Are you surprised that Neiji and Chouji survived?

[Daedalous]

I am surprised that Neiji survived, since Hinata has the "same" abilities as he, I thought that she might take the role as the main Byakugan user.

I think Chouji surviving was pretty obvious, there's no one to take his role (I don't remember him having a brother or sister, at least not one that's been given any spotlight).

[Zippy]

i'm not surprised, but i'm certainly not pleased. some of the main characters from konoha better start dying soon!

[Xollence]

It was disappointing to see all the characters alive. I was hoping that at least Neji would be killed off.

[Keen1_Te]

I actually thought that Chouji would die, because of all those flashbacks when he was frozen out by the other kids and so. Just seemed like a great opportunity to kill him off (to keep it harsh) , would have been an honourable ending for him to actually win his last fight (then he could rest in peace ) . He was also looking kinda worn-out even after that first pill, so after the third it's a lill silly that he survives. i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif

Though I like Neji as an character, never wanted him to die, really. Still hoping for more Neji-Hinata encounters, upper- vs. lowerclass. Guess she can step in and save him at a later time, to prove him wrong about the hostility between the "levels". Though I would see even him dead rather than just everyone "happy &alive" after all those battles, they're just genins after all .. Kinda disappointed. i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif

[Jman]

I'm not suprised, but Chouji should've died back there. He would've definitely went out with style. I doubt he's going to have another battle where he'd get to shine like that.

[Hyuuga_Destiny]

Glad that Neji didn't die, Chouji, couldn't care less. i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif

Well, I kinda expected it that they both wouldn't die.
If Choujij died, then Shika would turn out to be a different person, it would have certainly affected him in some sort of way. And to change a character like Shikamaru would be a real shame.

Neji is just too cool to die i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif
A genius among geniusses won't die that "easily".

The last character that died was the Hokage right?

[Mae]

I think Kimimarou was the most recent death, but for major Konoha characters I would say the Hokage is right. As for the question, yeah, I was a little surprised they had them survive. Choji in particular had a very nice death scene. It was a little cheap to go through all that and then just bring them back. But I do like the characters, and it's not a fatal plot flaw for me.

[elmojo]

isnt this a spoiler topic? this isnt fair for others

[ChaosK]

others what? they should've already gotten up to this considering we're talking 20 ep ago...and no i'm not surprised considering i read manga does that help? i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif

[NineTailsKitsu]

I was worried for a while there that Neiji and Choji had died....Well, more about Neiji than Choji, but regardless...I think that perhaps new life has been breathed into both characters (no pun intended), as both showed how powerful they had become in they're individual fights against the Sounds.

Neiji has shown that he (like Garaa) has learned a great deal from Naruto, and has drastically changed his view on life, as well as some of his fighting style (getting up from the point of death and crushing the sound was a tremendous part of this season, IMO).

Choji has a new look (though if it'll last or not has yet to be seen), I think it's a very drastic change that fits him and represents the culmination of his character growth (showing him as a kid, being picked on for being fat, etc.) And in the end killing the sound in such a cool way earned him points in my book....the first actual points for him, actually.

However, both's individual fights left me thinking maybe they're fights were a last shining moment for each character, to perhaps replace them with Hinata and Lee...or Shino...not to mention the new opening originally left me believing they were dead, up until the change with them now in it. I'm glad to see both are still alive, they both have a place in the series.

[Jessper]

No, I'm not suprised, I had hoped Chouji would have died but I figured it wasn't going to happen.

[miaka]

Originally posted by: Keen1_Te
I actually thought that Chouji would die, because of all those flashbacks when he was frozen out by the other kids and so. Just seemed like a great opportunity to kill him off (to keep it harsh) , would have been an honourable ending for him to actually win his last fight (then he could rest in peace ) . He was also looking kinda worn-out even after that first pill, so after the third it's a lill silly that he survives.

