35 replies to this topic

[winter-serenade]

I really dont like Sakuras portrayal in the anime. Itd be strange for me to include the manga as well, but- and its sad- Kishimoto intended for Sakura to be the way she is, obviously. But the anime especially gets on my nerves because it makes her look worse.

Take Road to Ninja as an example. Ive been thinking about it recently and how it makes me feel.

The good? There are some NaruSaku moments. The ending with Iruka and Naruto. Naruto getting a chance to see his parents alive and well. Interesting concept with a sort of reversed world. And the filler episode Road to Sakura is spawned from it, which blesses me with this gem

 E0725F70-9D58-49CC-B096-4E28884C95B0.gif   470.02KB   2 downloads

The bad? The way Sakura acts for the first half of the movie. And considering I like Sakura and shes one of the main characters, it almost turned me off. In the beginning, Sakura is complaining to Naruto about her parents. At first I shrugged. But then she wished her parents were gone. In front of Naruto. Who, consequently in an orphan.

And then when calls her out for this, she says that Sasuke would understand/agree, to which Im like... What? Its despicable that they had her say that considering she learned from her mistake years ago, when Sasuke called her annoying and said she wouldnt understand. Didnt she learn from this? And she KNOWS Naruto is an orphan.

And its not even that she isnt compassionate overall. Which is why it feels so OOC for her to say something like this. Finally, when she experiences being an orphan in the genjutsu world, she wants to go home, and Naruto wants to stay, bit for obvious reasons. It kind of peeved me how when things went bad for her, she wanted to leave. All though its an understandable feeling, it hit me as kind of selfish.

Thats the biggest example of her portrayal in the anime. There are also little unnecessary things they add, such as how she hits Naruto way more often than not, and after the bench scene, where a second after she says shell treat Naruto nicer, shes shown being disgusted by him (correct me if Im wrong on this).

Overall, I wanted to see what other thought about this. Thoughts? Correct me if Im wrong on anything.

[Phantom_999]

No doubt no doubt I mean really, While I don't see Sakura a s a violent psychopath the would smash Naruto through the floor for even speaking in her direction the anime plays up her violent side and blows it way out of proportion. take for instance the arc with Sora/ the imitation Kyuubi. Naruto is just sitting with in cuddling distance of Sakura gives a completely uncalled for punch to get him away from her. Is it any wonder that anime only watchers would find her to be quite if not completely intolerable? and you're absolutely right, Sakura did a complete 180 turn in personality at the star of RTN JUST to be able to kick start the movie plot but it still a low point for her character. While I completely will not stand for Sakura bashing, some detractors of her anime portrayal have a point or two, admittedly 

Edited by Phantom_999, 10 March 2018 - 10:51 PM.

[Tsuki Hoshino]

The bad? The way Sakura acts for the first half of the movie. And considering I like Sakura and shes one of the main characters, it almost turned me off. In the beginning, Sakura is complaining to Naruto about her parents. At first I shrugged. But then she wished her parents were gone. In front of Naruto. Who, consequently in an orphan.

And then when calls her out for this, she says that Sasuke would understand/agree, to which Im like... What? Its despicable that they had her say that considering she learned from her mistake years ago, when Sasuke called her annoying and said she wouldnt understand. Didnt she learn from this? And she KNOWS Naruto is an orphan.
 

​This is actually consistent with her character though...Since part one where she was complaining to Sasuke about Naruto and Her parents, when HE was an Orphan himself, and he proceeded to verbally kick her. Honestly, the idea that because someone says something mildly callous and unthoughtful to someone else automatically makes them uncompassionate is silly. Every single person on this planet has thought, or said something kitten like to someone else, and it doesn't necessarily mean they're a bad person. 

​People are Naturally self absorbed, and its through trial and error that we become better people--not perfect ones. 

[Yojeveka]

I agree with you guys. 

 

Hinata is loved because of SP and the way she's portrayed, right? Well, same thing occurs with this Sakura-hate. As the series keep going, Hinata became cuter and "stronger", while Sakura was more like a crybaby/violent towards Naruto.

 

(If you ignore Hinata's crush, I guess they wanted her to shine because Nana Mizuki was working with them)

 

Ahem, back to Sakura's portrayal, another thing I hated was her constant "Should I save Naruto or Sasuke-kun?" I mean, really? Even after knowing about Sasuke's deals? This was just a poorly way to sell Team 7 love triangle. In the end, this was her only purpose for SP. After all, they never saw her as the heroine. 

[winter-serenade]

​This is actually consistent with her character though...Since part one where she was complaining to Sasuke about Naruto and Her parents, when HE was an Orphan himself, and he proceeded to verbally kick her. Honestly, the idea that because someone says something mildly callous and unthoughtful to someone else automatically makes them uncompassionate is silly. Every single person on this planet has thought, or said something kitten like to someone else, and it doesn't necessarily mean they're a bad person. 
​People are Naturally self absorbed, and its through trial and error that we become better people--not perfect ones.

