Two weeks ago I attended my first Anime convention ever! The convention is called Anime Weekend Atlanta and it’s held in Cobb Galleria. I have never attented a convention of any type before, so this was really an awesome experience for a newbie like me ^_^ !
I want to apologize to some of the people who checked here frequently looking for the pictures and didn’t see them yet. School nerfed my blogging abilities a bit, so I wasn’t able to post them like I promised… and when I realized that there wont be any chapter of Naruto this week, I thought it would be a great idea to release this post today in hopes that it makes this dry period (no manga T___T) a little less dry. ^^ I also want to apologize in advance for the quality of some of the photographs. I am a newbie photographer, so I was struggling in some of the indoor shots but I tried my best to put my photography skills to work with my temporary Nikon lol. xD
The event was packed with TONS of Naruto cosplay!! I took pictures of everything.. EVERYTHING! lol. When you look at the pictures, you will see that the character Tobi is present in many of the pictures. That would be my friend and classmate Mario. ^^ He isn’t a newbie to Anime conventions like me (plus he is an extremely talented illustrator!), so I was pretty lucky to have someone show me the ropes! As soon as I purchased my pass, I went “shutter happy” and snapped well over 1k pictures ^__^ Fortunately for you, I narrowed them down to 100 and split the posts into two. Enough of me talking though! Here are the pics! Enjoy =)
I really loved shooting her. Yes, her! The camerad love her! ^__^
Shooting these three both together and solo was so much fun ^__^
Anbu Kakashi!! The camera loved her! Every shot was beautiful! *_*
Mario-san came up with this idea and I thought it was the BEST!!!! Rock Lee did a great job too. *__*
Creative!!! T___T She took two balls and wrapped them in newspaper and painted them. ;__; It came out great!!
I love! So cute with the book and stuff ^^
Mario-sama(Tobi) vs Minato!
lol ^^
lolz ^^
These pictures really don’t do this guy any justice. He looked even better in person!
His Sharingan contacts looked sooo cool up close *.*
Look, it’s Yuffie! ^^
This awesome guy is Staph the Artist, a fellow classmate! His girlfriend made the jacket, doesn’t it look cool?! He runs www.testtubelabs.net and has some pretty amazing art!! xD! I wish I took more pictures of his work because he really had some beautiful stuff on display.
So this weeks chapter of Naruto manga chapter 511 titled “We’ll All Come Home” is finally here and gave us closure to Jiraiya’s three pupils. Many people seem to be disappointed with this weeks chapter, but given the explosive amount of information that Kishimoto revealed last week, I think any chapter after that would have a difficult time matching what last weeks chapter had to offer.
Kishimoto gives us one final flashback from Konan and this time it’s Jiraiya and a younger Konan, Yahiko, and Nagato in frog suits. I want one!! Super Mario Brothers 3, anyone? ;D Anyway, I felt this this flashback added more depth to Konan, Nagato, and Yahiko. I felt like most of the pages were just filler pages, but we did learn a few things from this flashback! First, we learned how great Yahiko can emulate Jiraiya’s pervert face. Second, we got an idea of how Nagato, Konan, and Yahiko were able to fend for themselves after Jiraiya left – he obviously prepared these three pretty darn well. I thought the way he used the cards was pretty cute. And third, if you couldn’t tell from last weeks chapter, then you definitely know now that Konan and Yahiko were more than just friends and Nagato didn’t seem to mind, either. ^.~
The last two pages of this chapter were the best pages in this chapter in my opinion. My friends share mixed reactions about Madara’s new mask and outfit, but personally, I like it… very much. I think the design of his mask is pretty nice looking. I like how the two lower tomoes are holes for his eyes, and the pattern of the rinnegan plastered over his new mask looks pretty cool, too. It looks like the Jyuubi with less tomoes and rinnegan ripples. Though, I am a bit bothered that we can’t see his face and hair. I guess I’ll have to continue to be trolled by Kishimoto until I can see a full glimpse ^__^;; I feel like Madara is Madara, but in the back of my mind, I am still a bit suspicious about his identity. Oh well..
