@robbybevard:
And Kakashi saying "we need to hold out for Naruto." And Tsunade saying "we need to hold out for Naruto, send a frog to get him." And Tsunade has said over and over that Naruto is going to be the next hokage. And pervert going "no, we're all going to suck for Naruto." Pretty much the entire cast was putting up a dismal showing and pinning their hopes on Naruto arriving fresh from his training. And Konohamaru idolizing him. Sakura saying it after the city was nuked was just the one step too far.
You got Kakashi and Tsunade… Ebisu defended him, not everyone was all "Naruto come back" they were like "I don't know where Naruto is you bastards sly smirk"
I got action and development from ALL of them in part 1. (except Ten Ten.) Why can't they get similar focus and depth and fighting time and personality and payoff and interaction in part 2? Shikimaru did. The author proved in part one he could balance such a large cast and did so very well.
Shikamaru didn't get so much in part one, he was static in how he thought everything was so troublesome, even during the first retrieval arc. As for proving he could balance such a large cast, what he did was basicly ignore the characters he wasn't working on at the time, as he is now. Good thing is the characters he's ignoring now are not main characters.
Why? At the end of part one, everyone on the Sasuke retrieval arc was dissapointed with themselves and promised that they'd all be training to get stronger and better. Nartuo adn Sasuke have had 4 or 5 upgrades in part 2 each, why can't any of the others have improved or created a new technique or two? You mention Kiba specifically, and yes, he is my favorite… His dog is now HUGE. That alone screams a variety of new techniques and abilities, surely at least one more fight worth.
Things have changed in two years, that and we no longer have them whining about being too weak, but instead they are more confident in themselves.
As for why they are not featured more, I don't know I'm not Kishimoto.
Three year time jump, that could or should have developed into more. The only fight she ever got… she said guess what... "I'm going to get stronger and prove myself." The author blatantly put in all the interaqction where Hinata is crushing on him and Naruto is obvlous to it, that isn't fan created shipping. Its also the author that hasn't done ANYTHING with it. Not Hinata's fault.
Two and a half year time jump. What, the "crush" or her should've developed more. She's trying to prove herself that she can be strong, to show her father she isn't a failure as a ninja. She's a FOIL character, she was used alongside Lee to promote the "proud loser" aspect of Naruto's character development that after the fight with Neji, he finally got some respect.
What is he supposed to do more about Hinata's "crush"? Because if anything Kishimoto will have to make Hinata be a little more forward with it, but if nothing has come now, then nothing will ever come of it. In order to write romance you need continuing development, this pairing does not.
Failing on the author's part. Again, he very well balanced the entire cast in part one. It may have started as just Naruto's story, then quickly grew into Naruto and Sasuke and Sakura's story… but with the Chunin exams it grew into the story of the entire generation of Konohoa kids. They all showed unique personalities and abilities and aspirations, none of which have been followed up on.
Again, he ignored more than half the characters he introduced to focus on a handful.
:blink: It became a story about all of them? Yeah one of the themes in part 2 is the younger generation surpasses the older but the story isn't about all of them, it is still Naruto's story. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura (and Sai) are the main characters but the others are just side characters, they are not the main focus as the story doesn't revolve around them.
This is Naruto's world, they all just live in it.
How many characters in ANY series are ever eally crucial to the plot besides one or two? They weren't important to plot in part one either, but there were there, with their unique fighting styles and personalities adding variety and fun and depth to the series, back when EVERY fight wasn't "magic eyeball cheat" or "Shadow clone/Rasengan".
Just because they were there doesn't mean they are critical to the plot or worthy of spotlight focus.
Why is Shikimaru the exception to the rule? He had no more importance than any of the others in part one, the story wasn't about him, he in fact had no ambition to go further at all. And why are the side characters static? Could it be because they've all gotten like… 5 panels of screen time in the last 200 chapters and the author abandoned them? Yes, its obviously Naruto and Sasuke's story, I won't even try to argue that point. The shame lies in the fact that most of the side characters are more interesting and unique and fun, and that just giving them something to do every now and again would mix things up. ANY series grows dull if it focuses on one character and one character only for too long.
Naruto's repetitive moveset wouldn't be so bad if we got some variety from other characters here or there.
