Seven Things: Naruto

Seven Things About:

NARUTO

By Paul Adams

            Works of fiction can often be difficult to get into, and latecomers to the game can often be confused by the sheer amount of lore and plot built into something ongoing. So, I’m here to break down what one needs to know into seven easy-to-understand plot points, followed by what, in my opinion, are the seven strongest points of the work as well as the seven weakest. That way, a new reader or viewer has some sense of what they are about to get themselves into. What are we covering today? The Naruto manga and anime series by Masashi Kishimoto

1.     This is Uzumaki Naruto: He’s a spirited young boy with blonde hair, whiskers, and an orange vest that doesn’t do him much good as a ninja, but has a certain amount of sentimental value attached to it. He grew up an orphan, with everyone he knows hating him for unknown reasons. Through this rough treatment, Naruto becomes determined to prove himself as the greatest ninja of all and to never back down.

 

2.     He lives in a world of ninjas: Naruto’s world is made up of five major nations, and these nations conduct their wars not by standard military combat, but by secret villages that carry out covert ninja operations against the others. They’re more than just standard sneaky ninjas like you’d see in real life though. These ninjas have magic *cough* excuse me, chakra, with which they can perform spells and cast illusions. Naruto lives in one of these secret villages.

3.     At age twelve, young ninjas are sorted into teams of three: These secret villages train their children from a very young age to hone their ninja abilities and magic *cough* chakra. At age twelve, they graduate from their academy and are sorted into teams of three under a mentor. Naruto’s teammates are Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura. Their mentor is Hatake Kakashi.

 

4.     This is Uchiha Sasuke: Sasuke is Naruto’s teammate, best friend, and worst enemy. He is a serious, brooding character that all the girls fawn over, including Sakura. When he was young, his older brother Itachi slaughtered their entire family, leaving only Sasuke alive. Ever since, Sasuke has thought of nothing but getting strong enough to seek revenge on Itachi. Sasuke’s drive for revenge and his budding friendship with Naruto are two of the most important driving factors of the story.

5.     Naruto’s body acts as a prison for a powerful demon: We eventually come to learn the reason that Naruto is treated so poorly by his village. When he was born, a nine-tailed fox demon named Kurama attacked the village. In order to save everyone, the demon was sealed inside Naruto’s newborn body as a sort of living prison. Many, not understanding this, took it to mean that Naruto was the fox demon and treated his thusly.

 

6.     Many friends and enemies abound: As ninjas tasked to carry out war operations against other countries without the countries themselves going to war, many allies and enemies from all nations appear throughout the series. Naruto’s team are quite friendly with their peer teams from their own village, as well as a trio of siblings from a neighboring country’s village. They have also had to contend with a duo of assassins, a rogue master seeking eternal life, Sasuke’s brother Itachi, and a band of rogue ninjas who call themselves the Akatsuki.

7.     It is a seven-hundred-chapter manga: This is not a light read or viewing for anyone. The original manga series went on for a full seven hundred chapters. The anime on the other hand has nearly thirty seasons, adapting the entire manga and filling up the rest with possibly the most filler material of any anime. There are also several movies (note: these are anime movies, so they’re more like extended filler episodes than actual movies), and a sequel series about Naruto’s son Boruto. It’s also worth noting the anime is divided into Naruto and Naruto: Shippuden.

And now, here’s just a few of the things I like most about the series:

1.     Many Characters: Much like Harry Potter, where this series really shines is in their well-developed characters. Naruto, Sasuke, and Itachi are just the tip of the iceberg here. Their trainer Kakashi is a strong and complex character, as are many of their peers, such as lazy genius Shikamaru, shy Hinata, flamboyant Rock Lee, and self-assured Neji. We also have Gaara of the neighboring Sand Village, many of our villains, and a number of other characters and allies. While some may not get as much focus as they probably should, what we do get is pretty spectacular.

2.     Strong Character Development: Another thing this series has going for it is the strong character arcs presented here. Naruto starts the series as a loud, obnoxious brat who causes trouble just to get attention and gets confrontational with everyone, but by the end of the story, he is still energetic, but now kind, understanding, and determined to never give up on anyone, best known for his ability to defeat almost any enemy just by having a real conversation with them. Sasuke, on the other hand, we get to see start as closed off and aloof, start to open up to Naruto, then pull back hard and abandon the village and his friend plunging even deeper into his cause for revenge until Naruto manages to finally pull him back out. Then we have Gaara who goes from being a psychopathic murderer to a wise and benevolent leader, Shikamaru who starts out lazy and indifferent to the world around him and becomes the most focused and hard-working ninja in the village, and so many others.

