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QUOTE (Blue Jeans @ Dec 4 2007, 06:00 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Wow! Am I always late for these types of Sakura discussions.... character discussions in general. Anyway, since I'm pretty much on hiatus these days, I guess it's only expected. There were, however a few things I really want to touch on, whether people agree with my interpretations or not is up to them.
First of, people, they're 12 years old! Why authors or readers or fans expect Naruto, Sasuke, or Sakura to act like adults - of any great depths - is beyond me. The fact that all three managed to grow at all so quickly in the first year of their genin training shows that they are people of caliber. Seriously, outside of our inner perspectives, how many deep twelve year olds do you actually know? And even if they experienced great pain and tragedy, as many of the Naruto characters have shown, their youth limits their ability to interpret their losses - Sasuke, Neji, Gaara... need I say more? A lot of people expected Sakura to some how not treat Naruto badly, but look how the adults of Konoha behaved - and they are ADULTS! The fact that no adults were shown to have defended Naruto - until Iruka realized his own errors, and he didn't even care for Naruto until that fateful night Naruto stole the scroll, despite being Naruto's TEACHER for at least two years, how many times have Naruto flunked his genin exams? - proves to me that the expectations for Sakura are way beyond normality. She knew him how much? (And let's be serious here, Naruto just had a crush on Sakura, he didn't know her any more than she knew him until they were a team! It was simply that it gave him more initiative to build a relationship with her in the future, as they grow up.) All she knew about him was NO ONE in the Village liked him, he was a flunky in school, he sucked at everything, and he bothered her whenever she tried to make the moves on Sasuke - as in, she believed for a VERY long time that Naruto didn't like her and did all he could to test her patience and annoy her! (Here was the boy who stole the first kiss of the boy she threw Ino's friendship away from, she's not going to treat him logically.) And please, as if you've never disliked someone for completely shallow reasons. First impressions are true for characters within the stories as well, and we all know Naruto's a sucker at that.
The man Sakura idolized was Sasuke - who was skilled, smart, and handsome. The point is that Sakura, at that point in her life, idolized those who she saw was better than her - don't we all? Unfortunately for Naruto, he wasn't any of those things to Sakura. I like Naruto's character because he rose above that despite everyone's beliefs that he wasn't worth anything. That makes him a likeable character - though not always a realistic one. I like Sakura because she embodies all the flaws inside normal people, not just a twelve year old girl. She didn't have gifts from birth/blood/clan, or even an evil demon cursed and sealed into her. She didn't have a tragic past to motivate her to be more. Everything she has ever done was to be more than what others saw her. She's the human version of Naruto. She got made fun of and bullied like many people were in their childhood. She chased after people who never had that problem, like Ino and Sasuke, and wanted to be like them. In fact, let's be honest here, she, like Naruto, only had a huge crush on Sasuke before becoming a team member with him. But plenty of people have done a lot for people they crushed on, including throwing away friendships, family, wealth, status, etc. The fact is that Sakura is an obsessive type, like Naruto, and has always been; and like him and like Sasuke, she would do anything for what she believe in - give up happiness and valued things in her life for what she thinks is worth the sacrifice.
Don't moan over poor Ino. Until Sakura threw away their friendship into Ino's face, Ino probably would never have saw Sakura than as an equal (or even a rival). Friendship for those two would never have been one between equals if Sakura always relented because it did not start on the basis of equals. It shows in that moment that Sakura, selfish or not, was not someone who would bend to the will of others just to be accepted. To Sakura, there were things that she would give up everything for. Those people, depending on life or luck, either become fools or heroes... luckily for Sakura, she grew up to be a hero (and here, I breathe a sigh of relief).
Of course, everyone wants evidents.
