Shounen Bench by Kishimoto Masashi

[Googlez_kun]

I liked it.It was not "omgwtf",but i liked it!

 

[molokidan]

Are you serious? I barely made it through typesetting that crap. Felt like Kishimoto was forced to make it with a gun up his temple. Horrible cliché story, with no climax at all (which is even more lame considering this is a short-story) and bad drawings.

It was a waste of my time to work on it, really...

I felt the same way. And this has nothing to do with the fact that it was a baseball manga. The story was just trite, contrived shonen crap; it felt uninspired and rushed.

 

[sir_arles]

I liked it, nice work Kishi =D

 

[mohinho1]

really this wasnt that bad but i felt kishi could of done better with the story he had plans to do alot of one shots but he sadly chose a baseball one the story for me was terrible he really could of done better soooo boring.....

 

[Jammin]

Wow.... I'm trying to think about how i can phrase this nicely. I think this one shot is really bad and i mean REALLY bad. I can't think of a single thing i read that seemed original.

What can i say that's positive? Um...the characters aren't terrible. Of course, in truth that's only because they have been stolen from Naruto. Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke are all in this series and only disguised with terrible facial artistry.

My conclusion....please god in heaven don't let Kishimoto waste his talent on anymore of this.

 

[naruto+4s]

It was very unoriginal but I liked it.

 

[Drmke]

I honestly have to just laugh at everyone being angry because it was unoriginal. What about most shonen is ever original? Hell, what about Naruto is original?

As a oneshot, I enjoyed it. Yes, I've read that same story a thousand times but it was cute and entertaining nonetheless. The drawing style is different form Naruto, but it just looks like a more classic drawing style; plus, does every shonen series have to have that generic drawing style? No.

I liked that the "main" hero was fat. That's not common in shonen so its a welcome change. Very predictable (just like Naruto) but all-in-all, it entertained. Doubt he will do a series over it but who knows.

 

[tobeulp]

I don't like it the same old baseball sh!t... Major is much more better... I really hope they do a Basketball manga again like Slam dunk... Anyone know what is the one shot of Sorachi Hideaki the creator of Gintama?

 

[KuwabaraTheMan]

I thought it was really good. I didn't know that Kishimoto had this in him, and was pleasantly surprised. It was kind of predictable, but there were a couple of twists that I thought were pretty good.

I'd enjoy reading a full series of this once Naruto is finished.

 

[mohinho1]

if you ask me between karakuri and Bench KARAKURI IS THE BEtter oneshot
im soo pissed i really expected better but i guess the job came really fast and he had to come up with a idea fast so this is what happened must of been stressed making a naruto chapter and a oneshot off topic.so he decided to make it predicatable and fast.

 

[Jammin]

I honestly have to just laugh at everyone being angry because it was unoriginal. What about most shonen is ever original? Hell, what about Naruto is original?

As a oneshot, I enjoyed it. Yes, I've read that same story a thousand times but it was cute and entertaining nonetheless. The drawing style is different form Naruto, but it just looks like a more classic drawing style; plus, does every shonen series have to have that generic drawing style? No.

I liked that the "main" hero was fat. That's not common in shonen so its a welcome change. Very predictable (just like Naruto) but all-in-all, it entertained. Doubt he will do a series over it but who knows.

Not seeing a whole lot of anger. Speaking for myself it's more like disappointment.

You may declare Naruto unoriginal, but i don't agree at all. While it does stick to shounen convention. It's story actually shows tons creativity. You may call Naruto predictable but i have yet to see a single person predict even 25% of what happens correctly. If you claim otherwise then i challenge you to go ahead and try. Go into the prediction thread and predict what will happen for even the next 5 chapters and if you succeed i'll consider you correct.

Bench wasn't like that. There were no surprises. Just a bunch sports manga clichés with no spark of originality. Rehashed characters and a rehashed story.

 

[Drmke]

Not seeing a whole lot of anger. Speaking for myself it's more like disappointment.

