Self Directed Learning: On Journal Writing

For my self directed learning I reread a book I have with excerpts from Wilford Woodruff's journal. Whenever I think of journals and personal writing I always think of him. He was the one who inspired me to keep a daily journal on my mission, and this time I decided to focus on the literary value vs the historical value that his texts have.

The first thing that I noticed about the journals were that not only did they provide a record of his daily life, but because he was extensively involved in the development of the church and the spreading of missionary work they also provided records of larger events of that time. The thing that I found interesting was that he wasn't a historian, much like many of the men and women who wrote journals. As such, whether they had bias it was usually noticeable as his personality shows through his writing quite obviously. He wasn't trying to be objective, instead he was just recording what happened to him each day, and if what happened to him happened to be a historic occasion then it was recorded just like all the more mundane details. As a historical record the journals of Wilford Woodruff, and other Journals, are very unique compared to official historical records. Since they are written as personal writings they aren't influenced by any kind of official agenda. In other words, they are more or less excluded from the conventional wisdom that "The winners write history." As such we get a pretty unique view of history from these journals. It's kind of like a history that offers a comparative view from other sources of history.

Literary wise it isn't surprising how much the writing style improved from the earlier entries to the later entries. Early on it is pretty clear that Wilford Woodruff, while perfectly capable of writing in a coherent way, was not quite as comfortable as he was later on. I've always admired him for his diligence, and thought that the improvement in his writing is a testament to daily practice, no matter what it may be. As far as the overall literary quality goes, it's a surprisingly good read. Normally when I think about journals I think that all of them are as boring as mine, especially if they are daily entries. Because most of the time my entries are never really worth reading because the things that happen in my day really aren't that interesting. However, Wilford Woodruff was able to write in such a way that made even the more mundane days in his journal seem all that much more interesting. And as far as I'm concerned, that's the most important determining factor of literary quality. If your writing keeps people from wanting to read it, then it failed one of its most basic purposes.

Graphic Novel Reviews: Batman - The Return of Bruce Wayne Issue 2

I was going to review this as soon as it came out. I plan to do that for this entire mini series. But for some reason I forgot about it and only just realized that I hadn't actually reviewed this issue. I am no rectifying that. I also hope that this review will help me wash off the cooties from my review of W.i.t.c.h. No, I am not being childish about this!

The second issue of this mini series continues Bruce's adventures into the founding days of Gotham city, during the Puritan witch hunts. When he travels through time for some reason he drags along a giant squid monster. Before my manga-Batman nightmares become real, Bruce kills the thing and blacks out. He wakes up to a strange chant and finds himself being healed by the girl he'd stumbled upon when he first arrived. Apparently he still can't remember his name, but the girl, obviously a witch, tells him that he has been touched by a great dark god, and if he stays with her she'll love him until the end of time. Now I know Batman is Pimp, but I didn't realize he worked that fast.

Skip to Superman, Booster Gold, the Green Lantern, and someone else I don't recognize because he isn't in any recognizable costume and characters' faces keep changing depending on who the artist is. Complain about the hair styles being the only thing that distinguishes anime characters from each other, but at least they have something to distinguish themselves by! There are some artists where if they aren't wearing their costumes or any iconic clothing whatsoever, I wouldn't be able to tell Bruce Wayne or Clark Kent apart.

There's a bunch of techbabble that I skim because it makes no sense anyway, and it all translates to, "We're trying to find Batman."

The rest of the comic is mostly a certain Brother Mordecai, a witch hunter who values logic more than superstition, being revealed as actually being Bruce. Big surprise. Bruce asks the girl that found him to take him back to where she found him, and ends up fighting the creature that came with him when he traveled to this time. The girl who took Bruce in is taken by the witch hunter, Malleus, aka/ Nathaniel Wayne, and hung, but not before she curses the Wayne family line. Oh if only she knew the irony of it all. Bruce himself travels through time again to Blackbeard's time. Now...correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that traveling backwards? I might be wrong, but it just seems strange to be going from Puritans on the East Coast of what later became the United States, to Pirates.

