1213 replies to this topic

[MangaReader]

^ It's as if the smile Hinata gave when Sakura hugged Naruto wasn't meant for the acceptance we all envisioned. XD

Edited by MangaReader, 25 January 2013 - 04:19 AM.

[merryGOflava]

so how is everyone .....are we done freaking out-....i mean being a little impatient!.....XD

[Qia]

^ It's as if the smile Hinata gave when Sakura hugged Naruto wasn't meant for the acceptance we all envisioned. XD

To be fair, just because there's a possibility for her to accept at that time, doesn't mean her feelings for him would suddenly vanish. I don't blame her for realizing how Naruto's hand was so warm. Correct me if I'm wrong but...wasn't that practically the first time they've actually had any sort of huge physical contact, or?

Edited by Qia, 25 January 2013 - 04:30 AM.

[Lady_duckish]

I wouldnt say Hinata has no serious flaw, but the fandom treats her flaw differently. It's something I have actually been thinking about all day.

Hinata's feelings for Naruto are no better than the ones Sakura and Ino have for Sasuke. The big difference? Naruto is not a uber douche like Sasuke.

[MangaReader]

To be fair, just because there's a possibility for her to accept at that time, doesn't mean her feelings for him would suddenly vanish. I don't blame her for realizing how Naruto's hand was so warm. Correct me if I'm wrong but...wasn't that practically the first time they've actually had any sort of huge physical contact, or?

I didn't expect her to drop her feelings, but by the time we saw her again, it was uncanny that they seemed to have grown

[Lady_duckish]

I didn't expect her to drop her feelings, but by the time we saw her again, it was uncanny that they seemed to have grown

I don't think they have grown as much as I think she's just more comfortable with them now and with being around Naruto.

[xxRomanceGirlxx]

To be fair, just because there's a possibility for her to accept at that time, doesn't mean her feelings for him would suddenly vanish. I don't blame her for realizing how Naruto's hand was so warm. Correct me if I'm wrong but...wasn't that practically the first time they've actually had any sort of huge physical contact, or?

I just hate Hinata's hand comment because her cousin just died. It's highly disrespectful to his sacrifice to fangirl over your crush holding your hand after something that terrible. Hell, even Naruto took Neji's death harder than her.

[fireandice]

I just hate Hinata's hand comment because her cousin just died. It's highly disrespectful to his sacrifice to fangirl over your crush holding your hand after something that terrible. Hell, even Naruto took Neji's death harder than her.

Me too. I would have been alright if it was more like "I can feel the strength in Naruto-kun's hand, it makes me feel brave/gives me courage etc". The whole 'big' seemed so fangirling.

Furthermore, I too wished we saw her thinking of Neji (YES I know she cried). A thought about how they were reconciled as cousins in the end would be nice. Or how she will aspire to be as strong as he was.

[MangaReader]

She got over it really fast, of coarse if you try to use that against her, all you'll get met with is how upset you are with the manga right now XD

It's why I call this moment shallow

[xxRomanceGirlxx]

Me too. I would have been alright if it was more like "I can feel the strength in Naruto-kun's hand, it makes me feel brave/gives me courage etc". The whole 'big' seemed so fangirling.

Furthermore, I too wished we saw her thinking of Neji (YES I know she cried). A thought about how they were reconciled as cousins in the end would be nice. Or how she will aspire to be as strong as he was.

During 615, I actually almost liked Hinata. It was nice to see her stand up to Naruto for once. But her hand comment just ruined it for me. It seems my faith in Hinata can't even last a whole chapter. I really hate it, 'cause I want to like her. She had potential once upon a time. I'd be having a total "Finally!" moment if I saw Hinata think that she wouldn't let Neji's death be for nothing while holding Naruto's hand. Her character development would really shine then. Unfortunately, Kishi took two steps back again.

I get that she cried, but her recovery from crying was unnatural. It's like "Oh no! Neji died! Wait, Naruto's holding my hand! OMG!!". LOL. I'm exaggerating clearly, but it still left something to be desired.

[MangaReader]

Hinata might not be a favorite of mine, but I don't hate her. I don't like her current development, as it feels rushed to no end, but her character is interesting. If Kishi actually showed her grow in confidence over time and slowly when not around Naruto, she could very well be as good of character as her fans make her out to be. But that's not the case, so we're stuck with poorly developed and rushed Hinata, which made these last few chapters a little hard to swallow. Everything else though works out and Neji's death seems to have given Naruto a stronger resolve

Edited by MangaReader, 25 January 2013 - 06:07 AM.

