#‘WBY’s character arcs are complete!’

[yangscowlick]

I still think my biggest bummer with V9 is that — by the logic of the Ever After — episode 4 established that WBY didn’t need to be there. And the speeches they give to their shadow-selves are ones they could have given three volumes ago.

[bestworstcase]

& as heart-wrenching as it is, i think ruby being able to say the words “i don’t want to be me anymore” is also like. it’s been true for a long time, and it’s awful, but before she can fix it she had to let herself see it, and to see it she had to say it. (and i have some nascent thoughts bubbling about neo being the one who ‘saves’ her from the cat—not in the sense that neo intends to rescue her, but thematically it does matter that the character who rips the cat off of ruby’s chest is the character that the cat then eats; there’s a narrative foundation here for ruby to return the favor by saving neo from the cat. or helping neo save herself from the cat, more likely.)

(<- the villain eaten by the story and the hero eaten by the story.)

and—while the allegory is not subtle at all—that it’s coming right after an episode that overtly rejected the notion of ascension being equivalent to death and portrayed wby as heroic in their immediate unconditional support for the paper pleasers’ desire to ascend… the relative locations of these two narrative beats isn’t accidental. the tree does not kill, it resurrects. the suicide allegory hinges on the deliberate narrative uncertainty about what ruby thinks ascension is: why does she drink the tea? what is she asking for? jaune imagines death, neo annihilation, but the paper pleasers say “we are delicate. our world is very fragile. we wish to become more resilient so that we can build something that will survive.” (<- ruby promised to serve atlas and keep people safe. her predicament is the same as theirs.)

is the distinction meaningful? <- a question i somewhat expect the next episode to interrogate. i mean the answer is yes, obviously, wanting to die is very different from wanting to change, but the thematic arc up to this point has been constructed by conflation of the two through the characters’ shifting perceptions; is the tree change or is it death, is it good or bad, does it kill or revitalize. irrespective of what ruby herself thinks, she chose to ascend and the tree answered her, so the threads will obviously get teased apart as we follow what that means for her. (and for little. true ascension vs whatever the ever after can offer ruby is something i’m really interested to see.)

practically speaking, ruby can’t lose her memories—or, not forever/not completely. (i do think a scenario where like, the tree takes her memories and then reveals them to her, a very literal change in perspective, is a significant possibility. what if you could leave ruby rose behind? what if you could see her through a stranger’s eyes? what might you think of her then? the thing about shedding an old coat is you can always put it on again. and if the coat is falling apart, of course, you do need to take it off before you can stitch it back together. how literal a metaphor are we looking at here.)

likewise i doubt very much that she’s going to drastically transform. (wardrobe change, reforged weapon, brushing off her bumps and bruises, yes; radically altered physical nature, no.) largely because her physical form is fine as she is—at no point has ruby been troubled by the limitations of her body—and the transformation she needs is spiritual in nature. if it ain’t broke… and what’s broken is her spirit, her emotional well-being.

which leaves, like, okay. you don’t want to be yourself anymore. what do you want to be instead? nothing isn’t an option. the tree cannot provide nothing. (that’s what the jabberwalker is for.) there needs to be something. you can’t think of anything? not one singular thing you want to keep? not even the tiniest spark of light in all this darkness? alright. turn around and look again. tilt the mirror, look again. what do you want? what do you really want, deep down where you’ve never let anyone else see? look at that. now look again. look for what’s true in this unreal place. if you can’t see what’s in front of you, look again. what do you want to be?

[astraskylark]

Even though the op shows WBY while Ruby stands till, this ep showed that girls are clearly not alright yet.

We saw Weiss regressing back to being irritable(twas amazing but for the sake of analysis we take it seriously)

Yang was back to making jokes, completely moving past how she froze when jinxy dropped the "know how it feels to be loved"

Blake being paranoid about the implications of being a protagonist, worried about following the script laid out in front of them

And Ruby.... Well we can all see she's not doing okay

And from the conversation between Ruby and Weiss...

Ruby doesn't even try to reassure Weiss that it wasn't their fault cause she wholeheartedly believes it was their fault. Weiss has it finally sink in that she has lost a second home now, after Beacon.

Her line " Maybe they saved them, despite us". two are convinced that none of this would have happened if it weren't for them.

When Weiss tries to approach the topic of Penny, Ruby just turns away cause she can't even begin to talk about it yet, can't make herself vulnerable yet. Sure, she delivered the equivalent of a eulogy to the soldiers but she isn't even close to accepting it yet right?

It kinda feels like the volume is setting us up for a lot of character arcs here. Weiss maybe realising that home was never a place, it was always in the people around her, Yang finally realising that she is very much loved and confronting her self sacrificial tendencies, Blake coming into her own, not having to follow a path laid but to find the courage to walk a new one. And Ruby. Knowing the world is bitter and will hurt you, and it's okay to feel it all.

Bruh I'm rambling I have so many thoughts I need to lie down also I can't for wait for Weiss' reaction when she turns little in the next ep, she might just burst a blood vessel

[phoenix-fell]

RWBY emotions and the stages of grief

Okay, hear me out and I’m sorry this is a long one but I’m just a bit intrigued by the emotions of our girls and how they’re being shown. (And a little tired of RWDE folk ripping it to shreds for the comedic outputs). I do feel like the girls mildly symbolise 4/5 of the stages of grief - which I’ll weave in throughout.

We have an obvious loss of innocence/purity and hope from Ruby - which I think is going to be especially interesting in the next couple of episodes, because while Blake has taken the reigns a little here and there, we know that WBY get shrunk and it’s going to force Ruby back into carrying her team (literally).

I quite liked in the last episode just how detached Ruby is from everything; from not noticing the Bees flirting, to not really engaging with the fact Yang is looking for her arm at the auction, to after the auction when she’s just completely oblivious to everyone’s conversation and focused on the sword. I think CRWBY have done a great job of framing her as isolated and detached, or ‘Depression’ - seeing as she speed-ran the first 3 grief stages.

Weiss, though, I feel might be just as interesting. She was framed alongside Ruby when the Bees were having a pun-off. She’s been thrust forward as the comic relief as she struggles to understand the world around her. I know Ruby is heading for a breakdown, but I don’t think Weiss is far behind. 

Since the beginning, she’s been ‘Defiance’, a carefully put-together character who likes to be in control of the situation. But now, it’s not just that she’s somewhere unfamiliar; their entire plan fell apart, she watched her friend die in front of her, she has no home, no school, no idea whether she saved anyone and no idea how to get out of the world she’s been dropped into. When the cracks start to show, she’s often framed without her face, because she’s still keeping so much inside, trying to regain control whilst trying to process the fact she has nothing to go back to in Remnant. She’s had blatant evidence to suggest she’s in a fairy tale, but remains in ‘Denial’. Because, if she is, she can’t control that, right? She’s just walking through someone else’s story.

I feel like Yang has been extra ‘brawler’ the last couple of episodes which I feel is because her go-to is to exude strength in these types of situations, it’s her coping mechanism. The first time we see her she bursts into the scene throwing rocks at the Jabberwalker, her first interaction is an outburst because she failed to keep her sister safe and at the auction it’s clear she’s pissed at the Racoon, possibly because losing her arm is so inherently tied to her ability to fight and keep people safe. She seems to reflect ‘Anger’. 

While Blake might just be coming out of a cocoon of character development - if she’s pushing forward a Bumbleby arc then I have to believe that feral Blake at the end of last season was when something snapped, but she’s having an easier time remaining composed because ultimately, the worst DID happen - and then she found Yang again, she has a second chance, away, removed from the chaos and war of the world they’ve fallen from and now has a second to breathe and let herself feel. Blake finds comfort in being in a story she knows, because she’s learned the moral of it, and wants to avoid the pit-falls that Alyx did - essentially, ‘Bargain’ her way through to a happier outcome.

I feel like either Ruby’s, Jaune’s, or Neo’s arcs (or maybe even all three, or everyone’s) will inevitably lead to Acceptance. Whether that’s accepting the loss of their loved one, accepting the love of others, accepting your own feelings, that you can’t always be the hero/save everyone or accepting you won’t always be in control.

[lipeg]

Jaune is a terrible character

I like him but he had a terrible development.

Now that RT has closed and the question remains who will want to take the risk, stay with Rwby and still have to pay Warner.

Warner is in bad legs, full of debts to pay.

It was revealed by a profile that Rwby is not making a profit unfortunately he didn't give data which would be very important but said that volume 9 had no money to be made and that it was a loan... Well the studio closed.

