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[xxRomanceGirlxx]

I've been thinking on how Kishi writes romantic love in this series and the major differences between Sakura's, Hinata's, Karin's vs. Lee's and Naruto's "crushes". I don't believe Kishi writes things like this the right way and that all of these character's romantic interests, in some way or another, have a major issue with them. This is my analysis on it, particularly of Naruto's feelings later, and I'd like to see what you guys think. :)

 

First of all, there's Sakura, Hinata, and Karin. Starting with Hinata, she fell in love with Naruto so much to point she'd kill herself pointlessly to protect him, yet she's barely interacted with him this whole series. But every time we see her, we get her feelings shoved in our faces without any realistic basis. She doesn't know him that well and we usually mostly see her admiring him, yet she still pursues him and insists she loves him.

 

Next, Sakura with Sasuke. She fell for him very deeply but once again her love has no real basis either. Sasuke never acknowledged her and treated her with indifference most of the time. They've never interacted meaningfully and even though they were together more than Naruto & Hinata, he still never really opened up to her or did much for her as a real friend. Yet, Sakura made this unrealistically powerful love confession and gets heartbroken by Sasuke well after he leaves and even now a little bit. She "loves/loved" him and we're just supposed to take it without any real reason to.

 

And Karin ... I'll state my honest opinion. I apologize if it offends any SK shippers here. Her love feels shallow. We see Karin fangirling Sasuke's coolness, his looks, and a sexual appetite for him to point she nearly rapes him while unconscious. It feels very shallow and overly exaggerated comic relief until the Kage Summit Arc and 662, but the fact is we only ever saw all shallow feelings for Sasuke beforehand. How are we supposed to believe she loves him under circumstances like that? If a pairing's too much comic relief, then you can't take it seriously. Why does Karin really love him? Saying she likes his smile still feels shallow and if it's because he saved her, then that's hero worship. If it's going to stick around, I'd rather see her feelings treated a little more seriously (I don't know, like loving his personality) than overly exaggerated comic relief.

 

Most of the main Naruto girls focus is who they love while the boys who have romantic interests don't think about this even half as much. Even Lee, who people often compare to Hinata, is more likable and developed because he's not just his love for Sakura. He also wants to be a worthy ninja and make his teacher proud, rarely thinking about Sakura. Yet, for some reason, the girls focus more on love when they should be as well-rounded as them. It feels like an unfairly uneven scale. They should have more important bonds with more people and more focus on other goals instead of being with who they love or, in Sakura's case, figuring who they love.

 

Sakura is slightly different because she does have her own goals (she's the best developed female character in the series for sure), but she's not entirely free from this either. If I'm completely honest, most of Sakura's character is entirely taken up by her relationships with Naruto and Sasuke. She focuses more on them while her other goals/even relationships get sidelined in relevancy. Her bond with Tsunade isn't highlighted much and even her rivalry with Ino, that had a lot of potential, might as well not even exist in Part 2. Sakura's main bonds being her love relationships with Naruto and Sasuke isn't exactly a problem, but it is focused on too much. Naruto's the positive influence, but that doesn't mean Kishi can't be a little more flexible and give more focus to other bonds instead of just Naruto, Sasuke, and then more Naruto by Part 2.

 

Sakura's not pairing fodder like Hinata and Karin, but he still does make her revolve too much around love. Other goals and relationships are important as well, you know.

 

And now Naruto. Unlike with Sakura and Hinata, Kishimoto actually did well giving Naruto's love for Sakura basis and development. It wasn't instantly love and developed over the course of the series.  Naruto spent time with her, most of which was positive and not constantly comedic like Karin's feelings, giving his love for her more realism. It's easier to swallow than Hinata's love for Naruto or Sakura's love for Sasuke, contrary to what the rival fans/Sakura haters say.

 

However, there is one thing Kishimoto screwed up here and that's relevancy. Unlike Sakura, Hinata, and Karin, who are too love-oriented, Naruto's not love-oriented enough. I don't mean he has to constantly think about Sakura, like I said it's very important he has other goals and interests of his own, but he's so caught up in those it's easy to forget sometimes he actually loves her.

 

A SS/NH once told me Naruto's feelings aren't focused enough to be taken seriously and that they should be more like Sakura and Hinata (which I heavily disagree with, being that love-oriented is bad). But I do agree Naruto's feelings for Sakura should have a little more focus not because it's not genuine, but just so it flows right.

 

What I mean is Sakura's not often treated as special to Naruto. It's put on the same level of Team 7 in general and isn't often singled out as being particularly important to him the way Jiraiya, Gaara, Sasuke, and his parents are. In fact, more than any of those, she is extremely overshadowed by Sasuke who he always singles out; Sakura gets left in the cold. If he's meant to be in love with her, shouldn't she be singled out more than she is? His bond with Sasuke overshadows everything, even when Sakura's likely the girl he's going to marry and have children with someday. Now does that feel right to you?

 

Has anyone ever read the Percy Jackson Series? Percy had to travel through the River Styx that could potentially kill him and he had to think of one thing to cling on to to survive. And guess what that "one thing" was? Annabeth, the girl he loved. Not his best friend Grover, not his parents, not his half-brother, just her. It gave Annabeth status as the most important person in his life or at the very least singles her out and the depth of how much he loves her is shown and believable. It's not overshadowed or even clumped together with a bunch of other people.

 

Now try picturing that with NaruSaku. Can you honestly see it? As much as I believe NaruSaku will be canon, I can't. It feels too out of place. I see Naruto thinking of Sasuke alone or at least Sakura thrown together with all his other friends. She's once again gets no special treatment at all when she's supposed to be the woman he loves.  

 

Now does that scenario with Percabeth have to happen to Naruto? No. But it's still weird and badly written that Sakura's not one of his most important bonds when it comes to Sasuke or is at least put on the same scale as him. Naruto loves her. She shouldn't be shoved with the rest of his friends like she's not anything special. And I'm not even saying this as NaruSaku fan. I'm saying this as a writer in general.

 

I'm not saying Naruto doesn't love Sakura. I'm not saying any of the characters don't love someone any less. I just think Kishimoto could do a lot better portraying them when it comes to focus. He has no balance in his writing. A few characters either focus on their love too much and then some more characters focus on their love too little. It's because of this I truly believe Kishi when he says he's not that good at writing romance.

 

I hope I don't sound overly critical here. Kishimoto does have strong suits in his writing, but I have to say incorporating romance in characters is certainly not one of them.

Edited by xxRomanceGirlxx, 13 July 2014 - 09:40 AM.

[natalieuciha]

I've been thinking on how Kishi writes romantic love in this series and the major differences between Sakura's, Hinata's, Karin's vs. Lee's and Naruto's "crushes". I don't believe Kishi writes things like this the right way and that all of these character's romantic interests, in some way or another, have a major issue with them. This is my analysis on it, particularly of Naruto's feelings later, and I'd like to see what you guys think. :)

 

First of all, there's Sakura, Hinata, and Karin. Starting with Hinata, she fell in love with Naruto so much to point she'd kill herself pointlessly to protect him, yet she's barely interacted with him this whole series. But every time we see her, we get her feelings shoved in our faces without any realistic basis. She doesn't know him that well and we usually mostly see her admiring him, yet she still pursues him and insists she loves him.

 

Next, Sakura with Sasuke. She fell for him very deeply but once again her love has no real basis either. Sasuke never acknowledged her and treated her with indifference most of the time. They've never interacted meaningfully and even though they were together more than Naruto & Hinata, he still never really opened up to her or did much for her as a real friend. Yet, Sakura made this unrealistically powerful love confession and gets heartbroken by Sasuke well after he leaves and even now a little bit. She "loves/loved" him and we're just supposed to take it without any real reason to.

