rachelmanija: (Naruto: Super-energized!)
rachelmanija ([personal profile] rachelmanija) wrote2006-04-13 12:51 pm

Naruto manga: through volume 11

This is why I was up till 1:00 am last night.



One of the amusing things is that I've seen characters in people's icons and heard their names mentioned and so forth, but had no idea who they were. So now I know who Jiraiya is. He's really cool! Although... I think he's generally right that Narutu should learn to control his fox demon rather than ignoring it, because that's something that he's going to need to do sooner or later, and better in a controlled environment than in the middle of a huge battle... and yet I somehow feel that this is going to have rather easily foreseen consequences, namely, that Naruto is going to get over-confident, draw on the demon chakra, and let it out before he's learned how to stuff it back in.

I also now know the context of this icon, which I had always assumed was a little between-chapters sketch, but actually illustrates a two-page user's manual on chakra release, which against all odds was both informative and amusing-- well, part of the reason it was amusing was that right in the middle of fight-fight-train-train-fight-fight was a two-page technical manual.

And I now know where [livejournal.com profile] telophase's line, "I can make a frog the size of Texas" comes from. I laughed myself sick at the frog god or whatever that was deciding that Naruto was going to be his minion, and also at Naruto creating tadpole after tadpole, and getting all excited when one of them appeared with little legs. And at Jiraiya's face-palm reaction to Naruto going, "I have improved! See, it has legs now!"

Much as I love Bleach, Kishimoto is a million times better at introducing hordes of new characters while not losing sight of the old ones (yay, sudden guest appearance by Iruka!), and of making me care about the new characters. (I am assuming that characters who didn't make it to the semi-finals will continue to be significant, as I can't imagine Sakura dropping out, and Rock Lee got such a huge starring turn that I assume we have not remotely seen the last of him.) I adore Rock Lee and his sensei, and I really liked Kiba and his little dog too. Shikamaru also seems interesting, and so are the sand village trio.

I am a little bummed that Temari, whom we have seen very little of although what we've seen is cool, is the only girl to make it into the semi-finals. Naruto needs more female characters who a) kick ass, b) whose key character trait is not that they are in love with one of the male characters.

I continue to be fascinated by Gaara, that little freak. Do we ever learn why he has "love" tattooed on his forehead?

[identity profile] telophase.livejournal.com 2006-04-13 08:19 pm (UTC)(link)
I've forgotten exactly who said the frog line on thei LJ, but the whole line is "FUCK YOU! I CAN MAKE A FROG THE SIZE OF TEXAS!!" Maybe [livejournal.com profile] octopedingenue?

And now that you've found the genesis of that line, you can start wondering about *this* icon, which is from a hilarious summary of the manga someone wrote a year or so back. You can't read it yet, because it deal with events up to and after the end of the third segment of the chuunin exams. (And I can't find it online anyway, so oh well. Someone's bound to have it bookmarked.)

re: Gaara. Keep reading. :D

[identity profile] telophase.livejournal.com 2006-04-13 08:27 pm (UTC)(link)
A-ha! I found the smmaur, and it's almost exactly *two* years old, and covers the events between the anime up to that point and the manga up to that point.

It starts after the end of the chuunin exam story arc and covers about 3/4 of the way through the next story arc after that, so I won't link you. :D

Non-spoilery tidbits:

sasuke: ARGH MY NINJA COCK IS SOOO SMALL!

sakura: . . . god i'm useless

jiraiya: DAMN THAT'S SOME FINE BLING!

sasuke: OW MY BRAIN!
octopedingenue: (squishsuke! <3)

[personal profile] octopedingenue 2006-04-13 08:40 pm (UTC)(link)
Che! My spelling is more special than yours, dobe.

[identity profile] telophase.livejournal.com 2006-04-13 08:41 pm (UTC)(link)
I AM TOO EMO TO BE BOTHERED WITH SPELLING BIATCH!
octopedingenue: (sasuke is a GIANT DORK)

[personal profile] octopedingenue 2006-04-13 08:43 pm (UTC)(link)
A ninja needs precision! Precision means proper spelling! Good thing you are always prepared, D-minus-ass.

