When will I learn that I don’t actually like bnha that much

You wanna know why I love the filler episode when Team 7 was trying to see Kakashi’s face and wish it was canon? No, it isn’t just because it’s hilarious (though it certainly is), but it shows Sasuke acting like a normal kid. He isn’t this edgy guy persona, but an idiotic 12 year-old who’s doing dumb shit with his friends without a care in the world.

I wish they showed this side of him more. It shows us that Sasuke was being genuine when he said he dreamed of a drunken assurance of peace with his comrades (those being team 7, of course). And then maybe he wouldn’t get as much hate as he does.

Oh, I loved that episode as well and I thought it was Canon on my first watch... And you are really perceptive to talk about this side of Sasuke which I'll explain here...

I think even if you show 10 episodes like that, still his character would inspire some amount of hate no matter what. Because people always like Underdog characters like Naruto, Lee. Whereas they don't like Genius and Cool characters who could do everything and on top of everything, he reject every girls' advance. I mean he is everything they are not and that makes them extremely jealous. 

Added to that, He is an Anti-Hero... 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️ That's more of a reason for people to hate him outright...

Plus, Sasuke is a character who has a dual Nature as I extensively talked about it in this post...[Link]. That is, He wants to become something that's completely opposite to his Nature. But most of the time, he fails. He proudly/arrogantly claims that he is an Avenger who wants Revenge but in truth, he simply wanted to live a peaceful life with his Comrades. He arrogantly claims he wanted to kill Naruto... He almost succeeds in the beginning.... But if you notice carefully, he can't keep up that resolve forever.

Haters only see the side what he wanted to become and unfortunately that's the side he shows very frequently... While they ignore the true side Sasuke shows now and every often. But can we expect those young fans who are in their teens to understand these complicated nuances???

Of Course Not...

They watch the series just once and form an opinion without analyzing why this character do this or do that. Well, they have no reason to. Not everyone has the time to read 700 chapters again and again to understand his character either...

So, the only way his Haters can like this character is in the hands of his Fans. That is, how Sasuke's fans positively & honestly promote Sasuke's character through their write-ups, memes, Fan Arts and such.

But this is where everything goes haywire.

Sasuke fans/stans/simps/tear-wipers promote exactly what his Haters hates... That is Sasuke - The Avenger, Sasuke - The Revolutionary and whatnot. And by doing this they just aggressively defend every of his actions which even repulse the neutral fans as well. I've personally seen few good writers who were extremely neutral to this character started to hate him because of his aggressive fans.

If only his fans/stans promote more about his childish and normal side and all the while acknowledging his mistakes, people would like to re-consider their opinion, you know. He frequently shows these side around Naruto and Itachi.

And also, I wrote in detail about why he was hated by the fandom in this post...[Link].

So, Yeah... The targeted demographics being immature, The Anti-Hero Nature of Sasuke and his unrelentingly apologetic fans who promotes the bad side of him because they feel it's exhilarating... These are the reasons why Sasuke's character drew so much hate.

Shōnen Anime Through The Feminist Lens

During quarantine, there has been a significant rise in the popularity of Anime; this wave of new fans brought back memories of when I first started exploring anime and how I came to love this media. Anime is a confusing word: In the western world, anime a separate genre of animated shows and movies from the typical western cartoons (ie. SpongeBob, Tom and Jerry, etc.) while in Japan, it refers to any animation in general. But for the sake of simplicity, I will refer to anime as a type of animated show or movie that uses signature aspects of Japanese-style animation.

Usually, a person is recommended mainstream shows from the shōnen genre when introduced to anime. Shōnen anime and manga are marketed towards boys between the ages of 12-18, but a lot of people outside of that demographic enjoy this genre as well. I find myself watching and recommending shōnen shows because of how exceptionally written the plot, the character development, and worldbuilding are. However, problems with female representation stem from the misconception that shōnen is only for boys or that girls don’t enjoy these types of stories. It is frustrating to see how little action and development female characters are given compared to their male counterparts and how often they are sexualized for the sake of comedic relief or fan service. 

NARUTO and NARUTO SHIPPUDEN

The Naruto series follows the journey of Naruto Uzumaki as he achieves his dreams to be acknowledged by the village he lives in and become the Hokage (the leader of the village). It’s a story about saving the world, protecting your loved ones, and believing in yourself.

