277 replies to this topic

[CloudMountainJuror]

I just have to say that I think this is the best thread to be made on this site in a long time. Just my opinion.
Anyways, all of you who've contributed to this thread have presented interesting and logical ideas that helped me think more rationally. It really is amazing how so many people can assume so much about a character like that... It just makes me lose even more hope in the human race.

[BlackLightning]

Hmmm, I see your point, but there some cases like me where guys admire those with Sakura-like tendencies and to be fair I think I would be creeped about if someone secretly admires me, because I'm the kind of guy wants to hear honest facts.

I mean in my high school years, I admire a girl who called me the usual (idiot, annoying, etc.) To think that would stun me, yes. However, I looked and thought yeah, she was right about that and that was when I change my act without losing my natural characteristics (like Naruto in Shippuden). Took three years, before we became friends again and probably that is the key reason now that I like the narusaku pairing.

Probably, people liked Hinata because they want to take the easy way out of life (not saying that they are on the basis of the anime/manga), and want a clear and easy path to be happy and then there are those that wants to work to improve themselves and attain something that they have never attain before in their lives.

I'm not saying that every guys are like that, but you certainly can't deny that there are some guys who are, just like how some girls quite literally worship the ground where edward from twilight walks while others can't even stand watching him for 5 minutes.

[Anguyen92]

I'm not saying that every guys are like that, but you certainly can't deny that there are some guys who are, just like how some girls quite literally worship the ground where edward from twilight walks while others can't even stand watching him for 5 minutes.

Yeah, I know it's who they are, they can't change that because in their perspective, they might have a good logical understanding that might be valid. They have their own ideals, we have ours and that's the way it is.

[ciardha]

It's that whole 'fanboy' thing. There is a whole subculture of 'Otaku' who consistently gravitate to the 'shy, awkward, cute, quiet' characters. Hinata falls into this trap setup perfectly. It's just a projection of what these people want in someone. Someone who will look up to them and admire them faithfully, almost obsessively because perhaps they aren't getting any of that in their real lives. I'm not trying to fully generalize here, but there is a subculture of anime/manga fans who love these type of 'moe' characters.

This!

I get annoyed by all the "Hinata fans like her because they are shy females like her." Not from the female major Hinata fans I've met at anime cons. In fact, while they might sort of attempt to put on the shy persona when they cosplay, their true personality is actually tending to be rather vocal and aggressive girls and women from what I've observed. Same goes for behavior online.

I have struggled with social shyness most of my life (yes, believe it or not . I'm extremely uncomfortable being the center of attention- bad or good (yes, even positive attention makes me anxious, although negative is worse- internally my first reaction is want to throw up with that, positive just profound embarrassment. Although I've gradually gotten better over the years. I can hall cosplay for example, but I always feel self conscious when I first walk out in costume, the thought of participating in a cosplay contest, or even a hall cosplay contest makes me want to go hide somewhere. I do better with historical or ethnic costumes, but still would nix entering a contest. I wore a sari at the latest anime con I attended and actually felt good when someone told me they thought my sari was beautiful.) I, and most other women I know like me who suffer from social shyness like, not the shy females like Hinata nor the Alpha females like Ino, but the ones that fall in between like Sakura. The way Sakura has grown (outside of the Sasuke crush) personally from the bullied 6 year old to the young woman she is now- mostly confident and assured of her abilities and belliefs- although occasionally faltering, is a journey that I think may socially shy females can identify with. Sakura neither hides nor draws attention to herself, she does act swiftly when she thinks something needs to be done or said. I can relate to that. The areas I've overcome my social shyness are ones I feel confident in my knowledge and assured that I should speak up. I couldn't do it in front of a large group in public though.

[Sakura Blossoms]

I'm going to have to disagree with you on this, upon reading the first book many years ago, two things were brilliantly clear to me.

-Ron and Hermione would have a relationship of some kind

-Snape was in love with Harry's mum

I don't even really want to talk about Ron/Hermoine. It pisses me off like you wouldn't believe. Here we have this intelligent, beautiful young lady and all she gets is verbal abuse, insults, and put-downs by this little git of a boy, and yet she still loves him and ends up with him?!

It just disgusts me. Rowlings sends a terrible message to young women everywhere, by pairing Hermoine up with Ron after all he puts her through. It's the equivalent of Sakura ending up with Sasuke for me.

[Madz]

The anime FILLERS has contributed a LOT to the Naruhina fandom as well.
I started to read the manga only at the shippuden stage, but upon seeing how many fillers there were, I decided to go and read the manga since the beginning... and the differences were enormous (at least to me!)

