With only a few matches left to be fought in the preliminaries to the third portion of the Chūnin Selection Exams, the highly anticipated bout between mysterious Sand ninja Gaara and intense, earnest Konoha ninja Rock Lee begins. Will Gaara's bloodlust and his strange powers of sand manipulation be too much for Lee to handle? Or could Lee prove that dedication and an amazing work ethic are enough to make him a splendid ninja?
Masashi Kishimoto (岸本斉史 Kishimoto Masashi) is a Japanese manga artist, well known for creating the manga series Naruto. His younger twin brother, Seishi Kishimoto, is also a manga artist and creator of the manga series O-Parts Hunter (666 Satan) and Blazer Drive. Two of his former assistants, Osamu Kajisa (Tattoo Hearts) and Yuuichi Itakura (Hand's), have also gone on to moderate success following their work on Naruto.
Kishimoto's first work as a manga artist was Karakuri (カラクリ?), which he submitted to Shueisha in 1995. This earned him the Weekly Shōnen Jump's monthly "Hop Step Award" in 1996, granted to promising new manga artists. This was followed in 1997 by a pilot version of Naruto (NARUTO-ナルト-), published in Akamaru Jump Summer. In 1998, Kishimoto premiered as a Weekly Shōnen Jump artist with a serialized version of Karakuri in Weekly Shōnen Jump, but it proved unpopular and was canceled soon after. In 1999, a serialized version of Naruto began publication in Weekly Shōnen Jump and quickly became a hit.
Quite possibly one of my favorite fights so far in the series, well anime to be honest. Especially from the anime and two of my favorite characters as well. That was a tough fight but at the same kind of cool to read and see.
It was a barely okay volume for me, I'm sad to say. Mostly, it was just terribly boring, with the fight scenes prolonged beyond my patience, good will, and stamina. These diagrams will be the death of me! It's such a strange concept, fussily punctilious and unnecessary diagrams in a manga... As if Kishimoto just couldn't help himself and needed to expound on every detail of his worldbuilding with the overbearing enthusiasm of a fresh Dungeon Master.
But.
Rock Lee is a sweet character and I really appreciated his backstory and his unswerving dedication to his ideals. The exaltation of hard work, dedication, perseverance... and notable perviness of authority figures - Dragon Ball inspirations couldn't be clearer.
Still, I'll continue reading. Naruto is such a compelling character!
Rock Lee is the testament of hardwork and every second of his fight is astonishing because of what he represents and what he's willing to do to get what he wants.
And then there's his deadly adversary who continuously shows us why he'll always be a threat to everyone, including himself.
But the ending to this volume is just too good. The arrival of a character that I have been waiting for for too long!
More on Rock Lee's taijutsu is exposed in an interesting fight vs Gaara and Kabuto reveals himself as much more than a mediocre aspiring ninja. New arc starts next volume.
- In this volume we get to know more about Rock Lee and see him fight with Gaara. Again, one of the more brutal fights in this part of the story since it's unclear if Lee will recover. I do enjoy his character because he's the "doesn't actually have talent but can succeed anyway" type of character even though there are definitely problematic parts to this.
- The preliminary fights are also finally done with this volume and I am super glad for that!
- I have to say I don't love the way Kakashi (doesn't) communicate with Naruto about not training him. Naruto does has a rejection history and this must super suck for him. Especially since Ebisu methods aren't super suitable for Naruto's learning style so it does feel extra shitty.
- Jiraya shows up! I'm having a feeling I'm going to hate him this time around... this stuff just isn't funny.
There are now only few matches left in preliminaries and although till now matches were short and lacked excitement(except few), this 9th match stood apart from all. This match was special because two very strong ninjas were against each other. We saw Gara before in the Forest of Death where he completely blew away those three guys, here he faces a very difficult challenge against Rock Lee.
We see the secret strength of Lee and the making of a splendid Ninja and a Taijutsu expert. The ending of the match is sad but it really went down as one of the best match in this manga. The anime version was better with all those soundtrack ringing in your ears and giving you the feel of the fight.
Meanwhile, Naruto has a new teacher to prepare him for the final exams and Sasuke is still in hospital and the final exam is going to be a big test for the rest of the competitors.
Loving the series so far. It is so interesting that I don't want to pause and write reviews for each volume.
I particularly like this volume because of the character Rock Lee. He signifies that even if you don't have a natural talent for something, working hard will eventually pay off.
The chunin exams 3rd round is finally over and the winners are told that in one month they will start the final round. My favorite part about the chunin exams is the fact you get so much in depth knowledge of all the other ninjas abilities!! The sad thin about the chunin exams is that one of my favorite characters receives news that will forever change him.
Sometimes I wonder, what would've happened if Sasuke never crossed paths with Orochimaru? would the darkness in his heart have disappeared by staying a little longer with Naruto?
Je mets cinq étoiles pour l'affrontement Gaara / Lee qui est vraiment impressionnant, mais le dernier chapitre et la toute fin ne sont pas des passages que j'apprécie beaucoup.
I think when originally watching the anime this was around where I fell in love with it.
The fight between Gaara and Lee is exciting, and the character reactions to it as super interesting. Not just the general fear and confusion at Gaara's power that stems from something unknown at this point, but the genuine concern for Lee.
Lee's backstory is charming and I have much more love for him now than I did as a child. It's easy to see why Guy supports him so fervently. It's fascinating to see Gaara pushed to the limits of his own power by Lee's sheer speed.
It was also fun to see Kakashi and Kabuto both in action after so many chapters observing.
The final chapter does kind of sink into an info dump and is leading into the Jiraiya mini arc which I don't care for at all. The manga feels the most dated in the moments where Jiraiya sexually harasses women and its just a fun character quirk.
Everyone finished the preliminary round to the third exam the. The main fight was Rock Lee vs Gara. Lee ended up showing off how strong he was by releasing the 5 chakra gates but gara ended up breaking his arm and might not be able to continue his dream of being a ninja only useing physical attacks
I was excited that Gaara and Lee fought because both of them were strongest revel in test-takers. Lee finally use his final(secret) weapon in the battle, but he was bitten by Gaara. Both were truly strong and the game was powerful. I thought either boy would die. The story was advanced to next step. I thought this book would be funnier and funnier.