 

And Karin ... I'll state my honest opinion. I apologize if it offends any SK shippers here. Her love feels shallow. We see Karin fangirling Sasuke's coolness, his looks, and a sexual appetite for him to point she nearly rapes him while unconscious. It feels very shallow and overly exaggerated comic relief until the Kage Summit Arc and 662, but the fact is we only ever saw all shallow feelings for Sasuke beforehand. How are we supposed to believe she loves him under circumstances like that? If a pairing's too much comic relief, then you can't take it seriously. Why does Karin really love him? Saying she likes his smile still feels shallow and if it's because he saved her, then that's hero worship. If it's going to stick around, I'd rather see her feelings treated a little more seriously (I don't know, like loving his personality) than overly exaggerated comic relief.

 

Most of the main Naruto girls focus is who they love while the boys who have romantic interests don't think about this even half as much. Even Lee, who people often compare to Hinata, is more likable and developed because he's not just his love for Sakura. He also wants to be a worthy ninja and make his teacher proud, rarely thinking about Sakura. Yet, for some reason, the girls focus more on love when they should be as well-rounded as them. It feels like an unfairly uneven scale. They should have more important bonds with more people and more focus on other goals instead of being with who they love or, in Sakura's case, figuring who they love.

 

Sakura is slightly different because she does have her own goals (she's the best developed female character in the series for sure), but she's not entirely free from this either. If I'm completely honest, most of Sakura's character is entirely taken up by her relationships with Naruto and Sasuke. She focuses more on them while her other goals/even relationships get sidelined in relevancy. Her bond with Tsunade isn't highlighted much and even her rivalry with Ino, that had a lot of potential, might as well not even exist in Part 2. Sakura's main bonds being her love relationships with Naruto and Sasuke isn't exactly a problem, but it is focused on too much. Naruto's the positive influence, but that doesn't mean Kishi can't be a little more flexible and give more focus to other bonds instead of just Naruto, Sasuke, and then more Naruto by Part 2.

 

Sakura's not pairing fodder like Hinata and Karin, but he still does make her revolve too much around love. Other goals and relationships are important as well, you know.

 

And now Naruto. Unlike with Sakura and Hinata, Kishimoto actually did well giving Naruto's love for Sakura basis and development. It wasn't instantly love and developed over the course of the series.  Naruto spent time with her, most of which was positive and not constantly comedic like Karin's feelings, giving his love for her more realism. It's easier to swallow than Hinata's love for Naruto or Sakura's love for Sasuke, contrary to what the rival fans/Sakura haters say.

 

However, there is one thing Kishimoto screwed up here and that's relevancy. Unlike Sakura, Hinata, and Karin, who are too love-oriented, Naruto's not love-oriented enough. I don't mean he has to constantly think about Sakura, like I said it's very important he has other goals and interests of his own, but he's so caught up in those it's easy to forget sometimes he actually loves her.

 

A SS/NH once told me Naruto's feelings aren't focused enough to be taken seriously and that they should be more like Sakura and Hinata (which I heavily disagree with, being that love-oriented is bad). But I do agree Naruto's feelings for Sakura should have a little more focus not because it's not genuine, but just so it flows right.

 

What I mean is Sakura's not often treated as special to Naruto. It's put on the same level of Team 7 in general and isn't often singled out as being particularly important to him the way Jiraiya, Gaara, Sasuke, and his parents are. In fact, more than any of those, she is extremely overshadowed by Sasuke who he always singles out; Sakura gets left in the cold. If he's meant to be in love with her, shouldn't she be singled out more than she is? His bond with Sasuke overshadows everything, even when Sakura's likely the girl he's going to marry and have children with someday. Now does that feel right to you?

 

Has anyone ever read the Percy Jackson Series? Percy had to travel through the River Styx that could potentially kill him and he had to think of one thing to cling on to to survive. And guess what that "one thing" was? Annabeth, the girl he loved. Not his best friend Grover, not his parents, not his half-brother, just her. It gave Annabeth status as the most important person in his life or at the very least singles her out and the depth of how much he loves her is shown and believable. It's not overshadowed or even clumped together with a bunch of other people.

 

Now try picturing that with NaruSaku. Can you honestly see it? As much as I believe NaruSaku will be canon, I can't. It feels too out of place. I see Naruto thinking of Sasuke alone or at least Sakura thrown together with all his other friends. She's once again gets no special treatment at all when she's supposed to be the woman he loves.  

 

Now does that scenario with Percabeth have to happen to Naruto? No. But it's still weird and badly written that Sakura's not one of his most important bonds when it comes to Sasuke or is at least put on the same scale as him. Naruto loves her. She shouldn't be shoved with the rest of his friends like she's not anything special. And I'm not even saying this as NaruSaku fan. I'm saying this as a writer in general.

 

I'm not saying Naruto doesn't love Sakura. I'm not saying any of the characters don't love someone any less. I just think Kishimoto could do a lot better portraying them when it comes to focus. He has no balance in his writing. A few characters either focus on their love too much and then some more characters focus on their love too little. It's because of this I truly believe Kishi when he says he's not that good at writing romance.

 

I hope I don't sound overly critical here. Kishimoto does have strong suits in his writing, but I have to say incorporating romance in characters is certainly not one of them.

i agree 100 %...i wanted to say this but i thought many wont agree with me..while i agree with the fact that naruto loves sakura,to me his love isnt presented as stronger as his love for sasuke..it sounds kinda off but thats what it is..there were moments in manga where his obsession with sasuke has taken ridiculous levels and the anime team had to change it here and there to balance things..for example the moment when naruto was training for rasen shuriken and sakura's soldier pills..theres no wonder why so many people believe sasunaru would go canon if sasuke was a girl..and at same time many people take naruto's feelings as a childish crush..i think the anime team did a better job with portraying his feelings ..ep 245 was the best one as i reckon.it gave naruto's feelings for sakura more logic and meaningfulness than anything.why couldnt kishimoto do something like this in the manga?then again the moment naruto woke up after cpr was another missed oportunity to strenghten the ns ..i wanted to see some mutual moment between them instead of a simple ''Naruto!''..but kishi skipped it like nothing happened.. ..i honestly never was so much dissapointed in my whole life....i guess we''ll just have to wait and see what kishi has to pull out of his ass now..i realy hope he does a similar scene like the one from the ova NARUTOXUT to make ns canon..if he does something anticlimatic like making naruto confess after the war in a comedic way or something like that,ill be terribly dissapointed

[dejavu]

It's not being overly critical..you actually described it nicely and i thought of it that way too.

There are some moments where it would've made more sense if Naruto doesn't just simply group Sakura into "team 7"

 

However Naruto's case could also be looked upon as him suppressing what he feels. Thus making himself stop seeing Sakura that way since..

 

Yes, Sakura is the girl he had always liked from the start until now.

But we are also shown that he firmly believes that Sakura is in love with Sasuke.

I can understand the denial of this boy after witnessing a number of moments wherein Sakura expresses her feelings for Sasuke in part 1.

Like being desperate to kiss, the hospital hug scene, the promise of a lifetime, etc.

And to top it off, most of the tender moments Sakura has for him he was unconscious, or he couldn't see it.

 

It's like Kishimoto portrays a man's love as quiet and not openly expressed but is unyielding/unchanging.

Whereas women are more likely to express their love and could change over time or rather mature or develop into something else.

 

Anyway i just brush it off nowadays and just think that this is a shounen manga and Kishimoto probably expects his readers to be more driven into the plot than romance. Plus, Kishimoto's stand/view of female and male is somewhat like this: females are more focused on the person they love since he did not give them much goal, and males usually has life goals and puts romance on the sideline. I'm not saying Kishimoto's portrayal is wrong nor is it right. Its just the way he views things and i respect that.

