Do you like one sided fights?

[Tahl]

At the end of last weeks chapter we were set up for a Madara vs Konan.

It's safe to assume that we all know that this is going to be a one sided fight with Madara only getting at most superficial wounds, and that during it we will get some small tit-bits to the story and some back story of Konan. This will probably take about 2-4 chapters to do.

So my question is simple:

Like several other fights, throughout the series there's no real doubt as to how this is going to turn out. So why bother? Is the small amount of fan service and tit-bits of back story worth the delay on the main story? Or do you like the fact that Kishi bothers to go and tie up most the loose ends and that every character has a colourful back story?

[jdw]

I like some one-sided fights. You have to bother with the fight because the characters don't have a reason to lay down and die. Konan could say, "I have no hope of winning, peacefully slit my throat Madara-san and leave," but how realistic is that? Even someone who knows he or she will die should at least try to defend and possibly win, ect. For all the people who lose supposedly one-sided fights, you get a diamond in the rough like Konohamaru who wins despite everyone thinking he will lose.

[Tahl]

Suppose I should clarify, there are a number of ways in which the fight could go down. 90% of which is with the death of Konan, but it could easily be done in half a manga or even done off manga and referred to later. Konan especially already has her back story done de facto by Nagato.

[jdw]

But the author is crafting a story, not just a catalogue of fights that are not one-sided. Perhaps there are things that need to be said by Konan because she is the only person left who would share them. I dunno. I think it is ok to use one-sided fights as a tool in storytelling. If Kishi spends 15 chapters showing Konan get slapped around one-sidedly, I might complain. A chapter or two is no big deal imo.

[Roflkopt3r]

But the author is crafting a story, not just a catalogue of fights that are not one-sided. Perhaps there are things that need to be said by Konan because she is the only person left who would share them. I dunno. I think it is ok to use one-sided fights as a tool in storytelling. If Kishi spends 15 chapters showing Konan get slapped around one-sidedly, I might complain. A chapter or two is no big deal imo.

Yeah actually there wasn't much space wasted on one-sided fights so far, if there was a one-sided situation it mostly was used to give us some info while the fighters talk.
However, I think a fight like the upcoming one with this bold introduction of Konan and Madara standing on those rocks promises to be more than just one sided, rather showing at least one turnaround.
Ok that was different for the last time with all that pursuing of Kisame, but there it had a different aim, because most of the storytelling was about that scroll Kisame wanted to send to Madara.
But right now it's only Konan to keep Madara away from the Rinnegan.

In general it's not nice to have one-sided fights, but imo Kishimoto managed to show those either in a very entertaining way (Sasuke getting beaten up by Bee time after time :amuse) or kept them very very short. And having a major turnaround every single fight would be one-sided in a different way. I like the variations of dramaturgy during different fights in the manga so far.

[enmymiguel]

damn..... why on such a cute girl kishi.
now kishi want to show madara true power and why hes a monster, against konan.
probably madara will do some crazy jutsu that will be confusing and unfiar against konan.

it will be like, konan will do her strongers jutsu right from the begining, and madara will know the jutsu and he will counter it.

[Roflkopt3r]

damn..... why on such a cute girl kishi.
now kishi want to show madara true power and why hes a monster, against konan.
probably madara will do some crazy jutsu that will be confusing and unfiar against konan.

it will be like, konan will do her strongers jutsu right from the begining, and madara will know the jutsu and he will counter it.

Always this speculation of a Madara telling anyone how weakened he is and just an empty shell of his former self and so on ;)

Even seemingly one-sided fights can be very dangerous in some moments for the superior party, as shinobi all of them are professional killers after all. One second too late in using space-time jutsu and even the mighty Madara ends in a pool of blood.
As long as this tenseness is involved in a fight, even a rather one sided one isn't really one sided.

[digitaldude]

I like one sided fight, when they are used to describe the hopelessness of a situation, but this is not the case in konan vs madara, so I would not like a one sided fight.

