Naruto, Vol. 45

Rating T+ Genre manga Author Masashi Kishimoto Publisher VIZ Media External Links

I’m not sure if anyone else is feeling this, but I’m having a harder and harder time caring about these characters.  It’s not because they’re doing anything that I particularly dislike, but because I am completely underwhelmed with their motivations.  And there are times when I feel like characters do certain things simply because the plot deems it necessary.  While I think that is a problem that has come up every now and then in the series, it feels most evident in this volume.

Since Sasuke’s defeat of Itachi, he has since declared revenge on Konoha.  The first steps he takes towards this goal is the capture of the Killer Bee, the demon host of the Eight-Tailed Beast.  This action angers the Killer Bee’s brother, Lord Raikage, who decides to take some action against Sasuke.  Meanwhile, Naruto continues his training with the toads in order to perfect Sage Mode, a state of being where you are constantly feeding off nature’s energy, so your body will not become fatigued.  Over in Konoha, things aren’t so well.  The Pains have decided to launch an attack, and the villagers are having a hard time staying alive, and Tsunade wants to send a toad to recall Naruto so he can help.

So as far as moving plot forward, this volume does rather well.  That’s a big plus on its side.  Often times in a manga of this nature, the plot will come to a standstill for chapters at a time.  Luckily, this isn’t something that this volume suffers from, as there are many crucial plot points taking place on a few fronts.  But once again, that can also be considered one of its greater weaknesses.

Since the focus is so plot-heavy, it feels as though the emotional investment in the characters is slowly being lost.  That isn’t necessarily just this volume either.  I didn’t feel too much when Sasuke had his “great revelation,” that caused him to now become bitter towards the Konoha.  Sometimes I feel like the writer is in such a rush to hit the plot points that he doesn’t take the time to let the emotional content sink in.  He just keeps things going.  But then again, I should probably realize that Naruto’s target demographic, thirteen to fifteen year old boys, would probably get bored during the emotional pages, so moving the plot along is the best way to keep their ADD minds at ease.  All the same, when I start to care very little about what’s going on, we have a problem.

One other thing against this volume is Naruto’s training sessions with Fukasaku.  They are, to be frank, boring and useless.  We see Naruto doing something like balancing on a giant spike, and failing.  Fukasaku gives words of wisdom, and then we cut away to a different group of characters.  When we get back, he’s practically mastered it, and the toad is impressed.  It feels too perfect, and once again, just seems to be hitting all the basic plot points just because the author deems it necessary.

After reading 44 volumes of a series like this, you can hardly stop now, though, so if that is the case with you, by all means go ahead and read it.  At this point, the readers are hungry for those plot points, for the promise of progressing the story is usually the only thing that consistently keeps a steady audience.  As a more impartial reader, however, it falls short of the emotional element that I prefer in my manga.