Quote:
Originally Posted by Mateus
I don't understand why it must be such a huge fail to include a flashback as I said it would either be that or an info dump and I disagree with your assessment that a flashback in Naruto (or Shounen manga in general) is an "info dump". "Last minute" inclusions (flash backs & plot revelations, etc) to the story are done for numerous reasons, but the most likely reason is because the story did not call for it yet OR because the author did not develop those character/plot points yet -- would it have made anymore sense for this Madara and Obito flashback to have occurred during the Pain Invasion arc? Or how about in the middle of the Hidan and Kakuzu arc? Or how about even further back in the serial during the entry exams to the Chunin Exam arc -- even before Obito was even introduced.
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flashbacks are not bad in general. in fact, they are good tools for fleshing out stories and plots. but when abused to a point where you need a flashback every time you need to explain a crucial part of the story then that is not good writing at all. of course, this does not mean that the writer retconned anything or suddenly came up with a new idea and decided to include it at the last minute. it simply means that the writer didn't know how else to tell that part of story, or at least that's how i see it. i kinda agree with
shining celebi, flashbacks (especially ones that tell sob stories explaining why the characters did what they did) disrupt the pace. unless the said flashback reveals something that is vital to the plot itself then it's useless. one good example is the kabuto flashback. kabuto's story could have been revealed hundreds of chapters before that, why reveal it at the heat of an ongoing battle? it disrupted the whole fight. sure, we learned about kabuto's past, but was it essential to the plot? no, it wasn't. in fact, nobody really cared at that point since everyone just wanted to see the fights. i had wanted to learn about kabuto's past but the flashback was so ill-timed that it became insignificant. not to mention that kabuto's story was incredibly boring! so he was mind-fucked by danzou and brainwashed by orochimaru, big deal! we've read that story before. nagato did it first.
in fairness to kishi, he did write some pretty good flashbacks but i think he wrote one too many for my taste. i'm not saying he's a bad writer, i don't think he is. but i don't think he's a good writer either. there are so many better writers out there. you'd encounter quite a few of them in the seinen genre. but for a shonen manga-ka, kishi is okay i suppose. he's certainly better than let's say, kubo?