You may declare Naruto unoriginal, but i don't agree at all. While it does stick to shounen convention. It's story actually shows tons creativity. You may call Naruto predictable but have yet to see a single person predict even 25% of what happens correctly. If you claim otherwise then i challenge you to go ahead and try. Go into the prediction thread and predict what will happen for even the next 5 chapters and if you succeed i'll consider you correct.

Bench wasn't like that. There were no surprises. Just a bunch sports manga clichés with no spark of originality. Rehashed characters and a rehashed story.

When people curse a lot to give their opinions on something, it comes across as anger to me. Not you, in particular, but others mostly form other forums.

And when I use the word predictable I don't mean I can predict details, I'm talking about the overall story. Which Naruto is easy to predict where the story is heading, but this isn't the place for this discussion.

Sure, Bench's core story has been done before but not so much recently, and definitely not in Jump in recent years. So considering Jump and not every other magazine that exists, it is a breath of fresh air.

 

[saladesu]

I thought it was pretty decent. Yeah, not very original, but not many series are, anyway. No series in Jump right now is exceptionally original either. How many ninja, shinigami, youkai, akuma etc (okay maybe pirates are slightly less hackneyed) stories has the manga world seen already? I wouldn't want Kishimoto-sensei to make this into a series after Naruto though.

It's nice to see that he can change his art style like that too. Although I didn't like how he drew the noses like Mr Potato Head's detachable one XD;

 

[SenninSage]

I actually liked it a lot, and I'm very interested in seeing even more. I really took a liking to the characters, and I'm interested as hell in seeing what darth vader looks like, lol.

There were some cool twists I wasn't expecting in it, and I liked that a lot.

 

[TheMoa]

I didn't like the noses too, but it's a style matter, so i'm cool with it.
I don't like baseball, so for me the history started already a thumbs down... but still ok

What i really didn't like was the end, too lame, IMO. This "team D beats team A, so let's all be friendly and work harder for now on" didn't fit my taste, the transition from bullying to recognizing was to fast.

 

[JC_AC]

I liked it when the fat kid got his nuts kicked.

 

[Sollum]

Wow, this guy can change his styles without an issue.

Tho noses look a bit lame >.> Like Pinocchio or something.

Naruto influence can be felt even on first page http://mangastream.com/read/one_shot/80577559/1

Red hair chick has Ino hairstyle

Black haired chick is 100% Konan. Now i wont be able to look at Konan with seriuos face, because ill always imagine her with that nose.

Non fat kneeling kid is SOOOOOOOOOO "i r special ops ninja"

I doubt that baseball players have gravity defying hair styles.

 

[Saint Markus]

Not seeing a whole lot of anger. Speaking for myself it's more like disappointment.

You may declare Naruto unoriginal, but i don't agree at all. While it does stick to shounen convention. It's story actually shows tons creativity. You may call Naruto predictable but i have yet to see a single person predict even 25% of what happens correctly. If you claim otherwise then i challenge you to go ahead and try. Go into the prediction thread and predict what will happen for even the next 5 chapters and if you succeed i'll consider you correct.

Bench wasn't like that. There were no surprises. Just a bunch sports manga clichés with no spark of originality. Rehashed characters and a rehashed story.

Naruto may be creative, but it doesn't make it original. even Dragonball isn't 100% original (Goku's back story alone is a rip from Superman) sooooooo, the point of the matter is, every one is influenced off of something. you are right though, the creativeness is what counts in the end, because that's what gets you the job and success.

i can predict this about Naruto, it will have the same boring ending like all mangas do. big celebration, the hero lives on and the good guys win as always. am i wrong on that?.

 

[sabret00the]

read it, thought it was good. surprisingly, really enjoyed it.

 

[Mircus]

I liked this One-shot of Kishi's. There is a total given that the story is his with the given style. I know its really "Naruto" like, but that's Kishi for you. I didn't expect too much if he was going to draw this in a different style or not. I actually like the design of the characters, love the nose especially. It shows his representation of kids still in the love for baseball and Kishimoto himself. If I were a few years younger *cough 9* then I give this one-shot a thumbs up. Since I'm not though, I'm giving it two thumbs up, because I appreciate stories like this more then to regret not liking it to begin with. Good job with Bench Kishi!