3.     Great Fight Scenes: Ask anybody. They will tell you. The thing they remember most are the excellent fight scenes. With so many characters, so many unique *cough* magical *cough* abilities, most of the fight scenes are a wonder to behold on spectacle alone, though many do contain strong moments of character worked in. The Chunin Exam arc alone contains some of the most memorable fight scenes of the series, including Rock Lee’s unbeatable super speed vs. Gaara’s impenetrable sand shield, Hinata and Neji going at each other with their family’s special brand of chakra-blocking techniques, and Shikamaru’s brilliantly laid-out long game against Gaara’s sister Temari. 

4.     The Chunin Exam Arc: While we’re on the subject of the Chunin Exam arc, I consider this arc to be easily the best in the series and the strongest cross-section of what this series is all about. While we get an initial arc to establish our main team and their dynamic with one another, this is the arc that established what Naruto was. First, it expanded the cast almost quintuple-fold with characters most of whom quickly became beloved in their own right. We truly got to see them as “ninjas in training” as their abilities were put to the test, physically and mentally. We start with a written exam that requires them to cheat without getting caught, emphasizing the information-gathering aspect of their position. Then they have to survive against other teams and other hazards in the aptly named “Forest of Death,” before topping it off with two rounds of one-on-one personal battles. Throughout these tests, one was not only given a sense of what it means to be a real ninja in their world, but every one of these new characters got a chance to truly shine and demonstrate what they were made of. If you watch nothing else of this series, watch this.

5.     Strong Recurring Themes: Throughout the series, there are quite a few recurring themes that resonate strongly. The push and pull of friendship and forgiveness vs. hate and revenge plays out not only in the character of Sasuke, but also in nearly every other villain redemption that occurs through Naruto. Naruto manages to befriend and redeem Gaara, a psychotic killer; Zabuza, a ruthless assassin; Pain, a self-proclaimed god who had nearly killed everyone Naruto cared about; Neji, an arrogant elitist who beat his cousin into submission just because he could; and several others just by taking the time to understand and care about what had brought them to this point and offering them a hand of friendship. Other themes, such as never giving in and never surrendering no matter how bad it looks, plays into the personal character development of both Naruto and Hinata, who adopted it from him. This theme then becomes a strong point of connection between these two as their relationship grows.

6.     A Few Good Romances: I will talk about this further in my negatives, but for what it’s worth, the brief focus on romantic relationships we did get were pretty special. Though they don’t get much screen time together, Naruto’s relationship with Hinata, as a boy who felt hated and rejected by everyone around him, but through his courage and determination, earning the love and admiration of a shy girl who had never had any courage of her own, and that girl then using him as inspiration for developing her own courage and drive, until finally they stand together side by side, both determined to never give up, is pretty darn strong for what it is. Outside of this, Shikamaru’s romance with Gaara’s sister Temari can be pretty cute here and there, his mentor Asuma’s relationship with fellow mentor Kurenai is also heartwarming, and . . . um, I think that’s about it.

7.     Creativity and Imagination: For whatever flaws it may have, this series is brimming with imagination. While I joke about their chakra being magic, the chakra is a lot more personalized to each character than, say, the magic in Harry Potter. Every character has their own unique ninja techniques, either inherited from their family, self-taught, or taught by a mentor, making for a wide mix of people who each have a seemingly endless list of special powers and abilities. Even a character like Rock Lee, who can’t use chakra (the ninja equivalent of a squib), has trained his body to the point that he is often the most impressive ninja on the field. And most of these characters come with their own unique personalities on top of those abilities. If anything, some of the story’s problems may spring from the creator having a few too many ideas and just having to squeeze them all in.

Now, all that said, here’s seven things I don’t care for.

1.     Ridiculous Levels of Filler: As mentioned before, the anime is full of an exorbitant amount of filler material nonexistent in the manga, and generally having little to do with the plot at all (though they can include some solid character moments), and can even throw off the pacing from what it had been in the manga. That said, the manga’s seven hundred chapters aren’t exactly without their pointless plot threads that go nowhere. In the series’ final arc (The War Arc, as it’s known), we spend over two hundred chapters giving many of our characters satisfying conclusions mixed in with A) the right hand man of the brother of a guy we met a hundred chapters back fighting two guys who have a loose connection to the demon inside Naruto, B) the leader of an army of samurai, who we had also been introduced to a hundred chapters back, having a personal battle with a guy who played a part in Pain’s backstory, flashbacks included, and C) Gaara and his sister fighting four resurrected guys who were apparently important historical figures in their world but are mostly just “three random guys and Gaara’s dad.” It can be tedious to get through.