Edited by dejavu, 13 July 2014 - 12:12 PM.

[luffyq1]

I've been thinking on how Kishi writes romantic love in this series and the major differences between Sakura's, Hinata's, Karin's vs. Lee's and Naruto's "crushes". I don't believe Kishi writes things like this the right way and that all of these character's romantic interests, in some way or another, have a major issue with them. This is my analysis on it, particularly of Naruto's feelings later, and I'd like to see what you guys think. :)

 

First of all, there's Sakura, Hinata, and Karin. Starting with Hinata, she fell in love with Naruto so much to point she'd kill herself pointlessly to protect him, yet she's barely interacted with him this whole series. But every time we see her, we get her feelings shoved in our faces without any realistic basis. She doesn't know him that well and we usually mostly see her admiring him, yet she still pursues him and insists she loves him.

 

Next, Sakura with Sasuke. She fell for him very deeply but once again her love has no real basis either. Sasuke never acknowledged her and treated her with indifference most of the time. They've never interacted meaningfully and even though they were together more than Naruto & Hinata, he still never really opened up to her or did much for her as a real friend. Yet, Sakura made this unrealistically powerful love confession and gets heartbroken by Sasuke well after he leaves and even now a little bit. She "loves/loved" him and we're just supposed to take it without any real reason to.

 

And Karin ... I'll state my honest opinion. I apologize if it offends any SK shippers here. Her love feels shallow. We see Karin fangirling Sasuke's coolness, his looks, and a sexual appetite for him to point she nearly rapes him while unconscious. It feels very shallow and overly exaggerated comic relief until the Kage Summit Arc and 662, but the fact is we only ever saw all shallow feelings for Sasuke beforehand. How are we supposed to believe she loves him under circumstances like that? If a pairing's too much comic relief, then you can't take it seriously. Why does Karin really love him? Saying she likes his smile still feels shallow and if it's because he saved her, then that's hero worship. If it's going to stick around, I'd rather see her feelings treated a little more seriously (I don't know, like loving his personality) than overly exaggerated comic relief.

 

Most of the main Naruto girls focus is who they love while the boys who have romantic interests don't think about this even half as much. Even Lee, who people often compare to Hinata, is more likable and developed because he's not just his love for Sakura. He also wants to be a worthy ninja and make his teacher proud, rarely thinking about Sakura. Yet, for some reason, the girls focus more on love when they should be as well-rounded as them. It feels like an unfairly uneven scale. They should have more important bonds with more people and more focus on other goals instead of being with who they love or, in Sakura's case, figuring who they love.

 

Sakura is slightly different because she does have her own goals (she's the best developed female character in the series for sure), but she's not entirely free from this either. If I'm completely honest, most of Sakura's character is entirely taken up by her relationships with Naruto and Sasuke. She focuses more on them while her other goals/even relationships get sidelined in relevancy. Her bond with Tsunade isn't highlighted much and even her rivalry with Ino, that had a lot of potential, might as well not even exist in Part 2. Sakura's main bonds being her love relationships with Naruto and Sasuke isn't exactly a problem, but it is focused on too much. Naruto's the positive influence, but that doesn't mean Kishi can't be a little more flexible and give more focus to other bonds instead of just Naruto, Sasuke, and then more Naruto by Part 2.

 

Sakura's not pairing fodder like Hinata and Karin, but he still does make her revolve too much around love. Other goals and relationships are important as well, you know.

 

And now Naruto. Unlike with Sakura and Hinata, Kishimoto actually did well giving Naruto's love for Sakura basis and development. It wasn't instantly love and developed over the course of the series.  Naruto spent time with her, most of which was positive and not constantly comedic like Karin's feelings, giving his love for her more realism. It's easier to swallow than Hinata's love for Naruto or Sakura's love for Sasuke, contrary to what the rival fans/Sakura haters say.

 

However, there is one thing Kishimoto screwed up here and that's relevancy. Unlike Sakura, Hinata, and Karin, who are too love-oriented, Naruto's not love-oriented enough. I don't mean he has to constantly think about Sakura, like I said it's very important he has other goals and interests of his own, but he's so caught up in those it's easy to forget sometimes he actually loves her.

 

A SS/NH once told me Naruto's feelings aren't focused enough to be taken seriously and that they should be more like Sakura and Hinata (which I heavily disagree with, being that love-oriented is bad). But I do agree Naruto's feelings for Sakura should have a little more focus not because it's not genuine, but just so it flows right.

 

What I mean is Sakura's not often treated as special to Naruto. It's put on the same level of Team 7 in general and isn't often singled out as being particularly important to him the way Jiraiya, Gaara, Sasuke, and his parents are. In fact, more than any of those, she is extremely overshadowed by Sasuke who he always singles out; Sakura gets left in the cold. If he's meant to be in love with her, shouldn't she be singled out more than she is? His bond with Sasuke overshadows everything, even when Sakura's likely the girl he's going to marry and have children with someday. Now does that feel right to you?

 

Has anyone ever read the Percy Jackson Series? Percy had to travel through the River Styx that could potentially kill him and he had to think of one thing to cling on to to survive. And guess what that "one thing" was? Annabeth, the girl he loved. Not his best friend Grover, not his parents, not his half-brother, just her. It gave Annabeth status as the most important person in his life or at the very least singles her out and the depth of how much he loves her is shown and believable. It's not overshadowed or even clumped together with a bunch of other people.

 

Now try picturing that with NaruSaku. Can you honestly see it? As much as I believe NaruSaku will be canon, I can't. It feels too out of place. I see Naruto thinking of Sasuke alone or at least Sakura thrown together with all his other friends. She's once again gets no special treatment at all when she's supposed to be the woman he loves.  

 

Now does that scenario with Percabeth have to happen to Naruto? No. But it's still weird and badly written that Sakura's not one of his most important bonds when it comes to Sasuke or is at least put on the same scale as him. Naruto loves her. She shouldn't be shoved with the rest of his friends like she's not anything special. And I'm not even saying this as NaruSaku fan. I'm saying this as a writer in general.

 

I'm not saying Naruto doesn't love Sakura. I'm not saying any of the characters don't love someone any less. I just think Kishimoto could do a lot better portraying them when it comes to focus. He has no balance in his writing. A few characters either focus on their love too much and then some more characters focus on their love too little. It's because of this I truly believe Kishi when he says he's not that good at writing romance.

 

I hope I don't sound overly critical here. Kishimoto does have strong suits in his writing, but I have to say incorporating romance in characters is certainly not one of them.

[Iwantbuns]

I read the whole entire thing... And I pretty much agree with it all. From what Kishi's been showing, it seems like although he's not very good at writing romance, he's actually trying with NaruSaku. Because it's the only pairing with a good potential bond on both sides. I do wish Kishi could emphasize Naruto's side a teensy bit more, but it seems like, he's making Naruto sort of like Sasuke when it comes to romantic relationships. Except in a much different way. Naruto just either doesn't notice it, or sees it all as platonic.

 

I feel like the girls are all mostly revolved around love, while the guys are more revolved around friendship. Even Sasuke. The only person Naruto has ever shown an actual romantic interest in, is Sakura. He hasn't shown romantic interest in anyone else, as of now. So although Naruto's love for Sakura isn't as clear, we all know it's there - because it never changed. He still sees Sakura as his potential girlfriend, his love for her never wavered once - even in the confession. Naruto wanted her to be totally honest with her feelings. He wants to be loved by her, and he knows it's a lot to ask from her. He doesn't want to push it, he just wants her to be happy.

 

That kind of love is real. And it's there. Sakura is important to him - just like all the other people that are important to him: Team 7, Jiraiya, Gaara, Sasuke, his parents... They're all important to him, but Sakura is special to him in a different way. Sasuke comes first, but Sakura comes immediately second. She's the one girl that he's felt protective of, and had a crush on, and continues to have a crush on.

