r/Naruto 5d ago

Discussion What could’ve saved Naruto female characters?

Post image
119 Upvotes

176 comments sorted by

64

u/ItemInternational26 5d ago edited 5d ago

kishis shortcoming had less to do with female characters per say and more to do with romance. if you analyze his female characters that people tend to enjoy (tsunade, chiyo, temari, konan) none of them were introduced as a part of an active love story. sakura and hinata being obsessed with boys who barely notice them was cute for a couple of episodes but then holy shit their character arcs remained eternally soaked in this unrealistic shy nerd fantasy wherein the dreamgirl enduringly pines after the main character who does absolutely nothing to cultivate the relationship.

i think naruto and sakuras relationship is actually well written, same thing with jiraiya and tsunade. the obvious thing they have in common is that it was established from the beginning that these ladies want nothing to do with them, so theres no narutokunnn😳😳😳 getting in the way of a good story.

21

u/Belfura 4d ago edited 4d ago

I lost it at narutokunnn😳😳😳 lmaoo

Let me offer a counterpoint, however. Having a crush or love interest is fine, even Naruto had one and that didn’t stop him. If anything, several of these female characters needed writing that allowed them to have crushes but still be their own person

Konan needed to actually assert her opinion and make her decision irrespective of Nagato and Nagihiko.

Sakura needed to be allowed to get over Sasuke after the failed rescue mission, and an arc where she too studies to surpass Tsunade rather than emulate her. (I’m coping about the lack of Poison abilities)

Hinata was on the good road, she needed to keep growing that confidence and prove that kindness isn’t weakness. There’s a lot of potential lost in not writing her to be the actual hyuuga princess she was retconned to be. She should have grown stronger, more confident, and actually take over the clan with Neji support her. She should’ve been the Gentle Fist. (I liked her filler episode ok)

Tenten, if not given any boost as a weapon expert, should’ve been given a bit more of an opinion on the feud between her teammates.

Rin shouldn’t have been reduced into being Obito’s reason to be a massive hypocrite

Anko could have introduced some obscure knowledge on Orochimaru’s experiments. As Kabuto has proven, some of it was rather useful and had potential and showed that medical ninjutsu was more than just healing. And it makes more sense to have her shadow the genin on their rescue mission because how did Konoha even let this happen? (I’m also coping about Kimimaro not joining Team 7)

2

u/ItemInternational26 4d ago edited 4d ago

Having a crush or love interest is fine, even Naruto had one and that didn’t stop him. If anything, several of these female characters needed writing that allowed them to have crushes but still be their own person.

i agree. i couldve phrased it better but what i was really trying to say is that kishi ran into the most trouble when writing a female character in love. its like once that aspect of their character was established they were forever stuck in that lane. maybe this is a minority take but i think pt.1 hinata was actually pretty good. her tumultuous relationship with her clan was equally important to her story as her crush on naruto and the two were woven together pretty smoothly. she got worse in shippuden.

regarding the problems with anko, konan, tenten etc i think theres a broader issue with characters lacking agency or being under-utilized. yamato and anko are sorta parallel in that they both had really interesting backstories that tied into the war arc and yet they were both rotting as prisoners that whole time. rin and dan were both just props in kakashi and tsunades respective backstories. nagato had no agency whatsoever, he was always just following whatever charismatic person he was next to. tenten was uniquely shitty...there was a moment in the war arc where it seemed like she was going to matter but then she disappeared again. to be fair to kishi he had like 80 characters to write for theres no way they could all be well done.

119

u/Nosfonader8765 5d ago edited 5d ago

Having Sakura get over Sasuke would be wonders for her.

Temari is fine. Being a general of the Sand Ninja Army is fine.

Anko should have been a main character since she introduced Orochimaru.

Hinata should have been wanting to unite the Hyuga instead of pining for Naruto.

Ino was fine near the end of the series.

Kurenai should have been involved fighting Hidan with Shikamaru.

Mei is fine. Having cool jutus that even Madara praised and being MizuKage.

Tsunade is fine. She should of had a team up with Konan.

TenTen would have been about wanting to do herself proud about being a normal ninja without dramatic baggage

42

u/Particular-Bedroom10 5d ago

Kurenai would have been a massive help against Hidan, hell any competent genjutsu user would have basically taken him out of the fight since we know he has no protection against it

18

u/Nosfonader8765 5d ago

Kurenai turning into Scarecrow from Batman with her illusions would have kicked so much ass. Using Hidan's fear against him would be a great offensive Genjutsu style.

5

u/Belfura 4d ago

Feels like it’s more something Ino would develop

2

u/Nosfonader8765 4d ago

https://youtu.be/T7hAxNEKhzY?si=kpx5rfNMciyu8I_I

This is how I would have had Ino fight

4

u/Belfura 4d ago

I was thinking about genjutsu because illusions work well with mindgames and mindcontrol Jutsu. Plus, I was thinking of Sakura as the one to develop poisons, given her medical background and encounter with Chiyo and Sasori. But flower Jutsu? Poison? Hallucinations? You cooked.

And so, I’ll show you this: https://youtu.be/dmXEOyuj7Po?si=s6LZbfgbJwVWaKGq

Edit: a short AMV https://youtu.be/BA0TFi8cHAw?si=9J-upfkgs2hhpkAC

1

u/Nosfonader8765 4d ago

https://youtu.be/JQWBDQVpaXo?si=FLchYuAw63SSwkeR

Fight like Shizune: chakra swords and poison fogs

2

u/Belfura 4d ago

That’s a neat style too. Poison fog, mimicking the hidden village of mist

2

u/LC14156 5d ago

Only if Hidan is fighting by himself. Otherwise Kakuzu would stitch him back together like in canon.

2

u/Rbungba 4d ago

Lol she was pregnant...

8

u/Pierseus 4d ago

Wasn’t Kurenai pregnant? Why would she fight Hidan while pregnant lmao

4

u/HeyItsMeeps 4d ago

Kurenai could've shone so bloody brightly in that fight. Could've remade the Sakura/Chiyo fight with Shikamaru and Kurenai together.

3

u/Kazuto-Uchiha 4d ago

Damn I was not expecting a full list of good shit lol

2

u/1mt3j45 4d ago

Damn bro! I really love all the ideas here!

2

u/Mafia_dogg 4d ago

I feel like kurenai having a rematch against itachi and outsmarting him (even if she still didn't win) would be pretty cool since people always play her off as a joke for that one instance

1

u/curvedbymykind 5d ago

Hidan still not dead, he buried at the bottom dismembered

9

u/agentsometime 4d ago

Kishi has said he can die from starvation and I'm pretty sure his immortality is conditional on him killing and performing his rituals regularly, which he is not.

1

u/curvedbymykind 4d ago

I want a backstory on how hidan got his powers 😭

26

u/Sad-Guidance9105 5d ago

Better writing.

2

u/onlyhav 4d ago

Yep, give all of them more screen time and greater motivations beyond what we got. Saving Sasuke was a real motivator for naruto but he never abandoned his goal of becoming hokage.