The fillers in part one was so anti Narusaku and so pro Naruhina. And Sakura is way more hateful towards Naruto in the anime and fillers than in the manga, that it caused many people to lean towards Naruhina.
And typical of the Naruhina fans that I've come across, they all rigidly clings to the "heartless, violent" image of Sakura and "sweet, shy and caring" Hinata.
What really irks me in all this is Sakura bashers always bashes Sakura because she does not share Naruto's feeling. It's as if the female character of the manga has to only evolve around Naruto. If Hinata likes Naruto since the beginning, means she is a good girl and if Sakura rejects Naruto, she is automatically the bad girl. I mean come-on, Sakura has the right to love whoever she wants without having to be judged for it!

Edited by Madz, 10 June 2011 - 11:11 AM.

[Jenskott]

This!

I get annoyed by all the "Hinata fans like her because they are shy females like her." Not from the female major Hinata fans I've met at anime cons. In fact, while they might sort of attempt to put on the shy persona when they cosplay, their true personality is actually tending to be rather vocal and aggressive girls and women from what I've observed. Same goes for behavior online.

I had not thought of it, but it is true. A lot of Hinata fans are loud and vocal and quite willful. It sort of contradicts the "They like her because they are just like her" theory. Then again, their aggresive online behavior can be due to feeling less shy in front of a computer screen rather facing one person.

I don't get the Hinata worship. Wait, allow me rephrase that: I get everyone "worship" some character at some degruee. But I don't get why that secondary character who has barely showed up has so much followers. I guess some fans thought she and her crush were cute back when they watched the early episodes and it spiraled from there.

However I never thought much of her. She was a minor character with a crush on the main character. So what?

And honestly... I don't care for the reasons or the causes. I have better -and more important- things to do than dwelling on the online popularity of a secondary character I don't care about. And I don't care what her fans think.

[Akashi]

This!

I get annoyed by all the "Hinata fans like her because they are shy females like her." Not from the female major Hinata fans I've met at anime cons. In fact, while they might sort of attempt to put on the shy persona when they cosplay, their true personality is actually tending to be rather vocal and aggressive girls and women from what I've observed. Same goes for behavior online.

I have to agree with this. All Hinata's fan-girls/-boys I've ever met are very brutal/aggressive. Maybe they worship her so much because she has those qualities they lack? No?

Edited by Meek, 10 June 2011 - 01:35 PM.

[tricksie]

It's not so much that she's a shy character that drives people to her in droves — she is written as a sympathetic character. People feel a great deal of sympathy toward her, even though she is not suffering in a real way like those around her are (ie. Neji, her sister, etc.)

She is defined by her low self-esteem, and this issue keeps her from pursuing her love in a straightforward way, instead hoping Naruto will recognize her. That is her entire storyline. And I bet most of the manga readers can relate (thinking readers who are young-ish, high school, first love age), and therefore feel sympathy for her. I don't mean empathy, as in the readers actually are shy, awkward 15yo girls. I mean sympathy as in 'yes, I've felt that way before too.'

I think Sakura is written as the real life girl that readers should aspire to and view the manga through. And I think Hinata is written as a sympathetic foil for her. It's much easier to make little changes and hope we are noticed for them (hinata), but it's much, much harder and with much greater risk to make tremendous changes, all on our own and with no certainty of ever winning the long sought goal (sakura). That's where Sakura's at now.

But brokenfigurine's points about Neji and Hanabi (sp?), Hinata's sister, are interesting. Neji and Hanabi are seriously powerful ninjas. Lots of natural born talent. Yet Hinata has never uttered a word about the unfair structure that stubbornly puts her at the top while caging others (the bird seal).

And the chunin match between them is strange: the audience should feel sympathy toward Neji and want him to win, he carries the lion's share of grief from the Hyuuga clan. But we don't. The match is about Hinata and her struggle to overcome the character flaws that she clings to.

Neji is another one, like Sasuke, who could justify his drive for revenge. But he hasn't sought revenge. Instead he has bowed to the clan. But his sacrifices are never touched on. Only Hinata's. The story is written to flatter her, and the facets of her personality which might cast her in a more negative light are conveniently forgotten.

edit: I know it's been brought up tons, but I wonder how many people who avidly ship NH came to it through the anime. Whle writing this post, I was looking for a refresher on the Neji/Hinata fight on narutopedia. I know, big mistake. But it's crazy just how much development there is for her undying love for Naruto from these fans when there is so little in the actual manga. Hinata's page is just a long love poem to Naruto. Her whole life revolves around him. And little things like "dipping his fingers in her blood and swearing to fight Neji" after the chunin (from the page), take on a whole new light when looked at through such a tight lens.