 

So although Kishi hasn't been implying it a lot, it's there. It's selfless and it probably won't ever go away. Otherwise it should've went away a long time ago, if he really didn't like Sakura, but he continued to love her, and he continued to be there for her and understand her. He probably won't ever understand her and her feelings as much, but he understands her as a person, and he knows how she reacts to things, and how she works hard in what she does, and he admires her. Sakura is important to her in a way that the others just aren't. She's there for him to protect, for him to hang out with, for him to get to know her better, and like more. There hasn't been a moment where something Sakura did annoyed him or made him like her less. He knows why she acts the way she does, and she's perfectly fine with her just the way she is.

 

She's the one girl that he's bonded with the most, and had feelings for, for the longest time. Just because he shows more attention to Sasuke, doesn't change it any less. But that's just how I see it...

Edited by Iwantbuns, 13 July 2014 - 09:09 PM.

[dylanrivers10000]

it a weird time all i can say

[Inferno180]

It's has it's ups and downs,

I mean its no ace or anything ideal, but as far as anything goes in terms of how often it's been portrayed, it wasn't always the best, sometimes Kishi has made romance well too shown, or too focused upon, like in some parts yes on sakura it's been a bit much without any stuff on her being something towards like improving herself or doing stuff for herself . I mean you can say the good stuff was like she improved herself in training and trying to help naruto bring Sasuke back but naruto was also the one who inspired her to do so, as this makes sense why she would be involved with many parts of the story with him, but it may be a bit much at times when it comes to relationship stuff.

For other girls though, yeah hinata is the worst case example, just all naruto this that, here there everywhere, no focus on her clan, not much on improving herself, though these notions exist for her, the deal is, neither Kishi and especially not the anime team apparently can make hinata be around naruto without some romantic thoughts on her end. Not even in Neji's death, this gets too the point, it's a bit annoying, we know she loves naruto, we don't need her to say it like a mantra. It's at this point yeah hinata is otherwise, she cannot even have a point in this manga or even a role if she cannot focus on naruto, she is just too integrated as a satellite character, this is because Kishi didn't build much of any associations with her towards others beyond naruto and neji, I mean team 8 she had correlation with but they are not so critical to the story now are.

Naruto with his love though, his feelings have been explored more but this is the one thing I need to disagree with as you said. Though his relation with Sasuke has gone too far in some points for why does he want to save such a jerk, it's for the sake of the story, sometimes a ridiculous main plot needs to go to extreme lengths just for its own sake and logic. It's been dumb and shown too much at points and while many would ask, why doesn't naruto put sakura in a higher regard at times, I can say this is for 2 reasons
1. We have a reason to know why he isn't focused on it, he cannot confess due to the promise being unfulfilled, if we know the reason then the author doesn't need to show it constantly.
2. Another would be if we did keep seeing his love for sakura, wouldn't his just spell ns then? Wouldn't it just give it all away?

I know some people made a deal about when Kushina made the foreshadow, why didn't naruto just think if sakura there as the girl like Kushina? Why didn't he make a bigger notion if it? Well if Kishi is intending to resolve this, he wouldnt actively reveal it right then and there,nespcially when it seemed like ns had ended, rather when any answer to narutos then current feelings was largely unknown as hinatas confession was unresolved and no one knew narutos real feelings towards sakura after the moment, if they had changed or if he just forgave and still loved her. I mean we got our answer, but remember, naruto responded to everything Kushina told him after she vanished, like eating more veggies, his friends, focused on Sasuke being a trouble one, but not the girl like her deal. Why? Well if it was something involving a girl like Kushina then this was the only deal left out, we got our answer with 631 and ns is hinted with sakura as the girl like Kushina, but I would say if it's a subplot, mainly a longer running one, it's not going to be answered so soon, just brought out in short increments. I mean even with the interview on 469, well he never said sakura doesn't love naruto and as expected she loved Sasuke there, but it wasn't fully resolved and yet things still have changed since then.

So in some cases despite how unreasonable narutos focus in Sasuke has been compared to his focus on sakura, well that one with sakura isn't signaled out as much because by retrospective, we can reasonably say that he wouldn't exactly make it fully clear and answer it or make it as obvious. Part of it was all due to his writing and just throwing hinata around with her not resolving anything but also yes it was also that break or too much focus on sakura in regards to both her teammates.

I mean as I said many times, if Kishi was serious about nh and ss, this subplot would be much worse and basically at stupidity or much worse than it already is.

Though if Kishi is intent in ns, it's fine, I mean if he did anything proper with the romance subplot, he at least made a good pace of dynamics with naruto and sakura on both ends, naruto did have reasons for loving her and noble deals of sacrifice like accepting the promise and we saw why he didn't confess in sasukes absence, while with sakura her going from hating to being friends, to realizing her own mistakes in him and trying to overcome this, basically a while focal point n these chapters since 573, she has been concerned for naruto, just not wanting him to take on too much, yes 457 was a big impact on her and her failures in the land of iron did push more on which I see as being good in terms of she really came to understand him more.

I mean yes I want to see sakura have more focus on herself and improvements on herself kinda like in 632 where she overcame the deal once in comparison to the forest of death where she came to be a better ninja, one who could handle herself and do much more in battle like healing others compared to when she couldn't do anything in the forest if death.

It's has it's ups and downs, it's not perfect, but for some cases like as I said, if Kishi had shown sakura signaled out,nespcially since this is a manga, remember sometimes even blank paella can be used to explain stuff and reveal more than any words can.

Unlike books such as Percy Jackson as you said, books using only words are one deal and can be more indirect unless specifically speaking, it's not like in the manga which is again using pictures to give you a visual form to see the story, aside from the words, if by any means Kishi showed sakura in narutos thoughts more often, this would make it more apparent to people that narusaku would be coming, it would be much easier to solve this if it occurred like that. Though as you said again in the other series, after that river Styx deal. It wasn't signaled out or shown above another relation even though it was the deal to be taken as a growing relationship.

All I can conclude from this though is this:

It largely does vary from writer to writer and form if representation.

For Kishi because his series is a manga and it has pictures to explain things without the need for words at times, unlike writing, if thoughts are shown at points, it can give more insight and things are easier to signal out to the audience unlike say a certain phrase in a book that becomes releated in the text and near the end it was the key to the problem the whole time, like that.

You may not see the solution or some key fact signaled out in the text as much, if the whole story is presented only in text well the words and all that content can drown it out. I mean one if the halo books, the forerunner trilogy, near the start of the first book you hear a mention of a tool called the organon, forerunners thought this was a legend, but it was an artifact rumored to be capable of activating the technology of the lost precursors, a race so advanced they just vanished. The forerunners themselves held a device called the domain, basically a super internet that let everyone's thoughts, knowledge, etc all be accessed by any and all of their race, no matter know ever existed in the past, they even continued to be beyond death with the knowledge of their persona existing in this super network. Even 10000 years of age differences apart. As the story goes on and the flood comes around, you hear mention of old war with the precursors and forerunners, and soon that you get wind of 1 living, that one precursor still lives. As the story goes on, then this remaining precursor is a gravemind or a flood intellengence, not a precursor at all. So were the flood precursors, no rather the answer eventually became more complex. Remember the organon? It was hardly mentioned at all, yet throughout the story, many forerunners couldn't access the domain during the war, it started to vanish, many older records on the precursors were lost as well and as the main group tries to find it, it becomes harder, so in the end what happens? The flood is not precursors, rather a the precursors are not one race, they were so advanced they were able to take the form of many races, living as primitive and advanced races and fully aware of this, they were life ever changing in itself, they had long lost their old forms save for a central group that held their old forms and existed as a collective if various new races interacting with many millions of new species be them advanced, primitive, space faring to simply those races never past the Industrial Age, even as just feral beasts. The deal with the flood was, the forerunners had stuck back and the precursors and due to a combination of the precursors destroying life as well that didn't fit their views with the forerunners catching wind of what would happen to them millions of years ago, also due to revenge and the precursors willing to let themselves be killed, the flood was created to kill the forerunners and test humanity as the inheritors to the galaxy, and if they failed, the flood would consume all their life they ever made. The whole paradox of this was that the precursors were a race of peaceful creators and at the same time, absolute destroyers with no mercy. The reason for the halo rings was also not in part of the flood but to also end the threat of the precursors yet they counted on this for the forerunners, because the forerunners relied on the domain so much, as it turns out the legendary organon was the domain, just a different name from the forerunners. The domain/organon was the biggest invention of the precursors, the collective knowledge of trillions of years worth of different races and the universe, yet the halo weapons distrusted precursor technology, or neural physics, the rings once fired, erased the domain indefinitely save for a very small porition of the surviving knowledge of the remaining forerunners who left the galaxy afterwards.

