto Volume 9

Sakura and Ino's fight continues from the previous volume, with Ino using her mind control to get Sakura to surrender the fight.  This of course makes no sense, since everyone knows that it isn't Sakura surrendering, and fights would be very simple indeed if one was allowed to surrender for their opponent.  Though I guess it's more the fact that Sakura is at Ino's mercy and it isn't like she could put up a fight.

"Holy crap that's hot!"

But fight Sakura does.  Or, more accurately, Inner Sakura fights.  Which begs the question as to what Inner Sakura really is, but that's never really answered, and the whole idea is abandoned like the Ninja Info Cards.  Though I guess it's her true self, her true feelings, manifested?  Which would make sense that she doesn't show up later, considering that Sakura is truer to herself later on.  Sort of.

LIES!!!

Sakura manages to drive Ino from her mind, and the two manage to get one last punch in each, before both collapse.

They just beat each other unconscious, I think you kind of do need the medical team.

The next fight is TenTen vs Temari, and the former literally gets her ass handed to her off-screen. 

R.I.P: TenTen's Screen-Time.

Oh, and Sakura and Ino fight about Sasuke, because we so wanted to read about that.

This is what girls do all the time, right?  Fight over boys?

The next fight is Shikamaru vs. Kin, the girl from the sound trio.  Her ability...is kind of lame in comparison to the other two.  She uses bells attached to needles to distract her opponent, and then throws more needles at them when they are turned around.  Problem is needles aren't exactly the most deadly projectile weapon out there.  Maybe if she used poison coated needles it would be a different matter, but she just uses needles, and Shikamaru isn't exactly mortally wounded by them.  So he uses his shadow to knock her unconscious against the wall.

Naruto fights Kiba next, and I'm suddenly reminded that this manga does have a main character.  He hasn't done anything recently, so I think you can forgive me for forgetting.  That's the trouble of trying to juggle a large cast like this in a manga, the focus shifts away from the main character far too often.  Even if the main character isn't all that interesting, focus should always be on them, rather than switching around between other characters.

Unless that side character is Lee.  I demand more screen-time for Lee!

Naruto does a lot better than people expected, using illusions and doppelgangers to trick Kiba.  As far as fights go, it's definitely one of the high points of this volume.  Like I've said before, Kishimoto knows what he's doing when it comes to fights.  If he were a bit better at everything else then this manga would deserve all the praise it gets.

Naruto's tactics are really fun to read, combining trickery with a level of ingenuity he hasn't shown before.  Though I could do without the diagrams explaining what is going on.  Then again, this manga was written for an audience slightly younger than me.  Who knows, maybe they need them to keep track of what's going on?

Of course the fight is marred by the slap stick humor, but again, younger audience.

As Kiba is being carted off by the medics he tells Hinata that if she faces against Gara she should forfeit immediately.  And if she is paired against Neji she should also forfeit.  So of course the next fight is her vs Neji.  Neji tells her to forfeit, saying that she isn't fit to be a ninja, or a leader. Hinata doesn't want to forfeit, because she's been trying to improve herself, but Neji claims that nobody can change how they are born.

I really, really, really like the scene between Neji and Hinata.  The way he picks her apart mentally is well put together and drawn.  The emotions of the scene are conveyed excellently.  Hinata is about to give up, but Naruto supports her, and she is able to get her courage back.  Hinata puts up a good fight, in what is a beautifully drawn sequence of martial arts.  But Neji is better than her, and completely thrashes her.

Now, the Naruto fight was fun to read, but it's at this point that I'm really enjoying this volume.  The Neji/Hinata fight is a great climax for the book, it ties in the necessary back story into the fight, without breaking the flow of the action too severely.  It easily draws even a passive reader into it, and exciting them for the next volume.  Whether Kishimoto manages to capitalize on that will bear examination in the next review. 