2.     Poorly Written Romance: As much as I praised the romance between Naruto and Hinata for what it was on a basic level, I am under no delusions that it was written well. Apparently, the author Kishimoto wasn’t very good at writing romantic scenes and got embarrassed anytime he tried, so there are very few scenes between Naruto and Hinata, and while those scenes are strong, the long space in between them all tends to hamper the experience a bit. He also tends to downplay the romantic aspect, probably for the same reason above, but he couldn’t quite commit to the series being a romantic series or not, leaving it in a weird kind of half-way state. It doesn’t help that most of the couples we got at the end had had barely more than a scene or two of dialogue with each other at all.

3.     Haruno Sakura: I have avoided talking about this character up until now. Time to bite the bullet. Sakura is the third member of Naruto and Sasuke’s team, and I despise her. She is introduced as one of the many girls fawning over Sasuke, while also being one of the smartest girls in class. Naruto has a crush on her, partially driven by, partially inspiring his rivalry with Sasuke, but she treats him like dirt. Every once in a while, the series will make a big show about her growing as a character and coming to care for Naruto, possibly even harboring feelings for him, only for her to beat him over the head five chapters later and drool over Sasuke despite him having tried to kill her two chapters ago. Just when you think that maybe she is about to have some real character development, she turns around and does something more childish than you would have expected of early-series Sakura. Sakura is what you might call a façade. She looked good, she sounded good, but at the end of the day, she really wasn’t. She had her good moments every now and then, but most of the time, she was just a drag.

4.     The Drawbacks of Writing a Weekly Series: Something I learned while writing my fanfiction “The Smash Freshmen” is that keeping a weekly series consistent is next-to-impossible. You may have set up an idea in one week among others, only for that idea to get forgotten in the shuffle. You may have been planning to go one direction with a character, only for the plot you’ve created to prevent you from ever pursuing that character arc, and it ends up just falling flat. It’s understandable. I get it. Kishimoto did the best he could under the circumstances. But that doesn’t mean those flaws aren’t there, and you as the reader or viewer should be aware of them.

 

5.     Characters and Plot Threads that go nowhere: Pretty much what I said above. Although a lot of the characters introduced in the Chunin Exam arc get their time to shine in that arc, after that arc, many of them might as well be extras. One could argue that Shikamaru, Hinata, Neji, and Lee are the only members of their peers that maintain any sort of relevance in the story. Hinata’s companions Kiba and Shino are mostly just in the background most of the time, Neji and Lee’s companion Tenten didn’t even get any relevance during her introduction, and Gaara and Temari’s brother Kankuro might as well not exist for all he contributes. Not to mention that once the war arc starts, the cast is nearly doubled with a bunch of characters you’ll be lucky to remember, though you’ll be expected to. Again, could be a side effect of the previous point, but it’s still there.

6.     Sheer Length: Again, this is not a series for light viewing. It is a seven-hundred-chapter manga, with about thirty seasons of anime, movies, and a sequel series. It will require a lot of patience and those fillers are really good at chipping away that patience. Be prepared.

7.     Similarities to other Shonen Manga: Yes, as many point out, Naruto has many, many, many similarities to other manga and anime in the Shonen genre. Like Dragon Ball, our main character is an excitable kid who learns better through fighting than anything else and always has a positive demeanor. There’s a lot of really long fight scenes and filler. We have a revenge-driven rival with a moody, antihero vibe, a trope so common in anime, it might as well be its own genre. People shoot enormous blasts of energy at each other, and the main character doesn’t seem to know when to stop when it comes to getting more and more powerful, so that by the end of the series, they might as well be a god (also see: Dragon Ball . . . and Bleach). As long as you’re okay with that, please enjoy.

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Old, Old, Old Star Keepers, Prologue

Here's a really embarrassing blast from the past. The original rendition of my book from well over seven years ago. Fun to see how far I've come.

Star Keepers: Prologue

 by

Paul Adams

The night sky overhead was a cloudy gray. The slight smell of rain, a clear omen that a downpour was not too far away, hung in the air. A cold wind whipped about Leonard Centaurus’s gray hair and green Earth Space Force uniform. Everything seemed to have molded itself to perfectly match his inward feelings.

Ever since he’d received the news that his son and daughter-in-law had been killed alongside other comrades in battle, Leonard had been dreading this day. It felt almost as if he had been in a dream the past few days, and that it wouldn’t be real until the messengers arrived in person to confirm the fact.