Back to Superman and his group, apparently the guy I didn't recognize was Doctor hunter. Which is no help to me at all. The archivist, who I have no idea who he is, turns out to be Bruce, at the end of his time traveling. It isn't made clear what his motivations are, my thought is he's gone crazy...er, but whatever it is he's trying to do it will destroy the universes. Sorry if this wasn't very clear, but I'm not quite sure what is going on. Either way, on its own this comic didn't make much sense, and I'm just hoping for that with the next issue things will start to make sense and when we finally get to the present that Bruce will be able to join the main stream events again. If it turns out that after all of this he ends up dead for real, I'll be annoyed. This is one of those occasions where I would very much prefer if the obvious happens. Batman makes it through time and makes his way back home. Sure it's cliche and has happened before with other series, but keep in mind that I didn't want to have to go through this in the first place.

If you liked my review, buy the issue here: Batman Return of Bruce Wayne #2

Graphic Novel Reviews: W.I.T.C.H. - Volume 1

STOP LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT!

Sorry... Err...

What makes a man a man? Is it his stature, is it the things he reads? What then? I don't know myself, but I swear I'm not a sissy for reading this!

I first noticed this series when I was channel surfing looking for something interesting to watch. I came across the Disney channel, not sure which one...how many do they have now anyway? And saw a show playing that while it featured "Magical Girls" also had monsters, good animation and a pretty neat art style. Also, I was quite certain it wasn't anime, which was a bonus since I'm always on the lookout for animation that doesn't come from Japan and doesn't suck. I love anime, but sometimes it depresses me that it's the only source for classic 2-D animation that I so love.

I watched an episode, it was alright, nothing incredible, and nothing horrible. Then a while later I decided to check it out more regularly, and found out what time it was on TV. I watched several episodes and found that while it was mostly geared towards younger audiences, specifically girls, it was perfectly watchable for anyone else. Then again, I'm not the best definition of "anyone else." If you're secure in your maturity and don't think that watching a kids show makes you any less of an adult then I recommend the show. It also helps that compared to other magical girls shows the characters don't make my ears bleed.

But this is not about the animated show. I'll review that at another time. For now we'll take a look at the first volume of the Italian Comic Book series that the animation is based off of.

First off, the American Graphic Novels only go so far in the series. In order to review the entire series I'll probably have to see if I can order the original Italian issues online, or, if I want to be certain I can understand what I'm reading try for the German or French translations. Until then I will review what is available in English first.

The comic starts with the main character, Will Vandom moving to the town of Heatherfield with her mother. As far as protagonists go Will is the typical "New Kid." She has her moments where I get annoyed with her, mostly because I think I'm transforming into an adult. Huh. Well I'm sure this review ought to knock a few years off of my maturity.

The other girls, Irma, Taranee, Cornelia and Hay Lin are as follows: The Tomboy, The Nerd, the Fashion Queen...whatever, and the Ditzy One. When I saw the first episode of the show Irma was easily my favorite character as her reaction to finding out they had magic powers and a destiny to guard the world against evil forces wasn't the typical "But why me? I don't want to, wahwahwahwah!" Instead the first words out of her mouth were: "This is so cool! When can we start?" It also helps that she is the one always making fun of the snobby Cornelia, easily the most annoying character early, and later on.

Since it's been two years since I saw the show, and a few months since I ordered the first volume off of Amazon, I have to confess that my tastes in entertainment have changed somewhat. Some might say they haven't changed enough, but I stand by my Peter Pan Lifestyle. One thing I noticed while rereading this volume was that I find myself sympathizing with the adults more often than not in literature aimed at younger audiences. As such I'm finding that Mr. Collins, the history teacher, is turning out to be my favorite character. There's something really appealing about the slightly goofy teacher who still takes his job seriously.

There are some pretty major differences between the comics and the animated series. For example...umm...actually, pretty much anything that could be changed was changed. It still tells the same story, but modified to fit the animation medium rather than the graphic novel medium. To be honest, I think it makes the animated series quite a bit better than the graphic novel. More on that later.

If you're not a fan of teenage girl antics, seriously consider skipping this series. If you don't care, more power to you. But after a few pages of introduction we learn that the girls are exhibiting magical powers, and very likely have been doing so their whole lives, as none of them seem to think this is strange. The only one really noticing something strange is Will, whose reflection seems to have put on a few years, inches, and curves, as well as a silly costume.

"Yer a cosplayer Will."

Sorry, bad joke, but I needed to get one in here somewhere.

So the girls start exhibiting magical powers, Cornelia isn't as annoying as I remember her being. Huh. Finally the plot starts moving. With a party. Definitely need to get back to reading I am not a Serial Killer after this. The gore should scrub off the girly.