Though I like Neji as an character, never wanted him to die, really. Still hoping for more Neji-Hinata encounters, upper- vs. lowerclass. Guess she can step in and save him at a later time, to prove him wrong about the hostility between the "levels". Though I would see even him dead rather than just everyone "happy &alive" after all those battles, they're just genins after all .. Kinda disappointed.


wouldn't that be kewl if hinata end up helping him at least..(don't think she will get to save him for now.. though even though i like hinata.. she is way weaker than neji after all.. , but of course we dont' know how strong hinata would get..)

i admire hinata more than sakura.. unlike sakura hinata does keep her word.. and fought neji till she almost got killed.!! that takes guts..

Now as for the topic.. i never doubted that they would die.. and i would have been very sad if they did.. they proved that they are too kewl to die.. i mean they just showed how kewl they are.. killing them right after is kinda cruel.. T_T.. ^^ like i said before.. would have never believed that they died till they show a funeral scene or show their grave.... so since i never thought that they would die.. no i m not surprised..

[Mut]

Chouji should've died. That fat piece of worthless cow shit.

[ChaosK]

yes. complete agreement to that statement ^

[FireFox]

whats up with all the chouji hating? I think your just mad that he's BLACK! Or maybe cause he's fat...

In japan chouji would be like a sumo wrestler... they are very well respected. however, I'm not suprised that alot of you stigmatize him. I think he rocks.

neji is just a badass, you can't kill badasses. he has a new lease on life, so its good he lived. matter of fact, that new lease is what helped him survive.

[masamuneehs]

Don't hate Chouji just because he's fat! I think he is sorta silly and plays into the "I'm an always hungry fatass" stereotype (which is the writers' fault...)

But yes, I was surprised and disappointed by Neji and Chouji living. I like Naruto because it has an air of suspense and intrigue and can be dark and sad sometimes. I was on the edge of my seat because I was so afraid that the rest of the team might die, because it really did look like Chouji and Neji were in the Big Sleep, and because Shikamaru is my favorite.

But now, next mission, I can say I'll be confident that no matter how hurt or close to death people are, they won't die. the suspense is dead, because I feel that there's almost 0 chance of a Konoha ninja (any of the young ones at least) will die. I am not even intrigued about how bad their wounds are. At the end of the Chuunin semi-finals I thought that it was great, sad but great, that someone's dreams could be crushed by physical injury. But now it seems that their medical healers can fix anything, save anyone, get them back to tip-top shape. Major enemies dying can be sad, like in the first big mission, but good guys dying can be even more dramatic.

Without running the risk of killing of good guys, the creators cheapen their angsty backstories (presented before he/she falls unconscious), and the death of the bad guys too, who aren't worth jack shit at that point. They also kill the suspense and miss out on a potentially great character development catylst....

[folf]

Chouji doesn't suprise me too much.. His problem was drug induced, and it made sense that treatment was possible if they acted fast enough. I did think he would have had a good death though. Now, I don't think he will die, or if he does die, I'm not sure they will make a big deal about it, which is sad because has become more popular since his 'death.'

I am lazy about watching things, but as long as Neji's forhead thing didn't disappear, I don't care that he survived.
His near death didn't have the affect Chouji's death had on me.

[Eurasian]

I thought Chouji was going to die because his father already warned him not to take the red pill because there is a chance of death. Of course lady luck was on his side...-_-

[Terracosmo]

Surprised no, disappointed yes.

[Deblas]

I wasn't suprised. But if someone would have died, I can't imagine what would shikamaru do. Especially if it was Chouji.

[Darkcarnage]

i think Chouji should of died he took a pill that ravaged his body turing fat and all that in to chakra. and it not liek the medics where right there. took them awhile to get to them. if he would of died it would affected everyone and shanged them i think for the better. shikamaru i would fo thought become a stronger ninja cuase wanting to fihgt for his passed on friend and to keep other from died ever again.

