Masashi Kishimoto - Tumblr Posts
This is lovely! And for the most part, I agree.
But I think the reason we aren't shown Sasuke's eyes and the entirety of Sakura's face during the 2nd "thank you" scene is because it was an intimate and special scene, so we aren't shown how Sasuke looks at Sakura when he said "thank you" and we're instead shown the emphasis of him thanking Sakura.
And likewise we aren't granted to see the entirety of Sakura's face when we see the reaction of Sasuke's forehead poke and "thank you" had on her, the half of her face shown was enough to convey her reaction.
Chapter 181: The Star Crossed Lovers - Sasuke’s “Thank You”
Out of all the chapters in Part 1 of the series, Chapter 181 is by far the most emotional chapter in regards to Sasuke and Sakura’s love story. It was at this point in the series that we get our first glimpse into Sasuke’s feelings towards Sakura in it’s purest form. For she’s the only one in the village who gets to see Sasuke’s gentle side before he hardens himself to everyone.
Sakura’s feelings for Sasuke had grown exponentially from infatuation to true love. She didn’t want him to suffer because of the curse mark and she didn’t want him to be consumed by hatred or revenge. While Sasuke had allowed her to present her argument to him without running away, knocking her out, or killing her immediately. Instead he tried to reason with her and listened to her feelings once again before hinting to her that he remembered her first confession just like she did.
When Sakura threatened to scream in order to warn the village, Sasuke came up close behind her and softly said: “Sakura…Thank you.”
Here are some of the Data book descriptions about this scene.
“Growing distant, towards darkness.. the one to appear before him as he began to leave was Sakura. To the back of a Sasuke that tried to face away from what was left behind, Sakura desperately conveys her feelings. Bright and earnest feelings - feelings that did not want to lose Sasuke. The one who filled his lonely existence with the emotion called love was Sakura. But as expected, Sasuke cannot respond to those feelings. Sasuke was only able to leave a single word of thanks as a parting.”
“Sakura, who needed him to the last. His words are not a deceit but his true feelings.”
“Sasuke is trying to leave the village, and Sakura implores him to give up that idea. In response to her wish, Sasuke answers her with a simple ‘You’re annoying.’ They are the same words that he uttered back when Team Kakashi was formed… but so many missions have passed since then, and now the meaning that he puts into those same words differ greatly. Even though he understands the love that she feels for him, in order to sever all his connections Sasuke turns his back to the village.”
I’d also like to point out Sasuke’s first expression as he walks past Sakura:
His eyes are closed. his eyebrows are furrowed, and his expression isn’t indifference: it’s pained.
I counted how many pages their conversation lasts and it goes on for 14 pages. Translate that into time during this moment and Sasuke listened to Sakura for around 5 to 7 minutes tops. Would he give Naruto this much attention? Or Kakashi? Or literally anyone in the village? No. He would later go on to fight Naruto almost to the death and he already threatened to kill Kakashi back at the hospital. But Sakura? He cursed because he thought it was too late to stop his attack when she interrupted his fight on the rooftop with Naruto, he didn’t shove her away when she hugged him in the hospital, he didn’t threaten to kill her or physically harm her at any point leading up to his departure.
As Kishimoto states “Sakura was the last person Sasuke ever wanted to hurt.”
We can see this is still the case in Shippuden when they meet again for the first time in years when Sasuke uses his Chidori Stream to attack Sai, Naruto, and Yamato but doesn’t use it against Sakura.
Sasuke’s eyes were hidden when he said “Thank you” and hidden when he walked past her. Love comes in at the eyes and if Sasuke had looked her in the eyes as he past would he have been able to leave?
Chapter 181 was a scene straight out of Shakespeare’s plays. It was almost like Hamlet’s “I LOVED OPHELIA!!” scene or the infamous balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet.
If they were not considered a couple or their feelings weren’t considered romantic for each other, would this scene carry the lasting impact that it does today for Naruto fans across the board?
(PS: Please don’t remove anything from this post. Thanks)
Almost halfway through reading Naruto for the first time at 28. Never really engaged with the story in manga or anime form before recently. Blown away by how good it is and understanding now of its continued popularity
Especially Masashi Kishimoto's continually improving art style. Fights were somewhat incomprehensible to watch panel-by-panel in the early chapters, throughout much of the Chūnin Exam Arc, but now they're a true joy to read. Kishimoto's lines are so clean and distinct since Part II of the story began as well. Not remembering off-hand what would've been in Weekly Shonen Jump around the 2006-2008 era (beyond One Piece, Bleach & KochiKame ofc), I'm sure this would've been a distinctive and dynamic looking story each week. My god those colour pages look great, one of the few manga I'd love to re-read a full-colour edition (the use of silence too, I've not seen it used so often and so effectively in a mainstream Shonen story)
A moment in Chapter 321 stood out as an example of why I'm enjoying the heroes/main characters of the story as much as I am. Kakashi is trying to entice Naruto into a further important ninja lore dump and our dumb boy Naruto doesn't want a bar of it. So the charming and guileful Kakashi slips into a coercion of his pal Yamato proving to Naruto that there's no getting around this. It's very simple and is mainly for the gag of Yamato buying the buttering up wholesale, but it speaks to who Kakashi is a senior ninja
There are other moments like the mostly silent panels of Sasuke as a child trudging to the family shrine after the Uchiha clan was killed, or Orochimaru & Kabuto's fascinating codependent situationship or even just in Chapter 320 the silent pages of Kurenai knowing her husband, Asuma, is heading into a dangerous situation
(Of course the female representation is woefully inadequate and it's disappointing to see Sakura grow so much just to be sidelined most of the story, as almost all the woman characters are)
Fanart of Kakashi. One of my all time favourites.
Growing up is realizing all of your favorite characters in your favorite childhood show actually kinda suck in some way, shape, or form.
“I created Naruto to tell the younger generation that although there’s hardship in life, you can get along. I want to make people feel like that there is still hope.”
Masashi Kishimoto;岸本斉史,
Can’t wait for our man’s reaction to the future of Boruto
Tobi ✨
I feel like you can tell a lot about how an author views their female characters based on whether or not they give dead mothers a name.
Yeah, and his female characters are some of the best in shonen jump in my opinion. The mothers aren't treated as just mothers. They're allowed to have personality and backstory. Otohime, Portgas D. Rouge and Bellemere are examples of this.
As much as I love JJK, Megumi's mom doesn't have anything to her character besides being the person who just so happened to give birth to Megumi and I think this lack of confidence in writing women is reflected in how much there is to be desired with his other female characters.
Likewise, as flawed as Naruto is with its female characters Kushina IS allowed to have a personality and be more than just a wife and a mother.
There's obviously nothing wrong with having a female character that's tied to motherhood and is nurturing but when that character isn't even given a name in the text of the story and isn't able to be seen as anything but a mother what exactly are we supposed to take away from that?
I feel like you can tell a lot about how an author views their female characters based on whether or not they give dead mothers a name.
haven't seen any naruto edits on here, so let's see how this goes.
work by masashi kishimoto
song is all the stars (with sza) by kendrick lamar
sasuke: *exists* naruto:
konohagakure didn't deserve these precious boys
work by masashi kishimoto
song is die with a smile by lady gaga, bruno mars
10.10 happy birthday naruto
thx for getting me through my childhood
work by masashi kishimoto
song is baby im back by the kid laroi
Bro, why does everyone hate on me for liking orochimaru. It's not my fault Kishimoto made him so good lookin.
I watched the naruto stage play. I have to say it was better than hamilton.