Rock Lee interpretation

[aphextwinjunkie]

One thing I could never understand is why people like Rock Lee so much. From my interpretation Rock Lee symbolizes a hard working average American. He is not somebody who is talented, exceptional or special in any way but his drive. His credo is; through hard work and determination, I can advance myself. By basically maiming Rock Lee to the point of inability to perform as a ninja, the people responsible for the manga/anime are saying that hard work and determination will only get you so far, you need to be born talented/elite. This makes much sense since Japanese are very elitist (based purely on personal experience, no stereotyping intended). To me, anybody with interest in Rock Lee is celebrating the fact that the Japanese believe somebody must be born with talent to succeed in life.

[JusDaMan]

yea ok im in high school so i got no idea wat u just said but ITS A AVERAGE HARD WORKING JAPANESE DOOD not american =P Lol but yea... Wat u just said in my words...


Blah bla bla bla doood shibby ish yea REALLY!

No offence to u =P Just that i do not understand a single sentence that said Lol either the words r too hard or too easy

[thetruehooha]

Hard work can overcome anything. It can send men to the moon, and it can overcome inability.

[aphextwinjunkie]

Well in American society we would like to think that hard work can overcome most things. The way it seems though is that they are implying hard work can only go so far. And btw, JusDaman, maybe highschoolers speak a different language but i cant understand a word you said either.

[~JoY~]

i tot it shd be the other way ard?
rmb dat neji is alwayz telling naruto when u're born ur fate has already been decided and u can't do nth if u aren't born wifout talent blahblahblah?
well.. i guess naruto's suppose to prove him wrong and he is after all the main char.

The Rock Lee part frm wat i think is probably saying even if u dun have talents in sth, u will have talents in other stuff, like his taijutsu... er.. i think.. haha

neway, diff ppl think differently.. ^^;

[Power PMV]

I think you have to be born with talent to succeed in live. But I also think that everyone is born with talent just in different areas. For example, there arepeople that no matter how hard they try they will never be able to play piano like Mozart or play basketball like NBA guys, but then they are probably very talented in some other areas, maybe they are very good drawing or are really smart. The point is that to succeed you just have to do what you are good at.

On the other hand I don't think that's what Kishimoto is trying to portray, I think he tries to aim for exactly the opposite. Maybe you have a point with Rock Lee, which I don't believe since he will probably come back anyways and kick more ass than before. But then there are other examples of people who have improved themselves through hard work, the clearest one is obviously Naruto. If you remember the first episode what was Naruto's worst skill? Bunshin no jutsu. Currently what is Naruto's best skill? Kage bunshin no jutsu, a harder version of bunshin no jutsu. So I think Kishimoto actually is trying to say that hard work will take you somewhere.

[aphextwinjunkie]

The difference between rock lee and naruto is that naruto was born with the nine tails fox inside him, which translates to some kind of ability. Lee was born with little or no ability and was not much of a ninja untill Gai came along.

[thetruehooha]

Forum rules number 10:

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>10) NO ENGRISH&#33; im not joking about this. no more shitty english. this means using PERIODS when they are necessary, no shit like using 2 for to or ne1 for anyone, and using proper grammar whenever possible. spell everything out unless there is an acceptable abbreviation. failure to comply will result in us making fun of you in the IRC channel.
</td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'>

Learn to spell.

[aphextwinjunkie]

They have only hinted at being able to revive Rock Lee in the very late chapters of the manga. Finally somebody who can spell and use proper sentences in the post, hah.

[Power PMV]

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (aphextwinjunkie &#064; Dec 2 2003, 05:16 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> The difference between rock lee and naruto is that naruto was born with the nine tails fox inside him, which translates to some kind of ability. Lee was born with little or no ability and was not much of a ninja untill Gai came along. </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'>
so what, he didn&#39;t master kage bunshin no jutsu because of kyubi. Kyubi just provides him with a huge amount of chakra, not with skill. He has been training like everyone else, his skills have improved because of training not because of Kyubi. Even with his Kyubi his chakra control was worse than Sakura&#39;s. How did he fix that? He climbed trees and walked on water. That&#39;s not Kyubi&#39;s help, it&#39;s Naruto&#39;s hard work.

Edit: And about Rock Lee coming back, I don&#39;t think that&#39;s a spoiler. It&#39;s just an assumption. There have been many posts about that in this part of the forum, it seems the most logical thing since Rock Lee is such a popular character.

[aphextwinjunkie]

Very true Power PMV... just the way the maimed Rock Lee makes me wonder about the hard work ethic

[SeGee]

average hard working american? Where would you see a average american devote his life for something he loves? Rock Lee worked so hard that he made himself special. No one could compete with his power (apart from gaara). He was the best kohona genin. easy kill Neji

+ He has a handicap, only be able to fight hand to hand combat. Mastering Taijutsu the way he did is impressive comparing to the rest. The speed which exceedes most of the jounins (just speculating here, atleast fastest genin).

[aphextwinjunkie]

I definitly wouldnt agree with Rock Lee easily being able to kill Neji. Rock Lee wanted to fight Neji, but never had previously been able to beat him. You see Americans all the time dedicating themselves to things.

[SeGee]

hm I think you should stop comparing this anime to america... dont think that americans are the only people who are hardworking

[Darkflare]

how i see it is that people like rock lee because they like the fact that he is so good in taijutsu. not because they look into the fact that it does kind of show that hard work can only get you so far. but as you can see, even after being shot down, he gets back up and keeps working to accomplish what he has been working for.

[Kagari]

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (~JoY~ @ Dec 2 2003, 05:14 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> i tot it shd be the other way ard?
rmb dat neji is alwayz telling naruto when u&#39;re born ur fate has already been decided and u can&#39;t do nth if u aren&#39;t born wifout talent blahblahblah?
well.. i guess naruto&#39;s suppose to prove him wrong and he is after all the main char.

The Rock Lee part frm wat i think is probably saying even if u dun have talents in sth, u will have talents in other stuff, like his taijutsu... er.. i think.. haha

neway, diff ppl think differently.. ^^; </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'>
wtf?






anyway yeah, Rock lee has nothing to do with american or japanese. He&#39;s just another character who comes from a different kind of past, one that required him to work harder than others.

[aphextwinjunkie]

When did I ever say Americans were the only hardworking people?

[SeGee]

I could agree on that. Most Rock lee fans came forward after 48-49 or whatever episode it was, vs gaara

[aphextwinjunkie]

I always saw rock lee as a way for japanese to poke fun at americans. But again thats just me.

[SeGee]

no where, but after refering almost every answer to americans makes me think that you would