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A year ago at Naruto Forums to the time I was modded for the Naruto Avenue last October, I used to post ten comments for every chapter of Naruto on a weekly basis. I guess you could say it was my style of reviewing each chapter.
I stopped when I was modded, but starting with Chapter 300 and onward, I'm going to be doing the same thing here.
If you feel like commenting yourself here, feel free to. I'll be coming back to this thread and post 10 more comments whenever a new chapter comes out, and I'll be updating the title as well with the newest chapter number.
1. Somebody give Iruka an apple! - I always start my ten comments with my opinion on the chapter cover, if there's one. So, this week we had a serious-looking Iruka teaching a lesson in class in front of a blackboard. Well, first thing that came to my mind after seeing that: "Yup - Kishimoto's throwing a bone to all the Iruka fangirls in Japan, whoopee-doo." But at the same time I'm glad Kishimoto is trying to do something different here - did ya notice that Iruka's not in his flak jacket? Maybe it was a hot day?
Still, I'll reiterate that these profile covers are getting somewhat old.
2. Ok, What's the Big Deal? The "revelation" of Sai's book initially disappointed me. I feel that Kishimoto did a poor job of satisfying the reader with a suitable transition from last week's cliffhanger. Consider that everybody thought it would give us some insight in who Sai's brother might be, but not much was revealed at all... I mean, at first, it turned out that Sakura, Naruto, and Yamato were all staring at a picture of... Sai?
All right, but why was that so strange? It's his 'sketchbook' after all! Yeah, I know there was a later explanation for why they were so mystified by the contents of the book itself, but I was initally let down. I don't even think Sakura should have been alarmed enough to call over Yamato and Naruto, although I wouldn't blame her for being curious.
3. Kabuto, You're So Creepy. This part was awesome to see. In just a couple of pages, we learn a ton about Kabuto. Now we know how he's able to conjure dead bodies so quickly - scroll summoning. That had always bothered me since his fight with Kakashi, but it makes perfect sense since he was a former pupil of Sasori, who did the same thing with his puppets. But more than that, I'm thrilled that Kishimoto felt comfortable enough to go ahead and clearly show that Kabuto can be a pretty morbid personality. Even Orochimaru seemed aback. I think this pretty much cements that Kabuto is definitely a cold-blooded villian - he seems to basically consider people, even children, as nothing more but tools that he can employ in his art. "It bugs me to no end if this scroll doesn't maintain its proper age order..."
I'm interested more than ever now to see what Kabuto is so excited about regarding the "Experiment" he mentioned in Chapter 299 and Sai's possible involvement.
4. Been There, Done That, Sai. Sai forgetting his book, can I just say how many times I've done the same thing at school? Gah! Anyway, so Sai didn't mean to leave his book behind and seemed visibly upset. I had wondered if he had meant to leave it behind to give Naruto's team a way to track Orochimaru, as some spoiler summaries had implied in the past week. Obviously not. I wonder if it's just there for Sai's character (much like Kakashi's books are for him), or will it be important to the plot at some point? Could it possibly be used as a bartering tool to get Sai to abandon a mission or quit a battle, or even used to defeat him?
5. Battle of Siblings Coming Up? I was confused by the double-spread at first, of Sai on one page, weapon not revealed yet, and nothing drawn on the next page. When Sakura explained that previous pages had included Sai against a number of opponents at different times in his life, I realized that that waiting page was going to be Sai's brother - his final opponent?
So, why did Sai say his brother was dead? Why doesn't Sai have a weapon yet? And will Sai be victorious? Will it be his last fight? This is somewhat clever on Kishimoto's part, it's something that I haven't seen before in a manga, but certainly gives fans something to talk about. It also efficiently made me even more curious about Sai.
I still don't see it as a reason why Sakura would be alarmed enough to tell the others about it, though. Though she was pretty bright to catch on to what the book was about that quickly, but that's not surprising.
6. Let's have a Sai Gaiden! No? Okay, maybe not a Gaiden, since I don't get the feeling that we have a lot of Sai fans here, but I'd like to see some flashbacks. Just from the book alone, it looks as though Sai's past was pretty interesting and full of cool-looking opponents ( Sai fought a Grim Reaper looking guy when he was a kid? Whoa ), and I have a feeling we'll see some soon.
7. Robbing the Dead? I'd expected Sai to be that type, but gee, he took the weapons and armor off every vanquished opponent? Does that mean that Sai defeated an ANBU to get his ANBU outfit that he was shown in his final page of the book?
