I understand where you're coming from, from a profit standpoint. But note that I also said the ratings. Keep in mind that JUMP mangas have a very stiff competition, so Naruto's profits might not even matter much to the magazine as a whole. What I'm saying is that JUMP mangas already bring in huge amount of profits if you combine all the mangas' profits currently in the magazine.
They might not even feel Hinata requires more media exposure as she's already popular on her own. So, that leaves one thing: the ratings.
As Kishi's editors' job is to make the rating of the manga as high as possible, that means they're probably more focusing on the ratings. Sure, it would be great if it brings in more profits, but to them, or some, the ratings might be slightly higher than the profits on priority. And, after all, higher ratings will lead to more profit, no?? that's why I said Hinata doesn't necessarily have to be given more media exposure. Who knows, Sakura appearing in adverts more than her might even be the editors' effort to keep her relevant.
Ah, see now that's more accurate, but with that being said you're going into a territory on quantitative vs qualitative market value.
I am going to paste a section from Wikipedia:
Value in marketing can be defined by both qualitative and quantitative measures. On the qualitative side, value is the perceived gain composed of individual's emotional, mental and physical condition plus various social, economic, cultural and environmental factors. On the quantitative side, value is the actual gain measured in terms of financial numbers, percentages, and dollars.
The problem is we're not sure how much influence an editor truly has. He is not the writer, but merely the consultant. He may give creative ideas, but does he have the power to override the writer if they feel it makes more money to do it their way? If that's the case, then what's the point of a writer? If you have an idea that gets a great reaction out of the people watching, repeating that same idea, the quality of the product is going down. This affects the profits from a long standpoint. Yeah you can make that quick buck, but what if it hurts the story in the long run? That qualitative value goes down the tubes and then you lose a lot more profits.
So editors have to worry not just the short run, but the long run profits as well. They have to worry about the quality of the product as well with the popularity reaction to it. The popularity reaction changes like the waves of an ocean. So most of the time it is never constant and what might be popular one week will be dull the next. Then they have to maintain the quality of the manga.
Hinata is popular because of Naruto. Does she hold up on her own? Not as much. Every character has a popular crowd, but it's what they do that causes the reactions. For example, if a spin-off was made of Hinata I think she would get rather boring. She is cute, but she has no energy. At best, the only way she has energy is when she feeds off Naruto's energy and this chapter proved that. Naruto lacked that energy to be that hero and Hinata used that same energy to make herself be more important. That's why this chapter created such a reaction.
So at the cost of making the main character look worse, they made her look better and there are fans that see this. I don't think the editor can just ignore that side of the reactions. The editor just can't look at the NaruHina fans and the Hinata fans and say "Wow, we are doing a good job, let's keep this up." You would lose more than half the fanbase that way. They also have to be concerned about getting more new fans into the fray not just pleasing the old ones. They would be a bad editor if they only focused on one aspect of the fanbase.
Look at Rock Lee's Spin off series. Why did he get a spin-off? Because Rock Lee alone has energy that no other character has. He is corny and and over-ambitious which makes for pretty good moments. I see Rock Lee like the Sargent Johnson from Halo. He was in the background most of the time, but when he was there you know that either something funny, amazing, or very interesting was going to happen when he hit the screen. Rock Lee can stand on his own as a character too. He doesn't really need to hover around Naruto to get that popularity. In fact, I would say that if there was more fights of just him fighting an enemy, he would get even more popular.
Of course, the only way to test it is to give Hinata her own show that doesn't revolve around her hovering around Naruto and see how it fairs. I have a strong belief she wouldn't make it to a second season cause she is boring. She hardly fights and when she does she loses. Sakura too is like Rock Lee. She can be cool if Kishi would actually give her stuff to do. Look how popular she got when she fought Sasori.
It's like a huge balancing act. Wikipedia gave a good equation to sum it up:
Value = Benefits / Cost
So you can have the benefits of the NH fanbase when showing Hinata off, but the cost is so much. You have to undermine Naruto's character to give Hinata that boost. Rabid NH will only see the bias of having NH canon. While I do have a bias for NS, I try to strive for the more quality the manga as a whole rather than getting what I want. That's why I converted from being a NH to an NS fan. I used to be an NH fan when I saw how cute she was and how she loved him and such, but after seeing how good NS interact and how more sensible they were together I lost interest in NH.
If the cost outweigh the benefits, then you're doing something wrong. That's why Hinata could never stand on her own as a popular character. She needs Naruto to define her and to give her that energy at the sacrifice of diminishing his character.
QUOTE
P.S.: what are you studying, if you don't mind me asking??
Graphic Design of Advertising. Not so much television, but other aspects like Posters, Billboards, and such.
Edited by James S Cassidy, 29 December 2012 - 03:43 AM.
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