In addition, his handlers were asses.People aren't going to forget what dicks they were. For those that still care, I'd expect their memories to be long. Besides, given their attitude, what could he say that'd convince people it was sincere rather than a half-hearted attempt to rescue a portion of the fanbase they effectively told to fuck-off? If I am on their end, why would I think it'd succeed after what's I'd done? Seems to be a waste of time.
I agree that I cannot see it happening. This isn't Harry Potter where Rowling choose the ending on her own. If people are correct about interference (regardless of Kishi's complicity) then i I don't expect him to go out whizz all over those people, especially if wants to publish anything else.
He's picked his path.
Yes, Kishimoto might have been able to come out of this without egg on his face, but those around him made sure he went down with the ship. I still think he tried to convey his trademark vagueness in the manga till the end, what with 'The Real End' chapter and the ambiguous pairing/children panels at the end. And I think if Kishimoto had had his druthers, he would've ended the whole thing without a true pairing but with the hint of NS (like in the gutsy ninja), or with the wacko ending we got only undercut by the possibility that it was truly Obito's dream jutsu (like in Chatte's excellent theory). Even Kishimoto's contradictory statements in the publicity afterwards could've supported it his tendency to be ultra-vague.
But his handlers did drive the nails in the coffin. Instead of using the finesse that Kishimoto has admittedly always had for walking the line between stated fact and implication, his publicity crew trampled over any hope of an open ending by declaring Hinata the Hime and every interaction with Sakura to be a ruse or a misdirect, the fault of the reader or even an outright lie (Naruto's words to Minato).
And Kishimoto just seemed to be apathetic witness in the last hurrah of his series.
You're right in comparing this to JK Rowling. She had ownership of her work from start to finish, even though there were many, many hands involved in shaping that story. But no other voices ever drowned her out. However, Kishimoto's statements were one of a cacaphony coming from his camp. They weren't on-message, they weren't inclusive and they weren't set on keeping ALL of the fandom in the fold for another year of profit. They seemed to be aggressively barking down fans who complained about the bait-and-switch.
My honest opinion is that Kishimoto just gave up in the end. All those storylines that went nowhere, that never tied into the endgame (Itachi's lecturing Naruto, Kabuto's flashback and battle with Itachi, Hashirama and Madara's childhood, just to name a few), were obviously just a way to stall the ending of the series until he was given the "all clear" to end it. And then he just did, and slapped the epilogue on, apropos of nothing. I think he just didn't give a sh*t in the end. And looking back, it's obvious that he hadn't cared about the series for a while. It was just on autopilot.
And yeah, as for an apology or explanation...well, it would be unexpected to say the least. Kishimoto's got more ground to cover with Naruto, and he knows how to play the game. He'll do what they want. Any creative person who gets as far as Kishimoto has in the money-making world of publicity/publishing knows he has to sell out some part of his vision to collect his check. And that's what he's done. And it's worked this far, he's not going to stop now.
Maybe there will be some explanation when he starts on his next project. A weak bid to assure leary readers that this one won't have a screw-over, bait-and-switch ending like Naruto did. But I'm not holding out hope. And if his next venture is anything like Mario, with its misogynistic overtones, uh...no thanks. I've had enough of that with Naruto.
When I first read the manga when I was in 7th grade (Im 24 now) I was no way at all a narusaku supporter I thought. "Oh hey hinata likes him im sure they will end up together."
