Flashbacks

[j00b]

Since so much of my time in the Naruto episode discussions is wasted arguing about whether or not there should be flashbacks, I have decided to start a thread.

In my opinion, the flashbacks are great. They provide information about character history so it isn't just pointless killing (if it were, it would be boring after 3 or 4 episodes). We are coming into Naruto's life pretty late, so the flashbacks are useful. They also help to show similarities between characters, lets us know why they act the way they do, and guides our feelings about the characters. I used to think that Gaara was just an extremely powerful "person" with a short temper (like Naruto) and killed for that reason alone. After all of the flashbacks, I see that he had a terrible childhood in which nobody at all loved him and he saw that he could trust no one. This made me sort of feel sorry for him, although I still want Naruto to kick his ass.

Thanks for posting here instead of in the discussion for the latest episode.

[Mut]

flash backs such as sakura's are stupid, but there are some cool ones.

[Kagari]

Yay! Now all the ninnies can come here and stop littering the discussion threads!!!

Look, now you can all whine and I don't ever have to check this thread again!

[kage_bunshin]

personally i find the flashbacks to be quite nice to watch, but it gets irritating when there is a flashback inside another flashback... for e.g. ep77 of gaara's flashback

[ad4mz41]

Flashbacks are ok only if only they have some good ninja action to show for what happened.

[HimizujinEternia]

I have found the flashbacks to be really good- when they improved character development. Sakura's flashback, Lee's flashback, Hinata's flashback, Neji's flashback, the numerous Naruto and Gaara flashbacks, heck, even Zaku's flashback got a positive response out of me.

However, if I see that Kunai throw from the end of episode 8 one more time, I'll scream. Overdone recap flashbacks are unwarranted in my eyes.

[Assertn]

yes, just in case there havent been enough flashback discussions

[Destiny]

I personally think 90% of the flashbacks are a waste of time. Throughout the series i've seen so far, there has only been one flashback that i was happy with.
Except for the flashbacks during the Zabuza saga, those were alright, from what i can remember anyway.

[Raven]

So would you rather not see the background information of characters?

The flashbacks are necessary to flesh out the characters and show who they are. The show would be pretty lifeless and boring if we didn't know anything about the characters we were watching, why would you bother?

[Mut]

more flash backs of the 4th plz.

[j00b]

Originally posted by: AssertnFailure
yes, just in case there havent been enough flashback discussions

The reason that I decided to set this up was that there were too many flashback discussions in the wrong place (official episode discussions) and i hoped that this would help to weed some of those out so the discussions can talk about what they are supposed to be discussing.



Originally posted by: Mut@t@
more flash backs of the 4th plz.

Unfortunately, I cannot decide what the flashbacks are about. (wouldn't it be great if you could somehow become a character in an anime and then you could think of their past? Of course they would need photographic memories)

[Destiny]

Originally posted by: CmDr_RavEn
So would you rather not see the background information of characters?

The flashbacks are necessary to flesh out the characters and show who they are. The show would be pretty lifeless and boring if we didn't know anything about the characters we were watching, why would you bother?

I never said that. The flashbacks are good, it's the amount and the placing that's bothering me. I must've misleaded a bit, but i'll just point out the 2 main probs i find with the flashbacks:
1 - most flashbacks are repetative.
2 - they're all cut up and scattered all over the episode (Namely Sakura's one, ugh...).
Sometimes it's feels like they tell the story, then they repeat it one word at a time so that the younger audience would get a better idea of whats going on. Flashbacks in Rurouni Kenshin were absolutely awsome and emotional becos it doesnt take you one step at a time, it is placed nicely in an episode and isn't cut up all over the place. If you enjoy all of the Naruto flashbacks, that's perfectly fine, it is an awsome series. I just feel that this kinda makes the Naruto series seem like the younger brother of animes.

[r3n]

flashbacks of unseen footage are always welcome (except when sakura is involved), its when u get flashbacks of something naruto said 20 episodes ago, and they jst bulk out the episode so theres less new things happening, that pisses me off. and even when something good does happen u know its gunna be in a flashback 20 episodes in the future.