A silent hush woke Leonard from his thoughts. He turned to look at his daughter Angelica, who was silently rocking her infant son Kent to sleep. She too had lost an important person in her life. More than just a brother and a sister-in-law, her husband, the child’s father, had been among the casualties.

Leonard couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming surge of affection for his daughter. When her mother died, she had been the lifeline that had given him the strength to carry on day after day. Now it was she who would have to endure this trial.

Leonard turned his attention back to the sky. A small patch of stars had managed to shine through a small opening in the clouds that otherwise completely blocked out the remainder of the night sky. Leonard thought back to his youth, when he would stare up at those stars every night in wonder and amazement pondering the multitude of spectacular wonders that could be out there.

That was before this war began. Before Filius, the son Leonard had now lost forever, even existed. Before entire planets lived in fear that Lord Compuzon and his confederation of power-hungry rulers would send their combined forces to decimate their world as they had done to so many others. Leonard considered it a cruel twist of irony that the place he had once looked upon as wondrous and awe-inspiring now felt foreboding and treacherous.

As Leonard pondered them, he became so deep in thought that he almost didn’t notice when one of the stars slowly started growing and moving towards him.

Thousands of miles above Leonard, the Earth Space Force commissioned star cruiser, the Arrowhead, swiftly entered the earth’s atmosphere and began its swift descent toward the planet’s surface. A century ago, any craft to attempt such a feat would have burned up shortly after entry. Now, thanks to great technological advancements, and communion with more highly advanced races, the ship could easily endure the Earth’s atmospheric pressure, and the ship’s airfoil design allowed it to move smoothly and easily with little resistance.

Within minutes, the hangar in which Leonard and Angelica were waiting came into view. The ship’s pilot flew the craft directly over the landing pad. The patient spectators covered their faces to block the intense wind as the ship slowly descended into the hangar and landed gently upon the tarmac.

A gentle hum signified the ship powering down, and the roar of the engines slowly died. A brief burst of air was jettisoned to release the air pressure of the interior of the ship. For a few moments, there was absolute silence.

A hatch opened on the side of the ship, and a ramp descended. Leonard watched as the crew slowly filed out. He recognized most of them. During his years of service as Fleet Admiral, he had grown to be very good friends and comrades with many of those who had currently been serving alongside his son. Leonard winced at the solemn look upon each crewmember’s face.

The two people at the forefront of the throng came out to meet him. These were the two he had been expecting. Those who were specifically chosen to act as messengers. One of the two men carried a large ornate chest, while the other was cradling a small bundle in his arms. They stopped when they reached Leonard.

The man carrying the chest, a straight-laced man with high cheekbones, spoke first.

“Admiral Centaurus. Angelica,” he addressed them curtly.

Leonard gave a brief nod of acknowledgement. “Hewlett, Jamisen,” he replied, unable to get out any more than that. His throat felt dry. He turned his attention to the chest in Hewlett’s arms.

Hewlett held it out. He looked slightly sick.

“Their remains,” he said. Leonard looked at the box, feeling slightly nauseous himself. He had hoped that at least the bodies would be still intact. From what he’d heard of the person responsible for their deaths, most of his previous victims had been left with only a burn mark upon their foreheads. There must have been something else involved this time. Leonard momentarily considered inquiring about it, but he felt he probably wouldn’t be able to stomach the answer. It was bad enough thinking about the bits of Filius, Deah, and Tyler contained within a chest less than five feet away from him.

He took the chest, and turned his attention to the one good thing to come from this day: the bundle in Jamisen’s arms. The tall man brushed back the lock of unkempt hair he had been allowing the child in his arms to play with and stepped forward.

“Leonard, Jelly,” he said sympathetically, handing Leonard the baby. Leonard looked down at the child. His grandson was staring up at him with large, curious eyes. Leonard smiled at him, but was inwardly pained at the thought of this innocent soul growing up without his parents.

His attention was drawn to two distinct features of the child. First, was the gem placed on top of the infant’s blanket, a gem which appeared to be a simple diamond from a distance, but upon closer inspection a bolt of lightning appeared to be preserved within it. Secondly, although the child’s hair was mostly brown, two small patches, one on each side of his head, had lost their color completely.

Jamisen noticed Leonard’s observation of the baby’s hair, and attempted to explain. “The phantasm, whatever he was using, it had a lot more power than we had ever expected. Korvan, he, well, he was slightly grazed by its power when it . . .” he stopped short, and made a quick glance in the chest’s direction.

Leonard nodded. Although this helped him to comprehend just a little better, he was still concerned and much more afraid. What kind of weapon were they dealing with?

