Cheer Up, Emo Kid (Or, It's A Family Affair)

[redbrunja]

I love it when I'm wondering about some element of a story - in this case, who polices Konoha - and I get an answer almost right away.

I think the idea of Sasuke's clan being the ones who were supposed to police the town and the other ninjas was nicely apropos, and surprisingly enough, I now have a lot of sympathy for Sasuke.

He's still making blindingly bad decisions, and ignoring all the ropes people are throwing him, but I adored how you could see Sasuke's father screwing up Itachi who screws up Sasuke, who goes on to think that his only real option for defeating his brother is to join Orchimaru.

(And he might not be wrong - if you set aside all moral and emotional considerations, chasing after the power being offered him is a clever move. It's not smart, but it's clever. Sasuke just has no fucking idea of what he's losing by doing so.)

Also, Sasuke learning how to make those fireballs, with his puffed out cheeks and little flash of belly button was just about the most adorable thing ever.

The Naruto vs Sasuke fight was very cool, and I loved the headband motif. Sasuke's line about being "more special than you" almost made me do a spit take, it was so hilariously lol-tastic.

I know how many slashers adore Sasuke/Naruto, and I usually don't use this argument, because I'm honest enough to know that if the genders were different, say if Gojyo was a girl, I'd be over Gojyo/Hakkai like white on rice, but this time, I have to:

Why does everything reduce to sex?

By which I mean, I kind of feel that if you watched that fight between Sasuke and Naruto and thought that the subtext was "I wanna get into his pants," I think you missed the point.

Look at the way that the characters interact: when they're interested in someone romantically, they are not subtle about it at all. We all know that Sakura is pinning after Sasuke, and Naruto is pinning after Sakura, and Hinata is pinning after Naruto, and in the case of the first two, they are fucking BLATANT about their affections.

There is no room for confusion about that. And when Sakura starts to think fondly of and respect Naruto, she treats him like a brother or friend - none of the blushing, subservant way she treats Sasuke.

We don't know how Sasuke acts when he is actually is crushing on someone, but look at how he acts with his brother: He wants attention, wants to be as good as/better then, and then he wants to kill his brother.

That is almost the same emotional arc as Sasuke's relationship with Naruto, with the exception that Naruto is the one striving for attention and to be as good as/better than, and Sasuke is the one not giving him attention.

My point is, Sasuke's main relationship are all fraternal, and Naruto explicitly labels his relationship with Sasuke in familial terms. (And wondering if being with Iruka was like being with a father made me wibble.)

In other news, I loved Temari's conversation with Shikamaru in the hospital (though I wish either Neji or Choiji or Kiba would have died, simply because everyone making it out alive stretched my sense of credibility.) Poor Shikimaru, getting tag-teamed by both is father and his girlfriend Temari. I love how cold and ruthless she is, and I loved Nara-senior's comment about how you have to stick around to keep your friends safe.

Seeing Sakura come to Tsunade and ask for training was fantastic, as was Tsunade's conversation about the skills medic-nins have to have but I have to say, I was almost nauseous when I saw Sakua healing the fish. I know that l soon every female ninja sans Temari is going to be getting medic training, which makes me go, 'way the hell to ruin any chance of letting Sakura be special.' Sure, she ends up all badass from her training, but the fact that every other girl is going to be doing the same thing takes away any value. It would be completely different if they were picking medics based on, you know, personality or skill, but the mangaka totally isn't. I mean, Ino? I love the girl, but she (and Shikamaru) are the worst people to work in medicine in the whole manga. What about Choiji or Shino or Rock Lee? (Okay, he can't do the medical techniques so he's out, but you get my point, right?) The idea that Ino could be more valuable in medicine than in information gathering is ludicrous.

*sigh*

End rant.

So... Kakashi gaiden.

wee!Kakashi: most adorable thing ever Y/Y?

That was fantastic backstory for him.

