
Hinata's Popularity and Character Perception
#21
Posted 09 June 2011 - 11:26 PM
I mentioned show and tell earlier. In the case of Ginny, she was a big “tell-not-show” character. Characters and the author would speak of her talents, she’d get away with bad behaviour, and her character took an unexplained, off-screen 360. I don’t think Kishimoto has really done this, as Hinata hasn’t deviated much or done much for her character. Rather, it seems that this large fanbase, from fanboys to just people who casually like her, give her that Ginny status. Heck, the anime does it most notoriously. She’s sweet, sensitive, observational, friend to all people, and a role model for shy people who want to grow out and fulfill their potential. The way people perceive her character, and the fact that so many people do to the point that “poor Hinata” is instantly defended if someone brings up criticism. If it was all about sex appeal, then why are so many females so pro-Hinata but so anti-Sakura? Plus, that would mean characters like Mei, Tsunade, Temari, women who have more of that obvious sex appeal, would be given Hinata-like status.
I know she is shy and thus appeals to shy people or those who think shy girls are so moe, but that doesn’t explain the huge amounts of love she gets. I don’t know that many shy-girl types that have done as minimum as she did, and then get proclaimed to be better than most female characters in popular fandoms. She’s a fan-favourite, and a lot of people describe her character favourably… But I haven’t seen any evidence in-manga. I don’t think Kishimoto has even really exploited her moe-like status that much.
#22
Posted 09 June 2011 - 11:40 PM
She isn't a bad person, she seems like she is trying to accomplish some goal, yet she is shy which gives her a hurdle to overcome. She noticed the hero of the story right off the bat. These are what you are introduced as seeing about her. Not only that, but you feel sorry for her, because more times than not she is quickly overlooked. Perhaps, because she was made so pitiable, fans couldn't help but root for her and then that developed into more. I think once you start sticking up for a character and watching out for them, it's more likely you will also identify with them and from then on support them. At some point, it became irrelevant if her story had diverted from what was probably more important: i.e. her own clan. Rather, the focal point was Naruto and remained so, for whatever reason. From there the fans had to supply their own ideas of what Hinata did between the many many chapters she was absent in. They tagged on the thought "she is getting stronger for Naruto...and her clan!" when manga shows she is pretty much only getting stronger for Naruto. It really is a shallow obsession in the light these other things that should be addressed by her character.
Why does Kishi keep her character tunnel-visioned towards Naruto? Who knows. It could be (however unlikely it is) that he intended her to be with Naruto all along. If that is the case, he really did a bad job developing this one-sided infatuation. It might also be that he chose her character to make other pairings less obvious. It might be that he just never got around to developing her character as he once intended, or perhaps changed his mind about her altogether. Perhaps Kishimoto never noticed how much of a broken-record he made her out to be. I think it is probably impossible to know what he was thinking with her, but his handling of other characters besides her has left a bad taste in my mouth as well. The way the characters came to life in part I is so drastically different than the way they were left at the wayside in part II. (Not that he was perfect in part I...TENTEN) My opinion is the characters got lost in the hugeness of the story Kishi is trying to tell, and rather than complimenting that story, they sort of were squished so they fit the way he wanted. But that is just my opinion on it. Deep down, I feel Hinata is somewhat just a pairing foil and nothing more. It's too bad, because she had the chance to be an interesting character.
#23
Posted 09 June 2011 - 11:42 PM

But I think her appeal may lie mostly in her personality. She's shy, demure and well, kinda weak. But at the same time she's also sweet, beautiful and she has a very "motherly" aura to her. Kinda hard to explain though.

I may have gone a biiiiiiiit overboard with this rant.


Oh and as far as her breasts are concerced all I can say is bleh!
I've said it before and I'll say it again, but if all that NaruHina has going for it is "LOL BEWBS!!!" then NaruSaku has NOTHING to worry about.

I very much agree that the way Kishi developed, or rather didn't develop many of the characters during part 2 left me feeling very disappointed. They just didn't manage to leave quite as much of an impact as they did back in part 1. Hell I actually think the Tenten was introduced in part 2 had way more oomph than say Kiba, Shino or indeed Hinata, who all just seemed to pop up at random. Its a real shame because other series, like Bleach seems to have a way bigger cast of characters and they all seem way better characterized. Mind you, I have only watched about 80 episodes of the anime and I have yet to read the manga, so I may just be jumping the gun here.