Will doesn't want to go because she doesn't know anybody and she doesn't like parties. And I fully relate to that. Granted I don't have to worry about parties anymore now, since I don't get invited to them anyway.

"Yer a social pariah."

Yes, I am turning that into the running gag for this review. Deal with it.

Several self esteem issues and girl drama later we are at the party. Where stuff happens, and somehow the old mysterious guy got his hands on a picture of the girls just taken right at that moment. So the main villain is a magical stalker? Kudos on the originality I guess. Though that is a little dark.

Actually, he's meant to be the mystical adviser, Oracle, leader person. Not sure, he doesn't do much except exposition wisely, and foreshadow ominously. The real villain, Cedric, is introduced and he is...also...a stalker. Huh. Guess we're really going with that. Whatever.

Things happen, magical things, and antagonist related things. The girls learn about the dark world of metamoor and the veil that protected all of eternity from its evil influence. Their task as guardians is to protect this veil from being breached. A serviceable, simple plot, if somewhat overdone, but I'm not complaining.

In the next half of the graphic novel Hay Lin's grandmother dies. Huh. Odd. I remember her sticking around for longer in the animated show.

This is a good series for younger readers. It doesn't bring up issues parents may not want said readers to encounter yet, while at the same time it doesn't entirely dumb down the conflict. It's a light read, and really you could do worse. The protagonists are all young girls, so the target audience is mostly female. So those are who I'd recommend this series to, younger female readers. And maybe a few male readers who don't care if their fiction isn't testosterone packed. Also, the humor is pretty decent in places.

Myself? While I enjoy the animated series because it's an example of western animation that doesn't completely suck, that and Greg Weisman worked on the second season. The Graphic Novel, at least the first volume, really isn't a very stimulating read. It's aimed directly at its target audience and doesn't cross over much into other age groups, or even gender groups. The main conflict is a typical fantasy story, but to get to it you have to slog through teenage girl conflict and drama, which might not be worth it for some. Personally I have to admit I've read worse, but I'm not going to be putting it up as my favorite series ever any time soon.

Join me in a few weeks or so, when I review the second volume. Which hopefully can keep my attention long enough for me to get through the second half. Like many stories, it has a bad habit of starting off slow, which may work for some, but isn't working for me in this case.

If you liked my review, buy the graphic novel here: W.I.T.C.H. Graphic Novel #1: The Power of Friendship

Manga Reviews: Fullmetal Alchemist - Journey's End

Wow. When I woke up this morning I had no idea the new Fullmetal Alchemist chapter was going to be out. Then I realized, that this was the last chapter. The manga was ending. I was both excited and depressed. Depressed because I wouldn't be getting any new chapters, excited because I could finally get the resolution of all the plot threads and see where the characters ended up. Those of you who have been following the series know that for the past few months it has been quite obvious that the end was near. You'll also have noticed that for over the past two years or so the chapters have been at their strongest, ending with epic cliffhanger after epic that left us hating the rest of the month. Arakawa-sensei really proved that she was a master of rising conflict and outdoing herself with each new chapter. So does the finale match up to the strong run over the past many, many months?

It does. This chapter is over 100 pages long and easily ties up everything that needs to be tied up, while ending on a note that doesn't suggest that everything is done. In fact I think it is one of the better endings I've read in a while. It doesn't answer all the questions, and even the big ones are left unanswered, but everything is wrapped up in a way that lets the reader know that everything turns out alright, without pandering to us by categorically answering every question. Important character arcs are finished, while others still have a journey ahead of them.

Granted, I kind of would like an answer to certain questions.

JUST TELL US ALREADY!!! GRAAH!!

Am I sad the series ended? Yes. Did it give me the ending I wanted? Absolutely. Even in its more cheesy moments, I loved this ending, and am glad that we finally have an alternate ending to the ending of the first anime. For now, once I have the money and catch up on the other series I am collecting I'm going to start reviewing the series volume by volume, like I'm doing for Naruto. So expect that sometime in the future. I can't make any promises about when this will be though, as currently I have no money for extra expenses, and when I do I have to be sparing with what I spend it on. And I have a lot of books and comics I want to buy.

Movie Reviews: Iron Man 2

I really hate circumstances keeping me from seeing the movies I want to see when I want to see them. It took me far too long to finally see this movie, and now that I have, I wish I'd seen it earlier.