[Drakk707]

Whether I like one-sided fights or not depends of the circunstances Do I like the upocoming one-sided fight Konan vs Madara? Yes Why? Because she's an akatsuki (She still wears the cloak so to me she still is) as simple as that. Ok I will explain myself, Akatsuki are portrayed as the main antagonists of the series therefore being uber-powerful wich is demostrated specially during their last fights in wich they give their all (literally, all their secret abbilities, strogest jutsus, unseen backstory and such are always present), maybe it's just me who's curious but I say it's fair that as an Akatsuki (or former one) Konan should receive this treatmen too. Besides C'mon not everyone can wear that cloak, only the best ninjas are allowed in Akatsuki and I don't think she earned that spot just making paper-wings and throwing paper-shurikens, it's obvious that she hasn't showed us all she's capable of (It's not like she got in because of Nagato's either, this is not a sale in wich you can get 2 for the price of one ¬_¬).

My point is: She's an akatsuki goddamn*t!! Their fights are always epic! Specially their last ones! And her opponent it's not some secondary character that hasn't got enough screen-time It's Madara! Konan deserves a chance to show-off and Madara intrigues me Why wouldn't I want to see this clash? It's not like I want Naruto to end any time soon so...I say Go Konan! Give it your best!

PD: Besides kunoichis are always mistreated in Naruto, it's nice to see one go up against the main antangonist and put up a good fight.

[Delbi]

One sided fights in this manga are almost always used to simply prove a point.

Example 1: Lee vs. Sasuke. We're told that Sasuke is this really powerful genin from the start and we later see him perform well vs. Haku. Then Lee comes along and kicks his ass.

The Reason: 1) To show that the opponents in the chunnin exam are at a higher level than our heros, and 2) To eventually show how far Sasuke came when he fought Gaara, the person who defeated Lee.

Another example more or less Pain vs. Jiraiya

This fight was used to show how powerful Pain was by letting him man handle one of the strongest ninja in the series. This one sided fight would also show us Naruto's growth as he was the one to defeat Pain.

Now, do I like one sided fights? It depends on the fight and whos fighting. If it's believeable, then sure.

[Junior]

Can't stand them.

The only matches I have really liked were matches in which both opponents were somewhat "even" in skill.

For example Naruto vs. Sasuke at the Valley of The End.

I can't really say that fight was truly one-sided. It was so close that it really could have gone to either side, in my honest opinion.

I like fights with suspense. Fights that make you question who's actually going to win. It's no fun for me when it's obvious that Opponent A is going to curb stomp Opponent B.

Example Bee vs. Sasuke. Hell, even Bee vs. Hawk as a whole. That entire fight felt entirely too one-sided until Sasuke pulled out his MS to "end" everything.

That's pretty much how I feel. I love the suspense that comes from fighters on an equal footing.

[gnut]

you gotta admit pein vs hinata was pretty interesting and what about the third.he fought both the 1st and 2nd hokages with oro waiting to be tagged in,lol.both interesting one-sided fights,some are good without having a backstory too.

[elitefox]

Wow, when it comes to one sided fight talk

you all go down to konan vs tobi lol

I don't believe that konan was that weak in the first place especially if the enemy only has two jutsu("escape no jutsu" and "suck you jutsu")

[Tahl]

Most one sided fights I am ok with, although some do bug me.

For example:

Sasuke vs Danzo.

Firstly we know that Madara is watching and therefore Danzo is pretty much doomed from the start. There's no way he would be able to kill both Uchiha's, the best he could hope for is an escape.

The back story: It's pretty much what we already knew, the Danzo was a rival to the third and wanted to be Hokage. Some argue that the flash back shows that the second was a sensor type. Personally I would say that the dude used one sensor move, and as Hokage I would hope he knew at least one sensor move. It also showed how the second died although we already knew this and it isn't as if the flash back did any real homage to the second.

Danzo's fight:

It expanded upon Sasukes new powers although we already knew a lot about Susanoo from the Itachi and then Kage fights. It also expanded a little on the story line, in that Madara was in league with Danzo which was a relatively big revelation although we did know they were both on the same side during the massacre.