Sakura accepted Naruto as a teammate before the Chuunin exams. She was reluctant at first, only following Sasuke's lead, but at the time NOTHING she did pointed to the fact that she believed Naruto liked her. She wasn't being deliberately cruel to him, she just treated him like the pest she thought he was. Not because he was a demon, though maybe her opinions of his motivations may have been due to how others viewed him, but everything Sakura said to fake-Sasuke (Naruto disguised) pointed to her belief that Naruto didn't like her and was trying to thwart her efforts to gain Sasuke's approval because he didn't like her and liked to see her suffer. Now, a lot of people are going to be like: Why would she think that? But come on, considering how little contact Sakura had with Naruto - and how she didn't get to know him as the readers have done and how MUCH time she spent with EVERYONE else that didn't like him, and what she HAD seen of him - is her decision really that far fetched? (He had been a prankster, notorious for causing trouble to others and enjoying it!) But, after they became teammates, she began to respect him. When she saw that Naruto had more will than she ever had, even more than Sasuke at times. When she saw his determination, not once did she turn a blind eye to Naruto's efforts. Sakura was the one to tell Naruto how to focus chakra into his feet when he asked her for help, she didn't reject him then (even though she could have refused him), though she still didn't think too much of him - but it was already the beginning of their changing relationship. When they fought Orochimaru for the first time in the chuunin exams, she shouted at Sasuke for not being braver than Naruto, and she was the one who saved Naruto from falling after falling unconscious from Orochimaru's attack. She took care of both Naruto and Sasuke, as a teammate, and a friend. And though she was startled at Sasuke's declaration that Naruto was the one who saved her, I think that had been due to the fact of both her romanticized image of Sasuke (and the fact that he did try to protect her while they were teammates) and the fact that it was the first time her previous assumptions that Naruto liked seeing her suffer were challenged by actions she didn't even witness. And there were images of after-missions, where it was shown that Sakura was helping carry Naruto after a mission, even before the chuunin exams - a show that she helped and supported him as a teammate, even if she never really considered him a buddy-buddy friend. At the very least, by the time they entered, the three of them relied and believed in each other enough to protect each other and risk pain and death and fears for each other. At that time, Kakashi deemed the three of them strong enough to try out the Chuunin exams (along with the other rookie nine), an action that was unusual at the time, as shown by the surprise these recommendations inspired. Hell, even Gai waited after the first year before signing up his own students for the exam! The relationship between those in Team 7 vastly improved in the year they were together, and they were only twelve-thirteen at the time they took the exam... give her some slack. Sakura didn't have "must kill gifted, psycho brother" or "must prove myself worthy" to drive her, but she never denied Naruto's growth. In fact, she was the first to acknowledge how much he had grown as a ninja, thinking to herself that both Sasuke AND Naruto were leaving her behind and running ahead of her.
That sense of helplessness inside of her, BEFORE the chuunin exams, show that her respect for Naruto had grown vastly and that she had never let the opinions of the village or her former classmates prejudice her to Naruto's own growth. She never denied or turned a blind eye to his weaknesses - as shown when they took the written part of the chuunin exam - but Sakura at no point in time was illogically cruel to Naruto and she was willing to change her mind about him - which cannot be said of everyone else. In fact, at the time that Sasuke was taken, Sakura was the only person who did not fight with Naruto but trusted him whole heartedly in his ability to bring Sasuke back. Pre-cursed seal Sasuke would have been brought back too, but that didn't really work out and hence, why we have season 2, so no one's really complaining.
Sakura's not a saint. She didn't see Naruto for "who he was", but hell, Naruto's not even that self-aware... they're too damn young to be so introspective. That's what authors are for and why most good authors like to write about older Naruto/Sakura/Sasuke, who has less reaction and more inner thoughts going on about their heads. They're complicated people and they started complicated young, so lots of material to work on.
I think Sakura was a pretty cool character since season 1. She's got more flaws than most authors/manga artists are willing to give to a main character, especially if it's the main (and only) female character. Sure Hinata's sweeter, sure Tenten's got cooler weapons, but Sakura is the only one constantly changing and the only one who is human enough to never be the same. She changed from the weak, bullied girl who hated her forehead and needed Ino's protection, to the brash and selfish graduate, smartest in her class and with enough false bravado to never show once how intimidated she still was of herself and her place in the world, and grew to be a strong, capable young woman who still has room to grow and knows it, but loves so much the boys in her life and appreciate others for who they are. She has more capacity to grow, to with-stand the tragedies of a shinobi's life, and to believe than anyone - and the only one who believes as much as her is Naruto.
Hell, I love the two, because they have a relationship ripe with the potential for real intimacy. They already love each other, as people their age and with their experience can. What label you want to put on that love, does it really matter? She would die and hurt and fight for Naruto, just as he would for her, and neither of them would do it with regret... not many people today who are "in-love" can do that for each other. And she loves Sasuke too, just as Naruto loves Sasuke... but I think I'll leave it to the manga (for now) to show where canon will go with that. But Sakura is as shallow and as deep as everyone has the capacity to be, but her actions have always shown that she is someone who is constantly trying to grow up and to grow strong for the people she love, and for the person she wants to be...
What's there to look down at her for?
