Minato extra

[lizardjay]

I have several posts I want to make (including sunshine_challenge T_T) but first... I have thoughts about the Minato manga.

I'll be honest, I didn't have high expectations. When Minato won the character poll I thought ".....Minato? Really?" Not so much for him being popular, although he's not one of my favorites, but because... THAT'S who people want a side story about?

But I actually really enjoyed it! Partially because it's majorly about Kushina :D But Minato has his moments too.

In no particular order, things I enjoyed/am interested in:

• The Uzumaki lore is fascinating but very sparse. What do you mean about the spirals, Mito???? Are you speaking metaphorically, that the Uzumaki's downfall was caused by events they set in motion, or that the Uzumaki literally shaped eddies in space that literally led to their end? As in like, equivalents of ley lines? I have many questions. And why did they already have this spiral system for containing things? What were they containing? Does this tie into them mysteriously having the Shinigami mask, among others?
• Baby Kushina is SO CUTE (see below)
• My friend and I have a semi-crack ship of Minato/Kurama (listen. They spend years together in the Shinigami realm and in the war Minato is his jinchuuriki.) and this chapter only strengthened it. "I like strong people.... people stronger than me!" he says to Kurama's face. It's practically canon. Kushina/Minato/Kurama perhaps?
• Little Gai, Obito, and Kakashi (and Kurenai and Asuma I guess). This instantly made my friend and I start thinking about the timeline (which is, of course, a nebulous thing in Naruto) and when this extra is set. And why are those three hanging out??
• "I exist within Kushina at all times." Minato........ I get your message, but........ XD
• why is Tsunade here. Truly the timeline is baffling.
• why did Minato walk away from the center of the village to turn in his mission report. where are you going Minato???

I made an icon but I'm currently torn on which version is better. (I might also want to clean up some linework but once it's at correct size, maybe nobody will notice...)

I'm now realizing that I can color in any manga panel I want. My power is limitless :D

I'm testing out the beta post page and wow does it look different... I'm intimidated! I swapped solely for the ability to use the @ to link to users. Current cons: I don't know how to make a bullet list and had to use HTML :( the old version had a button for that.

Comments

[vriddy]

YOU HAVE THE POWER! :D Love the warm colours for that icon :D

I switch to Markdown mode when I need to make bullet lists, the HTML for it wrecks my head XD In Markdown it's just like this:

* Blah
* Bleh
* Bloop

I wonder if that's worth reporting on dw_beta, since that means the new page doesn't have the same features yet...? Lists are very important!!

[lizardjay]

See, I tried that in Markdown, and it didn't work! Clearly I am doing something wrong 😅 and unfortunately the documentation on Markdown seems written for someone with a little more competence than me.... but I'm sure once I learn it it'll be alright.

[vriddy]

D:

• Blah
• Bleh

Wow... I thought maybe there might be a space thing to put before the star or something, but at least in markdown comments, nope, just a "* Blah" at the beginning of the line works! You did change the dropdown to say Markdown? (Sorry, this is probably the dumbest question 😂). I feel like Markdown docs wouldn't help here, a star is a star is a star... :o :o I'm sorry the easy things don't work ;-;

[lizardjay]

....maybe I'm just incompetent. It worked this time but I swear it didn't before :( the initial problem was I wasn't using a space after the asterisk, but even after I fixed it I couldn't get it to work....

But anyway, in troubleshooting this I rediscovered the rich text editor so all is right with the world :D my lists are safe! I forgot for a little while that you can swap back and forth between modes, even though I do that all the time for the non-beta post page.

[vriddy]

\o/

[eoa]

(Found you through a comment on bnha_fans, recognised your Sakura pfp from a comment you made on a prompt fill I made in fandom_weekly ages ago. Ah, the wonderful paths of finding people on Dreamwidth.)

I've been hearing a lot of great things about the Minato manga, but your mention of spirals is the reason why I NEED to read it. Look. I've wanted to make a crossover of Junji Ito's Uzumaki and the Naruto Uzumaki Clan for ages! But I should finish the manga first... (because, yeah, like a Totally Reasonable Fan I have been participating in a fandom which source I haven't finished for several years now.)

Anywho, that icon is so cute! Please, continue using (and abusing :>) your amazing limitless power of colouring in manga icons.

[lizardjay]

I thought you looked a little familiar! Nice to see you again :D

It definitely raises more questions than answers, but the spirals are a major part of the extra. I wish we had ANY information on the Uzumaki clan... but even with this I could see people making a lot of theories.

Mixing with Junji Ito's work sounds incredible! I've never read it but I really should, I love horror as long as it's not gory. (Uzumaki isn't super gory, right?)

like a Totally Reasonable Fan I have been participating in a fandom which source I haven't finished for several years now

Me too :D I've finally gotten through the final fight (but not the wedding timeskip) but it took two years to get there from when I made my first AMV. And another ~1.5 years before that to get to that point. It's a long canon...

[eoa]

The Uzumaki really are a a great vehicle for theory-crafting, headcanons and worldbuilding, since there aren't just the spirals but also their connection with the Shinigami through that mask that invokes it. Oh, and also 'the best seal-masters in the world' shtick. It's a pity I haven't yet found any fics exploring the Uzumaki which actually interested me or I liked them, but I guess that when you can't find it, you should write it! :D

As for the other Uzumaki; I am sad to be the bearer of the news that it is definitely gorey. Honestly, Junji Ito's trademark is warping normal things into unnatural and reason-defying ones which are also pretty graphic at times (snail-humans is just the beginning of it). But since the gore isn't the focus, just the method of making you scared, and since it isn't typical blood-and-brains gore, more body horror, maybe you could tolerate it? It's really on you to decide whether it's too much, but I would recommend at least trying Uzumaki out.

Me too :D I've finally gotten through the final fight (but not the wedding timeskip) but it took two years to get there from when I made my first AMV. And another ~1.5 years before that to get to that point. It's a long canon...

I'm really glad to find another soul like me because I read fic & meta mostly from the Naruto fans who have been in the fandom since ye' olden days and I'm left feeling out of place. I've attempted once already to get through the entirety of the manga at the beginning of the pandemic, but I stopped after Hiruzen's funeral and that was that. I'm trying again now, and I've just finished Part One, but there's still so much to go :( and I have so much fic Marked for Later that I'm more interested in... However, I have to power through - I've come too far to stop now! (Yeah, that's me Talk no Jutsu-ing myself. Surprisingly effective, tbh.)

[lizardjay]

I'll have to take my chances with Uzumaki.... if it's more on the body horror side and less blood, I should be okay!

[eoa]

Wonderful :D If you would want an offline, downloadable copy, I can share the one I have; just say so.

[lizardjay]

I just read the first three chapters and I'm so spooked...! but in a good way :D