#fysk: pointers

No worries about your English, anon! You got your message across perfectly fine :D Thank you for the lovely question!

And (no surprise here) I wholeheartedly agree with you; given everything we have seen so far, I do think Sasuke (unconsciously) has a soft spot for Karin, and it’s noticeable in different ways.

I definitely believe you’re spot on, anon! I feel the same way myself, and know that a lot of SasuKarin fans (and even quite a few that don’t ship it) share the same thoughts. Everything - from her character design, to her background, backstory and character type are meant to compliment and contrast his in key points, so it’s too much of a coincidence to actually be one.

Hi! Well, certainly not as far as I’m concerned. Karin wanting to get sexual with Sasuke is nothing new; we have known this nearly since her introduction. What differentiates her from fangirls in this particular regard is that she does not let her feelings for him affect the way she behaves around him.

Karin does think Sasuke is cool; in fact she probably thinks he’s the coolest guy around. But when it comes down to it those aren’t the words that will leave her mouth: she will call his mistakes and shortcomings like she sees them, insult or berate him instead of complimenting him. She may admire him but she does not idolize him. That is what makes the difference.

Moreover, wanting to get sexual with Sasuke isn’t putting him on a pedestal; so while this panel definitely goes into the few instances where we have gotten the chance to see Karin fawning over him in some fashion, it does nothing to disprove that Karin does not idolize him. And personally, that has always been at the core of my arguments, so I still stand by them.

Though this scene is obviously meant to be humorous, it's worth clearing this up. Contrary to popular belief, Karin does not state she is "gonna ravage Sasuke like crazy!". A literal translation would be: "When Juugo and Suigetsu fall asleep, I'm gonna attack Sasuke while he’s in bed!". “Attack” is not meant to be taken literally, but rather used to indicate that the person in question is going to “make a move” on someone. Similarly, the kanji used to indicate that Sasuke is in bed has two meanings, either the person is in bed because they’re asleep or they’re confined to bed due to their state. Considering that Sasuke was bedridden due to his fight with Deidara, the intended meaning is the latter. As such, while the phrase is indeed naughty, at no point does it imply that Karin is going to do anything against Sasuke’s will. Which is why Viz chose to translate it as: “Once Juugo and Suigetsu are sleep, I’ll finally have Sasuke all to myself!”, efficiently conveying the intended meaning.

Taken from the 'Translation Shenanigans' post.

I usually do not get involved in this sort of thing, but I can't help but notice how ironic it is that a moment that was obviously meant for comic relief is being this blown out of proportion and being taken so seriously while some simultaneously insist to disregard this pairing claiming that... it's comic relief. 

Oh, boy! I’m probably going to leave out something important because I just woke up, but here we go:

Note: these are my reasons; I’m sure everyone in the fandom has got their own, so we may not share some, haha.

Despite what the fandom at large may think, they’re actually a pairing with a strong and healthy foundation: mutual acknowledgement, respect, trust, and care (and I would dare say: also understanding, most likely, given their extremely similar backgrounds - both the sole survivors of a tragedy; and to top it off now they’re even members of a special, nearly extinct clan).

Their bond is not detrimental to either of the characters. Karin’s flaws are her own; they have got nothing to do with Sasuke, and as such, her bond and feelings for him do not accentuate them. The same goes for Sasuke.

Their usual dynamic (Dark, Kage Summit Sasuke is an exception - not the rule) is very evenly grounded. Karin is herself around him; does not keep her opinions to herself, tone down her character nor try to please him, nor is she submissive to him. She can and often will give him a hard time without hesitating once. In turn, Sasuke takes it all in stride and never replies to her in a negative nor rude way. They’re both comfortable with each other.

They accept each other as they are; faults and all.

Karin harbors a selfless love for Sasuke. Meanwhile, Sasuke not only cares quite strongly about her (enough to awaken a new power of his sharingan when her life was in danger; and we know how significant this is thanks to Tobirama’s words) but is also actually partial to her (which can be demonstrated in quite a lot of ways - among those, him chiding Suigetsu for pestering Karin but never Karin for doing the same - but was outright confirmed by Obito calling Karin Sasuke’s favorite).

Kishi’s portrayal of SasuKarin fits in with a lot of themes and patterns that he has portrayed as positive (Strong, rough woman who has her tender moments with the guy she loves, lack of suffixes, etc).

SasuKarin brings out sides of them that are usually hidden. This is most obvious with Karin, who only trusts Sasuke with her softer side; literally taking her metaphorical glasses off around him. But it can be argued that it’s the same for Sasuke, who readily admits he considers her ‘essential’, openly acknowledges her help, lets her talk back to him and insult him without a single complaint, didn’t hesitate to admit he was in the wrong by apologizing for what he did to her, etc. And of course: dat smile and his nervous face in 627 are priceless.

They’ve got good chemistry; good enough to be very versatile, in fact, and SasuKarin can serve not only for serious and touching moments, but also comedy.

Karin is tsundere over Sasuke. When has a girl ever been tsundere over this blockhead?

Etc.

I could go on and on, really. But I’ve already done that in the Manifesto, in the FC and even here, so I probably shouldn’t bore you by repeating myself like a broken record, haha.

I hope you found the reply helpful; thank you for the question!

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Even without Karin around, I couldn't help but think this chapter helped make a statement, SK-wise. My two cents:

All in all, I just hope this chapter taught a lesson to those who were downplaying the SasuKarin reunion claiming that:

It was rushed, therefore Kishi doesn't give a crap and it's meaningless!

Evidently, an event being rushed has nothing to do with its importance anymore.It was rushed because Kishi is packing in a lot of things at once because there are things he wants to get to. He obviously wants to end the manga asap rather than stalling again. This chapter is another clear example of it: we had been building up to Sasuke's reunion with Team 7 and Konoha for years and years and yet it was dealt with very swiftly in just a couple of pages. And it had humor to boot, as well.We'll definitely see more of it later of course (and the same thing applies to SK): but the point is right now Kishi is not into making tear-jerker reunions, but to deliver the stuff he has been setting-up and moving the story along.

Sasuke apologized to Karin on a whim, half-assed and meaningless!

Not only did he actually react to seeing her with more than a "..." and an acknowledgement, which was what he gave this chapter to Sakura and the Rookie, but he gave her an apology on sight. Obviously, the fact that Karin came in yelling bloody murder was quite the incentive (lol) but Kishi's writer intent shines through nonetheless, imo. Yami at Ice&Spice worded this quite well, here.

Karin's feelings for Sasuke are comic relief!

Kishi went and straight-away made sure that we knew she is still into him for a reason. More-over, Sasuke did not keep a poker-face around her. She broke his cool facade without even trying. Even in this chapter Sasuke was pretty poker-faced all throughout, nothing fazed him at all. So the fact that Karin did faze him is really promising telling as well~

Never forget, folks:

I already shared what I know about the sound effect, but today a member of the fc asked me about Karin's line in this panel, and while mangapanda's translation is accurate ("It... it can't be helped"), I ended up coming across a really nice detail :D I already shared it in the FC, and figured it may not hurt to share it here, too, for the Karin fans who are angry at Kishi for her portrayal this past chapter.

What Karin says is, essentially, "Shikata ne na", aka a speech variation of the usual 'it can't be helped' ('Shikata ga nai' / 'Shikata nai'). I assumed it was simply Karin's usual rough pattern of speech, but look at this:

Also, if they are angry, they might also change the "nai" to "ne". This sounds very tough and rugged to them. Usually only men say it. "Shikata ne." Or even "Shikata ne na."

-source: X