It's over.

[mildmaythecat]

It's...it's really over.

Once more for old time's sake...Thoughts?? Feelings to vast to control? I'll edit this with mine once I'm over the shock...

EDIT: Okay, so it's still a little too fresh in my mind for me to look at anything critically, so, feelings vomit!

Team Seven back together and Kakashi's flashback and nnnnnooo, everything hurts. My babies. My babies are finally back together after sO MANY YEARS of pain and angst and heartbreak and it felt right. Like, this was all I needed from a finale. Just those three (four) idiots back together again.

Theyyyy heeeeld haaaaaands, excuse me while my little shipping heart beats out of control. And Sasuke's entire chapter of internal monologue waxing poetic on his ~feelings toward Naruto.

THE HITAYATE THE HITAYATE SOMEONE HOLD ME

And the epilogue...okay, I have mixed feelings on this. I had fun figuring out whose kids were whose based on character design (and Choji's wife looks super cool, anyone remember if we've met her before?), and the bookends with Naruto and his equally punky son were adorable, and it was cool seeing all of our favorites all grown up (SHIKATEMA AT LEAST ONE OF MY OTPS BECAME CANON). The SasuSaku is crazy shoehorned, but I expected nothing less. I figure they had an affair, Sakura realized Sasuke was shit for her and they ended it...but not before she got pregnant. That's my headcanon and I'm sticking to it.

One last question that will never be answered--what was following Sasuke? What did he think he saw? And what the hell is he doing? Is he wandering to atone for his sins a la Himura Kenshin? (Okay, so maybe more like four questions.)

Oh--guess we know Anko lived! That answer only took three years!

Jeeez, it's over. I need fic recs. Anyone?

Comments

[rosalui.livejournal.com]

I'm still not reading it, I'm just seeing endless amounts of horror on my flist. What happened?

[emanga.livejournal.com]

Well, Sasuke and Naruto made up. They held hands and broke the spell via True Love while Sasuke had this chapter-long internal monologue about how much Naruto means to him and all of his ~feelings. SasuSaku was shoehorned in, of course. The last chapter had everybody neatly paired up with babies (it was fun guessing which kids were whose based on character designs); Naruto is Hokage and Sasuke is...wandering? I guess?? IDK, I still have a lot of questions but I'm still too emotional to look at it critically. x'''D

[rosalui.livejournal.com]

I'm just so mad, I feel like I've been jerked around for years. Not because I don't like them making up and Naruto being Hokage and Sasuke wandering - that all sort of suits me fine - but because we got no buildup, and the emotional payoff is so short compared to the years of bullshit, and WHY IS SAKURA A HOUSEWIFE, WHEN HAS SASUKE EVER APPRECIATED HER AND BEEN GOOD TO HER, HOW WOULD THAT RELATIONSHIP BE HEALTHY, AND WHY IS HE WANDERING IF SHE'S HOME WITH THE KIDS JUST FUCK YOU KISHIMOTO

TL;DR

I am so, so sorry. >.>;;;;;

[emanga.livejournal.com]

Haha, I can totally understand that reaction. I get it, I do, and maybe it's easier for me because I haven't really felt invested in this series in a really long time? It was just nice to finally see it end. I'm opting to focus on what I liked because I no longer care enough to be disappointed by what I didn't, if that makes sense. (Although we seriously needed, like, five more chapters of Sasuke apologizing and being friends with Naruto and ughhh I want more Team Seven being a team again.)

Okay, I actually have a headcanon about that. I'm thinking she and Sasuke had some kind of affair because she still had a thing for him and Sasuke was still so fucked up emotionally and it just...happened. After which Sakura finally realized she was never going to be truly happy with him and broke it off, but--surprise!--pregnancy. So they're not married or anything; Sakura continues to be a badass medical kunoichi and Sasuke takes care of their daughter when he comes around.

I've also concocted an elaborate "friendly divorce" scenario between Naruto and Hinata, endgame being that SasuNaru is still canon. Obviously.

I don't know what to do with myself. Kinda need fic recs. Any suggestions?

[rosalui.livejournal.com]

I definitely haven't read it in ages either, so the anger I'm feeling rn is the strongest emotion I've felt toward the series since Neji died... before which it was probably when we all thought Kakashi was dead like 4 years ago, lol.

I like your headcanon. Even just reading those words made me feel better, actually.

Like, IDGAF if they're romantic in canon? I just needed a thousand years of Sasuke apologizing while Naruto ground his face into the dirt, at this point.

Ugh, no, I haven't read anything in years. Is the fandom still active? I feel like all of my classic faves dropped out a long time ago.

:/

[akatsuki210.livejournal.com]

I didn't like a lot of the character designs for the kids, but...TemaShika happened!

[emanga.livejournal.com]

TEMASHIKA ♥ My only OTP to become officially canon. I loved how their kid was recognizable immediately as having Temari's eyes and Shika's...everything else. How do you genetics. xD

[devotedtodreams.livejournal.com]

Lol, I actually read the last chapter on my phone without realizing that I hadn't read 699 yet XD So as you can imagine, I ended up being unable to get through the latter without thinking to myself "No no no no no NO...!"

Anyway, my thoughts:
I nearly literally face-palmed when I realized Sasuke and Sakura had a kid. I mean, if it floats one's boat, um... okay, but I've never liked the pairing and never will.
What is it with fictional children always looking exactly like a perfect mix of their parents?! I mean, I don't think I resemble my parents that strongly... got my Mom's eyes, but I'm not like a half-half-mini-copy of Mom and Dad -.- It's something that has always bugged me about fictional children... *sigh*

In all honesty, the only thing I was really happy about was ShikaTema. I've never considered myself an "active" fan of the pairing, but it was one I always thought "Yeah, I'd totally roll with that happening." So yeah, happy for them :)

Despite this epilogue chapter, whenever Naruto will pop up in my mind again, I will happily to stick to my little headcanon and/or OTPs, like ItaSasu and SasuNaru... and the everlasting love for favorite characters, like the awesome Akatsuki (God, I still miss them T___T), Itachi, Hidan (we never explicitly learned what happened to him, but in my heart, he lives on forever)...
(Come to think of it, I'm kinda bothered by this epilogue in the same way the Harry Potter epilogue bugged me. Hell, I might even end up making a huge, bold-formatted parenthesis around the whole thing and dream up my own ending. *shrug*)

Naruto, it was a fun, though sometimes frustrating ride. Thank you anyway... because it is thanks to this fandom that I "met" you in the first place, SS :D

...Well, now begins the very long wait in-between new Kuroshitsuji chapters .__. The other mangas I'm reading update even more sporadically... And if all else fails, I've still plenty of screencapping for Xiaolin Showdown to do ♥