Hey guys I am here today to talk about Kishimoto’s interview with Kobayashi ….
How are you doing?
Sorry I am not in a too speech-y mode and haven’t written my thoughts in regards to a lot of things in a while.
I have lots of things to take care of in real life plus that interview of Kishi’s with Kobayashi turned my stomach upside down.
I’m sorry to say it but I have lots all ounce of respect I once had for Kishi for what he did with this whole manga, and especially concerning Sakura’s character for me.
There are so many things I’d like to write (which I will someday), but sadly the things I need to take care of in real life at the moment are tad bit more important, heh. ^_^
First impressions after Kishimoto’s interview with Kobayashi
But the point is that as I said, if I ever had an ounce of respect for Kishimoto up to a point and told myself that maybe someday I’ll understand and “forgive” him, so to speak, for this horrible ending… well, after I read that interview and after what he did to Sakura’s character, my respect is gone. For ever.
It’s funny because I remember when I started up in flames around here for what Kishi did in 614/615 in terms of Sakura’s relevance and heroine status to the story.
I was told that I’m being too rash… Well, maybe I was, but the reason I was… was because I knew it, I felt it that here it will be where all things will lead.
But I hoped till the very end that he won’t do this to Sakura’s character.
That the Kishimoto back in the days of 2010 that defended Sakura’s character was still there. That Kishimoto who still had that guts back then was still the Kishimoto of today.
But I found out that not. He’s not. Even worse. He never was.
It was just us, fans who dearly loved a story who isn’t even his, that trusted him to the very end. Which in the end it was proven to be a mistake. A big one.
That’s why I say to myself… Never again. Never again I will trust an author nor this industry… Especially in terms of Japanese manga.
Male authors of Japanese manga and view on women
Their authors got some skewed views over female characters and female readers.
Granted, here and there it seems to arise some promising things but overall…? The market is ran by otakus and every story has the potential to be ruined the way Naruto was ruined. And personally, I don’t wanna invest in something as such.
I have no words at the moment to express the absolute big disappointment I feel and regret – yes, regret, over ever picking up what’s now this trash of a story.
Which isn’t even the story of its own author. Imagine and realize the magnitude of shit – excuse my language, that’s behind the closed doors.
And I picked the ‘wrongest’ character to ever like… Sakura Haruno…
The ‘ill-mannered’ bratty little ninja who was supposed to grow into this wonderful person, her own self.
But because Naruto fandom got stuck back at chapter 3 Sakura and Hinata-sama Hyuga was “so perfect”… to hell with Sakura.
She must be erased, thrown to the garbage, ruined to no end and reversed to her 12 years old self. Because if she’s not like that, Hinata-hime-sama will stop looking the perfect angel… Because otherwise Sakura’s efforts and very existence overshadows her.
So then Sakura had to be taken out.
Biggest disappointment from Kishimoto’s interview with Kobayashi
And not even her own author could defend her. Her own author who always said that there’s more to a girl than looks. Her own author, now, at the end of the story gives up on her.
Like Naruto gave up on Sakura because… rivalry.
Because she’s not perfect, Hinata-hime-sama is. And he must love Hinata-hime-sama because that’s what a noisy bunch dictated along with some rather horny males.
Because yeah, I’m sorry but if you’re not seeing this… you’re doing nothing but denying the reality and justifying Kishi’s actions along with SJ/SP’s.
But of course you’d do… after all you’ve got what you wanted, right? What does it matter how you did it?
The Hinata back in Part 1 wanted to be her own person, stand on her own two feet.
While, yes, inspired by Naruto she wanted to be her own self and person so that like him, she can stand up on her own to feet. In front of the challenges that arise in her life, the conflicts of her own family and all those things Hinata Hyuga was about in Part 1.
Those things that didn’t meant a soft voice and good-looking pair of submissive boobs that is put in otakian Studio Pierr-esque style episodes in very fancy dresses that show not only her curvy body but her… ahem, you know, others…
Because yes, that’s what Hinata Hyuga has gotten to be used for… as nothing more than a more submissive and moe character.
Does nothing but revolve around the existence of her love interest while she’s drawn like the aforementioned… because Sakura Haruno wasn’t that.
