Quote Originally Posted by Sidnne View Post
The series really doesn't need to end. The problem isn't the series or the writing, the problem is the people on this forum. I hardly ever visit these forums anymore, because the people here are nothing but negative and make it hard to enjoy a series. Instead of just enjoying a series for its own merit, everyone here picks apart EVERY LITTLE DETAIL, no matter how trivial it is. These forums breed nothing but negativity. It's really quite pathetic.

You started following the series 5 years ago. You must have thought it was pretty awesome 5 years ago to make you want to follow it and start posting on these forums. But, guess what? 5 years ago, the people who were here following it for 10 years were bitching about the things you thought were awesome. The thing is, the writing never changed, only the people's perception of it changed after having been influenced by the whining and bitching on these forums.
I heavily disagree with you, and since this manga is almost (finally!) over, I´ll tell you why your assumption is wrong.

As I have mentioned many times in the past, the exact moment the Naruto-series turned to shit was during the Sasuke vs Deidara battle.
What was the story BEFORE that? Let´s see: We had our hero who failed at the most basic things. I´m not even talking about using chakra to walk up trees. No, he couldn´t even throw kunais with adequate accuracy. Sasuke was a genius because of being good at school and, wow, he could make a small fireball. The famous Sharingan-Kakashi could ... copy ninjutsu. Which brings us to the example of one of the best fights in the series and a fight that truly displayed a ninja´s qualities: When Team 7 first fought Zabuza, it was tactics and strategy that made it possible to overcome the Hidden Mist´s monster. It wasn´t any fancy, super-powered jutsu. The story continued and introduced Gaara and Rock Lee, and within the limits of the series´ inner logic, neither felt out of place. (in hindsight, it´s ridiculous that anybody was ever scared of Gaara. Feels like any Konoha Jounin could have taken care of him lol).The story became crazier with Orochimaru´s involvement and the Sound 5, and we also got a glimpse at the scary super monster Itachi, who we heard to be a member of Akatsuki, a group of monsters just like him. But we never got to see much of him, the most was when he succeeded to escape from Jiraiya´s frog stomach jutsu, which showcased his prowess and incredible, freaky power. It´s all good, though, because Kishimoto never made an attempt to throw our heroes against someone like him right now. The timeskip happened and it was fantastic. Gaara being Kazekage, going all out against Deidara, and actually losing. Then losing his bijuu, thus his life. Sasori loses, but it is an acceptable loss, since not only is it his master that killed him, it also felt as if he wanted to die. And Gaara being revived by the sacrifice of an old ninjutsu master felt okay-ish, too.

THEN comes the turnaround.
Two battles take place that both shouldn´t have gone the way they did.I love Shikamaru, my favorite character of the series. But he shouldn´t have been able to take down Hidan. The amount of chakra needed to bind him all this time is an amount of chakra he couldn´t have had. Strategy only takes you so far, at some point you need power to take down a monster. Same goes for Kakuzu. The simple problem is: Akatsuki have, up to that point, always been portrayed as super monsters, as if they´re not mere ninjas, but entities. Like a volcano. Like a waterfall. Like a hurricane. Simply a force that cannot be fought by a small group of ninjas. This expectation is shattered the worst when Sasuke starts fighting Deidara. A battle that should have been Deidara´s, instantly turned into this Akatsuki member defending and barely dodging Sasuke´s attacks. And, most ridiculously, feeling nervous and panicky! That was the point when I personally lost any good will I had for the series.
And the writing kept getting worse.

You can make any claim you want, but Naruto turned from being a manga based on an inner logic to a manga based on "how cool would that be?" or to put it better "damn you, Oda, Im so jealous of your success, I want some, too!". One of the biggest points of proof for the change in writing and depth of it is the simple fact that Kishimoto had Naruto undergo three years of training with Jiraiya, and all it´s done was to give him a bigger rasengan. seriously?! Considering what Naruto learned in the time after his return to Konoha, Jiraiya can truly be called worst teacher of all times lol. So, no, the writing DID get worse. It is not the readers´ fault.
Hunter X Hunter has been truly consistent and you can believe me: If Togashi someday decides to give up on quality writing and world building, Ill give him shit for that, too.