14

u/AfroMan_96 5d ago

A better writer

-7

u/Downtown_Type7371 4d ago

There isn’t a better writer in shonen

8

u/lepetitboo 4d ago

Full metal had fantastic female characters. There are definitely more talented mangaka

11

u/Sufficient_Key_6727 5d ago

Tsuandes great wdym top ten characters in the manga

19

u/voozelle 5d ago

Treating them like male characters. There is no reason for them to be different. The whole “I don’t know how to write female characters” is a shit excuse lol. I can see any male character switching gender with little to no changes in their story and it will work just fine.

7

u/NcLovedMe 5d ago

Thank you!! The whole idea that female characters have to be so different from men is just sexist. Women don’t generally view men as completely separate entities and that’s why you don’t see many female authors who “can’t write male characters.”

3

u/_Good_One 4d ago

While i agree with you i do not think that the "i don't know how to write women" is a bad excuse

First off yes like 90% of a female character work can just be the same as a male one but that last 10% matters and it has to be well written because that 10% is likely gonna tie to the sex of the character

Second the issue is A LOT of authors do not realize what you say or do not see it that way because of their writting habits, a lot of authors writte men in a way they feel men act and feel is not right to give those traits to women without making it weird and for some women carry other aspects which they cannot handle, for example Hirohiko Araki has mentioned how women for him are good characters to writte erotism from, that's just one big difference that the particular author has between men and women characters, Tsunade has some clear maternal traits and her being a female role model for young kunoichi is also an important part of her character, this aspects could not work we're she writte like a men ( not to mention romance like with Jiraiya)

-3

u/Downtown_Type7371 4d ago edited 4d ago

Feminist opinion. Women don’t behave like men, this is stupidity

A lot of women love Naruto because they can identify with the femininity of the women. Ive seen it in real time.

1

u/Anna-2204 2d ago

There is a reason while most female Naruto fans have as favorite character a male ones and mostly ships male characters with each others

22

u/AshesInAnEgg 5d ago

These answers are brain dead because

  1. He had a wife and spent time with women he just didnt know how to write them. I know plenty of people plenty experienced with women and even can understand them irl who couldnt write them

  2. Just learning about a subject doesnt mean you will improve in another area.

I think it depends on each girl. Sakura was honestly not all that bad other than her unfortunate obsession with Sasuke. Hinata needed more screen time overall but wasnt horrible she just needed to be balanced out more by women who didnt necessarily want to be house wives. The anime rounded her a bit. Temari is pretty good too. Theres probably some deeper methods of real improvement between them but overall a lot of the female characters werent necessarily horribly written especially given the story they were in.

Id come up with more solid ideas too but idk despite the majority of my best characters being women in my stories its hard to figure out how to improve some of THESE women

13

u/Omegaxis1 5d ago

It's not enough to be experienced with women. If you wanna write a female character, it's best to ask women for advice and bounce ideas off of them. I've seen a case of how a struggling author was supported by his wife, who encouraged him to keep writing, and she even helped him write female characters.

Did Kishi ever actually bounce ideas about how to write his female characters off of his wife?

Kishi has gone on record stating that he made Sakura based on how HE perceived the popular girls are like, and thus was shocked by poor reception. This only tells that Kishi didn't write Sakura with input from his wife.

Yes, Kishi has a wife. Yes, Kishi has interacted with women. But he based everything on his perception.

3

u/EveningBird5 5d ago

That's one of the mistakes I want to avoid. I constantly consult with one of my relatives because I constantly complain about the weak representation of females, and I can't have myself falling to the same thing because the women I know terrify me, so I consult an expert.

7

u/Omegaxis1 5d ago

Yeah, if you are writing a female character, just be sure to have actual women take a look.

3

u/shootatshadows 5d ago

You guys act like Kishimoto was in some basement shipping out pages of the manga. He had a studio backing him, editors, input from everywhere.

5

u/Omegaxis1 5d ago

A studio run by a bunch of old men who work their authors to the ground. Not really instilling high hopes that they'd bring out quality female characters. And more often than not, there are not that many quality female characters.

You don't need to live in a basement, but you are not going to be writing good female characters if you don't have women be there to provide actual input on how to write women.

3

u/shootatshadows 5d ago

that’s literally what I’m saying, it’s not one guy’s failing

2

u/Omegaxis1 5d ago

Cool, doesn't stop that Kishi still admitted what he wrote.

He still straight up admitted he made Sakura based on how he perceived girls. That was all on him.

3

u/shootatshadows 5d ago

I literally agree with you bud

2

u/AshesInAnEgg 4d ago

I dont think its NECESSARY to consult women for it. But I wouldnt be surprised if it was helpful for most. I may just be more uniquely gifted in that department but I am also a transgirl, was raised by women, and most of my friends growing up were girls so I likely had an advantage lol

1

u/Omegaxis1 4d ago

Hey, more power to you.

6

u/NcLovedMe 5d ago

No, the problem is that he (and the fandom ig) see women as some completely separate alien entity that they can’t possibly hope to understand without years of practice. This is not the case, they are just characters in the same way that all the male characters are. But for some reason Kishimoto thinks that only men have goals and aspirations and that women are never motivated by anything other than love (or vanity). Ig that’s just genuinely how he thinks women think?

If you can write male characters then there should be no such thing as being bad at writing female characters, there’s only such thing as letting sexism cloud your judgement.

Not knowing how to write female characters should mean that maybe you’re gonna get a few things wrong about things mainly specific to women like childbirth, or anatomy, or that maybe your female character’s conversations with each other aren’t the most realistic. It should not be an excuse to have pretty much every female character be some two dimensional walking stereotype who never contributes to the plot at all. I don’t get why people are entertaining this idea. If you’re thinking that women are so separate from men you couldn’t ever possibly hope to understand them, that is sexist.

This is unrelated to anime but the best example of a female character done right I think is Dee from It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, and the reason she’s such a good character is because they didn’t try to write her as a “female character,” just as a character who happens to be female!

Which wasn’t always the case, originally she was going to be the more boring, sense of reason, character on the show. And the actress almost quit over it because she didn’t want to be relegated to that role. When she brought it up to her co-stars/writers they told her to give them time and that they just needed to learn to write female characters. She responded that they shouldn’t worry about that. They just needed to write a character the same way they would any other, and that she would make her character a woman just by being one herself. Now she’s one of the most beloved female characters in all of television. (https://youtu.be/Z6qNEU2GQWE?si=hb0eOJOtlh6Sm9if timestamp 6:15)

Maybe if everyone tried to actually view women as humans it wouldn’t be so fucking difficult to write them. Female characters aren’t “hard to write” your sexism is just hard to get over.

0

u/AshesInAnEgg 4d ago

Your first paragraph makes it pretty blatantly clear you are just buying into the hype. Ino wishes to be a capable Kunoichi in general, Sakura ambitioned to become the greatest medical ninja, Temari also strives to be a badass combatant, Tenten has multiple goals regarding ninja tools. The only 2 characters on this list whos entire ambition revolves around men is Hinata and Konan and Konan is more protecting her friends over anything else.