Hewlett whispered something to Jamisen, and Jamisen nodded in reply. He turned back to Leonard.

“I’m so sorry for your loss, Leonard,” he added, in parting words of comfort, “and you too, Jelly. Filius was a great friend, and I’m sure he was an even better son and brother, and Tyler and Deah were no less.”

He bent over and gave the child in Leonard’s arms a kiss on the forehead. The infant reached out to grab at his hair again, but he softly lowered the small hand back down. “Good-bye, sweet Korvan,” he whispered, “I hope to see you again one day. Until then, grow up happy and safe. Your destiny is far greater than you can possibly hope to comprehend. Good luck, little one.”

He straightened up and gave Leonard one last parting glance, his eyes full of sorrow, then he and Hewlett turned and slowly made their way out of the chamber. Leonard watched them go. When they were gone he turned his attention back to the infant in his arms. The child stared up at him with those large inquisitive eyes again. The words Jamisen had spoken were all too true. Little Korvan’s destiny was far greater than he, or anyone else for that matter, could ever possibly hope to comprehend. The gem within Korvan’s blanket glowed slightly as Leonard turned his gaze back toward the night sky.

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Seven Things: Harry Potter

Seven Things About:

HARRY POTTER

By Paul Adams

            Works of fiction can often be difficult to get into, and latecomers to the game can often be confused by the sheer amount of lore and plot built into something ongoing. So, I’m here to break down what one needs to know into seven easy-to-understand plot points, followed by what, in my opinion, are the seven strongest points of the work as well as the seven weakest. That way, a new reader or viewer has some sense of what they are about to get themselves into. What are we covering today? The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

1.     This is Harry Potter: He is a bright and kind young boy who has had the misfortune of being raised by an abusively neglectful aunt and uncle, who even forced him to sleep in a cupboard for the first ten years of his life. But on the day he turns eleven, he discovers that . . .

2.     He lives in a world of magic and wizards: That’s right. He finds out that a whole other world full of magic and wizards and witches has been existing in secret right alongside the world of ordinary people (otherwise known as Muggles). People fly on brooms, cast spells with magic wands, and all sorts of magical things.

3.     He attends a school named Hogwarts: At age eleven, wizarding children attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, under the tutelage of the wise old headmaster Albus Dumbledore. While there, they take classes on transfiguration, potions, divination, care of magical creatures, defense against the dark arts and so much more. They are also sorted into one of four houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin.

4.     Ron and Hermione are his best friends: Once he arrives at Hogwarts, Harry makes many friends, most notable of whom are Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger. Ron comes from a wizarding family with lost of siblings, and he teaches Harry the ins and outs of wizarding society. Hermione, on the other hand, is a Muggle-born bookworm who taught herself all the intricate complicated details of magic itself.

5.     The wizarding world lives in fear of Lord Voldemort: We quickly learn that at the time Harry was born, the wizarding world lived in fear under the tyrannical reign of Lord Voldemort. For unknown reasons, he attacked and killed Harry’s parents and attempted to kill Harry only for the spell to backfire, causing Voldemort to disappear, leaving Harry with only a lightning-shaped scar. Rumors abound that Voldemort is still out there somewhere.

6.     A heavy anti-Muggle sentiment pervades the Wizarding World: Much of Voldemort’s power came about through the strong anti-Muggle feelings of many in the Wizarding World, most notably through many wizards that came from Slytherin house in Hogwarts. This leads to heavy persecution of many Muggle-borns at the school, including Hermione.

7.     There are seven books: A good thing to know is that this series is made up of seven books in total, centering on each of Harry’s years at Hogwarts. They generally feature a few chapters of the summer months leading up to Harry’s return to school, the beginning of his school year, important events occurring around Halloween and Christmas, and the climax taking place around the end of the school year. Movies have also been made of every book.

And now, here’s just a few of the things I like most about the series:

1.     The Characters: If one thing stands out about the series, it is the enormous number of well-developed, nuanced, and beloved characters in the series. Harry, Ron, and Hermione are all strong characters in their own right, as well as many fellow students such as Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood. The teachers and staff of the school, such as Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape and the gamekeeper Hagrid, are also strong characters, with a major character being introduced in each book via the constantly shifting Defense Against the Dark Arts position. Outside of the school, we meet many other wizards, such as Ron’s family or the Order of the Phoenix, all of whom make for a complex world of vibrant characters who feel as real as any person in real life.

