Manga Review: Naruto: Chibi Sasuke's Sharingan Legend, Volume 1, by Masashi Kishimoto and Kenji Taira

Rating (Out of 5): ~1.5

Publisher: Shonen Jump (VIZ Media)

Release Date: September 2017

Volumes: 3.

Spoilers?: Light.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. RightStuf.

Volume: 2.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Naruto’s rival, cuter than you’ve ever seen him before!

Uchiha Sasuke, the brooding loner who will do anything to avenge his clan and kill his older brother… Yes, this is his story, but with a hilarious twist! In Naruto: Chibi Sasuke’s Sharingan Legend, the characters and story have been flipped on their heads, all for the sake of comedy! With his Taka teammates Suigetsu, Karin and Jugo, Sasuke travels the land and gets into all kinds of wacky adventures. This is a side of Sasuke you’ve never seen before. One bit of advice: do not mock the Uchiha!

Elite ninja Uchiha Sasuke travels the land with his teammates, searching for his brother Itachi. Pillow fights, video games, Christmas parties… There’s nothing this ninja won’t do to avenge his clan!

Review:

This is a parody of the Naruto verse, featuring Sasuke and his odd gang, and later it even moves into the village with Naruto and the main people.

This volume was rough. I'm sure some people loved it, and I will admit that I didn't read much of the main series. But I just did not find this volume enjoyable.

It's made up of normal-length chapters with short comedic arcs. Sasuke fights a couple people, banters with his friends. He's searching for his brother, and finds him pretty early on. Later, he also goes back to the village and runs into Naruto and the original gang.

This was just not funny. It was more annoying and stupid to me, honestly. I will say that my biggest annoyance was how there was constantly a character pointing out how crazy or dumb something was when it was happening; it just brought me out of the story every time.

This was dumb, honestly. I don't want to read any more of it.

A review copy was provided by the publisher, VIZ Media, for an honest review. Thank you so, so much!

Manga Review: Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Volume 2, by Masashi Kishimoto, Mikio Ikemoto, and Ukyo Kodachi

Rating (Out of 5): ~3

Publisher: Shonen Jump (VIZ Media)

Release Date: September 5, 2017

Volumes: 3+

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. RightStuf.

Volume: 1. 3.

Goodreads Synopsis:

The ninja adventures continue with Naruto’s son, Boruto!

Naruto was a young shinobi with an incorrigible knack for mischief. He achieved his dream to become the greatest ninja in his village, and now his face sits atop the Hokage monument. But this is not his story... A new generation of ninja are ready to take the stage, led by Naruto's own son, Boruto!

Boruto gets through round two of the Chunin Exam and receives praise from his father. But what Naruto doesn’t know is that his son is cheating by using prohibited ninja tools. What will happen to Boruto when the truth is revealed? Meanwhile, darker forces are advancing behind the scenes…

Review:

In the first part of the volume, the competition continues. Boruto does rather well, only to be discovered for cheating. It's quite bad character on his part, and his reaction to being discovered only makes it worse. On the other hand, during this, he seems to be making a step forward in his relationship with his father.

But then that gets interrupted by some people after the animal inside Naruto, and there's some fighting, a kidnapping and rescuing. It all happens rather quickly, honestly. At the end of the volume, we're admidst another big fight scene, in the middle of yet another big reveal by the bad guys.

I don't care much for this series. I didn't care much for the original, though, to be honest. Plus, Boruto is such a whiny kid. Supposedly he grew in this volume, but I don't really see it.

A review copy was provided by the publisher, VIZ Media, for an honest review. Thank you so, so much!

Manga Review: Boruto: Naruto Next Generation, Volume 1, by Masashi Kishimoto, Mikio Ikemoto, and Ukyo Kodachi

Rating (Out of 5): ~3

Publisher: Shonen Jump (VIZ Media)

Release Date: April 2017

Volumes: 3+

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. RightStuf (+ Gift).

Volume: 2.

Goodreads Synopsis:

The ninja adventures continue with Naruto’s son, Boruto!

Naruto was a young shinobi with an incorrigible knack for mischief. He achieved his dream to become the greatest ninja in his village, and now his face sits atop the Hokage monument. But this is not his story... A new generation of ninja are ready to take the stage, led by Naruto's own son, Boruto!

Years have passed since Naruto and Sasuke teamed up to defeat Kaguya, the progenitor of chakra and the greatest threat the ninja world has ever faced. Times are now peaceful and the new generation of shinobi has not experienced the same hardships as its parents. Perhaps that is why Boruto would rather play video games than train. However, one passion does burn deep in this ninja boy’s heart, and that is the desire to defeat his father!

Review:

I didn't follow most of Naruto. I read several of the beginning volumes, and then I read a couple of random volumes later. I was never very into the series. But I'm willing to give Boruto a chance.

The artwork is done by someone else in this series, and it's just okay. I don't mind seeing what the characters have grown up into and what their kids are like—but then again, I don't actually know what they were doing at the end of the original series.

We're following Boruto here, and he's very clearly an angsty teen. He believes that his father is awful because he's always working and never pays his kids any attention. And, to be fair, he does make a clone go to a birthday party. Whilst all of this is going on, Orochimaru is also up to some bad things. I am intrigued by what is going on with Mitsuki, though, and would like to see more of that.

This was an okay start to a series. I didn't mind reading, but it wasn't great. It's not really my kind of series, though.

