34 replies to this topic

[Derock]

In another different forum from a different series, one of the members posted that does this specific character should have a love interest for development and there is currently a very good discussion about it. Now here, this doesn't apply to Naruto and Sakura since we're already sensing the romantic, and sometimes confusing, atmosphere between the two. But this is applying to the rest of the current living characters, such as Kakashi, Sasuke, the Konoha 11/Rookie Nine, Gaara, Karin, etc. (Exclude Tsunade on this, too.)

To me, if Kishimoto wants to write betas and gammas couples in the storyline, that's fine. However, what has me thinking is the fact should everyone have a love interest. Recently, while my OP is NaruSaku because they're so damn close to the Alpha couple status, I couldn't follow anymore of the other couples that sounds right (the best example is Shikamaru and Temari and the common fact is Kishimoto is not writing any romantic interest for Shikamaru and this was mention with the Sakura confession fiasco in the Jump Fiesta 2009 interview), hell even crack pairings. This also applies the main rivals pairings of SasuSaku, NaruHina, and the yaoi/yuri pairings.

The reason why I ask is this: would it be best, realistically, if the character stay single, even at the end of the series. Having, for example: the entire Konoha 11 plus Sai, hooking up with either each other, another character(s) from the other Nations/Alliance, or just some random new character out of the blue is just...bleh. I wouldn't mind if Shikamaru stayed single, same applies to Chouji, Tenten, Neji, Lee, Kiba, hell even Ino, Hinata, and Sasuke.

Remind you guys that this isn't some message of drop off the pairings you like immediately. It's just a sort of question do they really need to pair up and why they should be romantically involve with each other.

[ciardha]

Realistically, they should. That's what happens in the real world across time and cultures, people fall in love, etc...

I find a series incredibly unrealistic and kind of dull if the only couple we ever see have any development at all is only the main couple- big problem with Sailor Moon up till Haruka and Michiru were introduced. It's what makes Ranma 1/2 kind of fall apart too- Takahashi drops the development of most the secondary couples, while having a main love triangle and a strong developing secondary couple kept InuYasha from suffering the same problem- the anime adds another minor couple as well, which actually improves the story. Takahashi's Maison Ikkoku has the main couple, with a bit of a double triangle, plus multiple minor couples that develop over the course of the story and that manga series is ranked by most critics as her best.

Many couples also lessen shipping wars- almost non existant in Elfquest fandom, with it's many intersting couples. Readers of all types have romantic storylines they like and follow.

[Quinny52]

I don't see a reason for EVERYONE to be paired up, but as ciardha pointed out, in the interest of realism Kishi could afford to dedicate some panel time to showcase other people getting together besides Naruto and Sakura. It would look rather awkward if, in an epilogue shown at the end of the series, those two were the only ones (especially among their peers) who managed to settle down. Plus, a recurring theme is of the next generation surpassing the previous, so it would be in the interest of that theme to show glimpses of the generation after Naruto's and show life continuing on. And babies don't just pop out of nowhere.

Besides, with this newly formed Alliance, it's a chance to encourage inter-national and inter-village relationships, as I suspect this union could last longer than just the duration of this war.

That said, there's no guarantee of other pairings at this point, considering we don't know who'll make it to the end of the series and who, sadly, won't.

Edited by Quinny52, 24 March 2011 - 11:55 PM.

[No WhereMan]

In the interest of realism I don't think so. Does it mean that everyone will remain single no. I just don't see the necessity of everyone in the main cast pairing up with everyone when they all have their own individual villages that have other ninjas, civilians and the like present.

[Nee-sama]

Depends on how much time the series takes up. The most real situation would be that some people become romantically involved in the same time frame as Naruto and Sakura and others will develop relationships later in life. Or maybe not at all. I think it would help the story line to have mention of more relationships such as Shikamaru and Temari, or Kakashi and some secondary character. However, someone with like Yamato I just can't see it having any pertinence. Giving all of the kids in Naruto's generation a love interest all at the same time would be a lot of work, not to mention deviating from the story line which is of course all about Naruto.

[ciardha]

There's no need to focus on other couples or hook someone up with someone. Some people simply do remain single, and some characters in Naruto may end up that way. Even if we see glimpses of the future with various couples married with children, I don't want to see any development as it would detract from the main points of the story. The best I could accept would be Shikimaru showing interest in his ideal woman, and Ino finding some good looking guy after Naruto and Sakura get together, showing hope for love in her future as well. On top of that, I also don't want every ninja to fall in love with their teammate like so many fanfics do; it would imply that NaruSaku was never something special to begin with (it's okay if one or two couples are formed like that, but the entire cast...just no).