But that's not all, after Hinata falls to Neji, Kishimoto ends the volume with one final chapter, that begins the fight between Gaara and Lee.  Of course he baits us into thinking that it'll be Chouji fighting Gaara, which gets a chuckle out of me because the panel arrangement is much better and effectively builds up the joke.  Well done Kishimoto.

This volume got progressively better towards the end.  Kishimoto tied in more than just fighting into the fights, and made some pretty important character development part of the combat.  Even though this wouldn't be a good starting point for anyone new to the series, then again none of the volumes besides volume one are good starting points, I'm going to have to say that volume nine is easily one of my favorites out of the bunch, for both the Naruto fight, and Hinata's fight.  I'll definitely make picking this one up a priority (though it will have to wait in line till I get caught up in Fairy Tail and One Piece).

If there is one Naruto volume you pick up, make it this one.

If you liked my review, Buy the Manga Here: Naruto - Volume 9

Manga Reviews: Naruto Volume 8

Having realized that there is no way anyone would read these reviews to see if they want to buy the manga, I've decided to make these be more about the parody and making fun of the series. And what better time to do so than now, at the start of a nice big stretch of nothing but fights.  So far Kishimoto hasn't disappointed with his fights, so let's see if he's left me any openings to make fun of.

They open the scrolls, revealing a summoning spell.  Iruka appears in a puff of smoke and tells them that they just barely made it in time.  He warns them to take it easy during the third part of the exams, focusing on Naruto and telling him that he worries about him.  Naruto says that ever since he got his headband he was no longer a student, and that for all his faults he's still a full fledged shinobi.  Iruka remembers how he'd been concerned about them taking the exam, and realizes that his concerns were unwarranted, and that Kakashi has a better idea of what they are capable of.

Elsewhere the Hokage and Anko are debating Orochimaru's motives for showing up during the exam.  The Hokage deduces what Anko had already heard from the horse's mouth, that Orochimaru is there for Sasuke.  They decide to continue the exam, while keeping a close eye on Orochimaru's movements.

Less than half of the contestants who passed the first part of the exam remain, but Anko is surprised that so many passed. 

To truly be badass, one must tempt wardrobe malfunction.

There are several panels that establish the mindset of the rapidly growing cast of characters, that could have easily been cut down.  I think it's at this point that Kishimoto tries make his story more interesting by introducing a larger cast of characters.  Overall it works, as the supporting cast is one of Naruto's strengths.  Too bad he realizes that juggling a large cast takes away panel time from the main characters, and cuts a lot of them more or less out of the story later on.  Even major events involving side characters only get token attention.

What's been said cannot be unsaid, but it sure as hell can be ignored.

I don't even like shipping, but I can still tell that was a dick move Kishimoto.  Oh well, sucks to be Hinata.  Actually, it sucks to be a minor character in Naruto period.  If it's not Hinata being shafted by Kishimoto, then it's Rock Lee shafting himself.  Guess those two have the most in common here.  Hmmm...

Huzzah!

The Hokage explains that the entire purpose of the exams is for them to be a miniature war between all the different Shinobi nations, the purpose being a political way of avoiding conflict, and securing economic security for the victorious nation.  Though I don't know why he bothers, since none of the dunderheads get it anyway.

Maybe because you're a freaking Ninja, and it's your job!?

Long story short, before they move on to the actual third exam they have to have preliminaries to eliminate the excessive participants.  Which means, Fights!  Lots and lots of fights!  But, since this is Shonen we're reading, I can't exactly complain about that.  That'd be like going to see a Shyamalan movie and complaining about how crappy it is.

So the real question is not if the fights go on for way too long, since that's a guarantee, but whether they're actually interesting to read.  Well, I read through this at least once, so they can't be completely horrible, can they? 

First off, I think I need to point something out that bugged me rereading this.  Namely Hayate's introduction.  Don't get me wrong, I've got nothing against his character, but the way he appears bugs me, because it's something I've noticed Kishimoto do before, and it doesn't make any sense.

