What if he was with the Pierrot staff members directly responsible for writing the Hinata-centric fillers and The Last? Would they all get punches? We have a habit of blaming Kishi when in actuality Pierrot is as much to blame for the ending as Kishi for sacrificing his integrity.
But Kishi is the author and therefore has the final say on characters. He holds creator rights. I wouldn't go so far as to assault him but the bottom line is that he has final say. People are going to develop strong opinions on his work, that is just the way it is and of course these people are going to have varying levels of influence depending on their relationship with the writer but when you write a story that intends to send a certain message to others it is not a very flexible thing. It is a chain built link by link. Remove a certain link and replace with an un-planned part of the chain and the entire thing falls apart.
One thing was accepted by the majority of the fandom, that Narusaku was the most likely pairing, (Hell even Sawyer admitted that when he did his pairing analysis videos.) So what does that mean for Kishi now that the un-expected has happened?
1. He caved for monetary reasons
2. He caved for popularity reasons
I don't buy the idea that NH/SS was endgame because as a writer myself the way things were written and played out those two outcomes made absolutely zero sense. The largest reason for this is the simple fact that in the entirety of the series after several clear hints and declarations about which girl he is actually interested in Naruto never clearly gets over Sakura. No mention of not liking her, no show of disinterest, not even a mention that he likes Hinata more. Nothing. Another reason. Naruto clearly states to Sai that he won't mention his feelings until he returns Sasuke and fulfills his promise of a lifetime. No mention of this at all after Sasuke turns good. And yes the main point of the LOI arc was that he was released from Sakura's promise, (though technically he said that while her promise was important he was doing it to also save Sasuke.) It also could be argued that after the LOI Naruto perhaps realized that Sakura would never move on and he himself had moved on especially coupled with 615( which would be a good move if the ending we got was endgame) But then he introduces 631 which infers the opposite where despite him calling her confession fake he calls her his girlfriend. And as if to screw things up further, whenever Sakura shows Sasuke attention Naruto got jealous during the War arc.
Finally, the excuse of "you just loved me for a rivalry" or Kishi's excuse that he sucks at romance is bullcrap. It's bullcrap and all I need is one panel to prove it.
This scene is perfect. It's not a simple expression of romance but a complex expression of romance. What is the childish thing to do in this situation if you are Naruto? Just look at any cartoon where two characters have a rivalry over a female, or better yet look at Naruto in the beginning of the series. This isn't a boring expression of romance, it's a mature expression. It expresses both Naruto's maturity and the nature of his feelings for Sakura. It takes maturity to walk away when you know that you just aren't the one at the time. It takes patience. It's selflessness. And as if weaving a quilt several panels later we see Sakura offer Sasuke an apple and Sasuke just throws it onto the ground and trashes her gift. That's not spur of the moment writing, that's planned. It shows the difference between Naruto and Sakura's relationship and Sasuke and Sakura's relationship and because it is executed so well it works big time.
And that is why Kishi deserves the blame. Sure it's easy to see that SP were huge Hinata fanboys bc of her Yamato-Nadeshiko nature but that happens no matter what you do as a writer. It's just human nature to like different things and the majority will always prefer the submissive character bc he/she is portayed as a victim and is therefore the easy route. It's the same reason people like puppies and kittens, they're small and cute. (But not me because I'm a manly man) 
. But it is the duty of the author to stay the course of his story no matter what the influence because he holds the final say and he has chosen these plot elements for a reason. When he caves he might as well make the fanbase the authors and is essentially handing the wheel over to several people who all want to take the story in different random directions. In one episode Hinata holds her own in Pain, in another episode she's shy and timid, the next episode she smacks naruto and tells him to man up, in another episode she does a naked dance on a lake at night, next she gains lion fists, then she gains golden byakugan goddess powers.
All because the author does not protect his beautiful quilt and in the end it is left in tatters from the destructive biased hands of the fandumb.
Edited by Shadow1275, 14 September 2015 - 03:40 AM.
Persona 5 hype 