In the entirty of the story, in all 3 books, the build up is that you question what are the precursors and the flood and how and why did the ancient battle of forerunners and precursors turn out this way? The matter was that it was the forerunners in the distant past committed an act of rebellion to save themselves and act as leaders that humanity was supposed to be but the precursors went too far on their own end and wanted to protect themselves from the same conflict, so one part revenge, another part to test humanity as their successors, they made the flood. Their philosophy of being absolute peaceful creators and absolute no mercy destroyers was shown in the entire trilogy and it came full circle. They both fought and let themselves be destroyed, they wanted to learn and destroy their creations, it was the act of forerunner rebellion that made them see a new way if reaction with all life itself, how does the universe change without them to influence it, and their ultimate curiosity also led to the deaths of many and trillions of others.

The point is, if this had been a comic or a graphic novel, all the clues would have been given, all the answers by means of a panel here and there. But it was all text and you had to read carefully to see what could or would come.

This is the difference between why Kishi cannot say show all his stuff because with words and panels, you have 2 means to see what could come and otherwise the answer can be easier seen in a picture than a block of text

So while in the terms of romance, Kishi has done a bit too much, ups and downs here and there, sakura and hinata can be tiresome with this stuff, while narutos is shown to be given more I depth reasoning but the reason narutos isn't shown as much is again as I said, if it were to be shown with him thinking more about sakura, this would make it well too obvious considering how little has been done with nh and SS. As nh and SS are largely undeveloped and not shown as much, if naruto had been showing signs of sakura in his head, all these questions if who does he love, what girl is like Kushina, etc would all be answered much quicker, while 631 did answer these, it was shown as it was to be a hint because like naruto not changing from sakura, if ns was to come then there would still need to be a resolution at least with SS or sakura moving towards naruto, getting resolution and closure herself in this trait, it would be for her in part to know the ending of ideal love with Sasuke before moving towards the real thing with naruto if ns is the end pairing, 631 was just again, a means to hint ns and show naruto still loves her.

But for what I again say, if Kishi did anything right, he at least made ns well handled in the overall change in dynamics, this to me has been fine, it's just with sakura, she shouldn't have been focused so much on just her two teammates though it did help her that she had focus with others like tsunade and ino. While her friendship with ino is largely simple to understand, at least the relation with her and tsunade has been given a fair amount if depth.

But then we all come back to the biggest point of all, we all have our opinions on this and are always bound to see things with a pro here or a negative there, as I have just said in this entire post with this being my whole take on this stuff, it's not an ideal romance subplot, it's a mess, but it's still got a path that has been built that can solve things where it counts using narusaku for reasons mainly due to SS being well, very unlikely and nh for hinata being infrequent and well hinata nit always having a clear focus. Yet for other stuff too, I said narusaku cannot have been shown at times just due to the way this story is presented, as a manga, using both words and visual representation, as sometimes thoughts and reactions will give you an answer more than words could. I just felt that where narusaku was not shown, it was one part we know why naruto could not confess yet, and another, revealing it sooner (the stuff from 631 with sakura like Kushina) would otherwise just make this subplots ending be much easier to see and an author wouldn't want to do that exactly for a subplot that has run for a long while already.

[CloudMountainJuror]

Well said. You hit the nail on the head.

[Sakamaki Izayoi]

Now does that scenario with Percabeth have to happen to Naruto? No. But it's still weird and badly written that Sakura's not one of his most important bonds when it comes to Sasuke or is at least put on the same scale as him. Naruto loves her. She shouldn't be shoved with the rest of his friends like she's not anything special. And I'm not even saying this as NaruSaku fan. I'm saying this as a writer in general.
 
I'm not saying Naruto doesn't love Sakura. I'm not saying any of the characters don't love someone any less. I just think Kishimoto could do a lot better portraying them when it comes to focus. He has no balance in his writing. A few characters either focus on their love too much and then some more characters focus on their love too little. It's because of this I truly believe Kishi when he says he's not that good at writing romance.
 
I hope I don't sound overly critical here. Kishimoto does have strong suits in his writing, but I have to say incorporating romance in characters is certainly not one of them.

That's why there were lots of theories about Naruto not loving Sakura anymore because it's the truth in a certain way, we only know he loves her because of Sai's flashbacks and the current chapters with his classic teasing.
The reason why the romance is bad on Naruto at least the main ones is that the pairings are one-sided, if we look at NH, SS, NS the big three, it's completely focused on Sakura and Hinata feelings overall, Naruto doesnt even get focus.
If you look closely mostly people refer as NS as Sakura alone and which si true because that's what people expects from NS is a move from Sakura.
 

Naruto with his love though, his feelings have been explored more but this is the one thing I need to disagree with as you said. Though his relation with Sasuke has gone too far in some points for why does he want to save such a jerk, it's for the sake of the story, sometimes a ridiculous main plot needs to go to extreme lengths just for its own sake and logic. It's been dumb and shown too much at points and while many would ask, why doesn't naruto put sakura in a higher regard at times, I can say this is for 2 reasons
1. We have a reason to know why he isn't focused on it, he cannot confess due to the promise being unfulfilled, if we know the reason then the author doesn't need to show it constantly.
2. Another would be if we did keep seeing his love for sakura, wouldn't his just spell ns then? Wouldn't it just give it all away?

Naruto's feelings are not explored, and i'm being completely honest we dont have a honest reason for why he fell in love with Sakura aside from Sakura saying she wants to be acknowledged by sasuke and naruto says he understand why he loves her which is bs.
The whole 'i cant confess to sakura' we're not talking about confession but the truth is that Naruto doesnt display those feelings his has for sakura which is love as something special or highly important.
Sure there's the battle against Gaara which can be used as an example but i have to pinpoint that there's the reason that Naruto wants to save Gaara as a important objective too which is shown later.

about your "2", if Naruto cant show his love because it would spell NS then you have no romance because Sakura certainly cant spell it either otherwise it's canon.
So you have something that doesnt flow right, neither Naruto does moves neither Sakura.
Naruto does love Sakura however the way the story portraited it, she's no more important than the other Naruto's friends being less important than Sasuke.

Edited by Dαrkrєrsŧ, 14 July 2014 - 01:45 AM.

[KnS]

Sasuke comes first, but Sakura comes immediately second. 

 

I see the reason for this differently than some of you.  

 

As a young boy whose first heartfelt goal was to become the best Hokage and to gain the respect of his village and other ninja, Naruto's rivalry with Sasuke came first -- both in priority and chronology.  Much of the respect, skill, and old-fashioned personal attention Naruto desperately wanted were conferred upon Sasuke, so Sasuke became Naruto's number one focus.  A symbolic carrot of sorts that he could chase as motivation to improve himself.

