Despite its popularity and acclaim, Naruto isn’t exempt from pitfalls. The series has been at the epicenter of controversy and backlash. This is mainly because of the mangaka’s bad writing of female characters.
While this is partly true, there’s more to it than meets the eye. Apart from Kishimoto, it was Studio Pierrot’s involvement in botching this character from the series. Not only that, Pierrot screwed the pooch with its questionable decisions.
From Sasuke and Madara’s nerfing to botched animation, Pierrot brought humiliation upon Kishimoto’s masterpiece. Not only that, it capitalized on the mangaka’s hate for this character, which went on for decades.
Studio Pierrot gave Sakura the short end of the stick in Naruto
Undoubtedly, Naruto is one of the most popular and iconic ninja stories that ever made it to Jump’s Big 3. The series was a massive hit during the golden age of anime. Regardless of that, it continues to stay relevant to its poignant portrayal of war and strife.
Not only that, the anime was thoroughly praised for its impeccable art style along with the fight scenes. Some of the legendary battles were showcased during the first part of the series. While the anime soared in height, it fell flat, majorly because of Studio Pierrot’s bad decisions.
Pierrot has animated several iconic anime including Bleach, Black Clover, and so on. Of all the animated shows, the studio came to be associated with Kishimoto’s series.
Despite its legendary feats, the studio had its fair share of blunders. From botched animation to mistranslation, it was majorly responsible for Sakura’s character getting unprecedented hate.
While Kishimoto fueled the fire with his horrid writing of female characters, the studio cashed in on this opportunity. This led to decades of hate toward her character. From “trash” to “useless”, several fans partook in misogyny.
Pierrot fueled Kishimoto’s hate for Sakura’s character through mistranslation and misportrayal. Although he hates feminism, even Kishimoto cannot negate his role in writing her character so poorly. And that was not all, considering her underdeveloped character in the Shippuden series.
Masashi Kishimoto wasted Sakura’s potential in Shippuden
Be it Kiba or Shino, Masashi Kishimoto underutilized several characters in his series. But he did a major disservice to one of the pivotal characters in the series. Apart from being one of the major characters in Kishimoto’s series, Sakura was reduced to a butt of jokes.
Only real fans realize her true potential as a shinobi. While she is established as an intelligent and capable shinobi, the mangaka fails her character immensely in the second part of the series.
We all know the true potential her character had in the series barring her crush on Sasuke. With Kishimoto’s portrayal of the character as a lovestruck kunoichi, fans couldn’t help but hate her. Be it Kurenai, Hinata, Tenten, or Ino, the mangaka failed several female characters.
Throughout the series, he posited female characters as liabilities. They start strong and falter in the end. Sakura, too, fell flat in terms of her development. Despite her medical prowess, her feats seemed superficial in most aspects. The mangaka’s inconclusiveness gave rise to widespread hate toward the character.
This also applies to Kurenai’s character as a genjutsu prodigy. It is a resounding of the toxic narratives that are often associated with women.
It is such a shame that the mangaka never really developed and explored the possibilities of the female characters in his series. In all seriousness, though, both Pierrot and Kishimoto failed the characters in more ways than one.
Naruto is available for streaming on Crunchyroll. The manga is available for reading on Viz Media.