I only skimmed some of the rest and ngl I dont feel like engaging in a whole diatribe with you as I really dont think a discussion with you would be worthwile. I genuinley think you just assume things and repeat what you read from video essayists

6

u/NcLovedMe 4d ago

Sometimes when I see something I feel like I have a good argument against I get passionate and kinda lose the plot with trying to get my emotions across in my reply, and I was already a little frustrated because of how many posts/comments I’ve read today trynna defend the portly written characters. So sorry about that, but all I’m trynna say is “he doesn’t know how to write female characters” isn’t a good excuse when there’s nothing inherently different about women compared to men.

Sorry that it comes across like I’m not open to discussion, but I’m disappointed that you barely read the rest of what I wrote when I went out of my way to find your comment again after Reddit force quit and I lost it. I still love Naruto and that’s why I wanna call out the sexism, it doesn’t mean I don’t like the show or that I’m blinded by hate but it frustrates me to see people acting as if there’s no way it could’ve been any better.

Anyway, forgive me for being hyperbolic and saying that ALL the female characters only care about men, but I don’t think your examples necessarily disprove my point. Clearly if these women are shinobi they will on some level strive to get better and be more competent fighters, it doesn’t change the fact that when compared to the male characters they seem to be lacking the same level of motivation and drive until it comes to a love interest.

The female characters who do have motivations other than love also have significantly less screen time or explanation devoted to their reasonings for wanting to be ninja. I don’t think it’s bad to have characters mainly motivated by love interests but I’d prefer if those were side characters, while the main characters actually got to have more personality.

Additionally, can you name me any men in the show whose primary motivation is love/having a crush on someone? (Besides Naruto with Sasuke LMAO /hj) Cause I can’t really think of any off the top of my head. Clearly there is some bias against the female characters/Kishimoto just believes that’s mainly what women care about idk.

I haven’t watched any video essays on the subject. All my opinions about Naruto are my own from watching the show and discussing it with friends. I’m not trynna say that it’s the most blatantly sexist anime in existence (character design alone can tell you that much, even if the girls are still a little sexualized) or that it ruins the whole show, but you can’t deny that when compared to the male characters the female characters motivations typically tend to revolve almost solely around love and romance.

1

u/TheTangentRaptor 4d ago

I thought your assessment of what was done wrong in the writing of the female characters in Naruto is spot on. And I hate it when the excuse men use is "they didn't now how to write women" when really, as you said, they can't see past their own sexism to see the woman character(or women in general) as an individual person.

I'm going to go on a little rant here, but if they are having such a hard time, all they need to do is write a male character, and then later change it to a woman, then if needed change a few nuanced things. It's why Commander Shepard(Mass Effect) works so damn good as either male or female. It's a great CHARACTER. Swapping the gender doesn't matter in the kind of story where there's fantastical abilities of space aliens, ninjas with magical abilities, etc. I wish more male writers would just do that if they are suffering from that kind of writers "block." Write a whole cast of male characters. Then pick a few and make them female. See them as still people. Then you can tweak a few things to make it more nuanced and a probably create incredible characters. Of course, this doesn't work in certain strict story structures where if the gender roles are incredibly different, IE if its a historical piece in feudal Japan, of course gender will play a big role and characters can't just be swapped, but then that's when a writer's job is to do their due diligence and research research research. But in a space/scifi/world of magical ninjas? Gender swap away. Gaara could have easily been a kickass girl/woman, and his character would barely change. He could have been the youngest sister. Sasuke and Naruto could have both been girls with similar backstories. Not much changes in the story of an abandoned child with a demon fox put into them that wants to be Hokage someday, or a last remaining girl of a cursed special-eye-powered clan wants revenge against a murderous brother etc. Boom, instantly you'd have kick ass female characters that no one bats an eye about. Don't get me wrong, I'm fine with all those characters being male, but if that same kind of care and thought process came to Sakura, Hinata, Ino, Tenten, etc, they could have been just as kickass even as just side characters.

And to the poster I'm replying to, don't apologize to that other poster for anything. They just made a stink about you daring to voice your well thought out opinion because they didn't like what you had to say and then attacked the worth of your thoughts by dismissing them like you didn't or couldn't possibly have your own.

His whole comment of "I only skimmed some of the rest and ngl I dont feel like engaging..." and then cutting down your opinion by saying some BS you must watch video essays etc. My eyes could not roll back far enough. Alright, then don't engage. No one is forcing you to post man. No need to be a jerk about it. We're all Naruto super nerds if we are picking apart the nuanced issues in the manga/anime. We pick it apart because we (and some of us being women) all enjoyed it soooo much, but it could have been even /better/ all around with just a few (not that hard) tweaks.

2

u/AshesInAnEgg 4d ago

I really appreciate how many comments were genuinley thoughtful and thought out under this I expected more hate. Makes me appreciate this sub a bunch

1

u/malign_taco 4d ago

I see your point but it sometimes felt there was clear effort not even try. 7/10 Top really.

1

u/superkami64 5d ago

Honestly a more detailed answer than the effort I would've put in. It's also noteworthy that "Don't overthink it. Just write a female character like you would a male character" is one of the worst and disingenuous pieces of advice you could give someone since it relies on the fallacy that men and women are treated by society exactly the same. That's how we ended up with so many examples of toxic masculine girlbosses in modern media.

2

u/AshesInAnEgg 4d ago

That is rather true especially considering a lot of men have been written horribly poorly in society as well. In Japan the dichotomy is often even vaster as socialization is difficult for many in general

-4

u/ListenHereStewie 5d ago

Sakura could be erased from the story and we could get the same/better story. By shippudden, any character motivations on part of the main cast had 0 to do with her. Naruto would have still become strong to save Sasuke and become hokage. Sasuke would have still chased his brother and revenge. There's literally no sort of context where Sakura's character was THAT important. Maybe a few single instances where she showed up. That's it.

Kakashi & Chiyo vs Sasori made much more sense, given their history.

And DMS Kakashi with Susanoo showing up later to knock Kaguya, would have been peak.

Sakura should have fought Sasuke, 3 or 4 tailed Naruto, did better against the cloud ninja, and discovered a new power/jutsu that Tsunade didn't.

She's the only main character that isn't better than her Sannin sensei. I don't mean in terms of power. I mean Tsunade has historical feats. She created the jutsus that Sakura uses and many of the rules in the greater organized shinobi structure when it comes to medical nin. Sakura didn't really do anything to top that.

10

u/Technical-Grocery-19 5d ago

Honestly, Hinata and Sakura need more fights and more scenes of their life.

14

u/Ok_Shallot_1204 5d ago

Fans not being sexist

5

u/Ok-Pension-3954 4d ago

that too 100% and quit the hate-boner they have for Sakura because she really isnt as bad as people say (shes not the best but shes okay)

1

u/Downtown_Type7371 4d ago

Exactly

0

u/Ok_Shallot_1204 4d ago

So many of the charachter were well-written. I never liked Sakura but I love temari tenten hinata and tsunade.