But what gets the most about all this is the way Kishi has chosen to portray Sakura. I can deal with the whole part about her just being a normal girl and not having any shinobi background or anything. She's kinda the Hermione Granger of Naruto and thats cool because Hermione is one of my favorite Harry Potter characters, though I haven't really bothered with the series since the fifth book, so I still have some catching up to do.

My point is that even some side characters, like Ino, Shikamaru, Choji, Hinata, Shino, have had way more development in terms of backgrond than Sakura, our main heroine. I really really REALLY hope that we at least get to see a glimpse of Sakura's parents before the series is over, if only because I wan't to see if some of the fan speculations are true.

Edited by TerrorKing, 10 June 2011 - 12:11 AM.
Run, live to fly, fly to live, do or die
Won't you run, live to fly,
fly to live, Aces high
#24
Posted 10 June 2011 - 12:13 AM
You're absolutely right about that. Rukia is as flat as a brick, yet she seems to get the majority of the Bleach-fandom love, while poor Orihime receives the equivalent of Naruto-fandom Sakura-level bashing.
#26
Posted 10 June 2011 - 12:20 AM

Well, that there is probably the way I envisioned it when I first started watching the series pre-shippuden. I think that would be a "realistic" ending at the time. However, the one key detail is that is missing is the bolded, and that the "beautiful girl" starts to develop feelings for the goofy guy before said goofy guy realizes the shy girl's feelings and still loves the "beautiful girl" from day one.
At that point, it was too late.
Edited by anguyen92, 10 June 2011 - 12:24 AM.
#27
Posted 10 June 2011 - 12:38 AM
At that point, it was too late.
Yeah that is true. That's last part is also how I feel now. Naruto still loves Sakura after all this time and there are very strong indications that Sakura has fallen in love in Naruto and that these feelings may have been slowly developing since the start of part 2. The part about Sakura not realzing she loves Naruto until AFTER he has already started dating Hinata and everything that comes after that, is just how I imagine a lot of NaruHina fans wants things to end. All so that they can get the satisfaction of laughing in Sakura's face.

And I just don't see that happening. Kishi isn't going to turn Sakura into a "tragic" character all of a sudden.
Run, live to fly, fly to live, do or die
Won't you run, live to fly,
fly to live, Aces high
#28
Posted 10 June 2011 - 12:52 AM

But I think her appeal may lie mostly in her personality. She's shy, demure and well, kinda weak. But at the same time she's also sweet, beautiful and she has a very "motherly" aura to her. Kinda hard to explain though.

I may have gone a biiiiiiiit overboard with this rant.


Oh and as far as her breasts are concerced all I can say is bleh!
I've said it before and I'll say it again, but if all that NaruHina has going for it is "LOL BEWBS!!!" then NaruSaku has NOTHING to worry about.

Right there. Aside from the shy, which I think we can all agree with, what parts in the manga is she sweet or motherly? If she was motherly, wouldn't she show concern or scold her teammates and sister? I'd have an easier time finding motherly examples in Sakura, Ino, and Temari than I would Hinata. It's the assumption that she is these traits without examples of it. Why? Because she's shy and looks like she'll make a good Yamato Nadeshiko character? From the manga, what I know of her is that she...
- Loves Naruto
- Is timid (especially around Naruto)
- Had issues with her father for being 'weak'
- Has 'hime' status with her clan
- Is an older sister, but her sister is irrelavent to her apparently
- Is a good tracker nin due to the Byakugan
- Is a good fighter
- Wants to become stronger(in what way? Not being shy?) and be acknowledged [by Naruto?]
I'm not saying she's now a bad person off screen, that acts cold and unappealing, but what we're shown of the character, thanks to her Naruto-focus, I don't think we can say that she's much of what the fandom makes her out to be, either. The popular perception of her seems to be one big assumption, not backed up by examples. That's why I say... She's a character that gets most of her development from what her fans tell us she is. As readers, we seem to unintentionally fill-in-the-gaps, so to speak, of what we expect a character should be. Sakura is a contrast of this. There is a lot of people who instantly label her the "b*tch", and therefore she is colder and more 'useless' off screen, even though there is examples to suggest she is not. Ino, who is also a more minor character, had cried when he sensei had died, and her bond with him had been shown, even if briefly. I don't recall Kurenai being shown interacting much with her students. Even Tenten had some interaction with her teacher. Team 8 has the least shown comradarie out of all of them. Minor characters can have some development and relationships. So, what excuse does Hinata have?
Kishimoto could have done a lot with any number of characters, even our three main ones. The point is, though, that Hinata is credited with traits that never really showed up, with interaction and development that never happened, but other characters have shown examples of it. Ino is beautiful and could be argued to be motherly too, so is it because she's not shy that she isn't as forgiven by the fandom? Heck, every female character unless intentionally drawn otherwise could be called beautiful.
Edited by Broken Figurine, 10 June 2011 - 12:54 AM.
#29
Posted 10 June 2011 - 12:57 AM