I have to admit, I get pulled into hype fairly easily, and while I admit there probably could have been a lot fixed in this movie, it was still a great experience. I won't go so far as to compare it to The Dark Knight but what this movie does just as well as The Dark Knight is develop conflict properly by carrying on from the previous movie. They realized that Tony Stark is a character with plenty of character flaws that allow for continued character growth over the course of two movies. Nothing in this sequel feels contrived. The conflict and characterization of Tony Stark is congruent with how he was developed in the first movie. They don't have to settle for contrived conflicts, or butchered characterization to get conflict in their movie. I think that's what killed a lot of sequels in the past. The characterization and character flaws of the protagonists just never made sense when put into context with the previous movie. Sources of conflict all felt tacked on and cheap. Iron Man 2 does not do this.

I'd easily say it's one of the best movies I've seen this year, if not the best. How odd, that one of my other favorites also happens to star Robert Downey Jr. He really does know how to pull off a believable and entertaining performance.

Manga Reviews: Naruto - Volume 4

I think you'll be interested to know that I have all my reviews planned out through July and into August. Mostly because iCal is an interesting program that won't let me move my accumulated reviews past July. So I've got them all planned, three a week once I'm out of school. And over the summer, at least until the first week of August. I don't know if I'll have enough to review then, or if I'll want to take a break, but my summer activity will mostly be some intense blogging. Once school starts again I'll probably have to take it easy again. So check back every Monday, Wednesday, Friday starting next week for new reviews. Also, check back on Friday when I begin my emasculation process for the sake of reviews. Maybe I'll take Thursday to review Iron Man 2, just to butch up.

To start off I think I'll talk about the cover. Out of all the volumes I've reviewed so far this one is the nicest cover. It has a good symmetry to it, and the blade dividing the cover down the middle makes for a perfect dividing line. In chapter thirty Naruto tells Haku that if they'd met in different circumstances they could have been friends. The blade dividing the two on the cover symbolizes the conflict that divides them from ever being friends.

Well, we've come to the end of the Zabuza Arc. Compared to the first time I read it, it isn't as bad. I'm finding that happens a lot when I reread manga. Arcs that were previously unreadable for me are suddenly more enjoyable. I think that now that I've read the actual overarching story I'm able to enjoy the more disconnected Zabuza Arc more.

The final battle finishes up with Naruto overpowering Haku and...actually trying to kill him? I did not remember this part. It isn't like he stops at the last minute as is such a common trope in fiction aimed at younger audiences. If Haku hadn't changed his mind at the last minute Naruto really would have killed him. After Naruto realizes how dehumanizing the path of the Ninja is he decides to follow his own path, and not follow the path everyone else says he's meant to follow. I think this ties in nicely to his almost killing Haku. He gave in when Haku said that Naruto would have to bloody his hands, which makes Naruto's decision as they stand above Haku's and Zabuza's graves all the more poignant.

Speaking of fiction for younger audiences, an interesting fact about writing in the western market is that what determines the age of your target audience in Middlegrade and YA books is the age of the protagonist. Generally the protagonist is two years older than your audience. Which, judging by Naruto's age, means that the intended audience for this series is ten years old.

Hmm...

Something tells me the same isn't true in Japan. I really don't know how exactly propriety is judged in Japan, and while I don't think that a series as graphic as this should be restricted to teenagers or older, I still have to admit, this series is a lot more graphic and bloody than I remember. But, I think that's actually a good thing. Because while main characters recover from what should be death blows, it's nice to see that mortality is taken seriously and when someone is injured the chances of them dying are quite high. Exaggerating how much damage a character can take just desensitizes us to violence. I'm not against violence in media, but there is a danger in trivializing it. So far Naruto has not done that, and I am quite impressed.

Speaking of characters surviving death blows:

WHY DIDN'T YOU DIE!? IT WOULD HAVE SAVED ME SO MUCH FRUSTRATION!

Gato as the final villain was a disappointment. All he did was be greedy and kill people for no good reason. Then he got killed by Zabuza, giving the actual villain of the arc a proper ending. It really was pretty touching seeing how Zabuza really did care for Haku (though it borderlines on the creepy), and how despite being the villain and an overall monster he still had some humanizing elements in the end.

And thus ends the first arc. I'd just like to finish it off with one last comment. Inari's mother is the worst mother ever.

"No. Stop. It's not like I, a grown woman, can physically restrain you, an eight year old child, from heading towards certain death."