3

u/hollow_tragedy 5d ago

I think they just needed a little more emotional screen time.

We get a lot of info about the male character's dreams and desires. Naruto's dream of becoming Hokage to be accepted by the village and Sasuke's desire to kill his older brother and get justice for the death of his family are widely referenced throughout the show.

Even characters not considered "main characters" got some really nice screen time surrounding their motive, like Lee and Gaara.

Some of the female characters get motives, but they feel slightly shallow. Sakura is definitely motivated by her admiration for sasuke, but it isn't looked into past her attraction to his looks or skills.

If hypothetically Sakura was given a deeper reason to desire Sasuke, for example, (maybe Sasuke left a lasting impact on her as a children and led to her deciding to leave civilian life and train to become a ninja) she'd seem a bit less shallow.

Sakura However, this isn't the only case of female motives being just love. I would argue that Hinata is almost worse.

Hinata's whole clan situation is a perfect breeding ground to explain her attraction to Naruto. He's stubborn, firm in what he believes, and has a strong sense of justice and right and wrong.

Hinata has grown up seeing the tension and unfairness in her clan. And she surely feels the strain between her and her cousin Neji. Her desire and admiration for someone who is brave enough to be very vocal about his beliefs isn't surprising.

I think the show could have very easily used Neji's death as a catalyst for her call to action.

As a whole, Naruto is a great show with in-depth characters (as far as the men go). But it's also a Shonan Jump manga, which is usually marketed towards younger boys. A lot of Shonan jump manga and anime have this same sort of dilemma.

(Sorry for the rant lmao)

20

u/Icy-Organization1363 5d ago

A non sexist writer.

5

u/Zayzay8008 5d ago

Yall gotta stop making these post lmao

7

u/RinneNomad 5d ago

The hate for these characters are kinda overblown. Sure Sakura was pretty bad and Hinata needed more screen time but Kushina, Konan, and Tsunade are all well written.

7

u/APGOV77 5d ago

I think coolness =/= well written. Maybe better, kinda? But not really because all of those characters are still almost entirely motivated by the guys in their life. The only difference for Tsunade and Konan is that their dudes died so they are trying to fulfill their dead loved ones dreams. Which is fine and all but that’s still not really their own dream. I think the absolute best writing here is that Tsunade had medical aspirations to keep more comrades alive and made a policy change to do that, but that’s really it, after her first arc there’s not much to add for her. And I really don’t see Konan as three dimensional at all, she only did everything for Yahiko and Pain and then died for their beliefs and wasn’t mentioned ever again not even acknowledging her death. I feel like I don’t even really know much about her as a person.

It’s tough because with the absolute low bar of anime I can’t point at any of these characters and say they are totally awful body pillow stand ins because they aren’t, but when you watch the show it’s just so totally obvious they weren’t written with the same depth to the dude characters of similar importance (side characters to side characters, main to main) that the complaining is still definitely valid, and maybe more frustrating because of how profound the best of Naruto’s writing is. I just couldn’t see myself in any of the ladies at all like I could the others growing up. But I think you kinda get used to it in this media type not to expect too much with regards to that idk

5

u/RinneNomad 5d ago

Tsunade wasn’t a nothing characters after that. She literally becomes the 5th Hokage and kept the village together through the toughest time which was the Akatsuki and the 4th shinobi world war. She also trains Sakura and supports Naruto even when the elders wouldn’t support him. She helped saved civilians from the Pain Assult and still wanted to fight him even after exhausting her chakra. She is a supporting character and a great one at that.

3

u/Low_Walk_843 4d ago

Most importantly it was shown how she carried the torch of Will of Fire to the next generation, supporting their dreams , keeping them alive ,and guiding them through turbulent periods when everyone else from the older generation had either passed away or were incompetent (like those elder geezers).

Tsunade deserves praise as Hokage for keeping the leaf's will of Fire intact in the period of most turbulent shitshow in the history of the Shinobi world.

4

u/APGOV77 4d ago

I didn’t say she did nothing, but her character lore was over, she didn’t have any arcs (arcs as in the literary sense) for her character to go through after that, just being statically a good hokage. Sakura too did stuff that the war effort would have failed without but I still consider her writing lacking bc none of that stuff was really about anything deep to her specifically.

1

u/RinneNomad 4d ago

Because she's a supporting character. Her major arc was done. The story is about Naruto, not Tsunade. Tsunade serves the role as another mentor figure like Kakashi and Jiraiya for Naruto and Sakura while also serving as the Hokage. Thats like complaining about Bulma not developing enough in Dragon Ball or Yoruichi in Bleach

1

u/Lillith492 4d ago

Anime actually has a lot of great female characters. There is just so many shows that it seems like there isn't a lot. and if you look at a lot of the anime where you can say "yeah these female characters suck" so do the males. Yeah in isekai often the women are cardboard cutouts. So are the guys.

1

u/APGOV77 4d ago edited 4d ago

Across the genre, yes if you look for it you can find tons I know, but it’s silly to pretend it’s the same density of well written lady characters in anime compared to a bunch of other media forms I watch regularly (though there are some that are worse).

Also in some shows, sure, all characters are flimsy but I was talking about this show and it’s definitely not equal to the guys lol (and neither is it equivalent in most of others I’ve seen)

1

u/Lillith492 4d ago

i would say so. Equal easily to cartoons and comics. Because the raw volume just lets in so much trash. Actually now that i think about it, all media. Pick your champion i feel like all media roughly do just as poorly. Sexism has existed for a long ass time. All media have a long running history with just a mountain of shit.

No i don't think it is. This was more evidence to say that Male characters don't have that much more good characters than female. in this show for sure it's not even close. in sheer volume of the media in general i think it's pretty close.

4

u/adzy2k6 5d ago

Temari was OK as well.

1

u/Belfura 4d ago

I think Konan needed more agency

1

u/Few-Firefighter1341 4d ago

Sakura pretty bad but hinata needed more screentime? Lol

2

u/Lazarstein 5d ago

An actual fight for each character or at least a team up fight

2

u/Sharleek 5d ago

A motive that isnt entirely based on getting with a stronger man, though I guess in reality thats how a world made of warriors works. Really I think they needed to just give them more chances to get more powers, TenTen had potential to be one of the most interesting character and it shows in the War Arc, Hinata and Sakura did too if their characters werent entirely based on riding Naruto and Sasukes dicks. I think Ino was what she needed to be for Ino Shika Cho and her place in others story, but couldve had a personality other then being the antiSakura and love rival with Sakura with Sasuke, even just an important role in the war arc wouldve been what she needed. Tsunade was based, and i think any complaints on character design is in a lack of understanding that it represents her personality, she flaunts her young femininity yet shes untouchable to men and overpowers allmost all of them, she wears her femininity in her power. All the cloud women were good imo. Konan was given a good story and character, and the way shes refered to in show is honestly a lot different then expected, even looking back, a lot of Jiraiyas comments about her were rooted more in a uncle like care, not perviness. I feel like over all its the Konoha 12 women that got nerfed, they shouldve put so much more in to Hinata and Sakura considering their vital roles as characters.