A review copy was provided by the publisher, VIZ Media, for an honest review. Thank you so, so much!

Manga Review: Naruto: The Seventh Hokage and the Scarlet Spring by Masashi Kishimoto

Rating (Out of 5): ~3

Publisher: Shonen Jump (VIZ Media)

Release Date: January 2016

Volumes: One-shot Epilogue

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Naruto was a young shinobi with an incorrigible knack for mischief. Then he channeled that energy into learning amazing ninja techniques and saving the world! Now Naruto has achieved his dream to become the greatest ninja in the village and his face sits atop the Hokage monument. But new troubles are bubbling up in the shinobi world...

With the world now safe and the ninja villages working together, Naruto's work as Hokage seems pretty mundane. Giving his son, Boruto, enough attention is the toughest task he has. But then Sasuke uncovers a conspiracy that may involve surviving members of the Uchiha clan. And at the same time, Sarada is begins to have doubts about the truth of her origins.

Review:

This is a kind of epilogue to the series, at least one of them. It’s in the future, featuring all of the previous main characters’ kids. Sakura and Sasuke’s daughter is the main character, Sarada Uchiha, and she’s trying to figure out who her father really is, and how that defines who she is. Sasuke has been absent from her life since she was a child, she doesn’t even remember him, but she wants to. And now she’s wondering if Sakura is her real mother.

There’s a lot of fighting and misunderstandings, but in the end the characters are all there for each other. Naruto is a smarter adult and trying to teach his son well, Sakura is a good mother to her daughter, and it’s neat to see each characters child, and how they’re all doing now.

I didn’t follow the series, but this was still an okay volume. I’m sure real fans will enjoy it more.

A review copy was provided by the publisher, VIZ Media, for an honest review. Thank you so, so much!

(Short) Manga Reviews: Naruto, Volume 67, and D. Gray-Man, Volume 24

Naruto, Volume 67, by Masashi Kishimoto

Rating (Out of 5): ~2

Publisher: Shonen Jump (VIZ Media)

Release Date: October 7, 2014

Volumes: 70+

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells. RightStuf.

Volume: 1. 66. 68.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Naruto is a young shinobi with an incorrigible knack for mischief. He's got a wild sense of humor, but Naruto is completely serious about his mission to be the world's greatest ninja!
Just as victory seems at hand, Obito turns the tables on the Allied Shinobi Forces and becomes the Ten Tails jinchuriki. With the powers of the great Sage of Six Paths now under his control, Obito seems unstoppable. Naruto and his father will have to team up if they have any hope against this beast!

Review:

I read several of the first volumes in this series, and watched about the same amount of the anime. But I never cared enough to continue it, or just never got around to it. But when I received this volume, I thought why not read it? I knew that I was way behind in the series—I’d heard things and saw things about it, so I knew I’d missed a whole bunch—but I figured I’d see what was going on, and if it would catch my interest enough to want to read more.

Sadly, it, um, didn’t.

I was definitely confused. I thought I understood at least some of the way the ninja thing worked, but most of this went way over my head. It didn’t help, I don’t think, that this entire volume was in the middle of a fight, so I had no idea what had already happened. There were several characters I recognized, but also a lot of new ones, and all of them in different positions than I knew of. And the enemy they were fighting just seemed to be god-moding, which bothered me.

I’ve pretty much just drawn the conclusion that this series isn’t for me. I was beyond confused, a little annoyed, and mostly just not enjoying myself.

I’m glad I read it, but I don’t think I want to read any more.

_______

D. Gray-Man, Volume 24, by Katsura Hoshino
Rating (Out of 5): ~3
Publisher: Shonen Jump Advance (VIZ Media)
Release Date: August 5, 2014
Volumes: 24 (Hiatus)
Spoilers?: No.
Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells. RightStuf.
Volume: 1. 23.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Set in a fictional 19th century England, D.Gray-man is the story of Allen Walker, a 15-year-old boy who roams the earth in search of Innocence. Washed away to unknown parts of the world after The Great Flood, Innocence is the mysterious substance used to create weapons that obliterate demons known as akuma.

Allen, now joined by two companions, is still on the run and trying to deal with his demonic alter ego, the Fourteenth. This means avoiding erstwhile allies as well as overt enemies. He also has to prevent one of his companions, fellow Exorcist Kanda, from trying to destroy the Fourteenth while keeping the Fourteenth from destroying his other companion, Johnny, whose zealous devotion to Allen is gratifying but not much help in a fight!

Review:

I have not read any of the previous volumes in this series, nor have I seen any of the anime. So I was going into this volume pretty much blind, aside from the little recap at the beginning of the volume.

I was confused throughout this volume. Everything in the previous volumes is a mystery to me, including how their powers and politics work, and the relationships between everyone. Some of the powers, like the things that come out of people’s eyes, seemed gross to me. I’m pretty much confused by most of what happened in this volume—the entire plot didn’t make a lot of sense to me.

I was intrigued, though, particularly by the characters. Everyone has a history with each other, and I was interested in that, in how it came about. There are a lot of characters, too, and we only saw a handful of them in this volume, but I was interested in how they got to where they are now. And I’m glad that the confusing plot wasn’t so bad that it turned me off from the series.

I don’t know if I’ll pick up more volumes of the manga, since I’m already so far behind, but I might give the anime a try. It looks interesting enough for that.

A review copy (of both) was provided by the publisher, VIZ Media, and Erik Jansen from MediaLab PR. Thank you so, so much!