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Just so pointless. The response was just "Okay."

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Anime Sakura vs Manga Sakura

I first got into Naruto the way a lot of English-language fans very clearly did: by virtue of the anime starting to run in my region. More specifically, I got into it partway through the first Toonami airing of the Wave Country Arc -which, for those who don't know (or don't remember), lead to the anime looping back to the beginning as soon as that arc concluded while localization worked on getting the following episodes localized.

I was sufficiently hooked that this wasn't really enough for me, particularly once the anime got back to the episodes I'd already seen, so I checked out fanfic, became aware the series' original form was a manga, and started reading that. This confluence of events resulted in me becoming aware of something I suspect a lot of fans never notice:

That the anime actually changes a lot of early scenes.

Some of this is actually quite appreciated. For example, in the manga Naruto's classmates don't exist in the first chapter: Sakura and Sasuke don't exist until it's time for team assignments in the second chapter, and the rest of Naruto's classmates don't exist until they show up in the Chunin Exams -this is why Naruto breaks the fourth wall and gives an intro for each of them when they show up there, even in the anime where we actually saw them all in the very first episode. The anime adding them in to the beginning is nice!

By a similar token, the manga actually skips the fight between Tenten and Temari, so jarringly I actually had to double-check and make sure I wasn't missing a chapter somehow; the anime giving us the actual fight in detail is also appreciated!

Other changes are sort of random-feeling if you're not familiar with the tendency for anime adaptations to overtake the manga they're rendering in animated form, but understandable if you are familiar with this point: for example, there's an entire episode dedicated to Naruto having a Wacky Adventure in trying to get to the Chunin Exams' final stage on time, involving silliness like running from an entire stampede, which... has no relevancy to the larger plot because it's an anime-only filler episode to stall for time, not based on anything from the manga.

And then there's how Sakura gets changed.

This is kind of weird to describe, because the anime doesn't cut anything or completely rewrite any scenes: it only ever adds bits. The problem is, the bits that are added are... problematic. Consistently, up until about her Chunin Exam fight scenes. But since it is only addition, I'm going to start from just describing Manga Sakura, then explain the changes.

In the manga, Sakura starts essentially exactly as she does in the anime; she doesn't like Naruto, she's pursuing Sasuke... the only 'difference' is that of course Ino doesn't exist until the Chunin Exams and so the whole Ino/Sakura rivalry thing doesn't come up.

However, in short order Sakura starts changing her mind about Naruto; she attempts to confess to Sasuke, it doesn't work out, and she finds the rejection a fairly unpleasant experience and then connects this pretty immediately to her own rather harsh rejections of Naruto's requests for dates and resolves to not be such a jerk to him in future.

And she does in fact stick to that for... at least everything I read. (I've yet to get fully through the Shinobi World War Arc, so I suppose it's possible she goes back on her word somewhere past there)

This is how Manga Sakura goes overall; she starts as a bit of a shallow, thoughtlessly cruel person who isn't really taking this whole 'life and death battles as a ninja' thing adequately seriously, but tends to be quick to engage in introspection, resolve to change such behaviors, and then stick out this resolution; the Sakura we see in the Chunin Exams is something of a culmination of how Sakura has been progressing this whole time.

Anime Sakura still has these moments, but... they get undercut. The date thing is the bit I still vividly remember: Anime Sakura makes her resolution to not be so cruel to Naruto-

-and Naruto immediately shows up, asks for a date, and Sakura punches him out and goes 'never mind' about her resolution.

There's a lot of moments like this with Anime Sakura: 15-45 seconds of content added to otherwise-faithful-to-the-manga scenes where said added content is 'comedy' moments that horribly undercut Sakura's character development. Taken seriously, they make her into an incredibly unpleasant person who intentionally rejects opportunities to become less unpleasant; it's little wonder that so many of the fanfics I saw in the early days really did not like Sakura.

Once the Chunin Exam starts these added bits of unpleasantness stop occurring, but after so long seeing Anime Sakura do things like make resolutions and immediately break them, I imagine lots of viewers found Sakura's Big Resolutions and Major Character Development difficult to take as intended; if I'd not read the manga, I know I would've been expecting these moments to not really stick.