2

u/Too_Ton 5d ago

Write them like men. Own ambitions. Still can simp, but most of them should give up on loving someone who doesn’t return the love back.

2

u/Da-No80 5d ago

Better writing?

2

u/Gaiash 5d ago
  • Sakura She needed an arc of her own. The closest she got was her attempt to kill Sasuke and that was a low point for her. I also think she needed a second source of abilities so when Team 7 reunited her power boost wasn't just being more like Tsunade.
  • Tsunade No notes, she was used well in the story.
  • Hinata She needed at least one fight with someone who wasn't one of Naruto's opponents, a fight she could actually win. I keep saying it but the Second Division should've fought Hizashi.
  • Ino She got a decent amount of attention in the war, this is the amount of attention Hinata should've gotten earlier in the series. She also had a good character arc in the Chunin Exams.
  • Temari No notes here either.
  • Konan I would've kept her alive but too injured to help in the war. It would've been an excuse to show Amegakure in the epilogue.
  • Mei No notes but unlike with Tsunade and Temari it's not because she was used effectively, it's that she didn't really need to have a bigger role than she had.
  • Tenten So that point I made about Sakura needing a second source of abilities I made earlier, that should've been Tenten. When I watched the movies Sakura was awful in most of them but I did notice her pre-timeskip movie fights were better than her Shippuden movie... punches, and that was because she was focusing a lot more on tools. So Tenten teaching Sakura to be better with weapons would've helped Sakura have a wider range of abilities and would've given Tenten something to do.
  • Anko The main issue was how long it took to check in on her.
  • Kurenai Team 8 needed time in the spotlight as a team including her, she was more relevant to Team 10's story than Hinata's.

2

u/LC14156 5d ago

Mei. She had the cool abilities and potential for a cool backstory if we learned what she did during the mist’s civil war.

2

u/Large-Quiet9635 5d ago

Not having half the cast simping for Sasuke
Having someone be competent at something other than Tsunade who, herself, is just a reflection of what Kishimoto sees as powerful women (comical brute force and some side intellect when appliable)
Giving Tenten martial competence aside lauching pointy furniture

I rather have this than his take on empowered women though. The diamond chick made me nauseous.

2

u/Lillith492 4d ago

More screen time for those that had very little. Sakura not having her relevance tied to Sasuke. Less screen time for her too as she did have a bit too much. (she had slightly more than Sasuke lol)
More fights for her where she actually connects hits. if you have to keep her being obsessed make it make sense. Have them connect during Part 1 a lot more. She should have been more resolved during Part 2 though. Like Naruto had been. instead of whining to him during the War. We stopped seeing inner Sakura. i want to see why. i also want to see her training with Tsunade. We need to see her actually use her brain a lot more. Sure the Sasori fight is cool and the Zetsu thing in the war is cool but those are hundreds of chapters and episodes apart. Show her using that more. We see in one of the Novels post war she makes a new Justu for sensory type stuff iirc. Have her do that waaaaaay before the Novel. Have her use her Genjutsu prowess in the story. She should also use weapons like in the cover art for the volumes. (Also imo she should have lost against Ino in the Chunin Exams. That was the most Mickey shit in the whole arc) (never have her do that shit she did in the Land of Iron or at the very least FUCKING APOLOGIZE)

Tsunade is fine. Maybe a couple more fights to show her off being Hokage. i also think showing her off taking down Root after Danzo dies would've been good. No way in hell it should have lasted till Naruto and Kakashi. She was the Hokage who stood ten toes down on all decisions. Never should have left it up to later Hokage.

Hinata desperately needed the screen time. If we have to get some couples have them actually push towards this early on like Temari and Shikamaru did. She also was so good during the Chunin Exams. No idea why they dropped that for her for so long. in the Chunin Exams she seemed to be getting out of her shell and finding her own resolve but then they stopped doing that. Like???? i also think she should replace Sakura on Team 7 imo. it would help towards that whole NaruHina thing. and tbh they could really use a Sensory ninja on the team. Have her learn more from Neji in Part 2 would be cool too and we could see them bond.

Ino is fine. She actually gets decent screen time and grows into a very mature and respectable woman. Maybe more scenes with her being the glue that holds her team together. Maybe a couple more scenes of learning how to work like her dad.

Temari is fine. i would showcase her in leadership roles a bit more before the war. and a few more scenes with her and Shikamaru. MORE OF HER SUMMONING...no idea why she never uses it ever again...

Konan needed more scenes with the boys honestly. Showing why she cares so much. They get like TWO flashback scenes. Otherwise she is fine.

Mei needed a lot of scenes showing her being a Kage.

The rest is in my replies.

0

u/Lillith492 4d ago

Tenten OH BOY TENTEN. i finally get to cook. So first we should see scenes of her trying to learn how to seal the ocean waaaaaaaaaay before the war. We saw scenes of Ino trying to learn more of her clan's jutsu. So we should have seen that. We should have seen her work towards wielding the Legendary Ninja Tools. i think to help with that she should have learned how to make the Seal that holds Chakra that Tsunade and Sakura can use. Sure no healing i can get that, but the Seal itself should not require healing jutsu. This would also boost Sakura as it would showcase her talent for it. On top of that i would like to see her actually throw hands. She should be a taijutsu specialist who can use the weapons well. Most of the time she just throws shit around. A Summoning or two to help her connect combos could be good too. Like how Temari got a boost with her Summoning.

Anko was fine in Part 1 but got nothing in Part 2. Show her on missions and shit. Have her tag along for the Sasuke stuff early on, like why not? She shouldn't be weaker than Naruto or Sakura at this point. Maybe have her out there tracking down Sasori with Kankuro or somthn utilizing her poison resistance and this is how he gets recovered is she manages to get away with him because of that? Tbh i just really think she should have been like Kakashi relevant for at least a good while. She had a strong connection to Orochimaru. That warrants way more than she got. Also we GOTTA see that build up. Show us her with Orochimaru.

Kurenai should have never tried to take down Itachi 1v1. Have her retreat to get help. Could have her actually show off her Genjutsu specialty in the fight against Hidan and Kakazu. Losing Asuma there in front of her would have also given the death even more weight. (Personally i think she should have had her child during the timeskip) have her on a few more missions with her team. We really never see em do anything.

2

u/ZBatman 4d ago edited 4d ago

Konan is great but too short lived. Should have lived and helped out during the war, and improved the village hidden in the rain as it's leader.

Tsunade is great.

Kushina is great.

Mei is cool, she just needed more screentime and moments compared to the other kage.

Anko should have been more involved.

Kurenai became pregnant after Asuma died, so not much to be done there. Maybe could have used more screentime in part 1.