Note the speed-lines in the upper left panel.  Hayate has obviously just teleported, or moved very, very fast, and appeared kneeling down like that.  What's bugging me is that prior to this page there is no indication of any movement.  Naruto, Kiba and Neji react to something, but we don't have any indication as to what it is until after their reaction.  Sequentially it makes no sense.  The lay out is completely out of order.  It's a small annoyance, but I've been noticing that panel layout isn't Kishimoto's strength.

Hayate explains that because there are visiting dignitaries watching the final exam, they have to keep the final exam "Intense, tight, and fast-moving."  In other words it's all about the showmanship.  Apparently putting on spectacles is part of Ninja curriculum in this world.  Makes sense I guess, considering they removed the "dress discreetly" portion.

OMG!! He's a ninja, and he wears Orange!!!!!!11!1!!

And he sparkles!!! He must die!!!!

They are given the option to drop out, and Kabuto takes it.  Anko mentions to the Hokage how Kabuto was an orphan that their ninja brought back from a village they destroyed.  This sets up the possibility of Kabuto being a spy.  Which is then steamrolled in a most amateurish way, as Kabuto not only blatantly thinks about how he's a spy for Orochimaru, and how he hates Konoha...

Mission accomplished, retard.

But he even goes so far as to talk to his team member about how they work for Orochimaru.  There isn't even any indication that they're trying to whisper.  They're just standing there, talking about what should be kept secret from the ninja surrounding them.  Some of which are standing RIGHT NEXT TO THEM!

That isn't even the worst part.  It's just plain sloppy storytelling.  While it was pretty obvious beforehand that Kabuto isn't a good guy, it still could have made for a decent review if handled properly.  Instead everything is dumped right there in the open, with no attempt for any kind of dramatic tension.

Sasuke's mark is bugging him, making him even more short tempered than before.  Now nothing drastic happens here, but we do see some seeds planted as to why I think Sasuke fangirls are all insane.  I won't go into detail about this yet, but let's just say that Sasuke isn't exactly prince charming here.  And he won't be getting any better. 

Actually, now that I think about it, there's something off about the relationship dynamics in Team Seven overall.  Sakura is obsessed with Sasuke, to the point of uselessness, Sasuke is self centered and the bane of my existence, and Naruto is completely clueless.  Heck, at this point their relationships are so bad that it's a miracle they want Sasuke back in the first place. 

The first fight matches Sasuke against Yoroi, Kabuto's team mate.  And good lord, before the fight even starts we have to get reactions from every minor character present.  I've also noticed something strange about the Viz translations.  Now I don't know much Japanese, and not nearly enough to be functional at all, but I do know English.  And right now I'm seeing that Viz is going out of their way to say everything in the most convoluted and complicated manner possible.  They're very wordy basically.

After a few more panels of all the other characters, Kishimoto really wants us to remember them, doesn't he?  And the fight starts.  I'll be honest, it's pretty decent.  Yoroi's power is to drain chakra, forcing Sasuke into a position where he has to rely on the curse mark if he wants to win.  It allows for proper tension, which is a must for any dramatic situation, even fights.  Especially fights.  Sasuke remembers his fight with Rock Lee, and realizes how he can win the fight.

He's not bad, but he's no Rock Lee.

To Sasuke's credit, when the curse mark threatens to take him over he does resist.  Too bad he didn't keep it up later on.  Using Rock Lee's technique Sasuke takes out Yoroi.  And Orochimaru couldn't be more excited.

And he wonders why people call him a pedophile...

The next fight Zaku, the guy with hands that blow, aka/ the professor, and Shino, the bug guy, face off.  The fight is interspersed with scenes of a confrontation between Kakashi and Orochimaru.  Overall the page layouts are quite good, and well put together.  I have to give Kishimoto credit for this one.