Neji now was hurt and shot in the side but not a sure skill, he could of lived if he keep bleeding down. less mad he lived, beside i want to see him kick ass again some day :-)

everyone else living i was fine with even naruto had some bad injuries took more then one day to heal :-)

[Arsinoi]

I was actually glad they survived, Neji mostly because he is my fav Konoha character and such a good character doesn't deserve to be killed by some Sound bastard with six arms! As for Chouji, now that he is thin (not sure for how long though) I want to see Ino's reaction. She will ask him what kind of flash diet he followed to lose weight so easily seeing as to how she constantly compains about her figure! ^_^
Acomical touch to the series if I might say so!

[Hyuuga_Destiny]

I was wondering, what stops CHouji from carrying 4 pills each time?
The normal yellow, green & red combo + the antidote that Tsunade made.

Since he always carries the antidote, you could say he has an enormous strength now.
He could use it in any battle, since the effect of the red pill would be cancelled out.

I hope in the future that they don't overuse Tsunade, because you can say that she has an answer to anything...
So they won't have the characters to do something weird and eventually go to Tsunade to be healed.

It made the writer this much easier to have a reason not to kill of a character.

[Daedalous]

Perhaps a logical explanation to why he doesn't always carry the pills is that he's not always in a big group or in a big mission and if he had the 4 pills alltogether and someone got a hold of them his family secrets would be spread and the enemy would have both the "weapon" and the "sheath".

Then again, they probably will never give an explanation unless he gets spotlight again in an important fight they can always say what happened in one of those flashbacks we all love to hate.

[The Heretic Azazel]

I'm going along with what someone else said, the only reason Chouji survived is so Shikamaru wouldn't be impacted.

[ChaosK]

didnt really stop shika from being "impacted" exactly, he cried his guts out

[The Heretic Azazel]

Yeah but Chouji was still alive, he was feeling guilty because the mission put them in a dangerous situation.

[ChaosK]

well good think neiji didnt die he fought amazingly but chouji had to resort to "killing" himself.

[DarthEnderX]

I expected them to live till I saw they were not in the latest opening(good fake out by the animators btw), then I assumed they were dead. But yeah, I was dissapointed neither died. It takes alot of the suspense out of the show when you know nobody important is gonna die. As has been mentioned, Chouji's death would have been very poetic, and as has also been mentioned, we basically have a back-up Neji.

[Uchiha Barles]

Reviving this thread, because something is bothering me about this neiji vs. kidomaru fight. After watching it again and thinking a little about it, I realize the way it played out was complete BS (this seems to happen a lot in this series). There is no way in hell Neiji should've lost this fight, cursed seal lvl omega or not.

Lets review the powers bestowed upon our magnificent user of the byakugan:
1) Near 360 degree vision. Lets say 350, with the missing 10 degrees located where the story says it is.
2) Penetrating vision
3) Long range vision, up to 1 mile.

Ok, now lets review kidomaru's strategy.
1) Get far away from Neiji
2) Remain in his blind spot.
3) Fire arrows until Neiji goes *poot*

Now, my issue with this fight lies in Neiji's limitation on his power, and Kidomaru's ability to take advantage of it. Neiji has a very slight angle in which he cannot see located somewhere near one of the vertebrae in his neck. Volume of space that neiji cannot percieve increases as a function of the distance from neiji. So kidomaru uses this fact to stay away from neiji and remain in the blind sight....

How much movement on neiji's part do you think it takes to bring anything within his byakugan range that is in his blind spot, back into range of his all seeing eyes? Well, asuuming the blind spot is 10 degrees...fuck it 50 degrees, he would need to make a maximum rotation of about....you guessed it, 50 degrees. How much effort does that take? You can achieve that kind of rotation just by the movement your upper torso makes as you look around nervously. You don't even need to turn your body around completely. If Kidomaru was anywhere within the maximum distance that the byakugan could percieve, there is NO WAY he could hide from Neiji.

