Games Top Ten Game - Interim Round 105: Top 10 Hottest video games female characters

[Faust]

Schedule

Current :

Interim Round 105
Hottest Female Video Game Characters
Host: @Erinyes

On Hold :
Worst Tropes in Anime/Manga/Light Novel
Host: zimbardo

Note: The schedule could still be changed/re-arranged depending on the hosts' availability.

Spoiler: Reserved Themes

Host:
@Erinyes


Artist Characters


Badass Video Game Characters


Slice of Life Anime/Manga/LN

Host:
@Purity of Magi

Magi Characters

Whey They Cry Characters


Chainsaw Man Characters
Host: @Gajeel


Haikyuu Characters
Host: @Holt


Video Game Characters [Remake]
Host: @Sky


Dads/Father Figures
Host: @z.5


'Big 3' Music Rounds
Host: @Xadyu


Anime Pandas
Host: @Copy Panda

Tokyo Revengers Characters
Host: @Hermit

Spoiler: Past Interim Rounds

Interim Rounds
#01: Animated Shows Host: @Faust
#02: Animes Host: @Faust
#03: Music Bands/Groups Host: @Faust
#04: Music Duos Host: @Faust
#05: Music Artists Host: @Faust
#06: Anime OPs Host: @Faust
#07: Anime EDs Host: @Faust
#08: Anime OSTs Host: @Faust
#09: Anime Fights Host: @Faust
#10: Anime Groups Host: @Faust
#11: Anime Moves Host: @Faust
#12: Anime Duos Host: @Faust
#13: Anime Movies Host: @Faust
#14: Manga Series Host: @Faust
#15: Music Videos Host: @Faust
#16: Animated Movies Host: @Faust
#17: Video Games Host: @Faust
#18: Mangakas Host: @Faust
#19: Manga Characters Who Lived Up to the Hype Host: @Faust
#20: Most Sad Anime Moments Host: @Faust
#21: Anime Senseis Host: @Faust
#22: Video Game Duos Host: @Faust
#23: Anime Leaders Host: @Faust
#24: Anime/Manga/Light Novel Swordwielders Host: @Faust
#25: Anime/Manga/Light Novel Marks(wo)men Host: @Faust
#26: Anime/Manga/Light Novel Athletes Host: @Faust
#27: Video Game Villains Host: @Faust
#28: Animated (Non-Anime) Villains Host: @Faust
#29: Anime/Manga/Light Novel Villains Host: @Faust
#30: Underappreciated Anime Series Host: @Faust
#31: Underappreciated Animated Films Host: @Faust
#32: Anime/Manga/Light Novel Rivals/Archnemeses Host: @Faust
#33: Anime/Manga/Light Novel Romantic Pairings Host: @Faust
#34: Anime/Manga/Light Novel featuring Physical/Mental Disablities/Illness Host: @Faust
#35: Anime Full Soundtrack Host: @Faust
#36: Super Smash Bros. Fighter Suggestions Host: @Faust
#37: Animals Host: zimbardo
#38: Sci-Fi Movies Host: @Faust
#39: Type-Moon Characters Host: @Faust
#40: Countries with Best Cuisine Host: zimbardo
#41: Anime/Manga/Light Novel Characters That You Want To See Go All Out Host: @Faust
#42: Animal Crossing New Horizons Villagers Host: @Ustegius
#43: Dragon Ball Characters Host: @Faust
#44: One Piece Characters Host: @Faust
#45: Naruto Characters Host: @syx
#46: Bleach Characters Host: zimbardo
#47: Female Lead Characters [Anime/Manga/LN/VN] Host: @Brandish μ
#48: Parents/Guardians [Anime/Manga/LN/VN] Host: @Faust
#49: Fullmetal Alchemist Characters Host: @Purity of Magi
#50: Boku no Hero Academia Characters Host: @Hermit
#51: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Characters Host @GrySun
#52: Secondary Characters [Anime/Manga/LN/VN] Host: @revo
#53: Best Story Arcs [Anime/Manga/LN/VN] Host: @Faust
#54: Kimetsu no Yaiba Characters Host: @revo
#55: Anime Hair Host: @Evil3ye
#56: Gintama Characters Host: @Gryffindor
#57: Black Clover Characters Host: @Juviii
#58: Tensais Host: @Erinyes
#59: Waifus Host: @SirSamuel016
#60: Manga Artworks Host: @revo
#61: Hunter x Hunter Characters Host: @Nii
#62: Yū Yū Hakusho Characters Host: @Faust
#63: Pokémon Host: @Evil3ye
#64: Inspiring Characters Host: @desin24
#65: Shokugeki no Sōma Characters Host: @Tatsumaki
#66: Shingeki no Kyojin Characters Host: @Farfalla
#67: Stylish Characters Host: @Erinyes
#68: Husbandos Host: @revo
#69: Fairy Tail Characters Host: @Brandish μ
#70: Dr. Stone Characters Host: @Hermit
#71: Jujutsu Kaisen Characters Host: @Nii
#72: Romantic Scenes in Manga(wha) Host: @Erinyes
#73: Brawlers Host: @Faust
#74: Anime OST Composers Hosts: @Farfalla and @MArGi
#75: Video Game+Visual Novel OST Composers Hosts: @Farfalla and @MArGi
#76: Badass Male Characters - Host: @Erinyes
#77: Badass Female Characters - Host: @Erinyes
#78: Nanatsu no Taizai Characters - Host: @Hermit
#79: Manga/LN/VN That Need An Anime - Host: @Brandish μ
#80: Eurovision 2022 - Host: @Riku
#81: Female Mangaka - Host: @Erinyes
#82: Fate Characters - Host: @Nii
#83: Best Character Designs (Male) - Host: @Erinyes
#84: Best Character Designs (Female) - Host: @Erinyes
#85: Annoying Characters - Host: @Evil3ye
#86: Voice Actors (Seiyū) - Host: @Farfalla
#87: Video Game Character Designs (Male) - Host @Erinyes
#88: Video Game Character Designs (Female) - Host @Erinyes
#89: Eurovision 2023 - Host: @Riku
#90: Feel Good Slices of Life Anime/Manga/Light Novel - Host: @Erinyes
#91: Kingdom Characters - Host: @MArGi
#92: Anime OPs (Remake) - Host; @Erinyes