The third fight is Kankuro against Kabuto's other team mate.  It's a quick, but fun fight.  All the fights have been fun so far, with Kishimoto showing the foresight not to have them stretch out for too long.  Though there are a lot of fights to get through yet...

The fourth fight is Ino vs Sakura.

Catfight!!!

Before the fight starts we get a flashback (sigh), of a class Sakura and Ino took when they were younger, teaching supplementary lessons for the Kunoichi.  They used to be friends, which begs the question as to why they hate each other now.  Commence bitching between the two girls, and hellloooo Kishimoto's biggest weakness.  Writing women.  I know it's meant to come across as a rivalry, but really all I'm getting is petty bickering out of the two.  Apparently they don't realize that they can be rivals without hating each others guts. 

Anyway, Ino sets a trap for Sakura and catches her in a mind substitution technique.  Now, despite for all the fights, this volume was pretty good.  Actually, it's good because of the fights.  For its flaws the fights are really entertaining, and move at a good pace.  Characterization may not be Kishimoto's strength, but he's great at fights.  There are some undeniable flaws in the general quality of the manga, but nothing that can't be fixed with practice.  Overall a decent read, but nothing stellar.  It's got good fights, but characters are as weak as ever.

If you liked my review, Buy the Manga Here: Naruto - Volume 8

Manga Reviews: Naruto Volume 7

It's been kind of interesting, seeing how close I can follow a schedule for these reviews. I'm starting to think updating three times a week might be a bit much for me. I definitely need to be able to be flexible so I can put in time for reviews of series I am following. I hope to be able to start reviewing the Fairy Tail anime series as it updates every week. If things go well this week I should be able to start that fairly soon.

I should probably mention that this will be the last of the Naruto Manga reviews until further notice. Unless of course I can get my hands on Volume eight and beyond sooner. My campus library doesn't have them, but the town library does. So I'll definitely be able to get my hands on them, but this won't be until much later as I've scheduled several other reviews already (this was before I knew I could get my hands on the other Naruto volumes) and I want to get through those first. In the interest of catching up with this series however, I might reschedule some of my Fairy Tail and Bleach manga reviews in favor of more Naruto reviews. It all depends on what's available though, you know how libraries can be.

A thought that just occurred to me is that there are plenty of people who have complained about Naruto because of the bright clothing worn by the so called ninjas. Nobody could possibly be stealthy in bright orange. Personally I think that sneaking around in the dead of night isn't all there is to being a ninja. In fact, ninjas wearing their black uniforms during the day would stick out like sore thumbs. Which is why the Naruto ninjas are so ingenious. They look so much like anything but a ninja that nobody would suspect them.

You'll never see them coming.

Granted the orange jumpsuit is a bit much, and wearing stealthy clothes at night would be a good idea. But I still think that the best clothes for a ninja to wear are clothes that wouldn't attract attention to themselves or label them as ninja. And so far Naruto is one for two.

At the beginning of volume seven, Ino's team does a pretty good job of fighting off the sound ninja. But once the surprise of the new team's fighting tactics wears off the sound ninja fight them back with relative ease. All seems lost for our young protagonists as they are outmatched by the ruthless sound ninja. Until, at the last minute, a spark of hope arrives. Tenten!

Neji might be a little bit of help.

Of course before Neji and Tenten have to do anything, effectively hiding their true capabilities for a more dramatic date, Sasuke wakes up!

Smart Zaku. Real Smart.

You know, as far as retarded villains go. I think Zaku, the guy who shoots pressurized air from his hands, takes the stupid-cake. Seriously, when a guy who looks that evil, and has FREAKING SMOKE COMING OFF HIM!!!, asks you who hurt his friend, the right answer is "He went that way!" Then point in the opposite direction you're going to be running. It is most definitely not advised to confess to the brutal beating of said person's friend.