Him being determined to save his village and, despite being barely potty trained, prove he is a man is all good and fine. But what kind of mother just lets their child waltz off without even trying to stop him from getting himself killed?

With that we move on to the next major arc. The Chuunin Exams. This is where the story really picks up, dominating the next several volumes and directly leading into or introducing the antagonists and conflict for the rest of the series.

The arc starts off with...did...did Naruto just flip Sasuke off?

He Did! He totally did!

That's...kinda awesome. Way to sneak that in there Kishimoto.

Anyway, the arc starts off with more tension between Naruto and Sasuke, antics, etc, and we get introduced to the Sand Siblings. Which if you don't know who they are, congratulations, you are not a fan girl.

SQUEE!!!

As another note, the humor in the opening of this arc is really good. Makes me wish Kishimoto wrote it more often.

Since the Zabuza Arc was so strong, I can easily see how readers would want to continue into this new arc. The story sets up several points of conflict, even setting up and resolving (mostly) Sakura's self esteem issues after being outdone by both Naruto and Sasuke. The issue will come up again later, but for now it was kind of strange seeing Sasuke as the one to cheer her up. Especially when I compare him to his current self.

The volume ends with the Chuunin Exams having not even started yet, but with how the conflict has been set up Kishimoto managed to hook his readers into picking up the next volume to find out what happens next. The entire continuation of the manga is based on Kishimoto having established a trust with his readers. Not only will they get some pretty decent character development, but the read will be entertaining as well as the plot intriguing.

If you liked my review, but the volume here: Naruto, Vol. 4

Romantic Theory in Fiction

I decided that since I am an aspiring writer, I should start writing a little bit about what I've been learning about writing. Sure the main purpose of my blog is reviewing the things that I read, but sometimes something comes to mind and I can't help but write about it. In this case I was thinking about Nathan's book, Paradise Seekers, and a suggestion I'd made to him. Basically I suggested that he work on the romance between the two main characters in the book. Excellent book, but since he was asking for what needs improving, the romance was what struck me as the biggest thing that needed fixing.

Surprising for those that know me, but I actually am a fan of romance in fiction. But only if it's been done right. Thinking about Nathan's book and my suggestion made me realize that I wasn't quite clear about what makes good romance in fiction. So I sat down with my moleskine and jotted down ideas about romance in fiction, and eventually came up with what I'm thinking of calling Derek's First Law of Romance in Fiction. Or something not so lame. Or, Derek's Romantic Theory in Fiction.

According to this theory there are two types of romantic relationships in fiction. Type A, the goal driven type; and Type B, the interaction driven type.

Type A is the kind of relationship where character A is in love with character B and because we like character A we want to see them fulfill their goal. In other words, we want them to get character B to fall in love with them, but only if character B is a likable character. Every good character needs a goal, and often in fiction, especially romantic fiction, that goal is winning the love of the girl, or guy. An important factor of this type of romance is that generally character A needs an understandable reason for loving character B.

Type A Examples:

• Every Disney Princess movie ever. Granted there are some exceptions, but generally these movies follow the basic plot of character A trying to win the love of character B. A good example of this is The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and Sleeping Beauty.
  
• Orihime --> Ichigo, from Bleach. Orihime is a good example of a character who is clearly in love with another character, and because both of them are likable, we want to see them together. While trying to win his love may not be her primary goal, her primary motivation to improve is so that she will not be a burden to him.
• Naruto --> Sakura, from Naruto. Naruto's goal is to gain the recognition of the village, and to get Sakura's attention. The goal like nature of this relationship cause us to root for Naruto. However, some readers dislike Sakura and do not consider her a worthy goal. Hence...
• Hinata --> Naruto. Hinata's main motivation is to get Naruto to notice her. She is a likable character, Naruto is a likable character, and a good goal. It also helps that Hinata has a good, understandable reason for loving him.
  

Type B is the kind of relationship type where neither of the characters has a goal to win the love of the other character. Instead there is generally an unspoken attraction, and the entire appeal of the relationship is based on the interaction between the two characters. A quick way to remember this is, "B" for Bicker.

