This article contains spoilers from the Naruto series.
Summary
- Kishimoto created Sakura to show human nature.
- Inner Sakura depicts her real self.
- Despite regrets, Kishimoto never expanded Sakura’s family.
Sakura Haruno is one of the main characters in Naruto, but despite holding such massive importance in the story, she’s actually quite a polarizing character.
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Sakura is loved by many, as proven by the fact that she earned herself an incredibly high position among the fans during the global popularity poll, but at the same time, there are lots of Naruto fans who absolutely despise her. In fact, the hate for Sakura is so strong that even the author, Masashi Kishimoto is well aware of how fans perceive her. Kishimoto has previously commented on Sakura Haruno’s popularity, and why he thinks Sakura is as hated as she is.
How Kishimoto Created Sakura Haruno’s Character
- Kishimoto Wanted To Show Human Nature With Sakura
- Kishimoto Created Inner Sakura To Show Her Real Self
Masashi Kishimoto had decided to create a female lead in Naruto long ago, and fans absolutely loved the fact that Sakura was a part of the main Naruto trio. That said, Sakura being a part of the main group in Naruto doesn’t mean she’s just as well fleshed out as the others. As fans know, Sakura was subject to neglect from Kishimoto on many occasions, and even in the early parts of the series, it was quite apparent that the author didn’t have as elaborate plans for her.
This time, it’s my job to protect you too. — Sakura to Naruto and Sasuke
Previously, Kishimoto has spoken about how Sakura Haruno was drawn. According to Kishimoto, Sakura was rather different when compared to his other characters in the story. When Kishimoto created Sakura, he did it with the goal of wanting to write a realistic character. In Kishimoto’s own words, Sakura was a realistic depiction of women in Naruto when compared to other characters. Through Sakura’s actions, Kishimoto tried to depict what the inner self of a girl is like, and their true feelings are, according to him, depicted through Inner Sakura, who feature prominently in the early parts of the Naruto series.
In Kishimoto’s mind, depicting Sakura this way would make her popular among the many Naruto fans all over the world. However, that’s not what happened. Kishimoto was shocked to see the exact opposite of this take place as Sakura became quite hated in the Naruto community. This doesn’t just apply to the international Naruto fans, but also to the Japanese ones.
Sakura Was Hated By Many Fans All Over The World
Sakura Was Hated By Many Fans Even In Japan
In Kishimoto’s interview with Kobayashi, he confirms that there was a lot of Sakura hate among the fans early on. In fact, even female readers of Jump started to hate Sakura, according to the author. This is one of the many reasons why he regrets dealing with the character of Sakura the way he did. The fact that female fans hated Sakura meant that Kishimoto completely missed the mark when it came to writing a good female character.
Tsunade-sama, I’ve finally caught up to those two. — Sakura after awakening her Byakugou
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That said, it would be disingenuous to say that Sakura deserves the hate that she gets. Sakura isn’t a perfect character and she had her moments when she can come off as rather unpleasant. But, the same goes for every other character in Naruto. Even the other two main characters, Naruto and Sasuke, have more than enough moments where they are unpleasant to experience and at other times, simply annoying. Sakura is one of the most hated characters not because of her flaws but because certain fans like to hate her for absolutely no reason whatsoever.
Kishimoto’s Big Regret With Sakura Haruno
Kishimoto Never Expanded Upon Sakura’s Family
One of Kishimoto’s biggest regrets when it comes to writing Naruto is the way he fleshed out Sakura. While Naruto and Sasuke had a proper background fleshed out at various points throughout the series, Sakura never got the same attention from the fans, which just goes to show that she was, in fact, hard done by.
Kishimoto himself regrets the fact that Sakura’s parents and other family aren’t shown in the manga. Even when the ninja war showed the parents of the most random characters, Sakura never got something similar to build her character on.
Her family did eventually get to be in a Naruto movie, but at the end of the day, the movies are not canon and add absolutely nothing to the main Naruto story. Kishimoto’s treatment of them made them feel like civilians and Sakura seemed like she was always on the sidelines. To this day, Kishimoto never revealed why he chose to do that, but according to him, Sakura was so unpopular that even if he did expand on them, she would still be hated, which is plain sad, because Sakura truly is a character worth expanding upon and most certainly one that Kishimoto rightly gets criticism for.
Naruto is available to read on the MangaPlus and the Shonen Jump app. Fans can read the official release and support the author by doing so.
