Naruto tropes flipped on their head: Does that make it better? Does that redeem its bad reputation?

[Gatx]

I don't think it's the neatest or most sensible plot progression (at least not since the war started) but I love all the character interactions. Madara reuniting with Hashirama again was funny, seeing Sasuke back with the Konoha 11 was create, just warm fuzzies all the way around.

Unlike a lot of fans I actually don't really hate anyone. Sakura doesn't "do" anything but as a romantic interest, she has great chemistry with Naruto, more so than Hinata anyway. I could even appreciate Sasuke as a villain. Hell, on some level I actually understand why he wanted to do what he wanted to do even though it seemed stupid on a logical leve.

I keep up with plot developments on the wiki. I'm certainly enjoying the direction things are going, and let me just say if a "Naruto Kai" ever gets made, I will be the first in line for it. But until then, I'm not slogging through all that.

You should read the manga, that's it. The anime at this point is probably like 10 or so episodes of filler separating 2-3 episodes of actual stuff that happened in the manga. I mean some of it is interesting and they do occasional animation bump episodes with nice fights, but unless you really like a certain side character that gets fleshed out or something I'd steer clear of the anime as a means of learning the story.

It's 'Ok'.

There are a lot of things wrong with the serie (the Obito reveal being the least surprising twist in the history of twist, Madara and the Sharingan being walking plotdevices, Sasuke as a character, Sakura who keeps getting pushed backstage, Naruto's crazy powerlevels, Neji's pretty pointless death, the whole thing with Hinata.)

But I like a lot of the characters and I'll continue reading it.

I really just want to see the series end in a dignified way before it starts running on fumes like Bleach.

It's blatantly obvious but the fanbase was pretty evenly divided between people who thought it was Obito and people who believed that it was Madara, and my god was it entertaining to see all those bubbles burst. The weeks of denial after the reveal was hilarious: "Oh, maybe he's being mind controlled by Madara so technically he's not REALLY Obito."

 

[Auron225]

See, I feel like if I DON'T finish it then all the time I spent so far with it will have been wasted - even though I enjoyed it then and don't so much now.

I've flat out given up on the anime. The stupidly slow pace it moves at is downright ridiculous - it's just not worth my time. I am keeping up the manga and I am still enjoying it since everything is (right now) really gearing up to a climax. Having said that, it has been doing that for (no joke) at least two years -.- Kishimoto REALLY likes to drag this thing out. He just spent at least a month within flashbacks. He flashbacked, then flashbacked within a flashback and let time progress towards the orignial flashback - before returning to the present day. He could've conveyed the exact same information and drama in 1 chapter - 2 maximum.

As for Oro's, Sasuke's and Kurama's attitudes of late - I don't know what to say really. I guess I didn't see it coming so surprise is nice, but it does seem out of character for all of them.

Oro - Why is he suddenly Sasuke's lap dog?

Sasuke - I never understood why he wanted to destroy Konoha after learning what really happened with Itachi - but what exactly did the Hokage tell him to make him see reason? At what stage did the penny drop? It wasn't obvious to me.

Kurama - As you said, the epitome of evil. But nothing has escaped the BS of Naruto's Talk-no-Jutsu to this point and it seems that even the Kyuubi isn't exempt of that. I'm willing to swallow that one since Kurama must realise that if he doesn't help out, he gets screwed over by Madara who he hates more than anyone. But I swear, if Madara gets TALKED out of his plot then I'm gonna be pissed.

 

[excalipoor]

As for Oro's, Sasuke's and Kurama's attitudes of late - I don't know what to say really. I guess I didn't see it coming so surprise is nice, but it does seem out of character for all of them.

Oro - Why is he suddenly Sasuke's lap dog?

Sasuke - I never understood why he wanted to destroy Konoha after learning what really happened with Itachi - but what exactly did the Hokage tell him to make him see reason? At what stage did the penny drop? It wasn't obvious to me.

Kurama - As you said, the epitome of evil. But nothing has escaped the BS of Naruto's Talk-no-Jutsu to this point and it seems that even the Kyuubi isn't exempt of that. I'm willing to swallow that one since Kurama must realise that if he doesn't help out, he gets screwed over by Madara who he hates more than anyone. But I swear, if Madara gets TALKED out of his plot then I'm gonna be pissed.

Orochimaru never gave a shit about anything but techniques and immortality, and as it turns out, he was pretty much immortal already. My guess is he's just curious to see how it all ends up, so why not nudge things along a bit?

As for Sasuke, he wants to honor Itachi, as well as fix the previous Hokages' fuckups. Because he believes he can do better. Because his plans always work out as intended. Because he's his own master. Because VILLAGE! Wait, what? "Sasuke for Hokage!" said nobody ever.

And Kurama, as I've said above, just shows humans the same animosity they show him. He's basically Gaara.

Spoiler: All these new twists really aren't doing it for me anymore, but in my books the latest chapter was a success just for this one page:

Dickweed put in his place.