It’s not consistent with her character. You bring up something said by the same Sakura who was, to put it bluntly, useless to Team 7. Who couldn’t do anything at all, who barely had any skill. Remember, that was in chapter 3. This took place waaay after the time skip, which is hundreds of chapters later. She has, or should have developed past these shallow remarks. In the manga, she never said such a thing again because of this fact. Yet they have her say it in Road to Ninja?

Also, I didn’t mind Sakura complaining ABOUT her parents. It’s what people do. What I DID mind was when she wished her parents to be gone, and when Naruto called her out for this, she said Sasuke would understand. Especially considered the fact that Sasuke did the same thing Naruto did, but harsher. People also learn from their mistakes. Sakura has flaws, but that scene in particular made me mad. It doesn’t see. Like something Sakura would do at all anymore. She’s matured from that.

[DrK]

Yeah, if they hadn't done this, the ending wouldn't have been ruined. I am kittening sure of it. Manga Sakura is like a completely different person almost. She's mean to Naruto maybe twice. She's so sweet towards him even just in part 1. She barely mentions Sasuke at all in part 2 until LoI. She was all about Naruto and helping him, and I think she really loved him.

 

Anime Sakura is schizophrenic or something. She does some extra things to help Naruto but also goes out of her way to treat him badly.

 

About Road to Ninja, yeah it's the Anime Sakura, but you still have to consider that this is still a movie about them. The two of them going on a bizarre date. So they were supposed to be together even in the damn anime.

[Yojeveka]

It’s not consistent with her character. You bring up something said by the same Sakura who was, to put it bluntly, useless to Team 7. Who couldn’t do anything at all, who barely had any skill. Remember, that was in chapter 3. This took place waaay after the time skip, which is hundreds of chapters later. She has, or should have developed past these shallow remarks. In the manga, she never said such a thing again because of this fact. Yet they have her say it in Road to Ninja?

Also, I didn’t mind Sakura complaining ABOUT her parents. It’s what people do. What I DID mind was when she wished her parents to be gone, and when Naruto called her out for this, she said Sasuke would understand. Especially considered the fact that Sasuke did the same thing Naruto did, but harsher. People also learn from their mistakes. Sakura has flaws, but that scene in particular made me mad. It doesn’t see. Like something Sakura would do at all anymore. She’s matured from that.

 

True, it does make her look bad. However, like Phantom said, this was made because they needed to create a plot in order to sell the movie. It doesn't matter if it damages the character. Just look at frikin' Hinata knitting a damn scarf during a mission to save her younger sister 8D

 

Both Sakura and Naruto acted like spoiled kids at the beginning of RTN, to be honest, but at least they make amends afterwards, Unlike The Last, which just got worse and worse...

[Tsuki Hoshino]

It’s not consistent with her character. You bring up something said by the same Sakura who was, to put it bluntly, useless to Team 7. Who couldn’t do anything at all, who barely had any skill. Remember, that was in chapter 3. This took place waaay after the time skip, which is hundreds of chapters later. She has, or should have developed past these shallow remarks. In the manga, she never said such a thing again because of this fact. Yet they have her say it in Road to Ninja?

Also, I didn’t mind Sakura complaining ABOUT her parents. It’s what people do. What I DID mind was when she wished her parents to be gone, and when Naruto called her out for this, she said Sasuke would understand. Especially considered the fact that Sasuke did the same thing Naruto did, but harsher. People also learn from their mistakes. Sakura has flaws, but that scene in particular made me mad. It doesn’t see. Like something Sakura would do at all anymore. She’s matured from that.

Well apparently she hadn't gotten over being annoyed by her parents  

The fact of the matter is from chapter 3 to RtN Sakura had unresolved "issues" with her parents if we go by the narrative. We don't really know what those issues are because Sakura (and her parents.) are apparently unimportant pleeb's. 

Again, people say things all the time without actually thinking it through. She wished her parents were gone, big damn deal. She's a TEENAGER. I don't have enough fingers or toes to count all the times I wished either myself, or someone else dead at that age. Her saying that doesn't negate her growth nor does it entirely regress her either. Its a fault and a mistake, and a jerk thing to say to be sure. 

Sakura's "fault." is essentially the driving force of the movie. You couldn't have had RtN even happen without it. Its a plot device. 

[winter-serenade]

It seems so ridiculous you’d ruin someone’s character for a movie plot to progress. This is reason #214 why The Last is ridiculous. Not only that, but I’m sure they could’ve written another catalyst to get the movie going. THEY are the creators. As long as they match up with the lord, THEY can make the rules. Don’t ruin a character when there’s another solution.

