Okay I'll be completely honest here. For me it was NEVER about liking one girl and hating the other. From the beginning Both Sakura and Hinata were both very human characters that I could relate to. They both had faults and strengths that many could identify with. Sakura had self esteem issues due to being bullied and Hinata was shy and withdrawn because of the emotional abuse from her family. I both like and appreciate what their characters represent, it is the fandom and toxic biased opinions towards these two that I outright despise. to a Lesser extent I will give my views on their crushes and deconstruct fan opinions about what those crushes mean
First let's focus on Sakura because there is so much to talk about. She first started as this shallow Sasuke fan girl that was "followed the crowd" and did not like Naruto at first though if we are going to be honest she did not show outright hate to him like other kids who were parroting their parents. No I think part of the reason Sakura gets so much hate is that Naruto has a tragic past already and the fact that the girl he likes is dissing him and fawning over the popular bad boy Sasuke is what REALLY hits a sore spot for many viewers and it was especially bad in the anime. But back on topic. After being paired up with HER CRUSH and Naruto, Naruto tries to get Sakura's attention which she is not even giving him the time of day and is worrying more about getting to notice her. So Naruto tried pretending to be Sasuke to figure out what Sakura thinks about him. After the real Sasuke scolds Sakura about her views on Naruto and what it actually feels like to be an orphan, Sakura thought about trying to be a bit nicer to Naruto since she realized Sasuke called her "annoying" just like how she does to Naruto. Now, after going on missions spending time with her teammates, etc. etc. Sakura comes to realize just how wrong she is about Naruto and starts to accept him as a friend and member of her squad, even starting to admire him for who he is as a person, which she isn't showing for Sasuke, and they become even closer when Sasuke is gone. Now here is the thing, in acknowledging and befriending Naruto, Sakura is starting to show signs of maturity and growth as a character, and is letting go of her shallow views on Naruto and to not judge a book by it's cover. However Fans are refusing to acknowledge this and still see her a s a b---- because she did not like Naruto from the beginning and again I assume Sakura gets way more flak for this because she is Naruto's "love interest" and is going for the "bad boy" like every other fan girl Sasuke has.
Hinata, were there is not much to say, not because of any bias towards her, but because she is not very important to the plot if we are honest. How often does she appear in the manga again? Anyway, I see Hinata as a girl that is quiet socially withdrawn and suffers from crippling issues about what her family thinks and expects of her and along comes Naruto who is also deemed a failure by his peers and teachers but is constantly trying to prove them wrong. So Hinata is vicariously living off of that and came to admire Naruto for that too. So I guess fans are sympathizing with her because she has similar circumstances with Naruto and isn't showing any deplorable behaviour to a very lonely and secretly miserable Naruto. Because of this fans seem to think she is a better choice of "love interest" because she is the girl next door who is love with the MC archetype of character, and genuinely liked him from the start. Nothing wrong with that, but here is where fans are being hypocritical. Hinata is apparently this sweet, compassionate angel, that likes and admires Naruto just because she was always like that but Sakura is a heartless bimbo that abuses him because she started the series belittling and insulting him, eve though, like I said she genuinely likes, admires, and appreciates him as a PERSON after they actually spend time together. Here is the difference that the rabid NaruHina fans A.K.A. adamant Hinata fans are missing. Sakura ends up liking and admiring Naruto as a person because she actually talks to Naruto, and spends time with Naruto even when she doesn't have have to, in other words, in civilian and casual settings. Sakura actually knows Naruto as a person, whereas Hinata did neither of those things, and doesn't know him other than what she sees; a proud failure that wants to prove his worth like she always wanted to do but never had the courage to. In other words Hinata doesn't like Naruto, she like the idea of him. If you never talked to a person, nor ever hung out with them you can't say that you like/love that person for who he/she is can you? also here is a key similarity that pro Hinata fans seems to miss or ignore. Hinata has always liked Naruto and always admired him? SO what? Did she ever talk to him as children? Did she ever comfort him in his loneliness? In other words did Hinata ever try to befriend Naruto when Naruto was going through that sad miserable childhood of his? How is that different the kids and adults who outright scrutinize Naruto? I'm not saying Naruto should resent Hinata for that, but I'm asking how does Hinata being a silent bystander that just watches on as Naruto is socially and emotionally tormented make her a better person than those that out right bully him? At least from Naruto's perspective. Just something to think about.
I will put another post about deconstructing the popular fan perceptions of Sakura and Hinata's crushes on Sasuke and Naruto respectively later
Edited by Phantom_999, 02 December 2017 - 07:22 PM.