Almost every person who has watched more than 3 years of anime has seen Naruto; those who haven’t still can recognize characters, references, and general plot points. Yes, it is THAT popular. I knew about the show but, I put off this anime for so long because of the silly reason that Naruto was an annoying brat at the beginning of the series. It took me a few months to build up my courage to pick up the series again— and wow! I was glad I did! I restarted my journey about two months ago and, as of today, I have less than 50 episodes left to watch to finish the series (keep in mind that the complete series has about 700 episodes). I got attached to the characters for their development and their compelling stories. I saw Naruto grow from being a troublemaker to a dependable hero, watched Sasuke go down a dark path for the sake of revenge, and learned about Kakashi and Itachi’s heartbreaking childhoods. But the girls? Where are the girls?

As well written as the story is, girls in Naruto are viewed as support-type characters for the boys; their stories aren’t touched upon and remain the same throughout the series. The lack of development of the girls is best highlighted by Sakura— the main female character and the most hated person from the series, and dare I say, all of anime. At the beginning of the series, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura train together to become ninjas with their teacher, Kakashi. Sasuke was a prodigy and excelled in every task, Sakura was known for her intelligence and chakra control, and Naruto lacked skill yet impulsively charged headfirst towards his enemies. As the show went on, Naruto and Sasuke’s skills have grown on par as they continuously try to learn new powers to one-up the other. But Sakura stayed the same. Even though she gained super strength and trained to become a medical ninja under the Fifth Hokage, her abilities and progress are constantly shadowed by her teammates' flashy powers (look at the picture above). This gap is even more prominent after the time skip in Shippuden where she becomes a “damsel in distress” which annoyed a lot of fans. She had so much potential to become a great character. Even if she was not the strongest ninja, the show could have taken steps to make her valuable in some way even if all they did was make her an efficient support character to Naruto and Sasuke instead of making her seem like she is always in their way. The unbalance caused by the lack of active female roles in Naruto leaves the female audience unrepresented. The female characters' underdevelopment implied that the girls are incompetent and therefore don’t get to make an impact in the story.  

ONE PIECE

I can talk about this show for hours. With 950+ anime episodes and 1000+ manga chapters, One Piece is synonymous with art; it follows the story of Monkey D. Luffy and his crew, the Straw Hat Pirates, on an adventure to find One Piece. Unlike other shōnen stories, One Piece immerses the audience into a mysterious world that is complex, dynamic, and feels real. Every single character is well developed— each of them have insanely detailed backstories, memorable personalities, and compelling motivations making them feel human. The story also tackles unconventional topics such as slavery, racism, the justice system, and classism. I could go on and on listing reasons as to why I love One Piece or why it is worth catching up to the 950 episodes, but I feel like you should let One Piece in and find that out for yourself. 

Unlike Naruto, women take on significant roles in One Piece and are often admired as role models. However, the lack of body diversity and the over-sexualization of the female characters leave a rather unpleasant aftertaste. 

As seen above, they all suffer the same-body syndrome— large breasts, impossibly tiny waists, and skimpy clothing. I get that these are common types of fanservice but, there are plenty of questionable design choices whenever fanservice is prioritized over logic (ie. the top-left girl is supposed to be a gladiator but her outfit does the very opposite of protecting her as it leaves her vital areas exposed). Another issue I have is with Sanji and his behaviour around women. He is the prime example of what the internet would call a ‘simp’ where his perverse tendencies and chivalry clash whenever he is near a female character. I feel like his overprotectiveness toward women and his willingness to die for them is counterintuitive to the powerful portrayal of women in the story. I understand that fanservice isn't going anywhere but the girls’ unrealistic designs and their treatment dilute their complex characterization to mere pretty and delicate objects.

CONCLUSION

From a feminist point of view, Naruto and One Piece have their own shortcomings when it comes to the inclusion and depiction of girls. I particularly chose to talk about them because they are the central faces of the shōnen genre, both of them depict common issues with female representation in most shōnen stories. It is understandable to a certain extent as to why the authors chose to draw/develop their characters, however, the lack of active female characters in shōnen stories fuels the ” shōnen is for boys, therefore, don’t expect female representation” narrative. It would do no harm to write stronger and more complex female characters in these stories, in fact, it would make the stories much more interesting as there is variation in perspectives and experiences— especially now because of the strong societal push toward feminism and the growing female audience consuming anime media. The fact that shounen does target boys is perhaps the most important reason to feature complex, active female characters in these stories—not only as supportive figures or dream girls, but as someone they can relate to and look up to as well.

EXTRA: NEW GENERATION SHŌNEN!