I believe it has already happened that good studios have closed but... are usually closed because of greed or "Woker"

Japan studios Play Station

About Jaune, he has a lot of problems.

His past is non-existent, we will not have any information about his parents or your other sisters.

He forged documents to get into Beacon, but there's a big problem with this story called Glynda, she would have noticed something wrong with it.

The worst part is that we don't know how big the Arc family was. Why are the only known family members Saphron, who has nothing to show, and Jaune.

V4 and V5 showed almost everyone's family.

It showed Ren's family who died and Nora's mother who died.

There was also "Pyrrha's mother"

But we didn't have a picture of his family.

That drawing showing him and his sisters doesn't count.

He is taking too long to evolve and I still don't see reason for him to go to Mistral and Atlas.

Why did he lose trust in Ozpin, Lion betrayed his kingdom and sold the hunters' location. Of the 4 Headmaster, Ozpin is carefree and paranoid, Lion is a coward, James he went crazy but still wanted to save the world, Teodoro... I don't know much about.

If it weren't for him, Weiss would have died, but I still don't see a reason for him to go, he's terrible in battle. It's still bad but he's not terrible.

I find it incredible that his parents never came after him.

IT'S YOUR SON WHO IS MISSING! They probably knew where he was.

V9 already been "confirmed" that has not been paid. They took out a loan to make the V9 and apparently they didn't pay it.

I wish, I had the data, but I don't. It was the same thing Sony did with the sales figures for Marvel Spider-Man Miles Morales, they only came because of a leak.

Proving that Peter Parker sells more than Miles.

Rusted Knight... The idea is cool, I read a little of the book and at the end and the idea is cool.

A warrior trapped in his own armor, obsessed with the desire to be a knight.

As I said, the idea is good but... Excursion is bad.

None of my experiences were surpassed, in fact they were all frustrated. As much as I liked the idea of an older Jaune, I wish he was more serious, even angrier. He looks like an idiot and a crying baby.

I want the Rusted Knight and Jaune were two separate figures.

Rusted Knight appeared because Jaune's armor was cursed and he couldn't take it off and he had no control over his body and his conscience got stuck in his own head.

In the final battle, he would free himself with the help of Team WBY and show his berserker side.

It would be a big change to the character.

But unfortunately it didn't happen.

About revenge against Cinder.

The only ones who came close to killing her were Jaune and Winter.

Those damn silver eyes don't help, and Cinder has a damn Grimm arm that makes her suffer a lot.

I just hope whoever buys RWBY develops more other characters.

Sun, Velvet, Glynda, Tai Yang, fuck even Cardin. They have the potential to be good characters.

Avatar Last Airbender. The episode The Storm develops Aang and Zuko at the same time but from a completely different point of view. Aang tells his past to Karata and Iroh reveals Zuko's past to his soldiers who understands Zuko's point of view.

And famous episode Zuko alone.

No, because the work is called RWBY, the world revolves around them.

Just take the Baki work, in many Baki sagas secondary characters get a lot of prominence. Sumo Saga Oliva has been humiliatingly defeated and is back for revenge.

Jack Hanma has his own saga in Baki Rahen. Where the protagonist of the work is called Baki Hanma.

It is ridiculous to say that just because a work or series has the name of the protagonist, it must focus only on the protagonist.

I'll wait for what happened with RWBY and I had the V10, I am going to pretend madness and pretend that the V10 never happened like the remake of Avatar the legend of Aang.

[itsclydebitches]

I think the only way to make sense of the new episode is that the conflict about the paper pleasers is how all the characters would react about Penny's death if they knew what Jaune did. WBY comforting Jaune that they and Penny would've wanted this (they're less than human after all). Ruby lashing out at everyone else despite both things (the villager's deaths and Penny's) being her fault. Jaune blaming Ruby but he was the one who forced the villagers to suicide and assisted Penny's.

You know, I've been so distracted by all the other Big Events of this Volume - the bees are confirmed, a whole village happily dies, Ruby is having a meltdown - that I kinda forgot about the whole Penny issue? It only hit me again in the middle of Jaune's grief when he was talking (paraphrased) about how he was the only one who could 'do it.' As you say, there are ways of trying to make sense of this episode "if they knew what Jaune did".... but they presumably don't? I say "presumably" because RWBY drives me up the wall with how often very important information is conveyed to characters off screen, leaving us in the dark about how much was explained and in what way - especially in a show where people keeping secrets/manipulating information is a recurring theme. We've now had two major time skips where Penny's death presumably could have come up: when WBY were catching up after Ruby's faint, and while the girls were filling Jaune in after he rescues them from the first Jabberwalker attack. I don't think Ruby, Yang, and Blake know the full story about Penny yet because HOW could Ruby possibly have a go at Jaune without bringing that up... but I can't be sure.

Which puts the whole episode in an even weirder light for me. Again, is the moral of this that Jaune needs to learn to let people die when they ask that of him? Regardless of the writer's thematic perspective, the characters should have wildly different opinions on that and it's weird that they were allowed to remain ignorant when that all came to a head. It's weirder still that one of our characters isn't ignorant (Weiss) and yet that's had no bearing on her actions this episode.

Weiss, the one person who knows Jaune killed Penny to keep the Maiden powers safe, watching him desperately try to protect innocent, non-human people that are clearly a stand-in for her after decades of isolation from his world: 'He's gone off the deep end, huh?'

I can forgive Ruby, Yang, and Blake ignoring Jaune's cryptic comment/not following up with a, 'Wait, what did you do?' because at that point the fight was starting in earnest and everyone was too wrapped up in themselves. But that just implies that this will have to come out before the end of the Volume which is in... three episodes? The meat of this Volume really only started when Jaune arrived (because of course it did), which means we essentially only have half of an already short season to cover a LOT of stuff: learn the secrets of Alyx and Lewis, figure out the Jabberwalker, defeat it, defeat Neo, fix Jaune (presumably), reconcile the team, semi-conclude Ruby's grief arc, finish things with the Cat, with Little, discover something to help with Salem so this isn't complete filler, get to the tree, establish if they can use the tree, get home. Even if we take into account RWBY's tendency to speed-run through an insane amount of plot in a single scene (here's the introduction of the Staff, how it works, its limitations, and your brilliant loophole all in one go), that's too much to juggle, on top of this, "So... when are they going to learn the truth about Penny and grapple with that?" question. Remember how after Volume 8 the fandom (quite rightly) was going, "Wow! It's going to be a lot for Ruby to deal with Penny's death and the knowledge that Jaune caused it" but seven episodes in she still only has half the information and is only just reaching her breaking point in regards to that. Learning it was Jaune should be another huge setback in a story that hasn't even had her grapple with the first one yet. It honestly makes me wonder if RT is planning to stretch Ever After into a two Volume affair...

[onewomancitadel]

I may have made this post before somewhere in the bowels of my storied #cindemption tag but the great thing about the Omelas yardstick is that not just in respect to Rhodes but actually on a metatextual level if you're 'not' supposed to feel sympathy for Cinder during Midnight, then the story failed the Omelas test. And I can walk away from Omelas

If this is completely nonsense to you, please go read The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin; it's very short and elegant, and seems pretty specifically invoked in respect to Cinder and Volume 8 more generally (maybe even Penny and Winter, honestly). It's available on a websearch quite easily - a link to a .pdf is one of the first results.

(Sorry, I'm never going to shut up about this specific thing in Cinder's character arc and R/WBY more generally because it's the ultimate intersection of all my interests).

[ironwoodprotectionsquad]

Rwby ost was always funny af because most of the time songs do a better job at developing characters than the show itself.

And of course add the weird gap between the songs that play and the scene they are inserted into.

Like "Be strong and hit stuff" plays during Ironwood vs Everyone for... some reason. "Chatterbox" (a song about Neo and Curuous Cat internally fighting) plays during Jabberwalkers vs WBY for... some reason. And let's not forget "Red like roses 2" playing during RWBY and JNPR vs Nevermore.

Like... at this point I'm not surprised "Guide my way" has nothing to do with vol9 plot nor Rubys arc in the said vol🤷‍♀️

The RW/BY soundtrack certainly makes....choices. Some songs are good across all 9 soundtracks and others are....their. Overall though I tend to not like it when the songs have lyrics during the battles as for me they can distract from the battle itself with wanting to try and listen to the lyrics because as you said, so often the songs do more of the heavy lifting for characterizing the characters and actually giving us insight into their thoughts and feelings.