I lump Hinata and Sasuke in together. These two are characters with major flaws that the audience wants to heal on some level. That's why there is such a high volume of fan art/fiction to those two.

Edited by tricksie, 10 June 2011 - 04:57 PM.

[TerrorKing]

This!

I get annoyed by all the "Hinata fans like her because they are shy females like her." Not from the female major Hinata fans I've met at anime cons. In fact, while they might sort of attempt to put on the shy persona when they cosplay, their true personality is actually tending to be rather vocal and aggressive girls and women from what I've observed. Same goes for behavior online.

I have struggled with social shyness most of my life (yes, believe it or not . I'm extremely uncomfortable being the center of attention- bad or good (yes, even positive attention makes me anxious, although negative is worse- internally my first reaction is want to throw up with that, positive just profound embarrassment. Although I've gradually gotten better over the years. I can hall cosplay for example, but I always feel self conscious when I first walk out in costume, the thought of participating in a cosplay contest, or even a hall cosplay contest makes me want to go hide somewhere. I do better with historical or ethnic costumes, but still would nix entering a contest. I wore a sari at the latest anime con I attended and actually felt good when someone told me they thought my sari was beautiful.) I, and most other women I know like me who suffer from social shyness like, not the shy females like Hinata nor the Alpha females like Ino, but the ones that fall in between like Sakura. The way Sakura has grown (outside of the Sasuke crush) personally from the bullied 6 year old to the young woman she is now- mostly confident and assured of her abilities and belliefs- although occasionally faltering, is a journey that I think may socially shy females can identify with. Sakura neither hides nor draws attention to herself, she does act swiftly when she thinks something needs to be done or said. I can relate to that. The areas I've overcome my social shyness are ones I feel confident in my knowledge and assured that I should speak up. I couldn't do it in front of a large group in public though.

Yeah I agree with this. That's kinda what I was getting at as well. Hell I can even symphasize with her a little bit. When I was about 16 I was alot like Hinata. Shy, akward and not very outspoken. I also had a crush on a girl who for all intents and purposes, didn't even know I existed. When I finally did let her know how I felt and she then turned me down, I became very angry with her. I simply didn't understand why she didn't love me back. I thought that, being the "nice guy" I was, that I "deserved" her. Nowadays I can totally see what an idiot I was. I had no idea how love was supposed to work and that simply being nice and sympathetic won't guarantee you happiness. I think that's why I prefer NaruSaku. Its by means a perfect relationship. It has its ups and downs and its through those struggles that Naruto and Sakura have learned to appreciate eachother for who they are.

[KoolKat]

i think what made me dislike hinata so much are her fans and naruhina fans.(and her creepy eyes! ) one of the things i dont like about them is how hinata fans are always calling sakura names and i think usually most of the pairing chaos is caused by naruhina fans. i would like hinata much more if her fans and naruhina fans hadnt done so many things to make me and others dislike them. the hinata fandom could be bigger if people who do like her would be more nice about characters and pairings.

Edited by KoolKat, 11 June 2011 - 03:49 AM.

[Kyuudaime]

I don't even really want to talk about Ron/Hermoine. It pisses me off like you wouldn't believe. Here we have this intelligent, beautiful young lady and all she gets is verbal abuse, insults, and put-downs by this little git of a boy, and yet she still loves him and ends up with him?!

It just disgusts me. Rowlings sends a terrible message to young women everywhere, by pairing Hermoine up with Ron after all he puts her through. It's the equivalent of Sakura ending up with Sasuke for me.

I read all the books minus the last one and I went ahead and watched the first part of the last movie, I must have missed something major because I'm wondering how they did get together.

[Sakura Blossoms]

I read all the books minus the last one and I went ahead and watched the first part of the last movie, I must have missed something major because I'm wondering how they did get together.

Read the 'infamous' and much-hated by almost all fans of all the major pairings 'epilogue'. Most people wish they could rip that last part out of the last book, and many just ignore it all-together. That includes Harry/Ginny and Harry/Hermoine fans. The epilogue basically went "and so and so ended up with so and so, they had x-amount of children, and lived happily ever after." Rowling did what a lot of 'novice' authors do when she did that, where she told the story/ending instead of showing it. But then 'the beast that wanted to rip itself out of Harry's chest, when he suddenly fell in "love" with Ginny' was pretty novice romance writing as well.

The anime FILLERS has contributed a LOT to the Naruhina fandom as well.
I started to read the manga only at the shippuden stage, but upon seeing how many fillers there were, I decided to go and read the manga since the beginning... and the differences were enormous (at least to me!)

