These two things are closely related. A lot of people who liked Hinata were not particular fans of that character archetype, they just hated something about Sakura. A lot of people who hated Sakura didn't overly care about how she treated Naruto or Sasuke, they just hated that Naruto paid attention to her instead of the infinitely more worth his time Hinata.
It's well understood that the ending was likely made to cater to what Kishi or people around him thought the fans would want. Many of those fans were not self-aware in the sense that they understood exactly why they like or dislike a character or what would have needed to be done to make them change their views.
I'm going to talk about me for a sec. You see, I liked Hinata. I did not like Sakura. When I read the ending and saw that Naruto had ended up with Hinata, I thought, "Oh, he ended up with Hinata. That's... great." This lukewarm reaction that was elicited from me was likely much less positive than the reaction that NS fans would have had if the ending had actually been what it was supposed to be. Still, I thought it was the best result I could have hoped for at the time. Why did I like Hinata? Well, she liked Naruto. That's really the only reason that I can remember.
When I saw that Sakura ended up with Sasuke, I thought, "Yeah, she's pathetic as expected." I didn't really find any particular satisfaction or dissatisfaction with her fate. But I'm posting this on this forum now. So let's say that back in 2014 he had instead written the intended ending instead of the garbage he did write. Isn't it entirely possible... make that extremely likely, that I would have liked that ending a lot more? Despite my preconceived opinions about the characters? The answer is yes.
Why didn't I like Sakura? Well...
Sakura was mean to Naruto to start with. She gets better, but her preference for Sasuke over Naruto does not change throughout Part 1. And Part 1 isn't short. Naruto is the protagonist, so people want to see him succeed. We don't like people to be down on him or to put others before him if he's more deserving. This puts Sakura in a bad light. It is quite frustrating to see Sakura continue to favor Sasuke when he doesn't really care about her. Her changes when we get to Part 2 are good, but it's not sufficient to throw Sakura immediately into a good light for a lot of people. Keep in mind that the anime screwed over Sakura infinitely more.
For the way that Sakura's character developed, Hinata is her absolute worst enemy. Hinata loves Naruto unconditionally. Hinata doesn't just pick Naruto over Sasuke, Sasuke means nothing to her while Naruto means everything. This is something that people who like Naruto are going to like. And he's the protagonist, so this is a lot of people. So Hinata looks good to start with. And she continues looking good throughout, because we never get any sign that things with Sakura have truly changed.
So Naruto doesn't notice Hinata and this is frustrating. You want him to notice her and move on from that mean kitten Sakura. But he never does, and we get to the point where we need him to romance her after the damn ending. In the meantime, whenever something good happens for NS, the presence of NH will cause one to overlook the significance of it. Either that or Naruto or Sakura sabotage the moment themselves somehow. It's difficult for people to become converted, especially since Kishimoto was not willing to put his foot down for Sakura. He was always holding out in case he needed to destroy her for the sake of a NH ending. Everyone is still waiting for NH moments that will justify their preference, and he's not giving us any reason to stop waiting.
Sakura confesses to Naruto? Well, Hinata already confessed to him. And she did so in an incredibly dramatic moment and her confession wasn't ruined by a ridiculous reaction from Naruto. Hinata wins that exchange with ease again. By now the fate of the series is already sealed. And the only way to change people's minds now is if Sakura does something to sink SS from her end, like reject Sasuke or kiss Naruto. And he can't make that happen because he needs to keep pairing wars going and also because he might need to do SS in the end to "please" fans. Which is what he did. Kishimoto was willing to be swayed for whatever reason and he ultimately was swayed by people who felt a certain way.
Yes, I realize she actually did kiss him. It didn't help, did it?
Hinata's behavior during the war was pathetic and the NaruHina moments were really bad. The least charming NS moment was better than all of them put together. But people don't even care at this point. They aren't deciding anymore. Their horse is already Hinata. Sakura could only have saved herself by doing something that makes SS entirely impossible. And we know now that this was never going to happen. So, Sakura is completely destroyed at the end. Her life is ruined, status as heroine destroyed, setting a disgusting example for any young kids that happen to be reading a manga which is aimed at them. But that's another story. I wasn't happy to see SS back then. I would have preferred Sakura do something good, despite the fact that I wanted NH. But no, she gets kitten on completely.
Hinata wins. I feel nothing from this. A year and a half later, I realize that I could have felt something. All it would have taken was for me to not get the pairing that I preferred. To feel something, I needed to lose.
But I won.
It would be one thing if it was actually satisfying. In the end it was for nothing. I can't root for Hinata anymore because she already won. The disappointment is palpable. This is when things become frustrating. Because I didn't even understand why I wanted Hinata to win anymore. What was it all for?
I watch The Last which is a film that tells me that the characters in the manga are actually horrible human beings. This does not help the situation any and I just wasted 2 hours.
So I eventually read the manga again. And I realize I really didn't win.
I can't even narrow it down to one moment from NS. I don't think it was any of them. I think it was simply the realization that Sakura just wasn't that bad. I was set up to dislike her because of Part 1 and Hinata was distracting. All that needed to happen was for Sakura to get over the infatuation with Sasuke. Instead, she made it clear that she never did. Calling that correctly was also unsatisfying.
In the end, everyone loses.
Edited by DrK, 23 November 2017 - 01:03 PM.