2.     The World-Building: If you are an aspiring author and read these books for only one reason, that reason is world-building. Many consider the series a master class in the subject. The first book does a solid job of capturing the wonder and fantasy of such a world and school, but each book builds upon the last, with each installment introducing you to: how a wizarding family lives (book two), the wider international wizarding world (book four), the inner workings of the wizarding government (book five), and so on.

3.     The Steady Maturation Level: This series was first introduced to elementary and junior high students as a fun, fantastical adventure of wizards and spells and magical creatures, and the first book maintains a childlike whimsy to it. As the books go on though, they are carefully matured to grow with the generation who started reading them, each one becoming more and more adult as they went. The second book was still whimsical, but also brought in a stronger focus on the anti-Muggle bigotry of the wizarding world. The third dealt with an escaped murderer, only to find that things were not quite as clear cut as they seemed. The fourth featured the return of Lord Voldemort and the first real death in the books (of one of Harry’s fellow students, no less). The fifth featured a corrupt and unreliable government, and a cruel, vindictive authority figure in Dolores Umbridge. The sixth explored the past of Voldemort, previously only seen as a two-dimensional bad guy, and featured the murder of Dumbledore at the hands of fellow teacher Professor Snape. Then we have the seventh book, which follows Harry, Ron, and Hermione as they become fugitives of the law, Voldemort overthrows the government, enacts discriminatory laws against Muggle-borns, the death toll reaches into the thousands, including several named and beloved characters, and the previous assumptions of characters such as Dumbledore and Snape are bucked entirely.

4.     The Creativity and Imagination: One thing the series is in no short supply of is endless creativity. From sports played with magic brooms, to jelly beans of every flavor imaginable, to house-elves and centaurs and mermaids and dragons, J.K. Rowling’s books feature a world full of magic, magical creatures, and magical institutions that get the mind racing with all the possibilities and wonders such a world could possibly hold.

5.     Depth of Themes and Issues: Related to the maturation point above, but not entirely, another thing these books excel at is the depth to which the various themes are explored. Hatred and bigotry of course are explored, not only through the Slytherins and their anti-Muggle sentiment, but also through Muggles like Harry’s aunt and uncle in return. We also explore themes like coming of age, as Harry grows and matures throughout his years at Hogwarts; learning to see past initial assumptions, as many characters prove to be far more than they seem as first presented (i.e. Dumbledore, Snape, Voldemort, Aunt Petunia, Sirius Black, and so many others); and loss, as we see Harry come to terms with losing friends, parental figures, mentors, and so many others.

6.     Subtle Layers for Re-Reading: One thing I’ve noticed as I read and re-read these books is that I always pick up something new with each readthrough. Snape’s actions suddenly take on a whole new light once the final reveal about his character is given in the last book, and many of Dumbledore’s actions make you see him differently once you know all there is to know about the character. You may also pick up on subtle actions by minor characters throughout the books that you didn’t pick up on the first or second or even third times. Ron’s mom, for instance, becomes a better and better character every time you read her.

7.     Accessibility: And finally, one of the greatest strengths of this series is just how accessible it can be to readers of all ages. While most of the later books are massive, it uses simple, easy language that doesn’t bog down the reader and always keeps them entertained. Likewise, the series is kept firmly at seven books, so one can easily pick up the first and read them through without too much trouble.

Now, even though I don’t really have much negative to say about the series, for the sake of balance and fairness, here’s seven things I don’t care for.

1.     S.P.E.W.: Toward the fourth book, Hermione becomes aware of the plight of the house-elves, who are more or less enslaved by many in the wizarding world. She then takes it upon herself to found the “Society for the Protection of Elfish Welfare,” using it to bully and intimidate many of her fellow students and attempt to free the elves, sometimes against their own wishes. While the sentiment is fine in theory, it tends to be very poorly executed and often drags down the story.

2.     The Romance Department: The Harry Potter series is strong for a thousand different reasons, but one should not go into it expecting a good romance. The final couples of Ron/Hermione and Harry/Ginny (Ron’s little sister) both tend to leave a little to be desired, even if you supported the pairings, and many feel Harry/Hermione would have been a better couple. Even outside of those couples, Harry and Ron’s relationships with their first girlfriends Cho and Lavender came off as annoying and aggravating at the best of times. The best romances in the story (such as Lupin and Tonks) mostly happen offscreen and are only known by Harry when they affect the plot in some way. If that’s what you’re going in for, you’re going to be disappointed.