With Bleach, it is almost the opposite that is taking place. Kubo loves his characters, and has a lot of them, but sometimes the plot is a bit jumbled because of great attention to the characters XD;; I guess it depends on what you prefer in a story. I don't mind Kubo's randomness because of the awesome characters he creates. In comparison, I find Kishi is trying too hard with his plot and would rather see his characters (beyond Sasuke and Naruto) have more depth. The fact that we know almost nothing of Sakura's past, when she is a main character, is very odd to me.
Somehow my favorite characters always end up in this category. It's really frustrating D:
#30
Posted 10 June 2011 - 01:14 AM
i refer not said much, im soo tire my mind cant move like i want.. mostly only one word is aorund when is about hinata.. and im just new member so i refer not get in bad spine around here lol
#31
Posted 10 June 2011 - 01:20 AM
That is an excellent and sad (for Sakura) point.
*nodsnods* Very true. I'm in the same boat as you with that

Bah, that just means we know how to pick the interesting, quirky yet cool, and often under-appreciated characters instead of flocking to the 'bandwagon' characters

#32
Posted 10 June 2011 - 01:22 AM
- Loves Naruto
- Is timid (especially around Naruto)
- Had issues with her father for being 'weak'
- Has 'hime' status with her clan
- Is an older sister, but her sister is irrelavent to her apparently
- Is a good tracker nin due to the Byakugan
- Is a good fighter
- Wants to become stronger(in what way? Not being shy?) and be acknowledged [by Naruto?]
I'm not saying she's now a bad person off screen, that acts cold and unappealing, but what we're shown of the character, thanks to her Naruto-focus, I don't think we can say that she's much of what the fandom makes her out to be, either. The popular perception of her seems to be one big assumption, not backed up by examples. That's why I say... She's a character that gets most of her development from what her fans tell us she is. As readers, we seem to unintentionally fill-in-the-gaps, so to speak, of what we expect a character should be. Sakura is a contrast of this. There is a lot of people who instantly label her the "b*tch", and therefore she is colder and more 'useless' off screen, even though there is examples to suggest she is not. Ino, who is also a more minor character, had cried when he sensei had died, and her bond with him had been shown, even if briefly. I don't recall Kurenai being shown interacting much with her students. Even Tenten had some interaction with her teacher. Team 8 has the least shown comradarie out of all of them. Minor characters can have some development and relationships. So, what excuse does Hinata have?
Kishimoto could have done a lot with any number of characters, even our three main ones. The point is, though, that Hinata is credited with traits that never really showed up, with interaction and development that never happened, but other characters have shown examples of it. Ino is beautiful and could be argued to be motherly too, so is it because she's not shy that she isn't as forgiven by the fandom? Heck, every female character unless intentionally drawn otherwise could be called beautiful.
The beautiful argument is because, as far as I can tell, Alot of people find Hinata beautiful, whereas the more popular conception of Sakura is that she is more of an aquired taste. I've seen many people call Sakura a "man in drag" whereas I haven't really seen anyone (or at least not very many) talk bad about Hinata's appearance. And as far as her being motherly. Well what I was trying to say was that should she end up with Naruto (or anyone else for that matter) she would end up as somewhat of a housewife. You know, take care of the kids, clean the house, do the laundry, cook etc. And sweet, like you said, probably comes from the fact that while she may have never done anything to help those in need (Naruto and Neji) she never did anything that could be called cruel or evil. But again, these traits are never outright shown to us. They're simply based on fan speculation, but I was trying to see it from the Hinata fandoms perspective.
And I so much agree with the parts about Ino and Sakura. Ino is basically the surrogate mother of Team 10, like when we are first introduced to her in part 2, she's is scolding Choji for not showing up at the team meeting or something.
And Sakura may very well be the biggest injustice in Naruto. Forget the Uchiha massacre or the Kyuubi. The haters simply refuse to let her off the hook and realize that she is not the same person she was back in part 1 anymore. I mean I can understand it if you just simply dislike her character. But people still calling her a b*tch or saying that she is still mean to Naruto or that she is still obsessed about Sasuke? Even when there is evidence in the manga directly contradicting that? I mean even Sai noticed that she was very gentle towards Naruto, I mean what the hell fandom?!
But yeah, Hinata basically gets away with having no real evidence to support how "sweet" and "caring" she is. In fact, she gets away with a lot of things that other characters, mostly Sakura, doesn't. That just seems to be the concensus that the majoruty of the fandom have come to. That Hinata can do no wrong and that Sakura can only do wrong.
Edited by TerrorKing, 10 June 2011 - 01:23 AM.
Run, live to fly, fly to live, do or die
Won't you run, live to fly,
fly to live, Aces high
#33
Posted 10 June 2011 - 01:28 AM
*nodsnods* Very true. I'm in the same boat as you with that

