Anyone else looking forward to the end?

[EHW]

I'm referring to the end of Bleach and Naruto. Considering that other than One Piece, which even I know is nowhere near complete because it seems to be endless in the line of never-ending journey style, which fits the theme...

Anyway, considering that the two series have been going on for an age at what is pretty much a brick wall, with alternatively cop-out power-ups or plot re-treads for the last couple of years, I'm looking forward to the end.

Bleach I've followed from a sort of "this seems cool - wait **** I'm being dragged in I barely have enough time for one major manga" way, but I know that the Aizen arc was the place to end it and it's effectively been a case of Aizen War being a whole Disc One Final Boss. The Quincy War just seems... stupid, to be honest. But then again - it's because they've ALREADY done a war arc in the actual manga and not just the plot history.

Naruto has been my "main" manga for a long time now, and I honestly have to say that it's a convuluted mess of characters and abilities which ultimately get surpassed by whatever glorious power-up of the day Kishi dishes out next. The War Arc needs to finish the series, though it looks like its been tailored to be doing that due to the fact that we've spent a long-ass time on it.

I have read about a number of people wanting Fairy Tail to take one of the spots, but honestly? I don't see why. You'd just unconciously compare it to whatever it "replaced" and get depressed one way or the other.

Eh. Things need to have an end - no matter what that thing may be, and Naruto and Bleach need to be finished soon. I want to be able to say that at 25 (3 years time), I can have stopped reading Naruto for good. Because it's complete, not because I got annoyed.

[Picard]

I've stopped reading Bleach long ago since they finished the Fullbring arc. I really like the redesigns of some of the characters, but I think that it needs to end already, too. I doubt it will, though.

[Kenji]

I never even got into Bleach, and while I've watched a small handful of decent (ahem) Naruto episodes, I'm not exactly attached to the series. When they end, oh well. Fanart of all the ladies I have an interest in will continue coming.

[DarkToph]

I have read about a number of people wanting Fairy Tail to take one of the spots, but honestly? I don't see why. You'd just unconciously compare it to whatever it "replaced" and get depressed one way or the other.

Three letters; DBZ

It took ages for people to get over how the new shounen fighting shows weren't 'as good' as DBZ. People still say that. It's a stigma with practically any show, but with shows that tend to last this long and still remain loved it's more apparent. I personally like Fairy Tail, though I haven't watched all that much of it. Feels a bit like One Piece, but different enough to not bring it up all the time.

As for whether or not it's time for Naruto or Bleach to end, well, I haven't followed them in a long time (Really hard for me to get motivated to open that can of worms. That reminds me, I never finished 666 Satan....) and even I'd say you're likely right. Maybe we could trek into Naruto as an actual adult for a short while and then end on him becoming Hokage somehow. Can't say much about Bleach.

One Piece basically set a nearly impossible goal for the characters from the get-go, so they're likely to keep going and going and going like Pokemon. I would include Detective Conan in that list, but honestly he didn't set an impossible goal for himself. In fact, given as good of a detective that he is, he should've found a way to be cured ages ago, but I'm getting away from the point.

Whether or not I'm right about any of those points is up in the air, because I am seriously not up to date. But that's my two cents.

[EHW]

Pokemon has the unfortunate stigma that the guy in charge of writing the anime wants to appeal to the "market" for Pokemon. Which is apparently still just ten-year olds, so Ash and co. remain the same age they were at the start of episode 001 of Pokemon. It's pretty dumb, especially as since they've done over 800 episodes now, each of which span at least one day in length. Err, basic math here. A year is 365/ 366 days. If one episode equals a minimum of one day, then... Ash should be at least 12 now.

The other problem is that it's as if they aren't writing to attempt to get people hooked on it, just people of a very select and small age group. Because DPP and Sinnoh showed an Ash willing to make his own unique strategies and moves far more readily than in the past, and then Unova Ash regressed into his Hoenn level self - a guy who had restarted his journey with his starter, but practically forgot everything overnight and needed to be retaught. Hell, some of the antics were Original Series level Ash, which is just stupid and ridiculous.

Pokemon Origins was pretty dire on some levels too. Yes, it had an older protagonist, but not necessarily a smarter one. We see very little of Red and his battles outside of Charizard and Jolteon, and even then he just brute-forces his way to victory in most cases.

What they ought to do is give us something on the level of the Pokemon Adventures manga - Red in Adventures is a great battling trainer, and has a small but highly powerful team with some very smart strategies behind his matches. Blue (Gary) is a great trainer of Pokemon, and is a good rival. Plus, and a key thing here - the protagonists get cycled out when their generation of games end. They are important to the plot, and often appear in somewhat central roles or cameos, but the focus is on the protagonists of that generation, not just some trainer.

A trainer who is apparently very good; a trainer with a lot of people in high-up positions (Lance, Drake, Agatha, Scott and Cynthia to name but a few) giving him praise and making expectations for him, but always fail to live up to those expectations.

'course, I'm not a fool - I doubt we'll see them getting tired of Ash anytime soon, because his long-time presence makes him extremely marketable.

[Picard]

They ought to make a more adult-themed Pokemon show for young adults (and adults).