Posted 10 August 2012 - 07:41 PM
I just want to says this right away, I HATED Sakura in Part 1. She never did anything in Part 1, even in the Forest of Death she didn't really do much. She still had to be saved by Lee, Ino's Team, and later Sasuke. Also, her crush on Sasuke was very annoying, and it felt at times that was her only character trait. What was even stupider was the fact that it actually did seemed she was falling for him, despite what little he had ever showed interest to her. She didn't have much of a back story, and what little we have seen about her back story was....dumb. She was bullied when she was kid because of her forehead, okay that's sad. Then she became friends with Ino cause she protected her, not really that interesting but adds more to both characters. Then they stopped being friends because they both had the same shallow crush on Sasuke, and decided to become rivals for his affection..........that part was stupid. It was stupid to me because 1) they were only like eight when that happen, they don't know anything about love or affections, 2) it seemed stupid to openly end a friendship, and start a rivalry, with someone just cause of a shared crush, and 3) both characters seem pretty stupid to keep not only that crush, but their rivalry, when they entered their pre-teens. My brother told me that's how normal little girls act, which is I guess is true (I'm not a girl), but compared to Naruto and Sasuke's back stories, her's was nowhere as interesting as their's.
I understood that the author just probably wanted to make Sakura a normal girl, something he later admits was his intention, but when she was placed in team with a boy who has a demon fox in him, an other boy who witness the massacre of his clan, and a famous Jounin ninja who has a nickname of being the copycat ninja, you have to wonder why she was placed in the team in the first place. She also had the least to give to the team, she really had nothing of value to give to the others as she wasn't given any special skills at all.
So not only was she the least interesting, she also was the least important. Every time I saw her, I just wanted to yell at her and say "DO SOMETHING!" Admittedly though, her character worked well when she was working with both Naruto and Sasuke. Those three had a good bond, something I strongly miss as the series enters it's climax. I also felt very sympathetic to her when Sasuke left, but I often mocked her for not being able to stop him, though really I don't know what she would have done to stop him. But by the end of Part 1, she never really did anything. However, when she made promise to Naruto, that next time she'll help get Sasuke with him, my hopes that she was actually get do something risen. I may have hated her in Part 1, but I also always wanted to see her do something important.
Then came Part 2, and she became awesome. Of all the characters, I think she was the only one that benefited in the time skip between Part 1 to Part 2. She was the only one to get whole new set of skills, her personalty changed greatly, and her new outfit was the only one that I liked more than her original outfit. However, there's a consequence of that time skip, and that consequence is that we never actually got to see Sakura developed these skills. It was just that I thought it was weird, cause all of a sudden she is super strong AND she's a great medical ninja. Sure there's that time skip, but I would have loved to see Sakura developed her skills rather than see her automatically getting this skills at the start of a new Part. Then again, she was also to busy being too awesome in the beginning of Part 2 for me to actually care.
But what really made Sakura work for me, was her new dynamic with Naruto. Of all the characters, I think they had the best interactions, and in my opinion, one of the most drastic changes from the beginning of the series. Remember, she didn't like Naruto at the start, but now he's the person she trusts the most. I usually love seeing character drastically change into someone better (I only hate changes when I don't agree with those changes, or if the change for the worst (Sasuke)), and Sakura is the one who changed the most.
Probably one of the aspects I like about the summit arc was actually Sakura.......for the most part. I liked that she felt very bad for what she felt she had done to Naruto, showing how much she actually grew to care for Naruto over the course of the series. In fact, I would have interpreted it as love at that point, but the series SEEMS to be showing a different direction. I also personal really enjoyed her confession in that arc, cause it showed how far she is willingly to go for Naruto, even IF it means she was lying to him in that confession. Hell, I even liked how she was able to find Sasuke, and was almost able to stab him. Though I understand why she couldn't bring herself to kill Sasuke, I felt she was placed in the sideline so that the rest of the arc can be about Naruto and Sasuke. In fact, I think she still is in the sidelines so that the focus could be more on Naruto and Sasuke.
I know Sakura got a lot of slack for her actions in the summit arc, particularly her confession. Her action where little bit more questionable for a main character to do, and, even though I greatly sympathized with Sakura in that arc, I never said what she did was the right thing. But the fact she was doing these things with good intentions, makes her a lot more interesting. It makes her a little bit more complex, and fact she is wasn't able to pull through with them because she felt she has a weak will, makes her a lot more sympathetic and human.
Now the only thing that bugs me about her is that she has been in the sidelines for awhile, though I feel like she'll have her moment again. An other thing is that she STILL has feelings for Sasuke. I don't care how other people see her feelings for Sasuke, she still has feelings for him in some form. It could be simply a teammate bond feeling, but I don't think she would be thinking about Sasuke after the whole love nin thing in 540 if wasn't anything romantic. The fact she still has those feelings for him like that, despite what little interest he has showed to her in Part 1 and the fact that he has tried to freaking kill her on multiple occasions in Part 2, makes her seem......immature. It makes even less sense now that the fact that she now KNOWS what Naruto feels for her. Why would she be in love with a murder, who never cared for her outside of friendship, when there is someone close to you, who you personally care for and loves you so much that he's willing to do anything to make sure you're happy? At this point, I don't know why the author is dragging this love triangle still, and no I don't care if it's to prevent the other pairings fans from stop reading the manga, cause pairing fans make up only a small minority of fans and I doubt he cares.
Well those are my feelings on Sakura. I love her character, probably second favorite in the series, next to Naruto of course. Now I just wish we get to see more of her. But seeing as my complaint in Part 1 was that I felt we saw too much of her, I guess now wishing we get see more of her is a good job from the author to make me actually care for a character that I originally despised. In fact, I would rather see more of her now than Naruto or Sasuke, because I want to see her character develop more. She is one of the few characters who's character development isn't done yet, so I rather see that now than to see Naruto act more all-powerful or to see Sasuke act.......actually I don't care for Sasuke anymore.
This topic is locked