(Can you tell I'm a big Sakura fan? I really adore NaruSaku, but I'm not going to bash anyone for liking SasuSaku. Sasuke's.... complicated - to put it nicely.)
First of, people, they're 12 years old! Why authors or readers or fans expect Naruto, Sasuke, or Sakura to act like adults - of any great depths - is beyond me. The fact that all three managed to grow at all so quickly in the first year of their genin training shows that they are people of caliber. Seriously, outside of our inner perspectives, how many deep twelve year olds do you actually know? And even if they experienced great pain and tragedy, as many of the Naruto characters have shown, their youth limits their ability to interpret their losses - Sasuke, Neji, Gaara... need I say more? A lot of people expected Sakura to some how not treat Naruto badly, but look how the adults of Konoha behaved - and they are ADULTS! The fact that no adults were shown to have defended Naruto - until Iruka realized his own errors, and he didn't even care for Naruto until that fateful night Naruto stole the scroll, despite being Naruto's TEACHER for at least two years, how many times have Naruto flunked his genin exams? - proves to me that the expectations for Sakura are way beyond normality. She knew him how much? (And let's be serious here, Naruto just had a crush on Sakura, he didn't know her any more than she knew him until they were a team! It was simply that it gave him more initiative to build a relationship with her in the future, as they grow up.) All she knew about him was NO ONE in the Village liked him, he was a flunky in school, he sucked at everything, and he bothered her whenever she tried to make the moves on Sasuke - as in, she believed for a VERY long time that Naruto didn't like her and did all he could to test her patience and annoy her! (Here was the boy who stole the first kiss of the boy she threw Ino's friendship away from, she's not going to treat him logically.) And please, as if you've never disliked someone for completely shallow reasons. First impressions are true for characters within the stories as well, and we all know Naruto's a sucker at that.
The man Sakura idolized was Sasuke - who was skilled, smart, and handsome. The point is that Sakura, at that point in her life, idolized those who she saw was better than her - don't we all? Unfortunately for Naruto, he wasn't any of those things to Sakura. I like Naruto's character because he rose above that despite everyone's beliefs that he wasn't worth anything. That makes him a likeable character - though not always a realistic one. I like Sakura because she embodies all the flaws inside normal people, not just a twelve year old girl. She didn't have gifts from birth/blood/clan, or even an evil demon cursed and sealed into her. She didn't have a tragic past to motivate her to be more. Everything she has ever done was to be more than what others saw her. She's the human version of Naruto. She got made fun of and bullied like many people were in their childhood. She chased after people who never had that problem, like Ino and Sasuke, and wanted to be like them. In fact, let's be honest here, she, like Naruto, only had a huge crush on Sasuke before becoming a team member with him. But plenty of people have done a lot for people they crushed on, including throwing away friendships, family, wealth, status, etc. The fact is that Sakura is an obsessive type, like Naruto, and has always been; and like him and like Sasuke, she would do anything for what she believe in - give up happiness and valued things in her life for what she thinks is worth the sacrifice.
Don't moan over poor Ino. Until Sakura threw away their friendship into Ino's face, Ino probably would never have saw Sakura than as an equal (or even a rival). Friendship for those two would never have been one between equals if Sakura always relented because it did not start on the basis of equals. It shows in that moment that Sakura, selfish or not, was not someone who would bend to the will of others just to be accepted. To Sakura, there were things that she would give up everything for. Those people, depending on life or luck, either become fools or heroes... luckily for Sakura, she grew up to be a hero (and here, I breathe a sigh of relief).
Of course, everyone wants evidents.
