330 Discussion

[Syndactyly]

I... He was always my favorite. I always loved him. But now...

Now all the girls are going to go after him because he's, "cool." Nothing's changed about him! He's the same guy! gonk He's not "cooler" now. Or "sexier" now. In fact, the cigarette doesn't look good on him-- he's so young...

Like I've said probably 5 times now... it's gross. I know people who smoke and it isn't gross on. I'm not against smokers. It's just not like him. A free spirit. Now he is caged by a terrible addiction.  

[Super-Frog Saves Tokyo]

The saddest parts of this chapter for me was when Shika went told Kurenai the bad news and Konohamaru at the funeral. The visual of her falling to her knees and Shika trying to comfort her... cry .

When Kakashi told Naruto, "I really like you now!" and Naruto misunderstood what he meant, it was pure joy for me. xd Poor Naruto thought that Kakashi was going creepy uncle on him. rofl

I really hope that Team 10 suceed in their mission without losing another member... That would be too much, but c'est la vie... sad  

[Syndactyly]

JeanGreyson

The saddest parts of this chapter for me was when Shika went told Kurenai the bad news and Konohamaru at the funeral. The visual of her falling to her knees and Shika trying to comfort her... cry .

When Kakashi told Naruto, "I really like you now!" and Naruto misunderstood what he meant, it was pure joy for me. xd Poor Naruto thought that Kakashi was going creepy uncle on him. rofl

I really hope that Team 10 suceed in their mission without losing another member... That would be too much, but c'est la vie... sad

Yeah, I was all, "Whoa." I didn't expect Kurenai to break down.

YEAH!! That was the excellent comic-relief. Loved that. Kakashi wants Naruto to get in his fan... xd Not really.

Shikamaru is an emotional wreck. He seeks revenge... doesn't he know revenge always ends in calamity? Just look at what's happened to Sasuke! INO NEEDS TO KICK HIS a**. Set him straight... He needs a woman to set him straight-- TEMARI! xd ANYBODY?! Maybe even his mom can beat some sense into him. GET OUT THE PADDLE!! xd  

[Nephite Warrior]

JeanGreyson

I really hope that Team 10 suceed in their mission without losing another member.

I dunno, I completely hate Ino now....ever since they mentioned her and medical jutsu....so it wouldnt bother me at all if she died, but I hope Shikamaru's recent addiction to the cigs doesnt last long....they just don't suit him like they did Asuma.  

[Mr._Stabby]

Quote:

Shikamaru is an emotional wreck. He seeks revenge... doesn't he know revenge always ends in calamity? Just look at what's happened to Sasuke! INO NEEDS TO KICK HIS a**. Set him straight... He needs a woman to set him straight-- TEMARI! xd ANYBODY?! Maybe even his mom can beat some sense into him. GET OUT THE PADDLE!! xd

I have to disagree with you there. He hasnt really shown himself to be a wreck, though my main reason is was how his dad looked at him when he was playing shogi by himself. Didnt look more worried, looked more like a proud look to me.  

[CrabappleRed]

Hmm. I actualy rather liked Shikamaru's taking up smoking. Don't particularly like cigarettes myself (I'm allergic to the smoke, actually ) but I found it a fitting tribute. Asuma's smoking was one of his key traits. It's nice to see that Shikamaru cared for him so deeply that he'd take up the habit as tribute, despite the fact that he himself hates smoking.

Of course, I doubt Shikamaru has to worry about lung cancer. He's a ninja. He'll very much likely die before he has a chance to get cancer. Just like Asuma. heart  

[Pekora]

Shikalee

I... He was always my favorite. I always loved him. But now...

Now all the girls are going to go after him because he's, "cool." Nothing's changed about him! He's the same guy! gonk He's not "cooler" now. Or "sexier" now. In fact, the cigarette doesn't look good on him-- he's so young...

Like I've said probably 5 times now... it's gross. I know people who smoke and it isn't gross on. I'm not against smokers. It's just not like him. A free spirit. Now he is caged by a terrible addiction.

I do, I hate smokers...they don't appreciate life...I would play a little ''game'' with them twisted ...
btw, my dad is a smoker, I felt bad cuz I had to stab him in the heart...anyways, moving on 3nodding  

[Pekora]

Shikalee

JeanGreyson

The saddest parts of this chapter for me was when Shika went told Kurenai the bad news and Konohamaru at the funeral. The visual of her falling to her knees and Shika trying to comfort her... cry .

When Kakashi told Naruto, "I really like you now!" and Naruto misunderstood what he meant, it was pure joy for me. xd Poor Naruto thought that Kakashi was going creepy uncle on him. rofl

I really hope that Team 10 suceed in their mission without losing another member... That would be too much, but c'est la vie... sad

Yeah, I was all, "Whoa." I didn't expect Kurenai to break down.