Naruto and One Piece have been in the anime scene for decades, but as societal values shift, many New Generation Shōnen are trying to tackle the inclusion of feminism in their stories. Here are some:

Boku no Hero Academia, one of the primary faces of New Gen Shōnen: A superheroes story where superpowers or quirks rule the world.  Physical advantages male characters may have during fights is insignificant as the winner is decided by their ability to use their power at its full potential and their compatibility with the opponent’s quirk. Women are shown to have different body types, breaking the skinny hourglass stereotype with healthy and muscular bodies. Read more on how BNHA is breaking the moulds here: https://www.animefeminist.com/feature-hero-academia-confronts-shonen-sexism/ 

Mob Psycho 100: A supernatural shōnen where the main character, Mob, struggles with masculinity, battles for self-improvement, and desires to just be an amiable and helpful person. His story breaks the typical toxic masculinity tropes in shonen stories and instead focuses on Mob’s emotional journey to being comfortable with who he is. Read more about this here: https://www.animefeminist.com/anime-feminists-top-25-anime-of-the-decade/

Demon Slayer, another progressive main face of the New Gen Shōnen: A historical supernatural story where women are given major roles and are never looked down upon by their male counterparts. As demon slayers, their attire is unique to each individual yet fit for their job and is not compromised for the sake of fanservice.

- Leanne.

some assorted naruto thoughts:

having really high stakes in general doesn’t work because i won’t be convinced that you’ll go through with the bad end, and unless i’m super invested in the severity of the situation for the characters i like, it ends up being kinda flat, which is what i think happened basically from.... from pain onwards

not to say that the stuff with obito, madara, or kaguya was necessarily bad in and of itself but i don’t think it was anywhere near as good as it could have been

the fourth war arc fucking DRAGGED holy shit, and i skipped most of the filler in it, and it STILL went on too long, there was no need for all that

the show should have ended after the final naruto sasuke fight, i can’t imagine that’s an unpopular opinion, having naruto, sasuke, and sakura all smile and laughing, have kakashi hop down to sit with them, sasuke apologies to everyone, maybe there’s a team hug, bam, end show, that would have been GREAT

maybe a little cleanup bonus to show all the other characters are okay

but instead it dragged it’s wheezing corpse for 30 more episodes

i wonder if boruto was always planned so the straight pairings had to happen for character in that show to exist, which i would get, but IF it was planned then you’d have thought they’d want to invest you in the pairings instead of just force them

going back to madara: i’m going to straight up ignore all of his scheming because i think it weakens the whole show. and it doesn’t make sense. he gave nagito the rinnegan? how? and why? where’s he getting them from? does he know how to make them on command? who actually did it, considering it couldn’t have been madara himself?

zetsu’s existence is the weakest thing out of all of them though

the show suffers is all of this was SOMEONE’S plan. it’s way more believable and dare i say interesting if strife and discord is just something that happens, and none of it was anyone’s grand plan, because if it IS someone’s plan and wouldn’t have happened naturally, then sasuke, nagato, madara- all of their motivations suddenly suck

the six path sage stuff was unnecessary too

i really don’t believe that after ALL that, sasuke would just leave again. that’s the biggest slap in the face ever.

i won’t bother ranting about how all the pairings are forced and stupid and i hate them because i think it’s really obvious

everyone really got too op at the end but that’s not a naruto exclusive problem so i’m not mad about it, just something i noticed. you know it’s a problem because that little bit where naruto and sasuke just bare-knuckle punched each other around was the most nail biting and satisfying thing

so there’s some bitchy thoughts. i complain because i see wasted potential but BOY i actually loved that, i expected to but yeah, totally worth watching 700 eps, i luv naruto and i luv sasuke and i admit to being tempted to watch boruto too even though it’s premise makes me wanna die a bit

Ichihime vs NH

I hate when people compare Ichihime to Naruhina. I really hate it, because the thing that I hate the most with NH is that they don’t have any kind of development.

How are you going to compare Ichigo and Orihime’s relationship with NH?

Orihime was close to Ichigo, close enough to be his friend, close enough to go with him on his adventures to rescue Rukia on the SS, helping him defeat the big bad guy of the final panel, cloae enough to talk with him on his own room while eating some snacks like normal friends, close enough to notice the change in his behavior when he was sad or upset, close enough to gain confidence with him to the point of teasing him and joking around. Close enough for Ichigo to know where she lives and the number of her department, close enough for Ichigo’s enemies to use her against him. That is development.

If you read Bleach you would know. Hinata doesn’t have any of that with Naruto.

