CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

Naruto and Bleach, they been going on for a long way and Bleach is in its final story arc but its debatable how long will it last. The Soul Reapers are in the final fights with their enemies but no where near the end but its ending. Masashi Kishimoto himself said that Naruto is in its final phase and currently the good guys are fighting the last major enemy. and of course the waited Naruto Sasuke fight that fans know it will come. there were a lot of good times and bad times and it's no denying the impact those series made. It sad to see them go but at the same time, they gone long enough and should end before it gets stale or staler depending on the fan.

I enjoy both series and admit it's flaws but it was a fun ride.

I will kind of miss Naruto, it's given me a lot of good memories over the years, but it does need to end.
Bleach I've never much cared for, for whatever reason :T

Bleach lasted too long by several years. About time it finally got cut off. Naruto is something I never got into, but it seems to have had a better run.

Here's to whatever replaces them... They have big shoes to fill.

Bleach and Naruto are both one of those shounens that never seem to end - like One Piece and Fairy Tale - so it's kind of weird when they finally do. Naruto was a childhood obsession of mine but I eventually grew impatient with it and gave up. Even so, I like to keep semi-updated and definitely can't wait to see that Sasuke/Naruto fight and a conclusion (if any) to the long-running shipping wars.

I liked Naruto's last arc while it was covering the war, but now that the focus has narrowed to a few characters I feel like it's dragging on. I'm curious what kind of epilogue the series will have, though I'm guessing that most of the secondary cast will barely appear.

Bleach oddly took a turn for the better with the final arc, but since the Soul King training it has lost the edge that made it more interesting. The Stern Ritter vs Soul Society stuff isn't bad, but I'm going to get bored as soon as Ichigo shows up and starts fighting everyone for volumes at a time. I'm basically reading because I want to finish after having come so far.

Other than One Piece, these are the only Shonen Jump series I still follow. At one time I wondered what other series would take the place of the big three, but I don't get the sense that any have. Since the only new SJ titles I've liked were canceled, I may not read much OP in the future.

Both should've ended a long time ago. Bleach is definitely worse and has fallen out of popularity a major portion of its fanbase to the point most people are just waiting for it to end. There are suspicions it has kind of been "graciously" cancelled since Kubo said 3-4 years ago the series still had 10 years left and then a couple years later, the final arc was announced. Although, one wonders whether the final arc will take up those 10 years. Naruto has had its up and downs but while I've lost all interest, I admit it has its redeeming parts even if I think it's pretty terrible overall. But hey, these were two major shows that got me into anime so I'll see them through to the end.

As for replacements, Toriko has definitely taken a spot of "the big 3." HunterxHunter would've easily taken a spot if Togashi didn't take 3 year breaks on a regular basis. Maybe Beelzebub, but that's already gotten bad enough that I wouldn't count it as a "big" title and *appears* to be finishing up. Aside from those, there aren't any real battle manga in WSJ that could replace them, so unless people are going to eat up Shoukugeki no Souma or Assassination Classroom manages to do a small genre shift without becoming terrible, I don't see a third "big" title anytime soon.

I agree that both series dragged on long enough I love them and will miss them but it needs to end. Rurouni Kenshin ended gracefully at 28 tankobon and Fullmetal Alchemist 27 tankobon. Dragonball was 42(includes whats covered in Z). Hiro Mashima big hit Rave went on for 35 volumes and his current hit Fairy Tail is at 41 and doesn't seem to be ending anytime soon.

I do wish Naruto and Bleach managed to give more character spotlight and not neglect others but what can you do, I rather not drag it out even further.

Rzerox21xx wrote:I do wish Naruto and Bleach managed to give more character spotlight and not neglect others but what can you do, I rather not drag it out even further.

One thing that really bugs me about Naruto is sheer lack of attention for females. Sakura for instance... isn't she a supposed to be one of the main characters? You'd never be able to tell with how she's been banished to the background. The majority of the Naruto cast has basically been demoted as being only good for plot devices The only exception, to me, seem to be Naruto and Sasuke. The constant importance of both characters had some of my friends wondering if Kishimoto sometimes wishes the series were about Sasuke. Not sure if Bleach is the same way with its characters, but 60+ volumes for either series is enough for them to just forget it.

One thing that struck me looking back at the Dragonball manga is how (relatively) succinct it is. I can only put up with modern levels of decompression when I'm reading things week to week.

KazeShiki wrote:There are suspicions it has kind of been "graciously" cancelled since Kubo said 3-4 years ago the series still had 10 years left and then a couple years later, the final arc was announced.

I've been assuming that was the case after the cancellation of the anime and the awfulness of the arc about whatever those filler characters were called.