The whole thing is particularly frustrating for how easy it is to overlook; if I'd not been experiencing the manga and anime near-simultaneously, I never would have realized these quick bits of character assassination were anime-only additions. And if you go look at a wiki or the like, you're not going to trivially learn this info, unlike how basically everyone knows that the Anime Filler Arcs are, in fact, the Anime Filler Arcs.

So I've long suspected lots of people are unaware that Sakura comes across very differently in the early anime vs the early manga.

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🤪

Me: *stating a FACT*

Some guy: oh we know what kind of person you are!

Me: 🙄

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Had anti- sasusaku pop up on my tiktok fyp 🤢 banished it to the hells and watched some cute videos to cleanse my eyeballs. How DARE my fyp tarnish itself with filth??

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The ultra hateful ASS sending threats to Jun Esaka, Chie Nakamura, any pro sasusaku/ Sakura Haruno(Uchiha) creators, including, and not limited to, Kishimoto HIMSELF can fucking SEETHE. Sasusaku are canon, Sakura is the 3rd most popular Naruto character, and one of Kishimoto's pride and joys. If they don't want to see anything positive for Sasusaku and Sakura, they can do as Jesus told someone with a lustful gaze, to pluck their own eyes out.

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The amount of copium ASS need to take.

✿ Sleeping Beauty. ✿

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Because of all the shit that I have been seeing on Anime Twitter, I had to make this.

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Sakura, trying to reach something: Sasuke-kun, could you give me a hand?

Sasuke: *holds her hand*

Sakura, blushing: That's not what I meant...

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Naruto fandom is so funny.

They can forgive Obito for murder, causing a war, forming a terrorist organisation, being responsible for multiple deaths including Naruto's parents.

They can forgive Gaara for killing innocent people, attempting to kill Lee, Sasuke and Naruto.

They can forgive Nagato for destroying Konoha and killing people.

They can forgive Sasuke for betraying Konoha, joining a terrorist organisation, trying to kill Naruto, Sakura, Karin and Kakashi (who all just wanted to help him, mind you).

BUT they cross the line at Sakura being ‘annoying’ and Hinata for falling in love with Naruto. It's ridiculous how these two girls are hated for completely stupid reasons but the male characters who did worse than them always get away with bullshit.

Naruto and Sasuke fighting each other to death and losing their arms is ‘Epitome Of True Friendship’. But Sakura hitting Naruto for slapstick comedy (which doesn't even give him actual wounds) is ABUSE?!?!?!?

Hinata willing to die to protect Naruto and bravely fighting an enemy 10x stronger her than her is ‘selfish’ and ‘useless’ but other characters (Iruka, Sasuke, Minato, Kushina, Tsunade) doing the exact same thing is bravery, love and selflessness.

Sakura forgiving and loving Sasuke after he pushed her away and tried to kill her (2/3 times she attacked him first mind you) is ‘stupid’ and ‘fangirl’ but Naruto chasing after Sasuke more than Sakura and Sasuke hurting him and pushing him away more than what he did to Sakura is ‘best friends’.

Hinata watching Naruto train few times because he inspires her to be better and stronger is ‘creepy’ and ‘stalkerish’ but Jiraiya peeking at women's bathroom without consent and drooling over Naruto's sexy jutsu form (who's an underaged girl by the way) and involving Naruto (a minor who was not even 13) in his peeking is ‘peak comedy’ and ‘haha so funny’.

Hinata and Sakura having unrequited feelings for Naruto and Sasuke is ‘obsessive’ but Obito choosing the path of destruction because his unrequited crush died is ‘true love’. Atleast the girls never killed people over their crush and yet they're hated but Obito is praised huh?

Stop holding female characters to such high standards if you can't keep the same energy for the male characters.

Also to clarify, this is NOT a criticism of the other characters and their actions.

Naruto's shinobi world is entirely different from our world, a lot of fucked up things which aren't acceptable here are the norm there, that's why forgiving all the bad stuff which I mentioned above is normal by their standards.

However I'm criticising the fandom who understands the working of the shinobi world when it comes to the male characters but suddenly becoming a moral police and expects Sakura and Hinata to be perfect and not make a single mistake at each and every step, while characters who did worse are fine to them.

I'm criticising the fandom who holds the women to such a high standards.

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Genin Sakura protecting Sasuke from Gaara lasted just as long as Chuunin Hinata protecting Naruto from Pain, whether you want to admit it or not.