She was introduce as Naruto’s fan girl and by Naruto himself as “ creepy ”, then she was gone again while Naruto’s relationship with Sakura and Sasuke grow. To then jump to Neji’s fight in where he gets upset for the way in what Neji defeated her. On that point we have more than 50+ episodes of them having 2 panels with non existence romantic moments. Then jumping on that we have Naruto telling her that he likes her as a PERSON , in this point he doesn’t even consider her as a friend. She is ignored the whole Naruto manga after it aside from fillers from the anime, and Naruto’s relationship with Sasuke becomes the main plot. Team 7 relationship always was above of NH.

Hinata’s crush wasn’t special for the plot nor was she a main character so people forgot about her and since she wasn’t anything more than “Naruto’s fangirl” she became that. The creepy girl with the crush. But she wasn’t special as I say and because of that you cant actually see any development between her and Naruto.

She continues by being Naruto’s friend of a friend of a friend.

With"oh hey Hinata!“as the only things Naruto could said. This is half of the manga here, at this point on Bleach Orihime was Ichigo’s friend and she even fought with him and helped him to save Rukia by becoming a main character

Her love was obvious and it was special for the manga because Tite already had Hueco mundo planned. She was important because she was Ichigo’s anchor to the ground when Rukia wasn’t there to punch him on the face if he didn’t confidence on himself.

While Naruto had Jiraiya, Tsunade, Sakura and Sasuke for that.

She wasn’t the girl with the crush. She was Inoue Orihime, Ichigo’s friend, with her own friends and with her own problems. With her own development without Ichigo on it all the fucking time.

We jump to Shippuden, Hinata character is still the girl with now BIG boobs a crush and suddenly Naruto became too stupid for some fans for still having feelings for Sakura and finding her cuter than Hinata. Hinata doesn’t say much, all she does is get red and faint and Naruto ignores her again

They can’t even have a proper conversation

Still what was on Naruto’s mind most of the time was Sasuke

Then we have Pain’s arc and Hinata jumped out of anywhere, ignoring Naruto’s whises for everyone to stay away just to confess to a very confuse Naruto because how could he know since she never was his friend nor they have moments together. Naruto gets angry by seeing the traumatic scene of Pain "killing” Hinata and went wild

Almost died if it wasn’t for Minato.

There is still not mutual development for both just the fact of Naruto being Naruto and caring for her safety while then Kishimoto draw a hug for NS and troll the NH fandom again by ignoring the big opportunity that he had to start to built the development between the two. Yet it didn’t happened and she was this time ignored and lowkey rejected since Naruto forgot or ignored her confession.

Then at the end of the manga, Kishimoto killed Neji to draw a NH moment in where they look rare af because they didn’t have a development by making Hinata for the first time and at the FINAL arc some kind of help for Naruto to come out of the shock

Yet he needed to kill a character to make that happen because for the lack of development he didn’t really had any way for Naruto to paid attention to Hinata with Sakura and Sasuke next to him

Then she is ignored again and all this moment is negleted by Sasuke’s confession to Naruto about his past and how he felt a weakness when it came to Naruto aside from Naruto himself saying how he felt hurt when Sasuke was suffering

Until here 688 chapters had pass and Hinata is still the girl with the crush that now was pity by everyone because she deserves to have what she wanted.

They end up being canon on 700 still without development and with Hinata not having a real personality aside from being Naruto’s wife. With her not fixing anything from her clan and trowing to the window her words of becoming an stronger ninja

Ichigo and Orihime’s relationship at that moment was already established and have development, Tite draw him moments with her and they had enough faith on the other to fight against the final boss who was a God. With Ichigo being 100% secure of Orihime protecting him. With them having more than half of the manga with interactions.

While NH needed a movie filler to explain how did happened, on the movie we have zero canon development and SJ trowing ilogic moments that weren’t canon with the manga.

And by some reason they call Naruto and “idiot” 99 times in the whole movie because of his lack of interes on Hinata until they felt on a illusion in where Naruto felt like a shit for not noticed how a creepy girl was watching him day and night

He felt guilty and they married. End.

But the thing is that If you are going to focus your manga so much on a couple as much as SJ had done with Boruto and The Last, this couple needs development.

One that you CANT give on a 1 hour movie.

With The Last you have moments as stupid as

Sakura playing cupid

Sakura being Hinata’s best friend, Sakura calling Naruto an idiot 100% of the movie for not paying attention to Hinata

Nonexistent moments that never existed on the manga and are ilogic for the plot

Infinite plot holes

And the majority of the fight moments and more being a copy of others pairing SNS and NS

Ichihime has a development. NH not.