This page is pretty nice! I am excited to see Kabuto again. Kabuto tells Madara, “Well, you ran into a spot of trouble but you got a nice set of eyes in return.” and Madara replies, “They were mine to begin with.” I am still wondering what he means when he says that. I can think of several meanings to this, but it’s still too early to for us to know so I guess time will eventually explain what he meant when he said that. Another thing that I thought was interesting was when Zetsu said, “Everything’s going our way”. Hmmm … what does he mean when he says that? ;D These guys really seem to have the upper hand right now, and I am just hoping that Naruto and company are still not trapped in Kisame’s water prison technique. That would be hilarious. xD This page also shows a much better visual of Madara’s new get up (outfit). He’s no longer wearing the robe which to me, says that Akatsuki is officially dead (>.<'). It seem's that he's been poking around his closet and decided to pull out his outfit and Uchiha fan that he wore during his battle with the First Hokage, Hashirama. I think Madara 3.0 (I say this because it's his third mask we've seen) looks rather nice. It looks Modern, and I cant even begin to wonder what new abilities he has acquired from obtaining Nagato's rinnegan.
Oh yes, and since Kabuto 2.0/Kabuchimaru (lol) is on the same page as Zetsu and Madara, I guess I should ramble about him, too! I think that if Orochimaru were alive, in this situation, he would side with the “good guys” or at least operate as an ally to Konoha. It’s no secret that Orochimaru always considered Akatsuki an enemy. On a sidenote, whatever happened to his ring from Akatsuki? Does Kabuto have it??? Anyway, It was one of the main reasons he never chose to take out some of the Leaf ninja that he and Kabuto encountered. Remember when Orochimaru told Kabuto that Naruto and company should stay alive because they will help them with their own goal of taking out Akatsuki members? Orochimaru-sama obviously knew what he was doing when he said that because several Akatsuki have been eliminated by Konoha ninjas just like he anticipated (Hidan, Kakuzu, Sasori, Kisame, Pain). It would not surprise me if Kabuto, who has always been loyal to Orochimaru, would continue to use the Leaf to take out his enemies just like his predecessor, Orochimaru, did. That would explain why he left such an obvious trail to Madaras hideout for Anko and the other Leaf ninja to find. Whatever the case may be, I think Kabuto 2.0 has deeper motives than just Sasuke. But only time will tell ^__^!
So at the very end of this chapter, Madara says that it’s time to capture the Kyuubi. I am a little confused because I was under the impression that the Kyuubi has to be captured last, but now that Madara has the rinnegan this may not be so much of a priority. Whatever the case may be, I do NOT think Madara will be attacking the village alone. I expect to see some sort of assistance whether it be from Sasuke with his new EMS (Madara did say he will make Sasuke fight him), Akatsuki/Jiraiya zombies via Edo Tensei, Zetsu attacking the village, or all the above. I wonder if Madara will use any Bijuu when he attacks the village and if he does, which one(s)? Kishimoto wont be giving us any Naruto next Wednesday =( Instead, he will be showing his new manga called Bench. So, we will not see Naruto chapter 512 until the 10/6/10 which is unfortunate, but fortunately for you fandomers, just to make that day slightly more entertaining, I will be posting 100 pictures of mostly Naruto cosplay that was taken when I attended my first Anime convention ever, Anime Weekend Atlanta (AWA) on that same mangaless day! It was a lot of fun and a totally awesome experience! So be sure to check back!
Wow! This weeks chapter of Naruto manga 510 titled A Shocking Forbidden Technique is here at last and it was nothing short of boring! If anything it was explosive and in some aspects, epic! My apologies for missing last weeks review, school has kept me quite busy the past weeks but I finally had the time to write a review and boy, did Kishimoto give us a great chapter that explained many things, but also gave us many new questions. Let’s begin!
Konan has been out of the spotlight for some a while, but during that time she was watching Madara from the shadows. And thanks to Konan, we are able to get some pretty nice insight on Madara’s phasing abilities. Konan reveals that Madara’s dimensional transfer failed because he has to solidify himself before he can absorb and that it always takes longer to absorb someone or something else. It appears that Madara’s phasing abilities have a degree of vulnerability as we learn from Konan that Madara can only remain intangible for around five minutes at a time, which means that Madara has to be extremely careful about his next move because Konan has prepared six hundread BILLION explosive tags! Wow! That’s OVER 9000!!! But really…. 600,000,000,000?! Let’s take a second to fathom that number for a second… never mind, I can’t. Did she kill the entire Amazon Rain forest lol?! Insane. The quantity of explosive tags are so much that she has 10 minutes of continuous explosions! Konan has really did her homework on analyzing Madara and taking advantage of the Madaras phasing abilities. Konan is extremely strong. I am still wondering how she even found the time to produce such a large volume of tags, but I guess that’s another story. =P Some of my friends have shared that they feel that female characters in Naruto are not strong which I have always disagreed with, as I think Konan is the person who can put silly claims like that to rest.