So why is everybody calling Sakura useless for this but praise Hinata for the same exact thing?

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Let’s keep reading Sasuke Retsuden on official sources like Manga Plus and Shounen Jump to increase it’s views!! And don’t forget to vote for Sakura in the Naruto99 popularity vote! Our jobs not done yet guys. 😆

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The anti sasusaku rabble are PIIIIISSED LMAO! Someone used the term “shitsuden” And i just had to chuckle, thats all they’ve got?

The most important question is..Why are people so upset when Sasuke shows love to his wife and child?…..what is he supposed to do?

I am living for this 😂

The more upset they are mean the better we’re eating

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I forget to post

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Hell yeah.

https://narutop99.naruto-official.com/en/

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Because I'm a Sakura simp, I'd love for her to have her own manga. Or at least be among the top 10 most popular characters. So please vote for this queen

https://narutop99.naruto-official.com/select/

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Hello! :) Why are you shipping SS? I am totally okay with it (in fact, I followed you because I find some of your answers really nice, even though I could consider myself Anti-SS). However, I am quite curious. I apologise in advance if you mentioned it before. Oh, and what are your thoughts on SNS? Don’t worry, I can handle critique for this ship. x) I love them, but I know they are far from perfect...

I ship SS because Sakura was the only girl who not only always wanted what was best for Sasuke, but also actively and constantly strove to make that happen. Karin always just wanted to help Sasuke, and I respect her for that. I’ve always been very grateful to her for helping to keep my favourite character alive on numerous occasions, and I believe her affections for him were genuine. However, that’s all I can say about it. Whereas not only were Sakura’s feelings for him also genuine, but she was also actively trying to secure a better future for him by trying to dissuade him from continuing down his dark path. Karin noticed how sinister he was becoming during the arc in the Land of Iron. Yet, she was still aiding him in committing all those crimes, and it was only after he had impaled her and completely disregarded her life, that she realized that helping him while he was in that frame of mind, wasn’t doing any good for anybody. It shouldn’t have taken that long, and that much for her to reach that conclusion. I know she was just trying to do all she could to help him, but she should have known that “helping” him in that situation wasn’t doing him any favours in the long run.

Sakura knew that from the very first instance she witnessed Sasuke’s darkness in the Forest of Death. As soon as she saw it, she tried to pull him out of the darkness, and this desire never diminished. 

People tend to look at Sasuke’s side and say he always hated her or doesn’t care about her at all, when that’s just not true. Tobirama and Hagoromo explain Sasuke’s character brilliantly in 619 and 693 respectively. They basically reveal that the only true representations of Sasuke’s character were before the massacre, and after 698. Essentially, the times when he wasn’t afflicted by the curse of hatred which constantly caused him to push away love, and magnify the negative emotions, including resentment, hatred, jealousy etc.

But despite his affliction, you could still see that he cared for his friends, including Sakura. He described her as someone “dear” to him in 133, which was only reiterated in 177, when Kakashi stated that they had both found “precious” companions, to which Sasuke then thinks of Sakura and Naruto. He sincerely thanked her for everything she had done for him in 181. He was reminded of his relationship with Team 7 when he saw how much Taka were doing for him against Killer Bee in 414. Naruto indicated how Sasuke’s body just moved on its own to save Kakashi and Sakura from the infinite Tsukuyomi in 680 etc.

All these indicators that demonstrated that despite Sasuke’s outward desires to be alone and push away the affection that was offered to him, he still deeply valued his friends. This told me that when Sasuke would be saved from the darkness, he’d welcome Sakura’s affections and start seeing her, as well as the entire world from a new perspective, and that’s exactly what happened. His hatred turned into love (as Hagoromo predicted it would in 693), and he was able to see things with clarity (as he described in 699).

I just really liked that Sakura (and Naruto) were always striving to attain a better future for their dear friend who was suffering so much. And that Sasuke, despite his internal struggle with his affliction, was still able to demonstrate that he cared about his friends, and that once the curse no longer had a hold of his heart, he was able to give Sakura such a meaningful expression of affection.