8. Who is Sai's brother? Why didn't Kishimoto show us some pages of Sai's white-haired brother? I found this odd. We could have seen how Sai's brother looked like growing up. Since Sakura said his brother was white-haired, COULD it be Kabuto? Did Sai at some point, think Kabuto died, thanks to Sasori, and doesn't recognize him now because he's older? And Kishimoto doesn't want to us any pages of Sai's brother as a grown-up yet since we would probably recognize him as Kabuto?
Or is it that Sai have been an Uchiha after all, and his brother Shisui? That would be interesting, but Kishimoto revealing what the white-haired brother looks like wouldn't have spoiled this revelation...
And by the way, duh, Naruto - of course the black-haired boy is Sai. >_<
9. Yamato's Bunshin no Jutsu is Awesome! What the dickens? Yamato's clone served as a scout THAT far from its original body? Didn't Kakashi say at some point that Zabuza's clones couldn't move too far away from their original body, or they'd lose their consciousness? I figured that was true for Naruto's Bunshins as well. What's Yamato's maximum range, then? It's amazing just how many cool things Yamato have done in this series. I'm still pretty happy that Yamato told Naruto that he had to watch it with the Kyuubi.
I wonder if Yamato will serve as a mentor to Naruto for how to control his clones to that extent.
10. Some Things Never Change! "Did you forget about how you said you were going to teach me a new jutsu this afternoon...?" First Itachi, and now Orochimaru. Sasuke's the same as ever!
Funny thing, though, I had the impression that he was the Akatsuki Leader at first glance, though. He sure looks like he's going to be one intimidating guy, even though we've only just seen his silhouette and eyes. It also seems as though Sasuke has accomplished the same thing as Itachi - kept his eyes "on" at all times. Possibly as a result of so much training with Orochimaru?
Sasuke's bad manners also leads me to wonder if Sasuke's getting ready to try to escape from Orochimaru. Since it's almost time that Orochimaru has to take over a new body, after all, Sasuke had better be making plans to leave soon if he ever wants to kill Itachi.
RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars. The discourse on Sai's book was a bit dull, but the return of Sasuke saved this one. Fans will be hungry to see what happens next.
Quick Predictions: I predict a Sasuke cover next week and Yamato and group getting to Oro's hideout and having to confront Sasuke.
I stopped when I was modded, but starting with Chapter 300 and onward, I'm going to be doing the same thing here.
If you feel like commenting yourself here, feel free to. I'll be coming back to this thread and post 10 more comments whenever a new chapter comes out, and I'll be updating the title as well with the newest chapter number.* * * Gold Knight's 10 Comments on Naruto Chapter 300: Sai's Picture Book * * *
1. Somebody give Iruka an apple! - I always start my ten comments with my opinion on the chapter cover, if there's one. So, this week we had a serious-looking Iruka teaching a lesson in class in front of a blackboard. Well, first thing that came to my mind after seeing that: "Yup - Kishimoto's throwing a bone to all the Iruka fangirls in Japan, whoopee-doo." But at the same time I'm glad Kishimoto is trying to do something different here - did ya notice that Iruka's not in his flak jacket? Maybe it was a hot day?
Still, I'll reiterate that these profile covers are getting somewhat old.
2. Ok, What's the Big Deal? The "revelation" of Sai's book initially disappointed me. I feel that Kishimoto did a poor job of satisfying the reader with a suitable transition from last week's cliffhanger. Consider that everybody thought it would give us some insight in who Sai's brother might be, but not much was revealed at all... I mean, at first, it turned out that Sakura, Naruto, and Yamato were all staring at a picture of... Sai?
All right, but why was that so strange? It's his 'sketchbook' after all! Yeah, I know there was a later explanation for why they were so mystified by the contents of the book itself, but I was initally let down. I don't even think Sakura should have been alarmed enough to call over Yamato and Naruto, although I wouldn't blame her for being curious.
3. Kabuto, You're So Creepy. This part was awesome to see. In just a couple of pages, we learn a ton about Kabuto. Now we know how he's able to conjure dead bodies so quickly - scroll summoning. That had always bothered me since his fight with Kakashi, but it makes perfect sense since he was a former pupil of Sasori, who did the same thing with his puppets. But more than that, I'm thrilled that Kishimoto felt comfortable enough to go ahead and clearly show that Kabuto can be a pretty morbid personality. Even Orochimaru seemed aback. I think this pretty much cements that Kabuto is definitely a cold-blooded villian - he seems to basically consider people, even children, as nothing more but tools that he can employ in his art. "It bugs me to no end if this scroll doesn't maintain its proper age order..."