Danzo's actual abilities really mean nothing when you think about it. Kishi has a habit of creating "signature" moves for his characters that others never copy. It's unlikely we will see any other character use Izanagi and he never really did show off what the cells from the first Hokage could do (other than make a tree).

I really feel that the tit-bits of back story and fanservice to danzo didn't really belong in the manga and he could easily have been killed within half a chapter or even just killed and referenced to later.

[elitefox]

Can't stand them.

The only matches I have really liked were matches in which both opponents were somewhat "even" in skill.

For example Naruto vs. Sasuke at the Valley of The End.

I can't really say that fight was truly one-sided. It was so close that it really could have gone to either side, in my honest opinion.

I like fights with suspense. Fights that make you question who's actually going to win. It's no fun for me when it's obvious that Opponent A is going to curb stomp Opponent B.

Example Bee vs. Sasuke. Hell, even Bee vs. Hawk as a whole. That entire fight felt entirely too one-sided until Sasuke pulled out his MS to "end" everything.

That's pretty much how I feel. I love the suspense that comes from fighters on an equal footing.

I liked to correct that "until Sasuke pulled out his MS to "end" everything." when bee suddenly decided to escape the town to have vacation and learn more about music.
[hr]

Most one sided fights I am ok with, although some do bug me.

For example:

Sasuke vs Danzo.

Firstly we know that Madara is watching and therefore Danzo is pretty much doomed from the start. There's no way he would be able to kill both Uchiha's, the best he could hope for is an escape.

The back story: It's pretty much what we already knew, the Danzo was a rival to the third and wanted to be Hokage. Some argue that the flash back shows that the second was a sensor type. Personally I would say that the dude used one sensor move, and as Hokage I would hope he knew at least one sensor move. It also showed how the second died although we already knew this and it isn't as if the flash back did any real homage to the second.

Danzo's fight:

It expanded upon Sasukes new powers although we already knew a lot about Susanoo from the Itachi and then Kage fights. It also expanded a little on the story line, in that Madara was in league with Danzo which was a relatively big revelation although we did know they were both on the same side during the massacre.

Danzo's actual abilities really mean nothing when you think about it. Kishi has a habit of creating "signature" moves for his characters that others never copy. It's unlikely we will see any other character use Izanagi and he never really did show off what the cells from the first Hokage could do (other than make a tree).

I really feel that the tit-bits of back story and fanservice to danzo didn't really belong in the manga and he could easily have been killed within half a chapter or even just killed and referenced to later.

or Danzo could have use Izanagi to its full power which obviously he didn't, maybe lack of brains I guess or plot armor was too strong I guess.

[Tahl]

or Danzo could have use Izanagi to its full power which obviously he didn't, maybe lack of brains I guess or plot armor was too strong I guess.

Izanagi itself is probably a discussion for another thread although I assume that there's rules that weren't specifically mentioned other than the timer. Either that or Kishi hasn't thought it out very well, Danzo could easily have used it and one-shot killed Sasuke. But this isn't a shoot first ask questions later manga, it's a "here's how something works your about to be shot with it", manga.

[Junior]

I liked to correct that "until Sasuke pulled out his MS to "end" everything." when bee suddenly decided to escape the town to have vacation and learn more about music.
<hr noshade size="1">


there were quotations around the word end for a reason.

because I figured people would figure out what I was talking about but I guess not.

Sasuke's Amaterasu effectively ENDED the fight in that it gave Bee the chance to sneak out.

It was a trump card that broke the pace of the one-sided fight.

I wasn't really referring to him failing against Bee but w/e.

