Sasuke Vs. Naruto is one of the most epic fights in all of manga, concluding the series' 700 chapter run. Before its fruition, it was probably the most anticipated fight, as the showdown between the two was teased ever since they first fought at the Final Valley at the end of Part 1. New fanart depicts that excitement and anticipation again, this time done in the ukiyo-e art style, which redesigns Naruto and Sasuke to have a mythical look.
Naruto and Sasuke's final fight was the climax of the series and was the pinnacle of everything the two had learned since the very beginning. They threw everything they had at each other, ranging from literal ninja tools like shuriken and kunai, to trading blows in their monstrous chakra states. The fight is very symbolic as well, as both Naruto and Sasuke's attacks symbolize their character arcs. Even some of Naruto's harshest critics admit that the fight is a major high point of the series and a fitting send-off to one of the most popular shonen series ever created.
Picture: https://twitter.com/Justin96636/status/1518796005105618944
The themes of the fight are portrayed with an emphasis on myth in Chien Chih Kang's (user handle @Justin96636) ukiyo-e style artwork found on Twitter. The left side of the portrait depicts Naruto jumping at Sasuke with a Rasengan in his hand, while Kurama looms above him with his fangs bared in the background. Sasuke is almost a mirror image of Naruto; except he holds a Chidori in his hand while his perfect Susanoo looms to counter Kurama. This depiction of the giant chakra samurai is interesting in its design. The Susanoo's mask is similar to how it's drawn in the manga, but this time it's drawn to more accurately depict a tengu - a type of bird yokai in Japanese myth.
As cool as this Naruto fanart is, there are two differences from the manga worth pointing out. First and foremost, Sasuke's Susanoo is blue instead of purple, but this is likely due to purple not being a commonly used color in classic ukiyo-e style, and therefore the artist took creative liberty in the depiction of Sasuke's jutsu. The second is Naruto and Sasuke's positioning. In their clashes throughout the manga, Naruto is always on the right and Sasuke the left, a creative choice made so their signature jutsus can line up with each other. This also subtly hinted at the twist that Naruto and Sasuke were actually reincarnated brothers. Neither of these take from the quality of the artwork, far from it. These creative differences actually enhance the art as they make total sense of the piece's style.
Kang is a truly remarkable artist as can be seen with his many mythic redesigns for Dragon Ball characters like Majin Buu or Frieza. Even with some slight variations, this mythical redesign of Naruto and Sasuke's final fight is incredible and perfectly captures the excitement and emotion that came with it.
No comments:
Post a Comment