YEAH!! That was the excellent comic-relief. Loved that. Kakashi wants Naruto to get in his fan... xd Not really.

Shikamaru is an emotional wreck. He seeks revenge... doesn't he know revenge always ends in calamity? Just look at what's happened to Sasuke! INO NEEDS TO KICK HIS a**. Set him straight... He needs a woman to set him straight-- TEMARI! xd ANYBODY?! Maybe even his mom can beat some sense into him. GET OUT THE PADDLE!! xd

If they go against Akatuski there's a high probability that they get slaugthered.

Ish Kakashi starting to like Shotacon?! eek  

[Captain Verd]

CrabappleRed

Hmm. I actualy rather liked Shikamaru's taking up smoking. Don't particularly like cigarettes myself (I'm allergic to the smoke, actually ) but I found it a fitting tribute. Asuma's smoking was one of his key traits. It's nice to see that Shikamaru cared for him so deeply that he'd take up the habit as tribute, despite the fact that he himself hates smoking.

Of course, I doubt Shikamaru has to worry about lung cancer. He's a ninja. He'll very much likely die before he has a chance to get cancer. Just like Asuma. heart

Agreed agreed agreed.

Anyways, I doubt Shikamaru will have many more fangirls now than he did before. There are still busloads of more badass characters than him.  

[Syndactyly]

Mr._Stabby

Quote:

Shikamaru is an emotional wreck. He seeks revenge... doesn't he know revenge always ends in calamity? Just look at what's happened to Sasuke! INO NEEDS TO KICK HIS a**. Set him straight... He needs a woman to set him straight-- TEMARI! xd ANYBODY?! Maybe even his mom can beat some sense into him. GET OUT THE PADDLE!! xd

I have to disagree with you there. He hasnt really shown himself to be a wreck, though my main reason is was how his dad looked at him when he was playing shogi by himself. Didnt look more worried, looked more like a proud look to me.

You don't seem to get what I was saying.

You don't have to be tearing every night in a dark corner. My brother is a lot like Shikamaru in this respect; he bottles up his emotions. You can't say his isn't devistated about Asuma's death.
His dad was proud that Shikamaru could take it so well. Most people would be crying and sulking. This doesn't mean he isn't sad.  

[Syndactyly]

Captain Verd

CrabappleRed

Hmm. I actualy rather liked Shikamaru's taking up smoking. Don't particularly like cigarettes myself (I'm allergic to the smoke, actually ) but I found it a fitting tribute. Asuma's smoking was one of his key traits. It's nice to see that Shikamaru cared for him so deeply that he'd take up the habit as tribute, despite the fact that he himself hates smoking.

Of course, I doubt Shikamaru has to worry about lung cancer. He's a ninja. He'll very much likely die before he has a chance to get cancer. Just like Asuma. heart

Agreed agreed agreed.

Anyways, I doubt Shikamaru will have many more fangirls now than he did before. There are still busloads of more badass characters than him.

All the girls are going to call him romantic and s**t... He still isn't.

@ Crabapple: I don't think it fits him. It's an opinion thing, I guess. For all the years I've read it, he's been clean. Now he has a nasty habit. It's a big change if you've been reading it for more than a few months like most fans have. I've been on this for years.

I don't think the habit is a tribute. People are sprinkling it with too much appretiation. Remember, he is just a 15-year-old boy. As much as he thinks, he doesn't put that much thought into everything he does.

I know everyone thinks he's going to be just like Asuma, but I'm certain he won't. Their lives are far different. Shikamaru has a father, too. He has a mother. These people aren't like Asuma. Yes, Asuma had a father. But he was nothing like Shikaku. Shikamaru also has very strong companions. His experience is just plain different.  

[Syndactyly]

Juuyonbi_No_Peko_=3

If they go against Akatuski there's a high probability that they get slaugthered.

Ish Kakashi starting to like Shotacon?! eek

That's what leads me to believe Shikamaru's current choices aren't so well thought out.

If they are going after Akatsuki, what a stupid choice. It's a choice built off emotion. They all want revenge, now. What they don't realize is that if he could kill Asuma, Hidan can kill them. Asuma is stronger than the three of them combined, yet he was defeated easily.

Everyone thinks Shikamaru is thinking everything straight through "as always." I don't know why no one ever notices, but when Shikamaru is stuck between a rock and a hard place, he makes a lot of last minute decisions. An IQ of 200 does not give one wisdom. He lacks a lot of knowledge. So he can't work everything out. Emotions are not logical. Logic and emotion create reason. He doesn't know why, but he wants to smoke. He doesn't know why, but he wants to kill Hidan. Because emotions come out, build something that is tangible, and we don't all understand it until it's far too late.  

[CrabappleRed]

Shikalee

All the girls are going to call him romantic and s**t... He still isn't.