What follows is a massacre, that ends with both of Zaku's arms broken, that horrifies everyone present, except for Naruto who is still asleep. Sakura manages to calm Sasuke down with a cooldown hug. Personally I just wish she'd take the hint that he's psychotic and it's just going to get worse as time progresses. Granted I guess you could excuse his ruthless behavior as being part of the curse's effect on him, but personally after having to put up with his ultimately pointless character arc I'm not that forgiving.

After the sound ninja leave, Naruto wakes up, having missed everything that happened, and understandably still thinking that they are being attacked by Orochimaru. Of course his natural, even reasonable assumption leads to everyone just smack talking, or simply smacking him. Easily the most under appreciated protagonist ever. Granted, if you go by the past few chapters, you wouldn't think he's the main character at all.

After some more "Naruto Abuse" we learn from Tenten's interior monologue that if Lee hadn't been distracted by trying to protect Sakura he could have wiped the floor with the sound ninja.

Sorry, but that still just sounds strange to me.

Sound Ninja.

When Sasuke finds out that Lee was beaten by the guys he just trashed he is shocked, obviously remembering his humiliating defeat at the hands of Lee.

I love how I keep thinking of ways to bring this back.

Sakura is of course appreciative of Lee's gallant behavior, beating Naruto when the latter is rude to Lee. Of course it really doesn't take much to make her beat him, and she still doesn't appreciate Lee enough to ever go out with him.

THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!

The plot then switches to focus on Gaara to showcase what a blood thirsty psychopath he is.

But he's still so dreamy.

Of course, cultural differences aside, this manga still is for a relatively younger audience. So it's not likely that there will be any actual killing...HOLY CRAP!!!

He's just misunderstood!

To clarify, that is not ink that the artist spilled on the page. That is blood. There was a human in the middle of that. I would also like to point out that Gaara had a pretty big fangirl fanbase before he was redeemed. Am I the only person who sees something wrong with this?

Granted, the way he just stands there with the umbrella is pretty badass.

Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke meet up with Kabuto, who explains a little about ambush tactics and such, when they are ironically ambushed by the same ninja who tried to impersonate Naruto in volume six. This time he's brought along his friends, and after another clever battle that once again reminds me that Kishimoto used to be really good at these, our protagonists win, mostly on Naruto's prerogative, as Sasuke is still weak from the curse, Sakura used up all her action points for the next several volumes, and Kabuto is pretending to be weak.

Very convincing.

Of course Kabuto turns out to be a spy for Orochimaru, and the volume ends with Naruto and Sakura about to open the Earth and Heaven scroll after having reached the tower. Since it was previously shown that anyone who opened it before finishing the test was put under a hypnosis that kept them out until the end of the test (in the middle of a wild animal infested forest I might add), there is some amount of tension as Naruto and Sakura almost opened it before in order to cheat (what happened to the "Won't cheat when he's supposed to cheat" Naruto?), but were stopped in time by Kabuto. And so the volume ends with me wondering what could possibly happen!

Or pretending to, I already read the series remember?

Overall this volume had a lot of action going for it, which at this point really is Kishimoto's strong point. As such it's a great read and worth taking the time to continue the series. It doesn't take nearly as long to get through the forest of death as the anime does, so that's one more score for manga.

Granted, this is the point where Sasuke slowly starts evolving into the character I love to hate, so there are mixed emotions here.

I think I can confidently say that anyone who has reached this point is already hooked, and slowly starting to form a bond of trust with Kishimoto's abilities as an artist and writer. I think that bond of trust is what makes the series so strong. Fairly early on readers were shown strong evidence that Kishimoto knew what he was doing and was sticking to his strengths. That kind of trust is a powerful thing that I think is one of the main factors that made Naruto such a global phenomenon.

Of course, One Piece is still more popular in Japan. One of those cases where Japanese taste is shown to be more refined and sensible than American taste. Granted these are also the same people who will eat live Octopus, so I'm withholding judgment about what that means for the series. (For the record, I love Japan, their culture, their people, and manga and anime obviously, but you have to admit, they are a peculiar people our Oriental friends).

