#anti sasuke fandom

[comikadraws]

sasuke stans on this site perceive any discussion of sasuke's behavior that isn't 100% endorsement as "hate" and even aggression towards them as fans. that's why they think the fandom actually hates him. it does not, and it never has.

Okay, dear Anon. As you can see, I delayed this ask for a week before responding to first get a couple of additional opinions by running polls and collecting data (I was hoping it's just my perception for a while, haha).

The thing is, the majority of my followers and I seem to agree with this sentiment (at least to a degree). And not just them, but the statistics I've gathered in regards to Tumblr tell a similar story of Sasuke stans perceiving Sasuke and his fanbase as victims of a cruel fandom (though I did not measure the legitimacy of Sasuke criticism in any way, but I commented on it here).

And frankly, all of this effort is probably making me look rather silly. However, this is actually pretty important to me because Sasuke stans are the bane of my existence as a regular, not die-hard Sasuke and Itachi fan.

Before I continue, let me clarify that I personally differentiate between Sasuke fans and Sasuke stans. There are Sasuke fans/stans (a minority) that match Anon's description and there are those Sasuke fans (the majority) who don't. Also, the polls and counts I made are not necessarily representative - if at all. But they are the closest thing to objective data I have.

First of all, people's opinion about Sasuke stans (particularly what I assume to be Itachi fans but that is not to say non-Itachi fans don't agree*). The overwhelming majority agrees that Sasuke stans are very defensive when it comes to legitimate criticism of Sasuke and will be particularly hateful toward other characters.

Second, people's opinions about Sasuke and Itachi and who gets more hate/defense posts in comparison (particularly what I assume to be more Sasuke fans than Itachi fans*). The overwhelming majority perceive that Itachi gets better treatment from the fandom than Sasuke.

Also, beware that many of my followers are pro-Itachi and that several Sasuke stans may have already blocked me. This may have affected the results.

Now, let's compare this with actual numbers. I counted Tumblr posts with the following tags from 01.01.2024-06.09.2024:

Posts tagged "pro Sasuke": 247 Posts tagged "anti Sasuke": 16 Posts tagged "pro Itachi": 27 Posts tagged "anti Itachi": 54

The method is not perfect (there are most certainly anti-posts and pro-posts not tagged as such; it is entirely possible that Sasuke fans and/or Itachi fans are better at tagging) but this result seems to contradict the perception that many people apparently have, which is that Itachi gets treated better or is more loved than Sasuke by the fandom on Tumblr.

In fact, the pro-Itachi posts on this site get drowned out by anti-Itachi posts. Sasuke-positivity, meanwhile, overshadows absolutely everything else.

To visualize this discrepancy (even though the nature of the statistics is not exactly comparable), I put the statistics and poll results in comparison. It highlights just how many fans believe that Sasuke is more hated than Itachi when Tumblr (the site where that poll was conducted) shows the reverse.

The truth is, of course, that Sasuke is one of the most beloved characters in Naruto. Take follower counts, for example.

On Tumblr, the #sasuke tag has 15k followers. For Itachi, it is 9.8k.

On Twitter, the daily Itachi account has nearly 6k followers. For the daily Sasuke account, this number is nearly 41k.

In 8 out of 9 character polls, Sasuke won against Itachi - the only exception being a contest for "who gets a designated manga chapter" that is not representative, considering the attention garnered by minor characters like Sakumo Hatake and Shisui Uchiha (who, until that point, never even made it into the top 50 during character polls).

But back to hate, characters that are not Sakura or Hinata (who usually become the victims of ship wars instead) usually receive most of their anti-posts through Sasuke fans.

Specifically, the statistic about "anti Itachi"-tagged posts reflects my personal experiences, which is that almost no Itachi fan on Tumblr will be a Sasuke hater, but conversely, particularly hardcore Sasuke fans often tend to be Itachi haters.

Results include posts from @/naruto-general-opinions and @/naruto-shipping- confessions which cannot be attributed to either "pro Sasuke" or "not pro Sasuke" accounts due to their anonymity. They have been counted in as "not pro Sasuke". Had they not been counted, the results would've turned out in favor of the notion that "pro Sasuke" accounts post more hate.

And we are not just talking about legitimate criticism in these cases. There are posts literally calling Itachi "born rotten" or a "bootlicking shitstain on the world". Somebody reblogging my poll requested more Itachi hate from the fandom while tagging it #pro sasuke. And I still hope it was all bait.

