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NEWS: Kishimoto: Naruto Invokes His Childhood, Breaks Shōnen Formula


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Banjo



Joined: 13 Dec 2010
Posts: 779
PostPosted: Wed Nov 12, 2014 7:42 pm Reply with quote
except that Naruto the character has gotten stronger and popular over the time, unlike Naruto the manga. Laughing
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Darkmagick
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Joined: 24 Nov 2011
Posts: 463
PostPosted: Wed Nov 12, 2014 7:52 pm Reply with quote
Banjo wrote:
except that Naruto the character has gotten stronger and popular over the time, unlike Naruto the manga. Laughing

You make it sound like Naruto doesn't sell hundreds of thousands of copies of every volume. It's fine if you don't like the series, or don't think it's very good, but saying it's not popular is just ridiculous.
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Mr. sickVisionz



Joined: 28 Oct 2007
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 12, 2014 7:58 pm Reply with quote
I pffted out loud when I read "Breaks shonen formula".
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cloud8100



Joined: 30 May 2010
Posts: 550
PostPosted: Wed Nov 12, 2014 8:15 pm Reply with quote
Not sure it necessarily breaks shonen formula but he has a point with the cycle of hate thing and motivation behind stuff. Even if I personally, would just wanna beat the crap outta people instead of learning their motivations... hmmm.

Thinking of that cycle always makes me think of that episode of Horrible Histories where two different families kept killing another one of the others families members off out of revenge and whatnot Anime hyper. That cracked me up.
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Videogamep



Joined: 10 Jun 2014
Posts: 564
Location: CA
PostPosted: Wed Nov 12, 2014 8:19 pm Reply with quote
Mr. sickVisionz wrote:
I pffted out loud when I read "Breaks shonen formula".

Considering it came out in 1997, it did break a lot of tropes of the time, even if it seems fairly cliché by modern standards.
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AiddonValentine



Joined: 07 Aug 2006
Posts: 2222
PostPosted: Wed Nov 12, 2014 8:25 pm Reply with quote
though he broke no formula. In fact, he just did the exact same thing as most of the victories were won with either brute force or luck. Then again, considering how Kishimoto's writing is, it's not surprising that his own words are so lacking in self-awareness
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chronos02



Joined: 25 Feb 2009
Posts: 268
PostPosted: Wed Nov 12, 2014 8:27 pm Reply with quote
Mr. sickVisionz wrote:
I pffted out loud when I read "Breaks shonen formula".


I personally believe it's quite an accuarte statement, if you compare to the rest of manga from 15 years ago, that is. Saying it breaks the current Shounen Formula would be dumb, since Naruto, along with One Piece and Bleach, have marked the Shounen Formula since a few years ago, and this will last for quite a bit.

So, it does break the Shounen formula from when it started, and modified it to what it is now.

It certainly did not break the core of Shounen manga: Adventure > Situation > Confrontation > Defeat > Training > Confrontation > Victory > Adventure > etc. But it did transform how this happens. Whereas on Dragon Ball "Z", the Shounen Bible of the 90s, everything was a head-on fight, a collision of homongous powers, in Naruto Kishimoto took a roundabout way, explaining the reasons the other party had, and not making them bad, but just different from the MC. If you look at Naruto, there's not a single "Evil" existance, but a bunch of people with different ideals of what will bring peace and good to their world, with a series of reasons about why they didn't choose Naruto's way of doing things.

Looking back, Naruto feels just like young Goku's Dragon Ball, the first "half" of the series. It's a journey of growth in which the MC learns about itself, and about the world he/she lives in, and then reacts to it. But while on Dragon Ball, Goku had the sole objective of being "stronger", and recovering the 4 star ball, Naruto wants to be Hokage, as well as make friends, and live with them in peace. Goku looked for conflict, albeit friendly, while Naruto looked for stability and friendship.

From this, I can say that Naruto took after Toriyama's Dragon Ball first half and evolved it, while taking a few elements from Z.
Bleach took from Toriyama's Z part completely, the pure fight shounen, collision of absolute powers.
And One Piece... it's like always reading an evolution of Dragon Ball's first half, but with a supposedly unattainable objective of power and fame, which little by little is becoming true.


Anyway, Naruto, as well as One Piece and Bleach have broken the formula of Shounen Manga (not so much for Bleach maybe, at least I don't exactly see what), but at the same time, they modified it, so it's normal that people can't see the change, it's like watching a tree grow, you won't notice how it has changed unless you watch a picture of how it was when you planted it.