 

We should not forget, either, that Sakura's early fascination with Sasuke was a measurable part of Naruto's rivalry with him.  Naruto's personal contest with Sasuke is strong and nearly all-consuming because it was forged from the combination of his intense need to "be someone" AND his private feelings for Sakura-chan.

 

As Naruto began to grow in power, accomplishment, and finally, respect, his reasons for chasing Sasuke began to change somewhat.  Sasuke remains first, so to speak, because Naruto sees Sasuke as being in moral if not mortal danger.  He feels compelled to save Sasuke from himself, and that keeps him Naruto's priority for two reasons:

 

(1) Because Naruto feels (and has been told) he is the only person who can affect change in Sasuke, and

(2) Because no one else he cares about is in the same kind of moral peril at this time.  (Sakura, for instance, has her head screwed on right in all the ways that count; Naruto doesn't have to worry about saving her from herself.)

 

Sasuke is Naruto's priority because there's a distinct sense of urgency in trying to correct Sasuke's life path.

 

Likewise, Naruto has another important reason for taking on Sasuke's issues first:  He does not feel he can declare his love for Sakura and openly pursue her until he is convinced that her feelings for Sasuke are resolved.  

 

And it will be nearly impossible for Naruto to feel free to announce himself as a romantic competitor if Sasuke never returns, and while Naruto is not confident that Sakura can choose him fairly and willingly.  (See Sakura's confession for a refresher.)

 

If Naruto can stand beside Sasuke, and feel that he is Sasuke's equal (or better), then he will try to win Sakura openly with no holds barred.

 

And to be honest, Naruto's dedication to this plan is a large part of why Sakura has floundered so long in a state of denial about Sasuke's relevance to her love life.  Naruto has enabled her fantasy by acting in ways that have specifically reinforced Sasuke's romantic importance to her.

 

But it is what it is.  And really, depending on which way you're looking at it, it is just as easy to argue that Naruto's commitment to Sasuke is because of his private love for Sakura as anything else now, which would make Sakura Naruto's true number one priority.

 

The way it has been written makes perfect sense to me, even if I find it personally frustrating.

Edited by KnS, 14 July 2014 - 01:55 AM.

[Inferno180]

Its also easy to state that Sasuke has always been Naruto's goal, but its always been well known that naruto was going to go after sasuke even if sakura didn't ask him to (which caused the promise).

 

naruto was always after sasuke for reasons he understood, generally because he felt he could understand sasuke given the loneliness they both had and he didnt want to lose the friendship he forged with him. Thats the point of him being rivals with sasuke, he wanted what sasuke had, the skill, acknowledgement, recognition, and yes part of this was sakura's attention.

 

And as naruto grew, much like his goal in wanting to be hokage it turned from him wanting respect to simply wanting to rather protect his home and friends and as such people came to trust him so he is now seen by many as capable and worthy of being hokage.

 

But as we know, its been said a couple of times, naruto cannot be hokage unless he can resolve everything with sasuke, add in the fact that since 631 sasuke "wanting" to be hokage now just makes it a dual trail for naruto to handle, but for idealism reasons, we can easily assume sasuke's goal is only for hokage because of the position of power it would allow him to accomplish his real plan.

 

On the subject of the romance, Naruto did want to save sasuke before the promise, the deal was the promise just had much more impact on naruto due to his own reasons and sakura's happiness. The ironic thing in this is perhaps during the events though, naruto and sakura actually grew closer in all the events and after the land of iron stuff impacted sakura it has led to her being more concerned and focused on naruto in the majority of the time since 573 (not to the extent hinata has been though, basically anytime hinata has appeared, I mean its always involved her just having naruto in her broken record mind, not many events with her not involving naruto).

 

Though the deal is, as I said, I say kishi just didn't always show naruto having sakura up in his mind because again, we learned why he could not confess to her, apparently sasuke was such a deal that not only did he feel he couldn't be hokage, he also felt he could not confess to sakura. The other is just, if kishi had shown Sakura in narutos mind more often then it would have been a bigger giveaway of NS being the end game pairing, just earlier though. I mean yeah NS is still fine by all means in the current period of the manga, its been better since last year and being hinted is another deal of its own just due to how parallelism exists a lot for the main plot, so one for a subplot is just a fairly good indicator of what could come.

 

I feel that obviously the romance hasn't been the worst despite being mostly a mess but its been good in some cases and in other ways, it will be resolved, I mean even with events that made it look like NS ended but also not doing anything with NH or SS, not developing either of these where it was important, its an event in which if kishi was intent on the other 2, then that would be a real problem of just how weak the subplot was due to the lack of focus if the other 2 were to come. I said before, it was good with NS in terms of how it changed over the story in terms of dynamics, it was a good slow and progressive change from hate to nothing less than best friends. I mean NS has some problems like Sakura in the position naruto and sasuke with that old trait stuff on sasuke otherwise being around for a bit too long most feel, but it may be changing at last since sasuke came back in the fight with the ten tails.

 

I mean while its a good notion that she is no longer in love with sasuke, it would have to change at a point where it was essential and needed, for her own growth or development, some trial to overcome herself. Some NS fans feel that she has to confront her own inner trails since she is by most accounts, a mentally developed heroine, not a physical. Many have gone on the theories since she was made to represent human weakness, mainly emotion (kinda like Lee being physical weakness) then her overcoming her weakness would be maturity, confronting the old ideals with resolve to handle what she once couldn't. That time could be coming now or anywhere around the time naruto and sasuke fight. It still makes sense that should she fall out of love with sasuke, that she sees him as a friend and comrade she cannot abandon, otherwise in ways similar to naruto has for the majority of part 2.

 

Also I say Naruto's love has had more content over both Sakuras and Hinatas because we dont know purely why Sakura was in love with sasuke, even an old kishi interview had him say Sakuras love for sasuke was selfish but it was also just idealist love, she did change a bit towards him in part 1 and knew he had flaws but that perception just lowered over the majority of the series. Hinatas for naruto was otherwise over simplified, she loved him cause he never gave up and gave her hope that if someone seen as useless and talentless like him could get great, she could too. The only deal on NH was that kishi never explored this as much as he could, generally the deal of NH at this point is still just simply because she loves him because even with the pain and 615 events we still don't have the "content" or the "structure" for building this aside from she simply just loves him because she was inspired and copied his ninja creed, but even thats not much, its still not much different from then to now, otherwise not much in dynamics.

 

So while Sakuras for Sasukes is largely just idealism and Hinatas for Naruto isnt that dynamic and just really simplified, why does naruto's love for sakura have more reasoning as I say? Well we know why he loves her, basically a desire for acknowledgement (even if it was from sasuke at the time, naruto was able to understand the feeling of wanting to be known by another) but it mostly goes towards the promise, her saddness paining him and otherwise him not able to confess because he felt, incomplete and otherwise not worthy to tell her because he didn't finish his promise, and his never give up, or go back on his word type deal, its otherwise very intergral to his character, he was putting sakura ahead of himself for selfless reasons even though he had his own reasons to save sasuke and this part grew though once situations like pain and the land of iron passed, he was able to understand the desire of revenge and even in parts said he sympathized with sasuke. But for all purposes he is still set on getting sasuke back promise on or off, even at this point still loving sakura after the land of iron. As before, he couldn't confess to sakura because of the promise, he wasn't going to confess even in all that opportune time, he didn't feel accomplished to do it as long as it went unfulfilled and also in part, the biggest reason is his respect towards sakura. Hell even ep 235 as a filler kept naruto in character and this is a reason we like that moment, because he respects sakura for who she is and he respects her happiness, he would never force her or demand her to do something, he simply lets her be herself. Naruto didn't accept the confession for reasons we know, but naruto also doesn't know the full deal of how sakura has changed towards him, even if it means he thinks she will always love sasuke, there would come a point if NS was to go canon, this would be confronted with either him taking the action or sakura getting a redo, but an honest open one where she has nothing held back only once she actually came to love him, getting over sasuke and knowing naruto was more important to her, only in a situation where all events come together will sakura be able to confront her old sasuke feels and move onto naruto, likewise naruto can do the action too and impact her, it can go either way but both can be done so that there is reason in which this is all resolved.