As Konan sets off the explosive tags, Madara is shown breaking off the right side of his mask. Shortly after, he appears behind Konan and reveals a second sharingan. This surprised me on many levels. We have never seen this much of present day Madara’s face exposed and I’m sure the Naruto fandom went crazy with rumors and theories about Madara and that second sharingan… I know I did.
The scene switches to Konan who has prepared a peacfeful resting place for Nagato and Yahiko that I thought was beautiful and disturbing at the same time. In one way, I am bothered by the fact that she left Nagato and his rinnegan out in the open. I would have thought that she would have destroyed it, or at least made things so that it would be less easier for Madara to take. But on the flip side, these are her childhood friends, and Yahiko was her partner and Nagato was her best friend and Amegakure’s pride, so it makes sense why she would prepare such a beautiful resting place for her friends and not doing things like ripping out Nagato’s eyes just because of Madara. I wish Kishi gave us a little more information on this resting place Konan created for Yahiko and Nagato. There is a large rinnegan on the floor. I wonder if that has a purpose?
Madara reveals that he survived Konan’s attack due to Izanagi. This again proves how strong Konan is as she was able to not only find a weakness in Madara’s abilities, but also force Madara to use a technique like Izanagi. This explains why Madara broke off the left side of his mask before Konan set off 10 minutes of continuous explosions, but things get more juicy when Madara reveals that Izanagi is a technique that can only be used by someone who has both the powers of the Uchiha and Senju! It also looks like his left eye is closing much like the sharingans did on Danzo’s arm when he used Izanagi, but I have a feeling that he may have plenty of other sharingans in stock if his left eye has permanently lost it’s light.
Madara tells Konan that she has earned the right to learn a little about Madara’s techniques and history and takes us on yet another trip down memory lane. According to Madara, Izanagi was originally a jutsu used by the Sage of the Six Paths to “create.” Madara says that the Uchiha and Senju at one time were one in the same and that Rikudo Sage was, in essence, Uchiha and Senju as he possessed both of the bloodlines which allowed him to create many things like the tailed beasts we have heard so much about.
Madara questions the legitimacy of the “legend” surrounding the outcome of his battle with Hashirama, the First Hokage. For the longest, we have thought that Hashirama was the one who was victorious…. but was he? Not according to Madara. Madara says that the true winner is the one who chooses to focus on the future. I guess thats why Madara left after the 4th Hokage wounded him. Madara reveals another surprise by sharing that he fought the battle against Hashirama just to gain access to his abilities. Madara having Hashirama’s powers? Wow. This really makes me question just WHAT happened during that battle with Hashirama and Madara. I hope that sometime in the future Kishi will give us a flashback that sheds light on this battle we have heard so much about for years.
Well theres a shocker. “You overexerted your powers so much that the Uzumaki Clan’s trademark red hair turned snow white.” Uzumaki Nagato. I can see the huge wave of theories incoming from that. =P This entire time it was in front of me and I never made the connection. This explains Nagato’s hair color and why he was so incredibly strong… full of life and longevity. I wonder if Jiraiya knew this? I think its possible that Nagato was unaware about his background much like how Naruto didn’t know about his past, too. Though, I still have questions about the Uzumaki and the rinnegan and if there is some connection between those two, but as of now, we know so little that it’s hard to say. There is also the information that we learned regarding the Six Paths. What are the Six Paths that he is part of? Are they Bloodlines? Abilities? Elements? Or maybe all of the above? Only time will tell. Stay tuned for next week chapter of Naruto 511!
It’s an origami bird.. no, wait! It’s a paper plane!! Err… it’s Konan! ^_^ We all wanted Kishimoto to Gief us more Konan, and as if he heard the cries, he brought her back in chapter 508 and we were able to see the fierce Paper user from Amegakure in full force! This weeks art selection was inspired from the events that were started in Naruto manga chapter 508 and highlights 32 Papertastic Illustrations of one of Akatuski’s first members thanks to some extremely talented and creative deviants! I hope you all enjoy this gallery as much as I did, and please show these creative minds support by visiting their deviantart pages and checking there galleries. I can assure you that you will find even more impressive artworks that will leave you in a happy place! So let’s begin!
Kisame Hoshigaki – the Monster of the Hidden Mist, a missing-nin from Kirigakure, a member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, partner of Itachi Uchiha within Akatsuki, and now a part of our little collection of art that we have around here. ^^ This post was inspired by chapter the events that lead up to chapter 508 and features some killer illustrations of Kisame himself. All of the illustrations were created by super talented deviants, so be sure to show them support by checking out their galleries!