And I have to say, Obito, Kakashi must have really liked you, because you're whole, 'Your father was a hero' *two panels pass* 'Your father was even lower scum!' was... not an argument that I would have listened to.

But I adore the whole 'sharingan as a gift' and when Kakashi is crying out of just that eye.

I totally need a wee!Kakashi icon.

Also, when do we learn that Kakashi was in ANBU and how Rin died? Because what Kakashi was wearing sort-of looked like an ANBU uniform, but I didn't see a tatto and it was never mentioned, but I thought this was around the time he was being sent out on assassination missions? Or was that after he mastered his chidori?

Speaking of, Sasuke has three 'comets' in his eye and Kakshi has two, correct? And do you think the Sharigan 'remembers' things it has learned? By which I mean, if it was passed on, does it/new person use jujitsu that had been memorized before, or does the new person have to relearn everything?

So now I'm on to Shippuuden! Where Sakura wears awesome boots and rivals Toph for earthbending, Temari is a jounin and Kakashi continues to be awesome!

Comments

[solace-adrift.livejournal.com]

I generally don’t get slashing in general, but doubly so with Naruto and Sasuke. I mean… their bond as brother’s is such a nice one (especially ‘cause, you know, it’s now broken) that I don’t know why you would make it romantic. But people see what they want to see.

I have to be honest and say I’ve never quite bought the gender switch argument (that if one were a man and the other a woman people other than slashers would find it romantic) simply because the context would then be different. Men don’t talk or act around women the way they talk around other men, and likewise with women. The context of their actions changes, and thus changes the meaning of their actions.

Yes, Temari is awesome, and her dynamic with Shikamaru is interesting.

And yes, it seems kinda weird that Ino becomes a medic nin. If I were to try and defend it (which I really don’t know why I would) I would say that Kishimoto was trying to keep up the rivalry motif with Sakura and Ino.

Kakashi gaiden is so… perfect for Kakashi’s character. I mean, I love how Kakashi really changed as a character from when he was young until now, and how much of Obito kinda lives on in Kakashi. That was the arc where I really finally understood Kakashi as a character, understood just how much his life sucked, and why he doesn’t let it bother him. And no, we never do quite learn about Kakashi’s ANBU time.

The mechanic’s of the sharingan are a mysterious thing, and only become more so over time. I would assume that the sharingan only serves as a sort of lens though, that allows the user to track an opponent’s hand seals and not as a memory bank.

Onward to Shippuuden, where everyone but Kiba has a cooler clothing but is only seen for a handful of pages.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

I have to be honest and say I’ve never quite bought the gender switch argument (that if one were a man and the other a woman people other than slashers would find it romantic) simply because the context would then be different. Men don’t talk or act around women the way they talk around other men, and likewise with women. The context of their actions changes, and thus changes the meaning of their actions.

You have a good point, but I think there are a number of situations where changing the genders wouldn't change the interaction that much or at all, and I think it's a nice reality check for both slashers and het fans - basically, if this was appealing to your shipping preferences, would you see it? And I think often the answer is yes.

I mean, I love how Kakashi really changed as a character from when he was young until now, and how much of Obito kinda lives on in Kakashi.

I know! It's just fantastically more interesting to realize that he's so different from who he used to be.

But doesn't Kiba at least learn how to brush his hair?

[solace-adrift.livejournal.com]

Oh, it does vary a lot from relationship to relationship. Some transition better than others, but even a slight nuance can utterly change how people see a relationship. Take for example Avatar, where I’m pretty sure that if Aang were two years older and an inch taller than Katara, the complaints about how she is too much of a mother to him would evaporate.

As for Sasuke and Naruto… I tend think that if one of them were a girl it wouldn’t really change much.

Kiba’s hair… I don’t think so. From what I remember it’s as unruly as ever.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Maybe... I don't know, they have a lot of 'Katara mothering' that's explicitally written into the dialogue, so I think it would still be there, especially if Aang was still as goofy as he is. But having him look and be older would probably help a lot.