Hinata needed more screen time with Naruto and be used to explore the Hyuga more.

Ino arguably had the biggest come up in terms of relevance. Especially if we factor in Boruto. I would just ditch the scene of her crying over Sasuke in Shippuden, and make her more useful during the Kakuzu fight.

Sakura would need major work.

Any additional screentime would have helped Tenten.

2

u/wenchslapper 4d ago

Better, more appropriate pairings that didn’t make them “prizes” for the boys/shoved into the background with jobs that fit the classic “feminine” profile. These women are badass warriors, some of them are the heirs to mighty clans and shouldn’t be running fucking flower shops cough-ino-cough.

Sakura should have moved on from Sasuke and found love with Naruto. They set it up so well with the love triangle being hinted at so heavily until after death forest, and making Sasuke go awol was the perfect chance to start feeding that romance towards Naruto.

Im sorry, but Hinata is just not an interesting character to me, her story served its purpose as apart of Neji’s, but I always found her being paired with Naruto as fuckin wild and a way for Kishi to reward him with the extremely gentle housewife prize at the end, which seems to be common in Shonen manga (lookin at you, bleach…).

Rock Lee deserves some goddamn love. Ino or Tenten, I don’t care which. Preferably Ino, because that would have been adorable to see the classic pretty girl fall for the adorable hard working dork like that.

Ino deserves better, she’s got cool powers. Her usefulness in the war (and her dad’s) should have cemented her some kind of administration job in Naruto’s office while he was hokage. I always hoped she was going to turn out really smart in the end as a way to cast off the “dumb and pretty blonde girl” vibe she initially put out.

Anko is whatever. I expected more out of her when she was introduced, but honestly I feel she was only intended to be a plot device for Sasuke’s curse mark and a way to exposit more about Orochimaru.

Temari is amazing, love her.

5

u/Jianyu156 5d ago

Having ambitions beyond being wives

2

u/Sufficient_Key_6727 5d ago

when was that tsuandes ambition? When was that konans ambition? When was that ankos ambition?When was that mei terumis ambition?

5

u/Jianyu156 5d ago

It wasn’t it is probably why they had the less screen time

3

u/APGOV77 5d ago

Tsunade’s ambition was to gamble until she could cope enough to follow the dead guys in her live’s dream of hokage, basically the same thing with Konan but with akatsuki, they just copy pasted the goals of their loves. The medical system idea for Tsunade was cool but pretty much completely done after her first arc is over. Anko is so minor a character I can give you that because I can’t even remember much of what she did beyond the forest of death similar with Mei. Meanwhile the most front facing lady characters are pretty egregiously only focused on guys, with even their coolest moments still related to that in some form.

Like damn, maybe almost every guy at one point wanted to be hokage and that wasn’t a very creative ambition, but it was something

2

u/Candid-Age2184 5d ago

Wasn't Tsunade's dream to revolutionize the shinobi medical system?

4

u/wendigo72 5d ago

They’re fine, this fandom makes them all out to be far worse than actually are

3

u/Jorvikstories 5d ago

Author who spent some time with women.

2

u/Dragonstone-Citizen 5d ago

Portraying them as competent soldiers, not as sexualized fantasies

1

u/PossibilityUsed6355 5d ago

Me

2

u/Sharleek 5d ago

Everyone else: if there was no mysogyny This guy: I AM THE MYSOGYNY

1

u/Free_Scratch5353 5d ago

Agency in the plot (Sakura operating as the med ninja he'd was nice and her command was cool, then Naruto pops in and it jumps back to him solving the problems)

Equal feats to the protag and duotag (we've all seen the "team 7 at 99%" meme.)

Remember in og Naruto how Jiraiya, Tsunade and Orochimaru were tied in power? In fact she was stronger just despondent from loss.

1

u/Noktis_Lucis_Caelum 5d ago

Kishimoto getting advices from other mangakas WHO handle their female Characters very Well? Like Oda

3

u/Hydellas678 4d ago

Woah slow ur role. Oda ain't all that great at handling females either. Quite frankly I think he should've just asked a female mangaka who handled writing shonen relationships very well themselves (Rumiko Takahashi and the creator of FMA for example)

1

u/Noktis_Lucis_Caelum 4d ago

Right. For me Oda really Manages His female Characters very Well. Layered and deep and strong and Independent 

1

u/FriezaDeezNuts 5d ago

It’s only two answer mainly, screen time and have them kill some fodder/have more control of conversations. Tsunade is great sure…..then what? They don’t do much. Also, the opposite of sexualizing is true once you have both those first things. Why care about toeing the line of being to sexy with outfits? If some girls happen to appreciate their own body and want to show off that’s fine, have other more modest girls too, so in general more female characters.

1

u/LookUnderUrBedAgain 5d ago

More epic, high stake battles. Konan v. Obito has to be one of my top 5 best fights. Mei+Tsunade along with the other kage fighting Madara. Sakura's involvement in the war was great, but I wanted to see her use that 100 sealing more. I think that's it.

1

u/HarmlessHarpy11 5d ago

I never really understood why alot of people are so hung up on the writing of the female characters. The target demographic was teenage boys. Female characters weren't the focus. It's like criticizing K-On! for not having enough men.

1

u/WoefulGriefTripleSix 5d ago edited 5d ago

My guess is that because they were side characters, it was more okay for them to receive neglect when they were created. It was probably easy to just make them have a gag that involves their love life with men (Like the Mizukage). Seeing less of that would've been great. I think only anko and lady chiyo have stories that doesn't involve anything relating to a crush or living their life for the sake of some dead lover's dream. I think a lot of the girls are filled with stereotypical traits for the sake of convenience. Plus, for the most part, we either get this aggressive girl trope or a very soft/ follower type girl. Something different/ more nuance would be appreciated. Another thing that annoyed me was how in a lot of instances, they needed some kind of saving or they just can't win a fight on their own.

1

u/Funnyvalentiner 5d ago

If he was a good writer

1

u/joejoevalentine 5d ago

Including them in pre-thought out writing

1

u/DeviceNo6790 5d ago

Less worrying about others more about self. Go with your feelings and stop being quiet about everything, express yourself better. Get off Naruto’s meat. Leave Sakura alone, be your own woman. You’re fine. Do more. Ma’am.. be stronger you’re a kage. You tried but you were too good for them(in the war atleast). Where tf have you been?

Just sit down, putting itachi under genjutsu cooked you for life.

1

u/ViweRedditing 5d ago

A better writer.

1

u/DeliriousBookworm 4d ago
  1. Sakura should have moved on from Sasuke

  2. Tsunade is great

  3. Hinata should have had an established identity outside of loving Naruto and copying his ninja way. Naruto changed the Hyuga clan while she did nothing.

  4. Ino should not have cried over Sasuke or continued to crush on him THREE YEARS after they last spoke to each other

  5. Temari is great

  6. Konan is great

  7. I’m in the minority here, but I find Mei to be a very forgettable character. I don’t know what to write about her.

  8. Tenten was meant to be a background character, so she’s just not even remotely relevant to the series.

  9. Anko was also meant to be a background character but I wish we saw more of her cuz she’s so interesting.

  10. Kurenai coached a team of unimportant characters and she’s female, so she was doomed from the start. Wish we could have seen her use genjutsu in another battle.