[Eprst]

Like the last fight when bunch of Konoha beated poor Kisame - honestly i didn't like it.
Naruto and Ko were like a gang beating little boy Kisame, everybody got their hands on them: Naruto with a hook, Bee with his rap, Guy with his Tiger... even the guy with glasses went in his brain to get info. So i was really glad that info leaked away.
About one sided fights Kishi has shown justice - like if in one sided fight a weak person gets beaten up, then somebody stronger comes and saves him.
Or revenge...
So when i saw this one sided fight of Naruto and Ko vs Kisame i was hoping that Madara or Zetsu will come to help him, but instead of this Kishi sent the scroll with shark:))) Kishi knows what is justice!!!

[elitefox]

Like the last fight when bunch of Konoha beated poor Kisame - honestly i didn't like it.
Naruto and Ko were like a gang beating little boy Kisame, everybody got their hands on them: Naruto with a hook, Bee with his rap, Guy with his Tiger... even the guy with glasses went in his brain to get info. So i was really glad that info leaked away.
About one sided fights Kishi has shown justice - like if in one sided fight a weak person gets beaten up, then somebody stronger comes and saves him.
Or revenge...
So when i saw this one sided fight of Naruto and Ko vs Kisame i was hoping that Madara or Zetsu will come to help him, but instead of this Kishi sent the scroll with shark:))) Kishi knows what is justice!!!

Lol Guy is the only one who beat him while the rest stayed behind just to show that Guy is the man. The after the fight is a different story, you won the fight, so information is the price.

[digitaldude]

Guy did not even collapse after he used the 7th gate or anything, it was just total ownage of kisame and I did not like that kisame just came back from the dead just to die again, Gai and Lee are my favorite characters though, so it wasn't all bad.

[3c]

I can like one sided fights if it's the main character fighting the final villain, or a major villain. Especially in the case of fighting the final villain as he should naturally be incredibly strong and devestating, the main character shouldn't be able to counter him before the very end. Then again that's not a 100% one sided fight. Other than that I tend to like one sided fights sometimes when the fight works to build up a villains hype. Jiraiya vs Pain is a good example. The lack of one sided fight is what downgraded Naruto vs Pain a little for me, as it just seemed so easy for Naruto to get rid of all the Pain bodies when God Realm wasn't working, it made Jiraiya's efforts look half assed.

[juUnior]

I like such fights because of the sole reason that Kishi tends to show this really interesting and entertaining.

Which - sometimes - I don't like is fights occuring with great relevance to the story of one of the main characters, like: Sasuke vs Deidara - probably everyone knew that Sasuke will win because everybody knew that he must fight Itachi before he can be killed in the series. Although I complain about this, it was still entertaining and one of the best fights in the series. I think I made myself clear xd

[benelori]

I like the fights because of the characters and their jutsus mainly...so I don't really mind the outcome, but if it's unpredictable then it's better...

[shinsengumi]

ironicly , the fight which you would expect to be the most one-sided was the only 1 which ever forced madara to use izanagi before our eyes . and we could also see his other eye . what greater purpose could it serve ? i definetely liked this fight

[THM Nindo]

There is only one fight that I want to be totally one-sided and it's the next encounter between Killerbee and Sasuke.

Let's be honest, Killerbee pretty much as shown everything he got during his two previous fights. So, he probably doesn't have a lot of tricks up his sleeves.

And, after Naruto's power-up, Sasuke needs to be hype even higher, because I think everyone wants Naruto to go as the underdog during their final confrontation (the fights are always better when the hero is the underdog).

So, I could totally see Sasuke, arriving in front of Killerbee...
Opening his eyes (showing the EMS for the first time), and then that's it.
On the next panel we see him, he's carrying Killerbee on his shoulder.

That would be like "Woah! He got Killerbee that easily?"

[Roflkopt3r]

That would be like "Woah! He got Killerbee that easily?"

Hehe really I think that would be one of the weakest moment of the manga to me if 16(!) year old Sasuke would make such an incredible jump in skill in virtually no time. I mean last time Bee beated the crap out of Sasuke with no problems whatsoever. It looked like a 40-kg-guy took the wrong way and ended up matched against a 110kg all muscles professional fighter in a boxing ring.