Type B Examples:

• Inara and Mal from Firefly. The sexual tension between these two could be cut with a knife. Everyone knew they had the hots for each other, Inara knew but she never acted on it. Mal was especially dense about it, much to the annoyance of the viewers. Obviously neither had a specific goal to make the other fall in love with them. However not only was the sexual tension entertaining to watch, but their interaction that had them behaving like a married couple was incredibly entertaining. Hence the relationship worked.
• Ichigo and Rukia from Bleach. Whether there an attraction between these two is debatable, personally I just don't see it. However, those that support a romantic relationship between the two tend to do so because their bickering, and obvious friendship, makes for an entertaining read.
• Luffy and Nami from One Piece. Again, these two are not actually romantically involved in the series' canon. However for fans of this ship the draw is not only the entertaining between them, but the obvious friendship between the two.
• Garion and Ce'Nedra from the Belgariad. From what I remember there wasn't a clear cut example of either one of these two pursuing the other. Mostly the two bickered, and then were politically married. And it made for an entertaining read.
• Pepper Potts and Tony Stark in the Iron Man movies. Their entire interaction was basically old husband and wife antics. The entire two movies through. And strangely enough, it was incredibly entertaining and somehow heart warming.
  

I'm noticing that I can think of more examples for the Type B category. This might just be my personal preference, but I think it works. Otherwise, why would we keep on using the stereotype?

A common theme for Type B is that a lot of the time the characters are either oblivious to each other, practically in a relationship, or already in a relationship. I don't know why it's such a popular theme. While on the other hand, Type A is usually exclusively used in a pre-relationship status between characters A and B.

For both Type A and B to work good characters are required. In other words, almost all problem in writing can be solved with good characters. Good characters, good plot, tension and conflict. These are the things required for good writing. Romance is the icing on the cake. All the previous elements are the filling elements and can be delicious without the frosting. Romance just makes a story that much sweeter. And really, at some level we all appreciate a good romance.

Self Directed Study: Renaissance Period

While trying to think of something to write for my self directed study, I thought of something I found on my mission. Since we were talking about the translation of the bible, and I'm doing the poem translation exercise for the second paper, I decided this would be appropriate. The translation difference that I found in the bible, between the King James version and a German translation. The differing translations can be found in 1 John 5: 7-8.

The story that I heard about this difference in translation was that when the English bible was being translated the translator was told to add in a passage of scripture that supports the notion of the trinity. However the translator refused to translate anything that wasn't in the original Latin. So "they" went and added these bits to the scriptures in Latin.

Keep in mind that this really is little more than hear-say and rumor. I have no way of proving this true, but I do know that there is a difference in the translation.

Here, let me show you:

For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: And these three are one.
And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.

1 John 5: 7-8

Now here is the same passage from the German translation:

Drei sind es, die Zeugnis ablegen:
Der Geist, das Wasser und das Blut, und diese drei sind eins.

1 Johannes 5: 7-8

Just from looking at word count it's quite obvious that the German translation is quite a bit shorter. Here's the German Translation, translated back into English:

There are three that bear witness:
The Spirit, the Water and the Blood, and these three are one.

This re-translation takes a big chunk out of the King James Version verses. In fact, the entire meaning of the passage is changed. It isn't about the godhead or trinity in any way, but instead in the German version it speaks of only the Spirit, aka/ the Spirit of the Holy Ghost, the influence it has on us, The Water, aka/ The Waters of baptism, and the Blood, aka/ The Blood shed for us, the atonement. Essentially the passage seems to be talking about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Baptism, Gift of the Holy Ghost, and The Atonement. Only half of what is in the KJV is even mentioned.

I bring this up because it is quite interesting, how different the translation of the scriptures can be, when compared between languages. From the poetry translation exercise I am learning that there is a great difference in meaning just when the words are changed during translation. I don't know what it means when entire sentences are added, or removed, depending on which one, the KJV or the German translation, is actually the more faithful translation, but meaning is definitely changed between translations.

Manga Reviews: Naruto - Volume 3

Since most of you who are reading this have probably already read Naruto I'm figuring I don't have to worry about spoilers. So instead I'm going to try something different than I've been doing, and make this more of a commentary than a spoiler free review. Since these reviews are meant to be more focused on figuring out why this series did as well as it did, rather than trying to get you to try something new, which is my purpose behind most of my reviews, I'm going to be trying a new format. Essentially it's going to be the same as most online reviewers, summarize what happens and then make fun of it. Sure it's been done, but I've been playing around with different formats and want to see how this works for me. Really the point of doing this is to have fun, and for me to practice my writing.