KazeShiki wrote:As for replacements, Toriko has definitely taken a spot of "the big 3." HunterxHunter would've easily taken a spot if Togashi didn't take 3 year breaks on a regular basis.

What do you think of Toriko? I ignored it based purely on the gimmick, but now I look again and it seems to be trying to channel both One Piece and Hunter x Hunter. I could see it all working poorly, but this could also be one of those series I'll enjoy regardless of if it's actually good.

And yeah, I forgot about HxH. I'll be reading whenever that shows up.

Schokolade wrote:Not sure if Bleach is the same way with its characters, but 60+ volumes for either series is enough for them to just forget it.

Bleach is worse, perhaps the worst handling of characters in anything I've read.

Bleach had its good moments, kubo mean't to end the series after the soul society arc but never expected to become so popular. atleast I read that somewhere. would make sense, Akira Toriyama mean't to end Dragonball at the end of Freeza, popularity and the editors pushed him, he mean't to end it at cell, once again, he push to the buu saga. to be honest Cell would have been a good way to end it, basically Goku giving way for Gohan to be the hero. another thing, Gohan was mean't to finished off Buu and fans voted Goku, I vaguely remember where I read this from.

Rurouni Kenshin, Watsuki was going to do a another arc in the series that takes place in Hokkaido but decided to end it with the Jinchuu arc. series ended at 28 volumes.

There's also cases when the series loses popularity and had to end prematurely, Watsuki other attempt on a long manga like kenshin is Buso Renkin and it ended on volume 10, he had to scrapped a lot of things. Saint Seiya was mean't to go to the Zeus Arc after they were done fighting Hades but it ended right in the Hades arc.

Toriko I never read, I heard it's good, perhaps somewhere along the line I might give it a try.

uc pseudonym wrote:

KazeShiki wrote:As for replacements, Toriko has definitely taken a spot of "the big 3." HunterxHunter would've easily taken a spot if Togashi didn't take 3 year breaks on a regular basis.

What do you think of Toriko? I ignored it based purely on the gimmick, but now I look again and it seems to be trying to channel both One Piece and Hunter x Hunter. I could see it all working poorly, but this could also be one of those series I'll enjoy regardless of if it's actually good.

And yeah, I forgot about HxH. I'll be reading whenever that shows up.

Toriko is decent. It isn't something good enough that I'd recommend but considering its length and the fact it hasn't gone down the typical path of terrible yet, it's at least a fun read. It has issues with power creep, and I think it's starting to get dumb (arc transition atm so this is more based on what I think is coming), but the plot as a whole has been fairly simplistic which means a lack of plot twists that dig holes for the author, though again, the latest developments might change that.

Also, ha Beelzebub actually did end.

KazeShiki wrote:Toriko is decent. It isn't something good enough that I'd recommend but considering its length and the fact it hasn't gone down the typical path of terrible yet, it's at least a fun read. It has issues with power creep, and I think it's starting to get dumb (arc transition atm so this is more based on what I think is coming), but the plot as a whole has been fairly simplistic which means a lack of plot twists that dig holes for the author, though again, the latest developments might change that.

Based on that, I've started reading, and it seems reasonably fun so far. I enjoy it in a similar way to Hunter x Hunter, though I don't really buy the worldbuilding (the progression of opponents and capture levels is too smooth for my taste). It does seem remarkably straightforward, which isn't my usual but is fine for a change of pace. It's been a while since I've read a manga where everyone is a bunch of muscular dudes solving problems via punching.

I'm worried about how Viz will get its income after Naruto and Bleach are gone. One Piece isn't as big in the US as the other two but it might keep them up for a little while after Naruto and Bleach end.

Nah, Viz will be fine for at least a while after they end. Most of the folks reading Bleach and Naruto won't just drop anime/manga when the show that brought them into it ends they'll find another franchise to follow. Viz was around before Naruto got big and will stay around after it ends.

Not that they won't run around like a chicken with its head cut off as they try to find the next big thing in anime.

Bleach has always been one of my favorite animes. I think it should have ended after the Fullbring arc, though, as this final arc is mostly just all the different Soul Reapers either getting killed or beaten up without even a real fight, or powering up, beating ONE enemy, and then getting beaten or killed. I always prefer happy endings, so I'll be sad if Bleach ends with most of the Soul Society being destroyed and many characters dead. I actually hope they don't animate the final arc, because it'd just be too sad for me to watch SPOILER: Highlight text to read: Yamamoto dying, most other characters getting killed or owned by stupid Quincies.

Naruto...I've honestly never really gotten into it, so I can't really say much about it.

I definitely think Fairy Tail is the next big thing, though!