Thursday December 11, 2008

Reviews

I welcome any suggestions anyone has that could help me improve my writing in general. Please review everything you read even if it says "I hated this and your story's lame," or "Update!" Even if you don't think it contributes much I like knowing whether people are reading and whether they like it or hate it.

Please feel free to give me constructive negative criticism. I will not get nasty and flame you in retaliation. Do not flame just because your favorite character is not doing what you want in my story or if your least favorite character is doing well and you hate that.

My Stories/Bias

You should know that my favorite Naruto character is Hanabi.

I don't dislike any of the other Naruto characters but I will write some stories slanted against Hinata because there are so many stories about her heavily slanted against Hanabi and I think Hanabi deserves some counter-press.

That being said I also write stories where both sisters are cast in a favorable light.

Question: "…I recall that Hiashi told Kurenai that he didn't care if Hinata were killed on a mission. So what makes you think that having her killed would be beyond him, or any other Hyuuga? Even Neji tried to do it, and he had no real reason to hate Hinata specifically."

Answer: When Kurenai said that “Hinata may be surrounded by death,” if she was put on the team, Hiashi said he didn’t care. There is a big difference between not caring if your child is put on a team and being willing to kill the child yourself. To me this exchange means that Hiashi doesn't care if Hinata is surrounded by death and that he wants her to have that experience. How else was she going to become a ninja? That’s the lifestyle every rookie has to get used to. Kurenai was acting like there was some safer alternative but Hiashi didn't want Hinata to get any special treatment because she was a candidate for heir of a clan.

When he followed it up by saying that the Hyuuga didn't needed her because she was weaker than Hanabi I think it was because he knew Hinata was listening outside—it's only a paper screen after all. Hiashi was using reverse psychology to tell her to go with her new team, grow, and come back stronger. Apparently it worked: in Kurenai’s flashback during the Chunin exam we see that it made Hinata very driven in training.
Hiashi is not a heartless villain and Hinata is not a pitiful victim. Hiashi is just really strict in demanding excellence. Is that a hard and stressful environment? Yes. Do children need to grow up in that? Not really. But: do plenty of kids from Asian families grow up like that? Yes, I’m one of them.
As for Neji, I don't think he was trying to kill Hinata. If he was trying to kill her would he have asked her to forfeit first? I think he was merely trying to humiliate her. He would have accomplished that if she had bowed out but she chose to accept the fight so of course he had to fight back too. But he asked her to forfeit many times during the match and warned her she would die if she kept pushing herself. He knew he could beat her easily if she kept fighting but she didn't bow out and the proctor didn't stop the fight so of course he tried to end it and of course she sustained serious damage.

During Neji’s final attack running towards her the proctor hadn't officially announced the fight was over until he was in mid-run. So it isn’t really a show of bad character on Neji's part that he tried to attack her one last time to end it, especially when she brought up a touchy subject. However, it is a show of bad character when he smirks at his total victory later when he see's Kurenai so concerned.