484 - Team Seven - Review

Nasuke · Feb 25, 2010

Hello All

About 81 chapters later, I decided to do another Naruto review. Simply, because I have felt that Kishi has decided to give up the Sasuke stream and start focusing on the main character of the story which is Naruto. Although the chapter focused on the battle between Sasuke and Kakashi, Kishimoto is starting to slowly let go of Sasuke which has been my major drawback on the series so far.

To those unfamiliar with my format, I will be analyzing the chapter from the perspectives of Character development extent, Action Content, Story and Plot Development, and Art Work Quality. So, enough introductions and lets begin.

Therefore, please enjoy the review of Chapter 484:

IMAGES COURTESY OF MANGASTREAM AND BINKTOPIA. GREAT WORK AS ALWAYS!!!!!

Naruto 484: Team 7 Chapter Review

Character Development: SUPERB

Without question the highlight of the chapter. We got to see many characters and their emotions towards the actions that are happening to them. Based on the chapter title, it is very fitting to look at the development of the members of team 7.

We begin by seeing Naruto who is very conflicted about how to deal with the problem facing him with his old teammate going berserk. He brings together the different views that people had towards Sasuke in his attempt to resolve his conflict. The way that Naruto is developed here is that he is able to consider the different viewpoints of the people who he has encountered to help him reach a decision. From Itachi who genuinely cared for his brother to the Raikage who wanted nothing more than to see Sasuke dying at his hands for supposedly kidnapping his younger brother. A few chapters ago, Naruto could not handle the toll of the reality he was facing and as a result he lost conciousness. It makes sense, after all he recently faced a paradigm shift with the "chain of hatred" by Pain and now he has yet to face an immense burden. However now he is more determined than ever to face this and heads full stream into the rabbit hole rather than being afraid to jump in.

Next we look at Kakashi, the coolest shinobi of the Naruto world! His character has been through a lot recently from his experience with death at the hands of Pain and how this experience might change him to the better. What I was really looking forward to was for a look on his face when he saw Sasuke. After all, this is the first time he sees Sasuke in three years. The look we get from him is the same look he gave to Itachi and to all the enemies he has faced on missions: the look of an enemy! His sense of realism was so great in the fact that he was not bound by his past with Sasuke and had decided to take the burden of his past mistakes with Sasuke and make up for them now. This ability of his is what will make him the perfect Hokage of Konoha. Although as serious as he looks he kept trying to make Sasuke go back to the way he was and give up on revenge. Sadly Sasuke seems to be clinging onto the chain of hatred harder and harder with every passing moment.

Sakura; possibly the most ambiguous character created by Kishimoto. I use ambiguous because she always contradicts herself to a point that is maddening. Naruto was able to recognize this in her when she confessed to him, Sasuke was able to recognize it and tried to kill her last chapter in an instant and now even she recognized it herself when she failed to strike Sasuke in this chapter. As much as it is expected in a shounen manga for characters to have a goal in mind and follow whatever means to reach it, as much as it is interesting to present a character with some internal conflict. The problem with Sakura is that she always has some sort of internal conflict that prevents her from moving forward and always clinging onto the present. For the past three years, she shared the same internal conflict that Naruto had and moved forward to it. After that, her village was attacked and lots of people were hurt and she seemed unphased by it. Her goal is still Sasuke and only Sasuke. Finally, when we thought she made up her mind to help ease Naruto's suffering, she still thinks of Sasuke at the last moment, revealing that she does not have the ability to suppress her emotions. Being a member of the Team 7 trained by Hatake Kakashi, great things are expected. As a member of that team she truly is not living up to the expectations placed on her and is instead infuriating a lot of people. I hope she finds herself so that we can see more of this main character.

Finally, we take a look at Sasuke. In the last 30 chapters or so he has gone through a complete 180, from sanity to insanity and from anger to true hatred. The moments where his character really developed his anger were his fight with Danzou and in this chapter where he recollected Konoha. A very good way to determine his anger is by taking a look at his Susanoo. During the Kage summit, his Susanoo was merely an internal representation of the frustration he was facing. As he faced the Raikage, his frustration emerged in the form of the bones that we saw. With Danzou, his Susanoo's form was completed by the anger he felt from Danzou's words towards Itachi and his hatred almost neared completion. Now with his recollection of his time in Konoha, his hatred was completed and we could see that in the true completion of Sasuke's Susanoo which resembles the form shown to us by Itachi during his battle with Sasuke. Truly, there will be no going back for Sasuke now. His loss of vision in this chapter might be a precursor of some emotional conflict but that is highly unlikely.

Action: PREDICTABLE

Certainly not a strong point of this chapter. Kishimoto usually has the ability to surprise us with the action we usually see in a chapter. However in this chapter, one of the expected paths that were greatly discussed in the predictions happened. Sasuke uses Susanoo to fire an arrow at Kakashi that was warped to a differeny dimension by Kakashi's Kamui. The other option would've been a Kirin that Kakashi would have also warped to a different dimension or gotten rid of with his lightning nature as he did with Kakuzu. The major development we saw was the true completion of Sasuke's Susanoo, however that moment was shortlived when Sasuke's Sharingan just deactivates due to Sasuke's overuse of it.

Story: OK

The story itself has no apparent developments from this point. Kishimoto's cliffhanger style with character's intentions is great times and irritating at others. At this point, it is made use of well due to us wanting to know Naruto's verdict on how to deal with Sasuke taking everything into account. Sasuke's blindness will be handled very well as everyone knows he will end up taking Itachis eyes to cure his blindness after all, Sasuke has a vendetta of hatred towards Konoha that will consume him to his dying breath.

Art Work: GREAT

The artwork in this chapter was really pleasing to experience. From the aftermath of Kakashi's Kamui to the completion of Sasuke's Susanoo, it was all very memorable and very well drawn. I save the best for last as it appears at the very last panel which is Naruto's entrance to save Sakura from Sasuke's kunai strike. For me, it is Naruto's second best entrance in the series (the first being his Konoha entrance during the Pain invasion on top of the frogs in the cloak) but none the less one of the most exciting pieces presented to us by Kishimoto in a long time that surely re-ignited some of the fanhood that some people might have lost during the past chapters.

Final Verdict: 3.5 OUT OF 5

Though the chapter lacked any action content or story development, the great artwork and character development really helped in deciding the score I gave this chapter. I am placing great expectations on next week's chapter as it is certainly one of the most important chapters in the arc. I hope Kishimoto resolves his issues with Sasuke in the next chapter and exits from him for a long long time so that he can focus on his other characters. Don't disappint Kishi!

Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed reading it and I welcome any criticism or feedback!!!

Astray · Feb 25, 2010