Bah, that just means we know how to pick the interesting, quirky yet cool, and often under-appreciated characters instead of flocking to the 'bandwagon' characters

Sakura has that special set of characteristics, is that she has no tragedy in her past. Maybe that is why she is both loved and hated at the same time. The reason she is there is so that people can relate to her character, in a way one could say that the story is being written by her eyes. Since the start of the manga everyone liked Sasuke we all disliked Naruto well some of us. Now we love Naruto and some of us think Sasuke has gone cooko in the head. Her perception changed with the reader...but Kishi underestimated some manga readers by doing so, considering that a special group are devoid of reality, so much that they change the reality around them.
Edited by Strangelove, 10 June 2011 - 01:31 AM.
#34
Posted 10 June 2011 - 01:36 AM
I think the acquired taste argument can also be attributed to Sakura's personality. Where Sakura was introduced as being shallow and bratty, Hinata wasn't. Either you stuck with Sakura and gave her a chance, or you decided to like the other girl, Hinata.
#35
Posted 10 June 2011 - 01:38 AM
Depends on your taste...if you like Tsunderes or not.
#36
Posted 10 June 2011 - 01:43 AM
I think it was more than that. Plenty of people like tsundere characters. Sakura just was, I think, more harsh. There were less 'softer' moments in between her 'harsh' moments. At least, I find her different than other tsundere characters I have seen. *shrugs*
#37
Posted 10 June 2011 - 03:11 AM
I liked both Sakura and Naruto from the very first moment they both made their individual appearances, and that hasn't changed in all the years that have passed. I didn't like or dislike Sasuke for a while. I was pretty neutral towards him, until he really started to be a true git towards Naruto. Then by the time Part 2 rolled around, my neutrality had solidified into pure dislike.
#38
Posted 10 June 2011 - 03:30 AM
I agree. Kishimoto did a great job in making people dislike Sasuke. Some love him though -.- for dumb reasons. (He's cool, he's got swag... lol)
But it's okay I guess, some people look at this anime with a less deep perspective.

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#39
Posted 10 June 2011 - 04:03 AM
One the male sides, Hinata gives them the image of "I wish I there is a girl like that for me" AKA someone pretty who "secretly" admire them, and pretty much put them on pedestal while worshipping the ground they walk on. This is a typical male ego, in particular those who tend to have a feeling of "connection" with Naruto (Bullied, Unpopular, all around outcast). Hinata serves as the fuel to their imagination of the perfect girl.


Love is not about admiring the strength or perfection of the person but to fully accept their shortcoming and weakness. - Me
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#40
Posted 10 June 2011 - 04:13 AM
Hmmm, I see your point, but there some cases like me where guys admire those with Sakura-like tendencies and to be fair I think I would be creeped about if someone secretly admires me, because I'm the kind of guy wants to hear honest facts.
I mean in my high school years, I admire a girl who called me the usual (idiot, annoying, etc.) To think that would stun me, yes. However, I looked and thought yeah, she was right about that and that was when I change my act without losing my natural characteristics (like Naruto in Shippuden). Took three years, before we became friends again and probably that is the key reason now that I like the narusaku pairing.
Probably, people liked Hinata because they want to take the easy way out of life (not saying that they are on the basis of the anime/manga), and want a clear and easy path to be happy and then there are those that wants to work to improve themselves and attain something that they have never attain before in their lives.
Edited by anguyen92, 10 June 2011 - 04:15 AM.
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