[PhenixElite]

In the case of Sakura's heroine status, it truly doesn't matter that much if she shows up all the time. Not if she's always sidelined constantly in favor of the two male leads. For this, the opposing argument is "Quality over Quantity". Wow, I can't believe a NS fan is using the "Quality over Quanity" to make a point . It's nice Sakura's not invisible and you actually know she's there, but if you compare her to Sasuke and Naruto, it's like she's a frickin' side character. While I'd be okay if Sakura's importance still wasn't the same as them, I'd like her to at least be close. Close in epic fight counts. Sasuke? 6. Naruto? 6 or more. Sakura? 1.

I see some of the problems the haters have with her. Unlike them, I blame Kishimoto. He utterly failed at creating a top heroine equal in importance to the main character. Emotional support? Fine until 615. Hinata was the one who was there in one of the darkest moments of his life. I understand she needed crapload of development because of her bad character flaws, but a moment of that caliber was overboard. It was heroine-worthy. If Sakura was the one doing that, don't you think some people would stop being so quick to write her off as unimportant? Kishimoto missed another opportunity to make her shine. The majority of the fanbase feels like their beliefs that Hinata is completely crucial to the plot were just be reinforced. Misguided as it is, can you honestly blame them completely?

My point is, no matter what, Sakura and her potential are wasted. She was screwed over, simple as that. Even if Kishimoto does give her another shining moment like I hope, it'd never be enough to erase of the years of injustice and neglect he had forced on Sakura. The only way she could've truly been the best of her potential are in fanfictions, where we can actually use that correctly and in a satisfying way.

I'm not being pessimestic, this is realism. Ever since I first found this site, it's constantly littered with comments like "Sakura will do this" or "Sakura should do this". It's actually sad how much we talk about Sakura doing something. Never do we have to worry about Sasuke not fighting or Naruto. We never mention it, because we already know it'll happen. Sasuke/Naruto fans have nothing to worry about. Sakura's fanbase is thick with disappointment and has been for years.

Sorry but you say kishi screwed over her character judt because she hasnt the biggeat moments in the war arc? So you want to say that he screwed over with her the whole manga? I never realized something like that, sakura had a lot of development, was always at the side of the main character, supportes the main character and now we say he screwed over with her because shes not having that much screentime during one arc and hinata got the chance to support naruto one single time. Sakura supported hin during the whole manga and had an incredible amount of screentime during the 600 chapters and now kishi screwed her over because of one arc? Just intresting.

[xxRomanceGirlxx]

@PhenixElite:

Sakura's had a lot of development over Part 2. That I can say point-blank, Kishimoto excelled in that aspect. She's gone a long way from the annoying Sakura fangirl she was. If she hadn't gotten any good development, I'd hate her with a fiery intensity like I used to. Truthfully, the only thing I dislike about it is Sakura's illogical feelings for Sasuke. There is no excuses Kishi could make for those still existing. Sakura's emotional support of Naruto has not gone ungrounded, it still stands. She's been there for him much more than Hinata ever has. Fact.

One arc? One arc?! This is the entire series we're talking about here. She shined amazingly in the Sasori fight, but ever since she's got nothing of the sort. That was literally around 300 chapters ago. The only time Sakura was actually prominent was in the Kage Summit Arc and unfortunately, she made poor choices then and again was the damsel in distress. Top that off with her love for Sasuke being confirmed (Thank you, Sai, Naruto. ). That is not a very flattering light for a heroine. If anything, she was hated and bashed even more after that. The majority of the fandom also thinks she was lying and has no feelings for Naruto, given more reason to hate her.

I say Kishimoto could've given her so many more opportunities to shine. But no, every time we get nothing and we get disappointed. Sakura should've been the one encouraging Naruto. And if Hinata needs to get develop that badly because she's so underdeveloped, try a different approach. One that doesn't make her seem like the savior of the arc who brought Naruto back while everyone else just stood and did nothing. Hinata isn't the heroine, but that was way too much.

