(145) Filler Rant
As anyone who is involved with Naruto knows, the current Shippuden arc is in the midst of a filler. While there are some good points (the storyline's not quite as atrociously insipid as some previous, Chiriku gets a bigger role, which is a good set-up for the next Immortals arc), on the whole I don't really like it.
Maybe I'm being judgmental. After all, I only viewed one episode (Shippuden 56). But I believe I have a valid point when I say that the producers have gone over-the-top in creating the new villains.
There are four this time: two men, two women. All of them are ridiculously powerful; at least two (and, I believe, all four) have control of all five elemental chakras. This is just wrong. Have the writers even looked at the fallacy they're creating? If they're trying to keep within the rules of the Naruto universe, then they would take into account what Kakashi and Yamato says about elemental chakras: most jonin, even the best ones, have two. Sometimes three, because fire is something pretty much anyone can learn. But that's it. It's nearly impossible for anyone to have more, unless they're crazy genious (ex. Kakashi) or crazy mutated (ex. Yamato). Even Orochimaru, the ninja-who-wants-all-jutsus, doesn't have all five elementals. See, ninjas specialize. It's both a strength and a weakness; they can kick butt in their area, but sometimes their butts get kicked in return. It all depends on who they fight, and nobody, nobody, has enough power to own everyone they meet. Except perhaps Pein, but he's a different story. He has six bodies, for goddamn's sake.
So (if you haven't guessed yet) this is where my beef comes in. These ninja are just too damn powerful. It breaks all the rules of the ninja world -- because of course it will never be explained how exactly these four got their powers, just that they were villains, let's welcome the gaping plothole -- and frankly, it's kind of boring. It's as if the producers got so excited about the fact that the former genins were stronger that they decided to celebrate by making super-powerful villains for them to fight. Because nothing is so good as having all-powerful bad guys being beaten, even if the stronger they get, the more unrealistic their existence and the more unwieldy the story/eventual defeat.
But that's not all. Sora, of course, just has to have some amazing ability that is quite mysterious and scary and powerful. He's like a repeat of Sasuke, right down to the point where he abandons his friends and Konoha to join the four missing-nin -- you can tell by a scene in the opening credits, where he's standing on top of a roof or some other high ground, the center figure of five, black silhouettes against the moon, gazing down at the beloved village that they will destroy. Hmm, this seems faintly reminiscent. Sasuke and the Sound Four, anyone?
And last, but not least, I must say this as a fan of the Akatsuki. More than anything else, this filler diminishes the impact of one of the nine most brutal villains in all Naruto history. Remember when you read the Immortals arc, the section on the Kakashi/Kakuzu fight? As with any Naruto battle, what we looked for were amazing chakra and jutsu -- and we found it, in spades. Kakuzu's chakra and jutsu weren't great for complexity or rarity or quantity. Instead, what was so special was that he had all of them -- a feat unheard of, by Kakashi's testimony. That was the reason he was allowed to be an Akatsuki, the best of the best. What the anime producers have done now is degrade the impact of Kakuzu's presence. How are his powers special now, since four other nobodies have them? Where will be the audience's shock when the Immortals arc finally comes around?
This is why I don't like this arc. Not so much for the plot, or the characters (though they do contribute), because I've sat through every other Naruto filler and thought it okay. Definitely better than the Pokemon ones. But what they did to the Akatsuki, and Kakuzu -- I can't forgive them for that.
Maybe I'm being judgmental. After all, I only viewed one episode (Shippuden 56). But I believe I have a valid point when I say that the producers have gone over-the-top in creating the new villains.
There are four this time: two men, two women. All of them are ridiculously powerful; at least two (and, I believe, all four) have control of all five elemental chakras. This is just wrong. Have the writers even looked at the fallacy they're creating? If they're trying to keep within the rules of the Naruto universe, then they would take into account what Kakashi and Yamato says about elemental chakras: most jonin, even the best ones, have two. Sometimes three, because fire is something pretty much anyone can learn. But that's it. It's nearly impossible for anyone to have more, unless they're crazy genious (ex. Kakashi) or crazy mutated (ex. Yamato). Even Orochimaru, the ninja-who-wants-all-jutsus, doesn't have all five elementals. See, ninjas specialize. It's both a strength and a weakness; they can kick butt in their area, but sometimes their butts get kicked in return. It all depends on who they fight, and nobody, nobody, has enough power to own everyone they meet. Except perhaps Pein, but he's a different story. He has six bodies, for goddamn's sake.
So (if you haven't guessed yet) this is where my beef comes in. These ninja are just too damn powerful. It breaks all the rules of the ninja world -- because of course it will never be explained how exactly these four got their powers, just that they were villains, let's welcome the gaping plothole -- and frankly, it's kind of boring. It's as if the producers got so excited about the fact that the former genins were stronger that they decided to celebrate by making super-powerful villains for them to fight. Because nothing is so good as having all-powerful bad guys being beaten, even if the stronger they get, the more unrealistic their existence and the more unwieldy the story/eventual defeat.
But that's not all. Sora, of course, just has to have some amazing ability that is quite mysterious and scary and powerful. He's like a repeat of Sasuke, right down to the point where he abandons his friends and Konoha to join the four missing-nin -- you can tell by a scene in the opening credits, where he's standing on top of a roof or some other high ground, the center figure of five, black silhouettes against the moon, gazing down at the beloved village that they will destroy. Hmm, this seems faintly reminiscent. Sasuke and the Sound Four, anyone?
And last, but not least, I must say this as a fan of the Akatsuki. More than anything else, this filler diminishes the impact of one of the nine most brutal villains in all Naruto history. Remember when you read the Immortals arc, the section on the Kakashi/Kakuzu fight? As with any Naruto battle, what we looked for were amazing chakra and jutsu -- and we found it, in spades. Kakuzu's chakra and jutsu weren't great for complexity or rarity or quantity. Instead, what was so special was that he had all of them -- a feat unheard of, by Kakashi's testimony. That was the reason he was allowed to be an Akatsuki, the best of the best. What the anime producers have done now is degrade the impact of Kakuzu's presence. How are his powers special now, since four other nobodies have them? Where will be the audience's shock when the Immortals arc finally comes around?
This is why I don't like this arc. Not so much for the plot, or the characters (though they do contribute), because I've sat through every other Naruto filler and thought it okay. Definitely better than the Pokemon ones. But what they did to the Akatsuki, and Kakuzu -- I can't forgive them for that.