If you want to read more about me venting about the double standards that Sasuke stans have for Itachi and Sasuke, you can read this rant, which further comments on Anon's ask.

But without getting into details, Sasuke stans are souring my fandom experience - both due to their hatred of Itachi as well as their opinionated behavior when it comes to Sasuke (which, sometimes, seems inseparable from one another, even when hypocritical).

I've personally gotten harassed by a Sasuke stan before for an opinion unrelated to Sasuke (same post was then miraculously tagged #anti itachi). Other people had their intelligence insulted. When I see fanart of Sasuke, memes, shitposts, or analyses of his character, I wonder to myself "is this a hardcore Sasuke stan willing to be hostile to me at the drop of a hat" rather than "hey! what a cool post. can we be friends?".

And I don't want to play any victim cards about "oohhh, my favorite character, and his fans have it so much worse than you" because that is honestly not the point. The point is that I am tired and that my followers and I wish for Sasuke fans on this site to dial it down or call out this type of behavior. I don't know what makes them act this way, whether they just feel justified to hate on Itachi because they personally feel Sasuke is over-hated in an act of revenge or if they have just somehow managed to conflate anti Konoha with anti Itachi opinions. Regardless, many of us Itachi fans are Sasuke fans as well but we cannot engage with this part of the fandom because it has become so toxic as of late.

It is genuinely driving down my motivation to create or engage with any pro-Sasuke content and I am considering just stopping engaging with any of it altogether.

*I've managed to somewhat identify the fan groups who voted based on my other polls. The main takeaway is that my blog is very pro-Itachi, hence it attracts more Itachi fans than posts appearing in Tumblr's #sasuke tag would.

The first poll (opinion on Sasuke stans) was designed not to be shown to Sasuke fans. The second (anti vs defense posts) had multiple sister polls. An origin poll about "who gets better treatment" from the fandom (which appeared in the #pro Sasuke #pro Sasuke Uchiha #Sasuke #Sasuke Uchiha #anti Itachi #anti Itachi Uchiha tags and scored similar results to the hate vs defense poll above), two polls about "who gets more hate" and "who gets more defense" (that did not appear in any tags, only on my followers' dashboards, and scored results contradictory to the ones above), and multiple other polls about "who has worse trauma", "who is prettier", and "who is more genocidal" (all of which had more sympathetic results toward Itachi, which is typical for my blog but, evidently, not the majority of Tumblr).

It is safe to assume that my other polls genuinely did not breach into the pro Sasuke bubble.

[theheirofthesharingan]

Came across a rather unhinged take on Itachi and Sasuke the other day and I had to write about this because it's a widely accepted opinion in the Sasuke fandom. Although this post is not targeted towards any individual, but if anyone sees this and wants to take credit and feel offended, you're welcome to do that. This is going to be a long and penal-heavy post (kind of), so brace yourselves. And read it at your own risk. xD

A most common sentiment among Sasuke fans is that if he had the chance, he would rather fight for the clan than protect Itachi, because Sasuke is not "stupid" like Itachi and would never kill his own parents. And if he had the chance to go back, he would kill the "Konoha bootlicker Itachi along with Danzo and Hiruzen" because he's not stupid.

So, you're telling me that Sasuke, upon learning the truth, more powerful, more mature, with more support from his peers would not make the decisions that Itachi at the age of 12 surrounded by shitty people did. Aren't you a little intellectual for having an opinion like this? Because absolutely it was his fault he had terrible parents, his best friend committed suicide right in front of him, and two old geezers took advantage of his naive philosophy, which hardly had any time to mature because he was considered too mature for his age — mature enough to handle things in his parents' absence as seen from Itachi looking after Sasuke the night of the Kyuubi attack.

Wilder is that the people who talk shit about Itachi for killing his clan members cheer and support Sasuke's genocidal goals. Because for sure, that totally didn't mean what happened to Sasuke would definitely happen to other people as well and that too at Sasuke's hands. And once he came to his senses he would have nothing but regrets.

"But he didn't actually do it."

I wonder why...

Oh.

Apparently, Itachi, after dying, magically, manipulated Sasuke into becoming Konoha bootlicker too. :( What the hell, Itachi? How could you do this?

