Piratefish
Jōnin Strategist 🧠
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I know the title might prompt people to write something like "lolnope" or "sure, obviously" and then be done with the thread.
Please don't. I swear I have a point, though it's up to you guys to judge whether it's a valid one...
As we (presumably) all know, white, as a colour, has a very different meaning in a japanese cultural context: It means death.
Pure and simple.
If we take a look at Bleach, for a moment, and look at the general colour-scheme of the series: The Shinigami dress in black. Fair enough, think we who have grown up in a Western culture. They're basically the Grim Reapers of their universe, of course they dress in black.
The Espada dress in white.
That, right off the bat, marks them as dangerous and threatening to a Japanese audience. In our culture, the only people who wear white consistently are brides. Not exactly the most threatening subgroup of the population (The Bride from Kill Bill notwithstanding). In Japan, THEY are the ones who dress like Gods of Death.
Back to Naruto.
Colour plays an important part of any manga. A mangaka is an artist first and foremost (plot and writing may or may not be their strong point) and though their characters and backgrounds may be presented as white, you can be sure that their inventor had a very clear idea of what colour everything should be when he first came up with it all.
And colour can have a lot to say about a character. Reinforcing or providing contrast with everything they say or do.
Let's take a look at Naruto himself. Dresses in orange, yellow hair, at times, red chakra. Bright colours, all.
Bright colours mean DANGER.
Bright colours mean POWER.
Consistently, if we look at the colour-scheme of the Naruto-series, a character having ANY amount of RED, ORANGE or YELLOW as part of his or her design is NOT TO BE MESSED WITH. (often, though, girls are an exception here.) Naruto. Gaara. Jiraya. Minato. Chouji, in Part 2. The ENTIRE Akatsuki, (and Nagato takes it to a whole other level). Madara and Hashirama. Even, interestingly enough, Obito in the intermission, had some orange on his clothes and goggles, despite never showing some overwhelming power. (And we all know how that turned out...)
Purple is also a threatening colour: Look at Sasuke in Curse Seal mode, Orochimaru's makeup (and chakra when Kakashi looks at him with Sharingan up), and Nagato's eyes. Purple gives the impression of power, demonic or divine.
White, however, is BY FAR the most worrying colour to see as part of anyone's design. Zetsu is comic relief, a plot-device to be able to describe what's going on? WRONG. Zetsu's armies probably killed about 30,000 ASF Ninja in ONE DAY.
Konan, DESPITE her heavy handicap of not having any Y-chromosomes in a manga like Naruto, VERY NEARLY TAKES OUT THE MAIN ANTAGONIST ON HER OWN. Who woulda thought paper could be so scary?
Well if you looked at the colour of it...
But the most interesting examples, for my purposes, are the Hokages. In Part 1, Sarutobi is introduced as a kindly old man. Who is the head of a village of supernatural soldiers. And who dresses all in white. An interesting example of "dissonance" in how a character acts and how he looks, and who he IS.
When Orochimaru diguises himself as a Kazekage, he is revealed to be FAR more dangerous than he first gave the impression of being, in the Forest of Death. Orochimaru has KILLED the Kazekage, the most powerful ninja of his village, without anyone noticing. Orochimaru causes the death of the Sandaime Hokage.
And Orochimaru summons the dead, to fight for him. Sarutobi counters (after taking off his robes, though) by summoning the Shinigami ITSELF.
Guess what colour the Shinigami clothes itself in?
And now, Obito's hair has whitened. His skin too, presumably. He's wearing a white robe, (made of his skin or something I don't even know). He possesses all the power of the Juubi, AND all his own powers, AND superior control to even the incomplete Juubito who destroyed Tobirama and Hiruzen with ease!
The question isn't IF someone will die. The question is WHO?
And if anyone posts that "Are you sure?" pic I WILL rant at them. At length.