ON HOLD
#??: Worst Tropes in Anime/Manga/Light Novel - Host: @z.5
#??: Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOs)
For rounds hosted by @BluePegasus Go here
For rounds hosted by @Xadyu Go here
For rounds hosted by zimbardo Go here

Hosting Priority List and Window of Availability

Spoiler: theme poll winners

Video games in terms of story
Villains you wish had won [Anime/Manga/LN/VN]

Spoiler: Hall of Fame

Hall of Fame

Spoiler: To be reminded for upcoming rounds -zimbardo

I've made a thread to alert people when new rounds are starting, when lists are to be sent, when the number 1 has been released, etc.

I hope that it is a useful tool for you lot.

Please watch the thread and, if hosting, post messages to alert people to anything useful within the game

1K page celebration post [courtesy of Valhalla777]

 

[Erinyes]

If I didn't use to love it, I probably wouldn't bash it as much.

You draw the boundary at the Pain invasion arc - I draw it a little further back, when Sasuke killed Itachi.

Sure, Naruto did have some good bits following this. The problem, however, is that they were couched in this entirely uninteresting Uchiha/Senju bullshit. As soon as Itachi was retconned into a hero, the story quickly started to degrade into the hot mess that it ended up as - and, as I've said [countless times] before, this switcheroo was not only damaging to the story, but also entirely unnecessary.

That switch ruined numerous characters (Sasuke, Itachi, and Pain, being prime examples [I could also argue that it ruined Tobi, but I personally never found him that interesting to begin with]) - it also (as much as I'm sure people will disagree with me here) seemed very much out of left field.