I always find it amusing when these people try to trivialize Itachi and his love for Sasuke along with Sasuke's love for him, because he "was fighting for the justice of his clan, so he would never acknowledge Itachi's sufferings and it's just Itachi fans making the shit up to justify him" and "All that Itachi did was unforgivable so Sasuke is just delusional to see him as a good guy."

Is that it, though? Because, when Sasuke confronts Itachi during their battle, he does question him.

But once he learns Itachi's truth he ends up taking a different path.

He's in Obito's lab. The same lab where he's kept the eyeballs he stole after massacring his clan.

Confronting Team 7, his first thought is still Itachi, then his parents, then his clan. Does he think the massacre was right? Nope. But unlike most of his fans, he's angry at the right people. He understands Itachi was a victim of the same system he is. In fact, only he understands Itachi is also a victim, because the system doesn't consider Itachi any victim, and Itachi himself doesn't view himself as one either.

If he had to sacrifice the whole world for his brother, he would do it in a heartbeat. He was willing to do it, for Itachi and Itachi alone.

When he meets Itachi again during the war, he is hurt and angry, but his concern is still Itachi. They made you suffer. I'm going to destroy them because they made you go through so much pain. He's reminiscing what Obito said about Itachi.

and

When he's speaking to Itachi, he again says he's going to destroy the village for causing him so much pain.

He thinks his brother is perfect.

He's stabbed by Madara. But all he thinks about is not dying because of Itachi. He was close to dying twice in the story, and both the times he had Itachi as the last thought.

He wanted to live because of Itachi. So he could create the world where no other Itachi was ever sacrificed.

At every occasion he's weighing Itachi over anyone and everyone else. That, to be brutally honest, includes his clan and his parents.

He's still (rightfully) angry at the village and sympathizes with his clan. But he understands people like Danzo and Obito were the ones responsible for the pain Itachi and his family went through.

Furthermore.. Sasuke to Itachi haters:

It must be hard being a Sasuke fan who despises Itachi because these folks have to create lies and mythology, ignore the existing canon for their headcanons and fanfictions they create in their heads and blame the author for being a "terrible writer" because, of course, the man who wrote these characters had no idea what he was writing anyway. :)

Sasuke would absolutely sacrifice the whole world for Itachi as would Itachi for him. They loved each other the most and there's no denying that.

[naruto-general-opinions]

[lunaneko14]

This stupid bitch…… Shikamaru and his friends that he felt responsible for almost DIED trying to get Sasuke back only for Sasuke to betray ALL of them anyway.

I hear this person is a Sakura stan so their lack of reading comprehension is understandable but fuck how can you be THIS bias????

[naruto-shipping-confessions]

[velvetdreams-world]

sasuke fans: Itachi, team 7, Konoha are bad influence on sasuke and all are toxic. Sasuke deserves better. Team Taka is his only true friend group bc they supported him in everything

meanwhile sasuke: uses Taka for his own good. Deserts Suigetsu & Juugo despite promising "I will be your cage" and leaves them both to die where they came to support HIM? he almost kills Karin. Asks Sakura to KILL Karin instead of HEALING her despite knowing she's a medic nin?? Then leaves Taka with their abuser aka orochimaru

sasuke stans: only team Taka supported Sasuke :) :)

sasuke stans dni

[chiefninetails]

yea the theme today is sasuke stans but it baffles me how that little cult likes to clutch their pearls at naruto saying I'll break every bone in your body as if prior to that sasuke wasn't launching them off a cliff holding naruto head first into the ground, trying to burn him alive and putting a chidori through his chest, all for a little eye upgrade mind you. Calling naruto all sorts of abusive, possessive and violent for something he didn't even do and fighting back against the multiple attempts made on his life.

[watermelonsloth]

No, Sasuke Did A Lot Wrong

(Disclaimer: There's nothing wrong with liking Sasuke as a character or sympathizing with his backstory. I'm also not talking about all Sasuke fans, only the extreme "pro-sasuke/anti-konoha/anti-itachi" fans.)

I'm getting pretty sick of the defenses used by Sasuke fans to justify his behavior throughout shippuden. The defenses themselves are fine enough, Sasuke did have plenty of reasons for his anger and resulting actions, but his fans always seem to be trying to absolve him of blame. The worst of them even act as if you're some morally reprehensible monster if you dare say Sasuke made a lot of terrible decisions that hurt a lot of people. God help the poor soul who dares to like Itachi or Tobirama.