Edit: If you think this topic is racist, or that I am racist, ask yourself:
Please don't. I swear I have a point, though it's up to you guys to judge whether it's a valid one...
As we (presumably) all know, white, as a colour, has a very different meaning in a japanese cultural context: It means death.
Pure and simple.
If we take a look at Bleach, for a moment, and look at the general colour-scheme of the series: The Shinigami dress in black. Fair enough, think we who have grown up in a Western culture. They're basically the Grim Reapers of their universe, of course they dress in black.
The Espada dress in white.
You must be registered for see images
That, right off the bat, marks them as dangerous and threatening to a Japanese audience. In our culture, the only people who wear white consistently are brides. Not exactly the most threatening subgroup of the population (The Bride from Kill Bill notwithstanding). In Japan, THEY are the ones who dress like Gods of Death.
Back to Naruto.
Colour plays an important part of any manga. A mangaka is an artist first and foremost (plot and writing may or may not be their strong point) and though their characters and backgrounds may be presented as white, you can be sure that their inventor had a very clear idea of what colour everything should be when he first came up with it all.
And colour can have a lot to say about a character. Reinforcing or providing contrast with everything they say or do.
Let's take a look at Naruto himself. Dresses in orange, yellow hair, at times, red chakra. Bright colours, all.
Bright colours mean DANGER.
Bright colours mean POWER.
You must be registered for see images
Consistently, if we look at the colour-scheme of the Naruto-series, a character having ANY amount of RED, ORANGE or YELLOW as part of his or her design is NOT TO BE MESSED WITH. (often, though, girls are an exception here.) Naruto. Gaara. Jiraya. Minato. Chouji, in Part 2. The ENTIRE Akatsuki, (and Nagato takes it to a whole other level). Madara and Hashirama. Even, interestingly enough, Obito in the intermission, had some orange on his clothes and goggles, despite never showing some overwhelming power. (And we all know how that turned out...)
Purple is also a threatening colour: Look at Sasuke in Curse Seal mode, Orochimaru's makeup (and chakra when Kakashi looks at him with Sharingan up), and Nagato's eyes. Purple gives the impression of power, demonic or divine.
White, however, is BY FAR the most worrying colour to see as part of anyone's design. Zetsu is comic relief, a plot-device to be able to describe what's going on? WRONG. Zetsu's armies probably killed about 30,000 ASF Ninja in ONE DAY.
You must be registered for see images
Konan, DESPITE her heavy handicap of not having any Y-chromosomes in a manga like Naruto, VERY NEARLY TAKES OUT THE MAIN ANTAGONIST ON HER OWN. Who woulda thought paper could be so scary?
You must be registered for see images
Well if you looked at the colour of it...
But the most interesting examples, for my purposes, are the Hokages. In Part 1, Sarutobi is introduced as a kindly old man. Who is the head of a village of supernatural soldiers. And who dresses all in white. An interesting example of "dissonance" in how a character acts and how he looks, and who he IS.
You must be registered for see images
When Orochimaru diguises himself as a Kazekage, he is revealed to be FAR more dangerous than he first gave the impression of being, in the Forest of Death. Orochimaru has KILLED the Kazekage, the most powerful ninja of his village, without anyone noticing. Orochimaru causes the death of the Sandaime Hokage.
And Orochimaru summons the dead, to fight for him. Sarutobi counters (after taking off his robes, though) by summoning the Shinigami ITSELF.
Guess what colour the Shinigami clothes itself in?
You must be registered for see images
And now, Obito's hair has whitened. His skin too, presumably. He's wearing a white robe, (made of his skin or something I don't even know). He possesses all the power of the Juubi, AND all his own powers, AND superior control to even the incomplete Juubito who destroyed Tobirama and Hiruzen with ease!
You must be registered for see images
The question isn't IF someone will die. The question is WHO?
And if anyone posts that "Are you sure?" pic I WILL rant at them. At length.
Edit: If you think this topic is racist, or that I am racist, ask yourself:
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