[DrK]

It seems so ridiculous you’d ruin someone’s character for a movie plot to progress. This is reason #214 why The Last is ridiculous. Not only that, but I’m sure they could’ve written another catalyst to get the movie going. THEY are the creators. As long as they match up with the lord, THEY can make the rules. Don’t ruin a character when there’s another solution.

It seems ridiculous that you would ruin basically EVERYONE's character just to make a pairing happen, but they literally did do that.

[Tsuki Hoshino]

Did they ruin her? or was it a character fault she actually DID overcome by the end of the movie? I don't remember people having this much of an issue with RtN when it came out, infact it got glowing praise. 

Ruining her would imply that Sakura actually didn't learn anything by the end of the movie and repeated her mistake a 3rd time. 

1. Sakura kittenes about her parents and Naruto to Sasuke, gets verbally stomped.
2. Sakura kittenes about her parents to Naruto, Wishes her life was different. Gets her wish, regrets said wish and wants to go home, but doing so means Naruto suffers--which she acknowledges with guilt and attempts to talk with him about--only to be brushed off by him. The ultimate conclusion is that she gains a deeper understanding of his pain, genuine sympathy, regret and appreciation for what she has. 

It would be "Ruination" or regression if incident 2 ended with her learning nothing, or there being an incident 3 in which she learned nothing and did everything over again, and again and again. 

It feels like you're missing the entire point of RtN when you say "ruins her character." because it actually ends up doing the opposite.

Character, and real life development isn't always a straight line, but a series of highs and lows. Sometimes its High, low, lower, and lowest before bouncing up again. Thats what it means to be Dynamic instead of Static. You are changeable. 

Edited by Tsuki Hoshino, 19 February 2018 - 10:50 PM.

[DrK]

I agree with Tsuki, but at the same time I do not like those parts of the movie where Sakura is a kitten to Naruto at all. It's the typical Anime Sakura kitten.

 

"If I had to save either Naruto or Sasuke-kun, which one would I save?"

 

"Sasuke-kun would understand me if he were here."

 

Hell no he wouldn't. He wouldn't even still be standing there listening to you. And Manga Sakura would never have said something like that. Even if she believed that, which she wouldn't, she would never have said it. Because that would have hurt Naruto, which is something Manga Sakura refuses to do. Anime Sakura does it, even casually.

 

I actually can kind of understand how people who have only watched the anime don't really see a problem with her ending up with Sasuke. Because she has no conviction when it comes to Naruto at all. She can take or leave him. She could end up with him, or she could stab him in the back. Manga Sakura was nothing like that. She was so protective of Naruto that it was almost scary. She would never have abandoned him.

Edited by DrK, 20 February 2018 - 12:16 AM.

[Tsuki Hoshino]

Well I do agree that her saying "Sasuke would understand it." Is lol worthy since he didn't understand it, and you know, he was being an actively horrible person at the time she said it. But I just took it as her just spouting off at the mouth. I.e not THINKing before speaking.

[DrK]

Well I do agree that her saying "Sasuke would understand it." Is lol worthy since he didn't understand it, and you know, he was being an actively horrible person at the time she said it. But I just took it as her just spouting off at the mouth. I.e not THINKing before speaking.

Ok but Manga Sakura would never do that. She truly learned the lesson back at the bench scene. She truly wanted to be nicer to him since he had had such a difficult life that she hadn't understood at all and she felt bad for how she had treated him before. If she spouted off at the mouth at him over something and hurt him, she would feel really bad about it. Not get caught up in her own emotions to the point that she doesn't care, because there's something, right now an argument with her parents, that she cares more about than Naruto. She cares more about Naruto than anything. That's the difference.

 

The two characters aren't compatible.

[Tsuki Hoshino]

All the anime does is take aspects of characters found in the manga and amplify them. They do it in nearly every adaption, to fill time and add "extra"

Kagome for instance, says Sit at basically any perceivable excuse to do so because the anime studio is trying to gin up amusement.

It's not always a good tactic, but that's how they operate.

[DrK]

All the anime does is take aspects of characters found in the manga and amplify them. They do it in nearly every adaption, to fill time and add "extra"

Kagome for instance, says Sit at basically any perceivable excuse to do so because the anime studio is trying to gin up amusement.

It's not always a good tactic, but that's how they operate.

But casually hurting Naruto was never a trait that Sakura actually had in the manga? At least not for more than 3 chapters? It's not exaggerating a trait the character still has. It's misrepresentation.

