Phantom_999

I think the opposite, Naruto and Sakura would have had a better chance if Sasuke did stay in the village. Most of the drama surrounding the three of them is due to Naruto and Sakuras regrets about not stopping him. I have a feeling had Sasuke not left Sakura would see more and more that Sasuke is not prince charming and how exhausting it is to chase Sasuke when he is not reciprocating like he did(Naruto) on their first day as a team. Long story short anyway.

I read the latest chapter, but its on break again. My hope is Dechako at least, and that there will be a part two, not immediately but some time in the future. In other news Season 7 started 2 weeks ago.

What bothers me about neutrality with fictional romance and taking it for as it is that viewers often forget the context of such things. Yes Naruto is a shonen battle manga that does not focus on romance as a theme per say but again there always that difference from other shonen manga that don't care about romance and make couples last second or treat it as a joke at best. Naruto has ALWAYS had feelings for Sakura and it is not a silly childhood crush or a fleeting feeling that he was not serious about or else there would never have been a POAL in the first place. Naruto shows complete selflessness towards Sakura and maturity in putting her happiness above his own. Sakura in turn shows that in her worst circumstances when she is most vulnerable and lost and upset and powerless it was Naruto that comforts her and listens to her problems. that lays the very foundation of how close they become throughout the story. I'm not going to repeat the moments they have together because it would just be redundant at this point. Think of it like this, What if Rurouni Kenshin remained unchanged in it's story and plot but Watsuki decided last second that Kenshin is would be happier with Megumi as his wife because she is more feminine and does not emasculate him, or maybe she looks more like his first wife and chucks all that development with Kaoru out the window. That is essentially what Naruto did at the end, it chucked the development between Naruto and Sakura out the window for a side character that has no real importance to the plot and for the main character in general. What if Slam Dunk resolved the love triangle with Kaede getting together with Haruko despite not showing any affection for her and doesn't care about romance in general and Haruko saying Hanamichi was only shallowly interested in her? Again That is what Naruto did. Naruto is not like other shonen series in that there is not romantic development at all and the author can slap together couples however they feel last second and whatever pleases them. Naruto had a love interest and they developed together progressively throughout the series and they owe a large part of their growth to each other. Typical romance writing in fiction, even if there is not an emphasis on it. This is different from Dragon Ball where Goku had no such moments with Bulma so who cares if he married Chichi? 

 

I know I haven't posted for a while But I just want to put that out there. In terms of Neutrality, context is very important if not everything

I haven't thought about Dragon Ball for a while now But I'm extremely sad that this legend passed away this year on the month of my birthday. Rest in Peace Toriyama-sensei, you were part of my childhood and many successful Shonen manga owe their being to you.

Oh the anime definitely made Sakura look worse than she actually was in the anime. However it doesn't erase the the fact that Sakura called Naruto annoying and acted like he was a constant bother to her during her introduction. It doesn't erase the fact that she unsympathetically said he has an easy life because he's an orphan and doesn't have parents getting on his case and disciplining him. It doesn't erase the fact that she said she hated him during their first introductory talk with Kakashi. It doesn't erase all of the preferential treatment she gave Sasuke in Part I of the series. I'm just pointing out that though Sakura was the love interest, the odds seem stacked against Naruto in part I regardless of the anime because the anime did not do much except crank up her tsundere tendencies and fan girl swooning over Sasuke and there was not that much filler content for any of that if I want to be honest. It wasn't until part II that things actually started looking up for Naruto and Sakura as a potential couple. I'm not saying the idea wasn't there from the beginning or that I'm influenced by how much more absurdly mean the anime made Sakura seem to Naruto to be against her being his love interest in Part I but at the same time the Part I content is not actually a vote of confidence either until the POAL where Sakura finally realizes how much Naruto actually cares about her.

 

I'm just speaking objectively when I look back on it. Was Sakura meant to be the love interest from the get go? Of course. But she wasn't interested in Naruto nor did she emotionally support him either. That is different from the Hananmichi- Haruko- Kaede love triangle where while where Haruko isn't aware of Hanamichi's feelings she is at least a good friend to him and encourages him none-the-less. If Sakura had shown that t least, then maybe It wouldn't seem so off putting for her to be the love interest to anyone not aware of the intention that Naruto is meant to change others' perception of him including Sakura, ultimately overturning the dark painful days of his childhood. Anyway this just ties back to my point. Sakura would be better received I feel, in the live action series if she dials down her initial contempt for Naruto and her fan girl tendencies towards Sasuke and be at least a bit nicer to Naruto. That would be an obvious choice And I bring up the live action adaptation of One Piece as a reference that Nami did not show any real violent tsundere tendencies either so it stands to reason The same can be made for Sakura. What I'm getting that is if they want to change the end pairings, then more effort has to be put in to convince the audience, ergo Sakura should not be portrayed one to one exactly as she was in the manga or anime. It would help IF they decide to make NaruSaku canon in the live action series. But that is just my two cents on it, and honestly I am as indifferent to the live action series as I am anything else post Chapter 698. I was just speaking hypotheticals