[itachi_]

Anime should contain flashbacks otherwise it's hard to get a propper view of the character, it's nice too.

The Naruto flashbacks are really good.

[Jeff_from_MD]

the flashbacks are integral to the series, and if they want to present a flashback that lasts a whole episode long, then more power to 'em.

BUT, what irritates ME is the timing of the flashbacks... If they want large flashbacks, don't freakin' show the two characters in their battle stance first, or intersperse a weeny punch or kick along with 10 min of fleshing out the character!!! Just....DO ONE OR THE OTHER, and not mislead the viewer into anticipating a fight if all you really wanted to do was focus on a character's past.


------------

Here is the exception tho: if the flashback to be inserted is important to change the trajectory of the fight itself in mid-fight scene.

Good Use of Flashback: Rock lee deciding to rebound vs. his fight with Gaara, after thinking back on how Gai-sensei believed in him

Conversely, if the flashback is thrown in there so randomly, that it doesn't exactly steer the battle elsewhere, then just keep it at the start of the episode man!

Poor timing of Flashback: In ep. 77, where Naruto's about to lunge at Gaara and suddenly the image of Sakura in her defensive stance pops up out of nowhere again!! I mean get reallll! If you want to tie Sakura's image with Gaara's past, do it BEFORE Naruto takes the lunge. It's not like the flashback prevented gaara from whipping naruto with his tail 2 seconds later....


-----------

so, what I'm saying is is that it's cruel to make us anticipate a battle and then show flashbacks that bear no meaning to the immediate flow of the battle. Unless the flashback is relevant to the fight, show the flashback before the fight. Even if it means devoting 30 minutes just on flashbacks, at least I'll know that's the primary theme of the week to concentrate on? Then I would not be irritated in the least.

[010577]

My view on flashbacks: They serve a purpose.

1) everyone NOT posting on this thread means they haven't watched every ep. and they need some fillers to understand what's going on.

2) its supposed to give insight on why a certain character feels a certain way that is not evident right away

OK I think we should set rules for flashbacks too:
1) they can't be more than 3 minutes long.
2) they are not allowed to lower the drama level from where the flashback starts
3) FLASHBACKS ARE NOT ALLOWED TO CUT INTO THE EP., AND PUSH THE FIGHT TO NEXT EP.! ... unless they are ready to air another on the same week!

On general, I think there are good flashbacks as long as they follow the rules. Like 3rd's one with the students and teachers etc. It serves a purpose, and makes us understand why he is fighting so hard.
Another good one too is Ebisu's one of Konohamaru. Where he is doing push ups and stuff.

[Assertn]

Originally posted by: j00b


Originally posted by: AssertnFailure
yes, just in case there havent been enough flashback discussions

The reason that I decided to set this up was that there were too many flashback discussions in the wrong place (official episode discussions) and i hoped that this would help to weed some of those out so the discussions can talk about what they are supposed to be discussing.

maybe so.....but i'll still be surprised if people dont comment about flashbacks in the episode discussions the next time it happens i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif

[Gods_Son]

People will probably bitch about the flashbacks either way, this just gives them another place to do it. I don't mind purposeful flashbacks, but I don't really care for flashbacks of characters that I don't like (Sakura/Ino). Repeated flashbacks usually aren't necessary either, other than that they're fine.

[j00b]

Originally posted by: AssertnFailure

maybe so.....but i'll still be surprised if people dont comment about flashbacks in the episode discussions the next time it happens i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif

Yes, but i hope that this will help to lower the amount...If they see this thread, hopefully they will come here instead.

[Destiny]

Hehe, not likely. If there's gonna b bitching, it'll b in the episode discussion thread

[Neji-Aniki-sama]

Originally posted by: Mut@t@
flash backs such as sakura's are stupid, but there are some cool ones.