The only thing that IH and NH have in common in that Orihime looks like Hinata.

But saying that their relationship is similar is confessing that you didn’t watch Bleach at all.

UNPOPULAR OPINION: Hinata doesn't deserve half the hate she gets but neither does she deserve half the screentime she gets in the anime.

Okay I'm going to get butchered here from both sides but I'm going to be honest. I like Hinata. I really do. She's a great side character with her own abilities and characteristics but that's all she is... a side character. And yet in the anime she's been time and again shoved into the spotlight at the expense of Sakura for all the wrong reasons. Two of those reasons being her boobs. And I hate that. Because Hinata really is a good character and yet shoving her in the spotlight to highlight her sexuality for the horny fanboy demographic is frankly disgusting and demeaning to all women. Not to mention it's spitting on whatever great potential her character has. Why don't you make her the heroine based on her ability? Like how she grows as a person or how her byakugan ability advances instead of how her cup size seems to expand every passing frame. Towards the end Hinata is clearly given too much screentime from SP to justify her relationship with Naruto. But honestly they don't end up developing the relationship at all instead they are just trying to highlight her looks. And you know what makes me angrier that they don't make Hinata look good by highlighting her abilities as a ninja but they do it by contrasting her boobs against Sakura's. I mean the number of times the anime has compared their tits is freaking unreal. The anime keeps doing this trying to portray Sakura as some kind of violent demon while in contrast Hinata is some kind of blushing big boobed angel. It's frankly insulting to both characters. It's like saying Sakura is a Bitch and Hinata can't be a good character on her own and has to push Sakura down in the process just to make herself seem better and make her relationship with Naruto seem convincing. Really SP? In all the fillers you had to develop her relationship with Naruto the only thing you could do is focus on Hinata's looks? Why are you insulting her character by saying that that's all she has? I would have been all for giving her more screentime if they did something to perhaps advance her character like include fights where she kicks ass and doesn't faint just so Naruto catches her and looks all heroic. I'd love to have seen her fight Hanabi back for the title of the head and honour Neji by banishing the discrimination in the branch families. I do think Naruhina is a good pairing (not the best) but it did not get the development it deserved to be a great one. It's a fluffy, cute ship but I do wish Hinata was shown less dependant on Naruto. That she wasn't made into a character whose entire purpose was to just end up with Naruto. I think Hinata Hyuuga is a great character with great potential, honestly compared to the other girls Hinata had the best potential to become a strong independent kunoichi with her Byakugan but that didn't happen. Let's take her fight with Neji. Right there you can see just how much potential this girl has. She fought without stopping and she stood up for herself. I was looking forward to seeing her more of that and I was thoroughly disappointed when she barely got any dialogues and the few times she did all she said was Naruto-kun before passing out. Why? Just Why? That one moment in the Pein arc she did have was completely overshadowed by her confession. Instead of confessing I'd like to have seen her tell Nauto that she has something to say to him and she'd say it only after she rescued him and got out of there alive. That would have been development. Where Hinata finally BELIEVED IN HERSELF and not only in Naruto. I don't particularly like the fact that their wedding was an end to the anime. I'd have much rather preferred to see Naruto become Hokage and Hinata proudly standing next to him supporting him as the head of the Hyuuga household. They could have done it with the amount of filler screentime that had been given but instead all we got was a total butchering of both Hinata and Sakura's characters in different ways and a wedding that made it seem like that we'd watched 700 episodes of an anime just to see Naruto get married to a great character they turned into a sex object. Let's not even get started of how thoroughly they ignored Sasuke in the final episodes considering the entirety of Shipudden was about Naruto and Sasuke's very angst filled relationship. They made it all about Hinata without even bothering to portray her as anything but this doll that belonged to Naruto. Reading only the manga you'll see that Hinata isn't as prominently featured but she's hated less. All the people who don't like her can argue that she didn't have enough time to develop but in the anime she's given more than enough screentime to develop and that to at the expense of other more major characters and yet they've only used it for fan service. If only they hadn't made the end fillers into a total Hinata show then people would hate her less. Because most people are salty that so much screentime was given to her while ignoring the entirety of Team Seven who are the main characters of the show just to quench the thirst of some lonely fanboy behind a computer. If only they'd given more to her character in those fillers than simply being in love with Naruto people would hate her less. I don't think she should be insulted for being in love with Naruto honestly her dedication is admirable and all but it does piss me off that's all there is to her. We don't see her as anything else. OH SP WHY DIDN'T YOU USE THAT SCREENTIME TO MAKE HER INTO A PERSON INSTEAD OF SOME DOLL FOR FAN SERVICE. Frankly Hinata is a great character who isn't developed well. While in the manga she wasn't given enough of a chance to do so, the anime gave her the sole spotlight but ended up totally butchering her character and making many people despise her. SP shoved her down the viewers throat by giving her so much screentime. (I swear her boobs got more screentime than Sasuke in the end)and no development just so that she could become some trophy for Naruto. UGH! So I'll be honest the huge amount of screentime dedicated to Hinata towards the end was an absolute waste. The anime did nothing for her character but just make people hate her for occupying so much screentime. She's a great character with amazing potential and I truly wish that we'd got to see more of Hinata as a person and as a kunoichi than Hinata as Naruto's trophy wife and her goddamn gravity defying boobs. I'm purposely cross tagging this because I think both sides should see this and give their opinion. The people who love Hinata for her potential and the people who hate her for her portrayal. She genuinely doesn't deserve half the hate she gets but neither does she deserve that much of screentime just so that SP can fulfil their quota of fanservice. Please don't kill me.