Sakura Haruno was the exact opposite – not submissive at all, would throw a punch if limits of common sense was exceeded and all that.
The problem with Naruto’s ending and Sakura and Hinata’s portrayals
And such image is so not desirable. And it’s even worse that it comes from little girls… the little girls that tomorrow will understand that it’s okay for them to revolve around a guy all their life. That if at a point in their life that guy would disappear they’d have no idea how to live.
But anyway, I’m derailing… But I don’t know if anyone will ever understand the depth of gravity of this situation… and it saddens me.
And it infuriates me. It infuriates me knowing that we live in a world where the nowadays market is so consumer oriented that it forgets to educate the consumer on most of its times.
That not the consumer dictates the lines of your story…
But oh well, apparently unlike his own character Naruto, Kishimoto does not have an unwavering gutsiness… On the contrary – he gave up.
And as a fan of Naruto, the story of a boy who never gave-up, for him to do that with Sakura, to give-up on his own character when the power was all in his hands, to me is a big disappointment and maybe the biggest of them all.
As a Naruto – the story, fan first because he broke the no. 1 theme of this manga, as a Naruto – the character fan, second, and third, as a Sakura fan.
Kobayashi’s interview and NaruSaku
This also ties up with the fact that I’m a NaruSaku fan also. The very reason I got into this manga was because Naruto’s selfless love touched my heart.
And I saw that together, one day these two knuckleheads would conquer the world and bring their friend back together.
And finally be together themselves – after he so much longed for her heart and never gave up on it (supposedly, because nowadays…you know).
And she finally started to view him for who he was. That guy who, when she made her biggest mistakes, instead of being a douche, he understood and appreciated her.
And loved her the way she was. Because Naruto didn’t love Sakura for her looks or for her perfect self.
No, like him, so not perfect like she was, he saw what he considered as beautiful to finally understand why he has fallen in love with her – her drive.
That like him, she’s a fighter too and has a strong spirit and can love with a big heart.
He only wished to get that big heart to love him too, one day. Without pushing it. At first, granted, he went wrong about it also but he understood and he promised to himself that he won’t force her.
That he would leave her free to choose and could only hope that one day she’d choose him. He just loved her and that’s it.
But that apparently was his biggest curse the way in Sakura’s case showing a change of heart and actually getting to fall for him was her’s.
They were doomed, both. All of them. Doomed in the hands of an author who not only had a wavering spirit but went back on his words and gave up on his own, despite the character that helped him climb the heights of success displaying totally different characteristics.
The biggest disappointment in all…
But in the end, maybe that’s what all this was about. Maybe that’s what this whole series was: a prank.
Kishi acted like he was writing a story. We thought he was really doing it, trusted him up to the last breath despite seeing serious issues with the writing. He made his money off of our backs, now we’re played and he’s rich.
At the end of this prank while his fanbase deeply hurt and wounded.
Of course, those of us who weren’t targeted by this ending. We didn’t matter. We were all nothing but the subjects of a prank, apparently.
So what can I say…? Thanks, Kishimoto. Thanks for making me trust in you and defend you till the gates of Hell when it came to so many things and especially Sakura.
And at the end of this you betray the very own character I loved so much. But I guess it was all part of this big prank now, so… what does it matter, right?
I would say a lot more but sadly at the moment as I told you, I have lots of things to take care of in real life and cannot write about all the things I have to say regarding the matters that have surfaced about the ending of this series.
As you’ve seen, I haven’t managed to write even my reviews. But one day I will. I hope it’s gonna be sooner rather than later but I will at some point.
Because there are so many things I want to say about this that I cannot just get past by. I feel like they had to be said. At least for Sakura Haruno and for what she once represented…
Maybe I should be continuing my Sakura Haruno: the character, the meaning, the hate series.
I wanted to drop it after the way this series ended because I felt like there’s absolutely no way I could still defend Sakura.
But the point is that that respective writing series started because of the exact same reason for which these things happen today.
Because Sakura was ripped of all her self while Hinata was put on a pedestal.
A pedestal not only she didn’t raise up to, a pedestal that wasn’t even hers to begin with. But hey, that’s how business is done, right, Kishimoto?