But on the other hand so often the songs and their placement makes no sense to what is happening thematically. Unfortunately Guide My Way falls into this trap which is unfortunately because we've been so long due for a song that really focuses on Ruby and Guide My Way...falls kind of flat. (TW suicide and attempted suicide discussions below)

I remember when we first heard the notes from Red like Roses I got goosebumps I was so excited and I loved it and it had my hyped for the whole song...but I've realized I don't like anything but that little instrumental section before the lyrics "Red like roses fills my dreams" that is the best part of the song....and its just Red like Roses. But more importantly the lyrics....don't make sense.

I'm begging, can you Guide my way out Of this place?

This song is what plays when Ruby is supposed to be "finding herself" and regaining her confidence in herself. It doesn't make sense for the lyrics to be begging for guidance. If the volume ended with Ruby still in an emotionally shaky place sure the lyrics could work.

Ruby does chose herself realizing her loved ones would miss her and love her because she is her despite her flaws. However she still feels guilty and lost and clearly needs time to heal. The lyrics then have a duel meaning of seeking both guidance in the physical sense and the emotional sense. However that's not what the show went with so the lyrics go against everything the show is claiming is supposed to be Ruby's arc.

Will I ever be (complete)? When will I become all of me?

Again confusing because this is supposed to be Ruby's finding herself and choosing herself moment....why is she asking if she will ever be complete? As I've said it makes no sense for Ruby to in this moment be having these thoughts, the big thing is she should be feel confident in herself and her abilities again and the show has no indication that Ruby is feeling anything but self assured and confident so the song implying otherwise is odd to me.

Your memory ever-lasting at war with my foolish pride What is left?

The foolish pride part is....admittedly kind of frustrating. All last volume the girls all insisted that they where doing the right thing and never really questioned the morality of their actions. The other make sure to tell Ruby when she doubts their actions that that is just thinking like the super duper evil Ironwood and we can't have that. The show has repeatedly slapped us in the face with the fact that Ruby is totes super perfect and is elevating her to this honestly creepy god like status.

This line teases a story line so many people have wanted to see of Ruby actually acknowledging her faults and failures and growing and improving as a person. Unfortunately this does not happen. The mains continue to act as if they can do no wrong and refuse to sit down and reflect on their actions.

I know it's you and I, when I look inside I'll be who you were and I'll be even more

Again, this is supposed to be about Ruby "choosing herself" why is this song that should be about the moment she did in fact choose herself declaring that Ruby will be who her mother was and given that one of the major things that broke her was this expectation that she would solve everything and was perfect and always happy all the time, having her declare she'll be even more feels....tone deaf is the best word I can think for it.

Cr/wby pretended to write this story about a girl carrying the weight of the world and crumbling under the pressure of it all. But then this song is having her declare after breaking that she would be "even more". Pretending that a person who broke under the pressure would turn around and enforce the pedestal they where put on is absolutely insane to me. Just the callousness of it all especially with how Ruby's break was handled.

Cr/wby had Ruby try to end her life. They had her drink tea that she thought would kill her with Neo telling her the world would be better off without her. Neo broke her by reminding her of her faults and failures and made her think the world would be better off without her. Instead of recognizing this pedestal she was being put on was hurting her, they instead reinforced said pedestal and made sure she know how worthy she was of the pedestal putting her realistically in the exact same situation as she was in before.

I am the reflection of who prevails I'm what inspired the fairytale

As stated above, this is just once again putting Ruby further up on a pedestal and giving her this honestly creepy god like status in how she's being revered and inspiring fairytales. It doesn't make any sense to me and it's frustrating how careless CR/WBY has been with this entire arc.

(I can guide me, I can guide my way out) Guide my way out Of this place

"I can guide me" feels almost like an afterthought that was thrown in at the end to me at least. Why is this line a background line if its supposed to be the moment Ruby fully realizes she is enough? Why not have I can guide my way out be the final line of the song? If the song is supposed to be Ruby's entire emotional journey throughout the volume it doesn't convey well at all given how this feels like such an afterthought. If its supposed to be all about how Ruby has found herself it also falls extremely flat.

Sorry to go on a massive tangent their but I had thoughts lolz.

[invested-in-your-future]

I wanted to know your opinion on WBY's epiphany in v9 ep. It seems like the show wants to present that their character arcs have been completed and they're fully realized hunters now, but imo there wasn't enough consistent development leading up to that. If anything, Weiss' relevancy in v7-8, aka the Atlas arc, her homeland, was pretty underwhelming. And Yang... It might be just me, but I comprehended her line as "Suffering is what made me stronger and therefore I wouldn't have changed a thing" and if that's what she meant, it's not a good message by any means.

The issue is that RT believes to have completed their arc but there's not really even an arc to be found for those characters.

V3 set up the issues for all the characters.

The show then kind of stood still not doing anything with them

And then V9 proudly proclaimed that everything is fine and trauma isn't real.

The "My traumatic experiences don't define me but I grew stronger overcoming them" can be a positive message IF THE SHOW HAS SHOWN the said overcoming and growth. It Hasn't. The show, via Taiyang and Professor Sexual Harassment told Yang that PTSD is like moping and fear of rats and to shut up and go search for Ruby. Then Yang spent all the rest of her screentime being vaguely angry at things like she always did. And that's it. Where is the arc? where's the growth? You can cut out all the seasons between 3 and 9 and nothing changes in terms of her character.

As I outlined before its actually one of crucial issues why the final scene with them cheering Ruby up doesn't work. Weiss arc is hanging somewhere barely having started (and the key elements of it are gone already), Yang's arc never started and Blake outright doesn't have an arc now.

Even relationship-wise, V3 set-up for Blake and Yang and their issues still has no pay off. They even killed a man(a someone that is the SOURCE OF THEIR TRAUMA) together and that has never been addressed.

At this point RWBY is the show where all the interesting or important things are offscreen or have never happened.

[19-bellwether]

I've been pirating RWBY since a friend asked to watch it with me, but I've avoided speaking much about it since I don't want to get pulled deep into the fandom again. But I'm going to break the silence this once because this last episode annoyed me.

This is the fourth time a female character has been maimed or killed for Jaune's development.

While I can accept Pyrrha for being the first occurrence and being better written, the instances with Weiss, Penny, and now Ruby have become worse each time. This one especially grinds me because focusing on Jaune's pain is exactly what made Ruby run away in the first place. I absolutely did not want to watch five minutes of Jaune rehashing a lesson he's learned multiple times just so WBY can smile and hug as if Ruby didn't kill herself in front of them.

I still don't think Jaune should have been there in the first place. His arc was already complete, but the writers relapsed him using Penny's death just for the sake of prolonging his relevance. I hated when he fell at the end of the V8, and my fears that he'd usurp time and development again came true. Blake hasn't said anything about Ruby yelling at her. Weiss hasn't had a character arc at all.

Like we had two volumes with a massive scope that left little time to focus on the main characters. This volume should have let us revisit plot lines and relationships that were put on hold, but all we got were bumbleby and Ruby angst. Which are great! But where are the other team dynamics? Where are the echoes of their past character arcs? It's a shame the volume built for character study is not seizing the opportunity to its fullest.

I'm not going to beat around the bush. I don't like Jaune and it's ridiculous that the one chance to develop Team RWBY in a volume with a small, singular scope has gone unfulfilled. I want him out of the show, and for the show to actually focus on its title characters.

[doomalade]

There's a lot I can forgive RWBY for. I was ready to forgive them for their mishandling of nuts n dolts, especially once they brought penny back. I can forgive them for bumbleby's weirdness, as it was actually pretty well done for the most part. But what I cannot forgive. Is them taking Joan of Arc, one of my personal heroes and an absolute badass, and turning her into a whiny bitch boy whose story has nothing to do with her. He is responsible for the most deaths, all of them women being fridged for the occasional flavor addition to his nothingburger of a story. Literally why are we even supposed to root for him? The most we know about his past is that he's a liar. (got into beacon via false papers) Literally even salem is easier to root for than jaune because at least she has some sort of tragic motivation of losing a lover that people can actually relate to! I've tried to get into rwby several times and every time, the black hole that is jaune singlehandedly dragging the story down is what either mostly or completely ruins it. (I've got problems with Oscar too, but that's a story for a different rant) I'm starting to think people are right about RWBY being a Shonen because it has a fucking misogyny problem, and that problem's name is Jaune Arc.