So lets assume he was outside of the 1 mile range. Let me make a note here. Kidomaru being outside of the one mile range, and able to attack neiji means that he has the ability to see through 1 mile of dense forest. Does the cursed seal grant eyesight to rival the powers of the byakugan? Bullshit. But I'll assume he could do this for argument's sake. So, neiji was able to dodge anything he could perceive with his byakugan. When kidomaru fires that arrow, time elapses from the point of fire to the point of contact with our dear hero neiji. In this time, neiji is moving about, perhaps nervously, looking for the whereabouts of his opponent, kidomaru, who apparently is god. All neiji has to do to ENSURE that the arrow does in fact come into his line of sight is to make an about face. In his sitution, I would do that many, many times, and not even as a part of a thought out strategy. Its just something you do when you're unsure of the direction of an attack, almost instinctually. There is no way Kidomaru could keep the arrow within neiji's blind spot once that happens. If neiji see's it, he dodges it.

Here comes Neiji for the win. One he gets a hold of the general direction of the attack, he dashes in that direction. He's bound to find kidomaru. WTF is kidomaru going to do? Keep his > 1mile distance from neiji and AT THE SAME TIME run in a circle to get back into a position where he can fire his attacks into Neiji's blind spot? Cuz that's exactly what he needs to do to not get killed. Once Neiji gets Kidomaru back into sight, its simply a matter of never letting him out of his sight again.

If kidomaru is fast enough to stay of neiji's range of vision, then it becomes a war of attrition. Who's going to run out of chakra first? Because basically, Kidomaru's not hitting neiji. Well, Neiji has his byakugan activated. That drains chakra, but I don't imagine it drains much. Kidomaru has the level 2 cursed seal activated. That drains chakra right out the wazoo. Plus, if neiji's on the defensive, using the byakugan to avoid attacks, Kidomaru is on the offensive, using chakra to power and guide the attacks. Neiji wins the war of attrition as well.

The strategy that had even the slightest chance of working was the first one kidomaru used. Stop Neiji's kaiten, and send a flurry of attacks, hoping that at least one made it through the blind sight. Even that is pushing it.

In conclusion, this fight was TOTAL BULLSHIT! Consequently, I'm ok with neiji being alive.

Edited for spelling, probably missed some things.
P.S. Hiding from the byakugan is bullshit! ok...its out of my system.

[darkmetal505]

i thought it was a little cooky also. Supposedly Kidomaru used his thread to direct the arrow with "pinpoint" precision to wherever Neji's blindspot was. He talks about it and it shows a little animation. But at that speed, I find it hard as to how he could change the direction so subtly. Another thing was the speed of the arrow. It was going quite fast (it blew apart trees), im not sure neji would have been able to react that fast. Who knows. Maybe Kidomaru's third eye helped his vision or something, afterall, he resembled a spider.

[Assassin]

You're complaining about spiderman changing the arrows' directions too subtly and too fast, while our pale hero is seeing all around him for a mile, and through solid objects?

when will you people realize, its a fucking anime series. stop over analyzing it.

[Terracosmo]

I think Barles analysis is great actually. Pretty funny to read too, and gave me that "damn, he's right" expression i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif

Given, I also thought that Neji was a bit too "lost" in that fight, but still - I never thought of it that way before.
Neji rules.

[masamuneehs]

the recent posts in this thread made me chuckle. Of course it was pure BS that a guy like Chouji won (and didn't die) while a better fighter in Neji almost got killed by a one-trick (albeit quite clever) archer type. And if you want to point out the difference in power between Jidanbou (whatever the fatass' name was) and Kidomaru, let me just remind you of the power difference between Neji and Chouji.

Barles shows a pretty good point.