Not really. If you pay attention, you will realize how she screwed up her best friend, the person who help her out gaining some self-confidence... And over what? A boy and one like Sasuke?
Obviously, in the long run, Ino's care for her didn't help, she was as useless as a kid as she is now. But that goes to show that, besides being lame, she has no character at all.
I saw those chapters yesterday, Ino can be annoying but she is smarter than Sakura and has a much better character than her.

[Rek]

actually, I think they were trying to show how Sakura was in Ino's shadow for a while, and had a mad inferiority complex (so she had to develop an inner personality... made of chalk no less) and in the end, she over came that... and it kinda seems as if they are friends again... and sasuke's becoming a little less desireable...

And I dun like Ino so much, because she's so controlling... she commanded Sakura around for so long, took control of her group... even tho she's pretty weak, and specializes in a jutsu that controls people. What a first rate biatch no?

[Mut]

no, some flash backs are still stupid.

[gokudagreat]

yea the flashbacks give the characters more depth, but its just getting boring at this point

[Neji-Aniki-sama]

Originally posted by: Konoha Rek


And I dun like Ino so much, because she's so controlling... she commanded Sakura around for so long, took control of her group... even tho she's pretty weak, and specializes in a jutsu that controls people. What a first rate biatch no?

Well, Ino is not my fav character, by far, still, a hundred times better than Sakura.
Shika's jutsu is about controlling people, when all of them are, if you think that beaten people into a pulp is a way to control them. But I digress.
Yeah, Sakura was living in Ino's shadow, but in order to avoid that, she didn't have to end her friendship.
Losing a friend at that age can be a painful experience, if anything. Besides, I don't really see Ino controlling Sakura. Basically she told her that she was beautiful, defended her against that Amy jerk and told her that she should blossom... I think that's being a good friend.
What did Sakura do? She said, oh you like Sasuke, too so I am not your friend anymore...sheesh even for a kid it's a bit of an outrageus behavior. And, *all* the girls liked Sasuke, wasn't that a clue for Sakura to *like* some other guy? I mean, let's be realistic...
In any case, I think Sakura was ungrateful and most likely hurt Ino a lot.

[Rek]

...yeah, I agree with you, but I do think Ino was controlling Sakura... just not directly, willingly or unwillingly.

Sakura just really looked up to Ino and emulated her... which probably is why she is so used to controlling people.

but, now I think about it... Shika does have a contolling technique... thats really weird of the powers that be to team them up like that...

[Neji-Aniki-sama]

Originally posted by: Konoha Rek
...yeah, I agree with you, but I do think Ino was controlling Sakura... just not directly, willingly or unwillingly.

Sakura just really looked up to Ino and emulated her... which probably is why she is so used to controlling people.

but, now I think about it... Shika does have a contolling technique... thats really weird of the powers that be to team them up like that...

I think their jutsus can work together. First, you imobilize the enemy then you enter in his mind. They're perfect for espionage.
And, Shika *does* need a woman to boss him around...like it or not.
If Ino grew up and stop running after Sasuke, she'd be a way different person, IMO. And if Ino is a hundred times better than Sakura, Shika is like a thousand times better than Sasuke.
They should show more of their team. Shika paralizes them, Ino enters their minds and Chouji finishes the job by steam rolling them... Yeah, when you come to think Ino-Shika-Cho *is* a very intersting formation

[Zansatsu]

Originally posted by: Mut@t@
more flash backs of the 4th plz.

yes plz me is wanting those too

[BigMac]

so there are flashbacks..wat r u gonna do about it??

[Destiny]

Not like u can do much about it. Like it or not, it's there

[chaos4ever4]

I can only think of only three flashbacks that were worth the time that they occupied in the series

1> Haku's history
2> Gaara's history
3> Naruto in ep 78 realizing what 'true strength' is. However, it wasn't the content that was so good, but more of a very fast scene sequence that accumulated, basically, the whole series, all the way from episode 1.

Though they may be obvious, they are also integral to the whole series and the arcs that they were involved in. A lot of other flashbacks were just useless, and just ended up being time fillers, especially those in the preliminary fighting matches. My god. Those were painful to sit through