Omg thank you!

This is exactly my feelings on why Jaune is so disgusting as a character.

RT took Joan of Arc, a historical figure, a symbol of feminism, who led a Holy War and is an important person in French history and overall is a current symbol of bravery and leadership.

Jaune is a clueless loser who lied to get into Beacon and only got somewhat good at fighting because Pyrrha had to baby him.

And then Pyrrha dies for Jaune’s character.

And then Weiss gets impaled for Jaune’s character.

And then Penny is killed by Jaune for Jaune’s character.

And then Jaune takes up even more screen time (the Jaundice arc took over half of the total time of V1 btw)

And then RT had the fucking balls to make Jaune accuse Ruby of being selfish and instead of being pissed at Jaune, WBY hug him because his paper people that he enslaved became rocks???

Joan is a symbol of feminism

And Jaune is a symbol of misogyny

I mean look at the people associated with his character

Miles “I like watching women kiss” Luna and the lunatic Jaune Stans that have attacked me for 3 weeks for pointing out that Ilia is a lesbian.

Jaune Arc needs to die

He should have died before the show even started

What a horrible and ugly and disgusting character

[dragynkeep]

love the assumption that rwde just didn't get r*byn just like we didn't get the white fang arc because we're all racist misogynists. it doesn't reek of poc and afab erasure at all.

also loving the irony of a r//wby fan acting like rwde can't understand something as thematically simple as robin hood. never mind that several different rwde blogs broke down why r*byn doesn't work, specifically in relation to her allusion. like no you bowl of soggy cheerios, we understand what RT thinks they were doing, but they failed spectacularly. the issue isn't that she's against ironwood (are you fucking kidding me? that was the reason i was excited for her and v//7) or that she's robbing atlas in and of itself (if only we saw her do it more often. not only would it make her feel less useless to the plot, it would give opportunities for bits of worldbuilding and also heists are very cool and sexy), the issue is that she's a privileged, borderline racist asshole who's put on a pedestal in-universe and out. and they butchered her allusion. seriously. how do you fuck up robin hood, anyway? oh wait, i know! make them a fucking politician who patronizes minorities, throws tantrums when they don't get their way, and is incapable of making decent decisions. anyway i'd still take sienna over r*byn even if RT fucked up her character and made her an eviler adam without the incel. a violent extremist asshole is infinitely sexier than a preachy white savior.

yeah like i’m sorry if in order to “get” robyn, you have to ignore how she as a character not only massively fails in representing her allusion both in design & characterization but how she just. fails at being an interesting character in general.

she steals from atlas to give to nobody. she whines & complains about what ironwood does & demands to be in the know without offering a hand out herself, which while “understandable” in the derived context of mantle, also just makes her massively hypocritical. none of her backup team are likeable, we have them on screen bullying the civillians they’re meant to be protecting, something we barely see them do btw. & her chair throwing moment reads less as a leader who’s reached the end of her rope because her people are being ignored by the council as a whole  —  not just ironwood, who the story will conveniently forget has the least amount of power in regards to the treatment of mantle —  & reads more as a petulant grown woman throwing a temper tantrum.

not to mention how her perpetual temper tantrums end up causing more harm than good: they do nothing to endear the council, nothing to help with jacques, actively make the situation on the cargo plane with clover, tyrian & qrow worse. i’m not seeing robyn as a leader at the end of her rope, i’m seeing a toddler.

& this hasn’t even touched the weird ass way she handles her saviour approach to mantle, which ignores the explicit troubles & enslavement of the faunus  —  alongside some weird appropriation / misdirection of “bare your teeth” that had us thinking she & her huntresses, at least some of them would be faunus  —  only to then have her explicitly other faunus when she humansplains to marrow.

there are many issues with robyn & yes, while some dudebros will hate her just because she’s an outspoken wahmen  —  ironically ignoring those dudebros are the exact audience rooster teeth themselves cultivated for over a decade  —  most rwde posters do not in fact dislike her for this apparent facet of her character. willful ignorance to this just completely devalues their point.

[beetletricks]

Ruby’s Ever After Plotline Possibly relies on Volume 9(Ever After) and 10(Ever After in Vacuo)

A.K.A why we aren’t getting to the Vacuo Capital until Volume 11

Something I misunderstood is that Ruby has yet to realize that her taking the burden on her own is an issue despite being halfway through Volume 9

so we only on the first stage of her arc and it doesn’t seem like it will be solved even by the end of this volume 

I think the reason this volume is beloved is not because its the completion of her arc but rather invokes a ton of emotion 

For example, maybe its more to invoke that Ruby’s team saves her this volume and she in turns saves them

Takeru saved Kairi who was able to then save the day in Digimon 02

Jaiden despite being the Surpreme King in Season 3 ended up saving the day at the end of the season

But something connecting both of these is that both Jaiden’s and Hikari didn’t get that 

“Personal Moment” where they truly learned the lesson

Hikari was still closed off 

And Jaiden, despite defeating Yubel and saving all his friends still suffered from what happened 

It is for this reason I hope Little stays for Volume 10 since I believe she’s really important to Ruby’s arc regarding her personal emotions. 

I assume some of these characters would appear again for a cameo but I assumed it would be the final volume 

Though with the way things are going they’ll likely do a Digimon Adventure Season 1 Second half or Centuarworld Season 2 where the other worlders come to the human realm..

With rather than doing missions like in Atlas, the gang has to round up the fairy tales perhaps simply as a change of pace decided 

In essence, Volume 9 focuses on the theme of 

Acknowledgment 

-this connects to the Caterpillar is stating who Ruby is 

“  Ruby acknowledgeing that WBY indeeds wanted to help her and that they are people she should trust and rely on for help instead of succumbing to a defeatist “this is my life now” attitude.

At the same time, however, it’s still not a perfect solution

So Volume 10′s theme will be more about 

THE ABILITY TO CHANGE

especially with other similar things going on

-Vacuo and Atlesians trying to work together in the refugee settlement 

-Nora and Ren dealing with the consequences of Jaune and how it affects him 

-Emerald being afraid of going to Vacuo capital since she probably doesn’t know what to say to Mercury 

ETC.  

But most of all having Ruby founding new motivation for her fight similar to how Ozpin found motivation in the first maidens 

THE REASON I DONT THINK WILL SEE THE VACUO CAPITAL UNTIL VOLUME 10′s ending is BECAUSE VOLUME 10 Still NEEDS RUBY AS THE MAIN FOCUS RATHER THAN VELVET OR THE SUMMER MAIDEN....especially to deal with the Ever After aftermath that Neo probably caused

[mean-and-rwde]

Volume 9 thoughts

[Spoilers, possibly]

[Rambling ahead]

I don't want to throw out all hope that V9 won't be absolute ""filler"", but it clashes too hard with the high emotions of the V8 finale.

If V8 was trying to be V3 (it failed), then I guess one could say V9 is like V4.

Except V4, while personally being one of my lesser-favorite volumes, does a nice bridge between the absolute chaos of the V3 finale to the V5 chaos. It's slower, a lot more dialogue heavy, and yet manages to remain somewhat true to canon without breaking it too much.

V9, however, looks to be a V1 - V2 ish theme but definitely not nearly as light hearted. I mean, they look to be in fucking wonderland (I heard it's called the Ever After, which is not much better, in my opinion). We've got talking mice among possibly other wild scenarios.

Meanwhile in Remnant (? I don't think Ever After is part of Remnant, I don't know tho):

- Atlas has become Atlantis (to quote my brother, who I guess heard it from a review somewhere?)

- Everyone who didn't fall into The Void / died when Atlas fell is now in Vacuo, the last standing kingdom.

- Vacuo is already very much struggling with what the citizens have. Now what's left of an entire kingdom has been dumped in as well.

- Salem has 2 / 4 relics needed to end the world and is on her way to Vacuo, where the last relic is being held.

- Cinder is still here. Like a damn cockroach

Side rant: I'm sorry, I just don't care for her anymore. I miss V1 - V3 Cinder, who was a legitimate threat and actually scary. Now she's an villain who is funniest when she fails. When I see her now, the sense of dread is more like "ugh this bitch again" instead of before where I was like "oh shit she's back what is she gonna do now?".

Adding her backstory in V7 (or was it V8? I literally can't remember) did nothing for me. It was way too on the nose, there was nothing subtle about it. And the song playing was basically beating the audience over the head with what was happening. It's too late to give her backstory, now it's completely unnecessary. It means nothing. And she has resorted to relying on the maiden powers in fights, makimg her fights boring and monotonous.