 

But Naruto's reasons for loving sakura, again, acknowledgement (though the other 2 can be said of this) Narutos love for her has had themes in which it again, did cause the biggest deal of change unlike the other 2, going from hate to absolute care, with the possibility of it going further to a mutual relationship. Its mainly the promise that had deals of nobility and selflessness, putting the other ahead of yourself, her happiness over his own, even if it meant he could never succeed with her, he did it in the hopes she would be happy, naruto just cares for her like that. His love had senses of selflessness, sacrifice, preserving the happiness of another, hell he got beat up by kauri just to not worry sakura with the sasuke deal. This all impacted sakura, to tears, and well we got to the point that she has returned some of the feelings, she wants him to become hokage, thats a very radical change from the start where she was a girl who didn't care for his guts.

 

Thats not to say Sasuke overrides this, naruto is put so much focus on sasuke because of the same reasons he understood and this whole deal with sasuke has evolved from naruto merely understanding him to being the one to resolve this all as well. While we can say it was selfish of naruto to put a lot of goal seeking on sasuke, in the same way he had his own reasons to save sasuke, like the promise he made to sakura, we can also say he was being selfless to sasuke in trying to get him back to save him from essentally a path of self destruction.

 

Narutos deal with sakura (on the promise) and Sasuke (for his own reasons) are otherwise to me, I feel they are the indicators of why he is selfless mostly to others despite also having his own dream, he felt that in both cases for his love/promise to sakura and otherwise desire/own reasons to save sasuke, he cannot get his central dream, hokage.

 

Naruto has a case of reasons for others (like sakura) and himself (on Sasuke) and otherwise for sasukes wellbeing that he cannot achieve his goal of hokage. Its no hokage without sasuke which means he doesn't feel accomplished to take it if he couldnt save one friend nor confess to sakura by this.

 

This is my opinion, but even as kishi has done the romance, he basically put more story focus and reasons to at least make a sense of "content and substance" existing within the NS pairing unlike the simple reasons in the others, this is why I say we know of the reasons for his love over the others. Its mainly just the development and change from hate to care and the fact sakura has shown feelings that could be beyond friendship at times and did some events herself to naruto, like the hug and showing she wants him to be hokage. This is all just a part of dynamics that could lead to a change completely different from the start, started as hate and ended as a mutual relationship. In all respect, kishi has handled the change in dynamics well.

 

Even to this point stuff like Sakura never changing or Naruto thinking sakura will always love sasuke, these are deals that can change should we get the point sakura gets past her old trait which is very possible now given 675 and there are many ways naruto could either confess to her (when appropriate) or she could come to him but as before, in better more open reasons where he fully sees it himself and knows it.

 

Either naruto confesses when appropriate or sakura re confronts him after changing and he comes to fully know the reasons when she is honest with him. Basically only if sakura realizes she really loves him over sasuke, not forcing herself too, only if she herself sees or realizes naruto is more important to her, or she feels more for him, etc. Then this would happen.

 

NS still by all accounts has the right stuff to go forward it just needs to solve the deal of how would naruto confess or sakura move beyond, this is stuff I am sure will be handled but its just not clear given the slow pacing needed for either narutos accomplishment or sakuras character arc to move past sasuke and onto naruto.

 

But this is also a manga called naruto and by most means, you should be hoping the hero can accomplish his dreams, saving his "best" friend, gaining the love of the girl he has loved for years who he has to this point impacted a lot, and become hokage.

 

While I have my views on the romance stuff and all the other stuff here, its just what I feel is happened or represented and thats just my opinion.

[Win-chan]

I agree mostly with your rant. I TOTALLY agree that Kishimoto makes the girls focus way too much on romance. It's like, he doesn't know how to make a female character without making her be in love with somebody. I mean, Ino loves Sasuke (apparently), Sakura loves Sasuke (apparently), Hinata loves Naruto, Karin loves Sasuke, Kurenai loves Asuma, Tsunade loves Dan, Kushina loves Minato, Konan loves Nagato... I'm not saying all of these are bad, but practically every female character has romance as a huge part of them. Except for like Temari. Oh, and Tenten, but that's because nobody cares about her. Anyway, it's annoying because men and women make up relationships, but it Naruto it mostly focuses on the women in relationships. :/ However, I think that Naruto's relationship with Sakura is okay, for the most part. He shows us he loves her not with words, but with actions, and I feel like that's how deep love is formed. It's just that, because Kishi over-focuses on love with women, Naruto's love is overshadowed. 

 

I mean, his relationship with Sakura, especially towards the beginning of Part 2, was totally fine. You know, because he was always going on missions with her and stuff, and always asking her on dates and thinking she was cool, but it wasn't like his love for her defined him. For a while, it was fine for Sakura, too. I even thought she was over Sasuke. But nooo, we get to the Five Kage Summit arc and you realize, "What the cuss, she still loves him? Ehh?? But why the crap - she hasn't seen him in like three years and he's evil! Why would she still like him??" It doesn't make sense. It's like Kishi doesn't know how to make a female without making her overly love-focused. 

 

Now, I ADORE MinaKushi, but even MinaKushi falls into this! If you think about it, Minato didn't mention his wife at all to Naruto. He was all business. Then, you talk to Kushina and she tells their whole romance. From the beginning of Naruto, we've known about the fourth hokage and how awesome and mighty he was, but you never hear one breath of Kushina. He stands alone without needing her, but she is still extremely important to him and he loves her. Kushina, on the other hand, basically exists as Naruto's mom and Minato's wife. Her entire character is for romance and mothering. I love her and think she's adorable, but still Kishi does it again. 

 

I wish there would be more girls that stand alone without needing romance to lean on   That's one of the reasons I love NaruSaku, too, because of the subtle built up Naruto and Sakura have. It isn't in your face, but it's definitely there and precious and just wonderful <3 

Edited by Win-chan, 14 July 2014 - 03:18 AM.

[Iwantbuns]

Actually in the beginning of the series, I think Naruto would probably pick Sakura first, instead of Sasuke, because his crush on her started out selfish. Where if Sakura even payed attention to Sasuke, Naruto would blow his top at Sasuke. But when Naruto was placed on a team with both of them, he noticed that Sasuke was actually a person Naruto quickly bonded with and connected with him by becoming his rival, to becoming his best friend.

 

But then there's also Sakura, that he got placed on the team with as well. Naruto started finding a much more real reason of liking her - to be acknowledged in the same way she did with Sasuke, but also keeping her happy and safe, even if it meant her being with Sasuke. Naruto's selfless crush started all the way back in Part 1, and Naruto's brotherly bond began all the way back in Part 1.

 

However, no matter what kind of love it is, the kind of love that revolves around friendship is the first one that should be considered, not romantic love. Naruto cares about both of them, because they were his first two real bonds that he had. He cherishes them, and doesn't want to ever lose either of them. Sasuke comes in higher priority than Sakura, but that doesn't make Sakura any less of a priority for Naruto.

[xxRomanceGirlxx]

Kishimoto's not hiding Naruto's feelings. It's clear through Sai's intervention and things like how he reacted to the confession and 631 that Naruto loves Sakura. I don't think Kishi's trying to hide them to keep up ambiguity. Sakura serves that purpose IMO. And even if he was, that doesn't mean Kishimoto should just shove Sakura aside in groups when it comes to important bonds of Naruto in situations that don't call for it. Like when he says "I love my friends", Sakura's never singled out even in a panel without dialogue (best situation I can remember was after he met his mother).

