thats a shame. i still get enjoyment out of basic ass shounen stories. although some of them are starting to run together on the sameness tip.
I am slightly enjoying Magi: Labyrinth of Magic. It's got a very fresh setting, unique characters, engaging story and development, and also great art and lore. However, while I love that it's a Shounen not entirely focused around action, I do feel that there's not enough fighting. When the actual fights happen they can take a rather predictable route. Another setback is that there's all these awesome abilities and skills, but they don't seem to be utilized appropriately. Magi is great compared to many Shounen out right now but I would still place it right beside Inuyasha and Trigun for overall appeal. Great series with setbacks that are not really devastating but still apparent.
While I would Naruto aint the type of homie to ever give up on a dude, you right about sakura. He has been trying to make her relevant the entire time, it got so bad over time he made her into just a horrible character, a horrible person he had to basically apologize for in the manga. I kind of feel the same way sasuke, like " oh sasuke is best friend " no shikimaru is, sasuke is someone he feels sorry for and cares about.
I kinda agree naruto cares a bit too much, and sakura is ... still a nothing. However to give credit where its due a lot of the crazy mofo's epically sasuke , sasuke is like one of the most well explained justified crazy mofo's in naruto... and kind of in a lot of manga. This dude, is... justified in his nuts-ness, a lot of times naruto tries to address larger issues, and sometimes those things get walked over but sasuke... is the posterboy for that sort of thing.
Like if you want a detailed, " why sasuke is justified in being a wack-job " I can hit you up with it. Like you sitting here like " man I'm sasuke is such a asshole, why is he such an ass hole "I can give you the explanation, not now though. I have to sleep, the explanation involves skeleton witnesses though so have fun with that.
Actually, I think Sasuke is a rather decent character if not one of the best the series has. He does have a reason to be so fucked up and he doesn't pretend he's anything but a nut job. My problem is how everyone else responds to him. They like to pretend he's somehow not this psycho and that nothing he does is truly evil or fucked up. Even Sasuke thinks their crazy as hell for it.
Sasuke is a prime example of a character developing be it for better or worse. It's everyone around him that is stagnant and dumb. Gaara was another great character for many of the same reasons, a messed up background and being a victim of circumstances but also crazy as hell. Gaara making his drastic change turned him kinda boring but he didn't automatically earn everyone's trust, he died for them as Kazekage and they grew to appreciate him. Meanwhile, Sasuke is technically Gaara going the opposite direction, and yet still people are trying to make excuses for him.
That's all that bothers me regarding the Sauce. I merely wish the other mains got some development that was proportional to their potential.
Agreed good long-term Shounen is needle in a haystack territory. I also prefer the simple approach to storytelling, usually it is good when things stay self contained and don't bloat too much. But then popularity happens, and I don't hate any mangaka for doing what they can to get paid. TTGL was great and I like One Piece but have yet to read or watch any Bleach. I almost want to say YYH > DBZ but I haven't rewatched Yu in a while, could be nostalgia.
Tbh, I've always preferred YYH over DBZ, but that's only because DBZ was a little too much action hahaha
DBZ definitely has more street cred tho.
You should check out Flame of Recca. It's similar but I think Recca has better characters and a better ending.
also Hunter x Hunter which is the Yuyu author's best series
I'll look into it. Thanks.
This is it. YYH (and Kenshin) are the type of series where I wouldn't really change anything that happened. DBZ I would change up a few things here and there but I'm very satisfied with the end product and how everything played out. Naruto, I'd just tell Kishi to go back to the Valley of the End fight and start all over because Part 2 needs it.
I dunno, I would change how YYH ended. Leading up to the finale, the series really was struggling. Other than that, I can't recall being bored of any YYH arcs. DBZ had a few I dreaded sitting through... Rurouni Kenshin is another fantastic Shounen. Definitely at the top of my recommendations for people.
And I definitely agree about Part 2 of Naruto. There was simply too many factors that contributed to the series falling apart, but I think Rescue Gaara was a really great arc.