Also in Remnant:

- A shit ton of people fell into the void

- Penny is dead. Again. But permanently.

Meanwhile:

Our mains are in some weird wonderland like world where I'm guessing Neo somehow already has what looks like some sort of gang (in the intro, she's seen drinking tea with a bunch of shadowy people behind her).

There's also the mystery girl, who may have something to do with Ruby.

The intro hints that Ruby has become far more depressed and not nearly as hopeful as she once was. In the beginning, we see her as she transitions between her outfits over the volumes, while her emblem slowly fades.

While her team is running through various scenes, Ruby is dragging her feet, noticeably falling behind everyone else.

I hope this actually goes somewhere and makes Ruby + WBY + Jaune realize that they (especially Ruby) haven't made the best decisions as of late.

I haven't seen Episode 1, but I've heard some bits and pieces of it and I'm generally not thrilled. I know it's only the first episode, but I'm really not down for this whole wonderland shenanigans thing when the real world of Remnant is in danger of literally ending.

I don't know, it really feels like how when the White Fang arc was abruptly cut short and dropped (rip most of Blake's character). Things have gotten too heavy and too much, so the writers cut to something else entirely.

In this case, something comedic (or at least trying to be)

A / N 1: Apparently there's a con-man raccoon called Jinxy who is very... Stereotyped and racist. I have not seen this character, but from what I've heard... I don't think I want to know.

[sapphic-sustrai]

Every time someone says “E/merald’s redemption arc feels rushed, it was bad, it felt lazy, etc...” it takes years off my life.

Newsflash to all of you donkeys in the FNDM, her redemption arc just started. V8 was the start of E/merald’s redemption arc, it’s not even close to being finished. You can criticize how it’s been handled so far, but stop judging it as if it’s a completed character arc.

And another thing, R/WBY & co. haven’t fully accepted E/merald as part of the group, they’re not “best buddies” and I don’t think they even fully trust her yet. Currently, they’re working together with E/merald against a common enemy. The group is willing to only place a little bit of trust in her right now.

I really don’t know how else to explain this because it should be something that’s pretty easy to grasp. But I’m clearly expecting too damn much.

[yourdesertsunflower]

Boruto did a disservice to Temari

Sorry, in anticipation I warn you, this will be long. 

Okay, okay. I love Temari. She is my favorite kunoichi, I love each and everyone of her appearances in Naruto and Naruto Shippuden, I watched all filler that she was on, and I even have her on my avatar. So, yes, this by no means is to hate on the character but to actually show how Boruto writers completely misunderstood her. 

I’ll always love her character, but I got to admit I am not okay at all with somethings they are making her do in the Boruto’s anime. And no, it’s not because she moved to Konoha, or decided to take mainly the role a housewife (a bloody difficult job if you ask me) because I frankly couldn’t care less of any of that if she is happy. I really think that Shikamaru and Shikadai make her genuinely happy and that’s all I want for her. She had went from so much shit that I only want to see her feeling value and loved, that’s the least she deserves and her husband and son give her that. 

The problem is that, in most of her characterization in Boruto, I hardly see that Temari we got to know and love in the anime and manga of Naruto. Now when we get to see her in her recurring role in Boruto she is capitalized by her writers as a joke of the “crazy wife and mother that would rather hit you with your fan than having a civilized talk and will be angry twenty-four seven with no apparent reason.” 

And that, my friends, is not Temari. At least not the Temari I grew to love in Naruto.

Through this post I’ll try to explain why I think that that portrayal of the abusive housewife and mother that they give her in most of Nara Family moments in the Boruto manga, and specially the anime, is (in point of view) completely mislead. It had become clear to me, through my time watching the show, that Boruto writers are clearly not even trying to understand Temari’s character and how they are using her as a recurring joke rather than considering her as a real three-dimensional character. And I despise them for that same reason. 

So, without more vacillation, I’ll get started. 

1. Who is Temari?

Before venturing into everything that is wrong about the characterization of Temari in Boruto and trying to pin point when this actually started to happen, I would like to see deeper into Temari’s character. I think it’s only wby understanding her character previously from Boruto that we will actually understand how inconsistent is her writing in the show. 

I decided to base my analysis of Temari’s character in the Naruto series in two key aspects: an overarching analysis of Temari’s character profile using the Myres Briggs Personality Types and the Enneagram and in pin-pointing will pin point some specific moments of characterization in the manga of Naruto that show her character. 

Before starting with the analysis, I want to be clear about why I use the Myers Briggs Personality Types and the Enneagram in my analysis of Temari. I really don’t usually tend to care for the function of neither of those test in real life (if you do I am perfectly fine with it, it’s just something I don’t do myself) but I think they can be great tools for any author to understand better the behavior, desires and motivations behind their characters. I personally do this in my work and I highly recommend it for any other writer out there. 

Remember, this is my own personal analysis and I’ll tell you when my opinion differs from the majority, I’ll justify everything said in my analysis, and I’ll leave links to every info that I give you. 

Well, speaking specifically about Temari. Who is she? What she wants? Why she wants it? What she’ll do to achieve it? What she really needs? Which is her fear?

This between others are questions that any author or actor has to ask themselves when they are writing their characters. It’s a question of giving the character depth, making it seem “like a living breathing human-being.” 

Kishimoto state it in the most bluntly, yet efficient ways, when he presented Team Seven by making Kakashi ask them about their likes, dislikes and dreams. Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke’s response reflect all this questions even though they are not saying it directly. I won’t analyse this respective scene, because if not this will be really long, but I promise to do it sometime in the future. 

Well using the Myers Briggs Personality and Enneagram Test we can get to full-picture of these questions. Myers Briggs Personality test will tell us who the character is in it’s core; how they’ll behave, how they’ll face a situation and their outllook of life. The Enneagram on the other side show us their wants and needs, what they long to archieve and their fears. 

In the case of Temari I would classify her as an ENTJ but,her most common classification is ESTJ and a 8w9 as her Enneagram. If you want me to explain why I think she is an ENTJ an not a ESTJ (thoiugh I’ll construct my case over ESTJ) just ask for it cause I’ll be more than happy to do it. But for now, and in order not to make it way longer than it will already be I’ll focus on Te (Extraverted Thinking) and Fi (Introverted Feelings) both functions that both types share as their primary and inferior function respectively and will be key for my analysis.

Source Temari’s Personal Database

(If you want to understand the differences between ESTJs and ENTJs here is a good tumblr source that explains everything quite complete yet quite simply explained)

Let’s go first with the MBTI (Myers Briggs Type Indicator)

What means to have Te as a primary function and Fi as in inferior function?

Te as a Primary Function (Extroverted Thinking): Think of your primary function as your strongest suit, things you are good at. Dominant Extroverted Thinkers tend to be logical, objective and fair. They are very organized and try to arrange the real world to suit their needs. 

Strives to bring order, control, and rationality to the systems and operations of the outside world.Evidence: Temari is able to rationalize situations and access their pros and cons quite easily. This is showing in the flashback where she doubts of the productivity of the Konoha Crush since she maintained that there alliance with Konoha was much more valuable any they could gain from the attack. 

Insists on objective standards and measurable goals. Evidence: She is prone to be involved in and thinks in things as if they were projects like the preparations of the Chunin Exam, the Allied Shinobi Forces, etc. (see the image of the Fourth Databook)

Tendency to quickly express their judgments and opinion, to literally think (i.e., make judgments, conclusions, and decisions) aloud. Evidence: In her match against Shikamaru she was pretty quick in express her analysis of his movements aloud. 

Speak before they listen which can either make them strong and courageous leaders or seem abrasive, dogmatic, or controlling. Evidence: Temari asserted a leadership position within her village and also within the Allied Shinobi forces (despite not being strictly one) showing us her natural inclination to take charge. 

Source of the Image

Prone to overstating things. Evidence: In her fight against Shikamaru thinking she knew all the extent of his technique. 

They may say things that, in retrospect, they wish they could rescind, or at least soften (specially true for hypersensitive Fi), which can lead them to respond defensively or re-actively. Evidence: Sasuke Retrieval Arc, Temari’s expression as Shikaku reprimanded his son. Konoha Hiden, Temari feels ashamed about what happened the 

Fi as a Inferior Funtion (Introverted Feeling): Inferior Function is that thing that we often push aside the most and find most difficult to fully grasp. However, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t play a key role in our behavior. People with Fi are driven by an internal moral compass, helping them adjust their actions in order that what they are doing helps or affects people in a meaningful way. This gives them a sense of loyalty to those around them, considering the wants and needs of those close to them.    