It led to the ninja war, the increase in OP WTFNUKETHEWORLD jutsu (though that was already becoming a bit of an issue already), as well as all the mythical Hashirama-cells/Uchiha-Senju nonsense, the Jyuubi, and many other awful things.

Now, can any of you argue that you would not have preferred a story about ninjas?

The story, before then, could be nicely crystalized into 3 parts
1 - Sasuke's mission for revenge against Itachi
2 - Naruto's desire to 'save' Sasuke from spiralling into darkness/bring his friend back to Konoha
3 - Pain's desire to bring peace to the world through the ninja version of M.A.D.

All 3 parts nicely fit together with:
- Sasuke trying to avoid Naruto (as he didn't really want to have to kill him), whilst trying to track down the Akatsuki
- Naruto trying to avoid being caught by the Akatsuki, whilst trying to track down (and 'save') Sasuke
- The Akatsuki trying to work from the shadows (Itachi, for example, trying to avoid Sasuke - as he didn't really want to kill him, either [or the Akatsuki trying to avoid drawing too much attention - as, although powerful, they weren't that overpowered at that point in the manga]), whilst trying to track down (and capture) Naruto

This could've made a nice triangle, if Orochimaru had taken a more active interest in tracking down the Akatsuki

That would've left the door open to some of the characters actually performing some ninja-like activities [subterfuge, stealth, reconnaissance...] and would have enabled the author to natrually allow the characters to explore different parts of the ninja world/different villages, as they each tried to achieve their own goals

The idea, for example, of the Akatsuki being made up of powerful ninjas, but being a small enough group that they still have to fear being tracked down (and killed) by the larger (and more powerful) 5 villages, is a really great one. One that opens the door to all kinds of interesting developments and story arcs

It would also have left the door open to the exploration of some more non-nuclear ninja techniques (such as those related to stealth and information gathering)

I'm happy to talk positively about part 1 Naruto
I'm more than happy to talk positively about many of the characters in Naruto
I like the fights of Naruto when the 'ninjas' have to use their brains to win, rather than just turning the whole battlefield into burning ash (Shikamaru vs Hidan being an easy to reach for example)

The thing that disappointed me the most was Naruto being the son af a genius, i loved when Naruto was the "loser" , the "nobody" doing his best, working hard. the whole series was about losers vs genius, after all, and i wanted him to be the loser who managed to become hokage. I like a lot Rock Lee and Guy, and wanted Naruto to stay the same as 1st part. But then he ended up being the son of Minato and Kushina (another genius), and all his "zero" background, all his "i dont rely on family legacy" his vs Neji fight & discourse, became nonsensical somehow. (i do llike minato and kushina but well).

@Nii and yes i did enjoy a lot Naruto despite the flaws all the stuff i dislike, and i still consider it as one of the series that impacted me the most, not among my top top10 faves but definitely one of the most memorable, i did have good times reading it and even watching the anime.

 

[z.5]

The thing that disappointed me the most was Naruto being the son af a genius, i loved when Naruto was the "loser" , the "nobody" doing his best, working hard. the whole series was about losers vs genius, after all, and i wanted him to be the loser who managed to become hokage. I like a lot Rock Lee and Guy, and wanted Naruto to stay the same as 1st part. But then he ended up being the son of Minato and Kushina (another genius), and all his "zero" background, all his "i dont rely on family legacy" his vs Neji fight & discourse, became nonsensical somehow. (i do llike minato and kushina but well)

Arguably that also kinda came out of the events following Sasuke killing Itachi - as, before then, Tobi wasn't the big bad
Naruto became the son of the Hokage after it was revealed that Tobi had planned (and implemented) the attack on Konoha using the nine tailed fox

Before this point in the manga, the nine tailed fox was also not a misunderstood character - It was a demon/had no respect for human life/had no sad backstory/could almost be described as a 'natural disaster'