[winter-serenade]

Did they ruin her? or was it a character fault she actually DID overcome by the end of the movie? I don't remember people having this much of an issue with RtN when it came out, infact it got glowing praise. 
Ruining her would imply that Sakura actually didn't learn anything by the end of the movie and repeated her mistake a 3rd time. 
1. Sakura kittenes about her parents and Naruto to Sasuke, gets verbally stomped.
2. Sakura kittenes about her parents to Naruto, Wishes her life was different. Gets her wish, regrets said wish and wants to go home, but doing so means Naruto suffers--which she acknowledges with guilt and attempts to talk with him about--only to be brushed off by him. The ultimate conclusion is that she gains a deeper understanding of his pain, genuine sympathy, regret and appreciation for what she has. 
It would be "Ruination" or regression if incident 2 ended with her learning nothing, or there being an incident 3 in which she learned nothing and did everything over again, and again and again. 
It feels like you're missing the entire point of RtN when you say "ruins her character." because it actually ends up doing the opposite.
Character, and real life development isn't always a straight line, but a series of highs and lows. Sometimes its High, low, lower, and lowest before bouncing up again. Thats what it means to be Dynamic instead of Static. You are changeable.

In that post I wasn’t only mentioning RTN, but kind of The Last, too. And it WAS regression. Incident 1 was in chapter 3. Sakura was chastised and never did such a thing again. The ultimate conclusion to that scene was supposed to be her gaining a deeper understanding of his pain, genuine sympathy, regret and appreciation for what she has. However, the development she got from that scene is brushed to the side in the beginning of RTN, thus, regressing. She had to learn from her mistake yet again by the end of the movie.

I don’t hate RTN. I hate Sakura’s portrayal in it. Sakura was angry with her parents and went to the swing to vent. In order for the plot to progress, she had to go to the swing set with Naruto. She didn’t have to say those things. Furthermore, a different catalyst could’ve been used. It’s just very OOC of what she became. But maybe I’m looking at things the wrong way.

[Tsuki Hoshino]

"casually" hurting him emotionally? No. Typically Sakura does that via sticking her foot in her mouth thoughtlessly. But punching him in an attempt to play up her Tsundere-ism but instead making her seem like a Bi-polar kitten? yes.

Again, she apparently forgot her bench scene lesson since Kishimoto actually DID write the script to RtN, or maybe he just wanted to revisit and expound on that incident through the movie and instead of having Sasuke just verbally correct her, have her actually see with her own eyes how hard its actually been for Naruto instead of just taking Sasuke's word for it. 

I'm not arguing the SP is right in the choices they've made, only that its common practice and they executed it in a kitten way. One could presume they do it on purpose though, to make Hinata-hime look even better. 

Honestly though, when you look back on it Sakura is constantly unintentionally causing Naruto pain which was a part of her own guilt complex so....
 

[DrK]

"casually" hurting him emotionally? No. Typically Sakura does that via sticking her foot in her mouth thoughtlessly. But punching him in an attempt to play up her Tsundere-ism but instead making her seem like a Bi-polar kitten? yes.
 

I'm getting lost here though. When does she stick her foot in her mouth thoughtlessly in the manga after chapter 3? All the instances where her words hurt him were because she didn't understand something, not because she was speaking carelessly. When does she even punch him in part 2 other than the one time at the beginning? That punch didn't make her seem bipolar. She had a lot of reasons for doing it and none of them were incompatible with caring a lot about Naruto.

 

I'm not even going to go "It's comic relief!" even though that also applies. There is just a big difference between punishing someone for a certain behavior and just casually hurting them emotionally because you care more about how you feel about something than about how they feel about it. The punch isn't comparable because she can punch Naruto and still care about Naruto. She cannot do the RTN scene while caring about Naruto. She didn't care about him in that instance. She was being self-absorbed, which if it is in relation to Naruto, is just out of character for the part 2 Sakura. Or at least she never exhibited that type of behavior. And the Part 1 one only did for like 3 chapters.

 

You can say that this behavior is totally normal for a teenage girl. But the problem is that this caring persona is the entire basis for her character. It can't just be casually taken away from her for reasons, or you run the risk of her becoming unlikable, which is exactly what happened.

Edited by DrK, 20 February 2018 - 02:23 AM.

[Tsuki Hoshino]

Being caring and self Obsorbed aren't in fact mutually exclusive. You can have periods of being caring, and times of being self obsored throughout your lifetime. You can switch between them throughout the day if it's an eventful one.

Example: you know this guy in school, he's annoying, you go out of your way to rag on him. Then you see they're actually going through a rough patch and make up for it by being there for them. Then YOU have a rough time and go back to being a kitten, get over your hurdle, feel rightfully ashamed and apologize.

Things like that happen all the time.

"Carelessly sticking her foot in her mouth." Happens because she doesn't understand and carelessly jumps to conclusions or makes decisions that unintentionay hurt him.

She hits him for calling her his GF infront of his dead dad, yea? Yea, she does. And it's not a big deal unless your looking for things to pick at because it's a common tsundere trait.

The entire crux of Sakura's character, even in Kishimoto's thoughts was that she WAS The most -normal- of the main cast.

Until he shot that to hell too.

Being a "jerk" on occasion does not make a person "uncaring" it makes them normal.