So as many of you know. Naruto has finally finished its 15 year run. Whether you love it or hate if you are a fan of manga you have to admit that there is a giant hole left in its absence. When something runs that long you have to be doing something right obviously. One Piece, Naruto, and Bleach have all been doing something right for the better part of a decade and now with one wrapped up and the ending of another just over the horizon I thought I'd bring up something I like to call "Logical Absurdity."
Part of the reason I'm talking about this is because I've been playing Bayonetta 2 which is just absurd in all the best ways and me and a friend of mine discussed the climaxes and story beats of both Bleach and Naruto as they neared their end. He had followed and been aware of both for a time but stopped after a while so I filled him in. He agreed that Bleach had basically turned Ichigo into a Gary Stue and had probably the worst writing in terms of powers out of the two. I told him that Bleach and Ichigo in particular looked like it had devolved into an 80s style toy commercial (which long running manga kind of are) but with no logical sense. Why does Ichigo get 3 separate looking shikai's? Why was Tousen the only Vizard able to use a resureccion? Why is Ichigo's mask change constantly?
For me Bleach at a point stopped obeying its own rules where as Naruto did not. While Naruto got absolutely ridiculous by the end I always felt it still remained safely within its own rule book. Chakra can do great things and those with greater affinities and pools of it can do damn near god like feats. The only kind of ass pull I felt it did was with the inheritance of the Sage of Six Path's son's chakra though that at least explained why Naruto's full tailed beast transformation was not a solid flesh and blood Kurama like I'm sure most of us were expecting. Even then Blood Line traits had been passed down through generations so who's to say, with the mystical element of the series, that powerful forms of chakra like that couldn't do the same? That's part of the reason I think Naruto is still vastly superior to Bleach and why I never really gave up on it. It was absurd but it was logically absurd in its own world.
So what do you think? Do you think Naruto had this kind of logical absurdity to it or not? What other things do you think follow this kind of logical absurdity?
Part of the reason I'm talking about this is because I've been playing Bayonetta 2 which is just absurd in all the best ways and me and a friend of mine discussed the climaxes and story beats of both Bleach and Naruto as they neared their end. He had followed and been aware of both for a time but stopped after a while so I filled him in. He agreed that Bleach had basically turned Ichigo into a Gary Stue and had probably the worst writing in terms of powers out of the two. I told him that Bleach and Ichigo in particular looked like it had devolved into an 80s style toy commercial (which long running manga kind of are) but with no logical sense. Why does Ichigo get 3 separate looking shikai's? Why was Tousen the only Vizard able to use a resureccion? Why is Ichigo's mask change constantly?
For me Bleach at a point stopped obeying its own rules where as Naruto did not. While Naruto got absolutely ridiculous by the end I always felt it still remained safely within its own rule book. Chakra can do great things and those with greater affinities and pools of it can do damn near god like feats. The only kind of ass pull I felt it did was with the inheritance of the Sage of Six Path's son's chakra though that at least explained why Naruto's full tailed beast transformation was not a solid flesh and blood Kurama like I'm sure most of us were expecting. Even then Blood Line traits had been passed down through generations so who's to say, with the mystical element of the series, that powerful forms of chakra like that couldn't do the same? That's part of the reason I think Naruto is still vastly superior to Bleach and why I never really gave up on it. It was absurd but it was logically absurd in its own world.
So what do you think? Do you think Naruto had this kind of logical absurdity to it or not? What other things do you think follow this kind of logical absurdity?