Volume three starts with Kakashi teaching the team how to mold Chakra with their feet, to increase their overall control and teach them how to walk up vertical or upside down surfaces. Basically he's teaching them how to be Spider-Man.

Well...He's about as colorful as Naruto, so I guess there is a connection.

Kakashi tells them to use kunai to mark how high they can make it up a tree using only their feet. Both Naruto and Sasuke have a hard time, and barely make it up the tree. Sakura on the other hand beats both Naruto and Sasuke, mastering the tree climbing on the first try. Enjoy it while you can Sakura fans, because that's the last time you'll ever see Sakura do anything useful for a long, long time.


Okay, so maybe that was a little harsh. My apologies to Sakura fans everywhere.

Hello?

While Naruto and Sasuke continue to practice, Kakashi has Sakura guard Tazuna and the Bridge building crew. Why he thought this was a good idea, I'll never know.

Last one, I promise.

Okay, I'll seriously stop that. Making Sakura jokes is easy, too easy. It's just that rereading this from the beginning is having me wonder why I liked her as a character in the first place.

Following that we get backstory, blahblahblah I don't care, and we finally get to the final battle.

Overall this is a pretty exciting battle. The pacing is really quite well done, and doesn't drag on like too many shonen manga these days. The Highlights of this fight for me are:


And:


We finally see Naruto really evolving as a main character. Sure he's been annoying, and pretty much useless. But his development in these early stages of the manga are actually really well done. While he starts off useless, he grows from a loudmouthed brat into a competent fighter for this arc. Sure he remains an idiot at heart, but not only does he take out two of Gato's henchmen, but he finishes off the volume with a decidedly bad ass transformation.

Sasuke also pulls out a surprise as he reveals that he has the power of the Sharingan, just like Kakashi. This, really wasn't that surprising, since I'm pretty sure that it is mentioned that the Sharingan is only usable by the Uchiha clan. Overall Kishimoto doesn't really bring much attention to it, so it sort of comes as a surprise that Sasuke can use it. Except for the fact that really there was not any real foreshadowing for this. As in, we had no idea Sasuke was trying to learn to control his Sharingan. When he finally does it doesn't have the effect I'm sure Kishimoto wanted, and really I just feel passive towards the whole event.

This brings up something that I know I'll be touching on later on in the series. Most of Sasuke's power ups have nothing to do with the effort he puts in. I'm sure he does put some effort in, but we as readers never see it. All we see is that he's perfect at what he does, even at this young age, and for me at least that makes him a less than interesting character. Overall, it's a bad start for him, but he has not yet reached the unbearable stage.

I think this is why the series did so well, early story arcs were quite well written, and featured strong character development for our protagonist, while also laying the groundwork for the development of the secondary main characters. As the series progresses we get many interesting and well developed characters. But the series never would have gotten that far if it weren't for the fact that these early volumes really are quite well done. Of course there are some weaknesses to them, such as the Inari subplot which really served to annoy me more than anything else. But overall Naruto Volume 3 combines some excellent, exciting combat, as well as good character development and humor.

As we see the beginnings of a much larger scope for the manga, I can definitely say that this was the point where anyone that wasn't sold on the manga yet, wasn't going to put it down any time soon.

Of course a manga's true staying power depends on whether the readers will want to continue after the first story arc. The question is, is this first major story arc for Naruto compelling enough to keep readers along for the ride. This is exactly what we'll be examining in the next review, as the Zabuza Arc comes to a close in Naruto Volume 4.

If you liked this review, and don't yet own the manga, buy Volume 3 here: Naruto, Vol. 3

Conduit Day 2

The second day was also fun. I got a signed copy of Monster Hunter International. I'll be posting a review of that later, once I finish it. Overall I have to say it was a rewarding experience, being able to listen to people in the market talking about different subjects. Just listening to other writers and their experiences, and being able to learn from their experience was incredibly invaluable.

That really was the best part about going to Conduit, getting inspiration from other authors, being able to talk to them. It's nice realizing how they aren't afraid of new authors, it's a very open community. Best of all, according to the authors there everyone in the industry is an introvert, which made me realize that approaching them would be easier for me, seeing as how I'm also an introvert.

Oh yeah, and next time I see Dan Wells I'm telling him his maskerade isn't tricking me. That man is a creepy, creepy man. Oh he's friendly, but dang that first chapter of his book I Am Not A Serial Killer is already freaking me out. I'll get into more detail when I review the book. That's assuming that I manage to finish the first chapter.