User blog:RMOMaster/NARUTO - Thoughts on the series

= Naruto - Thoughts on the end of the series and the characters =

There is a lot to say about this long-running Manga/Anime. First, it was very interesting in the fact how it turned out. I personally was not completely happy with the ending, but was also not surprised, as I knew that Kishimoto-san would eventually end it HIS way.

There were all the signs in many chapters/episodes as to what many of the fans, including myself in many cases, thought would happen, and they very well could have, if Kishimoto-san had wanted them to.

This brings up the subject of why he didn’t. There is one thing that I know for sure and that whatever his reason, it was enough to have him end it like he did.

I was not sure how to react to the ending of the original and the continuation with the “Next Generation”. Though in conjunction, like I said, this was Kishimoto-san’s vision, not anyone else.

Since that is the case, I think it’s rather silly, and not to mention unnecessary to continue fighting over shipping wars, many of which have and haven’t come to pass, though there were numerous signs for and against each in various areas.

But before I get into any more detail about those. I am going to give you my honest opinion on my favorite characters (Both most and least) in the entire series. Most of who come from Konoha.

I’ll start, of course, with Naruto; I always liked him and his antics, though I felt bad for him when the others were either mean, cold, or spiteful toward him. After all, he’s the main hero, even if he had the nine-tails inside him.

The worst of these tormentors, in my opinion, was within his own team in the form of Sasuke Uchiha, always calling him “loser” or looking down on him like he was nothing. When in truth, he was more than any of his teammates or the others knew, and he showed them this throughout the entire series.

Moving on, next is my favorite hot-headed kunoichi; of course I’m referring to Sakura. Now, why do I say she’s hot-headed? Well if you look at all the times she’s lost her temper, whether that be with Naruto or someone else, it has caused her no end of trouble.

Often times, it was unfortunately Naruto who got the worst of it, and if not him, most of it was directed in her fights with Ino about Sasuke, again a constant point of conflict within their team as well.

Still, I thought that she changed a lot over the series, though it still ended in disappointment in my case.

Now on to my least favorite of the original Team 7; Yes, I’m referring to Sasuke. Being that he was considered a prodigy and a genius as far as the Uchiha clan was concerned, he shunned Naruto, and often called Sakura “useless” or “annoying” in the beginning, not to mention how bent on revenge he became, especially after being given the curse mark and eventually betraying the village.

His list of deplorable acts, in my opinion, did not end there, though somehow, someway, he was apparently forgiven and ends up having a family, with Sakura! Not the ending I thought he’d have at all.

On to the next group. I’ll start with my second favorite girl in the series; That’s Hinata. As anybody knows, she was the one that always had a deep rooted love for Naruto, this was essentially her driving force in the series, but she was always so shy around him, it was almost impossible for her to have ever ended up with him normally, even with her teammates encouraging her.

It took a really big event to force her to even say it, as she tried to protect him.

Next up is Kiba; Now he was a real character. He almost always had his ninja dog, Akamaru, with him and wore a heavy coat with a fur-lined hood. He always seemed rather cocky and was always pushing Naruto’s buttons.

Although on the other side, he seemed to be always encouraging Hinata, so that was one redeeming quality he had at the least.

Shino is next; Now there was not much to say about him. He was mostly the silent type, and frankly, creeped me out, not someone I’d want to meet.

Moving on, my thoughts on Ino; As I stated previously, she and Sakura were originally fighting with each other, namely over stupid old Sasuke. (Sorry if that offends you but that’s my honest opinion of the guy.)

Outside of that, I always thought that she acted rather spoiled and stuck up at first, but that changed after the 2½ year time skip, when I saw her new outlook I thought she’d really blossomed, no pun intended (as she works at a flower shop)

Now, on we go to Shikamaru; I always saw him as a lazy slacker, but there was no doubt that he was actually anything but, despite his attitude. His later relationship with Temari of the Sand Village was something I did not see coming, but was glad to see happen, as she kind of tempers his attitude.

Choji is next; not much I can say about him really, I didn’t pay much attention to his role, as he seemingly did not have a big one, other than being a big eater and seriously, um... rotund.

Next is Tenten; I liked her a lot despite not being a major character, she was interesting to watch. Seemed to be more of a weapon specialist more than anything else

Now, Rock Lee; This guy was a taijutsu specialist, not much else. Naruto often referred to him as “Bushy Brow” which was very funny.

On to another of my least favorite, but important characters, Neji; He is Hinata’s cousin and always saw himself as better than her.

I personally hated to see what he did to her during the chunin exam arc, and his disgust over Naruto. In the end though, I found myself liking him better up until his death.

As far as other characters in the series, I was a big fan of a majority of the original Jonin of the series, particularly Kakashi Hatake, the infamous “Copy Ninja”.

I loved how he was charged with being Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura’s sensei. I always thought he was perfect for that role, and loved his character, despite his “quirks”.

I especially liked when he used his Sharingan, which is actually an Uchiha bloodline trait. After the 2½ year skip, I loved how he became more active, and lead the team after Sasuke’s dumb betrayal.