So does Kishi officially hate NH and SS? Because I can't help but think like that when I see them in Boruto. Like no way he wants them to be seen as happy or content. Also, it seems like he still hates Sakura because just just look at her, she hasn't really changed. Her dynamic with Sasuke hasn't really changed. She gives chase, Sasuke ignores. Except Sasuke looks more depressed.

Hey, after fifteen years of us chasing after the story and characters we invested in so much, at least give us some indication that they are least happy after sooo many sacrifices, like they deserve that happiness.

But no, if anything, they seem totally miserable. What made Kishi do that? Yes, he can't show them ooc, but Sasuke marrying Sakura is already ooc. Naruto being a bad father is already ooc. Like why go to the extent of showing Sasuke trying not to touch Sakura and pointedly showing that they never kissed? That's just like a determined effort on Kishi's part to show that their marriage is not working. Naruto works way more than any of his predecessors and sleeps in the office or couch so as not to disturb Hinata, when Hinata is specifically designed to accommodate anything that Naruto might require.

Don't get me wrong, I think Boruto is trash. But I am still in interested in SNS in Boruto because that's still canon. Just makes me wonder how Kishi will finally conclude SNS, because their bond still shows clearly in Boruto. Do you think he will kill them any time soon?

Good ask, Anon☺️☺️❤️❤️

Before answering this, I am going to tell you that I don’t watch Boruto. But I know what happened so far, vaguely. Like, Gaiden arc, Karma seal, Kawaki adoption, Kurama’s death, loss of Rinnegan, Time travel arc. Anyways, I might have missed many interactions between Sasuke & Sakura in the filler episodes or other canonical episodes. I would be happy If you send me an episode list or timestamps in where they interact, so that it saves my time instead of me, watching that entire shit show. 

So does Kishi officially hate NH and SS?

In this post, I dissected SS from a non-SNS perspective. It seems Kishi went all out of his way to make their interactions too insincere, blunt and toxic. I mean Sasuke’s absolute lack of interest in her was very evident even until chapter 693. That is right before, their final VoTE fight. And even after Sakura comes to heal their injuries, he just said ‘Ummmm..... I guess Sorry’... 

Kishi could have made Sasuke say some corny shit to Sakura like how he felt bad inside for hurting her, how he missed her, wiping her tears or whatever (Puke!!!! 🤮🤮🤮). Because in the previous chapter, Sasuke basically confessed to Naruto internally about how he felt about Naruto when he was a child. Kishi could have done the same for Sakura in just 4, 5 panels. But anyways, my point is, Kishi’s moment to salvage that ship is chapter 699. 

But he didn’t.

Did Kishi tried to build their bond after marriage?

He definitely could’ve. But he didn’t. 

This shows his clear distaste in SS.

As for NH, Kishi is indifferent. He neither hates them nor loves them. Kishi created Hinata as a pairing fodder and she still is. 

Also, it seems like he still hates Sakura because just just look at her, she hasn't really changed. Her dynamic with Sasuke hasn't really changed. She gives chase, Sasuke ignores. Except Sasuke looks more depressed.

Hmmm, I don’t know whether Sasuke hates her, anon. Again, maybe I’ve missed those parts. But when he looks at her, it’s always filled with regrets and an urge to avoid her (like Itachi avoided Sasuke, but for totally sad and genuine reasons). 