@ Crabapple: I don't think it fits him. It's an opinion thing, I guess. For all the years I've read it, he's been clean. Now he has a nasty habit. It's a big change if you've been reading it for more than a few months like most fans have. I've been on this for years.

I don't think the habit is a tribute. People are sprinkling it with too much appretiation. Remember, he is just a 15-year-old boy. As much as he thinks, he doesn't put that much thought into everything he does.

I know everyone thinks he's going to be just like Asuma, but I'm certain he won't. Their lives are far different. Shikamaru has a father, too. He has a mother. These people aren't like Asuma. Yes, Asuma had a father. But he was nothing like Shikaku. Shikamaru also has very strong companions. His experience is just plain different.

I think it's great! Shikamaru is shapping up to be a great ninja. He's making hard decisions, he's facing death, and he's taking on aspects of his old mentors so that he doesn't forget what came before. He's trully becoming a great ninja like Kakashi, Asuma, and Tsunade. You can tell because his angst level is rising. I can't wait till he has to kill someone.

As for smoking, who cares? He's dead any way you look at it. Enemies, lung cancer. Whatever. He might as well go in a way that reminds him of the man he held in so much respect.

And so what if he's only fifteen. He's old enough to go out and kill (and be killed by) enemy ninja, he's old enough to inhale toxic smoke in my books. It's not like he doesn't know what it'll do, or he has some idea that it'll make him cool. He's doing it to carry on Asuma's legacy of air polution so that Asuma is never forgotten. It's pretty noble of him, considering Shikamaru hates the smell.

I've been following the series since it first came out. I'm not half as surprised as you are about the smoking. After all, don't they say children who hang around smoking adults grow up to be smokers?  

[Syndactyly]

CrabappleRed

I think it's great! Shikamaru is shapping up to be a great ninja. He's making hard decisions, he's facing death, and he's taking on aspects of his old mentors so that he doesn't forget what came before. He's trully becoming a great ninja like Kakashi, Asuma, and Tsunade. You can tell because his angst level is rising. I can't wait till he has to kill someone.

As for smoking, who cares? He's dead any way you look at it. Enemies, lung cancer. Whatever. He might as well go in a way that reminds him of the man he held in so much respect.

And so what if he's only fifteen. He's old enough to go out and kill (and be killed by) enemy ninja, he's old enough to inhale toxic smoke in my books. It's not like he doesn't know what it'll do, or he has some idea that it'll make him cool. He's doing it to carry on Asuma's legacy of air polution so that Asuma is never forgotten. It's pretty noble of him, considering Shikamaru hates the smell.

I've been following the series since it first came out. I'm not half as surprised as you are about the smoking. After all, don't they say children who hang around smoking adults grow up to be smokers?

Right, right. Gives fangirls a reason to drool over him. I already liked him. Change is hard. I hate to say this... but I'll be honest. You'll know when someone you care about or love goes out and does something that is dangerous to their physical and mental health. I don't care if it's just a book. I've made that clear. So it's not worth debating. And don't say it has... because if it did you would at least partially understand how I feel. Which you don't.

That's dumb, in my opinion. Not what he's doing; everyone's intepretation of it. It doesn't need words. He's not "keeping [anyone] alive." It doesn't need an explaination. Because none so far make any REAL sense. He's not your knight in shining armor. Besides, in Japan, the dead are dead. Keeping the dead alive through a legacy is purely a western concept. It is disrespectful to do so over there.

Some ninja live to be old. The third. Tsunade. Jiraiya. Well, if you consider 52 old. Either way, if you just look at life that way, we might as well stop caring about anyone's lives. Totally take any reading away from Naruto. It's no longer worth while because they're all going to die anyway. I consider Shikamaru a strong character, and I look foward to him meeting his dreams.

This isn't about cancer. Cancer has cures. This is about his mental health.

And this isn't about what he can and cannot do. I don't think smoking nor drinking has an age. It is how he makes choices. The human brain's developement is not complete until around the age of 25. His high IQ now could deminish in 5 years. My point is that according to science, these life changing choices he's making are not all that concious. And don't tell me Kishimoto doesn't know about it, or think about it; he does the exact opposite. He totally thinks about it and that is what makes his characters seem so real. Whether or not any of that is true, Shikamaru isn't going, "Asuma is dead, so I'll take on a legacy and smoke his cigarettes." He didn't make a concious choice like that. It was more of an emotion, and it wasn't entirely about "keeping Asuma alive."

And it's not a legacy. Have any of you read books with characters who died? It was never an honor, a legacy, an act of serenading. The first time it was. MAYBE. But I don't even think it was the first time.

You think it's noble because you don't get it.

In America or Japan? Because I've been reading it since before it was an American craze.

That myth is purly false. And he's hardly grown up.  