I'm sure Sakura will at one point get her shining moment, but it doesn't erase how badly Kishimoto executed her potential. It's just bad writing at this point, and nothing he does can make me forgive him for ignoring her for so long. Again: Compare her to Naruto and Sasuke. People rarely question their status as a main character because of their major fights (plus Naruto's obsession), yet you have bunches of people viewing her as a side character. That is just sad, and really telling of how much Kishi ignores her. I'm sorry I'm not 100% happy with Sakura's screentime. I'm critical and disappointed, but that doesn't change how fond of her character I am. She's still my favorite character after Naruto.

Edited by xxRomanceGirlxx, 25 January 2013 - 07:17 AM.

[Codus N]

"Surprise"

That's the word that we have to use because that's what it's come to. It's that word that's truly embarrassing because Kishi has neglected this character so much that it has lead us Sakura fans to use the word "surprise".

Surprising, isn't it? That our expectations of our heroine has steadily plummeted. Is it possible to hand over the rights to Sakura's character? Preferably to Oda?

Nah, I'd pick Mashima. Look at how he's handled Wendy. Or Chelia for that matter. And you know what?? I get the feeling that Mashima was giving a "Take that" to Kishi in one of the recent chapters.



See?? I get the feeling that was a poke at Tsunade's rule. It's almost like he's saying: "look, I have a character that abides the same rules you do when it comes to being a support, but I can make her a 100x better than your own characters"

[redragon88]

I guess I've missed out a lot of conversations here, but I'm gonna guess the general conclusions of everyone are either:

1) Sakura not appearing right now means she'll have no direct contribution to Naruto in this climatic battle
2) Sakura's absence is so significantly notable that it's obvious Kishi is doing it on purpose to have the readers wonder where on earth is she, thus foreshadowing her having an important role later on

I understand that Kishi can be negligible to a fault, but it would be the highest of insults to not make Sakura, of all people, be helpful to Naruto now of all times. So I'm gonna choose to believe that he simply didn't want to do anything with her until that moment came so that whatever surprises Sakura had she could show them in this battle instead of previous.

Even Kakashi wasn't important in this war until he teamed up with Naruto to fight Obito. The fight with edo-Zabuza wasn't really impressive and we never got to see that "Kakashi's rampage" that he kept boasting about. And for the fight with Obito, Kishi put Kakashi there along with Gai because they both had a direct connection to Obito, so it made the most sense for when the unmasking happened.

To me the last cover page is pretty telling. Kishi put Naruto and Sakura side by side ready to do battle, all while talking about heroes and heroines. That alone shows that Kishi hasn't forgotten about Sakura's importance as a character. The problem is that he can't allocate her properly in the fight for now.

It's not that Kishi forgets about characters, it's just that he won't use them until it's time for them to fulfill the role Kishi wants them to. Never forget Neji.

[Codus N]

But wouldn't that sort of indecisiveness lead to bad writing??

[Chucky-kun]

Nah, I'd pick Mashima. Look at how he's handled Wendy. Or Chelia for that matter. And you know what?? I get the feeling that Mashima was giving a "Take that" to Kishi in one of the recent chapters.



See?? I get the feeling that was a poke at Tsunade's rule. It's almost like he's saying: "look, I have a character that abides the same rules you do when it comes to being a support, but I can make her a 100x better than your own characters"

Mashima gives his characters more development in only 300 chapters, but i guess the one thing about Naruto that's different from the Big 3 and Fairy Tail is that it started with a bunch of 13 year olds and not 16-18 year olds. Kishi dug himself quite a hole just with his beginning, so it's getting hard to climb back out.

[redragon88]

But wouldn't that sort of indecisiveness lead to bad writing??

What do you mean by indecisiveness? The fact that he only uses the characters when need be?

It depends on what the end result becomes. Given that we're not even near the end of the battle with the juubi it's not really the time to be deciding that. If the battle with the Juubi ends and all Sakura did was heal in the back then we can complain all we want, but until then we can only wait, as annoying as it might be.

I really didn't know about fandoms until after the Summit arc, but I'm gonna guess that during the Immortals arc, Itachi arc, and the beginning of the Pain arc; that a lot of people might've complained that Naruto wasn't getting any significant role. That the focus was being unfairly shifted to Shikamaru, Sasuke, and other characters while Naruto was left in the background. But then he made a triumphant return in order to fight Pain and I'm gonna guess that people were so overjoyed at Naruto finally shining that they forgot about his previous neglect.