Shounen Manga have certainly changed due to these three, there is absolutely no denying that.
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Darkmagick
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Joined: 24 Nov 2011
Posts: 463
PostPosted: Wed Nov 12, 2014 8:31 pm Reply with quote
Videogamep wrote:
Mr. sickVisionz wrote:
I pffted out loud when I read "Breaks shonen formula".

Considering it came out in 1997, it did break a lot of tropes of the time, even if it seems fairly cliché by modern standards.

Actually, it came out in 1999. The oneshot it's based on is what came out in 1997, and that one's rather different.
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KidOblivion



Joined: 18 Feb 2014
Posts: 179
PostPosted: Wed Nov 12, 2014 8:42 pm Reply with quote
Shonen action manga at the time was much different than it is now, people need to understand this before commenting.

Naruto did, in fact, break a lot of troupes in the past, regardless of what series people believe did it better. The only fight in Naruto I can think of that can even be considered "Good vs. Evil" is the fight with Zabuza and Haku. Outside of that, it's a clash of ideals.
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Veniamin



Joined: 25 Aug 2013
Posts: 215
Location: Miami
PostPosted: Wed Nov 12, 2014 8:43 pm Reply with quote
I've always wanted to draw manga. I wonder if I can reach his level. do the impossible.
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Gasero



Joined: 24 Jul 2009
Posts: 939
Location: USA
PostPosted: Wed Nov 12, 2014 8:49 pm Reply with quote
I really do not understand what formula's Naruto broke.

Naruto defeated all of his enemies by leveling up, declaring the power of friendship, and beating them into submission. Characters would also split up into groups and fight enemies individually. Just like other manga.

I don't recall Naruto doing much more than yelling at people until they either became his friend or died.

Seems like it fit the formula rather well. Perhaps the world-building aspect was slightly different from past manga, but nothing about Naruto was more special than other manga.
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WatchforMoons7



Joined: 19 Mar 2009
Posts: 529
PostPosted: Wed Nov 12, 2014 9:44 pm Reply with quote
Broke a formula? In a Western sense? Laughing

OK, douchebaggery aside. Mm, maybe a "modern ninja" comic sense? But then again, maybe not, especially when it comes to video games and movie series long before NARUTO.
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kayori1928



Joined: 28 Apr 2013
Posts: 26
PostPosted: Wed Nov 12, 2014 9:54 pm Reply with quote
One thing Kishimoto did for absolute sure was changed how we viewed ninjas. Before we all use to think of them as guys dressed in black with a face mask only showing their eyes. Well here in North America anyways. I have to admit I am not sure how they were viewed in Japan. But if anyone could comment on that, it would be great.

What I will say regarding the comment Kishimoto made about how Naruto broke new ground in the way fights were fought is this: There were a lot of fights in this series which involved a lot of strategy, even if on the surface, especially in Part 2, it may not have seemed that way. All of Shikaramu's fights, the first round of Chuunin Exams, Sasuke's battle with Deidara, and many more. Look at Naruto's fights too. He got a lot of flack for being stupid, but he really wasn't. Look at his fights against Kiba, Neji, Nagato, and it wasn't like he stood around during the war either. Honestly everytime Naruto messed up, it was due to his emotions not his intelligence.

At the end of the day, remember the big series before this was DBZ, and sorry to say, but there were no strategies in those fights at all. Naruto was a big step up.
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Zhou-BR



Joined: 28 Feb 2008
Posts: 1425
PostPosted: Wed Nov 12, 2014 10:05 pm Reply with quote
Everytime a battle in Naruto is interrupted by a long flashback that reveals the antagonist's backstory and motivation in an attempt to make us sympathize with them or at least understand where they're coming from, I'm reminded of Saint Seiya's Asgard arc. Nowadays, people would call it a filler arc because it's not based on the manga, but it's actually very well-regarded by the show's fans due to how well-developed the antagonists are. I wish someone would ask Kishimoto whether he was influenced by that.
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bigivel



Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Posts: 536
PostPosted: Wed Nov 12, 2014 10:09 pm Reply with quote
People, Kishimoto is talking about Talk no Jutsu and how every Villain is "just like Naruto", but evil due to some happening and decision in the past. Given that it really broke the shonen formula. Now, if that was a good idea is another story.

No, even if it is a good idea having Talk no Jutsu and villains "just like a good character", Kishimoto totally overdid it. It saturated that concept so much that every, or almost all, enemies wwer TnJ and were like Naruto. In the end he even put the parallel stuff into the plot.
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