The fillers in part one was so anti Narusaku and so pro Naruhina. And Sakura is way more hateful towards Naruto in the anime and fillers than in the manga, that it caused many people to lean towards Naruhina.
And typical of the Naruhina fans that I've come across, they all rigidly clings to the "heartless, violent" image of Sakura and "sweet, shy and caring" Hinata.
What really irks me in all this is Sakura bashers always bashes Sakura because she does not share Naruto's feeling. It's as if the female character of the manga has to only evolve around Naruto. If Hinata likes Naruto since the beginning, means she is a good girl and if Sakura rejects Naruto, she is automatically the bad girl. I mean come-on, Sakura has the right to love whoever she wants without having to be judged for it!

This is also a very very good point. A lot of Naruto fans didn't start out with the manga. A lot started with the anime, and so they wouldn't know that certain 'fillers' were not 'canon'. So the fillers have contributed to a lot of the damage Sakura has endured, and a lot of the fan-worship of Hinata.

[Anguyen92]

This is also a very very good point. A lot of Naruto fans didn't start out with the manga. A lot started with the anime, and so they wouldn't know that certain 'fillers' were not 'canon'. So the fillers have contributed to a lot of the damage Sakura has endured, and a lot of the fan-worship of Hinata.

Well, I started with the anime and thought ehh naruhina looks nice, but I'm still backing narusaku even at the time if it's like 60% of happening. Obviously, after shippuden, I'm really backing narusaku 100% without any doubts. Wished the fandom would stop bashing Sakura though I don't think it's worth actually hating on her on the past, past is past, the present and future is all that matters.

Btw, can someone pm me the details on the 7th Harry Potter book, I want to know what happened without actually reading it other than the pairings.

Edit to Sakura Blossoms: Thanks man. Hmm after reading what happened so far, I can see why everybody was pissed off.

Now after reading the whole thing, I'm kinda pissed now. Not because of the pairings, it just seemed a bit off setting. And darn it, I would have had good money that Malfoy was going to die.

Edited by anguyen92, 10 June 2011 - 09:47 PM.

[Sakura Blossoms]

Btw, can someone pm me the details on the 7th Harry Potter book, I want to know what happened without actually reading it other than the pairings.

Edit to Sakura Blossoms: Thanks man.

Here ya go:

http://harrypotter.w...Deathly_Hallows

No prob

Well, I started with the anime and thought ehh naruhina looks nice, but I'm still backing narusaku even at the time if it's like 60% of happening. Obviously, after shippuden, I'm really backing narusaku 100% without any doubts. Wished the fandom would stop bashing Sakura though I don't think it's worth actually hating on her on the past, past is past, the present and future is all that matters.

I watched a lot of the fillers at first, but they just got so BAD I couldn't stomach them anymore, and just ignored the rest of the anime series for those agonizing two years we had to wait for Shippuden to start.

[alexander]

Her eyes just creep me out dude, and that's when the Byakugan is turned off.

This, just this! While Hinata is quite well endowed compared to the other characters, somehow, her eyes kind of freaked me out, I just couldn't find her pretty because of that.
About her popularity, yeah, just like everyone said, it's the moe thing, for some reason many people are obssesive with charcters like Hinata, because she is cute, lovable, submissive, but her lack of personality make her charcter too flat.

[Insurrection]

I don't even really want to talk about Ron/Hermoine. It pisses me off like you wouldn't believe. Here we have this intelligent, beautiful young lady and all she gets is verbal abuse, insults, and put-downs by this little git of a boy, and yet she still loves him and ends up with him?!

It just disgusts me. Rowlings sends a terrible message to young women everywhere, by pairing Hermoine up with Ron after all he puts her through. It's the equivalent of Sakura ending up with Sasuke for me.

Only dislike of pairings in HP is Rowling's writing style made it too predictable to happen.

[Kyuudaime]

This is also a very very good point. A lot of Naruto fans didn't start out with the manga. A lot started with the anime, and so they wouldn't know that certain 'fillers' were not 'canon'. So the fillers have contributed to a lot of the damage Sakura has endured, and a lot of the fan-worship of Hinata.

I actually went online every episode of Naruto a few years ago from start to finish because that's when I started getting into anime, I had no idea about what manga was or that it existed.

And yet, even from the 3rd episode I still thought NaruSaku was gonna happen. I was also, like you, neutral towards Sasuke, even liked him a little tiny bit until everything went downhill.

[alexander]

To be fair, that's just my personal taste. I wouldn't hold it against a character if I wasn't personally attracted to her or if my favorite character chose her over the girl I found more attractive.

Well, just my personal taste too pal. I myself don't judge character by appearance, I just don't understand how her fans can go around screaming "she is the muse of the universe!" when she look pretty standard.