[identity profile] telophase.livejournal.com 2006-04-13 08:47 pm (UTC)(link)
I AM INHERENTLY MORE OF A NINJA THAN YOU.

BISHOUNEN NO JUTSU! (http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/8032339/) *escapes while [livejournal.com profile] octopedingenue is distracted*



and I need more Sauske icons, dammit.

[identity profile] rachelmanija.livejournal.com 2006-04-13 08:52 pm (UTC)(link)
Dude. That's pretty distracting.

[identity profile] telophase.livejournal.com 2006-04-13 08:55 pm (UTC)(link)
I am, after all, the master of special technique Bishounen no Jutsu (http://www.deviantart.com/view/7589555/).
octopedingenue: (watch those lesbian Catholic schoolgirls)

[personal profile] octopedingenue 2006-04-13 09:14 pm (UTC)(link)
But what if I am a LESBIAN ninja?

...well, I am not, so CURSE YOU< I AM DISTRACTED

[identity profile] rachelmanija.livejournal.com 2006-04-13 08:43 pm (UTC)(link)
...smmaur?
octopedingenue: (temari is hot)

[personal profile] octopedingenue 2006-04-13 08:32 pm (UTC)(link)
I did not say that, alas, but I laughed my ass off at whoever did.

I greatly admire Kishimoto's skill at character-juggling in the chuunin exams. I don't think I remembered everybody's name until the end of the chuunin exams was approaching, but I cared about them all. And I certainly adore the sudden guest appearances by Official Naruto Daddy Iruka.

Jiraiya is my master now. He is a ninja! He wears a Sesshomaru fuzzy on his head! He writes porn! He is made of awesome! Do you know that he and Orochimaru are cracked-out versions of "real" mythical ninja figures? That's where the snakes and the frogs come from. I would say more, but woo, spoilers!

Temari is so my "Naruto" girlfriend. In the anime, her voice actress is Paku Romi AKA Edward Elric. Humina. I also cherish the Best Porn Doujinshi Ever starring Temari that I found at AWA this summer, but the pairing is as yet spoilery, so I will save it.

Oh God so tempted to upload my spoilery Gaara icons to use on this reply. Instead I will just use my Temari icon and play my Gaara song and cackle. Keep reading!

[identity profile] rachelmanija.livejournal.com 2006-04-13 08:46 pm (UTC)(link)
...Gaara has a song?

I mean, I could see something like "Red Right Hand," but given the music in the rest of the anime... I am having a hard time imagining this.
octopedingenue: (naruto breakfast club)

[personal profile] octopedingenue 2006-04-13 09:11 pm (UTC)(link)
No official song for Gaara!* I have an elaborate playlist of favorite songs I associate with "Naruto" characters, because I am just that cool. My Gaara song is "Blood Sings" by Suzanne Vega.

I need more Gaara icons, clearly. And for the record I loathed him for a good long time. It looks like you've gotten to chapter 96 already, so: probably my favorite page in the entire series is this one.



*That I know of. But there must have been one at some point on Oh! Naruto Nippon! And it was undoubtedly chibi and cheerful and terrifying beyond words.

[identity profile] rachelmanija.livejournal.com 2006-04-13 09:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Is that the one that goes, "Blood makes noise... it's ringing in my ears..." Yeah, that's a good one. In case you don't have it, here's Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Red Right Hand. And also their Up Jumped the Devil.

That's a great page. I also love that creepy smile on the next page or so... wait, is that the same creepy smile in your icon?
octopedingenue: (naruto breakfast club)

[personal profile] octopedingenue 2006-04-13 09:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Nope, that's a different song, but it still works. Suzanne Vega is a Gaara Singer! :D Thank you for the MP3s! I've loved "Red Right Hand" since my X-Files days, and I'd lost my copy. Do you have "Loverman"?

Different creepy smile, different chapter, but same volume (chapter 99): oh Gaara, my dear, you are so very NOT SANE. And good for the creepy smiles.

Interesting Gaara stuff coming up in the series sooner or later, I promise!


P.S.: Scanlations: I use CDisplay, unless you have a Mac, but your mileage may vary.

