#who eventually teams up with a female hitman in order to earn his own territory

[alteredphoenix]

I'm honestly not sure why Kishimoto Masashi hasn't done any other stories that isn't Naruto (well, there's Samurai 8, but that ended up cancelled, and Boruto is...well. It's Boruto But Let's Disassemble Boruto's Dad's Canon Until Not Even The Atoms Are Left).

Compared to the high fantasy ninja-cum-borderline-modern-day-cyberpunk aesthetic, Mario was such a breath of fresh air. Maybe not as lived in as Naruto (because it's a forty-four page one-shot, and you can't really afford to waste time on making New York feel "lived in" in that many pages), but it's so grounded in reality that the environment and the foundations of the story are already set in place. It doesn't have to worry about playing with the Magic System or keeping its chronology from getting tangled up in retcons and deus ex machina. It's short, it's simple, and gets right to the point while leaving many of its other elements inferred and in the background.

#as i understand it. or at least it's speculated. that elements of samurai 8 are being carried over to boruto #hence why it's moved away so quickly from naruto's 90s tech to an almost postmodern cyberpunk era #as well as teenage punk and grunge aesthetic that can almost be called dystopian #it's why - for me - boruto has felt less 'ninja fantasy' and more 'urban fantasy but throw in space-faring alien leeches into the mix' #especially with the arrival of two blue vortex #but the problem with the otsutsuki is how utterly last minute they are in canon #w/ no buildup whatsoever #and its timeline is such a mess that a plate of spaghetti looks more coherent #mario doesn't have that problem #it's set in 2003 new york about a guy in the mafia who takes on jobs to earn money for the sake of money #who eventually teams up with a female hitman in order to earn his own territory #there's mention of his late yakuza mother and how the hitman he's working w/ looks like her #as well as his necklace in the shape of the libra's scales that play into his ties between his mother & his partner #BOOM it doesn't waste ANY time faffing around. the plot just gets right to it #it's an interesting little oneshot that unfortunately doesn't really leave room for continuation #due to the way the ending doles out his fate #like. kishimoto has the POTENTIAL for constructing tight storycrafting #we saw this in the minato one-shot recently #he just needs to do what HE wants to do and not try to aim high #a'la try to make it another naruto/boruto #armi reads manga #manga