3.     Character Mood Swings: When your main characters are teenagers, this is bound to happen, and probably should happen, but that doesn’t make it any more enjoyable when it does. Throughout the books, Harry, Ron, and Hermione have their periods when they are emotional, rude to everyone around them, and liable to fly off the handle at a moment’s notice. Harry is especially prone to throwing enormous temper tantrums throughout the fifth book, and Ron has his bouts of being a generally awful person in the fourth, sixth, and even a bit of the seventh book. Hermione can often be preachy, judgmental, and condescending to her friends and will occasionally stop speaking to them for months at a time. Again, part of their character development, but it can turn you off real quick.

4.     The Movie Effect: Movies will always be a bit better known to the general public than books. It’s a little easier to watch a two-hour moving picture than it is to read a three-to-seven-hundred page book. That’s just how it is, and it is probably why live-action blockbuster movies are sometimes treated as the be-all-end-all of a given work. That said, the movies made of this series did a relatively decent job adapting the story (at the very least, the casting was nearly perfection), but not a perfect job, and the little imperfections here and there built up over time, so that the final picture was more a shadow of the books than a real representation of the books. For many who have only seen the movies, this can often tarnish their opinion of the series as a whole.

5.     The Dursleys’ Cartoonish Behavior: Now, while I said earlier that Harry’s aunt and uncle presented the hatred of Muggles for the wizarding world, far too often, they are more cartoony stereotypes than anything. They fit in well with the whimsical world of the first book, as their over-the-top neglect and obsession with normalcy was just as weird as anything else in the world, as the books grew and matured, the Dursleys’ behavior became more and more out of place in the story, to the extent that the movies tended to ignore them almost entirely in later installments.

6.     Occasional Plot Contrivance: These are mostly the surface-level complaints that you’ve probably all heard once or twice before. “Why does September 1^st fall on a Sunday every year?” “Why is it that every major thing that happens to Harry doesn’t come to a head until the end of the school year?” So on, and so forth. To be honest, the books are so full of nuance, depth, character, and intricately layered detail that I find it hard to even really care about superficial stuff like this.

7.     Popularity Backlash: It happens to the best of them. When something gets really, really popular really, really fast, there always crops up that counter-culture element that becomes determined to hate it on sheer principle of “not following the crowd.” Back when this was first popular, I was a little kid and I fell into this trap with not only this but Pokémon too. It didn’t last long though, and as I grew up, that experience gave me enough self-awareness to try to avoid doing that with anything else. It’s still an easy trap to fall into, and one always has to take a step back and ask themselves why they are hating on it. Sometimes, you still do, but it’s for more substantial reasons than just “I hate it because everyone else likes it.”

Thanks for reading. All images drawn from Google Images. Comment below and follow me for more.

The Smash Freshmen, Chapter 3

The Smash Freshmen

Chapter 3: Wii Fit Trainer

by

Paul Adams

"Alright, guys," Pit said, "welcome to Day One of training."

Villager rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and straightened his hair. Pit had gotten them up at six in the morning, at least three hours earlier than Villager was accustomed to. Standing next to him was Rock, who showed no signs of fatigue at all. Stupid robot, Villager thought to himself. The three were now standing in the center of the Smash Grounds as the sun rose over the distant mountains. All around them, the skeletons of slowly forming stages rose ominously from the ground.

"So, is it true another newcomer's arriving today?" Rock asked.

Pit grinned and chuckled to himself. "You're just going to have to wait and see. Follow me."

As they walked, Pit started asking them questions. "So, what kind of skills do you guys have?"

He looked at Rock. "Well," Rock said, "One of my basic abilities given to me by Doctor Light is the power to assimilate the weapons of defeated enemies into my own body. I have equipped a number of the weapons I picked up over the years to use in the tournament."

"Excellent," Pit said, "And what about you, Villager?"

Oh, um," Villager said uncomfortably, "I don't really have any skills."

"Oh, sure you do," Pit pushed. "You must have some special talents or something. Mario and the other founders wouldn't have chosen you if you didn't."

Villager was reminded of Samus's disdainful look the night before. "Well," he said, "I mostly just brought stuff I picked up from around my house."

"Well, let's see some of them," Pit said.

"Yeah, come on, Vil," Rock said.

"Don't call me Vil," Villager said as he reached into his pocket. The pockets on his trousers were just about the most special thing on his person. He could store an endless number of objects within them and pull them out at a moment's notice. He pulled out a butterfly net.

"I have this," he said.

"Possibilities," Pit said thoughtfully.

Villager continued to empty his pockets, pulling out a small hatchet, a bowling ball, a potted plant, a shovel, a pair of boxing gloves, a slingshot, and a small firecracker launcher.

"Well," Pit said, looking over the pile of stuff, "I'd say we could definitely work with some of this stuff. Those are some interesting pockets you have there."