Sakura accepted Naruto as a teammate before the Chuunin exams. She was reluctant at first, only following Sasuke's lead, but at the time NOTHING she did pointed to the fact that she believed Naruto liked her. She wasn't being deliberately cruel to him, she just treated him like the pest she thought he was. Not because he was a demon, though maybe her opinions of his motivations may have been due to how others viewed him, but everything Sakura said to fake-Sasuke (Naruto disguised) pointed to her belief that Naruto didn't like her and was trying to thwart her efforts to gain Sasuke's approval because he didn't like her and liked to see her suffer. Now, a lot of people are going to be like: Why would she think that? But come on, considering how little contact Sakura had with Naruto - and how she didn't get to know him as the readers have done and how MUCH time she spent with EVERYONE else that didn't like him, and what she HAD seen of him - is her decision really that far fetched? (He had been a prankster, notorious for causing trouble to others and enjoying it!) But, after they became teammates, she began to respect him. When she saw that Naruto had more will than she ever had, even more than Sasuke at times. When she saw his determination, not once did she turn a blind eye to Naruto's efforts. Sakura was the one to tell Naruto how to focus chakra into his feet when he asked her for help, she didn't reject him then (even though she could have refused him), though she still didn't think too much of him - but it was already the beginning of their changing relationship. When they fought Orochimaru for the first time in the chuunin exams, she shouted at Sasuke for not being braver than Naruto, and she was the one who saved Naruto from falling after falling unconscious from Orochimaru's attack. She took care of both Naruto and Sasuke, as a teammate, and a friend. And though she was startled at Sasuke's declaration that Naruto was the one who saved her, I think that had been due to the fact of both her romanticized image of Sasuke (and the fact that he did try to protect her while they were teammates) and the fact that it was the first time her previous assumptions that Naruto liked seeing her suffer were challenged by actions she didn't even witness. And there were images of after-missions, where it was shown that Sakura was helping carry Naruto after a mission, even before the chuunin exams - a show that she helped and supported him as a teammate, even if she never really considered him a buddy-buddy friend. At the very least, by the time they entered, the three of them relied and believed in each other enough to protect each other and risk pain and death and fears for each other. At that time, Kakashi deemed the three of them strong enough to try out the Chuunin exams (along with the other rookie nine), an action that was unusual at the time, as shown by the surprise these recommendations inspired. Hell, even Gai waited after the first year before signing up his own students for the exam! The relationship between those in Team 7 vastly improved in the year they were together, and they were only twelve-thirteen at the time they took the exam... give her some slack. Sakura didn't have "must kill gifted, psycho brother" or "must prove myself worthy" to drive her, but she never denied Naruto's growth. In fact, she was the first to acknowledge how much he had grown as a ninja, thinking to herself that both Sasuke AND Naruto were leaving her behind and running ahead of her.
That sense of helplessness inside of her, BEFORE the chuunin exams, show that her respect for Naruto had grown vastly and that she had never let the opinions of the village or her former classmates prejudice her to Naruto's own growth. She never denied or turned a blind eye to his weaknesses - as shown when they took the written part of the chuunin exam - but Sakura at no point in time was illogically cruel to Naruto and she was willing to change her mind about him - which cannot be said of everyone else. In fact, at the time that Sasuke was taken, Sakura was the only person who did not fight with Naruto but trusted him whole heartedly in his ability to bring Sasuke back. Pre-cursed seal Sasuke would have been brought back too, but that didn't really work out and hence, why we have season 2, so no one's really complaining.
Sakura's not a saint. She didn't see Naruto for "who he was", but hell, Naruto's not even that self-aware... they're too damn young to be so introspective. That's what authors are for and why most good authors like to write about older Naruto/Sakura/Sasuke, who has less reaction and more inner thoughts going on about their heads. They're complicated people and they started complicated young, so lots of material to work on.
I think Sakura was a pretty cool character since season 1. She's got more flaws than most authors/manga artists are willing to give to a main character, especially if it's the main (and only) female character. Sure Hinata's sweeter, sure Tenten's got cooler weapons, but Sakura is the only one constantly changing and the only one who is human enough to never be the same. She changed from the weak, bullied girl who hated her forehead and needed Ino's protection, to the brash and selfish graduate, smartest in her class and with enough false bravado to never show once how intimidated she still was of herself and her place in the world, and grew to be a strong, capable young woman who still has room to grow and knows it, but loves so much the boys in her life and appreciate others for who they are. She has more capacity to grow, to with-stand the tragedies of a shinobi's life, and to believe than anyone - and the only one who believes as much as her is Naruto.
Hell, I love the two, because they have a relationship ripe with the potential for real intimacy. They already love each other, as people their age and with their experience can. What label you want to put on that love, does it really matter? She would die and hurt and fight for Naruto, just as he would for her, and neither of them would do it with regret... not many people today who are "in-love" can do that for each other. And she loves Sasuke too, just as Naruto loves Sasuke... but I think I'll leave it to the manga (for now) to show where canon will go with that. But Sakura is as shallow and as deep as everyone has the capacity to be, but her actions have always shown that she is someone who is constantly trying to grow up and to grow strong for the people she love, and for the person she wants to be...
What's there to look down at her for?
(Can you tell I'm a big Sakura fan? I really adore NaruSaku, but I'm not going to bash anyone for liking SasuSaku. Sasuke's.... complicated - to put it nicely.)
Oh my god, this is the WIN!