But still, even more stupid than Neji actually getting so hurt is: how the hell did he survive a wound like that? Assume he didn't eat his Wheaties at breakfast or that he suddenly was struck by a brain fart and couldn't figure out what to do (which is what it looked like in the fight). The guy had a fucking hole through his chest, right around his heart! I see a wound that big, that close to the chest and I just say to myself 'that mofo is dead'. But, nope, Konoha ninja can't die, wouldn't want to lose out on selling more action figures (or whatever Kishimoto is thinking).

Next thing you know Haku will be up and walking again too!

[Terracosmo]

Fanservice, fanservice. Kishi doesn't dare to kill off popular characters. Maybe he's afraid to lose big parts of the fanbase i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif

[PSJ]

Kishi doesn't dare to kill off any character really, only the bad ones.

Neji should have died, you can't survive with a hole of that size for long, how fast was the medical squad? Were they hiding behind the closest tree?

But it is probably true that Neji didn't die because he sells action figures and shit, but i think the same goes for Chouji after his super heroic win against Jiroubou.

Lastly Neji is boring, i fail to see why everyone likes him.

[darkmetal505]

Originally posted by: Assassin
You're complaining about spiderman changing the arrows' directions too subtly and too fast, while our pale hero is seeing all around him for a mile, and through solid objects?

when will you people realize, its a fucking anime series. stop over analyzing it.

were not, we're just speculating.

plus we have no life.

[Necromas]

In the manga they didn't really make it seem like they died for so long and suddenly have them come back, so it wasn't a big suprise to me.

[master_me]

Barles makes a good point, but honestly, you can't have a genin (even Neji) beat the living shit out of one of Orochimaru's top subordinates. If that actually happened, there would be a whole other contoversy about how "Neji's a ****ing powerhouse!" aside from this. It wouldn't look good.

[XanBcoo]

I thought Neji's range of vision with the Byakugan was ~50 meters, not a mile.

If that's true, then it makes the fight more plausible, as Kidomaru could easily hide from Neji while still being able to snipe at him from such a distance.

[DarthEnderX]

Ah, see, there's the flaw in his analysys. 50 meters is the range of his all around vision. He also has 1 mile see through vision, but it's extremely narrow. It's like, okay, I can see a mile away, a spot 20 feet wide. And even doing that has to concentrate.

Kido doesn't have to be a mile away. He just has to be more than 50 meters away and not be DIRECTLY in front of Neji to avoid being seen.

[masamuneehs]

Without either of those two actually busting out a tapemeasurer in that episode we're never going to know if Kido was out of Neji's range or not.

But darth, and I might be wrong here, assuming Neji can only focus on a spot 20 feet wide (6 meters) past 50 meters away.
If Kido gets past 50 feet away, and Neji doesn't initially know what direction he went, Kido's distance from Neji is enough to not get cought in his All-Around Vision.
What's more (still assuming Neji doesn't know where to look for Kido) the circumference of the circle that Neji has to scan to find Kido is 157 meters (515 feet)
That mean's Neji has to do about 26 long distance Byakugan scans (even more if Kido is farther away than 50 meters)

But, once Neji KNOWS Kido is aiming for his blind spot.... well then unless Kido is really fast (he is a ninja with many arms, traveling through forest is probably easy) then Neji's search distance (after dodging/cringing) will only have a 50/50 chance of finding Kido (assuming Kido moves from his sniping spot, which he'd be a fool not to do). If Neji scans to the right of the sniper point, but Kido moved in the other direction, he won't catch him (hence the 50/50). All of the success in this method depends on if Neji can do a Long Distance Byakugan search faster than Kido can run a distance of 20 feet. If Kido can move faster than Neji can scan, Neji won't be able to see where he is.

Here's where Neji can (and should, if he's any good) win the fight. Kido is going for his blind spot. All Neji has to do is dodge twice, facing the direction the arrow came from each time. Between the first arrow and the second is the time it'll take for Kido to move to the spot, set up and fire. And Neji should also know by now that Kido is aiming from his blind spot. Neji takes 5-10 seconds off the time he projects for Kido's travel and he can rush Kido while the guy is readying his attack.

