Masashi Kishimoto is a hack writer.

[Smeatza]

Same with bleach (Kubo planned to end it after Aizen, but his contract didn't allow for it), where it's very clear that he didn't think of the current plot in advance.

I wouldn't think it's entirely planned ahead and I would have said the same as you, till I noticed a few little things.

Spoiler: Like

When Shinji first introduces himself he writes his name backwards and say's it's his talent. A good number of chapters later we find this was alluding to his shikai

Spoiler: Or big things like

Rukia telling Ichigo he looks like someone she knew (Kaien Shiba) in the first few chapters, it took till the end of the Aizen arc to reveal that was alluding to his dad's past as a shinigami and only in the current arc to confirm his relation to the shiba clan

I had also read that Kubo wasn't forced to do more arcs than he wanted but originally planned for there to be several more arcs (One for Kenpachi and Unohana, One for Ichigo's dad and another Ichigo arc I believe), but is having to tie everything together in the current arc due to bleach's reduced popularity.

 

[GloatingSwine]

Sooo... we had this little discussion about a month ago, about wheter or not Naruto was hated, and I answered that the reason I (and I suspect a lot of other people) dislike the series, is because it's become increasingly poorly written.

Well, guess what? Kishimoto just came out during the Shonen Jump held Jump Festa event, and admited that he had no f***ing clue how the main character is supposed to be able to defeat the main villain. He's out of ideas...

What. A. Piece. Of. Crap.

He's written himself into a corner, made his beloved Uchiha God Mode Sue too powerful, and now he's realised what every other person on the planet has: the main character can't win. This is worse than Aizen in Bleach, and will probably share that series retarded pre-timeskip conclusion as well...

Why did I ever even like this series?

Now, I don't read Naruto, but even if he did already have a planned storyline he wouldn't talk about it in advance anyway, or would just outright lie or make things up to avoid spoiling it.

So this should be regarded as, basically, "you know I wouldn't tell you this anyway, so let's pretend you didn't ask".

 

[Charli]

As an artist and bonefied crap writer... I can empathize. This is why you team up with writers. You make friends with them. You love them. And treat them with alcohol laced coffee. And then watch magic flow out of their fingers onto a word document.

But yeah I noticed the 'BIGGER BADDIE PSYCHE' syndrome creeping up on Naruto. He needs intervention. Or at the very least a writer to step in and tell him what to draw rather than him going to town.

 

[anthony87]

I wouldn't call him a hack writer, just a shounen writer.

As much as I love me some Naruto though I am started to get a bit bored with this whole God Mode Madara thing we've got going on.

Erza was beaten, but the power of her friends got her through a guy she couldn't even hit. Naruto will likely go the same way, friendship power savez teh wrold!

That's pretty much my main gripe with Fairy Tail. I still read it every week mind you and despite what I say above about Madara I still accept that Naruto and Bleach would have explanations for the power even if that explanation is crap.

With Fairy Tail it just seems to be;

"Oh no, I'm losing!"
"Hey! Don't forget that we like you!"
"Shit! You're right!"
*Wins in one shot*.

 

[RJ Dalton]

Well, in defence, any series that goes on for this long is bond to suck.

This defense might have received a point from me, if Naruto had ever, at any point, actually been good.

 

[sumanoskae]

Naruto is the worst manga with the coolest premise I've ever seen; I hold out a small measure of hope that someday a better writer will rewrite the series.

 

[crazygameguy4ever]

I really like both Naruto and Beach series.. but I gotta admit.. as much as I would miss them.. part of me wishes they had both ended some time ago. When speaking specifically about the Naruto series.. it's only ongoing still be cause Shueisha publishing doesn't want to lose it's cash cow. It's been published for over 14 years straight now.. does any series that's been ongoing for that long still hold up for that well?Naruto's creator Masashi Kishimoto makes millions of yen a year off the manga and the Naruto merchandise so he could quit any time and be ok but can't probably because of his contract... even if he wrote a definitive ending for the manga.. you can bet Shueisha publishing would want him to write a sequel series or something.. Naruto will probably never end as long as it continues to make Shueisha publishing an ass load of money every year.

 

[Queen Michael]

And as far as I'm concerned, the biggest problem with Masashi Kishimoto's writing is that he thinks the best way to create "deep" characters is to write a sone-dimensional character and create some point in the past where s/he was sad.

that's a very common problem with characterisation in nearly every medium. I do agree but I'd go further than saying it's a quirk of his.

But he does it so very extremely. A character will have exactly one emotion and one sad event from the past.

 

[The White Hunter]

He isn't a hack, its just that his series has been falling apart for years, after bloody years of it, its not a stretch to consider he could mess up and write himself into a wall. Its hard to keep a consistent decade old series to keep going flawlessly.

Most long running series slip up, Kishimoto just seems to have slipped up big time on this particular fight, at least he is being honest.

Yeah it's fair to assume that he didn't know where to go with it and shonen jump basically told him to write more :/ Shame as the series had so much potential.

