General Discussion

With GodLen gone, the amount of Naruto and Bleach manga coverage has dropped to an all-time low so I figured I'd step up and start covering these on a weekly basis. My layout will be pretty similar to GodLen's but my personal tastes should lend some difference, mainly in snark and fanboyism. I make no pretense about objectivity with these. I like what I like and after a month or so it should be apparent as to what I like and dislike about these manga. So, let's kick off the inaugural post.

Naruto #589 - Edo Tensei Jutsu: Dissolved

In a Nutshell

Having run out of bubblegum in his pledge to kick ass and chew bubblegum, Madara's full attention is on the continued collective Kage's ass kicking. Meanwhile, Itachi uses genjutsu to get Kabuto to release the Edo Tensei jutsu.

High Points

• Madara continues to kick ass and take names.
• Sasuke and Itachi have one last chat that was intersting.

Low Points

• Sasuke is back to the being the only legacy of Orochimaru who might do something epic/cool.

Rants and Raves

It had to end sooner or later, but I'm sad to see the Edo's go. Yeah, most of the chapters involving them were disappointing but their mere existence was a fanboy's dream. One funny thing to me was Sasuke telling Itachi that he hates the Leaf even more. So far, his hate has been expressed as killing the top two highest ranked criminals at large of the Hidden Leaf and protecting it and the rest of the ninja world from a zombie invasion. I think he's actually tied with Naruto for doing the most things to help the Leaf.

Grade

I give this chapter a B.

There was nothing particularly bad about it and the good stuff was good enough. Not great, just good enough. Susanoo's epic mountain busting didn't do much for me as it seemed like a knock-off Sajin Komamura Bankai imo. I thought Itachi and Sasuke's conversation had interesting content, but wasn't especially well written. Despite my love of it, I'm reminded that Naruto is comic written for children that is cranked out every week. While there's stuff I can enjoy about it, it's never going to achieve a level of writing that you'd see in a tween novel or short story (like Goosebumps... which isn't particularly amazing all things considered) and certainly not something for adults.

I'm interested in seeing what happens with Kabuto (if/how he gets freed, what Sasuke does/doesn't do to him, etc.), and I'm interested in finding out what happened or will happen to Anko.

The Sasuke dialogue seemed to be beating a dead horse with the "I won't forgive them" I'm actually glad that Itachi didn't say anything.

Madara was getting really old with the "you kages are pathetic" attitude and it honestly seemed totally out of place with the whole younger generations surpassing the older that has been the base for almost all the Zombie resurrections.

It's unfortunate that Godlen is no longer contributing. I would still continue to read this column if someone took over, however. I enjoy reading about the latest chapters in Naruto and Bleach.

It had to end sooner or later, but I'm sad to see the Edo's go. Yeah, most of the chapters involving them were disappointing but their mere existence was a fanboy's dream.

Kishimoto probably thought the same. He barely had to make up new characters and the books continued to sell like crazy. If this arc doesn't lead to a conclusion of the series (in its current form) it would be a huge letdown in terms of writing.