Loyalty and dutiful nature due to a well constructed inner moral compass. Evidence: Fierce sense of loyalty to her village and her moral and ethical duty towards it.

Not prone to display emotions, may see them as a weakness.Evidence: The famous, “Had you received emotional training?” after the failed mission against Sasuke.

If taken to their worst they can have an all-or-nothing nature, this is neutralized when more “healthy” and less hypersensitive their Fi is. Evidence: Her whole fight against Tenten. She should to be someone strong, determined, disciplined with a strong chracter that will never let anyone mock her.

Image Source

Strong sense of inner control reached by vigorously working to control the outside world. The only way they can feel in control of themselves is by taking control of their surroundings. Evidence: How she managed to control the situation when Shikamaru was trying to ask her out on a date, her reasoning during their Chuinin Exams fight. 

Fi might also inspire them to take up causes that have personally affected them, ingrained on a deep fear of being a bad person or having corrupted moral. Evidence: Given her participation in the Konoha Crush Temari is one of the main actors to amend the relationship between Konoha and Suna in the time skip. Also she wants to archive a peace she never had due to her childhood as a Gaara’s sister and Rasa’s daughter, shown in her important participation in the Shinobi Alliance. Her deep care for both of her brothers given their mother’s death and she taking a position of caretaker within the family on an unconscious level. 

Unconscious yet particular empathy and concern for children, often finding great fulfillment in having and caring for children. Evidence: In Part I, after the Sasuke Retrieval Arc, The Sand Siblings stay in Konoha to help at the Academy. Temari reveals to Shikamaru that she had done it because she was fond of it. Children seem to really respect and admire her. 

Source MBTI 

Enneagram: 8w9 (The Diplomat)

Basic Fear

Eights with a nine wing fear being hurt by others. They avoid situations in which they have less control, generally preferring to be in positions of leadership.

Basic Desire

Their basic desire is to guard themselves against threats and control their own destiny. They may express this by asserting independence at a young age.

Hence Diplomats (8w9) defend themselves by building emotional walls and denying vulnerability. They seek to appear strong, subconsciously believing that being too emotional will make them seem weak (Haven’t you received emotional training?). They,

Dislike taking orders from other people

Though they are certainly not the most chill of all types the most calm and laid-back of the eights. 

Struggle to openly share emotions

Fear being controlled by others

Seek autonomy and independence. 

At their best diplomats use their wit and ability to see different perspectives to face different projects. Their naturally energetic and confident persona make of them people that can lead others effectively, through support and guidance. They have a talent to give others what they need, and are empowering and advocating for others. They feel a need to protect the ones they love and enjoy their-selves the most when they are surrounded by these people. 

Image Source

At their worst diplomats, given their struggle to control their temper and their tendencies to be stubborn or rigid can enter excessively in conflict or disagreement or directly reject and dismiss others. They struggle to face emotionally vulnerable situations due to their sense of lack of inner control with can make them seems overly confident or emotionally detached. They also can develop a dislike for rules from authority figures. 

Image Source

The best way to communicate with a 8w9 is to be direct and straightforward, while encouraging them to share their ideas. If conflict arises it’s better to address conflict directly and logically; discuss and work together toward the best solution.

Source of Enneagram 8w9 

Conclusion

For that we have seen through this analysis some key things about Temari. 

She is quite a direct and logical and rational individual who values to get things done in the outside world. 

She has leadership skills, given their courageous and confident attitude, but can also come up a abrasive or controlling. 

Tend to overstate things and may say or do things that they, later on, wish they could soften. 

Is incredibly loyal to her set of values and those around her and tends to involve personally with the things she works on. 

She tends to want to have a control of the outside world and her worst fear is to loose it, cause is in the only way she can feel in control of herself. 

She wants independence cause that is the way she can feel in control of herself. Therefore she tends to leave emotions on one side, they are less controllable cause they are in her inner world, and focus her energies on the outside (rational) world.  

2.  Shikamaru and Konoha Hiden: The Beginning of Everything.  

I can begin to trace the disservice towards Temari in this point in time, in the anime’s adaptation of her character from the light novels. From here we can begin to see how they are starting to tweak Temari’s character (in a way that’s unfair and clearly not coherent) to fit her into the mold of the angry or crazy girlfriend/wife though with moderation. 

Why? Why, do you have to adapt an moment like this...

Clutching his back, Shikamaru turned his eyes toward the voice.

A woman with a sharp gaze and golden hair tied into two bundles stood there, holding a giant fan in both hands. And that fan had no doubt created the wind that had knocked Shikamaru flying.

Temari...

"So you're just gonna skip out?! You're gonna do whatever he tells you to? That's not like you at all! I expect a lot more from you! Get it together, you idiot! I mean, I know you actually think this guy's boring! His stupid lecture's total  garbage! Am I right? Say something! Shikamaru!"

His ears, now accustomed to Gengo's weighty tone, took in the screeching, loud voice, and his eyes flickered with pain. "Ah!"

The haze blanketing his head vanished cleanly and completely. The thing squeezing his heart was gone; it was as if a hole had popped open in his chest. 

But it felt amazingly good. He inhaled deeply, down to the bottom of his stomach, and slowly let it out. A laugh naturally followed.

A single blow to pull him out of the genjutsu...

"So you show up out of nowhere to badmouth me?" He put a hand on the back of his head, eyes fixed on Temari as he stood up.

"I came to save you. Quit grumbling and thank me." She rammed the end of the folding fan into the ground, rested her right elbow on the pivot, and puffed her chest out. Behind her stood a line of ninja. They all had the mark of Sunagakure carved into their forehead protectors. 

"I can't exactly go letting you die now, can I?" She grinned.

Her smile, glittering like the fire of the desert sun, cleared Shikamaru's heart. Her earlier words came back to life in his head.

Source: Naruto: Shikamaru Hiden - A Cloud Drifting in Silent Darknes (2015) by Masashi Kishimoto, Takashi Yano 

as this?

I know this may be completely unpopular but, hey I am here to say what I think. You can always count that’ll be honest. And I don’t like this. 

This in my opinion this is not female empowerment, this is not funny and this is not Temari reacting naturally to the situation she is involved in. Is just simply her hitting Shikamaru with no reason at all. 

In the novel, as we have seen, Temari lectured him (oh, boy did she lectured him just rightly). She basically made her come into his senses using logic and reason, using words, the same through which Gengo almost defeat him. And that is Temari, she may not be the best at expressing her emotions but when conflict arises she address conflict directly and logically. She explains, in a way that yes may seem imposing for others, but that always uses Te (extroverted thinking) as her main weapon. 

Temari would never make someone come to his senses by a love declaration but she wouldn’t slap him on his face either. 

Temari does this because, although Shikamaru hurt her, Shikamaru is someone dear to her and she knows that he needs of a little bit of tough love in order to function. This is Temari’s way of being empowering and advocating for others.

And you may be asking. But hey, Temari had already slapped Shikamaru before and you didn’t say nothing about that moment? Yes she did, but that moment was intrinsically different to this second one. 

This slap...

It’s justified in Temari’s character. Maybe it’s not the best thing she could do, nor what I pictured her to do, but is not that detached with the situation. 

Let’s see another extract of the Light Novel to understand better the context:

"Oil" A voice called to Shikamaru from behind.

He clicked his tongue imperceptibly. The voice belonged to the person he least wanted to speak with at that moment. Ignoring it, he kept moving forward.

"Shikamaru, hold up!" The voice beat at his back, threatening to send him flying.

"What?" He turned just his head to look at the woman over his shoulder.

Temari from Sunagakure. Her hair was shorter now than it had been two years ago, and she had pulled it back into two bundles on either side of her head. Her eyes were gentler now than they had been, set in a fairly adult looking face. But given that she was older than Shikamaru, her face didn't just look grown-up; she was actually already a very fine adult.

"What's going on with you?" She stared at Shikamaru with eyes that drooped somewhat more than they used to. 

"What do you mean?"

"You've been weird lately." Temari's slender hand reached out to Shikamaru's shoulder and pulled him around to face her.

What a drag... The words made it all the way to his throat before he managed to desperately swallow them back down.

"I mean your attitude at the meeting there. You just sit there with your mouth shut. Everyone gets nervous; the whole place tenses up, you know."