[identity profile] rachelmanija.livejournal.com 2006-04-13 11:13 pm (UTC)(link)
Nope, that actually was the creepy smile I was thinking of. Although I think there's a couple in that volume.

I think I use CDisplay, but I'm not sure, because I am writing from a friend's computer where I am supposed to be roasting vegetables for sixteen people for Passover, but I lost it after peeling things for forty minutes and fled to the computer room for a break.

[identity profile] rachelmanija.livejournal.com 2006-04-13 11:18 pm (UTC)(link)
I have lots of Nick Cave! You want "Loverman?" Or anything else? I have practically everything going all the way back to the first album, but not the most recent two, Live Seeds, or The Good Son, which have all unaccountably disappeared.
octopedingenue: (Default)

[personal profile] octopedingenue 2006-04-19 05:16 am (UTC)(link)
Yes please! :D :D :D

Gaara has an entire album

[identity profile] rachelmanija.livejournal.com 2006-04-19 04:28 am (UTC)(link)
Did you know that 99.9 F, which contains "Blood Makes Noise" and "Blood Sings," concludes with "Song of Sand?" It also contains "Bad Wisdom," which begins with this relevant-sounding verse:

Mother the doctor knows something is wrong
Cause my body has strange information
He's looked in my eyes and knows I'm not a child
But he doesn't dare ask the right question
octopedingenue: (gaara and kankuro are brothers)

Re: Gaara has an entire album

[personal profile] octopedingenue 2006-04-19 05:35 am (UTC)(link)
........whoa.

I think I need to get the rest of this album.

And I have no idea how far you've read in "Naruto" by now so I'm not going to tell you what I think of the lyrics to "Rock In This Pocket", "When Heroes Go Down", "99.9F", and "As A Child".

But I am anxiously awaiting your reaction to/thoughts on the next few volumes (and the rest of the series), because Gaara went from my most hated character in "Naruto" to a permanent position in my top 5 very suddenly. And then he got better.* And then he got better again.


*though not necessarily sane.

Re: Gaara has an entire album

[identity profile] rachelmanija.livejournal.com 2006-04-19 05:45 am (UTC)(link)
I dug up the album (I had it, but I hadn't listened to it in ages because I'd burned the songs I liked and a couple really annoy me), and it's a better album than I had thought. So I recommend it. But not above her other albums-- there's too many discordant weird arrangements in some of the songs for my taste.

I am up to the point where [spoiler with the Third Hokage] and the really touching flashback to Kid!Iruka, and then Naruto takes off with Jiraiya in search of Tsunade, and also I now see why Sasuke has such a bad attitude. The last I saw of Gaara, he was being dragged offstage by Temari and Kankuro, and actually thanked them, which they seemed very surprised to hear.

Also, a very minor point I'm sure, but when Shino, the creepy bug kid, collapses from poison gas and his father bends over him and says, "Don't worry, my bugs will suck out the poison," the convergence of the sweet touching family moment and the fact that it consisted of first aid via disgusting creepy ninja bugs made me laugh maniacally for about five minutes straight.

Oops, forgot my actual point. Was: Re: Gaara has an entire album

[identity profile] rachelmanija.livejournal.com 2006-04-19 05:49 am (UTC)(link)
Re: Gaara: Well, he intrigues me. I can't say that I like him. But he seems interestingly fucked up. I am also intrigued by his ninja buddies, who seem to care about him and have what appear to be much-practiced coping mechanisms in place for when he goes even more totally insane than he normally is. Which makes me wonder what their backstory is.
octopedingenue: (naruto)

[personal profile] octopedingenue 2006-04-13 09:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Yay, I just found the link again, so: my favorite Gaara fanart.

[identity profile] rachelmanija.livejournal.com 2006-04-13 11:19 pm (UTC)(link)
Wow, that's gorgeous. And the calligraphy looks very nice to my untutored eye.

[identity profile] rachelmanija.livejournal.com 2006-04-14 05:46 am (UTC)(link)
Just snagged the song (I was on someone else's computer previously.) Thanks, it's lovely-- and I'm surprised I don't know it, that must be the only album of hers I don't have.