I agree that him being the son of the Hokage added nothing to his character

Whilst we are on the topic of the nine tails, I really wasn't a fan of Naruto becoming his BFF

Before then, it was possible to explain Naruto's failure in Ninjutsu as the fox's chakra interfering with his own/making it difficult for Naruto to control his chakra. It was a nice, easy to understand, reason for Naruto's perceived lack of talent and it enabled him to be able to still argue that 'hard work and effort beat natural-born-abilities

It also enabled the suggestion that Naruto was actually more skilled in chakra control than most ninjas - due to the huge handicap he has placed upon him, any successes he has are worth far more (as even the most simple of jutsu is made that much harder for Naruto, than for other characters)

Did the 9-tails give him power, sure, occasionally it did. But it wasn't without consequence (loss of control/damage to his body/etc.) and it was easy to see why Naruto would not want to rely on that

Naruto had to work twice as hard as anyone else to use his powers, as he was always fighting against the fox inside him
His progress could still be made to fit the mould of 'hard work [eventually] beats natural talent'

Afterwards...



Also, I doubt I'm the only person who actually quite liked Hashirama/Tobirama/Minato/Madara/Hagoromo being only referred to as historical figures.
Nothing good came from them being reintroduced into the story (and all of them were dragged kicking and screaming into the manga due to the events discussed above)

The mystery was part of their charm... and it would've been super easy to bring parts of them back (as in their jutsu, not their decaying corpses/magic cells/body parts) into the story - with Naruto learning techniques from the 4th, from Jiraiya's teachings/Konoha scrolls and Sasuke learning Madara's techniques from Uchiha scrolls/techniques that Orochimaru had dug up

This also still enables them to be shown in [very short] flashbacks - of them using the introduced techniques in the past, compared with Naruto/Sasuke using them in the present

One possible example:
Exploring more into how the 4th used the Dead Demon Consuming Seal/how it works - so that Naruto could deal with the 9-tails, as the seal begins to weaken in the story

 

[Vici]

Not to mention that the Rinnegans weren't even Nagato's in the first place, but that's an ironic side note.

Konan didn't know that hence even her line how his eyes are the treasure of the Village because he has awakened them.

 

[Hardy]

Crazy....lee is best team Guy member

--- Double Post Merged, Jun 10, 2020, Original Post Date: Jun 10, 2020 ---

Neiji is comparable to that prick MC from your local highschool sitcom...or even a back to the future bully.lol

Never liked his excuses to be a jerk xp

 

[Faust]

There's a female character top 10 soon.

 

[syx]

Am I the only one who thinks Naruto was really good for the majority of its run? If you ask me, almost everything up until the end of Pain's Invasion was good or great (not everything, but still).

After that, it still had a whole number of good parts, like the Minato/Kushina flashback. Heck, a whole lot of that preparation before the Ninja War was pretty hype. As a Kisame fan, I really liked that showdown with Guy : D

And then... the Ninja War happened. Which was a hot mess, I think no one can deny that. It still had its moment, but overall it was very obviously not good. Almost everyone probably gets a little angry thinking of Obito and Kaguya

Does that ruin the whole thing for me, though? No, I still look back very fondly on Naruto, and often find myself surprised how many people are trashing the series when they seemed to love it just as much in the past. I understand the salt to some extent, but for me the Ninja War alone isn't enough to shit on the whole series. Long story short, I hope to see some more love here

I can keep it quite simple in my case. It all comes down to this: Would I recommend Naruto to someone? No. Never.

Naruto has the most special place in my heart, but overall it is just not a well-done work. Especially the war arc took a huge toll on the series as a whole. Of course you can find some good in the worst parts of Naruto, but that pretty much goes for every other series as well.

Konan didn't know that hence even her line how his eyes are the treasure of the Village because he has awakened them.

