[Luminion Lancer]

Originally Posted by james0246

^


The Ocean of Paper does look supremely cool...

Hopefully, this will finally convince the naysayers that paper can be used in a watery environment ...

-My eyes just orgasm'd out of sheer awesomeness (p.q). THIS is why I stick with this manga so much, regardless of the many, many shenanigans and let downs. Thank you Konan, I needed that.

Originally Posted by Captain Commando

I agree its nice to see a good looking women who are strong and capable, but in this manga, I don't really care either way. I'm reading this manga because I like the plot, and the type of fighting and techniques used in this universe, and I love battles that require plenty strategy. If theres a sexy girl somewhere in the middle, hey, cool. But there is a whole genre of mangas (if im not mistaken) where women are "consistently" the strongest characters in the story. So to me, complaining about the lack of consistency regarding sexy strong women in a shounen makes as much sense as complaining about the lack of poultry in a vegan supermarket; when theres a dedicated market that specifically satisfies that very demand...

I can understand people's frustration though; their favorite female is worthless (usually Hinata or Sakura), so they just abandon all hope in frustration. But its not that serious guys, lighten up. Its not like you're reading along just for the girls are you? (if you are, there is yet another niche that should satisfy your needs )

-I think you misunderstood me a bit. We have our frustrations with Kishimoto because we know from his own words and illustrations that the women in this manga are indeed capable. Yet, despite all that, he continually denounces their efforts in favour of characters that got stale a while back. The frustration comes from the fact that Kishimoto gives us a glimpse of how epic his women actually are, then he pulls a 180 and takes it back. Its like we're a starving rabbit and he's dangling a sweet, juicy carrot in front of us then pulls it away and eats it himself while we die of starvation. Or to put it in a more relevant way, Kishimoto has emphasized that his fights favor not pure power and strength, but determination and willpower (regardless of gender). Let me do a bit of a rundown of what I mean:

Spoiler for manga:

-Tsunade overcoming her hemophobia to beat Orochimaru back to his hole was epic. Tsunade, by herself, shielded the entire Konoha village from Pain's mighty blast. Again, epic.
-All of Temari's fights (Tenten, Shikamaru and Tayuya). She's capable and awesome in all of them, without having to resort to some miracle rescue.
-Sakura's fight with Sasori was her once-in-a-lifetime moment of greatness (unless you want to count in her stand against the Sound ninja from the Forest of Death).
-Hinata's confession and ability to stand up to PAIN of all people was awesome.
-Karin finally deciding that Sasuke is a douchebag and getting over him (yes, this is considered awesome because a Sasuke FANGIRL came to her senses).
-And now we have Konan making Madara pissed and scared (it looks like it).
-Hell, we even had the Mizukage, Terumi, knocking Sasuke of all characters down a peg.

Yet for every single one of those moments, there's at least half a dozen instances where these awesome characters are pushed to the background, make stupid mistakes that are unbefitting of them or are just there to act as a cry-on-cue button and be the damsel in distress. I cannot speak for everyone, but I have been with this manga for so long, that things like this are starting to get on mine nerves. Especially, when I know they/Kishimoto can do better.