But this again begs the question, ‘Why feeling regret or hesitant even after 12 years?’. 

Believe me anon, Love/Bonds/Understanding can happen at anytime of your life. From where I come from, not everyone marries out of love. Arranged marriages are common. But still, many couples make effort and work out their difference, and find love. Kishi could’ve done the same for SS too. 

Is Sasuke that heartless? No.

He was once a boy who bear hugged his brother every time Itachi comes back from the Academy. Itachi’s presence itself made Sasuke so happy. 

Did he become heartless after the massacre? Also no.

Even after the trauma, Sasuke just became aloof and cold. But he always becomes a child who can pout, be silly, becomes animated, bicker around Naruto. So, he can be lovely, but only around the people he choose by himself. 

Still, Sakura is not that person. So, he looks like he is depressed and wants to escape from her at any given chance because of a certain guilt. 

What made Kishi do that? Yes, he can't show them ooc, but Sasuke marrying Sakura is already ooc. Naruto being a bad father is already ooc. Like why go to the extent of showing Sasuke trying not to touch Sakura and pointedly showing that they never kissed? That's just like a determined effort on Kishi's part to show that their marriage is not working.

To answer, this goes way back, anon. 

Kishi is a person who prefers to write love through intense friendship, sensei-student dynamics and brotherhood. He can occasionally write cute and sweet romance but it can only be short like 2 or 3 pages... or a chapter, max. He can’t go on doing it for 70 chapters for romance. Which was evident from Minato & Kushina, Dan & Tsunade, Obito & Rin. 

But the real deal of Naruto manga is the bond between Naruto and Sasuke. The bond between Itachi and Sasuke also played a huge role in this series. And then comes Hashirama and Madara, Jiraiya and Naruto, Kakshi and Obito, Kakashi and Naruto and many more. So, Kishi pretty much gave an ending he wanted for a long time in chapter 699. He successively pulled off a great manga without corny and shitty romance but with just friendship and brotherhood alone. He didn’t give two shits about NH or SS before chapter 700.

Naruto series’ another success lies on it’s characters tragic backstories. I simply loved them all and most of them made me cry. 

Kishi wanted to move on from Naruto.

But then Money played a big part. Naruto series can be milked in a lot of ways. Editors wanted all the characters to become some baby making dolls. So you have to create pairings. Based on the popularity polls, they decided NH and SS.

In my opinion, Sasuke is a goal-oriented person. He is a wanderer who works on his own accords. Ever since he left Konoha when he was 13, that was his path, so you can’t make him stay in one place. At every stage of his life, he had different goals.

At age 8-15, he had one goal. To kill Itachi. Can he have a romance here? Nope.

At age 16, his goal is to destroy Konoha. No chance of romance in that dark path.

At age 17, he wanted to Revolutionize the shinobi system. Since he wanted to be alone for that goal, no possibility of romance.

At age 18, he adopted Naruto’s dream as his own. To make all shinobi cooperate and look out for Kaguya remains. Romance cannot happen here as he was constantly wandering around and he prefers to work alone.

This is how Kishi designed Sasuke’s character throughout.

Now all of a sudden, if you ask Kishi to go OOC by asking him to write corny romance for his favorite character Sasuke just for the sake of making him relevant to Boruto series, what will he do? 

Since Boruto is a series which is a sequel to Naruto, you pretty much know everyone’s backstory. Those 12 year old New Gen kids possibly can’t have tragic stories like Naruto or Sasuke. 

Kishi being a troller, used this opportunity to create a piss poor sob story for Sarada by making Sasuke as an absentee father and an unloving husband.

He created a sad story for Sarada and he gets to shit on SS ship. Two birds, One stone!!!! 

Now, Sasuke being an unloving husband is OOC ? Nope. He was never a marriage material in the first place. So he is perfectly in-character.

Sasuke being an absentee father is OOC? No and Yes. No, because it’s the effect of the cause I mentioned above. Yes, because unlike Naruto, Sasuke once had a father. He can try to reach her out now and often. but he prefers not to do instead he cares more about Boruto. LOL.

Sasuke being not family oriented is OOC? Nope. He is a goal oriented person. His goal is same as Naruto’s dream. He will go to any extent to fulfill it, even at the expense of his family’s happiness. Because that’s what he learnt from Itachi. What Itachi taught him was, even at the expense of his own happiness and Sasuke’s trauma, he preferred Konoha and Shinobi World’s peace. That’s what Sasuke is doing now. 