"It does?"

"You didn't notice it?" Temari's eyes grew wide. "What happened?"

"Nothing."

"It's something you can't talk to me about?" Temari's hard gaze hurt.

In the two years since the Great War ended, Temari had been a good and understanding partner in their work on the alliance. She shared his desire to keep the shinobi from fracturing into factions once more after they had finally come together in the face of a powerful enemy. She had rallied the Allied Forces with him. The strong bond between Naruto, seen as a candidate for the next Hokage of Konoha, and Gaara, the Kazekage of Sunagakure, also played a part; the relationship between the two villages was extremely good, even among the five great nations. With these kinds of outside factors also at work, Shikamaru and Temari each recognized the other as their greatest ally in the alliance.

"Something's happening in Konoha." She had fairly good insight.

However, her shot was a little off. Nothing was happening in Konoha, although it was true that they were trying to take care of the situation with only the shinobi of Konoha. So Temari was half-right, half-wrong.

The basic policy of the alliance was that matters relating to the life or death of shinobi themselves exceeded the framework of the villages and should be shared with the entire group. What Shikamaru and Kakashi were attempting to do was in very clear violation of this policy. Even so, he couldn't say anything. Getting the alliance involved now and stirring up trouble with the Land of Silence was not a good plan.

I'll handle it... His resolve hardened.

"Is there anything I can do?"

"There's not."

Temari dropped her eyes at Shikamaru's curt reply. "Okay," she muttered, lifelessly. In the next instant, the brief look of sadness on her face changed to anger.

It was all he could do to take a breath. He had no room to dodge; before he knew it, Shikamaru was flying. He tumbled down the hall a few times before ending up on his backside in a seated position. The right side of his face swelled up, bright red. Stroking his hot cheek, Shikamaru looked up at an indignant Temari glaring down at him.

"I never actually thought I could've misjudged you so badly!" Her angry yell turned into a powerful wind, pushing up against his face.

"I-I'm sorry..." The words were unconscious. He unthinkingly took on the persona of his father stumbling home in the morning, only to get yelled at by his mother in the entryway.

Taking long strides, Temari passed by Shikamaru and disappeared, her eyes slightly damp.

Source: Naruto: Shikamaru Hiden - A Cloud Drifting in Silent Darknes (2015) by Masashi Kishimoto, Takashi Yano

We see a Temari that is continuously trying to reach someone who she had become closed to and with whom she had worked side by side since the war ended two years ago. Someone who she thought trusted her. The slap is given her sadness with ended up being represented in anger (inferior Fi). She had a real reason to be sad: Temari isn’t someone who lightly trust or cares about someone and Shikamaru was just closing the door to her. Saying that he didn’t need her. And there’s nothing that Temari wants more than feeling need, something that is evidence in her Tsukuyomi Dream, which may not be canon, but yet captured Temari’s character. 

Not only that but, as we said, Temari’s basic fear was to be hurt by others. That’s why she usually has that overly confident and seemingly emotionally detached attitude. And once she left her guard down she was hurt by non other than a person she hold dear, which we have seen ain’t an easy point to reach with someone with Temari’s personality. Given her “all or nothing” outlook this might be a really bad wound for her, like if he was back-stabbing her. 

That’s why "I never actually thought I could've misjudged you so badly!" and Temari’s cry really is so important. It shows she’s truly hurt. It justifies her punch, no. But it explains it. (I won’t lie, I also wanted give Shikamaru a good punch when I read this)

Also this moment wasn’t exactly the best adapted sequence but it’s much better than the previous one and with the right context it all comes quite justified. 

You could also say that there was also that one time were Temari hits Shikamaru with her fan after she realizes in the Konoha Hiden that Shikamaru and her were actually searching for a wedding gift for Naruto and Hinata, 

“Hmm, so that’s what it all was....” She said, smiling peacefully.

“No, hold on ...Ah!!” Shikamaru inadvertently let out an exclamation.

It was possible that Temari’s misunderstanding had been- “Hey, oi ...You couldn’t have thought that, right.”

When he said that, for some reason, Temari silently took her tessen off her back, holding it in her hand.

“H-hey...what is it?” He asked. “Why’re you suddenly taking that out...? Wh- what’s up with your chakra...?!”

Temari grinned affectionately at him.

Shikamaru was captivated by the sight, and found a smile forming on his face, too.

Smiling at each other like that, they looked like the very picture of an intimate pair of lovers.

That night in Konoha...

One sudden, out-of-season gale swept over Konoha’s hot springs, and lasted the entirety of the night. The residents and tourists spent the whole night awake, too frightened to sleep...

Source: Konoha Hiden: The Perfect Day for a Wedding (2015) by Masashi Kishimoto and Shō Hinata

And I agree I am not saying this is fine either (though there isn’t that much of an explicit but an implicit hit), but is also something Temari shows to be sorry and ashamed about later in the story. Even though she is prideful and won’t be able to admit it she finally does. Because at the end of the day Temari is a lover and fighter but, even though she won’t admit it, will love rather than fight. 

Besides the context in here is different. They had already went on a date and could almost be consider a couple. I had already posted a quote were Ino and Sakura talked about Shikamaru and Temari’s relationship. It was obvious there was something going on for months (If you want to get to know better you can see the time line). It wasn’t that far-fetched to understand the situation as Temari, someone who’s pretty direct, was interpreting them. 

It’s something through which they both learn and grew together. Shikamaru will never be as frontal as she might want to but he is willing to give it a try for her and she is willing to try to understand what is going in his mind. 

Also I think that this novels suffered of having different writers so it sometimes feels as the story unnecessarily regresses. Kishimoto only illustrates the stories and this becomes pretty showing. However and despite I don’t enjoy Temari hitting Shikamaru, the novels itself aren’t that detached from Temari’s character. The soul of her character is still there.

But are these slight changes in the anime showed us the way that they were trying to head Temari’s character in Boruto, changes that as we had seen during her analysis don’t seem to fit rightly her character. Specially in Perriots adaptation of the manga we see a deep misunderstanding of Temari, from her behaviour to her wants and feelings. Unluckily, the worst was yet to come. 

3. Boruto: Why did they did this? 

Well, here is what triggered this whole post. Temari’s portrayal in Boruto. And I got to say one thing before starting with this analysis. I really like some scenes of Temari in Boruto. 

To see her in action, training with the new generation of the Ino-Shika-Cho and protecting her son were fairly enjoyable but, more importantly, are congruent with her character. It’s her more domestic scenes which I tend to dislike a lot.

I consider than in this scenes they depict Temari as an angry housewife and an aggressive mother which, in my opinion, are the greatest disservice to Temari’s character. Maybe I am the only one that thinks this, but (as I said previously) I don’t find them funny nor that they depict Temari correctly, serve a motif in the narrative or serve any agenda. They are simply treated as comic relief. 

This is truly hurting for someone that is not only a Temari fan but a ShikaTema shipper since they transformed a relationship that was based on mutual trust, respect and communication above anything else into this dynamic we see in Boruto. 

And I have to hypothesize why they made Temari do this I would have two main factors: 

Lazy Writing and Appeal to Nostalgia: All Nara men marry to troublesome woman so they found in this moments a cheep way to remind the audience constantly that Temari is troublesome and therefore be able to make easy correlations to Shikaku’s relationship with Yoshino. 

The Tsundere Trend: Maybe this is me overthinking a little bit too much (but when I don’t)  but the Tsundere one of the most capitalized dere types in anime. People seem to love them in a way I don’t fully understand. Having a woman inflict danger to his partner is the most easy way to scream “tsundere” maybe not the best but an easy one. Mind that when we speak about a tsundere I mean: 

A stock love interest who is usually stern, cold or hostile to the person they like, while occasionally letting slip the warm and loving feelings hidden inside due to being shy, nervous, insecure or simply unable to help acting badly in front of the person they like.

The Japanese term tsundere refers to an outwardly violent character who "runs hot and cold", alternating between two distinct moods: tsuntsun (aloof or irritable) and deredere (lovestruck).

Tsundere Source

Funny enough I never saw Temari as a Tsundere. I would never say, from the manga, that Temari ‘runs hot and cold.’ Yes, you don’t want to mess up with her when she is angry but it’s not like this happen often in the manga. 

The only time I consider we have seen Temari go angry pretty quickly (in Naruto) was in her match with Shikamaru when he said that he wouldn’t be defeated by a woman. But I think we can’t apply one situation to larger and broader spectrum. That was in the middle of a fight and, as I explained in a previous post of mine,  there were much more other things involved in the context of the manga/anime at that point in time. 

