There's Something About Sasuke

Naruto is the number one selling comic title in Japan and the US, ah Japanese comic that is. I'm not sure if DC and Marvel still outsell Japanese comics.

Japanese comics and western comics have a lot in common anyway, they are 90% crap, and dominated (like anything else) by 2% of the comics produced commanding a majority of sales. These in turn are usually from a genre that dominates. In western comics it's superheroes and in Japan it is the young boys adventure epic.

Both are charecterised by the proven formula archetypes. You have Batman and Daredevil, the same dark anti-hero with their emotional disfunctions, and then you have 'Kid Hungry' the pure of heart young boy who can never stop eating and sticks up for the weak in Japan.

I love One Piece, and am indifferent to Naruto. I have started reading it again recently mainly because 8 months or so had passed since I last got bored with it.

I got bored with Naruto because of Sasuke, somewhat childishly, Shuonen jump runs these reader polls to see who the most popular character in a series is. These would be more meaningful in something like Batman where the same rogues gallery has been rolling around for over 60 years, but alas it is a staple of the ongoing Japanese comic publication.

Where One Piece (same genre as Naruto, or at least same archetypes) has Monkey D Luffy the protagonist regularly coming in at Number 1, Naruto is almost constantly beaten out by Sasuke his ultimate nemisis.

I can see why Sasuke is popular, he is like Batman but if you even thought it possible even more one dimensional. Sasuke is the reason I routinely get bored by Naruto. He is just a plain boring fucking character. I suspect somehow to the majority of Shonen readers, he is somehow cool. He never says much, has little motivations and what little he possesses are not particularly inspiring. But he is A) strong and B) cool (in the Japanese sense) that is he has the haircut of a Japanese rockstar and is tall, where the protagonist is like this ugly ranga kid.

Sasuke illustrates I feel one of the chief problems that faces anybody creating anything - what is popular is not necessarily what is good.

How to illustrate this, say you have a hero, and you have a villain and the villain is in a building. You have two ways to resolve this conflict.

The first way is to have the hero walk into the building and confront the villain, talking it out and through feint and counterfeint large themes emerge, drama is created and the reader can reflect on the human condition while being surprised. The reader identifies with both characters, sympathises with the villain and ponders the dilemma and how it can be resolved and whether there truly is good or evil, or justice. Then the resolution comes about in a surprising way that makes you think about it for hours.

The second way is for the hero to announce he has a new special attack, a level 3 daidenkiron which he summons up and bystanders say things like 'unbelievable!' and 'my god, it's power level 30,000!' and then they blow up the building with the villain in it.

The second way to an unsofisticated audience (the majority) is far more popular, and requires almost no imagination, tact or skill to pull off. This was a large part of my problem with Dragonball Z and also why I never could get in to world of warcraft.

The process was as simple as it was appealing, you establish a villain as powerful by giving them some number that seemed high (like pinball scores) eg, a 'Battle Level of 10,000' as was used in early Dragonball. Then you have somebody rated at 3,000 to battle them. After struggling for a bit they find some new inner power and get re-evaluated at 20,000 and they beat the villain.

Dragonball had some merits, largely in it's lecherous humour which I don't feel is enough to elevate it to the classic it is. It inspired One Piece though which is one of the best comics out there at the moment so it's hard to begrudge.

World of Warcraft though demonstrates this same popular but ultimately unimaginative dilemma: You level up your character to be more powerful and equip it with objects. On one level this requires a bunch of diverse and fully realised details including rare items and shit that you have to spend hours aquiring to great enjoyment by WoW's loyal subscribers. But on a lower level, what is happening in all these battles is a bunch of numbers are being thrown around. Bigger numbers win, smaller numbers lose and no matter what the details are it is as simple as that.

Perhaps though there is a Sasuke of restaurants, worldwide the most popular restaurant is McDonalds. It makes a lot of money, and is enjoyed by millions worldwide. But then there's people who go for years slaving away to create restaurants like Noma in Denmark, Heston's 'The Fat Duck' in the UK. These are one hopes labors of love, requiring tremendous effort and collosal risk to make a small fortune as a 'celebrity' chef. (plus Heston has to routinely feed a pack of douchebags a 'feast' and they don't even pay to maintain his profile). Nothing like the steady returns and worldwide recognition that McDonalds enjoys.

The author of Naruto whom I don't admire enough to actually learn his name offhand has clearly put far more thought and heart into Naruto's backstory and motivations, character and mannerisms than Sasuke that really is the same tired old archetype of the dark foreboading loner. Yet paradoxically the imagination injected into Naruto is not rewarded by the readership, they want something easy and pallatable like McDonalds, instead of the complex and rich Snail Porridge that is Naruto.

The fun fact is that you don't get to pick your fans when you produce something.

The dilemma is do you give them what they want or do you stick to your guns. Do you deliberately write 'Money' to sell people 'The Dark Side of The Moon' not to say Money isn't a good or even worthwhile song, it's just these days you music isn't bought the same way, writing that hit single may not translate into anyone getting your album, it just sells itself.

I don't have the answer to this dilemma, probably because each one is different. It depends on the motivation. If you can't succeed at what you actually want to do, I would suggest you will have to live with that. You shouldn't let yourself be driven by what your fans demand.

My friend Tommi told me of friends that were criticising some bands new direction on some new album, he made an astute point: 'You can still listen to the old albums though, they can create new stuff and you don't have to listen to it.'

If you hate Kevin Smith's new stuff, just keep watching Clerks. He isn't obliged to keep making movies for you.

Conversely, if Tool's 10,000 days wasn't new enough for you (it wasn't for me) you can toss it aside as a redundant 'Lateralus Part 2: Not as good as Lateralus' (And in my view Lateralus wasn't as enjoyable as Aenima).

If the author really finds Sasuke interesting and more interesting to write about than Naruto, then I can just skip over or stop focusing on chapters that are dedicated to Sasuke's boring decent into evildom.

Fans have these choices though, its the creators who have the dilemma. Fans have to take what they are given and vote with their feet. But that vote isn't binding on the creator, the creator should create work they are proud of, that challenges them and brings them joy. They shouldn't just create money. I have no problem with artists actually earning a living, but if that cash-cow character, single or recipe is not used as a vehicle to sustain your creativity, you may as well be an accountant.

Last word goes to Bobby Chiu 'I would rather dig a ditch than have an art job I hate. I'd rather pick up trash than have an art job I hate. I would do anything for money rather than come home at the end of a day doing artwork I hate and be too tired to do artwork I love.' [paraphrased].