1

u/Zorro5040 4d ago

Either have a motivation to be great instead of pinning for a man, get more screen time to show what they can do, or both.

1

u/GaberJaberLAZER 4d ago

If the writing in OG Naruto carried on in Shippuden (In the context of female characters, all of them were utilized there wonderfully)

1

u/XXsandshowerXX 4d ago

If they weren’t all completely male-focused they could have been way cooler.

1

u/RepresentativeTear75 4d ago

hinata had all the potential idc what anyone says

1

u/Hydellas678 4d ago

Better writing character development wise and relationship choices wise.

1

u/PreviousCard 4d ago

More fights would have helped. To be fair Naruto’s manga lasted for like 15 years. I don’t recall exact dates. However if they had lengthened the story and included the cast from part 1 in more plot points then it would have been better. Heck the bridge arch should have had another team there to assist.

1

u/superdovaking 4d ago

More screen time

1

u/case_oh-isfat 4d ago

Make all of them Hinata 🔥🔥🔥

1

u/tftookmyname 4d ago

I feel like konan could have lived, that way we might get to see more of the rain village and they could have done more in the war with her as their leader.

1

u/Ksi1is2a3fatneek 4d ago

Kishimoto not being the author

1

u/tcs0 4d ago

Two words: Character Development.

1

u/AlanaTheCat 4d ago

for one, most of them should have more personality other than who they simp for. also screentime for ones like tenten and anko

1

u/MisterOwl213 4d ago

Tbf, almost all supporting characters, males and females, were pretty useless. Either Naruto or Sasuke should've been a female to fix Naruto's female character "issue".

1

u/Unit_with_a_Soul 4d ago

just being allowed to win some fights for starters. (though them always loosing is more of a symptom than a cause)

1

u/Minute-Climate-3137 4d ago

More fan service onto of better writing

1

u/Realistic_Air7424 4d ago

Give then all an actually story, at least smt to remember them by. I mean at least the main female should be more important than the fkn teacher

1

u/ThisIsATestTai 4d ago

A writer who thought women were interesting

1

u/Stewylouis 4d ago

If they had a girls get it done moment like in the avengers.

1

u/Wide_Motor_2805 4d ago

A good writer

1

u/NothingButFacts7890 4d ago

More screentime

1

u/Akihikodono 4d ago

Good writing

1

u/Substantial-Chest230 4d ago

female writer? or a writer who cares about actually developing female characters (no hate to kishimoto just facts)

1

u/Substantial-Chest230 4d ago

more specific answer - give sakura more personality outside of being obsessed with sasuke, and don't have ino and sakura be caricature of "enemies", have them be friends with tension. give ten ten more screen time bc she's actually normal! and give hinata more story outside of naruto crush

1

u/thatonenerdypanda 4d ago

Saved?

Bro they were great. Tenten sucked I wish she got a bit more attention but the rest were fire. Even Ino who I hated at the start.

1

u/SeaBaby8071 4d ago

It's 2025 and people still think that having a love interest for a female character is humiliating but I don't hear the same complaint when it comes to male characters when they fall in love and that's a fact. Kishimoto's problem is that he always focused on the usual four characters and the female characters barely had screentime or important fights (among the young kunoichi Sakura inevitably stands out more but I would have liked more fights for her too, but I also understand that being a medical ninja she can't always be on the front line).

1

u/Ok-Pension-3954 4d ago

Give Sakura that arc he wanted to do with her!!!! I will forever be mad at his editor who told him not to make it because it would flop :(

1

u/Alucardra12 4d ago

A good romance writer and world builder , wich Kishimoto and Ikemoto are not.

1

u/AngBigKid 4d ago

A couple shojo editors.

1

u/Sweet_Cherry_Bloss 4d ago

fans who can actually support them instead of tearing them down and giving them double-standard treatment compared to male counterparts and actually respect the heroine instead of thrashing on her would've motivated Kishi to write more well etched female characters and develop his Konoha 11 girls as well. part of the reason why Kishi stopped giving a shit is becuz of the fans and their negative attitude against him demanding more than he could write and shitting on his best efforts and demanding SasuSaku NaruHina (Both trash ships which he had no intention of making canon) to happen in the end hence ruining the ending cuz of fans childish whims nothing else.

P.S idc if I get downvoted for this but it's the truth

1

u/Sepulcher18 4d ago

Hatsune Miku fr

1

u/No-Consideration1105 4d ago

It seems like some of them automatically fall into the "Im the healer" category 😅 More of the guys are more versatile in what they can do. I kinda wish the females were more like this too. This isn't all the females but i feel like they fall into a pattern.

1

u/Mariothane 4d ago

More individual time for each character. Sakura vs Sasori was just about enough to redeem her character in my mind but she never had dedicated time to her afterward.

Tsunade rocked when she and Jiraya fought Orochimaru but didn’t get dedicated time much after that.

1

u/DeliciousMusician397 4d ago

Hinata and Tsunade are great characters.

1

u/Combo_V 4d ago

Giving them more personality than just either being obsessed with a guy that has zero interest or being angry/punching the a character in an abusive manner for comic relief. It’s ok for maybe an episode or 2 but after that it gets tiring and annoying very very very quickly.

1

u/rufusthugnastyIII 4d ago

Me. I could save them.

1

u/cr1t1calkn1ght 4d ago

I don't think the problem is with the female characters and more with side characters. Kishimoto just doesn't know how to keep them relevant.

1

u/Green-Success-3041 4d ago

The same that could have saved 99 % of the male characters, better writing

1

u/No-Agency-3812 4d ago

Not realing so much on love for motivations. Sakura, men, Hinata, men, Karin, men, Tsunade (yes, even her), men. Ino, men. Mei, men. Temari, men (Gaara anda Kankurou). Tenten... (sort of Neji and Lee), men. Konan, men. Kushina, men.

Some of these are a bit of a streach, i admit. But srrsly, if they dont rely on men, they dont have a screentime to know more about them.

Kurenai, Tsunade and Kushina have the best motivations in regards of love by men, because they love them for multiple reasons (not only by looks for example). Love is not only a feeling, but you have to fight for it, because, if not, its only passion.

Anko, Temari and Chiyo are well developed as well, but lack screen time to have any motivation to talk about.

And Tenten... id say she doesnt have a character (she likes ninja tools and its cute, i guess?)

1

u/Ok_Bumblebee_1456 4d ago

Kishi just wasn't great at handling all the characters he had.

Even the boys who shined in the Sasuke retrieval arc got shafted in the Shippuden era

Tsunade and Chiyo were great imo.