I know that, the "but that's an ironic side note" in my post was referring to this fact. Again, Konan had no reason to keep the Rinnegans, buts he did because plot demanded ot, and that makes her look very silly, as sad as it is, because I would have liked her a lot more if that weren't the case. =(

 

[z.5]

Naruto should've lost that fight vs Neji - it would've been good for Naruto's character, whilst still enabling Neji a chance to 'grow' (and question his mindset)

The fact that the 'number 1 rookie' was taken out by a single surprise punch always rankled me - it should've been more like the Lee/Gaara fight.
Naruto could've put up a good [better] fight (enough to shock Neji into wondering how he had underestimated Naruto that much/worrying that he might actually lose), only to have Neji having to resort to the 8 trigram 64 palms attack [to win]

 

[syx]

Imagine....

Chuunin Exam Tournament - 2nd Round:

Hyuuga Neji vs. Sabaku no Gaara​

 

[z.5]

Imagine....

Chuunin Exam Tournament - 2nd Round:

Hyuuga Neji vs. Sabaku no Gaara​

Let me just spam the 'Like' button - hoping that it gives you lots of notifications - to show how awesome I feel that would've been

 

[Brandish μ]

Seiko is the 'hold my beer' to any good female character discussion

 

[syx]

Important Note:
I can't promise to consider changes of your lists once they are counted, because there is a (huge) risk to mess up the ranking/counting that way. But I will try my best to implement them. So, feel free to send me the changes. I will either implement all requested changes or none of them (fair is fair). I will decide this towards the end of the countdown and give you guys a note whether all requested changes are included or not.

 

[Faust]

Imagine....

Chuunin Exam Tournament - 2nd Round:

Hyuuga Neji vs. Sabaku no Gaara​

 

[HereNThere]

Her and Naruto's relationship felt natural to me until the last arc because it was literally, "NARUTO I LUV U AND DIE 4 U" and after that, no interaction or acknowledgement until the war when Hinata felt emo, and when Naruto went emo mode after Neji's death. Kishi could have done a good job had he kept building their relationship. The interactions between them in Part I was good, and it honestly added to Naruto's character because Hinata established just how hard Naruto worked and how he kept refusing to give up no matter what hardship he faced. He inspired her to do better and be better to the point that she was willing to die just to prove to him and Neji that she wasn't weak.

Sakura and Naruto also had tremendous potential in Part II when Sakura became a badass. After Rescue Gaara arc though, Kishi didn't do much for her in terms of personality, and then he actually had her regress by making her pine after Sasuke again, and Naruto became victim of this as well. Like, I had no problem with Sakura being so concerned about Naruto after learning about Akatsuki, but then during the war to have her worry about Sasuke while ignoring Naruto even for humor purposes... yikes. AND having her SOMEHOW make the decision to kill one of the strongest ninjas and a Sharingan user after lying to Naruto... MAJOR YIKES.

I remember NaruSaku vs. NaruHina. I was NaruHina because Hinata loved Naruto from the get-go for who he was and saw the real him and embraced him. She didn't see him as an idiot, she saw him as someone who tried his best and never gave up. That's who I thought (and still think) Naruto should be with.

NaruSaku was popular primarily because fans wanted Naruto to be with whom he loved, even though she didn't like him and didn't recognize him until Zabuza Arc and then during the Chuunin exams. Then comes Part II, and Sakura was actually different. She wasn't a simpering, annoying idiot, she became more badass to the point that she was willing to sacrifice herself for an old shart. As a smart medic ninja, she'd have been a great complement to Naruto, and she finally started caring for Naruto. I was still okay with NaruSaku because Sakura looked like she was reciprocating his feelings and started caring about him as someone she was close to. But then Kishi fucked it up by having her simp strongly for Sasuke again and making her dumb when it came to him.

I wish at the very least, if Kishi was going to have Naruto end up with Hinata, he could have done more with her character and their relationship as well rather than put most of the characters on backburner to focus on Naruto and Sasuke. And rather than ruin Orochimaru's character, he could have kept Itachi as a legit villain for Sasuke, Pain as Naruto's villain, and Orochimaru as both of theirs, if not the world's. That would have been more effective, especially given Orochimaru's hype and how evil he was.

