Random manga chatter

[Ragnar]

Birdy the Mighty is ending. I should catch up again.

[thepanda]

Chaptert 285 of Oh! My Goddess. Shocking, but it makes so much sense. o_O

[Dracos]

Hajime may be possibly turning itself around?  Lots of bullshit lately, but perhaps it will focus on Comic Relief's rise to the top.

It'll be weird.  This time around they really can't pull that angle.  One or both of them have to make champion or it'll be stupid.  At the same time...4 national champs as the main cast?  And Obnoxious Lad?

[Dracos]

On one hand...

Ippo is just finishing its worst series of chapters.  From the woli fight onward it has been atrocious.

On the other hand...

Ippo-Going for upward facing fights finally?
Comedy Duo: Out for revenge in a fashion that pretty much means beating the national champion?
ObnoxiousGenius: Being encouraged from all corners to leave the gym and fight ippo (and die).

I hope it swings around.

[thepanda]

and die
and die
and die
and die
and die

[Dracos]

???

What's up panda?

[Merc]

I think Panda was just extending the mantra regarding the obnoxious genius, Drac =p

[Dracos]

Aren't you tempting fate by saying it that many times?

(and die)

:)  Heh, I missed that.  Thanks for pointing out.

[Dracos]

Naruto managed a further Jump the Shark then I thought was doable in a 'Zombie Apocolypse' setting with Orochimaru back alive.

The Great Evil... Incompetent Uchiha.

[thepanda]

Is that any worse than 'all the best fights are happening off screen' Bleach?

[Dracos]

Is that any worse than 'all the best fights are happening off screen' Bleach?

Yes.

But Bleach is pretty incredibly bad too!

[Arakawa]

Naruto managed a further Jump the Shark then I thought was doable in a 'Zombie Apocolypse' setting with Orochimaru back alive.

The Great Evil... Incompetent Uchiha.

So... if I were to start reading Naruto, what would be a good point at which to stop reading? (I.e. where any payoff is not worth slogging through the escalating tedium?)

[Dracos]

I recommend (as I always do), the Improved version of Naruto.

http://soulriders.net/brian/fanfic/motivation/

Sure, it has less pictures, but it also involves a genuinely more consistent ninja cast.

Personally, there's a lot of the Naruto manga I've never bothered to read.  If it wasn't showing up next to my One Piece and Fairy Tail, I still wouldn't be bothering as a lot of the early stuff drags hard.  There are individual arcs that in a self-contained way are possibly worth slogging through, but I think overall, Fanfiction has provided dramatically better takes on those.

Truthfully, just reading the early bits and the Chuunin arc gives context for 90 percent of fanfic out there.  Almost nobody writes about The World Ninja War.

[thepanda]

Immediately after the Pain Invasion arc. No Sasuke. Impressive fight. Naruto finally growing into The Hero.

Everything after that is varying degrees of bullshit.

[thepanda]

Almost nobody writes about The World Ninja War.

A combination of wanting to change things early on and WNW being complete and utter rubbish?