I'm not going to defend Konoha or their actions here and, from what I can tell, no one else is. The entire shinobi world is fucked up in a frustratingly realistic way, so it makes sense that anyone trying to do something to fix it would immediately earn audience sympathy and relatability. However, most of those characters are villains. Why? It's not because the Naruto series is pro-violence, authoritarianism, war, or complacency. It's because they're terrorists. They react to personal wrongdoing, sometimes perceived but often not, by creating violent plans that are undeniably extremist. Madara and Obito basically wanted to hard reset the world by placing everyone into an eternal genjutsu and Nagato wanted to nuke the planet every time a country asked for war until all conflict disappeared. Those are objectively bad plans that would put the world into an even worse state and I hope I don't have to explain why.

Sasuke's "revolution" was no better. As a quick reminder, these were Sasuke's plans to "fix" the shinobi world: first he wanted to destroy Konoha, then he wanted to become a tyrant over Konoha, and lastly he wanted to act as a threat so dangerous that the world was forced into cooperation to fight him off. Not one of these plans is good. All of them would catch many innocent lives in the crossfire and none of them would build a better world. The best argument to defend Sasuke's goals is "complacency to wrongdoing makes you just as guilty as the wrongdoer." Ignoring that that argument is flawed, especially in the context it would theoretically be used, that argument still wouldn't change the fact that his methods are violent and extremist.

What makes all of this worse is that Sasuke's goals are also extremely hypocritical. Tell me if this sounds familiar: to prevent future conflict, one Uchiha erases a group of people because select members of that group were a potential risk. That Uchiha, in this process, agrees to take on all responsibility for this action and all anger resulting from the fallout. Was I talking about Sasuke's initial goal to change Konoha? No, I was talking about the Uchiha Massacre. His goal to become a feared tyrant over Konoha to reform it into a more peaceful state according to his image bears a striking resemblance to Danzo Shimura, of all people. His final plan is the only one that can be considered uniquely his, but if you simplify it to its core(an individual taking the burden of all of the world's hatred onto their shoulders), then it mirrors the intention of Madara(and sort of Obito, but mostly Madara). Sasuke is repeating history by mimicking the solution that he's already experienced being in the crossfire of, the goals of a monster he scorned for his morals, and the plan he personally watched fall to pieces.

Of course, this is a post about Sasuke's actions, not the plans he never enacted. The most he could be punished for is conspiracy. So, let's talk about what he did. I'd say for all of part 1 and the start of shippuden, Sasuke's worst offense is being a bit of a snarky jackass. He wasn't cruel, he had a set of morals that he consistently held himself and others to, and he deeply cared for his friends and allies. His interactions with Itachi were upsetting, Orochimaru manipulating him was tragic, and his struggle to decide between his friends and revenge was interesting. The most morally skewed thing he did was his fight with Naruto, but even that was forgivable. The start of shippuden maintains him being mostly in the clear: he nearly kills team Yamato, he kills Orochimaru, he starts traveling with some morally questionable people(scaring the crap out of some civilians and stealing a sword in the process), and he fights and kills Itachi. Again, he's not exactly a stand up citizen, but he remains just and easily forgivable. The Five Kage Summit arc is where this changes.

After learning the truth about the Uchiha Massacre and Itachi's true role in it from Obito, the Five Kage Summit arc begins with Sasuke joining the Akatsuki(a.k.a technically a mercenary group, but better called a terrorist organization considering their, at this point known, goals). The arc is easily a shift in the story's direction(for better or worse), meaning a shift in the main characters, and easily an arc I'm going to discuss in more depth in the future. Sasuke's character shift is revealed to be downward when he and the rest of team Taka attack and "kill" Killer Bee. I don't care how much you like Sasuke or how much you agree with his anger, you cannot justify him attacking and attempting to murder someone who has done nothing but be a jinchuuriki. Soon after Sasuke's role in the attack is revealed, Karui, Omoi, and Samui leave to Konoha to tell the Hokage about the planned five kage summit and that Kumogakure is taking the responsibility of Sasuke's punishment out of Konoha's hands. This is the arc where Sasuke undeniably becomes a criminal and his crimes have victims. Say what you want about Konoha and complacency and injustice, but let's make some things clear.

Killer Bee had nothing to do with the Uchiha Massacre.

Kumogakure had nothing to do with the injustices Sasuke was fighting against.

The samurai of the Land of Iron had nothing to do with shinobi affairs.