They should really teach these ninjas some math (although my analysis depends on alot of unsure numbers, most just suggested by people in this thread.) Neji, however, should know how far, how wide and how fast he can search an area though.

[ImitationSanen]

After exerting all that effort, im surprised Choji didn't have a coronary. Its a wonder any thing can even move in those Cholesterol filled veins. Hes always eating chips >_<

Neji is too arrogant to die just yet. I don't like his attitude, but he has the stuff to back it up seems like, so why not?

If only someone would take out Sakura, that would make me happy!

[Mastercus]

Originally posted by: ImitationSanen
After exerting all that effort, im surprised Choji didn't have a coronary. Its a wonder any thing can even move in those Cholesterol filled veins. Hes always eating chips >_<

Neji is too arrogant to die just yet. I don't like his attitude, but he has the stuff to back it up seems like, so why not?

If only someone would take out Sakura, that would make me happy!

Now Y would you want Sakura Dead??? She is one of the stars of the show and hey she is training hard to be a medical Ninja to prove herself to the likes of you.

[LobsterMagnet]

I honestly thought it would have been much more dramatic if Kishimoto had choosen to kill both of them off. They got some really good death scenes as well. Annoys me that he didn't in the end though.

[Kraco]

That's very true. All shows must end once, and Naruto is a story about Naruto and Sasuke, mainly, so it would have been reasonable that Neji and Choji would have already served their purposes. They had nice fights and scenes in the chuunin exam and the chase, so they wouldn't have been superficial characters. Their funeral (and reminiscence) would have made a really good scene as well. Much better probably than their recovery. Whatever happens after the time jump, I'm pretty sure it could have been written even without Neji and Choji.

But I guess Naruto is too lightweight a series for such things to happen. Unfortunately.

[NineTailsKitsu]

Ahh, but the Deaths of Neji and Choji would have solidified the hatred of the kunoha to Orochimaru and those involved with him, Sasuke being among them. Not to mention, one of the main premise of the series is how Naruto changes people. I.E, Garaa and Neji, both characters have come a long way due to the change in outlook brought on by Naruto. Killing off Neji would have deterred from that changing of destiny that Naruto worked to achieve, and undermine our hero.

[Kraco]

Not at all. If Naruto hadn't changed Neji, it's quite likely Neji wouldn't have fought so close to death just to save somebody he hardly knew (especially when "saving" Sasuke was a somewhat dubious undertaking in general, considering the risks). After all, before Naruto taught him otherwise, the sole purpose of Neji's existence seemed to be to mourn his lost freedom and cultivate his feelings of hatred and contempt. Being able to risk his life for something he believes in, no matter what he previously thought his destiny is, is part of what he learnt after the fight with Naruto.

[DarthEnderX]

Originally posted by: MastercusNow Y would you want Sakura Dead??? She is one of the stars of the show and hey she is training hard to be a medical Ninja to prove herself to the likes of you.Yeah, she's totally busting her ass so she can move up from being the Naruto equivalent of Bulma to the Naruto equivalent of Dende. Lofty goals!

[NineTailsKitsu]

Originally posted by: DarthEnder


Originally posted by: MastercusNow Y would you want Sakura Dead??? She is one of the stars of the show and hey she is training hard to be a medical Ninja to prove herself to the likes of you.Yeah, she's totally busting her ass so she can move up from being the Naruto equivalent of Bulma to the Naruto equivalent of Dende. Lofty goals!

Hey....I thought we were cutting out the DBZ references. Besides....Atleast Sakura is hotter than Dende, and not A-Sexual.

[DarthEnderX]

Originally posted by: NineTailsKitsu
Hey....I thought we were cutting out the DBZ references.Never!

I'll be 90 years old on my deathbed comparing Sasuke the 6th from Naruto GT Seed Destiny to Vegeta!

[Aramis]

Chouji/Neji won their fights and it would have been too lame to die from the wounds made by some goon characters.