"Yeah, they're hammerspace pockets. My mom made them for me."

"Those could definitely come in handy." Pit led them to the door of the finished training studio next to the stadium. "Here we are." He opened the door to allow them inside.

Villager and Rock stepped inside to see a large room with white, blue, and green walls. Mario, Link, and Kirby were currently standing in yoga positions at the far end of the room being coached by a tall, statuesque woman with pale white skin and yoga clothes. Samus and Pikachu were training separately at another end of the room, Donkey Kong was busy beating the crap out of a nearby sandbag, and Bowser was watching in amusement.

"This is the Wii Fit studio, isn't it?" Villager asked.

"Yes, sir," Pit said, looking around proudly, "Not only is this our center for training in the months leading up to the tournament, but it will also be one of our stages once the tournament starts."

"Awesome," Rock said. He and Villager stared around in awe.

"Hey, where's Fox," Villager asked.

"He's taking care of some business," Pit said, "He'll be here soon. Now, let's join Mario, Link, and Kirby with the trainer, shall we?"

Pit led them over to where the three founders were currently standing with their arms stretched over their heads and one leg in the air. The pale white trainer was currently walking around them, observing their form. Mario lost his balance a little. She tapped him on the shoulder, and all three turned to look at her. She pulled a yoga move where she stamped at the floor in front of them, which somehow blasted all three into the wall.

"No, no, no," the trainer said, "What kind of form is that? You three are a disgrace to the name of yoga."

Mario, Link, and Kirby sat up rubbing their heads, looking a little sheepish. "Can she do that?" Villager asked Pit.

Pit shrugged. "It's her gym."

The trainer looked at the three newcomers. "And just what do we have here?" she asked, looking them over.

"Three for the next hour of yoga training," Pit said. Villager and Rock groaned.

The trainer nodded. "I see," she said, "Well, get into positions and we'll get started."

For the next hour, the trainer forced Pit, Villager, and Rock to put their bodies into positions that Villager didn't even think were possible. Soon, his small, underused muscles were screaming at him. Next to him, Rock had popped his artificial limbs out of place on at least more than one occasion. Pit however did not seem to be having any trouble at all. It must have something to do with being an immortal angel or something like that.

After about forty-five minutes of sheer torture, Villager leaned over to Pit. "Is this really a necessary part of our training? I don't see how any of this is going to be used in the ring."

Pit smiled. "You'd be surprised."

A shadow fell over Villager, and he looked up to see the trainer standing over him. "What's your name, shortstack?" she asked, glaring down at him with her pale gray eyes.

"V-Villager, ma'am," he said. Despite the unnaturally white skin, she had a very pretty face and didn't look that much older than Villager himself, but right now she looked absolutely terrifying.

"Villager, huh?" she said, "Considering your performance here today, I think it's more like Villa-germ. Or maybe Germ for short." She crouched down to look him straight I the eye. "So, you don't think yoga is necessary to your training, huh, Germ? Would you like to see just what yoga can do?"

Villager gulped. "N-no, ma'am," he said.

She stood, ignoring his last answer and walked over to a small pile of supplies nearby. She pulled out a small silver box and opened it. A small glowing Smash emblem floated out and she caught it in her left hand. She positioned herself right in front of Villager, Rock, and Pit, and grinned at them. With the slightest clench of her hand, she destroyed the emblem, allowing its glowing energy to transfer to her. The room grew slightly darker.

"Let's see how you fare against this," she said, jumping into the air. She focused the energy swirling around her, and released it. Villager, Pit, and Rock found themselves being bombarded by silhouettes of her in various yoga poses made of sheer energy. The three were blasted back against the wall. After a few seconds the bombardment ended and the attack's three victims slumped to the floor.

The trainer stepped up to them and put her hands on her hips. "Had enough?" she asked with a smug smile.

Villager sat up. "She . . . she used a final smash," he stammered, "But . . . only competitors in the tournament are authorized to use those, aren't they?"

He looked at Pit, who grinned. "Oops," he said, "Did I forget to mention that she is the newcomer who was arriving today?"

Rock shot straight up. "Wait, what?"

Mario walked up to the group chuckling and placed his hand on the trainer's shoulder. "Villager, Mega Man," he said, "Allow me to introduce your newest competitor, Wii Fit Trainer."

Wii Fit Trainer grinned and crouched to look Villager in the eye again. "I look forward to kicking your butt with my unnecessary yoga when the tournament begins," she said.

On the other side of the gym, Bowser scratched his chin as he watched the interactions between the new recruits. "Interesting," he mumbled to himself.

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