Naruto 59-62

[cerusee]

This sequence can be summed up entirely in one word: "Yay!"

But I won't.

Naruto 61-62 Quick Episode Summary:

Neji: Biology is destiny, loser.
Naruto: Oh yeah? My biological destiny is to KICK YOUR ASS.

By the way, Sakura's obsession with Sasuke is making her suck again. Naruto was in the hospital for three days--and she didn't show up until he left! Dude, Shikamaru sat by his bedside, and he may well have to fight Naruto. (I am beginning to see wherefore all the Shika love. He's a sweetheart.)


Naruto to Hinata: I always thought of you as dark, timid, and weird.

Boy Naruto sure knows how to butter a girl up, doesn't he?

Comments

[ex-res-judic324.livejournal.com]

Shikamaru is a soft touch. Which makes later episodes, especially later episodes with Temari, so very sweet to read/watch.

The Neji fight makes you want to sit up and say: "Oh hell yes!" because Naruto just kicks that much ass.

Sakura's fixation on Sasuke matures into something deeper later, but it takes a while.

[cerusee.livejournal.com]

It's not Sakura's feelings for Sasuke that I object to. It's the way she fixates on him to the exclusion of almost everything else. Her concern for Lee is a good move away from that, but Naruto is her friend and teammate--she should care about his training, and when he ends up in the hospital, she should be concerned about his health . It's not like she didn't know, or that he wasn't allowed visitors. She just didn't think about it. Which is kind of frustrating, because she was being so much more supportive and not so obsessive after she fought with Ino, and then she just regressed.

Oh well. She's 13. They're all dumb.

[ex-res-judic324.livejournal.com]

I think the mangaka was trying to get across what Sakura feels for Sasuke is specially, and over rides everything for her. Which is why it matters later when she lets him go.

But she does start to notice Naruto. When he comes back. she grows up a lot under Tsunade.

[windandwater.livejournal.com]

... XP

Sakura doesn't "let Sasuke go." He knocks her the hell out. I don't want to spoil for it, but especially when you read the latest manga chapter. XPPPP Sakura sees Itachi and is all: "This is the one who caused Sasuke so much hardship blah blah blah." She DOES grow up under Tsunade, but she's still sorta-obsessed with Sasuke -- or at least with bringing Sasuke back from Orochimaru.

[ex-res-judic324.livejournal.com]

But she doesn't try to go chasing after him, was my point. She tries to hold him then, but, I don't know.

I'm inclined to be more forgiving of Sakura than most people. Probably because I just don't like boys all that much, so I really, really want to like the girls in these shows. Or I just lose interest in the show. I couldn't maintain interest in Get Backers or PoT for lack of female characters. I'm still not sure how I got into GW, except for blatant manipulation and rewriting of the female characters. So I look for potential in Sakura where it might not be there.

I will not even get into how incredibly happy Tsunade made me. Omfg. Tsunade/Sakura makes me happy like nothing else; even if the age difference is, er, more than a little squicky.

[windandwater.livejournal.com]

Bwahahaha! I TOLD you that you would love it. And remember Naruto's magical beatings. Neji ends up not being so bitchy anymore once, you know, all the bruises heal. Naruto was absolutely GREAT; I loved how everyone was all: "He thought that far ahead?!"

And yes. >_<;; Sakura's behavior annoys me so badly. It annoys me more later, because Sakura, at this point, doesn't know what all of Sasuke's trauma is. She thinks, pretty much, that he's a regular (if genius) kid. And she acts that way towards him. And expects him to respond in kind.

But oh... ;_; It was sad to know that no one even visited Naruto really, except for Shikamaru. I love him so. It makes me want to ship ShikaNaru, if I didn't like ShikaTemari so much.

[cerusee.livejournal.com]

I may have to take it back about Naruto being dumb. Maybe he's just young. He does learn from his mistakes--he's already fighting with more strategy than he used to.

I particularly loved how everyone was so amazed at the cloning technique. He does it so often, and to such little surprise, that you tend to forget that it's way beyond his skill level; people should be impressed by it.

Poor, unloved Naruto. Rock Lee and Hinata get off because they were still recovering, and I'd make allowances for anybody training for the finals (which is why I'm not annoyed at Naruto for not being more concerned about Lee and Hinata; he was very, very busy). But where was Iruka? Where was Sakura? Where was Kakashi? (Okay, I know that one.) I can't believe Naruto doesn't angst more about being the unloved village pariah; he's got grounds for it.

ShikaNaru...yesssss...I can get behind that. Of course, I haven't seen his fight with Temari, yet.

Oh, and Naruto with nine tails? Is the awesomest thing in all 62 episodes that I have seen. Period.

[cerusee.livejournal.com]

Argh, I totally forgot the first thing I was going to say, which is that it actually would make sense for Neji to lighten up a little bit after getting beaten by Naruto. He seemed rock-solid sure that your talent and abilities and destiny are determined at birth, that nothing can change that. He was also convinced that he was genetically superior to Naruto--and Naruto beat him, hands-down. If Naruto isn't bound by fate, maybe Neji isn't, either.

[windandwater.livejournal.com]

I love how good Naruto is at tearing down other peoples' belief systems and showing them that his is so much better. XD He has that tendency to smack sense into someone, and they realize he's right. He also inspires people (like during Hinata's fight), fight I think shows good leadership qualities and potential, even if he's not-so-good at that right now.

*waves Naruto for Rokudaime flag*

[mikkeneko.livejournal.com]

Yeah, dammit, where WAS Iruka? He's supposed to have semi-adopted Naruto.

[cerusee.livejournal.com]

Icon love.

[windandwater.livejournal.com]

Well, I don't think he's adopted Naruto per se. He's just around and cares for him. Anyway, Iruka was busy making sure Konohamaru doesn't do something stupid. Or maybe he passed out from the Sexy no Jutsu.

[windandwater.livejournal.com]

Bwehehehe... even though he uses it so much, I LOVE Naruto's Kage Bunshin. He's very very skilled at using it, and hell, his strategies with his clones ROCK. He might not be able to fight well with others, but he can sure as hell get his clones to move the right way. You'll see more of this later. *^^*

But, yeah, no love for Naruto. ;__; Sakura... just doesn't really care much at this point. She's too obsessed with Sasuke and, well, she doesn't think too much about Naruto, which pisses me off because he does a HELL of a lot just for her. *stabs Sakura*

Kakashi... is off training Sasuke. Bastard. *grumbles*

And Iruka... well, I'm not sure WHERE he is. He's not watching the Chuunin Exams Finals, so I assume he's one of the ninjas who are stuck working. Iruka is actually more than a teacher, he also handles mission distributions for Sandaime, so... I like to pretend that Iruka visited at least once. Iruka SO gets the shaft because he's a minor character. And he shouldn't be because he's pretty much the only person who legitimately cares about Naruto's well-being.



... if you like Naruto with the tails... bweheheheh... Just wait!!