As far as plotlines go, the whole series really seemed to jump between various plots. I know I personally had a hard time keeping up after a while. I think my favorite parts of it were the mission to The Land of Waves (Naruto), and the Sand Village (Shippuden). After that I kind of lost track of what arc they were in.

Well, enough of that. It’s time to begin explaining things about how these “pairings” happened or didn’t happen within the series. I’ll start with possibly the two most heated pairs, both of which come from Team 7/Team Kakashi. Of course I’m referring to Sasuke & Sakura vs. Naruto & Sakura.

The question is, where to begin in these cases. As there are often rather heated debates on this subject, I’m going to get straight to the point first and say this;

This is/was Kishimoto-san’s vision, no one else’s. He made these characters, and so has final say. No matter how much any fan, myself included, likes/dislikes it, that’s how it is, so bear that in mind while reading this part.

Personally, I always thought, and I’ve said it before, that Sakura would’ve been better off with Naruto than Sasuke. My reasons for this are numerous, but let’s not go into a lot of detail.

The biggest reason, and I saw this from the very beginning, was that Naruto was the one who actually cared about her the entire time, in fact, it seemed like this was another reason he wanted to be stronger, to protect her. In contrast to this, while she originally did not like him, they eventually became friends, and it grew from there.

While in the case of Sasuke, he was not even interested in her despite her obvious feelings toward him, often calling her annoying. Yet she still clung to her feelings for him; go figure.

After the 2½ year time between series, considering Sasuke’s betrayal, there was absolutely no chance at the time that either would happen, due in part to many other things, which would take too long to mention, so I’ll skip those.

There was the first sign that things had changed when Sakura met Naruto again upon his return to the village.

She asked him a very specific question regarding her appearance, this was a cue that she wanted him to notice her, or she wouldn’t have asked it, or for that matter, been so upset when Naruto gave her the wrong answer, which he did.

Other signs were either more obvious or less obvious, depending on circumstance; for example, getting annoyed by his denseness, or plain idiocies, and crying when she thought he was seriously injured or near death/dead (You could say she’s a Tsundere in this sense [nice/caring one minute, cold/hostile the next]).

All signs that her feelings for him had changed, albeit only somewhat.

The one part that made this seem uncertain was her false confession to him. Which he was obviously upset about, still, there were more signs to indicate this over what did happen.

Sasuke, for the most part, was always bent on revenge, and had tried to kill both Naruto and Sakura several times, often also stating something stupid like “breaking their bond” or some other garbage, which was utter nonsense in my opinion.

Still, Naruto was determined to bring him back, whatever the outcome. This alone, should have sealed it for Sakura that she should have chosen him, and not Sasuke, and  NO , don’t make the argument about the  “other ” pairing. That comes/will be discussed in later explanations.

What made Kishimoto-san decide to reverse this is anyone’s guess and that’s it.

Now let’s go into the signs for and against what the other side wants to hear; in other words, what actually did happen outside of Team 7/Kakashi.

Of course, I’m referring to Naruto and Hinata. In the case of this, there was no clear sign of it happening at any real time during either series, at least that I could gather concrete evidence from.

It seemed very one-sided, with the only thing even hinting at anything was the fact that Hinata had an unerring love for Naruto, much like he did for Sakura, which is why this seemed so one-sided.

Couple that with the fact that whenever she tried speaking to him or even being close to  him she became very shy and could hardly form a sentence without some sort of hesitation or nervousness. In most aspects of her character, she is Sakura’s complete opposite.

When there were scenes between Naruto and Hinata, it was almost apparent that he did not see her in the same way that she saw him, whether it be 1st series or 2nd.

He often saw her as just a friend, as she could never tell him outright, until late in the second series, when the village was attacked. Up until that point, she had not openly said those three words she’d always wanted to tell him. This might have been the turning point, but there was still a long way to go.

Let’s look at the two; Sakura and Hinata, and look at similarities and differences, and of course, their confessions to him.

To start off, both of them have some connection to Naruto be it friendship or otherwise. While Sakura has been Naruto’s teammate and thus been around him the most, Hinata is not confident enough to get close, in many situations.

Sakura has a strong bond with Naruto, due again in part because of their working together as teammates, but also because of other reasons. Hinata has no real bond with Naruto, except her unerring love for him.

While Sakura does show some feelings toward Naruto, his idiocies annoy her to the point where she’ll often become violent toward him, Hinata has no such hang-up and accepts him for who he is.

When they each made their confessions to him, they were both very sudden. Both had their reasons, but Hinata’s was genuine despite the circumstance. Sakura’s on the other hand could be classified as “suspect” at the least.

While she may have had those feeling in earnest, the way she did it and the reason was wrong, thus Naruto didn’t believe her, no matter what the truth of it was  (meaning whether she was actually telling him the truth or not) .

This in part is the most compelling reason why Kishimoto-san had this happen, though I cannot completely say for certain.

The truth still remains though, that NARUTO is over, and no one can change the outcome of what has been. Maybe, if it had been someone else writing it, it might have ended differently, but then it wouldn’t have been the same series either.

To sum it up, you might/might not have liked how it ended, but that’s immaterial. Kishimoto-san may not have brought YOU the ending you wanted, but he did bring the ending HE wanted, and that’s all there is to it.

BELIEVE IT!