In the months since Naruto has ended, there has been a lot of debating and arguing over the quality of the series. Some say it started sucking a long time ago, while others disagree and believe it wrapped up fairly nicely. However, all of those reactions have been from people in the USA, United Kingdom, or anywhere else that speaks English. With that said, how did the Japanese people (where the manga originate) react to certain key events regarding the end of the series? The three main categories are-
1. Character of Kaguya Otsutsuki
2. Naruto vs. Sasuke Final Battle
3. The Overall Ending of the Series
I'd like to now take this time to basically show what I believe are the popular reactions from those I mentioned above, as well as my own personal feelings:
Popular Opinion:
1. Kaguya is an absolutely horrible character who made for the worst fight in the series. Easily one of the worst, if not the worst, characters in the series.
2. It had it's good moments towards the end, but as a whole the battle was completely underwhelming and did not live up to the hype.
3. Very mixed opinions on the ending, though it's widely accepted that it felt a bit rushed. Other than that, there was some enjoyment to be had accept for all of the pairing tards who hated the pairings that became canon.
My Personal Opinion:
1. As a character, Kaguya is an absolute train wreck (though I do hate characters like Black Zetsu, Karin, and Konohamaru more). She has a cool design and a few interesting abilities (especially the All-Killing Ash Bones), but no more substance behind that. Even though the fight would have been leagues better if Madara remained the villain, I still liked it better than the Juubito fight and there were a lot of moments I enjoyed.
2. Besides the fact that it was pretty short and they weren't at full power which means they didn't use all the techniques at their disposal (though both of these problems could easily be fixed in the anime), I still thought this fight was amazing. It was everything I wanted to see and it ended in a way I wasn't expecting. A lot of people disagree, but I consider it one of the series' best battles. I think a lot of the issues could be fixed in the anime and it has the potential to become my favorite fight of both Part I and II.
3. While I do wish it was extended so we could cover more ground (especially the fates of Orochimaru, Kabuto, and Taka- though they will appear in the Bolt miniseries so it's okay), I thought it was a pretty solid ending. I liked most of the pairings and I thought the majority of them made sense (I only had problems with Choji X Karui and Kiba X Granny Cat's granddaughter). Overall, I like 699 a bit more than 700, if only for the amazing monologue by Sasuke.