 

Kishimoto's portrayal of Naruto's love for Sakura wouldn't be half as much as an issue if it didn't get completely bulldozed by Naruto's bond with Sasuke. Naruto's rivalry with Sasuke had little to do with winning Sakura's affections, not even in the early days. It's mostly just about being equal to him and gaining his acknowledgment, not Sakura's love. Sure Naruto wanted it, but that was never a big factor in his rivalry with Sasuke at all.

 

Naruto has blatantly put Sasuke on a pedestal above Sakura many times if we go by focus and emphasis which it doesn't really fit at all. Things like "Sasuke acknowledged me more than anyone" (no Sakura), "You're the one always pushing him" (Kakashi about Sasuke, no Sakura) and even when Sasuke nearly killed her. Naruto just lectured Sasuke with one line about being part of Team 7 and wasn't even that angry long on nearly slitting her throat. (in the manga anyway, the anime dramatized it).

 

If we go by emphasis and writing alone, it's not that hard to say Naruto loves Sasuke much more than he loves Sakura. That doesn't mean it's true, but the way Kishi writes makes it look like it is. I just don't understand. Naruto definitely loves Sakura, she's the woman he'll marry someday, but Sasuke has to overshadow it? It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth as a writer.

 

Now compare this to Sakura. Sakura thinks a lot about Naruto and revolves around him to the point he's the person she always goes to when she needs to be cheered up or needs support. Sakura always shows feelings for him, worries for him, and thinks about his problems while Naruto is more preoccupied with Sasuke and other things way more. To be perfectly honest, as totally ironic as it is, if by go by emphasis and way of writing, Sakura needs Naruto much more than Naruto needs her. He's always thinking about Sasuke.

 

This is the issue. The uneven balance between girls preoccupied with love and guys preoccupied with goals when it should be more of the same (Sakura, for instance, should more relevancy with Ino and Tsunade and her goals while Naruto should think just a little bit more about Sakura in panels that single her out).

 

I'm not saying Naruto doesn't need Sakura at all. They really do both need each other a lot. I'm just saying Kishi makes it look like Sakura needs Naruto more than he needs her by how he writes their main plot as characters. It's just bad writing and could be a lot better.

Edited by xxRomanceGirlxx, 14 July 2014 - 05:04 PM.

[KnS]

I just don't understand. Naruto definitely loves Sakura, she's the woman he'll marry someday, but Sasuke has to overshadow it? It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth as a writer.

 

Correct me if I'm mistaken, but isn't Naruto a shonen manga?  With a target demographic of 12 to 14-year-old boys?  Why would the emphasis be on romance and the hero's bond with his love interest instead of his bond with his friend and rival?

 

I have personally never thought the story was primarily about romance or romantic love.  It doesn't make much sense to me to view it with that lens of expectation, and then be critical of the result when it's not the story's purpose.  If the writing fails as action-adventure then that's another matter, but I don't get the criticism about it failing as a romance when it isn't supposed to be one.

 

And romance or romantic love has to be what we're talking about here, because I think Kishimoto has done a very good job of portraying love in its other forms. 

 

I'm honestly not trying to be argumentative.  I simply don't understand some of the expectations to which Kishimoto is held that are, to my view, quite misplaced.

 

I'm just saying Kishi makes it look like Sakura needs Naruto more than he needs her by how he writes their main plot as characters. It's just bad writing and could be a lot better.

 

Kishimoto pretty much made his viewpoint clear very early on:  

 

 

For what I think are several obvious reasons, love is on the back burner for Naruto personally while he establishes himself as a man.  Meanwhile, feelings / emotions / relationships are more at the forefront for the girls in the story -- including Sakura.

[Syn11]

I concur with your opinion, xxRomanceGirlxx.

That's why one day I'd like to write a NS story based on this idea: while chasing after one thing you can lose another, i.e. Naruto obsessing over Sasuke and distancing himself from Sakura to the point at which their bond would have to be mended.  

[Sedna]

We already know Naruto loves Sakura to death. I think Kishimoto is trying to focus on Sakura's side, considering we aren't sure whether she loves Naruto or not. In a way, he may be trying to build up the pairing. Although I can definitely agree with what you're saying. It seems like the males have different goals. Meanwhile, the female population is built off of love.

(That was a long rant, I hope I got it right)

[xxRomanceGirlxx]

@KnS:

 

Oh yes, I am well aware this is not a romance manga. And I don't ever expect Kishi to turn it into one. Naruto's rivalry with Sasuke isn't something I'm complaining about. It's fine with me if it's the main focus.

 

I just think that just because something's a Shonen doesn't mean you should have Naruto's love bond with Sakura get overshadowed so intensely when that topic's usually something meant to be treated as more important. Sakura shouldn't get shoved aside so much in favor of Naruto's relationship with Sasuke. They should be treated equally at least. Sakura shouldn't be put together in groups and treated in the same level as the rest of his friends so much when he loves her. I'd expect more of a balance, not thinking about her as much as Sasuke (after all, Sasuke is the one "in danger"), but just singled out a bit more. What I'm asking of Kishi is actually very minor.

 

As for what you said ... "girls more interested in love"? We're supposed to be satisfied with that?

 

First of all, Sakura's not a 12-year old fangirl anymore. And secondly, this generalization of girls main focus being love in this series irks me very much. If a girl cares about love then okay, but you shouldn't make it so noticeable and overused when you compare it to the guys who mostly don't care about that. And you shouldn't have guys so wrapped up in their goals so much more heavily to the point the one they love is scarcely ever singled out or portrayed as special. This is very much the case for Naruto in regards to Sakura.

 

Why should Sakura revolve so heavily around Sasuke and more so Naruto? Why do her relationships with Ino, Tsunade, or even her parents have to get shafted in favor of her missing Sasuke or focusing so excessively over Naruto? It's very annoying, especially when you compare it to Naruto who has good coverage and importance on all of these and the one shafted is actually Sakura. No balance. No balance at all.

 

This isn't about turning Naruto into a romance manga. This about balance. Realistic, satisfactory balance between both girls and boys.

 

I don't want Naruto thinking about Sakura constantly. I don't want him to turn into a character like Karin and Hinata.And I don't agree with that fact that female characters revolve so much around who they love either. All of them should care about other things than who they love or in, Sakura's case, have more focus on goals she did establish (rivalry with Ino, being a strong kunoichi without reflection on her bonds with Sasuke and Naruto all the time, being useful etc.)

 

I know you don't particularly have a problem with romance subplot, KnS, but I do. I feel like it's unfairly uneven when it comes to girls and boys in regards to love and that generalizing all the girls as revolving so much around love is unsatisfactory. I know nothing I can say will change what Kishi does, but I'm just expressing my opinion. IMO, what he does with love is not good writing.

Edited by xxRomanceGirlxx, 19 July 2014 - 09:39 PM.

[narusaku256]

^ You are not the only one to think that. There are many others as well!

Edit: I partially dislike the love subplot for different reasons

Edited by narusaku256, 19 July 2014 - 09:16 PM.

[rocci]

Why naruto show more concern to sasuke?
Because naru vs sasu is the last battle of this manga, rival, and sasuke is always in dangerous situation.

Why naruto don't show it to sakura?
Because naruto dev already max out in part 1, so it sakura turn in part 2.
And sakura not in dangerous situation.

Naruto doesn't show concern to sasuke in search for tsunade arc despite sasuke goes into coma.

Love play pivotal role in this manga. General love.
Brothers love become the focus because naru vs sasu is the last battle of this manga.