I have always consider Temari someone who was deep in control of herself and her emotions, capable of displaying what she wants to show when she wants. This is because of her own basic fear of being hurt, hence she only shows this emotions when she is either, truly hurt, angry or when she trust enough the other person. 

That’s why is so important that the only times we have seen Temari fully displaying this emotions were around Shikamaru or her brothers. 

I don’t like that much dere types but, if I had to chose one, her sarcastic humor and realistic outlook of life, always seemed more alike to the profile of a hinedere

The hinedere is a sarcastic, cynical person who always looks to the darker, more realistic side of things and is very quick to reveal that to other characters. They tend to be arrogant and cold-hearted however, the hinedere will have a soft spot for their love interest and will reluctantly but reliably do anything for them.

Hinedere Source 

This dere type may not be as popular but, I think, fits much more her personality all through Naruto. However, that’s a personal opinion and no falling into a dere type should, if it’s understood correctly, disrupt the core character. 

Okay so, they wanted to make Temari fall into this direction but... Why isn’t this her? Well that’s the following point. 

4. Why this isn’t Temari?

Temari at the beginning of Naruto is someone that thinks that life is like in the dessert: everything is though and hard and only the fittest are meant to survive. Anything or anyone that shows her weakness is naturally inferior or undesirable. That is her outlook of life: you have to be pragmatic, logic and strong if you want to continue fighting another day. The weak are naturally destined to loose, and hence she doesn’t care to be the one to destroy them since it’s only when you impose fear that you’ll be actually able to survive. 

That ideology, she had learn all through her childhood, translates in her battle against Tenten and began to be challenged in her battle against Shikamaru. At the end we see a Temari that, despite being born to fight, develops as a character chooses to dedicate her life to the search of peace in order to protect those weaker ones that she once loathed. That’s why she is an incredible ambassador for Suna and good adviser of Gaara: she yet has that pragmatic, logical and sometimes cynical point of view but that contrast with the idealism of her brother and helps them to balance each other out. She is highly loyal and I am sure she’ll do anything for her family and to protect that peace she found in it. 

Hence, I always find it pretty hard to believe that Temari would rather take her fan and hit someone before having a reasonable, direct and straightforward conversation. 

Even, before her evolution, we see that Temari is much less willing to enter a unreasonable and violent dispute than her brothers and that is what, in the first instances sets her apart from them. 

When Temari first hits the scene just before the start of the Chunin Exams, by mere virtue of the fact that the group that she’s with is intimidating, she becomes a bit scary herself, but she shows to be different than both of them. 

Kankuro comes off as the tough, scary guy who you don’t want to mess with only to be swiftly upstaged by the seriously blood-chilling Gaara.

(Sorry for the image in spanish but basically Temari is telling Kankuro to leave Konohamaru alone and to not involve her in his actions) 

Temari, on the other hand, stands by coolly, occasionally offering her brothers warnings or plays referee. Her sit-back-and-bide-her-time attitude makes her look like the most stable of the three in comparison; Kankuro picks a pointless fight with a kid and Gaara ends up looking psychopathic. 

Temari’s rational and cool behavior also pays testament to what readers later see are some of her major strengths which keeps repeating itself through the manga, in the Forest of Death during The Chunin Exams and in The Five Kages’s Summit it was Temari who during tense times was able to cool them up. 

(Temari asking Gaara to calm down during the second stage of the Chunin Exams)

However, I got to admit that Temari isn’t a saint. She has a sharp tongue and she is straight foward and direct what, as we said before may lead to her to say things that, in retrospect, they wish they could rescind, or at least soften, which can lead them to respond defensively or re-actively. 

Things like this we see them while she looks at Shikamaru after the failure of Sasuke’s Rescue Mission. Even when she had lectured Shikamaru she then looked at him as if she questioned if she had been to harsh on him. It was clear that she had misjudge him as she realized how much she cared for his friends. Or in the Konoha Hiden as, after having that little incident with Shikamaru she is nervous to see him again. 

Images Sources (Manga in Spanish)

That’s why I can’t imagine Temari simply hitting someone just for kicks. Is not like she can’t but that she doesn’t want or sees the appeal to do it. 

The is in a lot of senses the perfect kunoichi, disciplined, determined, strong and intelligent and will never let anyone mock her (that’s for sure). She is ruthless towards her opponents cause that is her way of approaching a rival but she will never be violent for violence’s sake. 

It’s not like we just attacked the Leaf Village for kicks, you know? We were following orders. That’s all, just like we’re doing on this mission.

Temari to Shikamaru during the Sasuke’s Retrieval Arc

But even less than this I imagine being violent towards people she appreciates and cares as Shikamaru and Shikadai. Yes, I think she would most likely express herself through some tough love, being strict with Shikadai and not letting Shikamaru just slack and complain about everything. But, never, ever, I imagined her being physically or verbally violent towards them without feeling any remorse. Cause she never was in Naruto. 

She was direct and honest, maybe a bit to much for people, but after her the Chunin Exams her character never showed to be like that to anyone. Even less towards Shikamaru.

You have the “crybaby” thing going on but I would rather think that of a positive rather than a negative aspect because of the way in which she says it. It shows their connection as individuals which is full of bickering and this back and forth of clever commentaries but that is build on common ground. You may not be the people that like these but that doesn’t mean that Shikamaru feel the same as you. 

If not he would never have this expression on this face...

Source Image

Temari is the one that trusted fully in him during war even to the point of considering him capable of being Hokage because “he has the power to reach/.sway away people’s hearts” and she wants to create a world of peace with him. Their relationship was about bringing out the best of each other not the worst, which doesn’t mean they don’t function like fully capable individuals without the other (cause they do) but that through their interactions they developed into better people. We are after all, social creatures and we need of others and the Sand Siblings are exemplary that that doesn’t make you weak but stronger. That you can change your preconceived notions of the world and learn from others, change for the better and use that strength protect instead to attack or seclude yourself. 

So why, if Temari was capable to reach a point where she was at her best, letting her fear to be hurt to fall, and use her naturally energetic and confident persona to lead others effectively, through support and guidance, Boruto writers tend to write her in her moments with Shikamaru at what would be her worst, struggling to control her temper and with her stubbornness and rigidness making her excessively enter in conflict or disagreement or directly reject and dismiss others?

This is a complete character regression for Temari. And I don’t mean that characters can’t have their moments, nor that Temari should be perfect, when they are at that stage. But that should be addressed in that manner and not as comic relief. 

In my opinion Temari had always a  talent to give Shikamaru what he needed, giving him some tough love when he needed but at the same time being empowering. 

"So you're just gonna skip out?! You're gonna do whatever he tells you to? That's not like you at all! I expect a lot more from you! Get it together, you idiot! I mean, I know you actually think this guy's boring! His stupid lecture's total  garbage! Am I right? Say something! Shikamaru!"

Source: Naruto: Shikamaru Hiden - A Cloud Drifting in Silent Darkness (2015) by Masashi Kishimoto, Takashi Yano

That’s why, with the clear feel and need to protect and be appreciated by the ones they love and enjoying herself the most when they are surrounded by them, I can’t really see Temari acting like this. 

5. PS: I still love you

This turned out to be really long so I won’t pull it any further. Just let me say this last words. 

I really like Temari, I really do, and in part a lot of my dislike of her portrayal in Boruto comes from that same factor. I truly think she is an amazing kunoichi and someone girls could look up to when watching Naruto, cause yes she had flaws, but this were addressed as such and were never used as comic relief. Besides, her good qualities and strengths quickly unnumbered her flaws: she was intelligent, strong, honest, disciplined, determined, dutiful, loyal and caring. Yes she might be prideful, overly confident, way to upfront and may not like to show that much her emotions but I don’t consider that this flaws could beat her logical and rational mindset that first matched her with characters like Shikamaru. 

Truly I think these scenes are a disservice towards my favorite female character of this whole manga and anime to the extent that if there was one thing I could change about the whole series would be this.

Temari wasn’t that much in the manga or in the anime but she was capable of leaving a palpable impression in me (to the extent that I wrote a +6.6k word essay about her, counting quotes and all) as well as in lots of other people. And that should tell you a lot about her as a character, a character that yes; could have been even better in terms of story and narrative than she was in the Naruto but that also certainly is much better than how they portray her in Boruto.