So Anyway, again I know I've beaten this to death before But I really must say I've seen things in new perspectives since the series ended. Hinata And Sakura, what they mean to Naruto and the story as a whole, not to mention "fan and public/private opinions of the two which is how we got to where we are now. This is actually a fully serious and non-sarcastic analysis.
First off, what do Hinata and Sakura represent, and again what do they mean to Naruto? Hinata is a "Naruto admirer" among his peers which he otherwise lacks as any other girl his age squeal in admiration at the sight of Sasuke instead. She is THE Naruto fan girl where he otherwise wouldn't have had one. Sakura is Naruto's crush and I actually won't say for how long actually since canon source material did not actually specify how long he liked her (correct me if I'm wrong) and I wont' take any filler episodes into consideration. But she is one of the aforementioned fan girls of Sasuke that are crushing on his "cool and silent bad boy" attitude. Naruto winning her affections is a goal, but something changes along the way.
How do fans see Hinata and Sakura? Well let's delve into the most extreme opinions of them.
Hinata- she represents the shy girl that is too embarrassed to confess to her crush that many male and female fans alike sympathize with. In fact is is but stated by her fans' opinion that she is the nice girl next door who's hidden feelings for the main character are taken for granted and he only notices at the end and falls for her instead, they hope. You see this with all of the "she has always loved Naruto" arguments. Off topic but relevant, and this half belongs in the Sakura analysis of fan opinions, but I mentioned a while back that I'm sure deep down that many that are completely on the side of Naruto getting together with Hinata to the point the very notion of Sakura is a potential love interest offends them completely, act like that because the want Naruto to hurt Sakura back for daring not to IMMEDIATELY return his affections. What made me truly realize this factor is that I have been watching quite a lot of YouTube videos recently of animated and voiced over doujin manga, and a common theme among them is a guy getting rejected by a girlfriend and has a sweet understanding girl/lady comfort him and falls in love with her instead and when the ex-girlfriend comes back to beg/demand that the MC take her back, he tells her off and says he found a woman that loves him for who he is and loves back, so he doesn't need or want her anymore. I was thinking as I watched those, is this what Hinata fanatics and Sakura haters wanted to see as well? But anyway on to Sakura.
Sakura- As stated, you either love her or hate her. Neutral fans could go either way and I'm not delving into it. Sakura is Naruto's dream girl, in layman's terms. As stated as early as chapter /episode 3, Naruto has his eyes on her and is enamored with her. She's feisty, has quite a hidden temper and is not afraid to tell Naruto off, like a typical tsundere love interest. where this differs from others and where she gets all of her flak from I believe, is that again she does not immediately have a crush on Naruto back like other tsundere love interests so her behaviour becomes that much more grating to watch by her detractors. You see Sakura's character type all over the place in other weekly shonen jump series and beyond even, like Chichi, Kaoru, Keiko, etc. etc. even newer ones like Noelle Silva from Black Clover and none of them get the same amount of flak as Sakura does. what's the difference? They have had their love interests decided from the beginning, have no crush on any other guy, and have a sweet side that they show to their love interest on occasion. Sakura had/did none of those things early on and even if she did it was not directly to Naruto's face. In fact it was quite the opposite, where she unsympathetically says to Sasuke what she thinks of Naruto, that he is an irksome trouble maker because he has no parents to discipline him and thinks his flirting with her only gets in her way, not knowing the true depths of Naruto's loneliness that even Sasuke tells her off. She then thinks to herself maybe she should be nicer to Naruto, then goes right back to saying she hates him next chapter/ episode. I'm sure this is where the vast majority of her haters come from. and as I stated before perhaps those that take total offence to her initial attitude to Naruto probably want Naruto to get Hinata as the love interest instead to get emotional and relationship revenge on Sakura as she realizes she was maybe wrong about him.
I'll do their impact on the story in a separate post since I'm still gathering my thoughts on this but bear these thoughts in mind still since I'm sure it makes sense to me as it may do to many of you.
Edited by Phantom_999, 30 January 2022 - 02:41 PM.