Ah, but you are missing one of the "main points" of the story. Remember that whole long thing about "who is the king that they have to protect" We see Hiruzen spoke to a young Asuma about it, then Asuma to did so Shikamaru, with some reinforcement during Shikamaru's conversation with Shikaku, then we see Shikamaru giving Naruto a piece of that message when he shows him a very pregnant Kurenai. That "king" they are protecting over anything are the future children- the ones they will teach and the ones they will have. Those children are the true power and wealth of the villages. What good is it if you have a victory now, but have no children- say bye bye to your future- you'll have none, the village that chose to allow their people the opportunity to have and raise children will be one with a future.

It's one of the more subtle main points of the series, you get the first hints of it in part 1 when the Third Hokage dies- look at Iruka's thoughts after Hiruzen's funeral. In part 2 Kishimoto makes points multiple times about Naruto and Sakura's generation are now growing into adulthood- and more than once tying this image wise to images of adults with children. As another person said above, those children we'll probably see in the epilogue won't come out of nowhere. Naruto and Sakura's relationship will recieve the lion's share of that point, but the secondary characters will get moments scattered here and there- something we've see him do with the parents generation too.

Naruto and Sakura's generation support characters will get more attention than the parents generation support characters because they are so closely tied with the main characters- we've already seen a bit of that here and there. He'll put in just enough to make those kids in the epilogue chapters not appear to come out of nowhere. Not every young adult character will get together with someone in a permanent romantic heterosexual relationship (Rock Lee I feel is doubtful (personality), as is Sai (gay), Kankuro (personality), Jyuugo (gay), Sasuke (probable heroic redeemed death) and a few others) but most will

Did showing that many of Minato and Kushina's age mates got together and had children make them "less special"? No. Kishimoto has and will pattern the current generation the same way. The way they fell in love and depth their love is what makes Minato and Kushina and Naruto and Sakura special.

Edited by ciardha, 25 March 2011 - 03:32 AM.

[KonaKonaFan]

Seems to me that everyone being paired up in a shounen manga is worthless fluff. I'd rather there be one or two pairings, three at the most. At least, like I said, for shounen mangas. For shoujo, who cares.

[ciardha]

Seems to me that everyone being paired up in a shounen manga is worthless fluff. I'd rather there be one or two pairings, three at the most. At least, like I said, for shounen mangas. For shoujo, who cares.

This is a myth amongst western manga readers. Having multiple couples or just a single couple happens just about equally in shonen or shoujo manga. Seinen (men's) manga that have romance as one part of the story are also as likely as Josei (women's) manga to have multiple romantic storylines. Dismissing it as "fluff" misreads it's purpose- which I think is a reflection of how romance and families in fiction are dismissed as "girly" "chicklit" and/or "fluff" in modern western pop culture, where it is seen as natural, positive and a reflection of growing up and becoming more mature in even in modern Japanese pop culture.

[ShippudenGirl]

Meh... I'm sure there're going to be more then just simply one main couple. Developments with secondary characters are important too, even with romance. Did Asuma not tell Ino that she shouldn't let Sakura beat her in romance? It's not fluff. It's just showing some realism. It would be stupid to just have two main characters get together and everyone else sit and smile. That would be boring. Romantic development would, obviously, not be a strong focus for secondary characters, but little romantic things are usually shown like blushing, and yadda yadda romance stuff. That would at least get a point through that character X is into character Y and the rest could be off panel.

[ciardha]

Meh... I'm sure there're going to be more then just simply one main couple. Developments with secondary characters are important too, even with romance. Did Asuma not tell Ino that she shouldn't let Sakura beat her in romance? It's not fluff. It's just showing some realism. It would be stupid to just have two main characters get together and everyone else sit and smile. That would be boring. Romantic development would, obviously, not be a strong focus for secondary characters, but little romantic things are usually shown like blushing, and yadda yadda romance stuff. That would at least get a point through that character X is into character Y and the rest could be off panel.

Yep, and Kishimoto has already done a bit of that. There will probably be other bits like that along the way, just enough so when we more than likely see the families at the epilogue chapter we'll be going- "Oh yeah, I remember when... so they did end up together and having a family."