Naruto works way more than any of his predecessors and sleeps in the office or couch so as not to disturb Hinata, when Hinata is specifically designed to accommodate anything that Naruto might require.

As for Naruto, 

I think it’s very funny. And I guess, I know why.

Just like Sasuke, Naruto is also a goal oriented person. 

Remember, in that Boruto movie, Sasuke knocks Naruto’s door at the midnight?

Imagine if Naruto opened the door. 

Sasuke will be like, ‘Alright mothafucka!!! I wanted to die in the VoTE itself. You wanted me in your dream world. Am working my ass off for your stupid dreams and trying to reach you without even meeting my own family. And yet here you are, sleeping well and sound. Am just gonna Chidori you!!!’ LOL.

I think you get my point. 

If you make Sasuke to be an hardworker, then Naruto must work even hard to fulfill his dream. So you possibly can’t have Naruto playing duet with Himata or whatever trash. 

So kishi pulled his Two birds, One Stone for NH here!!!

In short, Kishi gets to make his New generation shine through this pathetic sob stories and at the same time, kept his favorite characters without going OOC. 

So, it’s a polite way of Kishi showing middlefinger to SS and NH for making him do this. He is saying, ‘Alright folks, you wanted this all along. But this is what you will get!!!’.

Just makes me wonder how Kishi will finally conclude SNS, because their bond still shows clearly in Boruto. Do you think he will kill them any time soon?

I think about this all the time. How will they end?? How will they die??

Now, don’t think I am some sadist for wanting them to die. I am just being practical and honest here. This is a new generation series. Of course, at some point, Naruto and Sasuke has to die for the sake of character development. And I will be happy if they die because I don’t like their miserable portrayal in Boruto at all. 

Naruto series has a pattern when it comes to death portrayal. Meaningful characters (except Neji) always die protecting someone/something they cherish. Jiraiya died for Naruto, Yahiko died for Konan & Nagato, Itachi died for Sasuke & Konoha, Haku died for Zabuza, Obito (younger) died for Kakashi & Rin and so on.

Ever since Naruto became Hokage, his death is pretty much plastered on his head. He will die protecting Konoha just like all the Hokages from First to Fourth who sacrificed their life for Konoha. 

But Sasuke??? 

I am going to say he will die protecting Naruto or the village. But for Naruto mostly. Either way, Sasuke will die first. 

Dying for Naruto, the reasons are crystal clear. He already died protecting Naruto once in the Zabuza arc. He will never hesitate to do it again. Which was evident from the way he told Naruto in the Boruto movie while giving his Susanoo, ‘If they capture the real you, then everything is gone’. Somewhere in Boruto Manga chapter 38 (I don’t remember properly), Sasuke was yelling at Naruto, ‘If you are gone, it’s pretty hopeless’ and was praying ‘Naruto, don’t you die’. 

So it’s pretty much Sasuke saying to Naruto, ‘I’ll protect you, You protect everyone’

But why the village?? Why will Sasuke die for Konoha which caused him so much pain?? I know anti-konoha stans wont like this, but that’s the reality.

It seems many Sasuke fans never paid attention to his character. After hearing the story from all the Hokages, Sasuke said, ‘I will not let Itachi’s life and this village into nothing’. He really meant it. Because for Sasuke, Itachi was more precious. Itachi died saying, ‘I’ll have protected my village as Uchiha Itachi of Konoha once again. I have no more regrets’. Sasuke wanted to respect his brother’s wish finally and that’s why he openly claimed in the battlefield, ‘I am going to protect Konoha and become it’s Hokage’. Sasuke’s another precious person is Naruto. He is the Hokage now. 

Don’t you think Sasuke will die protecting something Itachi and Naruto values so much??

He even claimed it openly in Boruto Manga. ‘I would die anytime for Konoha, as has your dad (Naruto)’

Sasuke even said to Boruto, “I will stop you even if I have to kill you”. And do you think Sasuke is just pouring out some empty words??? Sasuke will not let Boruto to turn into an Otsutsuki monster and destroy the village.

Like I said, Sasuke will go out first. And eventually Naruto will follow him. Or they both die protecting the village together. I don’t see them dying for their wives or children. Because, their relationship with their family is not too strong and their ambitions are far beyond their own families.

Maybe for this reason, Kishi is trolling NH and SS in Boruto. LOL.

Naruto’s bond with Sasuke was formed even before his birth, when Kushina asked the 3 month old Baby Sasuke to be friends with Naruto.

However, One thing is for sure. One will not live very long without the Other or Both will die together. That’s how their bond should end.