[Googlez_kun]

ironicly , the fight which you would expect to be the most one-sided was the only 1 which ever forced madara to use izanagi before our eyes . and we could also see his other eye . what greater purpose could it serve ? i definetely liked this fight

Yeah,this is the kind of one-sided fight that i really like.It's like a tiny mouse that tries to defeat a huge cat.We all know that the mouse is going to end up in the cat's stomach,but in this fight the cat had to use one of its most powerful techniques.(Sounds kinda strange^^)

Konan did a great job and nearly won,even though we knew she could not win.But it still was entertaining.Even though we have to say that it was not really one-sided,because Konan could've actually defeated Madara.She did not need to necessarily kill him,but if "one-sided fights" are handled like this,i have no problem.

But there are also those,where you just know that one of the characters can't die,because of his big ass plot-shield.Take the fight Sasuke vs. Deidara as an example.We knew Sasuke could not die.It was just impossible from the plot point of view.Even though the fight was really well done,there was not a second where i thought that Sasuke could die,which means that the suspense is gone...

[Jiraiya-sama]

I can see the purpose of one sided fights but for me it depends on characters being used. If I hate the character I will love to see them curbstomped, but if I love or like the character if I know they are going to be wtfpawned I still want to see them do their best as was the case with Konan.

Now to make comments on specific fights:

1. Sasuke vs Lee: It was nice to see someone who was a genius brat defeated by a natural hard worker. I preferred Lee as a character even before I knew about his history later.

2. Sasuke vs Bee- possibly the most satisfactory fight I have read in Naruto, the fact that the ever arrogant Sasuke was owned by Bee. Before anyone tries to argue Sasuke wasn't owned, I certainly count ownage as dying (yes he would have died without his mooks) and only living due to outside interference.

Many of the cases with Sasuke will naturally involve plot armor, although I do not necessarily consider plot armor as a defining factor of a one sided fight since characters can own or at least be even with him in battle.

[Delbi]

Hehe really I think that would be one of the weakest moment of the manga to me if 16(!) year old Sasuke would make such an incredible jump in skill in virtually no time. I mean last time Bee beated the crap out of Sasuke with no problems whatsoever. It looked like a 40-kg-guy took the wrong way and ended up matched against a 110kg all muscles professional fighter in a boxing ring.

Keep in mind something Kakashi said to Naruto a loonnggg time ago in the manga.

"There are ninja who are younger than you, and stronger than me."

Age means nothing in this manga. Not to mention, Sasuke has now mastered his MS jutsu, and recieved an EMS upgrade. Add to the fact he's already fought Bee before, and has battle experience against Kages and what not, him trampling Bee shouldn't be that surprising if it indeed does happen.

[pjoto]

I guess the reason Kishimoto does this is to show us the characters ultimate resolve, how far they are willing to go for their cause, and it strenghtens the characters and makes us, the readers, care more about their existance. It also gives us a 100% clarity of their true intentions, leaving no trace of possibilities that something other than the most likely happened. It is an anime after all, and when thing happen off screen, people tend to make wild assumptions.

And last but not least, it's one of the best atributes of Naruto in my mind, if we hadn't gotten any backstory about Haku for example, I probably wouldn't have watched any further than episode 20. "Oh, some kid got killed.. oh well." It'd have been just as little exciting as when Kakashi killed the two random thugs a few episodes earlier. Instead that is still my favorite arc.

So a simple answer to your simple question, "why bother?", because it's essential.

[Kusachu]

I like fights that seem one sided, but then turn into an intense battle and the scenes change back and forth rapidly from one fight to another or from one perspective to another. Remeber the excitement inherrant in the early story arcs? Where has that gone? It seems like it mostly ended with part one to me, with the exception of a few really good fights in part two. Look at how awesome Sasuke v. Orochimaru was back then. Or Naruto v. Neji. Yeah, fights nowadays follow the same general formula, but that formula is old and overused, mostly on characters that have some cult fanbase and a need to tie off their roles in the story. These recent fights have been rather boring to me, especially this last one. It's getting way too over the top and the story is seeming more and more ridiculous because of it.