As for SNS, I don’t have anything bad to say about their relationship; they have the most prominent bond in the series, that’s a fact. Any criticisms I give to the ship are only ever in retaliation to those who bash SS and glorify SNS for reasons that I feel are unjustified. I’m a huge fan of the SNS bond, it’s just not romantic, but that doesn’t take anything away from its strength. Any list illustrating Naruto brotps just has to include these two as the main one. Just what can you really say about these two? They and are the biggest example of vitriolic best buds. Their destinies were completely intertwined with one another, where even their respective chakra natures were innately compatible and designed to aid the other (Naruto = wind, Sasuke = fire). But one carried the burden of the curse created by his ancestor before him, which caused him to lose his way. It is the story of two unspoken best friends who grew to have conflicting ideals, where one became disillusioned with his village after learning of their mistreatment of his brother and clan, and the other wanted to save him from the hatred that had plagued his clan since their creation, and in contrast to the past where this recurring endeavor had failed, Naruto succeeds. Thus, ending the cycle, and allowing his best friend to create a new beginning for his clan once shrouded in darkness, with the girl who never once stopped wanting to save him from his suffering.

I apologise that I took long to answer, I’ve had a long day today :)

Other than that, I also often tend to see certain criticisms of the SS ship that I just don’t agree with. For instance:

“Sakura never understood anything about Sasuke” - And that’s usually referring to his loneliness, as if Sasuke’s loneliness was the only aspect of his character that was available for people to understand, when that’s not true. In Part 1, Sakura proved how she understood Sasuke’s darkness better than anyone else. While Naruto and Kakashi were brushing off Sasuke’s behaviour as a minor phase, Sakura knew better, and understood how deeply it was affecting him. That’s why she not only anticipated his decision to leave, but also the day and time.

“Sakura’s desires were selfish” - I really don’t agree with this. Nothing about what Sakura wanted regarding Sasuke was selfish after chapter 49. In 181, she tells Sasuke that revenge won’t bring him happiness, and that’s what she wanted for him. She knew his path would only lead him to more misery, and Sasuke himself said he was aware of that, but his desire for revenge was too great. Furthermore, I’ve always found it annoying how Sakura’s desires always get labelled as selfish, but Naruto gets a free pass, solely because he had a better “understanding” of Sasuke’s situation. It’s the incentives that determine whether the action is selfish, not the level of understanding. Naruto and Sakura always, always had the same incentives for wanting to save Sasuke; they both just “hurt” seeing Sasuke suffer (Sakura’s words in 693 prove that on her part). Therefore, if one is labelled as selfish, then so must the other. I don’t believe either of them were selfish, but it’s either they both were or neither of them were.

“Sasuke didn’t care about Sakura at all” - I won’t go into detail here, but I made an entire post refuting this point.

“Sasuke constantly insulted Sakura” - Fact is, Sasuke never insulted Sakura once in the entire series, not once. Calling someone annoying isn’t an insult; it’s not demeaning to their intelligence, physical appearance or anything else. He also didn’t call her useless, he said that their was nothing she or Kakashi could do now, and was solely referring to that situation. You know who Sasuke did insult? Naruto. On numerous occasions, he called Naruto a loser, an idiot, a dimwit, said he was full of himself etc. These are insults, and Sasuke treated Naruto far worse than he did Sakura over the course of the series.

“Sakura doesn’t know anything about Sasuke” - I’ve always wondered what gave this impression? The fact that she didn’t know the truth behind the Uchiha massacre? The fact that she avoided Sarada’s question on whether Sasuke wore glasses? (Which itself can be proven by the mere fact that she had a photo of Sasuke as evidence that he didn’t wear glasses). There’s so much more to know about Sasuke other than the slaughter of his clan, and knowing about it doesn’t somehow make you eligible to be an Uchiha (since this seems to be a large reason why so many people refuse to acknowledge Sakura as one). She knows about Sasuke’s likes, his dislikes, his techniques, his style of fighting, his ambitions, his mannerisms, his way of thinking - you know, his actual personality and character. That’s what actually makes you “know” someone. Being privy to the specific truth about one aspect of someone’s past doesn’t mean you know that person.

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"Hinata is prettier than Sakura!"

Okay that's your opinion. Hinata is cute, but I just think Sakura is prettier.

"All the boys agree that Hinata is better!"

Okay, that's nice. My opinion doesn't revolve around what dudes think 🥴