Of course, the chances of Naruto shining are bigger considering that he's the main character. I'm just saying that Kishi will use his characters when they are needed, and not a moment before. So given Sakura's speech about her being together with Naruto, I just can't imagine Kishi making her say that just for laughs and kicks. I mean, he specifically made her say that she as an individual was gonna be with him. I would find it stupid that Kishi's idea of Sakura being with Naruto is her healing in the background and not being directly significant to him in the battle. But I won't complain that it's all over because of the fact that, well, it's not all over. That's why I'll only complain at the very end of the battle if Sakura really doesn't do anything.

[PhenixElite]

@PhenixElite:

Sakura's had a lot of development over Part 2. That I can say point-blank, Kishimoto excelled in that aspect. She's gone a long way from the annoying Sakura fangirl she was. If she hadn't gotten any good development, I'd hate her with a fiery intensity like I used to. Truthfully, the only thing I dislike about it is Sakura's illogical feelings for Sasuke. There is no excuses Kishi could make for those still existing. Sakura's emotional support of Naruto has not gone ungrounded, it still stands. She's been there for him much more than Hinata ever has. Fact.

One arc? One arc?! This is the entire series we're talking about here. She shined amazingly in the Sasori fight, but ever since she's got nothing of the sort. That was literally around 300 chapters ago. The only time Sakura was actually prominent was in the Kage Summit Arc and unfortunately, she made poor choices then and again was the damsel in distress. Top that off with her love for Sasuke being confirmed (Thank you, Sai, Naruto. ). That is not a very flattering light for a heroine. If anything, she was hated and bashed even more after that. The majority of the fandom also thinks she was lying and has no feelings for Naruto, given more reason to hate her.

I say Kishimoto could've given her so many more opportunities to shine. But no, every time we get nothing and we get disappointed. Sakura should've been the one encouraging Naruto. And if Hinata needs to get develop that badly because she's so underdeveloped, try a different approach. One that doesn't make her seem like the savior of the arc who brought Naruto back while everyone else just stood and did nothing. Hinata isn't the heroine, but that was way too much.

I'm sure Sakura will at one point get her shining moment, but it doesn't erase how badly Kishimoto executed her potential. It's just bad writing at this point, and nothing he does can make me forgive him for ignoring her for so long. Again: Compare her to Naruto and Sasuke. People rarely question their status as a main character because of their major fights (plus Naruto's obsession), yet you have bunches of people viewing her as a side character. That is just sad, and really telling of how much Kishi ignores her. I'm sorry I'm not 100% happy with Sakura's screentime. I'm critical and disappointed, but that doesn't change how fond of her character I am. She's still my favorite character after Naruto.

So you again think that sakuras character is a mess because she didnt get to fight. Tell why does she needs to fight, is that so important? Shes been there for naruto the whole series and all you guys seem to focus are her shining moments through fighting. But thats no what counts. Since part one we see sakura going through development and shes always by narutos side, theres just no need for her to have shining moments through fighting.

Its the development between her and naruto that counts not her shining moments.

[xxRomanceGirlxx]

So you again think that sakuras character is a mess because she didnt get to fight. Tell why does she needs to fight, is that so important? Shes been there for naruto the whole series and all you guys seem to focus are her shining moments through fighting. But thats no what counts. Since part one we see sakura going through development and shes always by narutos side, theres just no need for her to have shining moments through fighting.

Its the development between her and naruto that counts not her shining moments.

Like it or not, Naruto and it's fans heavily focus on combat and fighting. It's a Shonen, after all. That's why people write Sakura off as useless. Conviently, they forget how many people she heals and how many people she saves. That's pretty useful. However, Naruto fans are shallow. They only focus on fighing, not emotional support/healing factors. Not all granted, but a lot of them.

And I understand it. Fighting is awesome and flashy if it's good, it makes you think "Wow, that person is important!" The Sasori fight had that effect, now it's worn off and more people hate her thanks to the Kage Summit. Yeah, I want to see Sakura fight for once. It shifts focus on her and makes her not forgotten. I demand a Sakura fight and it tests my patience to see Kishimoto hasn't done so in over 300 chapters. I swear if I see Sakura healing people anytime soon instead of fighting, I will flip a table.

Bolded: Sakura's shining moments are what makes her noticed. If she doesn't have those anymore, Kishi neglected her. Proves that her "We will fight together!" words were meaningless. Her development with Naruto, while important, isn't everything.