I might be over thinking it but I think we have been receiving little teases about the relationship Naruto and Sakura share for many months now.
We get confirmation that Naruto and Sakura will share equal main spotlight in Road to Ninja so we'll see a lot of how they work together. Also, Naruto's parents appear and be main characters, I would find it ridiculous if Sakura didn't talk to them at least once but I'm sure it will be more. Recently we found out Sakura's own parents will appear for the first time and take part in the movie, again it would be stupid if Naruto didn't speak to them at least once.
The Rock Lee anime has surprisingly bombarded us with how Naruto and Sakura get along so well with each other. It got to the point where they outright stated that Naruto's personality mixes perfectly with Sakura's thus making them ideal to be a couple, in front of poor Hinata no less who then sulked beneath a bench (Reality hits you hard bro
). I know you're not supposed to take a silly comedy like this seriously. It's not about what actually happens in the anime, it's about the ideas the production team is intentionally transmitting.
The Naruto manga/anime itself can't really let itself focus on Naruto's and Sakura's relationship since we're in the middle of a war arc, although there's always the potential of something happening now the Sakura is running to Naruto's battle field. But last year we did get that music OVA in which Sakura hugs Naruto in the end. People who are bias to NaruHina and SasuSaku will say that is platonic (that's the power of bias), but show that hug to someone who doesn't care about pairings or someone who has never seen Naruto at all and ask them if that scene looked romantic. I'm sure they will say yes. Lets be honest, if Sakura ends with Sasuke that hug scene in the OVA will look extremely awkward in retrospect.
Then there was that bit in a blog that talked about visiting a Naruto amusement park. From what I heard from a translation in deviantart those Uzumaki Sakura stickers were actually official merchandise (it was inside a folder that contained other merchandise) that was handed to people who went to the interview of the voice actors for Naruto, Sakura, Neji and Lee. Then it seems a fan asked some questions about the sticker and the paring, the voice actors seem to have answered very vaguely but apparently hinted to it while talking about Road to Ninja.
I keep asking myself what would be the point of introducing Sakura's parents now if they would only interact with Sakura. She doesn't have parent issues like Naruto so she doesn't need to work on her relationship with them. I'm pretty sure Kishi could've chosen never to introduce them and his main plot would have still remained the same, so why now and in this movie? I really believe that Kishimoto will focus a little part of the plot on how Naruto and Sakura deal with their respective other's parents even if it's just for a little bit.
I'm starting to get the idea that Kishimoto and all of the Naruto related developers got together and decided to start showing hints to people to get them accustomed to the idea of Naruto and Sakura together, even if it's just subtle.
Because I don't think most developers care for romance, especially romance in a shonen manga. I believe Kishi cares, but I don't think anyone else will put that much effort to actually team up together to do all that.
But who knows, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe they are willing to coherently work together to show viewers where they going with two of the main characters. I don't know, but neither is anyone else.
Well, I don't know about their willingness to coordinate any efforts, but I'm pretty sure that the developers are well aware of the popularity of pairings, even in shounens. Pairing teases is probably an easy way to get more money for them (whereas perhaps a good plot or a good fight is more difficult to come up with).
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I believe everything that was pointed out by reddragon 88 was just a coincidence. But I think the reason why we are able to list off so many recent hints (and why the voice actors were teasing about Narusaku) is because it's obviously going to end up Narusaku. Of coarse I could be wrong, but to me that explains everything.
Yea, that makes the most sense as a reason to me as well.
Well, ever since the start of part 2, NaruSaku has gotten
way more fan service than NH or SS. The amount of fan service the other pairs have, even including the fillers in between part one and part two, far outweighs the fan service the other pairings have - even recently we had that one episode with Naruto saying that he loves Sakura to that filler character, the last op with Naruto nearly hugging Sakura, and then all of the Rock Lee stuff. If Hinata is the
character that the anime is pushing, then NaruSaku is the
pairing that they are pushing, imo. Though I don't know that they are doing so in order to get fans acclimated to the pairings, that part seems to stretch it a bit maybe.
While I agree I think all this is nice food for thought, I doubt that all the Naruto developers and Kishi will come together and decide to show subtle hints of Narusaku. It just seems to far fetch, besides we haven't taken in consideration the Naruhina hints, like the latest closing theme of the show. Not trying to rain on your parade, like I said I really like the things you said, I'm just trying to be realistic and not get my hopes up.
Even then, this is the first ED that even comes close to hinting at NaruHina, and even then the characters aren't interacting at all - just Hinata in one scene, and then Naruto in the next. I've lost count of the NaruSaku OPs and EDs we've gotten. Even the NH fan service in Rock Lee was /way/ more focused on Hinata's feelings, simply showing that Naruto appreciates her the way that she is (again, nothing to indicate anything beyond friendly care on his part).
Not to say there hasn't been fan service for the other pairings (because kami knows there has been - secret lovers in that one video game for instance); I'm simply saying that not only does NaruSaku have the lionshare in quantity, it also has it in quality as well. Plus, we also got that lovely OVA, which actually was supposed to hint at future canon events (as I understood it).
I just now realised...Naruto would be over if it werent for Sakura. Typed this on Youtube a while ago
I really don't get these Sakura bashers, or the NH fans that hate her for no reason. Sakura is the only reason this show is still going on. If she hadn't been there when Naruto turned 4 tails, he may very well be dead. And if she wasn't here, the preciouse Hinata would be DEAD!
Sakura=useless? Yeah, the first one to ever beat an Akatsukie member, the only one who cured Sasorie's poison. Saved Konkuro, Healed Naruto...ten-billion times, sereing as a medical ninja for the war.
AND SHE SAVED HINATA! SHE'S NOT USELESS PEOPLE!
Well, I don't know that Naruto would be dead, honestly. He probably just would have taken /a lot/ longer to heal, and they would have lost Sai, Kabuto, and Orochimaru.
Where Naruto AND Sasuke would have died without her is when she was guarding them against the Sound Trio in the Forest of Death when they were both unconscious.
Plus, if it weren't for Sakura, Naruto would have grabbed Sasuke and retreated (he was giving that order before he left). No beating Gaara, no reformed Gaara, no awesome Gaara kage.
You should also mention that without Sakura impressing Sasori during her fight with him, she never would have gotten the tip about Heaven and Earth bridge, which resulted in whole story arc including Naruto determining not to rely on the Kyuubi's power after hurting Sakura, and ultimately leading to the first reunion with Sasuke at Orochimaru's layer.
So yea, she's definitely affected the plot in a HUGE way.
Edited by Paptala, 23 June 2012 - 11:27 AM.
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