I'm interested more than ever now to see what Kabuto is so excited about regarding the "Experiment" he mentioned in Chapter 299 and Sai's possible involvement.
4. Been There, Done That, Sai. Sai forgetting his book, can I just say how many times I've done the same thing at school? Gah! Anyway, so Sai didn't mean to leave his book behind and seemed visibly upset. I had wondered if he had meant to leave it behind to give Naruto's team a way to track Orochimaru, as some spoiler summaries had implied in the past week. Obviously not. I wonder if it's just there for Sai's character (much like Kakashi's books are for him), or will it be important to the plot at some point? Could it possibly be used as a bartering tool to get Sai to abandon a mission or quit a battle, or even used to defeat him?
5. Battle of Siblings Coming Up? I was confused by the double-spread at first, of Sai on one page, weapon not revealed yet, and nothing drawn on the next page. When Sakura explained that previous pages had included Sai against a number of opponents at different times in his life, I realized that that waiting page was going to be Sai's brother - his final opponent?
So, why did Sai say his brother was dead? Why doesn't Sai have a weapon yet? And will Sai be victorious? Will it be his last fight? This is somewhat clever on Kishimoto's part, it's something that I haven't seen before in a manga, but certainly gives fans something to talk about. It also efficiently made me even more curious about Sai.
I still don't see it as a reason why Sakura would be alarmed enough to tell the others about it, though. Though she was pretty bright to catch on to what the book was about that quickly, but that's not surprising.
6. Let's have a Sai Gaiden! No? Okay, maybe not a Gaiden, since I don't get the feeling that we have a lot of Sai fans here, but I'd like to see some flashbacks. Just from the book alone, it looks as though Sai's past was pretty interesting and full of cool-looking opponents ( Sai fought a Grim Reaper looking guy when he was a kid? Whoa ), and I have a feeling we'll see some soon.
7. Robbing the Dead? I'd expected Sai to be that type, but gee, he took the weapons and armor off every vanquished opponent? Does that mean that Sai defeated an ANBU to get his ANBU outfit that he was shown in his final page of the book?
8. Who is Sai's brother? Why didn't Kishimoto show us some pages of Sai's white-haired brother? I found this odd. We could have seen how Sai's brother looked like growing up. Since Sakura said his brother was white-haired, COULD it be Kabuto? Did Sai at some point, think Kabuto died, thanks to Sasori, and doesn't recognize him now because he's older? And Kishimoto doesn't want to us any pages of Sai's brother as a grown-up yet since we would probably recognize him as Kabuto?
Or is it that Sai have been an Uchiha after all, and his brother Shisui? That would be interesting, but Kishimoto revealing what the white-haired brother looks like wouldn't have spoiled this revelation...
And by the way, duh, Naruto - of course the black-haired boy is Sai. >_<
9. Yamato's Bunshin no Jutsu is Awesome! What the dickens? Yamato's clone served as a scout THAT far from its original body? Didn't Kakashi say at some point that Zabuza's clones couldn't move too far away from their original body, or they'd lose their consciousness? I figured that was true for Naruto's Bunshins as well. What's Yamato's maximum range, then? It's amazing just how many cool things Yamato have done in this series. I'm still pretty happy that Yamato told Naruto that he had to watch it with the Kyuubi.
I wonder if Yamato will serve as a mentor to Naruto for how to control his clones to that extent.
10. Some Things Never Change! "Did you forget about how you said you were going to teach me a new jutsu this afternoon...?" First Itachi, and now Orochimaru. Sasuke's the same as ever!
Funny thing, though, I had the impression that he was the Akatsuki Leader at first glance, though. He sure looks like he's going to be one intimidating guy, even though we've only just seen his silhouette and eyes. It also seems as though Sasuke has accomplished the same thing as Itachi - kept his eyes "on" at all times. Possibly as a result of so much training with Orochimaru?
Sasuke's bad manners also leads me to wonder if Sasuke's getting ready to try to escape from Orochimaru. Since it's almost time that Orochimaru has to take over a new body, after all, Sasuke had better be making plans to leave soon if he ever wants to kill Itachi.
RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars. The discourse on Sai's book was a bit dull, but the return of Sasuke saved this one. Fans will be hungry to see what happens next.
Quick Predictions: I predict a Sasuke cover next week and Yamato and group getting to Oro's hideout and having to confront Sasuke.