Hi Fandomers! I apologize for the delay with this review. My job and school have kept me rather busy. But enough about that! This week’s manga chapter 508 titled A Death befitting a Shinobi is here and from the title alone, you get an idea of what’s going to happen in this chapter.
After biting his tongue and returning back to reality, Kisame wastes no time isolating himself from the others by using his Water Prison Technique. I found this a bit nostalgic because it reminded me of the time team Kakashi fought against Haku and Zabuza.
I have always wondered what the initial experience was like when all the members in Akatsuki met their partners for the first time, so it was pretty cool so see this brief flashback of Kisame and Itachi (I love flashbacks ^.^). Itachi doesn’t look too enthused about meeting Kisame. They seem like total opposites personality wise. But I thought it was a tad bit interesting that Kisame told Itachi “I know all about you” … does he..really? o.O Because what I do know is that Itachi’s head band does not have a slash through it like it does on all the other pages, so perhaps there was a tiny error on Kishimoto’s behalf? No worries though Still protecting his codes, Kisame allows the sharks that he summoned within the water prison to consume his body. This is bitter sweet, but I think Kisame did the next best thing to prevent even more information from leaking. It’s bad enough for him that Aoba was able to get inside of his head, so it’s understandable why Kisame went to such extremes to prevent further information extraction. I think Kisame has arguably one of the most epic deaths out of all the members of Akatsuki. All of the deceased members of Akatsuki died to another opponent, but Kisame took his own life. And whether you agree with his methods of securing information or not, there is one thing that you cant deny and that is his loyalty. Kisame was loyal to Madara, and loyal to the codes as he did the next best thing to prevent more information from leaking. And lets not forget Samehada! I didn’t think Samehada would care much, but it must care to some degree because as soon as Kisame dies, Samehada begins sobbing. Maybe somewhere in Kisame’s twisted head there was a soft spot for Samehada. It’s ironic that Kisame killed his comrades to prevent information from leaking, and then killed himself to protect his comrades (Madara). I guess a sharks gotta do what a sharks gotta do.
I thought it was funny that it took all of this for Gai to finally remember Kisame’s name. I also thought it was just as sad as it was funny that Gai opened the scroll. Perhaps he was so distracted from Kisame’s exit, that he opened the scroll in haste without thinking, but hopefully this experience will tell him to never do such a thing again. Can you imagine Tsunade and Raikage’s reaction when they learn that 3 Jounin and 2 Jinchuuriki allowed a scroll slip into the hands of the enemy? I would not want to be there! xD
I never would have expected to see Konan in this chapter, but it feels so nice to see her again. A few months ago, I was hoping that Kishimoto would Gief us more Konan, and he did! Unfortunately, her reappearance is one where she is facing an incredibly strong opponent…. Madara. During the battle of Sasuke/Zetsu vs Team 7, Zetsu sought out Madara to assist Sasuke, but before he warped to Sasuke’s location, he mentioned that he was going after the Rinnegan. 3 Months later we finally get to see the beginnings of this and I have to admit that I am worried about Konan. The last time we saw Konan, she was shown bidding Naruto a peaceful farewell as she took Nagato and Yahiko’s body, but before leaving, she also told Naruto that Amegakure will help Naruto’s dream of peace come true. This left me under the impression that Konan would be there in the future as an ally to support Naruto during the war.
With an opponent like Madara, I am pretty concerned about Konan, but Konan doesn’t seem fearful at all; instead, she seems rather confident. I wonder why? What does Konan have that can gives her so much confidence against an opponent like Madara? What does she know that we don’t? Did she destroy the Rinnegan? Does she have the Rinnegan? Madara clearly told her that he wont go easy on her and I am sure he wont. And let’s not forget how much Madara loves to warp (people). Even if Konan somehow gain’s the upperhand, there is always the option of Madara warping Sasuke into the battle to tilt things in his favor. And let’s not forget that Kisame’s shark has finally left the island and it’s more than likely heading towards the direction of Konan and Madara. I think it’s possible that if the Shark does arrive with the scroll, Konan may have the chance to intercept it and prevent Madara from gaining important information. I am only speculating ^^. Will she die? Will she she flee? Will she be successful in her battle? Only time will tell. Till then, what are your thoughts on Kishimoto putting Konan and Madara against each other and what do you think will happen?
I really loved shooting her. Yes, her! The camerad love her! ^__^