Their relationship in Part 1 was great and I don't disagree. Him motivating her to do better and her slowly falling in love with him due to that is fine character work. But the fact that they barely interact with each through the majority of the series is a large detriment to me "buying" their relationship. The fact that Kishi literally admitted that he had Neji die to get that ship to sail and The Last movie had to genjutsu Naruto into realizing his love for her doesn't help matters at all.

I'm definitely in agreement with all of that about Sakura. I liked her at the start when she was independent and made true of her promise to not fall behind Naruto and Sasuke. But then Part 2 kept going and she just became the worst. Boruto certainly didn't help either with Sarada's little mini series in which Sakura reveals that she not only never kissed Sasuke, she couldn't remember if he ever wore glasses.

That's why I leaned more towards NaruSaku because, as you said, it looked like she was growing to like him and care about him. Couple that with their panel time together, and I was more for that than Hinata who had nothing going on at the time.

If Kishi had done the bare minimum of leg work like, I don't know, having Naruto acknowledge Hinata's confession after the Pain fight, I'd have been more inclined to buy the relationship. As it stands, neither Kishi nor Naruto pulled through on that. Now all that's left is Doujin authors picking up Kishi's slack.

 

[Jammin]

Am I the only one who thinks Naruto was really good for the majority of its run? If you ask me, almost everything up until the end of Pain's Invasion was good or great (not everything, but still).

After that, it still had a whole number of good parts, like the Minato/Kushina flashback. Heck, a whole lot of that preparation before the Ninja War was pretty hype. As a Kisame fan, I really liked that showdown with Guy : D

And then... the Ninja War happened. Which was a hot mess, I think no one can deny that. It still had its moment, but overall it was very obviously not good. Almost everyone probably gets a little angry thinking of Obito and Kaguya

Does that ruin the whole thing for me, though? No, I still look back very fondly on Naruto, and often find myself surprised how many people are trashing the series when they seemed to love it just as much in the past. I understand the salt to some extent, but for me the Ninja War alone isn't enough to shit on the whole series. Long story short, I hope to see some more love here

I mean, I'm not sure I disagree that it was good for the majority of it's run. But what your leaving out here is that Ninja Puddy War was like 30% of the series. And there is probably another 10% of lousy retconn stuff in there like the Itachi bits and the various awkward post-Orochimaru Sasuke parts . So that's like 40% right there.

There are good self contained stories in the series and those stand on their own to some degree. By the overall story of Naruto I think fails by every metric with that last 40%. And finally ending it with Boruto. Kishi's cynical openly ghost written cash grab is just the cherry on top. The creative bankruptcy there is painful.

Their relationship in Part 1 was great and I don't disagree. Him motivating her to do better and her slowly falling in love with him due to that is fine character work. But the fact that they barely interact with each through the majority of the series is a large detriment to me "buying" their relationship. The fact that Kishi literally admitted that he had Neji die to get that ship to sail and The Last movie had to genjutsu Naruto into realizing his love for her doesn't help matters at all.

I'm definitely in agreement with all of that about Sakura. I liked her at the start when she was independent and made true of her promise to not fall behind Naruto and Sasuke. But then Part 2 kept going and she just became the worst. Boruto certainly didn't help either with Sarada's little mini series in which Sakura reveals that she not only never kissed Sasuke, she couldn't remember if he ever wore glasses.

That's why I leaned more towards NaruSaku because, as you said, it looked like she was growing to like him and care about him. Couple that with their panel time together, and I was more for that than Hinata who had nothing going on at the time.

If Kishi had done the bare minimum of leg work like, I don't know, having Naruto acknowledge Hinata's confession after the Pain fight, I'd have been more inclined to buy the relationship. As it stands, neither Kishi nor Naruto pulled through on that. Now all that's left is Doujin authors picking up Kishi's slack.

