RufusSerano
Member
There have been lots of discussions lately about the naruto manga changing dramatically and the war-/kaguya-arc beeing full of 'plot-holes' and 'asspulls'. I realize that this is a highly controversial topic, but I believe that we can get much more insight into the topic if we have a look at the development of the naruto manga over time. This way we can see exactly what has changed about the manga, and what consequences those changes have in the current discussions.
Naruto was a story that was about a boy that never got acknowledged by anyone and thus always had has been looked down upon all the time. Despite all that, he still resolved to fight his way through live and had the huge goal to - at some point in the future - be acknowledged and loved by everybody. He always knew that it woul be a rough road to get there and that there were no shortcuts.
The manga used a setting where fighting was normal, even mandatory, wich made a character like Naruto much more reasonable and likeable. Despite that, the fighting was not the focuspoint of the Manga, for each fight was used as a tool to further the storyline(plot). Bigger constructs within the storyline that were built up over many hundreds of episodes were common and led to shocking/inspiring szenes many times, that changed the view on the Manga within the community a dozen times.
Key conzepts of the Manga were: Overcomming your own 'destiny', outgrowing your predecessors, staying true to your own goals and teamwork - amongst many others.
As a contrast , let's have a look at the current Naruto Manga:
The story - as it is at the moment - tells about two ppl who have inherited the powers and the will of two great warriors and the grandmother of those two warriors, a seemingly all-powerfull beeing that came back to live. The two 'sucessors' of the the warriors - after having fought against each other for a long time - have finally teamed up to fight the all-mighty grandmother that tries to completely reshape the world as it has been known.
The manga uses a setting of total war where fights constantly happen. The fights are the focuspoint of the Manga. Plot is used as a tool to provoke and enhance fights and make them as appealing to the Reader as possible. Bigger constructs within the storyline have disappeared. New aspects to the storyline appear seemingly out of nowhere in order to further create more interesting battles.
Key conzepts of the Manga are: Fullfilling your own destiny, keeping up with your predecessors, survival and the power of the individual - amongst some others.
Conclusion:
While the Manga had small changes to it in the past, there has been a drastic shift of the Manga into a completely different direction lately. The focus seems to have shifted away from the storyline and to the battles themselves. The key conzepts of the manga seem to have almost completely reversed.
Interpretation:
I believe that Kishimoto, the creator of Naruto, made those drastic changes to Naruto, because he is trying to bring it to an end prematurely. While doing so, he is trying to create content that will appeal both longtime followers and newcommers to the Narutoverse - with medium sucess for both. He is doing so by going without bigger plot-constructs that would confuse newer readers and giving the longtime followers of Naruto something that they may have wanted for a long time, but never gotten to see within the regular plotline of Naruto.
While some ppl like the more action intensive feel in the new Naruto with lots of battles and fighting, other ppl feel nostalgic towards the good storyline, the theorycrafting and the depth that Naruto used to have to it.
I believe this twist created many of the discussions and flamewars we see poping up in the community at the moment.
This concludes my summary of the development of the Naruto Manga over time. Feel free to share your thoughts and leave questions and/or feedback.
Thank you for reading
Let's start with going back to the roots:
Naruto was a story that was about a boy that never got acknowledged by anyone and thus always had has been looked down upon all the time. Despite all that, he still resolved to fight his way through live and had the huge goal to - at some point in the future - be acknowledged and loved by everybody. He always knew that it woul be a rough road to get there and that there were no shortcuts.
The manga used a setting where fighting was normal, even mandatory, wich made a character like Naruto much more reasonable and likeable. Despite that, the fighting was not the focuspoint of the Manga, for each fight was used as a tool to further the storyline(plot). Bigger constructs within the storyline that were built up over many hundreds of episodes were common and led to shocking/inspiring szenes many times, that changed the view on the Manga within the community a dozen times.
Key conzepts of the Manga were: Overcomming your own 'destiny', outgrowing your predecessors, staying true to your own goals and teamwork - amongst many others.
As a contrast , let's have a look at the current Naruto Manga:
The story - as it is at the moment - tells about two ppl who have inherited the powers and the will of two great warriors and the grandmother of those two warriors, a seemingly all-powerfull beeing that came back to live. The two 'sucessors' of the the warriors - after having fought against each other for a long time - have finally teamed up to fight the all-mighty grandmother that tries to completely reshape the world as it has been known.
The manga uses a setting of total war where fights constantly happen. The fights are the focuspoint of the Manga. Plot is used as a tool to provoke and enhance fights and make them as appealing to the Reader as possible. Bigger constructs within the storyline have disappeared. New aspects to the storyline appear seemingly out of nowhere in order to further create more interesting battles.
Key conzepts of the Manga are: Fullfilling your own destiny, keeping up with your predecessors, survival and the power of the individual - amongst some others.
Conclusion:
While the Manga had small changes to it in the past, there has been a drastic shift of the Manga into a completely different direction lately. The focus seems to have shifted away from the storyline and to the battles themselves. The key conzepts of the manga seem to have almost completely reversed.
Interpretation:
I believe that Kishimoto, the creator of Naruto, made those drastic changes to Naruto, because he is trying to bring it to an end prematurely. While doing so, he is trying to create content that will appeal both longtime followers and newcommers to the Narutoverse - with medium sucess for both. He is doing so by going without bigger plot-constructs that would confuse newer readers and giving the longtime followers of Naruto something that they may have wanted for a long time, but never gotten to see within the regular plotline of Naruto.
While some ppl like the more action intensive feel in the new Naruto with lots of battles and fighting, other ppl feel nostalgic towards the good storyline, the theorycrafting and the depth that Naruto used to have to it.
I believe this twist created many of the discussions and flamewars we see poping up in the community at the moment.
This concludes my summary of the development of the Naruto Manga over time. Feel free to share your thoughts and leave questions and/or feedback.
Thank you for reading
Last edited:
