Few anime have inspired romantic fanfiction and amorous daydreams likeNaruto, but something has always irked me. Although a battle shōnen at its core, since so many ofNaruto’s characters share the spotlight,so too do their love stories. Naruto’s unrequited love and the slow burn of Sakura and Sasuke’s relationship have become iconic in their own right.
Just like withDragon Ball, I caughtNarutosporadically as a child whenever it was on air. I always liked its premise, but I never came back to it. A couple years ago, my partner, a hugeNarutofan, wanted to rewatchNaruto Shippuden. We worked through ittogether, followed by the original series.I foundNaruto’s presentation of its own relationships off-puttingas we watched it together. One Kishimoto’s quote made me perfectly realize why.
A Handful Of Relationships Still ShowNaruto’s Potential for Romance
In one interview translated by redditor u/OrganicDinosaur, Kishimoto would say the following aboutNaruto’s romances:
[Interviewer:] In the original work, depiction of full-blown (/genuine/real) love mostly did not appear, particularly Naruto’s love, it was difficult to imagine, right?
[Kishimoto:] Personally, when I draw depictions of love, I became embarrassed/shy. Thus, in the original work, I avoided depicting it.
This statement came as a surprise to me, becausesome ofNaruto’s relationshipsare actually very well-written, showing Kishimoto’s capabilities. He’s a family man himself, so it’s unsurprising that he can write interactions that are refreshingly earnest. These great relationships areprecisely what makesNaruto’s less-great relationships so frustrating.
For example, the most relatable pairing is Shikamaru and Temari. They meet organically, facing off at the Chunin exams and developing mutual respect and healthy admiration, while also pushing the other to become even stronger. Their personalities are well-balanced, with Shikamaru laid-back and intuitive and Temari more calculated and proactive.Their relationship develops organically and gradually, and the way their emotions toward one another grow feels very realistic.
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Yet for Kishimoto’s relationships to be good, they don’t have to be realistic, or even a “real romance”.Tsunade and Jiraiya’s relationship is breathtaking. The two once worked together on the legendary Sannin team. When Tsunade’s boyfriend, Dan Kato, passed away, she left the Shinobi life before eventually being brought back to Konoha to serve as Hokage. There, she and Jiraiya would support each other. Their long history provides them withimpeccable chemistry and a singular understanding of one another.
Meanwhile, Jiraiya has always loved Tsunade, who even prompted him to train in the Frog Village. He never acts on it, though. First, since he’s always traveling,he feels he wouldn’t be able to give her the attention and support she needs. Furthermore, he’s wary of taking advantage of her vulnerability following the death of her brother and first love, especially since the two are each other’s closest friends. These motivations are strikingly selfless.
Love Doesn’t Always Have To Hurt All The Time
ButNarutoDoesn’t Show That Often Enough
The trend of tragedy carries on throughoutNaruto, inadvertently painting a dismal picture of love.Almost every character in the series deals with romantic rejection and loss. For younger viewers inexperienced with romance, this isn’t ideal.
It works thematically givenNaruto’s emphasis on overcoming adversity, butit starts to feel like the subtext is that love must be painful to be “real”. Naruto first endures and competes with Sasuke for Sakura, then later promises Sakura to bring Sasuke back to Konoha. Sakura is fully aware that Naruto’s promise is partly driven by love, and eventually turns it against him with a fake confession in an attempt to save him.
Naruto’s confused, angry response to Sakura’s bunk confession was heartbreaking. This element of struggle and tragedy can produce some of the most beautiful, touching, and brutal moments in the whole series. Hinata’s selfless sacrifice for Naruto during the Pain Arc is another example in the same vein. At its best,Narutoexpertly uses tragedy to tug on heartstringsby acting out the bizarre mix of selfishness and selflessness that animates all of us more than we care to admit.
Naruto’s Character Writing is Better Than Fans Think, & Sasuke’s Lowest Moment Proves it
Naruto’s rival, Uchiha Sasuke, was consistently brooding and confident, but some fans forget when his courage failed and his character improved.
However, when Naruto, Sakura, Hinata, Ino, Karin, Obito, Tsunade, Nagato, Konan, and more all suffer from tragic loves,it starts feeling contrived. Even a little sinister. The reality is that there are rare flashes of brilliant serendipity where you simply love someone who simply loves you back. There are still challenges; it just means that you overcome them together. The mutual devotion letting you move in lockstep through life’s difficulties is just as honorable as the individual overcoming of pain and lossNarutodepicts.
Naruto’s Relationships Often Hurt The Story
Romantic tragedy doesn’t weaken the story on its own. Something else makes it a big problem, though. To illustrate, take Neji’s controversial death,intended to cement Naruto and Hinata’s relationship. Inanother interview, Kishimoto described his motivation asfeeling sorry for Hinata if she weren’t rewarded for her devotion. In combination with the subtext that love is inherently painful, the idea that a reward is deserved at the end can be read as perniciously encouraging harmful or toxic relationships for young readers.
The beauty of Tsunade and Jiraiya’s relationship is that, despite his time-tested love, he was never “rewarded” in the end by getting with her.The reward was the connection itself, rather than the vague idea of love per se. The fan-favorite relationship of Sakura and Sasuke never grew on me, because it felt motivated by the wrong things.
Sasuke rejects Sasuka’s advances for a long time. Heundeniably cared for her from the start, and he would save her life many times. Still, he hadno intentions of a romantic relationship with her—or anyone, for that matter. His primary focus was avenging the death of his clan and his family.
Sakura, nonetheless,put herself through misery by refusing to move on. Her continued attempts to force herself to Sasuke’s side frustrate him, and the resulting toxicity breaks her heart repeatedly. I don’t know that stubbornly refusing to abandon a school crush is worth that for anyone, to be honest; at the very least, the caseNarutomakes isn’t compelling enough.
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It’s frustrating watching their relationship unfold becausethe ways they hurt each other are never really addressed. Sasuke insists on solitude, and he has such difficulty opening up and communicating with others that he becomes dismissive and, sometimes, violent. Meanwhile, Sakura cares on the surface and always means well, but her dogmatic insistence on coupling with Sasuke leads her to struggle with understanding him, making him feel further alienated. Good thing that the sequels fixed their relationship at least a bit.
Kishimoto was targetingNarutoat younger readers. Childhood and adolescence are when people usually have their first crushes, romantic rejections, and early relationships. These can be hard for that demographic to deal with, so it’s only natural those readers gravitate more toward stories likeNaruto, where younger charactersdeal with romantic issues in ways that reflect their relative inexperience.
That’s completely understandable, butit didn’t stop me from being frustrated with characters hardly ever communicating straightforwardly.Narutosorely needed more emotional depth in this respect, beyond the suffering and devotion of a single person. I think that’s where Kishimoto’s embarrassment comes into play.
If you think about it, it’s a silly thing to be embarrassed about love. Love comes in many forms, and it’s one of humanity’s few universals. At the same time,I can understand Kishimoto’s hesitation. For me to talk about love is to talk about what love is to me.Love is an abstract prompt where a seemingly simple response says more about us, our beliefs, and our personal needs than we ever realize.
Unrequited love and tragic losses mean that love is barred from communicating its existence.Narutohas a handful of beautiful relationships that showit could have done much more than it did.Those bright spots are some of the countless reasons why I loveNaruto, and it becomes tragic in turn that the series didn’t work harder to communicate love.
Naruto
Cast
Naruto is an action-adventure anime series based on the manga series created by Masashi Kishimoto. The titular Naruto Uzumaki is a fearsome Nine-Tailed Fox Spirit sealed inside him, which once wreaked havoc on his village. Shunned by his community yet determined to earn their respect, Naruto dreams of becoming the greatest ninja, the Hokage. This series follows his journey through the Ninja Academy as he continues to train and grow, hoping to prove himself to his peers- and himself.
