I reviewed and you are right, he doesn't say explicitly he regrets the Red Herrings. But the 2017 interview is the interview in question that I originally referred to. I thought there was another, but perhaps I didn't follow the link. Still, his interviews are consistent. He never even said he was on the fence mind, merely that he considered it, but his ultimate employment was using things as Red Herrings, dropping hints that it might be this, when it was really about this, which the arrows do point to his 700 well. It's a pretty consistent message. Maybe we can link all of the interviews in question and compare? I'm not very good with the posting resources still (Wish I could divide quotes up!).
Shoehorned is better fit when something is done out of the blue, with no explanation, but Orochimaru's resurrection is plausible, given that he could have had snakes around. This is why in general I suggest avoiding terms of "forced", because they generally don't fit, particularly about fiction in an unrealistic world as is.
Lee doesn't work still. Here's the thing: Lee disregards Naruto, when he challenges Sasuke. Naruto doesn't like it, charges him, Lee defeats him easily. Lee hasn't acknowledged Naruto, so there's be no reason for him to let Naruto cheat on the exam. There'd also be little reason for him to do the comparisons of loser, little reason for Neji to try to kill Lee. You could do it sure, with a rewrite, but you're build up and structure and foundation are less strong. Essentially, in all ways, Hinata is the better choice here than a Lee Swap.
The Promise didn't need to be referenced back ,it was completed. Sakura didn't revert to her crybaby part one self. No, before you say it, the 699 thing is not revertion, it's a romantic pursuit, the FIRST serious one, the only time there is romance in the Manga. Sakura is shy and blushy because she's nervous about it. Makes sense. When does this pairing fodder point start? I'm not sure where you're starting your measurement from. There's a clear War Arc point in Sakura's story where she stops walking behind Sasuke's and Naruto's back and goes in to the front, effectively showing her determination not to be left behind. Sure, Sasuke knocks her out to keep her out of the way of the Great N vs S battle, But that's not a reversion. It may not have been implemented in the best way, that's a fair argument, but there's no growth reversion. That's why I want to know the exact point, and the exact times, so I can discuss them specifically, rather than guess where you mean.
Subbing Lee in for Hinata: Your problems with Lee could readily be addressed since Lee ultimately came around to acknowledging Naruto and recognizing their similarities anyway. All I'm calling for is that he recognize it midfight upon realizing how similar he and Naruto are and going one step beyond what Hinata's internal monologue by actually having Lee openly speak aloud. Now that's simply in regards to the Kiba fight. You bring up the notion of Lee letting Naruto cheat off his exam, but I'm not calling for this. Instead, my proposition would simply be to omit that scene entirely since it never amounted to anything anyway. Your issues with Neji trying to kill Lee don't really follow as Neji's goal would be to beat Lee and that Lee would not make it an easy fight, thus it's not beyond imagination that Neji would end up being brutal while voicing his beliefs about fate. Lastly, it just ties into the loser overcoming the genius theme a lot better since Lee and Naruto are both actively trying to accomplish just this.
Shoehorning: Something can be shoehorned with or without an explanation. For example, in the film Spider-Man 3, the symbiote suit is explained as being an alien from space that came out of a meteor. It's shoehorned because out of all the people on the planet, the meteor just so happens to land right next to Peter Parker while he just so happened to be relaxing in the park one night. Meanwhile, the villain Sandman gets his powers because he just so happens to stumble across some vague sand mutation experiment one night while being on the run from the police and it just so happens that nobody doing the experiment sees this guy out there. Orochimaru's second (or third?) resurrection is no different because it tells us that it just so happens that you can bring this dude back no problem as long as you got someone with one of his cursed seals lying around and that it just so happens that you can easily restore his arms provided somebody go steal this plot maggufin mask. Seriously? Why even bother with three years of scheming and body swapping?
Rule of thumb: If you're reading a story and you come across something that makes it clear to you that you are reading a story notwithstanding suspension of disbelief, it's probably shoehorned.
Sakura Pairing Fodder:
- POAL: The Promise is a pivotal moment for Sakura's character arc, as we see that it is what drives her character as of the end of part 1 when she makes clear that she and Naruto are going to bring Sasuke back together. It is what the entirety of what the first timeskip is premised upon. Saying "it didn't need to be referenced; it was completed" is the equivalent to saying something like "we don't need to see Naruto become Hokage." Oh wait a minute . . . man do I hate what became of this manga.
-Romantic Reversion: Have discussed this to death at great length in other threads. Beating a dead horse. Bottomline is that every moment you mention regarding Sakura (walking behind Sasuke/Naruto's backs and whatnot) gets subverted shortly afterwards (Sakura whining about being useless and Sasuke rightfully calling her and Kakashi useles) or plain doesn't amount to anything in the end (i.e. the whole "need to kill Sasuke" bit). Everything you could reference in regards to Sakura as of Part II is merely indicative of the potential she had as a character. Noting that, she became nothing more than pairing fodder. As to when this was, I'm not sure, although I'd say chapter 693 is without doubt a bold declaration of pairing fodder. Before that, it's little more ambiguous since Kishi didn't quite know what to do with the character (hence all of that "Sakura's year" crap we got in multiple Jump Fiesta interviews), but that part where she has no issue with Naruto wanting to die with Sasuke is probably another example.
Interviews:
2014
"I decided quite a while ago to go with Hinata.
There was a time when I was on the fence about going with Sakura, but after coming this far and just having Sakura switch over to loving Naruto would make her kind of a terrible woman.
Anyway, Sakura really has always just been wholeheartedly about Sasuke.”
2016
When I introduced Sakura, I only considered her as another character. I didn’t do it to bring her in as a special female character. She was at the same level as characters like Kiba or Shikamaru, so there was nothing set in my mind at all about Sakura and Naruto being a couple. Obviously, they’d be friends and teammates. For Hinata, I decided pretty early on that they’d be together. Then I figured it’d be more interesting if Sakura would be in the middle, creating a messy love triangle,” he explained. “But to be honest, there wasn’t much space and time to include stuff like that. Naruto’s a battle manga, not a romance story. You have to decide what to focus on, what you think the readers want to see. So I never thought about making them a couple, but I did throw in some nuggets to make the readers think that. It was all about Naruto and Hinata getting married from an early stage.
The 2016 interview never mentions anything about considering Sakura, whereas he says he was on the fence at a time in the first one. I don't see any reason for the omission other than that he can't keep his stories straight.
Edited by ThroughWithLove, 23 July 2017 - 07:31 PM.