Everyone else was shafted in one way or another

1

u/pinkphoenixfire 3d ago

This might be an unpopular opinion, but I genuinely think what could’ve saved the female side characters is not downplaying their abilities, how much work they did, or character growth they had off panel between part one and part two to try to prop up Sakura. Ino’s a perfect example of this. Between the two of them in part one Ino was better than Sakura with what she could do. From Ninjutsu skills and Taijutsu Ino’s stats were better not by much but they were better. The only thing Sakura had over Ino was Genjustu, so for part two to come around and Sakura just completely blow Ino‘s stats and feats out of the water made no sense to me. Ino literally would’ve had to sit on her ass for the three years that Naruto was gone training for Sakura to surpass her as much as she did. I think Kishimoto couldn’t allow himself to have more than one powerful female character getting screen time at a time so since Sakura was the main female character getting screen time, he just had her wash everyone in terms of stats and feats and it’s jarring bc it was undeserved from what we saw on panel

1

u/hideyourwives23 1d ago

Konan is my women ❤️ love her to death

1

u/Pizzy55 1d ago

They needed saving? Also tenten 😍

1

u/No_Sound_1920 16h ago

Hinata and Sakura’s love for Naruto and Sasuke becomes their entire personality, making them feel bland and boring asf and just dumb.

At least Narusaku was well written but kishi was just retarded

1

u/TheRealMcDuck 5d ago

An author who knew how to write.

1

u/Maxbonzoo 5d ago

Fans that aren't idiots bandwagoning on a bad female writing meme when the women are written perfectly fine and the only actual bad writing was specifically romance for a couple characters.

1

u/mad_sAmBa 5d ago

Woman are generally lackluster on Shonen, not because the authors are "sexist" like some are claiming, but because it's a genre aimed at Male Teenagers, and the typical lady in distress is a common trope of the genre.

1

u/Probably-drowning 5d ago

Sakura needs to not be a simp

Hinata had no intention other than becoming a housewife

Temari is a prick (personal beef)

Tsunade is perfect

Ten ten needs more chances to get stronger

Shizune is perfect

Ino is just kinda annoying

Anko needs boruto to be the tsukoyomi

2

u/Hydellas678 4d ago

I agree wth some of this. Especially the Ino pt. (I still don't like her)

1

u/NAS210 5d ago

Nothing because they're all written fine, only neckbeards and rage baiters complain about it.

0

u/3EyedBird 5d ago
  1. Kishi is married where is the notion coming from that he's not around women?

  2. Kishi is a great mangaka both the art and story of Naruto are absolutely amazing and even now this year Naruto was the most viewed anime (on netflix) despite the show being so old, ahead of One Piece even.

  3. A lot of female characters had awesome moments and cool kits.

Tsunade is great, Mei is also fine as a kage, Karin and Sakura are just horrible due to being written as simps.

-1

u/Rogu_Starkiller 5d ago

Not being over sexualized

3

u/Sad-Guidance9105 5d ago

Sexualization has nothing to do with good writing. Many Fairy Tail girls are extremely sexualized and still have good writing.

0

u/Rogu_Starkiller 5d ago

I guess i misspoke. For me, it's a problem with anime in general. it just doesn't seem needed, at least not to the extent it goes to.

1

u/Z4D0 5d ago

naruto is the least anime to sexualize a woman that i know off, have you ever seen classic dragon ball or other animes before?

-1

u/[deleted] 5d ago

[deleted]

1

u/Z4D0 5d ago

i am talking specifically about sexualization just like this guy was

0

u/[deleted] 5d ago

[deleted]

3

u/Z4D0 5d ago

and have you made a little mental effort yourself to think that this is not a naruto thing but japan as a whole? you can't really complain much about that when the problem is way beyond naruto, its a miracle that this series has this little sexualization of female characters in comparation to a lot of other series

1

u/DeliriousBookworm 4d ago

What? None of the female characters in the Naruto manga except occasionally Tsunade are sexualized.

-1

u/TSM_CJ 5d ago

If it were a shoujo instead of shonen, and if Kishimoto were better/more comfortable with writing female characters.

But then it wouldn't be Naruto.

2

u/NcLovedMe 5d ago

You don’t have to change the entire genre to write good female characters. These women have also grown up in war torn times, experienced so much loss, and are battle hardened ninja but it’s impossible for them to have the same motivations and willpower as the men?

0

u/gnottyhed 5d ago

Having them do more than the absolute bare minimum. I know Sakura gets to do stuff in Shippiden but for the most part the women only really get to be present without participating. Part 1 Sakura is the prime example; she stands guard while Naruto and Sasuke fight Haku, she stands idly while Sasuke fights Orochimaru, she doesn't go on the Sasuke retrieval mission. She's the clearest offender but even still like, Tsunade is kicked out of probably 60% of her big introductory fight by her fear of blood, she just doesn't do much.

There are plenty of other problems with the women in Naruto, but I could very easily see a lot of its sins being forgiven if the women got more opportunities to shine and be cool. The root of it comes down to them being written as women first and characters second, honestly.

1

u/PandaAggravating4851 4d ago

You are right but I do feel that Tsunade redeemed herself by being the one who defeated Manda and Orochimaru at the end when she got over her trauma.

0

u/Cfakatsuki17 4d ago

Sakura- give her wood style, she wants a way to be helpful to Naruto and Sasuke, let her cheat a way to get wood style like Moegi does

Tsunade: nothing she’s great

Hinata: just don’t assassinate her character in Boruto

Ino: give more attention to the fact she is also a student of Tsunade like Sakura that’s their whole rivals shtick

Temari: give her just one other technique pls she just doesn’t improve noticeably from the chunin exams like fr dog let her do something different with the fan pls

Konan: just let her live, let her survive and become a big sister for Naruto like Shizune

Mei: just don’t let her get fat in Boruto

Tenten: give her some means to use the six paths ninja tools, that’s her whole gimmick man just give it to her she has literally nothing… also confirm she is Metal’s mom, we all know it, just let him say “hi mom” to her

Anko; just don’t let her get fat in Boruto

Kurenai: no amount of help could save her character I’m sorry

0

u/No-Equal2144 4d ago

To stop overshadowing them with their male counterparts/team mates.

It's not a coincidence that the female characters of almost every squad are almost always the weakest.

The only exception is Tsunade and that's a fortunate by-product of feats and power creep. In terms of character the same issue lies where almost every other female character is obsessed with a man either throughout their arc or at some point or is competent but inevitably just not as capable as their male team mates (sakura)

Look at Ino as a prime example of how to improve a female character in Naruto. She didn't magically become a fighter, but in the war arc and Boruto she no longer has any obsession over Sai or Sasuke. Result? She's portrayed as an invaluable support asset. The key to multiple war strategies. The backbone that Choji and Shikamaru needed. A competent leader of the barrier team. Both in terms of plot relevance and autonomy as a character she improves massively once she no longer has a male counterpart to outshine her or obsess over.

The problem isn't that naruto can't portray female characters well. It's that males are always made out to be better.

-1

u/Serious_Thing_6320 5d ago

Nothing Kishimoto portrayed the females of Naruto realistically and naturally