Team Taka didn't deserve to be betrayed for being "too weak."

I didn't make this post to complain about Sasuke or make him out to be a bad character. Actually, I think he's one of the best written within the series and he's among my favorites. Sasuke is a morally complex character, a fantastic foil to Naruto, an impactful warning on what happens when someone is consumed by hatred and abandons their humanity in pursuit of their goals, and the end of his arc was really nice(until Boruto ruined it, but that's another rant for another day). I get so upset about people making Sasuke out to be an innocent or wholly justified character, not only because those same people often take an undeserved moral high ground and talk down to/shame people for having problematic favorites as if Sasuke isn't problematic, but because it doesn't give his character the credit it deserves. Sasuke is such a good character because he and his actions are imperfect. He's good because he is morally complex.

The Naruto series is about a boy who is ostracized by his home and targeted by a terrorist organization for something he has no control over. He responds to his circumstances by building connections, finding peace, and making an attempt to change both himself and the world around him rather than giving into his anger and lashing out. Naruto and many other characters struggle to maintain their humanity in a world that seeks to destroy it. Sasuke's story is not one of a tragic hero burning his perpetrators and the world that allowed them to the ground. His story is about a hurt and manipulated child abandoning more and more of his humanity under the assumption that it'll somehow help him do good in a bad world until he becomes the bad. His story ends with him confronting that humanity and coming to terms with it because there was still someone waiting for him with a hand held out.

[alexkh2108]

Every time I reading posts of Uchiha stans, that claiming that Konoha is a fa***st nation, villagers are evil, Tobirama is racist, Sasuke should have done the revolution and Uchiha clan did nothing wrong make me feel like that:

What is happening with this fandom?

Throw tomatoes at me, do whatever you want.

[raredust]

And Sasuke apologists and sns stans made me hate the Sasuke fandom.

That's coming from a Sasuke fan.

I really like your answers you literally take time to analyze things and you're fair. What do you think about Konoha and their politics because SNS or antis mostly say Nepotism, Nazi's, and murder inhuman Japanese aka Kishi is giving a bad message and that HxH is better dealing with revenge? There's a lot of F things anti blogs say that amazes me and most of them of course think the Naruto verse is "real" and call Sasuke a "woman beater" while shipping and glorying SNS or SK. ;(.

They go on and on and on about how loathsome Konoha is regarding the Uchiha massacre, as if the Uchiha clan were saints in the matter. Yes, it was wrong for Konoha’s hierarchy to ostracise the Uchiha in the way that they did, but the response of the Uchiha to stage a coup without any prior negotiations was far too hasty a conclusion. Neither side was innocent in the ordeal.

[comikadraws]

Small, little update on the situation I described in this and that post.

I was serious when I said I am no longer willing to indulge toxic Sasuke stans. Specifically, those that display a shipper-type level of hate and entitlement. I am not willing to provide them with wholesome Sasuke content just to find out they are blocking me for no reason or even publically insulting me behind my back.

If I see any further Itachi hate posts made by Sasuke stans (I am not talking about criticism, I am talking about hate, specifically derogatory comments), the authors are gonna get blocked, same with anybody interacting with them.

I know that whenever I post Sasuke content, I am likely to invite Itachi haters. But I simply do not want Itachi haters (or bullies for that matter) on my blog. And that's it.

[theheirofthesharingan]

Nearly every pro-Sasuke post on my blog invites tons of Itachi antis. It's weird and irritating how aggressively they hate on Itachi as though their life depends on it. I love and will defend Sasuke to death, but I don't get the point of blaming Itachi while you keep excusing Sasuke’s actions. If it isn't obvious, Itachi hated himself more than you all can hate him combined.

I am so done with this stupid fanbase. I will love Sasuke forever and he'll be #1 character (along with Itachi) for life, but the number of Sasuke stans I've had to block clearly rivals the porn bots that follow me and get blocked on a regular basis.

[naruto-general-opinions]

[velvetdreams-world]

Or MAYBE unlike others he feels ZERO compassion for others and makes HIS pain paramount which annoys people??

The way Sasuke’s existence makes other character fandoms seethe is legendary. Naruto fans/self inserters. Shikamaru fans. Kiba fans. Sakura fans. Itachi fans. Gaara fans. Killer Bee fans. Tobirama fans. Lee fans. 😂😂😂

[naruto-shipping-confessions]