So, that's it for the Naruto reviews for now. Until further notice I have other reviews I need to focus on, and I'm going to be taking a small break from reading manga for a while, as I've recently noticed that my reading speed for regular books has gone to seed. So I need to work that up to par again.

I don't know when the next Naruto review will be up, it might be sooner rather than later, but I won't make any promises. You might even get a review of Fairy Tail or Bleach first. But for the sake of keeping a bit of continuity going in this blog I'll do my best to get my hands on volume eight when the time comes.

If you liked my review, buy the manga here: Naruto - Vol. 7

Manga Reviews: Naruto Volume 6

Trying to stick to a schedule is hard. Especially since some of these reviews take much longer than I thought they would. But now that I don't have classes or homework to worry about I'm able to structure my days around my writing more. This includes getting blog posts written on time so I can get through all the different topics I want to blog about in a timely manner. I kinda over planned myself during finals week, so I wasn't able to get anything done there. I had to drop one review I was going to write, that I didn't decide was as crucial, and might still write later, but not at the current schedule I've set.

Volume six starts with Kiba, Shino and Hinatat taking down a rival ninja team, drawing the first blood of the fight.

Well, sucking the first blood at least.

Granted Hinata really hasn't done anything yet, but so far Kiba and Shino have demonstrated the most ability among the rookie nine. I know that at this point we're meant to root against them in favor of Naruto's group, but I'm really finding myself rooting for them. Switching back to Naruto's group, where they're squabbling about urinating of all things, makes me realize why.

For the record, this:


Isn't quite as satisfying as this:


But it'll do.

Turns out Naruto was captured by an enemy ninja, who then tried to sneak up to the other two and steal the scroll. Fortunately he's dumber than Naruto, and overlooks some fairly obvious details in his transformation. Kind of how in the Spider-Man cartoon the chameleon puts the eye patch over the wrong eye when transforming into Fury. Only the Chameleon had an excuse, this ninja does not.

After beating off this ninja they decide that they need a password. When they get separated again Sasuke asks Naruto for the password, and when the latter gives it perfectly, Sasuke attacks him, because there's no way that Naruto would be smart enough to remember the password. This amuses me.

This is also where they encounter the main villain, Orochimaru, who remains the main villain up until after the time skip. I'll get into what happens to him after the time skip later, that is still a long ways off. Orochimaru's snake theme is perfect for a villain, snakes are already nightmare fuel for me, giant snakes just make it worse, and when it's a human with snake like abilities, like fangs, an extend-able tongue and the ability to stretch his body and move like a snake, then you've got one freaky, terrifying villain.

Granted, when the bodies of those that he killed stole the faces of are later discovered, I can't help but wonder if he's a bit of an idiot. He may have power, and a freaky animal theme going on, but you'd think that any kind of threatening villain would have to be intelligent. Leaving your victims in plain sight does not suggest intelligence.

I'm also loving this volume as much as the last one, because while we don't get quite the epic pwnage of Sasuke...


We still get to see him wuss out completely and get shown up by Naruto, whose more guts than skill personality finally comes in handy. He puts up a pretty good fight before he is subdued by Orochimaru. Surprisingly enough, Sakura actually has something good to say about him.


Well, there is still a bit of an insult hidden in there, but at least she's getting better at not being a complete witch. So credit where credit is due.

Sasuke fights back against Orochimaru, effectively chastised for his pussy behavior, but is defeated, despite putting up a good fight. I may not like Sasuke as a character, but his early fighting techniques really make for exciting reads. Of course this is before his fighting style becomes the incredibly dull discovering a new power every fight. Aka/ Plot Hax no Jutsu.

With both Sasuke and Naruto out of commission Sakura finds herself alone, with two unconscious boys in the middle of a forest filled with enemies. And given what a pervert Sakura has proven herself to be she probably wouldn't mind this if not for the "Forest filled with enemies" part.