[CrabappleRed]

Shikalee

Right, right. Gives fangirls a reason to drool over him. I already liked him. Change is hard. I hate to say this... but I'll be honest. You'll know when someone you care about or love goes out and does something that is dangerous to their physical and mental health. I don't care if it's just a book. I've made that clear. So it's not worth debating. And don't say it has... because if it did you would at least partially understand how I feel. Which you don't.

That's dumb, in my opinion. Not what he's doing; everyone's intepretation of it. It doesn't need words. He's not "keeping [anyone] alive." It doesn't need an explaination. Because none so far make any REAL sense. He's not your knight in shining armor. Besides, in Japan, the dead are dead. Keeping the dead alive through a legacy is purely a western concept. It is disrespectful to do so over there.

Some ninja live to be old. The third. Tsunade. Jiraiya. Well, if you consider 52 old. Either way, if you just look at life that way, we might as well stop caring about anyone's lives. Totally take any reading away from Naruto. It's no longer worth while because they're all going to die anyway. I consider Shikamaru a strong character, and I look foward to him meeting his dreams.

This isn't about cancer. Cancer has cures. This is about his mental health.

And this isn't about what he can and cannot do. I don't think smoking nor drinking has an age. It is how he makes choices. The human brain's developement is not complete until around the age of 25. His high IQ now could deminish in 5 years. My point is that according to science, these life changing choices he's making are not all that concious. And don't tell me Kishimoto doesn't know about it, or think about it; he does the exact opposite. He totally thinks about it and that is what makes his characters seem so real. Whether or not any of that is true, Shikamaru isn't going, "Asuma is dead, so I'll take on a legacy and smoke his cigarettes." He didn't make a concious choice like that. It was more of an emotion, and it wasn't entirely about "keeping Asuma alive."

And it's not a legacy. Have any of you read books with characters who died? It was never an honor, a legacy, an act of serenading. The first time it was. MAYBE. But I don't even think it was the first time.

You think it's noble because you don't get it.

In America or Japan? Because I've been reading it since before it was an American craze.

That myth is purly false. And he's hardly grown up.

Keeping the dead alive and preserving their memory is a purley western concept? You mean the Japanese don't use ancestor worship in their religion? Gosh! That's a shocker! And I guess all those old traditions and focus on the family's good name and all the ghost stories are purely western things too.

As for old ninja, on average, all the ninja are young. Most of them are under forty. A few are older, but they're rare. Shikamaru's lifespan is pretty much guaranteed to be damned short, especialy considering the random invasions by other ninja countries, possibilities of missions gone bad, plain out war, the some random Tailed Demon getting loose and going on a rampage, etc, etc. He's a fighter, and a killer, and he's going out and killing other people and getting into battles. He might survive to a ripe old age, but odds say he won't. We havn't lost anyone from the rookie nine yet. their generation is just begging for a fresh kill.

I never said his choices had to be concious. I'm just saying that his carrying on the lecay of air polution is the result. Asuma smoked. Asuma is now dead. Asuma doesn't get to smoke his last cigarette. Shikamau takes Asuma's cigarette, and starts to smoke. He's smoking Asuma's last cigarette for him. That he's continuing to smoke, despite the fact that he hates it indicates that he's either got a really low threshold for addiction (and if that's so, someone keep the guy away from coffee) or he's doing it to keep something of Asuma with him.

Or maybe you're suggesting that Shikamaru is like a five year old, and cannot resist putting stuff in his mouth? So when the cigarette fell from Asuma, he just stuck it in his mouth? It's quite possible. Some people have strange impulses. I hadn't pegged Shikamaru for someone with that kind of childish, compulsive behavior, but you see to be certain in your facts. It's certanly in interesting idea. I wonder if he also sticks dropped kunai in his mouth? Scroll casses? Poisoned needles? Have any unscrupulous men taken advantage of this theoretical habit? Edit: Oh! Oh! Kurenai fell to the floor! Maybe he stuck her in his mouth?

I also seriously doubt Shikamaru cares about his intelligence. He certanly doesn't seem to flaunt it, and it seems more of a burden and a bother to him. He doesn't even want to try in school. But then again, we see him playing shougi durring the funeral, right? Perhaps his mental deterioration has already started, and that's why he's practicing his moves. He's starting to muddle stuff already, and needs to straighten out his brain.

Lastly, being grown up is about maturity, not age. Shikamaru is one of the most mature people in the manga, including the jounin sensei. They didn't promote him to chunin for being a child. He's going out, killing people, delivering news of other people's deaths, planing important missions with other people's lives at stake. . . he's got the responsabilities of an adult, and the behavior and thoughts of one. (Hell, if you want to base the laws of Naruto-land off Japan, he can even have sex, since their age of consent is something like thirteen! So theoreticaly, he might not even be a virgin, which adds another layer of 'adult' onto him.) He's an adult.