Because Shikamaru has had confirmation to be one of Kishimoto's favorites. we needed someone to tell Naruto to grow up, and one of his peers seems to be a better choice than a grown adult.
You're right, a series does grows dull if it focuses on one character for way too long, that was the reception when we kept on getting Sasuke shoved in our faces, now Naruto's back and he gets his share of asskicking time. There's a reason you have more than one main character nowadays and having a band of main characters is more appealing. However saturate it with numerous characters and you have a story that will more than likely never get resolution in the time alotted.
In part 1, Kishimoto was able to showcase and balance out everyone. He stopped doing that in part 2 because he didn't care enough to take time and showcase them anymore, not because he was tightening the focus of the series. If that was he case, the series could have easily just followed Naruto and Juraiya on a quest around the countryside wiht an occasional pop into to Konohoa. Instead, the focus stays in the village and the other characters pop in and out.
He didn't balance out everyone, remember Tenten?
Actually, he was, the time skip was a shift in the focus and tone of the series, where part one was more lighthearted, part 2 became more dramatic.
Time in the series occurs slowly, if we followed Naruto and Jiraiya with the occasional pop ins, the story would lose focus and end up dead. Hence why the time skip was done.
If the story had always been soley about Naruto and Sasuke, then there was no need the showcase ALL the Chunin exam fights, no need for extensive backstories on everyone. During the rescue sasuke arc, there was no need to SHOW Choji and Neji and Kiba and Lee and Gaara's fights. It could have just been they ran along, sacrificing them one by one, assuming they other guys could hold their own, then coming back to them at the end of the arc.
We didn't showcase all the Chunin exam fights, and many of those fights were to allow Naruto to develop or to show development of other characters. We didn't see Tenten fight. Shikamaru fought to advance (and become chunin rank) Shino exploited the weakness to using sound. Sakura and Ino had their backstories explained. Lee was to showcase Gaara and develop Naruto as a proud loser. Hinata was again the proud loser. Naruto VS Kiba was to show Naruto's skills. Naruto VS Neji was to show that fate isn't decisive and give Neji a Heel Face Turn.
Not to mention the chunin exam fights were basicly a big tournament arc. tournament arcs are usually there to show otherwise impossible fights.
If the focus was just Naruto and Sasuke, those fights were completley contradicatory to the focus of the story and the pacing. If the focus was the entire generation of kids and their potential to grow, then those fights served a point. Those characters could have been just Chunin exam fodder, and that would have been the end of it, okay. But they continued to get screen time and focus and the scope of the series expanded to include the entire Rookie generation, and thats when the series was at its peak.
Only Kiba, Shikamaru, Choji, and Neji.
The series hit it's peak when Naruto and Sasuke fought, it was the fight people had been waiting for.
Not to mention, when each of them first showed up again, they got ENTIRE SPLASH PAGES dedicated to them. An ENTIRE page of a single character shot, basically screaming "Hey look at me! I know you've been anticipating seeing me again! I'm important enough to deserve an entire page just to myself, look at how I've changed! Guess at what I'm going to be doing in the future! " when even upon their original introductions in part 1 they didn't get entire page splashes to themselves.
It's to show how they have looked compared to how they were before. Need we forget, the main charaters each had the same deal.
I wouldn't be as critical about this if not for the fact that Kishimoti SUSTAINED A LARGE SUPPORTING CAST BEFORE. At that juncture, and for roughly 170 chapters, Kishimoto promised that all those guys would be recurring and developing along with Naruto, that the scope of the series was greater than just one character.
Before? Naruto is his first manga. He's inexperienced at this. This is why I say this series is cliche, because a majority of it can be predicted beforehand without even trying. And once again, the scope of the series is greater than one character true which is why he have more than one main character but nowhere have I heard he was gonna spend time to develop each and every character. They are recurring, which is why they appear when they do.
Then he failed to deliver on that promise.
They appear when they do, it's not like the series was supposed to have Naruto and all his friends do everything, a big stretch and overkill to do simple missions by sending over 20 ninja, some at a rank enough to have their own teams.
I'm fine with the focus being on the title character. I'm not fine with the series failing where it once brilliantly succeeeded.
By what? Having a bunch of characters that if we focus on every single one we have a neverending story arc? Because then we'd have Bleach, where EVERYONE has to fight and EVERYONE has to win and the story arcs take FOREVER.