[Akashi]

Well, I think that those characters that never had/lost their families in the first place would naturally like to create one: Iruka, Sai, etc. I'm not sure about Shikamaru, 'cause we know what he thinks 'bout women, so I won't be surprised if he ends up alone.

[CloudMountainJuror]

I don't think that everyone in the series should have love interest; that would seem too convenient and unrealistic in my opinion. However, there should be at least one other couple in the series besides the main one.

Edited by zacrathedemon5, 25 March 2011 - 06:10 PM.

[Sakura Blossoms]

Well, I think that those characters that never had/lost their families in the first place would naturally like to create one: Iruka, Sai, etc. I'm not sure about Shikamaru, 'cause we know what he thinks 'bout women, so I won't be surprised if he ends up alone.

Shika and Temari are total lovelove together

[Akashi]

@Sakura Blossoms Well, even though I'm a ShikaIno fan, I don't mind ShikaTema. It doesn't matter right now, anyway.
We know that Kishi said that he's not writing any romantic interest for Shikamaru, BUT in part 1 Shikamaru mentioned that he would like to marry a girl not too ugly and not too pretty, to have 2 children a girl and a boy, and blah blah blah...So I believe that he will marry someone in the end.

[alexander]

Well, Naruto is an action shounen, these series don't tend to have too many romantical relationships, after all, there had been over 500 chapters in the series, and we only saw 3 or 4 pairings in general, and most of them ended in tragedy, I think that we will find out about the romantical life of the characters only in the last chapter, these types of endings are very common after all. And about being unatural for an character ending single, I disagree, take Kakashi for example, he keeps going with his life while being single, don't he?

Edited by alexander, 25 March 2011 - 06:54 PM.

[Fliss]

IMO I'd have to say nooo way. If every single character had a love match at the end of the series, it would seem kind of unrealistic and not very shounen-like. I think it would look like kind of spontaneous fan service, you know?

[Yoshimoya]

I'm well aware about the future generation theme, and it's probable that we'll see child-look alikes of the Rookie 9 with some differences. However, if it comes to the how they came to be, I don't really care to see that too much. If Kishimoto were to do a new story on a new generation (I doubt it would be any good, but that's neither here nor there) he could easily show a bunch of new kids not related to any of the previous characters, but keep their legacy alive symbolically (much like the 3 sanin and their respective apprentices, and IMO an interesting take).

Minato and Kushina are also not the same as NaruSaku in regards to what I was referring to: Minato and Kushina were not on the same team. We saw Minato's team, and the kunoichi on the team looked suspiciously like Anko. RinObito and JiraTsu (as has been talked about to death before) are like NaruSaku in that sense, the difference being they were unable to live up to their potential as couples. Maybe I've been jaded by how in Naruto Fanfiction most people take the easy way out with secondary pairings by pairing the kunoichi with one of their male teammates, but again, to do so with all the possible pairings seems to be the lazy way out (one of the reasons I prefer ShikaTem over ShikaIno).

Minato and Kushina weren't on the same team, big whoop. What we refer to here in their SIMILARITIES, is their unique personality, growing, and beautifully matured love for eachother. You can not deny the similarities in MinaKushina and NaruSakura. RinObito, I have never seen any sort of romantic ties between them. They were just teammates. What.. Ino and Chouji are teammates, are you saying they're more similar to NaruSaku than MinaKushina cause of that xD Hah, cmon.

Sorry had to get that out of the way.

Anyways, as for other pairings, I can see ShikaTem happening. Otherwise, EVERYONE else shouldnt really have a love interest. If Kishi wanted to get the romantic love message through to his fans and readers of Naruto, in my opinion he has partially (75%) already done that EXCELLENTLY by now with NaruSaku. The others haven't really had any development and it would just be cheesy and cheap if they actually did. He hasn't thrown in any hints for them, that's why I say this.

So besides TsunDan, ShikaTem, AsumKurenai, haven't seen any other romantic feelings or implications and can't really see others happening and especially don't see the NEED for it. Probably won't happen, unless there's a timeskip that implies otherwise.

NaruSaku <3

Edited by Yoshimoya, 26 March 2011 - 02:20 AM.

[Nate River]

I agree with virtually everything Kodachi says. I hate fanfictions where the author comes down with "everyone must be paired disease." Always comes across as contrived. I don't want to see Kishimoto come down with it as well.