This. 1000% this. The move to make would have been to have Hinata join the group heading to that dumb turtle island place and use that mini-arc to build an actual relationship between them. That would have helped a lot and given the chance to form her into a more of a character.

Like you look at the core important parts of Naruto's life at the time. What does she think about "saving" Sasuke? There is no answer to that question which is infuriating to me.

 

[HereNThere]

Like you look at the core important parts of Naruto's life at the time. What does she think about "saving" Sasuke? There is no answer to that question which is infuriating to me.

Given her character, she most likely supported Naruto in wanting to save Sasuke. No skin off her nose either way, as long as Naruto is happy.

In a better written series, however, she could have or should have been one of the few voices in Naruto's ear that would've actually made him question whether or not he's actually doing the right thing in continuing after Sasuke.

 

[Jammin]

Given her character, she most likely supported Naruto in wanting to save Sasuke. No skin off her nose either way, as long as Naruto is happy.

In a better written series, however, she could have or should have been one of the few voices in Naruto's ear that would've actually made him question whether or not he's actually doing the right thing in continuing after Sasuke.

That you have to say "most likely". That's my issue there. Even if she supported Naruto. That's a conversation that needed to happen which didn't.

 

[GrySun]

We need a Top 10 Gintama characters one too if we'll do more characters related themes.

 

[Riku]

Zimbs analysis is pretty perfect.

There were indeed 3 main plotlines, that interacted very well. Sasukes, Narutos and Pains. Sasuke hunts Itachi/Akatsuki, Akatsuki hunts Naruto/Kyubi and Naruto hunts Sasuke/glory.

Part 1 did a magnificent job setting up these plotlines and introducing the World and how it work.

Then all went to shit. Some stuff post time-skip do work really well. Like bits about saving Gaara arc and mostly Pains saga for peace with no matter the means. But there is also so much loose eventually meaningless crap - mostly about Uchiha/Senju/ANBU and such. That stuff is mostly setting up Itachis plot line, but it doesn't simply make a lot of sense.

I personally would have like completly cut out Sai for example. Hell, since Kishimoto clearly had no plans for them, he could have like crippled Kiba and killed Shino in the Chunin exam after math. More drama, more child soldier controversy. Then instead of knock-off Sasuke, Hinata could have been moved to team Naruto and they could have actually build a believable relationship naturally.

But post-pain it does indeed become a hot mess. I don't really think there are any redeeming moments after that. Nothing makes sense, the Madara/Senju stuff is just crap. It could have ended just shortly after Pain. Reveal Tobi as the real end villain, short preparation for final fight and final conflict in which all plot lines collide (Sasukes hate for Akatsuki, Narutos hate for Uchiha history messing up with Sasuke and Tobi just wanting to destroy the system that failed him, mirroring Sasuke, which is also the system that Naruto wants to protect and reform instead of completly destroying.)

Basicly that is what happened, but it got dragged for awfully long time with a lot of boring new characters and Madara bullshit.

Should have been a lot simpler and quicker ending.

 

[Demonspeed]

Yes, Naruto became a mess after the Pain arc. Had Kishimoto made a small arc after this, ending the Sasuke thing it would have been a 8/10 series to me at least, maybe even 9.

 

[Hermit]

Imagine....

Chuunin Exam Tournament - 2nd Round:

Hyuuga Neji vs. Sabaku no Gaara​

Or even better, Sasuke vs Neji.
Those two were hyped over the course of the arc. Literally from the first moment they meet you have the 'Last year's top rookie Hyuuga Neji', and 'This year's top rookie Uchiha Sasuke.'
All to amount to nothing
To date that is the one fight I am annoyed never happened.

--- Double Post Merged, Jun 10, 2020, Original Post Date: Jun 10, 2020 ---

Yes, Naruto became a mess after the Pain arc.

I thought the Kage Summit Arc was actually decent. At least with the introduction of the Five Kage + their meeting in discussing how to deal with the Akatsuki. Even Zetsu trolling the summit was a blast