Today we’ll talk about Naruto manga: Sakura, the heroine of it.
Many use this excuse to bash on Sakura that “OMG, even Kishi himself said Hinata would make a better Heroine than Sakura”.
At first, knowing how fond Kishi is for Sakura, seemed a little out of his way and since I wasn’t involved that much with the fandom, I didn’t care about it.
But as I got involved and got into debates about Sakura, this argument was always brought to me, that Hinata made a better heroine and that Kishi even stated so.
Not mentioning those with the haters, explaining that Sakura isn’t the type of heroine people should expect. Given that Kishi wants to emphasize other things through her character.
As well, not to mention I saw someone on Tumblr saying that even on Narutopedia wrote that. I went there myself. Saw it. It does. They say that in an interview from 2010, Kishi stated that.
Kishimoto’s interview at the Jump Festa 2010 about Naruto manga: Sakura, the heroine
First, they don’t even know which interview. It was the Jump Festa interview 2010.
I mean, if their seriousness and professionalism would be indeed, as they make it look, they would’ve named such a big event. We all know Jump Festa is quite popular in Japan.
Second, don’t you think they should’ve added an official link?
As long as something like this, that can twist the views of many, and we’re talking about Naruto fandom here, is published, I think at least, we should’ve had that part included.
It gives a plus of seriousness and professionalism, as I said before.
Now, because some were really concerned about this and I, personally, consider this part to be quite irritating when debating Sakura’s character, I’ve done some researches and found the answers to that interview. When Kishi is asked about Sakura’s status as a heroine in complement with Hinata, this is what he says:
周りからヒロインらしくないとかヒナタのほうがヒロインだとか言われているがやはりサクラは自分の中でヒロインなんで、これからヒロインっぽい所見せる」
Well, given the fact that I have a friend who happened to study Japanese and live there and study, for 3 years, I have asked for a translation. This is what Kishi says:
I have been told by other people that Sakura isn’t acting like a heroine, or that Hinata is more of a heroine than her, but if I think of it Sakura really has the strength of a heroine inside her, and from here on out she’s ready to show it, too.
He has been told by people that Hinata is more heroine than her, not that he said Hinata was a better heroine than her (Sakura). As we can see, the background reason why she would make a better heroine, is clearly fan made. No such thing mentioned in the actual answer.
Explanation of Kishimoto’s interview translation
Further explanation:
言われている is the passive voice of 言う (“to say”)
周りから means “from [the people] around” (assuming it’s ‘people’ because only people can say things)Therefore, 周りから…言われている would be “I’ve been told by the people around me [that…]“.
If Kishi himself would want to say something, there’d be no need to use the verb 言う in the first place, he could just go ahead and say what he has to say.
The second line is Kishi’s actual opinion. It begins with a が, which is a conjunction used to place two things into opposition in this case (it amounts to “but” in English). He then goes on to talk about Sakura’s inner heroine and how we’ll be seeing more of that.
Let’s get facts straight, shall we? As we can clearly see, Kishi enforces the idea that the Heroine of HIS story is none other than Haruno Sakura, that she has the strength of a heroine inside her.
The “inside”, could fairly mean as in determination. We all know that when Sakura puts her head into it, she can move mountains.
Source
So, my dear Naruto fandom, before taking something for good, make some investigations. Don’t fall for such things. Especially since we’re talking about Narutopedia. We all know that information there can be changed quite fast by almost everyone. Add someone who dislikes Sakura and likes Hinata in there, and done! You have a false information.
Now, hope we’re clear on this matter.
Thank you for your time!
