New anti sakura argument i just learned of and sounds so dumb to me is
“Sakura was INTENTIONALLY written to be unlikeable ☝️🤓”
Kishimoto has said multiple times that he likes Sakura, he’s happy when people like her and he was confused/surprised when Naruto readers were telling him how much they hate Sakura. He! Was! Not! Trying! To! Make! Sakura! Unlikeable! And she’s not unlikeable, it’s the fans’ misogynistic bias deeming her unlikeable! I’ve liked her since her very first appearance because I love the spunky girl with attitude archetype. I’ve seen and read series where the creator ACTUALLY dislikes a female character and let me tell you, creators who dislike a character will talk about them and write them in a way that’s verryyyy different from how Kishimoto talks about and treats Sakura. He wouldn’t have made her the main heroine if he thought she was so awful.
I hear this WAYY to often it’s concerning 💔
And when people say this it’s sometimes an excuse to call her “poorly written”, which is very odd since a character can be intentionally written as unlikeable whilst ALSO being well written??? Like have we ever seen a villain in Naruto?? Where’s the logic here
And I keep having to tell people that Sakura, specifically in the early days before her development, was not written to be unlikeable, but instead realistic. In the first Naruto official art book, there’s an interview where Kishimoto says “I just thought it would be interesting to have a character who was slightly irritating, but who had a good head on her shoulders”.
Sakura is a REALISTIC representation of an insecure 12 year old girl who was bullied throughout all her school life, forced herself into a toxic rivalry with her best friend and was then pushed into the shinobi world with little to no natural talent. Her part in the Land of Waves arc was VERY interesting and I feel like it’s not acknowledged enough.
They were taught at the academy as CHILDREN that they must hide their emotions and conceal them, but she didn’t. She couldn’t, since her love for Sasuke was too strong. I believe this was the arc where her love for Sasuke began to mature, as well…why do we hate her, even in these early days, knowing her story? Because of misogyny, that’s why. And when people say “she was intentionally written to be unlikeable”, it’s really just an excuse to hate a well written, well developed character, all just because she is a female, which is ridiculous and I dare say shouldn’t be as accepted or normalised as it is in the fandom.
They’re trying cover up their misogyny and find a better reason to hate her, and what’s the first thing they come to? Criticising her writing and how Kishimoto has done her, even though the vast majority of Sakura haters haven’t even read the manga, and don’t even UNDERSTAND what makes up good character writing.
They’re just pulling these arguments out of thin air atp 😭😭