Masashi Kishimoto’s artwork for Naruto held a special amount of care. Each and every character was designed carefully even if they weren’t to receive an immense amount of care. The scenes all held impact and the characters themselves were expressive no matter how significant or insignificant a sequence was. This added to the beauty of a series that told so many stories in one tale.
The artistic prowess that Kishimoto displayed contributed heavily to what his manga ultimately became. His art style was unique and his characters were even more impactful. Through his pen, he created a world so immersive that fans find themselves captivated by it for decades to come. However, one obstacle that is already obstructing his story’s legacy is also tampering with the art.
The Art of Expression
It is very important to nail the task of expressing through art. Manga is a series of still images scattered throughout a page that contribute to a bigger story. Text can only do so much in the possibility of showing and not telling. As such, expressiveness through imagery becomes a task of the utmost priority. Masashi Kishimoto understood that and made it so that every scene in Naruto could reflect what he was trying to convey.
If a sequence was sad, his characters could be portrayed just as beautifully as they were melancholic. No matter the emotion, exuding it through expressions was done on point. How they look and feel impacts greatly as to how the audience also feels. There was a certain charm to the way Kishimoto drew the manga.
It created a sense of relatability and understanding, holding strongly to how much fans could love the characters even if they were only just fictional. Expressions made them human in a world that limits them to be imaged on paper.
Mikio Ikemoto Took Away Masashi Kishimoto’s Expressive Drawings
Masashi Kishimoto left his legacy in the hands of Mikio Ikemoto once Naruto came to an end. Boruto was set to mark the journey of the iconic character’s son but it only ended up becoming a problematic series that botched his legacy rather than anything else. Whether it was with regard to the story or just in the way the original characters ended up, a lot had changed since Naruto ended and much of it wasn’t for the better.
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Ikemoto’s story didn’t get much praise and one of the biggest factors was his drawing skills. While Kishimoto could reflect expressions with great care, the same wasn’t the case for his successor. Most of the times the characters seem flat because of their expressions and that takes away a major chunk of emotions that the series is supposed to convey.
It is extremely important to let the characters feel and to show the audience that they feel. Making them emotionless doesn’t contribute to coldness and stoicism but instead gives out the feeling that they are just flat and boring. No matter how intense a scene may be in Boruto, they all just look the same.