It's unfortunate more manga authors don't plan things out as well as Eichiro Oda does.

Edit: The only reason One Piece hasn't been fucked by shounen jump is that they're pretty fucked if they lose Oda, One Piece is the most popular manga still after all.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Isn't that the point of most anime, though? Especially Shonen anime? It's made to sell toys and market the manga comics. It's the stuff that makes it over seas to Toonami and garners a juicy western audience. Attack on Titan will likely go a similar route, even if it isn't as long.

Yep.

Which is why the best anime series generally have 26 episodes.

Nothing beats the 26-ep formula yo. If you can make Bebop on 26 eps the rest is just a waste of time.

 

[MiskWisk]

Sadly, I think Kishi had a plot at one point and then just said "f*ck it" (or whatever the Japanese equivalent is). I now feel like I am reading because I have read so much of it and now end up saying to myself "I will finish this if it kills me". Guess I really want my closure.

Depressingly, Kishi has actually got me reading fan-fics. Even more depressingly, I can find a few that leave me going "Why the hell didn't Kishi do that? It would have been much better!"

 

[Arkhangelsk]

He probably had a proper ending in mind in the beginning, but as the series had to continue and the demand increased, I think he's forced to just think of ways to up the ante to keep people interested. Problem is that you still want the struggling hero, an all mighty hero would be boring. I think the success of the show might have forced him into this situation a bit. There are only so many ways you can up the ante.

 

[Uratoh]

On the solving 'how on earth are they going to beat this villain?' problems...we have Nox from Wakfu.

Spoiler: ZOMG SPOILERS

Nox wins, he drains the life force of an entire race to power his machine, and uses all the collected energies he's amassed over 200 years to go back in time...'twenty miserable minutes!'. he'd been developed well enough that while it was clear he was out of his mind, he seemed to think he was doing 'good in the long run' as it were...so when his master plan doesn't work due to his misunderstanding temporal physics, he...corrects what little he can and then...gives up. The protagonist, the only one who knows what actually happened, tells his friends to just let Nox go, since it's over.

Nox is one of the best villains I've ever seen, ever. Just because he had such a complicated backstory and motivation. Looking awesome didn't hurt, either.

 

[Amir Kondori]

I don't watch the show but sometimes constraints can be a good thing. Maybe he won't win, but will lose in an interesting way. Or through defeat attain victory, like luring him into an unsafe position, something like that.

No one likes to see a main character die but a self sacrifice to take out the big bad to end a show is not a terrible idea.

 

[Teh Jammah]

Pft, ending Naruto is easy. It's going to pretty much happen one of two ways.

Sasuke dies. Naruto gets his eyes (because Madara just proved instant transplants are totally a thing) which totally instantly evolve into the rinnegan because uber-plot-hax-no-jutsu and Naruto then uses Kyuubi-Sage-Mode-Rinnegan-Susano'o-all-element-amaterasu-rasengan-bijuudama-kamehameha-no-jutsu.

Or he ends it the same way he ends every fight. Talk-no-Jutsu into friendship-no-jutsu.

... or possibly the first followed by the second.

Either way Naruto then becomes ninja jesus and lives happily ever after, albeit getting none from Sakura while continuing to friendzone Hinata.

Kishi can have that one for half my usual rate.

 

[Dr. Cakey]

Well, in defence, any series that goes on for this long is bond to suck.

Something like that?

 

[CrazyGirl17]

Eh, when a show/comic's this popular, the writing tends to be a little... lackluster. Besides, I usually don't watch/read super-long anime/manga, I don't have the time, patience, or attention span for such things. But considering how ungodly popular shows like Naruto are, they'll probably keep going for a few more years. Sigh...

 

[TheIceQueen]

And I'm suddenly reminded about this which might be a tad NSFW

Spoiler

<youtube=BTlH_riQDN8>

Yeah, long running anything will jump the shark, or run into problems now and again. Having some time to get one's self out of a slump, or getting writing help from others might be worthwhile. Then again, I used to write alot, and fell out of it hard, and for years. I can't really talk about how to get out of writer's block.

It's funny how dhim manages to work his fetish even into a Machinima published video. That certainly takes balls to do.

OT: Typically, in these cases, the writers have little choice but to pull a deus ex machina and hope that people don't find it crushingly un-satisfactory. But I stopped watching Naruto ages ago. I've tried on three seperate occasions to watch it, but I just can't get very far. Still, it would not be nice for those who do view it to have an ending that leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

Or they could just pull a One Piece and have it neeeeeveeeer end.

 

[zehydra]

Isn't that the point of most anime, though? Especially Shonen anime? It's made to sell toys and market the manga comics. It's the stuff that makes it over seas to Toonami and garners a juicy western audience. Attack on Titan will likely go a similar route, even if it isn't as long.

Yep.

Which is why the best anime series generally have 26 episodes.

With the exception of Monster of course.