Anko confronts Orochimaru, and we get another exciting, yet brief, fight scene that really was the staple of this manga, and the reason that it did so well. Say what you want about his characters, Kishimoto really is good at action scenes. Whether this will hold true for the rest of the manga is yet to be determined.

Besides learning more about Orochimaru's plan, we also learn that Anko has a cursed seal mark, just like Sasuke just received. I don't know if Kishimoto remembers this, I can only assume that he must, but it hasn't come up again in quite a long time, so I don't know if it will ever make a comeback. It would be quite interesting to see Anko use the transformation that Sasuke later learns to abuse.


Poor Lee, missing that last leaf is almost like Kishimoto is saying he's too nice a guy to get what he wants. And given how he gets shafted for screen time later on, I have to admit that theory is sounding more and more plausible.

The biggest surprise of this entire volume however, is that Naruto's team isn't the biggest failures in their graduating year. Seeing Ino, Shikamaru and Choji's team absolutely fail is not only hilarious, but it also makes me appreciate Naruto's group all the more. Sakura may be exactly like Ino, but at least she has a team that actually puts effort into their fights.

I can't stand it anymore. I know this probably won't show up in the fan translations I've been using in this review, but it's all over the official English volumes. Someone, please tell me, what the heck is "Lub Dub" supposed to mean? I've seen some ridiculous sound effects, but this one just takes the cake. And it's been driving me crazy for the past few volumes!

When Sakura is confronted by the three Sound Ninja (am I the only one who thinks ninja with powers based on making sound are kind of ridiculous?) she actually sets a pretty decent trap. Too bad it does her little good. Oh well, stand aside Sakura, it's time for you to be saved.

Squirrel!

It's Rock Lee to the rescue, and this volume keeps getting better and better. But will purely physical attacks be enough to counter the sound based pressure blasts of the...

Holy crap tree root!

Apparently pure physical strength will do just fine. I know I said that Rock Lee is one of my favorite characters, but he's also the least believable. All the others have the excuse of "magic" to explain their powers, but just pure physical strength being this high is quite unbelievable. It is also incredibly awesome.

Congratulations Shikamaru, you are my new favorite character. And congrats on not looking like a monkey.

Unfortunately Lee gets his butt kicked, while at the same time we discover one of the major weaknesses of the series, taking a break from the action to explain the individual powers and techniques. Granted, I don't mind it quite as much, and it is nice to finally really comprehend Lee's Lotus technique. When I first read this manga I didn't understand the concept of our bodies only using a fraction of our strength, to preserve our muscle structure and tendons. I'd already read this part when I discovered this little factoid, so I didn't remember that Kishimoto already used this idea when I decided to use it for my own story. Now I feel like a plagiarist, but I'm just going to claim great minds think alike.

With Lee down, and no more traps left, Sakura has to take the offensive, and I have to admit, compared to her previous effectiveness in battle, she does quite well. Her skill may not be nearly as high as Naruto or Sasuke's, but she definitely proves Naruto's guts before skill philosophy. Unfortunately she also gets beaten, that seems to be happening a lot this volume. But just in the nick of time, after Sakura has proven that she isn't worthless, Ino and her team come in to save the day, ending the volume on yet another cliffhanger.

Compared to volume five this volume moves at a much faster pace, with much more action. The fights that we get are interesting and fairly creative, exhibiting Kishimoto's strength for action. Anyone that has made it this far into the manga isn't likely to give up any time soon. Me being exhibit A, considering how much the manga frustrated me at times in the future.

Ironically enough, rereading these volumes from the beginning has gotten me interested in the series again. It may have its issues later on, and at one point I'd decided I wasn't going to spend the money on any more Naruto volumes than the ones I already had. But these early volumes, especially this one, are genuinely good and worth owning.

If you liked my review, buy the manga here: Naruto - Vol. 6