clearly she didn't get any actual ninja lessons to go with that uniform.

[timepiececlock]

I have nothing kind or useful to say about this week's Naruto chapter. The nicest thing I can say is that I am so weary of the art's morality color-coded hairstyles. Fucking seriously tired of it already.

Comments

[loveroftheflame.livejournal.com]

I'm just tired of this whole arc. It's becoming a "pain". Sorry, had to.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Morality coded hairstyles?

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

I don't like that, every time he has a group of three, the good or nice person has lighter hair. (Girls are obviously excluded, because any time there's a trio, the girl just doesn't count the way the two boys do, as we've seen many times.) Jeraiya, Minato, Naruto, Yahiko. Even Kakashi, who could almost break that rule, doesn't *really* because he's still a good guy in total, and the dark-haired kid still dies to make the light haired kid's character development better.

For a while, when Pain was introduced, I thought it was cool that Yahiko--the cheerful, light-colored one--would become badass Pain. But no, not really. The bad/crazy person is still the one with the long dark hair.

Someone should make a large chart assigning a numerical code to each of the named characters that balances their level of importance to the plot with their level of evilness. I'm willing to bet that the more important your character is and the darker your hair, the more likely you are to be evil.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

*lightbulb*

Oh, wow, you're totally right.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

More discussion below. I actually noticed it because in one of coffeeandink's recent entries she discussed YA books by L.J.Smith, and how often the dark haired girl was the negative/dangerous force and the blond girl was the angel. I was reading Naruto's chapter and it just hit me that he does it too. He also assigns humor vs. stoicism that way too, and I'm usually so distracted by that anime trope of personality=morality (cheerful=good, sour=problematic) that I missed the physical telltales for a long time.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the heads up!

[gojira007.livejournal.com]

While I see your point on the hair thing (and judging by the headline of this entry, I'd say we share a BIG beef with this installment, too), I'd say Shikamaru, Sai, Yamato, Kimimaro, Kabuto, and the Sound Four at least balance things out a little. Shika, Sai, and Yama are all black/dark brown haired but are also on the side of the good guys; if I recall correctly, meanwhile, all of Orochimaru's Sound Four and his lead attack dog Kimimaro, as well as his toady Kabuto, are all light haired but baddies.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

As I said in my above comment, it depends on how important you are to the plot. Shikamaru and Yama are minor characters, as are Kabuto and Kimimaro. (Though, really, have we met any gray haired person because Kakashi and Tsunade's dead Dan that was gray haired and good?) When discussing the major teams of three, there's always a 'darker' male character and a 'lighter' one. Even Sai was initially introduced as a potential baddie or suspicious character before being confirmed as a welcome addition to the team. Orochimaru, himself, did not start out bad as a child. So you can slip in and out of the role...but it's usually the dark haired kids that do it.

If I wanted to stretch it, I'd even say that Shikamaru, who has the darkest hair of his team, was "lazy" problem child compared to the other two in the beginning of the manga, and Shino, who has the darkest hair of his team, comes off distant and cold even to his own teammates.

[gojira007.livejournal.com]

Well, I don't personally consider Shika or Yama to be minor per se, Shika in particular given his ever-increasing facetime, but I see your point.

Though I think that, since ALL of Team 7 has dark hair, particularly in the Manga where it's all an equal shade of black, Shino doesn't stand out too much. X3

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

About the only person who's 'darker' on their team and *doesn't* have the darkest hair is actually Gaara. He's the primary exception.

[gojira007.livejournal.com]

I considered citing Gaara, but given that he shifted from psycho-evil to stoic-good after his first major arc, I wasn't sure where to count him.