NeoSapien

Part 2 = HBP? Oh hurray! That means the fandom will explode in a few chapters if when we get even more clear-cut signs that Sakura has moved on from Sasuke to Naruto and when Sasuke is re-introduced with a Sound kunoichi who might as well have "Sasuke's love interest" stamped on her forehead.

Then again, the various pairing arguments tend to be much less vehement. There may be a few cries of "canonrape!" and upset rants on the losing side, but it may not be enough to be Fandom W***-ed.

That's probably why it's popular. Kakashi x Sakura is like the 2nd most popular non-slash pairing in Japan, so Yamato is an interesting alternative.

Maybe the Japanese fandom is completely hung up on pretty couples and has discounted Naruto/Sakura so that it just ignores the true pairing even when it is quite obvious. Or maybe it's only certain portions of the fandom who ignore Naruto/Sakura stuff. Or maybe the SasuSaku-ers really are just clinging to straws. I've seen some "it will be a love triangle, but Sasuke will win in the end" posts, and that was a very popular argument used by Harry/Hermione shippers to explain away all the Ron/Hermione evidence.

Speaking of Japan, I've heard (through SasuSaku fans) that the Japanese fandom has largely ignored the latest NaruSaku hints and is instead focused on the interaction between Sakura and Yamato. Can anyone here confirm that the Japanese fandom is really not reacting to Sakura's tears in 296 and Yamato's line in 297? I just find it hard to believe that something which practically everyone here found significant is treated as unimportant over there, and that something as implausible as Yamato and Sakura is favored.

Then again, it could just be more evidence that the Japanese fandom is even crazier than the Western one. They are the ones who created Kakashi and Iruka as 2nd most popular pairing and voted Deidara as 3rd most popular character, after all.

There are different words for love, and some of them are written with multiple symbols. For instance, "daisuki" could have been split, leaving only the "dai-" to suggest the rest.

However, it's a moot point as HissouburaiKen almost certainly added that "l-" himself as his interpretation. It isn't hard evidence, but it is nice that a previously neutral translator sees the sentence that way.

They seem to be:

- supporting an alternate translation (that disagrees with every single one posted on Mangahelpers) which has Yamato saying something like: "Sakura, you should look at yourself... you truly are..." This sounds like Yamato is just praising Sakura instead of about to say that she loves Naruto, but what's the point of Naruto interrupting it?

- having faith in their old evidence (Chapter 181, various essays)

- thinking that NaruSaku's buildup will just be a red herring for a later reversion to SasuSaku

The last two points are very similar to the behavior of shippers on other sinking/sunken "ships" such as Harry/Hermione (err, no offense).